Long War - no start menu showing on the load screen

[dgiovan]

I have installed the most recent version of LW (for EW). I did this on another laptop (although that is different hardware) and got it to work fine. On this try though, it shows the main screen, but the menu bar at the bottom doesn't show (the one with "Single player", "Options" etc...).

 

At first it was showing this in 800x600 res instead of the normal 1440x900 that I use, and I thought maybe somehow it was "below" the visibie screen. So I found a resolution variable to change in one of the config files, and now it shows at 1440x900, but still no menu.

 

If it matters, the video card is a Geforce 8600 something - the laptop version.

 

BTW, I've tried the usual stuff in the installation FAQ (deleting profile.bin, etc..)

 

Edit:

I have two directories side by side (Vanilla and LW) so I went back to compare how it should behave, and found:

 

- It doesn't show the 2k games or Unreal engine splash screens - it goes straight to the main screen.

- The main screen doesn't have the menu at the bottom, nor the "Enemy Within" text above.

- the steam overlay notice does come up as usual (although I'm running offline).

- Alt-F4 will exit, which I'm not sure that it did for vanilla.

Edited October 7, 2015 by dgiovan

[dubiousintent]

That is definitely weird, especially the info added in your edit. Sounds like a bad install to me. I would suggest you revert to vanilla, then review the "Basic Guide", new "Checklist" section (at the beginning). Once vanilla is verified to be working correctly, then try installing LW again. If you have the same problem, take it up with the LW development team, telling them all the steps you have taken already.

 

Two directories side-by-side? That is highly unusual, unless one is a backup copy of the other. Two installs would leave the registry confused, and you need to keep straight which one is the registered folder. LW should be installed into the Steam EU path. From there it will look for and install itself into the EW subfolder.

 

Long War bug reports should be posted in the appropriate Beta Feedback thread in the "Long War" download page "forum section" for a quick response. (The LW Team has stated they don't check the main forum at all anymore for problems. Really, the dev team is the most likely to be able to help with a LW issue but anyone else who can also will be there.) You may also find that the answer is already known and posted in that section.

 

Do let us know how you resolve it.

 

-Dubious-

Edited October 7, 2015 by dubiousintent

[dgiovan]

@dubious Thanks for the feedback.I think what I will try next is copy over the (working LW) install from my other laptop. But before I do that, I will try and find a tool that does file compare for a whole directory tree, just to see if there's actually any difference, since the install was done the same way. It's very slow copying 18gb or whatever it is, let alone over a wireless connection. Also I usually don't have an internet connection where I am now, so it is a pain if I need Steam to reverify the files for any reason.

 

Also sort of looking through the startup logs that unreal or xcom generates, comparing one for LW vs vanilla. It does seem weird that the two splash screens don't come up. The fact that the "XCOM" text doesn't show on the screen, I assume that it like the menu are just overlaid on the load screen, so must be the same problem.

 

By side by side, yes I think I am doing what you mean by a backup directory; I just use a batch file to rename the directories to switch back and forth between LW and vanilla (I can't obviously use both simultaneously), so that the "XCom" that Steam sees is only one or the other. I did this on my other laptop and it worked fine.

[dubiousintent]

With both your "side-by-side" folders, and when copying the install from one machine to another: what is most important is that the path name be EXACTLY identical to what the registry recorded on the destination machine with the very first install. Any variation (even a space) will break it. If that is the case, then you should be able to fool it just fine. A batch file is the best way to get a consistent renaming (good thinking). All that assumes both folders really are identical install paths originally and were working correctly at least in vanilla.

 

As for a file/folder comparison tool, I have used WinMerge for many years. It makes the differences quite apparent and easy to jump to. You should also export the registry key for "Steam App" from both machines (search under the "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE" key) and compare them first. (Each Steam game installed has a different "app number".) That will point out any differences in the path between the machines. You should be able to find a number of articles online about how to export a registry key as a text file if you don't know already. (Not talking down; I just have no idea of the extent of your knowledge or skills, though I can already tell you have at least the basics of the command line if you can create a batch file.)

 

Good luck.

 

-Dubious-

[dgiovan]

Yes, as a matter of fact I used Winmerge to do this yesterday. I have used it for source control diffs and merges, didn't know until i researched this topic that it could do diffs on a whole directory tree. Results showed that for whatever reason the bad install was missing a lot of the foreign language subtitles and voice files. But also many files from the "movies" directory. Everything else was the same. So possibly when it loads and didn't find a movie file (where I assume it may also pull the two splash screens) it just sort of did nothing (but didn't abort).

 

Anyhow this weekend I'll basically transfer over the missing files (so that the two installs should be identical) and see if things work. Thanks again for the input!