Larian Studios Forums Beyond Divinity (English) Technical Problems Can't play game! Please help!

So i recently got Beyond Divinity(had to order it). I installed it today with no problem at all. But now that its time to actually play it(after installing patch, etc), but i can't. It takes me to the configuration setup(just as it says in manual), so i pick 1024x768 as my resolution and hit test. Then an error message comes up.

It says: configtool MFC Application has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience. Then it gives me the option to send and error report, which doesn't do squat, or Don't send, closes it. So i hit 'don't send'.

Then another message appears that says: Unable to read configuration file- Exciting. I hit ok then *another* message pops up.

This one reads: Beyond Divinity was not correctly terminated last time. It its reccomended that all dynamic files will be cleaned up and that all configuration data will be resetted. All saved games will still be available afterwards. Do you want to reset the configuration? If i hit no or cancel, nothing happens, but if i hit yes, it goes back to the configuration set up to try again.

I've tried everything i can think of and nothing works. Please help me...i'm getting pissed off at this game...Thanks.

Are you shutting down all non-essential programs (especially anti-virus) before trying to start the game?

If you run dxdiag (click Start | Run, type in dxdiag and hit Enter), does it report any problems? There are a couple of tests under the Display tab.

Did you try the configuration test at other resolutions? If you just hit Apply & Close rather than running the test, does the game start ok?

Try setting your desktop resolution and the game resolution to be the same. A couple people had problems with DirectX's resolution switching on startup, though I don't think that effected the configuration test (can't hurt to try).

Try deleting the files config.div, slashed.cfg and slashed-d3d6.cfg in the Beyond Divinity folder (if they exist), to force the configuration program to recreate them. The prompt to reset the configuration should do the same thing, but manually deleting them guaranties nothing can be carried over to the new versions.

Check if there are files called debug.lst or error.txt in the Beyond Divinity folder (both are text files, and can be opened in Notepad, etc). If so, do they contain any error messages that might be informative?

Lady_Rain describes an MS patch for video related problems in Win XP (included in SP2) in the topic CRASHING TO WINDOWS

This isn't quite the same problem, but there are additional suggestions in the topics;
yet another "Game simply won't start!"-thread and BattleFields N00b ?

Thanks a lot for replying. I'm too tired to try out all that stuff, although i did try and search for all those files you mentioned, but to no avail <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/sad.gif" alt="" />

I'll try everything else in the morning though.

I've tried everything...and still i can't play this game. I ran that dxdiag thing and there were no problems. There were no error or debug files. I'm thinking about just trying to return this stupid pos back to store...

If you set the resolution and hit 'Apply & Close' in the configuration program, then answer 'no' to resetting the configuration data if asked, what happens trying to start the game?

Assuming there is still a problem with the configuration files, try extracting these files into your Beyond Divinity folder.


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The install program should report any problems, such as CRC errors, during install. However, if it fails to do so, or a file becomes corrupt after installation, the integrity of the files can still be verified using a program such as FileCheck; download (194KB). This is a small freeware program (no install required) to calculate the CRC-32 values (the cyclic redundancy check used in zip files) of a number of files. It can also compare a previously calculated CRC file with a set of files/folders.

After doing a clean install of BD and rebooting, I deleted the files in the '..\Beyond Divinity\DirectX9' folder (since they are not needed if/once DirectX 9 is installed). Then I used FileCheck to create a crc file of the game folders, installed the 1.45 patch and did so again, both before starting the game (I repeated this procedure with the 1.47 patch). If you compare the appropriate CRC file to your install, it should tell you if there are any corrupt files. You do not need to worry about moving any saved games out of the savegames folder or deleting the files in the dynamic folders, since new files will not be tested by FileCheck, just those listed in the crc file. If you have started the game and changed any options, there will be differences reported in the config.div and keylist.txt files. In my install the '..\Beyond Divinity\Editor\dgen_themes.000' file was also reported to be different.

There are several files in the Beyond Divinity folder created when the game is started or options are changed, including init.cfg, mapids.000, persist.dat, sinfo.000, slashed-d3d6.cfg, slashed.cfg, sound.cfg and starlog.txt. A couple other files are also added, but another crc file including these wouldn't help much, since most or all are system or option dependent, so these files would usually be reported as different regardless of being valid or corrupt.
At least the config.div, slashed.cfg and slashed-d3d6.cfg files in the Beyond Divinity folder can be deleted, and the configuration program / game will recreate them the next time it is started.

Beyond Divinity CRC files (285 KB)
[*] These crc files are based on the UK English version; the North American version should be the same, I think, but the Australian version will have differences (it uses a different copy protection).
[*] FileCheck expects the files to be in the original locations to verify, so if you installed BD to a location other than the default (C:\Program Files\Larian Studios\Beyond Divinity), open the CRC file in Wordpad (for example), and do a search-and-replace so the file/folder paths match your install.

If your CRC values match, it is not the game itself, but likely a conflict with something else in your system or a problem in the saved game folder. When examining the list of 'errors' FileCheck produces, potential problem files would be those with an error trying to read, or with a large size difference (especially zero byte files) from the known good install.

Ok, when i hit apply and close, then click No to the message afterwards, i just get this message again: Beyond Divinity has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience.

I extracted "those files" into the my BD folder, didn't help.

And that file check/BRC files is just confusing me <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" /> I downloaded them both, but i don't know what to do with them. I really appreciate all the help you giving me Raze <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I remember helpping a couple of people over msn with a very similar problem...
As in the other posts raze mentioned Battlefield Noob Most of the problem was caused with spyware loading at startup.

In that link is a link to a program called spybot. Please download it and run it.... there may be something hiding on your computer (that doesnt affect other programs visibly, but that prevents the game to access all the nescesary files it needs to run) that is causing this...

Also try the housecall (even if you have a antivirus installed, its very common for antivirus packages to not find and stop everything).

If these two dont stop the problem, then try the end-it-all program.

Raef, for some reason your last reply did not mark the topic as having unread posts, so I didn't see it until Lady Rain replied. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/suspicion.gif" alt="" />

Anyway, apparently there isn't a problem with the configuration files unless the configuration program's test crashes.

Have you checked for updated video drivers, Window's critical updates, etc?


With the CRC files, the first step depends on where you installed the game. If you installed it to the default location (C:\Program Files\Larian Studios\Beyond Divinity), then you do not need to do anything with the CRC files, so skip to the next paragraph. If you installed it to another location, 'd:\games\Beyond Divinity' for example, then you will need to edit the CRC file. First open Wordpad, or any other text editor with a search and replace feature; in Win XP click Start | All Programs | Accessories | Wordpad, in Win 9x it is Start | Programs | Accessories | Wordpad, but may not be installed by default (it can be added through the Add/Remove Programs control panel applet, Windows Setup tab).
Once you have Wordpad started, open the BD-1.47nostart.crc file (click File | Open in the menu and browse to where you extracted the CRC zip file). Highlight the first instance of 'C:\Program Files\Larian Studios' and click on the menu Edit | Replace; this will bring up the search and replace window with the text to search for already entered. In the Replace With section you need to enter the path where you installed the game, in this case 'd:\games', and then click on the Replace All button. If you changed the name of the 'Beyond Divinity' folder as well the path, select the full default path before bringing up the search and replace window, and enter the full replacement path. This should change the default location for all of the files and folders to match the path where you installed the game. If everything looks ok, save the file and exit Wordpad.

Double click on the FileCheck.exe program after extracting the downloaded FileCheck.zip file, then switch to the Verify tab. To the right of the text box, click on the '...' button and browse to where you extracted/saved the BD-1.47nostart.crc file to open it, then click on the Verify button. Cut and paste the results into a reply, and I'll see if anything looks suspicious (large size differences, especially if one is zero bytes, errors reading a file or missing files).
The FileCheck homepage goes into a bit of detail on how to use the program, as well.

I already have spybot, but i haven't run it so long. When i did, there was a ton of spyware crap on my computer. Then i ran that virus scan thing and i still couldn't play. So it must be some other problem.

Theres that Filecheck thin, Raze. I hope i did it right(was a bit confusing).

Verifying CRCs in file C:\Program Files\Larian Studios\Beyond Divinity\BD-1.47nostart.crc ...
1. Error Code 2 reading file C:\Program Files\Larian Studios\Beyond Divinity\config.div
File C:\Program Files\Larian Studios\Beyond Divinity\config.div does NOT match.
OldBytes = 262, NewBytes = 440, OldCRC = C25D2FFD, NewCRC = 00000000
File C:\Program Files\Larian Studios\Beyond Divinity\INSTALL.LOG does NOT match.
OldBytes = 526189, NewBytes = 679261, OldCRC = 0553F604, NewCRC = 0EBE4DEE
Directory C:\Program Files\Larian Studios\Beyond Divinity does NOT match.
OldBytes = 26543575, NewBytes = 26696825
OldFileCount = 22, NewFileCount = 22
OldMetaCRC = B0B913D2, NewMetaCRC = 58E08E98
File C:\Program Files\Larian Studios\Beyond Divinity\Static\intro.mpg does NOT match.
OldBytes = 35692548, NewBytes = 37797892, OldCRC = 0DEA072B, NewCRC = 2A9C9103
Directory C:\Program Files\Larian Studios\Beyond Divinity\Static does NOT match.
OldBytes = 185397939, NewBytes = 187503283
OldFileCount = 17, NewFileCount = 17
OldMetaCRC = 84082F33, NewMetaCRC = 82559CB1
Summary does not match.
OldBytes = 1562890521, NewBytes = 1565149115
OldFileCount = 6256, NewFileCount = 6256
OldDirCount = 364, NewDirCount = 364
OldMetaCRC = 2F640A1F, NewMetaCRC = 904BD4EC
Verify time = 196.0 sec (25 Jul 2005 0:22:33)

[color:"orange"]File C:\Program Files\Larian Studios\Beyond Divinity\Static\intro.mpg does NOT match.
OldBytes = 35692548, NewBytes = 37797892[/color]

This is a problem. It may account for the crash starting the game, though I don't think it should effect the configuration test.
In Windows Explorer, if you browse to the '..\Beyond Divinity\Static' folder, can you view the 'intro.mpg' video? Try renaming this file, and see if that allows the game to start.


You should have Spybot check for updates and then run it again. There may still be stuff left over from the previous run, or new stuff added since then.

If you are still having problems, try a clean re-install of the game and patch.
To eliminate possible problems reading the CDs, try using a different optical drive, if possible, or copy all the files off the 2 CDs into the same folder on the hard drive, and run the install from there.
Un-install the game, re-boot, in Windows Explorer browse to the 'Beyond Divinity' folder and make sure there are no files or folders remaining (you don't have any saved games to worry about). After that, shut down all non essential programs (especially anti-virus), re-install the game, re-boot and shut down all non essential programs again. Try to start the game; if it works, quit and install the patch.

I could watch the movie just fine(and all the other ones). I decided to just reinstall the game using a different drive...but i still can't play <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/sad.gif" alt="" />

Oh, i noticed it said something about confiv.div. I bet that means the problem is with the configuration tool.

If you recall, what was the game version before you patched it? After the 1.45 patch was released the Larians updated the master for the CDs to 1.46. If you have the updated CDs, it is possible the size difference in the intro video is just from it being revised after the initial release.

The confiv.div file stores options, so changing the resolution, FSAA mode, Fog (in the configuration program) or gamma (from within the game) will result in a different file size and/or CRC value. You can open the file in Notepad (or any other text editor) and check out the contents.


It would be informative, though not necessarily helpful, if we could track what the configuration test does before it crashes. Sysinternals has a program which can monitor file access, which could help determine if the crash occurs when the configuration program is accessing files related to the game, graphics drivers or DirectX.
If you want to give it a shot;
[*] download Filemon and extract it somewhere (no install is required).
[*] Shut down all non-essential programs (try to eliminate as much as possible), except for Windows Explorer, then start the game's configuration program.
[*] In Windows Explorer, double click on the filemon.exe file to start the program. After it loads, click on the menu Edit | Clear Display (or hit Ctrl-X).
[*] Switch to the configuration program, and hit the Test button. When the error comes up, leave it there, switch back to Filemon, and click on the magnifying glass icon to stop monitoring file access.
[*] If you don't want to look through the resulting list, save it and either post it or email it to me (divineone at shaw dot ca).