Can't get Project Zomboid to load up.

[RobbieDee]

I've read through the forum and read many suggestions and none of them so far have worked. I've tried upgrading my driver, uninstalling ALL java programs on my computer and installing the latest one with no results. I've deleted Project Zomboid, used Desure to install it again and still no improvment. I even downloaded the Alpha file of PZ and tried running it from there (even as administrator), still the same result. I just bought the $8 version of the game yesterday, and messed around with it for over 2 hours before going to bed for work.

 

There is something that pops up in the "black window" when trying to run the game (sorry for not mentioning this earlier) and it may explain what the problem is but I don't know how to go about fixing it. If someone could tell me how to upload an image of the "black window" I think it would make the process of fixing this MUCH easier. Thank you!

[EnigmaGrey]

Pixel format not accelerated indicates that you need to ensure you have a proper display driver installed. Windows 7 (and Steam) often install a generic driver from Microsoft that just doesn't cut it for this game.

Go to the website of your specific video card manufacturer (AMD) and download the latest driver for your card directly from them. If you receive any prompts that you need to use a manufacturer-specific driver, well . . . we'll try to work through it by forcing a generic, up to date, driver.

Just be sure to turn  your computer off and back on again after installing the new driver, otherwise you'll get the same error.

[RoboMat]

Well first of all welcome to the forums and I'm sure we can help you.

 

Please give us more information what OS and what specs you are running the game on.

 

Do you get any console output?

[Rathlord]

If you can just copy and paste the text into the thread that would be fine. Otherwise you can take a screenshot on OS X with command + shift + 3, on Windows with "Print Screen" or the Snipping Tool (found with your other programs or by typing "Snipping Tool" into the Start Menu), and on Linux with magic.

 

Once you've done that you can easily upload the image to a website such as www.imgur.com and post it here by copying the direct link text (on the imgur page, after you've uploaded your image and are looking at it, on the right) and placing it in between brackets that say [ media] [ /media] without the space, or by clicking the small "Image" icon in your reply box and pasting the text there.

 

We can help you further then.

[RobbieDee]

Thank you so much to both of you for responding quickly, and also for the warm greeting!

 

I don't know all the specifics of what would be needed but I'll definately try my best to put down all of the relavent information!

 

OS - Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit (6.1, Build 7601)

System Manufacturer - Hewlett-Packard

System Model - Presario CQ61 Notebook PC

Processor - AMD Athlon II Dual Core M300 (2 CPU's), ~2.0GHz

Direct X Version: DirectX 11

Driver - AMD M880G with ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4200

 

Sorry for not having the information upfront!

 

I will try to get a picture of the "log" after I post this!

[RobbieDee]

@Rathlord

 

Whenever I try to run the game It'll say:

 

Loading etc etc etc

Loading etc etc etc

Loading etc etc etc

 

and when the error (or what I suspect the error is) shows up the entire screen for the command window goes slightly white (Which I guess means somethings stopepd working) and there's no way to acess it, you can't right click it or do anything with the window once it turns slightly white. I'll try your other suggestion since the snipping tool isn't able to capture everything!

[RoboMat]

and when the error (or what I suspect the error is) shows up the entire screen for the command window goes slightly white (Which I guess means somethings stopepd working) and there's no way to acess it, you can't right click it or do anything with the window once it turns slightly white. I'll try your other suggestion since the snipping tool isn't able to capture everything!

So if I understand correctly the screen turns white so you can't see the error message anymore? Could you check your console please. Usually the error should be printed there.

[RobbieDee]

@Robomat

 

The screen will turn slightly white and you can still see the bottom part of the "black window" screen, but since it's slighty white I can't scroll or do anything with it. Project Zomboid64.exe has stopped responding is what comes up. I don't know how to use console commands or anything like that. But if you told me how I can access my console and where I should look while in the console I can definately help!

 

and sorry for not being able to come up with this information quickly! I'm not a tech specialist if you can tell lol

[RoboMat]

and sorry for not being able to come up with this information quickly! I'm not a tech specialist if you can tell lol

 

Don't worry about that The problem is, that I haven't used a Windows machine in quite a long time and hence can't give you proper instructions. I'm sure one of the other mods or members will help you shortly though

[RobbieDee]

@Rathlord

For whatever reason I cannot get my print screen button to bring anything up, I'm holding shift also but still nothing. The command window I guess it's called is just so long that unless I can stretch out the entire window, the snipping tool wont be able to scan the entire window.

@Robomat

Hey, any assistance I can get, no matter how big or how small, I definately appreciate it! I'll try to look up a tutorial on how to acess the console and then hopefully I can get the information you need from there!

To clarify, whenever running Project Zomboid from Desura, it'll give me 4 options to choose from (play 32, play 64, compatibale 32, compatible 64, something slong those lines) and whichever one I click a black window will come out and start loading something, then all of the sudden it says Pixel format not accelerated and alot of other things. There is no way to scroll up (since the program no longer responds) but I think once it gets to the bottom that's where the real problems are.

I can definetly get that and post it on here, though I don't know how long it will take since I can't just copy and paste.

Sorry the information was not brought up sooner!

[Rathlord]

The snipping tool also has an option to capture just one "window" which should allow you to get everything from the window, even if it's stick off the edge of the screen. Try that function rather than the simple desktop screenshot function?

 

You could even take a picture of your computer with your phone if you can't get anything else to work (and you have a phone with which you can get the pictures onto your computer).

 

I'm assuming you've tried all of the 4 options? 64-bit compatible should be the one that works for you.

 

Unfortunately you've managed to snag BOTH Mac mods and no Windows people XD If we can't get it figured out I'm sure one of the Windows guys can.

[RobbieDee]

I tried using the WINDOW option and the FULL SCREEN option and every time it only gets half of the command screen and (I guess is what you call it) everything loads way to fast to be able to capture everything. my father does have a video camera so I can definately go with that option.

and yeah it's unfortunate, I assumed Window users were in the majority, I guessed wrong lol But this website has treasure trove of Mac users. Which is good because you never know what problems may pop up for something that was originally made for one system and is now being put on another. But anyways I'll go and grab the camera and hopefully that will give you a better Idea.

I just learned the camera my father had broke a few weeks ago so I won't be able to take that route. and the cell phone camera isnt advanced enough to capture images or video of a computer screen. I'll look around the forums a little more and wait on a solution for now! I appreciate all the help (to both of you) regardless if It didn't lead to fixing my problem lol

[Rathlord]

originally made for one system and is now being put on another

 

Just to be clear PZ is made for Java, which in turn is made for all the major systems (OS X, Windows, Linux). XD Let us know how updating your driver goes.

[RobbieDee]

Just walked through the door! and thanks for responding!

 

I'm going to relax for a while and then follow what you said. Hopefully after following the directions the problem will go away lol. I'll post here the results after everything is done. Maybe around 8:00pm American Eastern time I'll post here so that you don't have to go back here and then to other threads back and forth to see if you got a response lol

[RobbieDee]

I'm going to begin following the procedures you've all stated. Hopefully something happens.

 

I was able to get a picture. In the meanntime though I was able to get a picture of what I was talking about earlier ("black window") and I've added it as an attatchment! It's very white since I could only take a picture when the program stops responding. I couldn't get a FULL log but most of what I couldn't get in the picture seems like it loaded alright.

[RobbieDee]

While installing AMD Catalyst this message came up: "kdbsync.exe had stopped working"

 

I'm not to sure what that means? Anyways I'm going to restart and see what happens!

[RobbieDee]

I just downloaded AMD Catalyst and instead of "generic driver" it now displays "Advanced Micro Devices" and without even restarting everything uploads perfectly! THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH for taking time out to help me with my issue. You don't know how frustrating it is to buy something, have something go wrong, and then no get any assistance with it. I almost said to myself "you know what? You're going to come out here and post a thread and no one's going to even respond to it so why bother?" I'm so glad I decided to go through with it, you've have been really helpful and patient with my issue! Heck I already paid 8 bucks for the, now all I wanna do is get each of your PayPal accounts so I can start start sending some joy your way!

 

Know all I have to do is figure out the resolution, which should be in the options menu? Other then that one issue I'm good to go!

[EnigmaGrey]

It's in the options menu. Be sure to restart the game before trying to do anything after changing the resolution, though.

If you run into any trouble, just go to %username%\zomboid\ and delete its contents (backup any saves you'd like before this). Everything will be reset to default.

[RobbieDee]

@EnigmaGrey

 

I checked the options menu earlier but it doesn't go any lower than 1024x768 so it's a little jittery whenever I go to play it since my laptop is over 4 years old but I'll deal with it lol. Maybe running less applications will make the game run alot faster? and thanks for the extra information, If I ever want to use an earlier build for whatever reason that'll definetely come in handy!

[Rathlord]

You can also increase performance by checking and unchecking some things in your driver controls that Enigma knows more about than me. Check some of the frame rate threads for suggestions.

[EnigmaGrey]

@EnigmaGrey

 

I checked the options menu earlier but it doesn't go any lower than 1024x768 so it's a little jittery whenever I go to play it since my laptop is over 4 years old but I'll deal with it lol. Maybe running less applications will make the game run alot faster? and thanks for the extra information, If I ever want to use an earlier build for whatever reason that'll definetely come in handy!

No gurantees that it'll help, though it doesn't hurt to try. I've got a nice system myself and I still get some stuttering / pauses now and then.

You can try setting all video card options to performance, disabling anti-alliasing and OpenGL triple buffering. You can also try using more video memory (in-game Options menu).

[RobbieDee]

@Rathlord

 

I definately will!

 

I was looking through a "usermade" survival guide and saw alot of the cool features the game offers, but of course I want to make sure everything runs pretty smoothly. I just changed "Video Usage" I think its called, to low, and it was a little jagged. I set it for insane and was about to see what happens before I saw that there was a reply and didn't want to keep anyone waiting. I'll definately look through threads on how to speed things up a little If I'm still having issues!

[RobbieDee]

@EnigmaGrey

 

Yep, I was just about to say that I switched from low on the Video Memory, to INSANE, and was about to go see the results until I saw a reply. But I'm pretty hopeful it works. It should though, I assumed Video Memory meant the lower you go the better the performence ( I was wrong) so I'm pretty confident to say the least! I definetly don't run that much stuff on my computer anyways so If INSANE is to high I'll play around with it for a while.

 

Also is there a way to rate a moderator, I definately want to show my appreciation!

[Rathlord]

As volunteer moderators we are paid only in the kindhearted words of our fans. It's said Enigma once went a whole year without eating or drinking, and instead used the praise of the masses as his only sustenance.

 

(On a more serious note, thanks we do the best we can   )

[RobbieDee]

lol yeah if kind words worked that way it would sure save alot of money on food I'll tell you that right now. Really, without the help I would have wasted 10 dollars. It was my first online purchase ever since I started working, so I guess it's always good to start on a high note.

 

You have a good night though man (or woman), couldn't have done this without you!

[Rathlord]

lol yeah if kind words worked that way it would sure save alot of money on food I'll tell you that right now. Really, without the help I would have wasted 10 dollars. It was my first online purchase ever since I started working, so I guess it's always good to start on a high note.

 

You have a good night though man (or woman), couldn't have done this without you!

 

Cheers, and don't let the zombies bite!