Can't Start PZ

[runningman]

Hi, I recently purchased Project Zomboid but I can't get it to start

 

When I try to open the game (in 64 bit or compatibility mode) a DoS window pops up and scrolls through some text for a moment or two then disappears, then nothing happens. It's only there very briefly but I took a screenshot of it (attached)

 

Firstly I should mention that my laptop specs do not quite meet the minimum specs, but thought it was worth a try as some others had managed it (and worst case scenario I can play it when I get a better computer at some point).

 

My laptop specs are:

 

Processor: AMD Athlon X2 Dual-Core Processor QL-62
RAM: 3GB (DDR2 800 Mhz)
Hard drive: 250gb 5200rpm
Graphics: ATI Radeon HD 3200
Optical drive: Lightscribe
Screen: 15.4" WXGA (1280 x 800 resolution)
Wireless: 802.11 b/g
i/o ports: all the normal ones

 

The drivers were all up to date as of a couple of months ago, and on a latop this old that is unlikely to have changed. I have also updated Java to the most recent edition.

 

Any help would be very much appreciated!

 

Thanks!

[runningman]

Thanks for that, I installed the driver but unfortunately it still does the same thing. Are there any other possibilities, or am I just going to have to wait until I have a newer laptop to be able to play?

[runningman]

Hi, thanks for that! It didn't quite fit on one screenshot so I've attached two

[EnigmaGrey]

AMD has discontinued support for the 3xxx line years ago. There's only a generic driver available for Windows 8, that doesn't support the game.

Only thing you can try is installing a Windows 7 driver instead.

[EnigmaGrey]

Sorry to hear, runningman -- you may have to, unfortunately.

Try the steps outlined by Martin here, to force Windows to use the Windows 7 driver, though: http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows8_1-hardware/how-to-install-catalyst-legacy-driver-in-windows/a520d44c-0baa-4569-92de-81cc1f30bf6f Just in case it's not actually installing it.

[runningman]

Cheers, is this the driver you're referring to?

 

http://support.amd.com/en-us/download/desktop/legacy?product=legacy2&os=Windows%207%20-%2064

[EnigmaGrey]

Yep, that should do.

[Sanctus]

As far as I know the black box is supposed to be there. It shows up when I play, but I don't know why its not starting.  If you are using Linux it could be a problem there, or you might not have enough memory.  Project zomboid uses a lot of memory, I have see as high as two gigs of RAM being used.

[runningman]

Wow I didn't realize it used so much memory! I'm not using Linux, and I just checked the memory usage when I tried to start it again and it doesn't seem to spike particularly high.

 

Interestingly on my Steam page it tells me that i 'Last Played' today (from when I tried to load it). Not sure how far through the loading up it gets though.

[nasKo]

I can't spot any errors in that screenshot.

 

Right click the game in your Steam library and click Properties and disable the Steam Overlay while you're there.

Then press the "Browse Local Files" button.

Find the ProjectZomboid32.bat file and double click it. If it crashes, the command prompt will stay open for you to grab a screenshot of it