Hangs on Splash Screen

[StanislausBabalistic 24]

I can't start the game because of this strange issue...when I start the game (either normally or with the new launcher), the splash screen with the suspension bridge comes up. But that's it. It hangs interminably.

 

Now, I know it's not a key issue; when I pull out the CD or have the wrong one in, it still prompts me for one. And I thought maybe it's scanning through the plugins folder - and maybe it is - but the SC4 process is only using 7MB of RAM, which would seem inadequate for that.

 

I have the game fully patched to 1.1.640. Running Windows XP, too, for what it's worth. Any ideas here?

[StanislausBabalistic 24]

Whoa, and now some extra weirdness: realized that though it's only using a bit of RAM, it's using 100% of the CPU. And after letting the game try to load for 30 minutes or so, my computer can no longer connect to the wireless network. Ending the process solves that problem. So this seems very strange indeed...

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

I hate to think it, but if things are falling apart in your machine it sounds like a very nasty virus.  I suggest a full, deep scan for your peace of mind.

 

Now the game will hang sometimes on the splash screen when there is something wrong with your multimedia system.  Run dxdiag from your run box.

 

The other possibility, if you haven't done a cold boot is a zombie process.  You can try a cold boot, and this will refresh your task list, or you can go into your task list and see if there is another copy of the exe lying dead in the list.  If there is, kill it.

 

If you've been adding custom content, only certain exchanges like the STEX, LEX and PLEX are known to be virus free.  How is your firewall?

[StanislausBabalistic 24]

Hmm, well, everything else *seems* to be going as well as can be expected for a machine this old. Ran a deep scan and actually found a few things (particularly Java CVEs), so those are getting cleared out now.

 

Dxdiag checked out okay. As for a zombie process, I've only seen anything connected to SC4 when I start the actual SC4, so I'm not sure what to do there. My firewall is...okay? (XP built-in.) I only got things from STEX and LEX, and I tried clearing all of them out of the plugins folder temporarily to see if that would help. So far it hasn't.

 

Thanks so much for the advice, though. I'll try tinkering with a couple other things and if they don't work, maybe just go for the Amazon digital download.