Game hangs under Windows 7

[HOD]

I'm finding that the game hangs at the same point no matter what I try to do. If I go through the tutorial it gets as far as the point you're supposed to select the first unit then freezes. The mouse pointer doesn't even respond. Eventually you get back to the desktop and there's a "Memory access violation". I have tried disabling all sound and features and lowering graphics quality but get the same issue. If I try to play the campaign I can move the camera around OK, position units OK, but as soon as I click to start, the same 'hang' occurs.

My PC is a 2.6GHz quad core CPU (ASUS mobo), with ASUS ENGTX280 GPU (latest Nvidia drivers at v195.62). Soundcard is an Audigy2. I have 4GB DDR2 RAM.

I'm running 32 bit Windows 7 (which I suspect may be the problem?) and have tried variations of "compatability mode" as per suggestions in the similar thread about Windows 2008 Server.

I purchased the game via Impulse (but I doubt that's relevant?)

[Chronic Logic - Josiah]

Can you try downloading the demo from our website and see if you have the same problem, just to make sure it is not something with Impulse:

http://www.chroniclogic.com/ke_download.htm

Thanks!

[HOD]

I notice that the demo says v1.58 whereas the full game I downloaded via Impulse is v1.57 however both exhibit the same issue.

I notice that the sound actually continues playing after the hang, however any animations e.g. the windmill stop. I have yet to see a unit move/animate in any way. Both the tutorial and campaign appear to stop whenever units are meant to be 'in action' if that's significant?

[Chronic Logic - Josiah]

Very strange, I will look into it.

[Chronic Logic - Josiah]

I have been testing on Windows 7 and have been unable to reproduce the problem.  It must have something to do with the video/sound hardware or drives.

[scribbler]

I had the same problem in 7. I've also got a Nvidia card so it may be related to that. (I can get more specific specs later but I'm not at that machine right now.)

[Chronic Logic - Josiah]

Strange, maybe it is a video driver issue with NVIDIA and windows 7.  Try updating the video drivers if that is possible.

[HOD]

One of the first thngs I did was update gfx drivers. I have since then re-installed Windows7 (but as 64bit). As soon as I had all drivers updated I tried again on this 'clean install' but got exactly the same issue. In the tutorial the first unit appears but then the game crashes to desktop within a split second of that.

Shortly after that I also upgraded my soundcard (was Creative Audigy2, now SB X-Fi Fatal1ty) and still have the same issue.

In desperation I finally got round to updating my BIOS in order to enable hardware virtualization (as I wanted to try out XP mode) but of course that was never going to work anyway for a 3D game. Still it got me to ensure everything is as up-to-date as it can be! 

FRUSTRATING! 

At least now I know it's not just me.

[Chronic Logic - Josiah]

Will do some more testing and see if we can figure anything out.  Thanks for all the information.

[HOD]

As far as I can tell the significant thing would seem to be units moving or when the AI kicks in maybe?

i.e. in the tutorial it's the point where your first unit appears and would be just about to animate/move. Wheras if you start the campaign you can place units but it's when you start the action that the game crashes.

Is there a particular sound that plays when units start to move by any chance?

Is there any sort of diagnostic mode (startup paremeters) or logging I could enable to help determine the cause?