Can't run Aces High .exe "AcesHigh.exe has stopped working"

[aaronr]

I have never had any issues in the past, and all other software and functions are acting completely normal.
This computer is new to me, but NOT a new computer.
OS is Win Vista Ultimate Svc Pk 2 all updates.
All software has loaded normally, Graphics card is a Nvidia Gtx 295.
This will run any game that has come out to date at maximum settings without a stutter or pause, at relatively high frame rates.
I would be happy to post a log if I knew which log and where to find it.
Thank you for your time.
P.S. this is the first time aceshigh has been loaded on this computer as far as I know, but not 100% positive.

[The Fugitive]

Aces High is a very high CPU usage game. The best thing to post would be the first third of a Dxdiag report.

goto start/run and type in dxdiag and hit ok. Once that window loads... may take a minute or two. click on the button on the lower left "save info as txt" Save it to your desktop. Open it with notepad and copy and paste the first third or so. The whole report won't fit, but most isn't needed to help.

The first third should have the info on your CPU, video, ram, OS, and sound.

[aaronr]

Hello thanks For the quick reply. Actually I think aceshigh is the LEAST CPU hungry game I have played in a very long time. here is my report abbreviated to save space. I think my hardware should be able to handle the huge resource requirements of aceshigh but perhaps I am being presumptuous. I can only upgrade at this point by going to a new mother board or if it's a graphics issue I can add another GTX-295. I hope this helps.

------------------
System Information
------------------
Time of this report: 1/4/2010, 19:17:50
       Machine name: HALFASST
   Operating System: Windows Vista Ultimate  (6.0, Build 6002) Service Pack 2 (6002.vistasp2_gdr.090803-2339)
           Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: System manufacturer
       System Model: System Product Name
               BIOS: BIOS Date: 12/19/08 09:53:33 Ver: 08.00.10
          Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU     E7400  @ 2.80GHz (2 CPUs), ~3.6GHz
             Memory: 3454MB RAM
          Page File: 1334MB used, 5817MB available
        Windows Dir: C:\Windows
    DirectX Version: DirectX 10
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
     DxDiag Version: 6.00.6001.18000 32bit Unicode

------------
DxDiag Notes
------------
      Display Tab 1: No problems found.
        Sound Tab 1: No problems found.
          Input Tab: No problems found.

--------------------
DirectX Debug Levels
--------------------
Direct3D:    0/4 (retail)
DirectDraw:  0/4 (retail)
DirectInput: 0/5 (retail)
DirectMusic: 0/5 (retail)
DirectPlay:  0/9 (retail)
DirectSound: 0/5 (retail)
DirectShow:  0/6 (retail)

---------------
Display Devices
---------------
        Card name: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 295
     Manufacturer: NVIDIA
        Chip type: GeForce GTX 295
         DAC type: Integrated RAMDAC
       Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0615&SUBSYS_11513842&REV_A2
   Display Memory: 1969 MB
 Dedicated Memory: 1497 MB
    Shared Memory: 1471 MB
     Current Mode: 1280 x 960 (32 bit) (75Hz)
          Monitor: Generic PnP Monitor
      Driver Name: nvd3dum.dll,nvwgf2um.dll,nvwgf2um.dll
   Driver Version: 8.16.0011.9107 (English)
      DDI Version: 10
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
 Driver Date/Size: 9/27/2009 15:12:22, 7614056 bytes
      WHQL Logo'd: Yes
  WHQL Date Stamp:
Device Identifier: {D7B71E3E-4555-11CF-6178-5A311DC2C535}
        Vendor ID: 0x10DE
        Device ID: 0x0615
        SubSys ID: 0x11513842
      Revision ID: 0x00A2
      Revision ID: 0x00A2
      Video Accel: ModeMPEG2_A ModeMPEG2_C ModeVC1_C ModeWMV9_C
 Deinterlace Caps: {6CB69578-7617-4637-91E5-1C02DB810285}: Format(In/Out)=(YUY2,YUY2) 
     DDraw Status: Enabled
       D3D Status: Enabled
       AGP Status: Enabled

[Chalenge]

I think an E7400 is a little light in the CPU for a 295 but it may be you have a lot of processes running in the background. Have you tried trimming your services down?

[aaronr]

Running at 3.6 ghz my friend, crysis runs fine on max settings, and flight Sim x with high settings on all runs at avg frame rates of 70 fps. Aceshigh runs fine on my friends Pentium D single core at 3.5 ghz with only 2 gig ram and a old Nvidia 9800 card so I think we can get a resource issue out of our heads But I do thank you very much for your input.
P.S. my CPU usage has NEVER exceeded more then 30% running anything, unless I max it to 100% using certain bench marks on purpose. I will be more then happy to run any bench you would like me to and post the results for you so you can see that resources are not the issue. Unfortunately I know quite a few things that are not! the problem but I don't know that One thing that IS the problem, that's why I am here asking, in hope that some technical person can tell me what setting in vista I may need to check.

P.P.S. also the program never starts! It Never starts! when the .exe is started it simply gives the message that I posted "Aceshigh.exe has stopped working" right off the bat, instantly. I ran it a month ago on my other system that was not even close to this lol. I don't want to re subscribe if there is no point and if I have to have a Quad core to do it then I won't play.
I also did try a punk Nvidia 9800 card borrowed from my buddy and still exact same message.

[aaronr]

Update after a couple of phone calls I found that aceshigh had indeed been installed at one time and it was on a two week trial basis. With that new info in mind I went into the DEP setting and allowed the aceshigh.exe. I also disabled NOD32 and ALL system protection. I am running in TRUE admin mode not admin mode most think is admin, which some know that in vista simply running as admin will NOT give you true admin privileges and one must take some more steps to gain full access. ahfilm.exe will run fine but clicking on dx9test.exe does nothing.it appears that the program is attempting to make a call to the registry on startup and that's killing it I imagine it has to do with the hidden code that in embedded onto the hard drive to prevent one from unlimited trials. Since this is not worth the effort to me I will now officially pull out and thank those who attempted to help, thank you once again for your kindness but I give up for now and will just put this on the back burner until such time I install a different OS on a clean HD that has not had the hidden code written to it by the aceshigh program, I think it will then load and run just fine, but that may be a year from now lol. thank you again, sorry for taking up your time.

[Chalenge]

I dont think thats it at all but ...

I was talking about the GTX 295 being a little heavy for your CPU. I have an E8400 and I suspect it has problems with the 295 also and yes occasionally my AH stops responding. I do not believe its 'hidden code.'

[aaronr]

That wouldn't explain the 9800 card having the same issue.

[Chalenge]

I notice you didnt post the audio device section of the dxdiag. Also what is the native resolution of your monitor?

Did your sytem come with Vista or did you upgrade it with XP in place? Are you overclocking the video also?

Your doing great on overclock. 3.6 is about all I could push my 8400 to without AH crashing at startup. Good luck sorting that out!

[aaronr]

Resolution is posted above I use large flat crt mon so there is no "native" resolution.
Here is sound info


-------------
Sound Devices
-------------
            Description: Speakers (Realtek High Definition Audio)
 Default Sound Playback: Yes
 Default Voice Playback: Yes
            Hardware ID: HDAUDIO\FUNC_01&VEN_10EC&DEV_0662&SUBSYS_10438290&REV_1001
        Manufacturer ID: 1
             Product ID: 100
                   Type: WDM
            Driver Name: RTKVHDA.sys
         Driver Version: 6.00.0001.5730 (English)
      Driver Attributes: Final Retail
            WHQL Logo'd: Yes
          Date and Size: 10/31/2008 10:43:30, 2231456 bytes
            Other Files:
        Driver Provider: Realtek Semiconductor Corp.
         HW Accel Level: Basic
              Cap Flags: 0xF1F
    Min/Max Sample Rate: 100, 200000
Static/Strm HW Mix Bufs: 1, 0
 Static/Strm HW 3D Bufs: 0, 0
              HW Memory: 0
       Voice Management: No
 EAX(tm) 2.0 Listen/Src: No, No
   I3DL2(tm) Listen/Src: No, No
Sensaura(tm) ZoomFX(tm): No

---------------------
Sound Capture Devices
---------------------
            Description: Line In (Realtek High Definition Audio)
  Default Sound Capture: Yes
  Default Voice Capture: Yes
            Driver Name: RTKVHDA.sys
         Driver Version: 6.00.0001.5730 (English)
      Driver Attributes: Final Retail
          Date and Size: 10/31/2008 10:43:30, 2231456 bytes
              Cap Flags: 0x1
           Format Flags: 0xFFFFF

            Description: FrontMic (Realtek High Definition Audio)
  Default Sound Capture: No
  Default Voice Capture: No
            Driver Name: RTKVHDA.sys
         Driver Version: 6.00.0001.5730 (English)
      Driver Attributes: Final Retail
          Date and Size: 10/31/2008 10:43:30, 2231456 bytes
              Cap Flags: 0x1
           Format Flags: 0xFFFFF

            Description: Stereo Mix (Realtek High Definition Audio)
  Default Sound Capture: No
  Default Voice Capture: No
            Driver Name: RTKVHDA.sys
         Driver Version: 6.00.0001.5730 (English)
      Driver Attributes: Final Retail
          Date and Size: 10/31/2008 10:43:30, 2231456 bytes
              Cap Flags: 0x1
           Format Flags: 0xFFFFF

[MotleyCH]

All I can think of is, make sure Aces High isn't installed in the Program Files Folder.

Maybe do a fresh install in C:\Hitech Creations\Aces High

And turn off your antivirus while installing it all including the hires textures.

[aaronr]

Thanks for the ideas. My vista install was a fresh install. I have done the install uninstall at least three times, but haven't tried the install with av off just tried running with it off so I will give that a shot. I honestly doubt very much that there is some hardware short coming. Nod 32 can be pretty aggressive but I am 55 years old and have been involved with computers since the 8080 days when we didn't have CRT terminals our display was a dot matrix printer and have kept up somewhat since then, no I don't think I would be considered a noob lol. I even gave DEP permission to let it run. I have seen something like this before in the last year and am trying to remember what it was , that might help. If I do get it sorted I will definitely post the results here so some others might be helped. So I will try a reinstall with the av disabled and see what happens, the symptoms are that I double click on the .exe and it appears to be getting ready to display a screen then the message pops up. So it's as if the Very first thing it comes to is killing it making me lean toward the video but like I said I tried an old 9800 card and still the same results. there is no .cfg files in the main program folder and I assume that's because the program has never run? else I would delete the video .cfg. Well thank you all and I will continue to chip away with a process of elimination.

P.S. @ chalenge the 3.6 is with a stock P4 cooler which is much larger then the boxed duo core cooler, and it will run all stress tests for 24 hrs without exceeding 57c 100% CPU usage[using Everest Ultimate Engineering Edition v5.30.1900 System stability test], but I have extensive case cooling, video card is not Oc'd in this configuration.
If you can't hit 3.6 easily with a game like aceshigh I would say you might have some issues. I'm not quite sure why you think aceshigh is so hard on a system when there are tons of folks running it fine on single core machines and much weaker video.
It has traditionally been one of the lightest games I have on a machine as far as machine stress is concerned. I see nothing about it that would stress a system. I was running a P4 3.5 single core last June on AH2 and an old card hi res textures and frame rates in fur balls never dropped below 60, and I'm talking ten + fur balls all in very close proximity. Your 8400 should NEVER even break a sweat at 3.6. So just as a test I dropped clock for 2.66 Ghz and the exact same issue unfortunately.

P.P.S. just tried reinstall with AV disabled and still no go. You can see by my join date that I've been around a bit, I VERY STRONGLY believe there is some remnant remaining in the registry from a previous install that is killing me.

[Skuzzy]

The game only makes one registry entry and that is for its location on the hard drive.  We do not hide files either. Here is a suggestion.

Reset the CPU to stock speed and try it again, just to see if it works.  Did you kick the FSB speed up also?  Reset it back to stock.

[aaronr]

As posted above I tried that already. So if aceshigh makes no entry of any sort on my hard drive what would prevent one from having unlimited trials? obviously simply tying the IP to an account won't work, and it doesn't work, so there is some print left on the machine telling it, and you that that machine had an expired trial on it. Where am I wrong here?
Well anyway that banter won't help me so please forgive my diversion. But I am simply grasping at straws here.

[Skuzzy]

How we manage the free trial is part of our IP and not up for discussion.

I am simply telling you the game is not making any hidden entries in the registry, nor does it create any hidden files.  Our installation is one of the cleanest software installs you will ever encounter.  One registry entry.  All files in its home folder and completely visible.

All of that is a moot point as it would not cause the problems you are having.  Can I assume the game is not installed in the "Program Files" folder?  Is UAC running?

The RealTek driver could stand updating, but I do not beleive that is the issue, unless you do not have any speakers attached to it.