Launcher issues - Cannot load login prompt

Hey folks. I've been having some very, very recent issues with this game that I prior did not have at all, and was wondering if the good folks of Tech Support could be of service. While this thread was previously posted in Players Questions, I've reposted this thread here, with updated information and a few questions from another user with their answers.

Anyway, as I'm booting up my NCsoft launcher and immediately boot up CoX, where I'm greeted with a static loadscreen... that won't update. It won't load the login prompt. It won't do anything. It sits there, mutedly and silently, not loading anything, and eventually, crashing after a quick Ctr-Alt-Del for the Vista Task Manager or even an Alt-Tab.

Odd. Never had this before. I mean, even during a server maintenance the game is more responsive. Now I get nothing.

So I figured I could fix this via verifying my game files and loading again after a reboot of my desktop, but that seems to do nothing, either. I'm still met with a silent, static load screen, and no prompt for logging in loading at all.

Stupidly enough, it does run in Safe Mode, windowed and well. But it's rather suspect that the game goes wonky like it did.

The desktop is a Medion rig with an Intel i7-2600 dual core CPU @ 2x3.40 GHz, 8 gigs of RAM, running 64-bits Windows Vista. Further information available upon request, but general storage space and graphical card ought to be no problem, as I ran the game normally before. The proper CoH-helper output will be provided in the next post.

I've also tried running the game in Safe Mode, which seems to load the login prompt just dandy. However, upon upping my resolution from 800x600 to 1680x1050 windowed from the Safe Mode menu options, the login window decides to spaz out and crash. What the devil is going on?

Forums user EmperorSteele asked me a few questions relating to my problems in my previous thread, which I'll provide the answers for below:

Quote:

Originally Posted by EmperorSteele Q: Do other games work? A: Other games seem to work normally, including games more intensive on the graphics card. Q: When was the last time CoH worked without a problem? A: Literally hours before. Game worked dandy up to 14:00 GMT. Later in the afternoon, I tried to boot up the game to no avail. Q: In the time between then and now, is it possible that changes may have been made to your system via a virus or family member? A: No with regards to family; not at all. Virus scanner is up to date and has scanned my rig just yesterday: it came up quite clean.

And, as promised, the CoH Helper output.

Having further examined the extent of my problems, I've come across the following issues:

Running the game in as-is Safe Mode, the game worked.

Increasing the resolution and allowing the game to run in windowed mode, the game could run.

Changing character model details resulted in no crash.

Changing shadow rendering from Safe Mode, or texture resolution, or bumpmapping, or worldmapping, caused the game to crash.

In fact, I'm pretty sure the game can't even load character portraits, because initiating NPC contact or using a $target info caused the game to crash.

After this, I decided to uninstall and reinstall the game. Now I cannot boot up the game anymore into Safe Mode either.

This is getting ridonkulous

EDIT: Safe Mode functionality restored. Still boned otherwise to be playing City of Lego, crashing under a stiff breeze.

Your CoH Helper report is incomplete. It shows none of the game settings. You may have a program that is not allowing it to access the registry.

Make sure that you are downloading CoH Helper to the desktop, right-clicking on the file and selecting Run as administrator. If it still doesn't get the game settings that means that something on your computer is blocking it's access to the registry.

Also, please include a HiJackThis report as well so that we can see what else is running on the computer that could be causing this issue.

Please don't put the output of either program inside a quote box or a code box, it makes it more difficult to read.

My bad, babby's first forray into this forum. I'll try to keep that in mind for later.

Indeed, the program gave an error message about not being able to read CoX's registry information proper, despite running in Admin mode. Already suspect, I'd say. I'll install HijackThis shortly and give a dump of that.

Anyway, HijackThis report log. This time without quote box. Which makes it harder to read, I'd say, but hey, forums conventions.


Logfile of Trend Micro HijackThis v2.0.4
Scan saved at 23:04:57, on 19-8-2012
Platform: Windows 7 SP1 (WinNT 6.00.3505)
MSIE: Internet Explorer v9.00 (9.00.8112.16448)
Boot mode: Normal

Running processes:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Ink\TabTip32.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\LOLReplay\LOLRecorder.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\Intel\Intel(R) Rapid Storage Technology\IAStorIcon.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\CyberLink\Power2Go\CLMLSvc.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\ScanSoft\OmniPageSE2.0\opwareSE2.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\plugin-container.exe
C:\Windows\SysWOW64\Macromed\Flash\FlashPlayerPlug in_11_3_300_271.exe
C:\Windows\SysWOW64\Macromed\Flash\FlashPlayerPlug in_11_3_300_271.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\NCsoft\City Of Heroes (EU)\CityOfHeroes.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\Trend Micro\HiJackThis\HiJackThis.exe

R1 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Search Page = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=54896
R0 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Start Page = http://www.google.nl/
R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Default_Page_URL = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=69157
R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Default_Search_URL = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=54896
R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Search Page = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=54896
R0 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Start Page = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=69157
R0 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Search,SearchAssistant =
R0 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Search,CustomizeSearch =
R0 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Local Page = C:\Windows\SysWOW64\blank.htm
R0 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Toolbar,LinksFolderName =
F2 - REG:system.ini: UserInit=userinit.exe
O1 - Hosts: ::1 localhost
O2 - BHO: AcroIEHelperStub - {18DF081C-E8AD-4283-A596-FA578C2EBDC3} - C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Adobe\Acrobat\ActiveX\AcroIEHelperShim.dll
O2 - BHO: Windows Live ID Sign-in Helper - {9030D464-4C02-4ABF-8ECC-5164760863C6} - C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Windows Live\WindowsLiveLogin.dll
O2 - BHO: Java(tm) Plug-In 2 SSV Helper - {DBC80044-A445-435b-BC74-9C25C1C588A9} - C:\Program Files (x86)\Java\jre6\bin\jp2ssv.dll
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [IAStorIcon] C:\Program Files (x86)\Intel\Intel(R) Rapid Storage Technology\IAStorIcon.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [CLMLServer] "C:\Program Files (x86)\CyberLink\Power2Go\CLMLSvc.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [SwitchBoard] C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Adobe\SwitchBoard\SwitchBoard.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [AdobeCS5.5ServiceManager] "C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Adobe\CS5.5ServiceManager\CS5.5ServiceManage r.exe" -launchedbylogin
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Adobe ARM] "C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Adobe\ARM\1.0\AdobeARM.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [OpwareSE2] "C:\Program Files (x86)\ScanSoft\OmniPageSE2.0\OpwareSE2.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [OPSE reminder] "C:\Program Files (x86)\ScanSoft\OmniPageSE2.0\EregEng\Ereg.exe" -r "C:\Program Files (x86)\ScanSoft\OmniPageSE2.0\EregEng\ereg.ini"
O4 - HKUS\S-1-5-19\..\Run: [Sidebar] %ProgramFiles%\Windows Sidebar\Sidebar.exe /autoRun (User 'LOCAL SERVICE')
O4 - HKUS\S-1-5-19\..\RunOnce: [mctadmin] C:\Windows\System32\mctadmin.exe (User 'LOCAL SERVICE')
O4 - HKUS\S-1-5-20\..\Run: [Sidebar] %ProgramFiles%\Windows Sidebar\Sidebar.exe /autoRun (User 'NETWORK SERVICE')
O4 - HKUS\S-1-5-20\..\RunOnce: [mctadmin] C:\Windows\System32\mctadmin.exe (User 'NETWORK SERVICE')
O4 - Global Startup: LOLRecorder.lnk = C:\Program Files (x86)\LOLReplay\LOLRecorder.exe
O8 - Extra context menu item: E&xporteren naar Microsoft Excel - res://C:\PROGRA~2\MICROS~3\Office12\EXCEL.EXE/3000
O8 - Extra context menu item: Google Sidewiki... - res://C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Google Toolbar\Component\GoogleToolbarDynamic_mui_en_96D6 FF0C6D236BF8.dll/cmsidewiki.html
O9 - Extra button: eBay.nl - {0B65DCC9-1740-43dc-B19C-4F309FB6A6CA} - http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/1346-72745-17534-1/4 (file missing)
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: eBay.nl - {0B65DCC9-1740-43dc-B19C-4F309FB6A6CA} - http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/1346-72745-17534-1/4 (file missing)
O9 - Extra button: @C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Live\Writer\WindowsLiveWriterShortcuts.dll,-1004 - {219C3416-8CB2-491a-A3C7-D9FCDDC9D600} - C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Live\Writer\WriterBrowserExtension.dll
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: @C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Live\Writer\WindowsLiveWriterShortcuts.dll,-1003 - {219C3416-8CB2-491a-A3C7-D9FCDDC9D600} - C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Live\Writer\WriterBrowserExtension.dll
O9 - Extra button: Verzenden naar OneNote - {2670000A-7350-4f3c-8081-5663EE0C6C49} - C:\PROGRA~2\MICROS~3\Office12\ONBttnIE.dll
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: Verz&enden naar OneNote - {2670000A-7350-4f3c-8081-5663EE0C6C49} - C:\PROGRA~2\MICROS~3\Office12\ONBttnIE.dll
O9 - Extra button: Research - {92780B25-18CC-41C8-B9BE-3C9C571A8263} - C:\PROGRA~2\MICROS~3\Office12\REFIEBAR.DLL
O9 - Extra button: eBay.nl - {0B65DCC9-1740-43dc-B19C-4F309FB6A6CA} - http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/1346-72745-17534-1/4 (file missing) (HKCU)
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: eBay.nl - {0B65DCC9-1740-43dc-B19C-4F309FB6A6CA} - http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/1346-72745-17534-1/4 (file missing) (HKCU)
O10 - Unknown file in Winsock LSP: c:\program files (x86)\common files\microsoft shared\windows live\wlidnsp.dll
O10 - Unknown file in Winsock LSP: c:\program files (x86)\common files\microsoft shared\windows live\wlidnsp.dll
O11 - Options group: [ACCELERATED_GRAPHICS] Accelerated graphics
O15 - Trusted Zone: *.clonewarsadventures.com
O15 - Trusted Zone: *.freerealms.com
O15 - Trusted Zone: *.soe.com
O15 - Trusted Zone: *.sony.com
O16 - DPF: {E6F480FC-BD44-4CBA-B74A-89AF7842937D} (SysInfo Class) - http://content.systemrequirementslab...i_4.4.26.0.cab
O18 - Protocol: skype4com - {FFC8B962-9B40-4DFF-9458-1830C7DD7F5D} - C:\PROGRA~2\COMMON~1\Skype\SKYPE4~1.DLL
O18 - Protocol: wlpg - {E43EF6CD-A37A-4A9B-9E6F-83F89B8E6324} - C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Live\Photo Gallery\AlbumDownloadProtocolHandler.dll
O23 - Service: Acronis OS Selector Reinstall Service (AcronisOSSReinstallSvc) - Unknown owner - C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Acronis\Disk Director\oss_reinstall_svc.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: Adobe Acrobat Update Service (AdobeARMservice) - Adobe Systems Incorporated - C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Adobe\ARM\1.0\armsvc.exe
O23 - Service: Adobe Flash Player Update Service (AdobeFlashPlayerUpdateSvc) - Adobe Systems Incorporated - C:\Windows\SysWOW64\Macromed\Flash\FlashPlayerUpda teService.exe
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\system32\Alg.exe,-112 (ALG) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\System32\alg.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\system32\efssvc.dll,-100 (EFS) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\System32\lsass.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%systemroot%\system32\fxsresm.dll,-118 (Fax) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\fxssvc.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: Hi-Rez Studios Authenticate and Update Service (HiPatchService) - Hi-Rez Studios - C:\Program Files (x86)\Hi-Rez Studios\HiPatchService.exe
O23 - Service: Intel(R) Rapid Storage Technology (IAStorDataMgrSvc) - Intel Corporation - C:\Program Files (x86)\Intel\Intel(R) Rapid Storage Technology\IAStorDataMgrSvc.exe
O23 - Service: @keyiso.dll,-100 (KeyIso) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\lsass.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: Intel(R) Management and Security Application Local Management Service (LMS) - Intel Corporation - C:\Program Files (x86)\Intel\Intel(R) Management Engine Components\LMS\LMS.exe
O23 - Service: Mozilla Maintenance Service (MozillaMaintenance) - Mozilla Foundation - C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Maintenance Service\maintenanceservice.exe
O23 - Service: @comres.dll,-2797 (MSDTC) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\System32\msdtc.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\System32\netlogon.dll,-102 (Netlogon) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\lsass.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: NVIDIA Display Driver Service (nvsvc) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\nvvsvc.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: NVIDIA Update Service Daemon (nvUpdatusService) - NVIDIA Corporation - C:\Program Files (x86)\NVIDIA Corporation\NVIDIA Update Core\daemonu.exe
O23 - Service: @%systemroot%\system32\psbase.dll,-300 (ProtectedStorage) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\lsass.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%systemroot%\system32\Locator.exe,-2 (RpcLocator) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\locator.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\system32\samsrv.dll,-1 (SamSs) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\lsass.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: Skype Updater (SkypeUpdate) - Skype Technologies - C:\Program Files (x86)\Skype\Updater\Updater.exe
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\system32\snmptrap.exe,-3 (SNMPTRAP) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\System32\snmptrap.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%systemroot%\system32\spoolsv.exe,-1 (Spooler) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\System32\spoolsv.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\system32\sppsvc.exe,-101 (sppsvc) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\sppsvc.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: Steam Client Service - Valve Corporation - C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Steam\SteamService.exe
O23 - Service: NVIDIA Stereoscopic 3D Driver Service (Stereo Service) - NVIDIA Corporation - C:\Program Files (x86)\NVIDIA Corporation\3D Vision\nvSCPAPISvr.exe
O23 - Service: SwitchBoard - Adobe Systems Incorporated - C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Adobe\SwitchBoard\SwitchBoard.exe
O23 - Service: TabletServicePen - Wacom Technology, Corp. - C:\Program Files\Tablet\Pen\Pen_Tablet.exe
O23 - Service: Wacom Consumer Touch Service (TouchServicePen) - Wacom Technology, Corp. - C:\Program Files\Tablet\Pen\Pen_TouchService.exe
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\system32\ui0detect.exe,-101 (UI0Detect) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\UI0Detect.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: Intel(R) Management and Security Application User Notification Service (UNS) - Intel Corporation - C:\Program Files (x86)\Intel\Intel(R) Management Engine Components\UNS\UNS.exe
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\system32\vaultsvc.dll,-1003 (VaultSvc) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\lsass.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\system32\vds.exe,-100 (vds) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\System32\vds.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%systemroot%\system32\vssvc.exe,-102 (VSS) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\vssvc.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\system32\Wat\WatUX.exe,-601 (WatAdminSvc) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\Wat\WatAdminSvc.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%systemroot%\system32\wbengine.exe,-104 (wbengine) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\wbengine.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%Systemroot%\system32\wbem\wmiapsrv.exe,-110 (wmiApSrv) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\wbem\WmiApSrv.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%PROGRAMFILES%\Windows Media Player\wmpnetwk.exe,-101 (WMPNetworkSvc) - Unknown owner - C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Media Player\wmpnetwk.exe (file missing)
--
End of file - 11391 bytes

Two things concern me a bit. The first is whatever is blocking CoH Helper from accessing the registry. That could be causing other issues. The second thing is that I see no anti-virus software running on the system. Viruses and malware can cause legitimate programs to not be able to access the registry and can cause other problems.

Without being able to see the game settings portion of CoH Helper I don't know if any of your game settings might be causing issues.

As for the HiJackThis report, only one thing really stands out.

Wacom tablet software has been known to cause this problem in the past. Not everyone runs into it, but given the symptoms you reported and seeing the Wacom services running makes me think it might be your problem.

There are a few ways to try this, and I'll go from least drastic to most. After trying one fix, if it resolves the issue you'll know you're OK. If not, try the next one and repeat until you find the solution that works for you.


1. Unplug the tablet and/or any pens for the tablet and launch the game.

2. Disable the tablet services. Click the Start orb, type services.msc in the Search box and hit enter. Find the entry for TabletServicePen in the list. Double-click it and set it to Disabled. Click OK. Do the same thing for Wacom Consumer Touch Service in the list. This will keep the services from starting and may allow the game to launch and run fine.

3. Uninstall the Wacom software. This is what some have had to do in order to get the game to launch correctly. I don't know if updated drivers or software from Wacom would allow it to be re-installed and not interfere with the game.

The only other entry I see that I'm not sure of is the LOLRecorder. I've not seen it in any HJT reports so don't know if it would cause problems or not. I know the basics of what the program is, just not whether it might interact with the game or launcher in any way.

The only thing that I can imagine blocking CoH Helper is my virus scanner: that is to say, Microsoft Security Essentials. Why it wouldn't show up on the HijackThis report, however, is anyone's guess.

Your suggestion to remove the Wacom tablet is also an odd one, since this problem came up recently and I have played the game just dandy for a little over a month without issues, including with the tablet plugged in. However, I have run all three of your suggestions in order - plug out the tablet, to no effect; disable the tablet via services.msc, to no effect; uninstalling the tablet software, also to no effect.

Actually, come to think of it, the only difference in playing before is having used avast! anti-virus software rather than MSE, but I wanted to give MSE a go. Let's disable that a moment and see if that caused CoH Helper to be blocked.

EDIT: Aaand the verdict is in: MSE does not block the registry, so I just can't get the CoH Helper tool to get my game settings. At all. It might be related to this issue I'm having currently, but you'd think two fresh installs would've fixed it by now.

I've received a proper support ticket last night suggesting I'd at least update my vid drivers. So I will, and I will keep you lot posted.

EDIT: And updating my video drivers did nothing to remededy my situation. Again, the most curious thing is that the game crashed on loading NPC portraits. So $target info prompts, no NPC interaction, lest my game crashes. Sounds more like a technical and rendering issue than anything else.

I've managed to snag a standard Windows error report out of this particular bug, maybe that'll help the techies over at NCsoft; apparently, one of my characters is logged off with the Contacts pane open. The game will immediately crash upon loading.

As I said, we've seen problems pop up from time to time with the Wacom tablets. At least you've been able to determine that it isn't the tablet causing these issues.

I've never realized that MSE isn't showing in a HJT log. I haven't run HJT on my own computer in so long (haven't had a reason to) that I never noticed it wasn't showing up. I run MSE on most of my computers, including work computers.

I'm thinking it may be something in one of the in-game settings, but since you can't get the loading screen to be able to log into the game and check or change settings ... well, you see the problem there.

I'm at a loss as to what to suggest from here.

Sorry I couldn't help you find a solution.

Hi again!

I'm gonna suggest 2 things.

Turn on vertical synch. (If you're using a flat screen monitor, it's locked at 60fps regardless, and if your FPS is higher than that, it can cause tearing and miiiight be causing a bug)

Defrag your HD. Perhaps a file got moved and was scrambled? (Verifying the files doesn't actually check every single file. Kinda annoying)

Thanks, tried all that. Vertical synching does net me a bit of a performance boost in my limited gameplay state. Sadly, defragging didn't help either.

Unless the tech support folks find out what's wrong with my game or my rig, I might have to consider formatting my machine and starting over from scratch again

Update! Apparently, a wistful 'wish I could read them bios' had me in touch with a random dude/-ette who helped me with brainstorming. In the end, they linked me to this post and thread:

Quote:

Originally Posted by theshaolinluchador Just got responded by support. Fixed the problem! If anyone else is experiencing this, here's what support suggests: > 1. Press and hold the Windows key and then hit the R key. This should bring up the Run dialog box. > > 2. Type "MSCONFIG" without the quotes, and click "OK." This should open the System Configuration Utility. > > 3. Go to the "Startup" tab and click the "Disable All" button. > > 4. Next go to "Services" tab and check the "Hide All Microsoft Services" check box, then click the "Disable All" button. > > 5. Once these items are all disabled, click the "OK" button and you will get a prompt to restart your computer. Please restart your computer.

And whaddayaknow! It works! After that, it's simply been a process of elimination.

In the end, I could activate all running processes, except three innocuous processes I had entirely overlooked. In the weekend, I had installed a scanner software suite for my, well, scanner, between playing CoX before and after this whole mess. Apparently, that caused CoX to totally go on the friz. In fact, activating the processes CyberLink MediaLibrary Service, ScanSoft Ltd's Ereg Application and Omnipage SE caused me to go back to crashing CoX under pretty much a stiff breeze again. Turn that bloody stuff off, and it was smooth sailing again.

So! Round of applause to @The X, and thank you all in this thread for at least trying to help me out here. Finally, many thanks to a supportive tech support staff for handling my ticket.

Glad you got it working. I'll file the ScanSoft info for future use.

I had wondered about it but thoiught surely I'd seen it in the HJT from someone that wasn't having issues.

Sorry I didn't think to mention trying it.

Honestly, I can imagine this being an easy thing to overlook. Heck, I had forgotten about it, myself!