Game no longer starts (worked just fine before)

[Bahamut]

Okay, so up until this point I have had no problems with Spore. Everything has run smoothly (which, by glancing at these forums, I should count my blessings for) up until today. This morning I try to start up Spore, the screen turns black like the EA logo will show up, then it reverts to Windows XP and says Spore needs to close.

This game was working perfectly last night and for the previous two weeks, so I'd have trouble believing it's a driver problem. I'll post my DxDiag and all four exception logs from the four attempts I've made to start the game.

Thanks in advance.

[ManagerJosh]

A wise guess. Probably it is a driver related issue.

Install these drivers.

http://uoem.com/forums/showthread.php?t=16727

[Bahamut]

No change. Still won't show the EA splash.

Here's a new DxDiag w. your driver and the most recent Exception report.

[Bahamut]

Okay, so I've toyed around with the Application Data, specifically renaming my old spore data as something else (ex: SPORE2) so the game will auto-create new home planets, and the game starts. I've concluded that something in my old data folder is corrupted and won't let Spore run.

So, now I have new questions: Which file in my game0 directory is corrupted? How can I tell? Is there any way to rescue my old planets? Which files does Spore use to determine the Galaxy layout for the save games?

[ManagerJosh]

If everyone could give feedback if this works for them or not, and what kind of crash error they were / are getting, would be appreciated

1. Go find your Spore’s saved games. It should be located in your applications directory.
eg. C:\Documents and Settings\<<USERNAME>>\Application Data\SPORE\Games

2. There should be a folder called Game0 (or similarly otherwise) as well as a folder Games0.old (again similarly otherwise). Copy the folder Game0 to a spare location, as backup in case it doesn’t work.

3. Open the .old folder of the relating saved game you’ve just backed up.

4. Copy all the contents of this folder into the normal folder (eg. Games0) and overwrite all the files in there.

5. Load up and Spore, and check out when you saved your game previously.

[Bahamut]

ARRRRGGGHH!! This just happened AGAIN! I deleted my old Game0 file and it opened fine, so I figured just go with it, the files are gone. Played successfully last night, then I go to open it again and GUESS WHAT? Same problem as before.

So, I tried your suggestion above and, nope, it won't open even when copying the Game0.old contents into Game0.

Here's another couple of exception reports. Should I just re-install? I'd hate to waste an install on this, esp. if this problem will recur regardless.

[ManagerJosh]

I have my doubts reinstalling will do you any good. This almost sounds like it's a repeating issue. So we're gonna need to find out what's causing it.

Could you run a series of tests for me?

Scandisk - check your entire hard drive
HiJackThis - http://www.trendsecure.com/portal/en-US/tools/security_tools/hijackthis - Post the report here as well
Memtest - http://www.memtest.org/#downiso - run overnight for at least 6-8 hours.


Did you also have a chance to install the new patch from EA to upgrade spore to v1.1?

[Bahamut]

Okay. Scandisk came up with nothing, the HijackThis report is below. I haven't run the Memtest yet.

EDIT: for some reason the HijackThis isn't attaching; copypasta below.

----------------------

Logfile of Trend Micro HijackThis v2.0.2
Scan saved at 6:38:02 AM, on 9/24/2008
Platform: Windows XP SP3 (WinNT 5.01.2600)
MSIE: Internet Explorer v7.00 (7.00.6000.16705)
Boot mode: Normal

Running processes:
F:\WINDOWS\System32\smss.exe
F:\WINDOWS\system32\winlogon.exe
F:\WINDOWS\system32\services.exe
F:\WINDOWS\system32\lsass.exe
F:\WINDOWS\system32\svchost.exe
F:\WINDOWS\System32\svchost.exe
F:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\ccSetMgr.exe
F:\WINDOWS\Explorer.EXE
F:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\ccEvtMgr.exe
F:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\ccProxy.exe
F:\Program Files\Symantec Client Security\Symantec Client Firewall\ISSVC.exe
F:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\SNDSrvc.exe
F:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\SPBBC\SPBBCSvc.exe
F:\WINDOWS\system32\spoolsv.exe
F:\Program Files\Common Files\Apple\Mobile Device Support\bin\AppleMobileDeviceService.exe
F:\Program Files\Bonjour\mDNSResponder.exe
F:\Program Files\Symantec Client Security\Symantec AntiVirus\DefWatch.exe
F:\Program Files\Executive Software\Diskeeper\DkService.exe
F:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\VS7DEBUG\MDM.EXE
F:\Program Files\Nero\Nero8\Nero BackItUp\NBService.exe
F:\WINDOWS\system32\nvsvc32.exe
F:\WINDOWS\system32\svchost.exe
F:\Program Files\Symantec Client Security\Symantec AntiVirus\Rtvscan.exe
F:\Program Files\Symantec Client Security\Symantec Client Firewall\SymSPort.exe
F:\WINDOWS\system32\CTHELPER.EXE
F:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\ccApp.exe
F:\PROGRA~1\SYMANT~1\SYMANT~2\VPTray.exe
F:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 8.0\Acrobat\Acrotray.exe
F:\Program Files\iTunes\iTunesHelper.exe
F:\Program Files\Java\jre1.6.0_07\bin\jusched.exe
F:\WINDOWS\system32\RUNDLL32.EXE
F:\WINDOWS\system32\ctfmon.exe
F:\Program Files\Spybot - Search & Destroy\TeaTimer.exe
F:\Program Files\Common Files\Nero\Lib\NMBgMonitor.exe
F:\Program Files\Common Files\Nero\Lib\NMIndexingService.exe
F:\Program Files\iPod\bin\iPodService.exe
F:\Program Files\Common Files\Nero\Lib\NMIndexStoreSvr.exe
F:\Program Files\Common Files\Macrovision Shared\FLEXnet Publisher\FNPLicensingService.exe
F:\Program Files\Electronic Arts\EADM\Core.exe
F:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe
F:\Program Files\Trend Micro\HijackThis\HijackThis.exe

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
R1 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Int ernet Settings,ProxyOverride = *.local
O2 - BHO: Adobe PDF Reader Link Helper - {06849E9F-C8D7-4D59-B87D-784B7D6BE0B3} - F:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Acrobat\ActiveX\AcroIEHelper.dll
O2 - BHO: ContributeBHO Class - {074C1DC5-9320-4A9A-947D-C042949C6216} - F:\Program Files\Adobe\/Adobe Contribute CS3/contributeieplugin.dll
O2 - BHO: Spybot-S&D IE Protection - {53707962-6F74-2D53-2644-206D7942484F} - F:\PROGRA~1\SPYBOT~1\SDHelper.dll
O2 - BHO: SSVHelper Class - {761497BB-D6F0-462C-B6EB-D4DAF1D92D43} - F:\Program Files\Java\jre1.6.0_07\bin\ssv.dll
O2 - BHO: Adobe PDF Conversion Toolbar Helper - {AE7CD045-E861-484f-8273-0445EE161910} - F:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 8.0\Acrobat\AcroIEFavClient.dll
O3 - Toolbar: Adobe PDF - {47833539-D0C5-4125-9FA8-0819E2EAAC93} - F:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 8.0\Acrobat\AcroIEFavClient.dll
O3 - Toolbar: Contribute Toolbar - {517BDDE4-E3A7-4570-B21E-2B52B6139FC7} - F:\Program Files\Adobe\/Adobe Contribute CS3/contributeieplugin.dll
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [CTHelper] CTHELPER.EXE
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [AsioReg] REGSVR32.EXE /S CTASIO.DLL
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [UpdReg] F:\WINDOWS\UpdReg.EXE
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [ccApp] "F:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\ccApp.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [vptray] F:\PROGRA~1\SYMANT~1\SYMANT~2\VPTray.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Acrobat Assistant 8.0] "F:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 8.0\Acrobat\Acrotray.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Adobe_ID0EYTHM] F:\PROGRA~1\COMMON~1\Adobe\ADOBEV~1\Server\bin\VER SIO~2.EXE
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [AppleSyncNotifier] F:\Program Files\Common Files\Apple\Mobile Device Support\bin\AppleSyncNotifier.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [QuickTime Task] "F:\Program Files\QuickTime\QTTask.exe" -atboottime
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [iTunesHelper] "F:\Program Files\iTunes\iTunesHelper.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [SunJavaUpdateSched] "F:\Program Files\Java\jre1.6.0_07\bin\jusched.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [NeroFilterCheck] F:\Program Files\Common Files\Nero\Lib\NeroCheck.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [NBKeyScan] "F:\Program Files\Nero\Nero8\Nero BackItUp\NBKeyScan.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [NvCplDaemon] RUNDLL32.EXE F:\WINDOWS\system32\NvCpl.dll,NvStartup
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [nwiz] nwiz.exe /install
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [NvMediaCenter] RUNDLL32.EXE F:\WINDOWS\system32\NvMcTray.dll,NvTaskbarInit
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [ctfmon.exe] F:\WINDOWS\system32\ctfmon.exe
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [SpybotSD TeaTimer] F:\Program Files\Spybot - Search & Destroy\TeaTimer.exe
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [DAEMON Tools Lite] "F:\Program Files\DAEMON Tools Lite\daemon.exe" -autorun
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [BgMonitor_{79662E04-7C6C-4d9f-84C7-88D8A56B10AA}] "F:\Program Files\Common Files\Nero\Lib\NMBgMonitor.exe"
O8 - Extra context menu item: Append to existing PDF - res://F:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 8.0\Acrobat\AcroIEFavClient.dll/AcroIEAppend.html
O8 - Extra context menu item: Convert link target to Adobe PDF - res://F:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 8.0\Acrobat\AcroIEFavClient.dll/AcroIECapture.html
O8 - Extra context menu item: Convert link target to existing PDF - res://F:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 8.0\Acrobat\AcroIEFavClient.dll/AcroIEAppend.html
O8 - Extra context menu item: Convert selected links to Adobe PDF - res://F:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 8.0\Acrobat\AcroIEFavClient.dll/AcroIECaptureSelLinks.html
O8 - Extra context menu item: Convert selected links to existing PDF - res://F:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 8.0\Acrobat\AcroIEFavClient.dll/AcroIEAppendSelLinks.html
O8 - Extra context menu item: Convert selection to Adobe PDF - res://F:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 8.0\Acrobat\AcroIEFavClient.dll/AcroIECapture.html
O8 - Extra context menu item: Convert selection to existing PDF - res://F:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 8.0\Acrobat\AcroIEFavClient.dll/AcroIEAppend.html
O8 - Extra context menu item: Convert to Adobe PDF - res://F:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 8.0\Acrobat\AcroIEFavClient.dll/AcroIECapture.html
O8 - Extra context menu item: E&xport to Microsoft Excel - res://F:\PROGRA~1\MICROS~2\OFFICE11\EXCEL.EXE/3000
O9 - Extra button: (no name) - {08B0E5C0-4FCB-11CF-AAA5-00401C608501} - F:\Program Files\Java\jre1.6.0_07\bin\ssv.dll
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: Sun Java Console - {08B0E5C0-4FCB-11CF-AAA5-00401C608501} - F:\Program Files\Java\jre1.6.0_07\bin\ssv.dll
O9 - Extra button: Research - {92780B25-18CC-41C8-B9BE-3C9C571A8263} - F:\PROGRA~1\MICROS~2\OFFICE11\REFIEBAR.DLL
O9 - Extra button: (no name) - {DFB852A3-47F8-48C4-A200-58CAB36FD2A2} - F:\PROGRA~1\SPYBOT~1\SDHelper.dll
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: Spybot - Search & Destroy Configuration - {DFB852A3-47F8-48C4-A200-58CAB36FD2A2} - F:\PROGRA~1\SPYBOT~1\SDHelper.dll
O9 - Extra button: (no name) - {e2e2dd38-d088-4134-82b7-f2ba38496583} - F:\WINDOWS\Network Diagnostic\xpnetdiag.exe
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: @xpsp3res.dll,-20001 - {e2e2dd38-d088-4134-82b7-f2ba38496583} - F:\WINDOWS\Network Diagnostic\xpnetdiag.exe
O9 - Extra button: Messenger - {FB5F1910-F110-11d2-BB9E-00C04F795683} - F:\Program Files\Messenger\msmsgs.exe
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: Windows Messenger - {FB5F1910-F110-11d2-BB9E-00C04F795683} - F:\Program Files\Messenger\msmsgs.exe
O16 - DPF: {6414512B-B978-451D-A0D8-FCFDF33E833C} (WUWebControl Class) - http://www.update.microsoft.com/windowsupdate/v6/V5Controls/en/x86/client/wuweb_site.cab?1213293547984
O23 - Service: Adobe Version Cue CS3 - Adobe Systems Incorporated - F:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Adobe Version Cue CS3\Server\bin\VersionCueCS3.exe
O23 - Service: Apple Mobile Device - Apple Inc. - F:\Program Files\Common Files\Apple\Mobile Device Support\bin\AppleMobileDeviceService.exe
O23 - Service: ASP.NET State Service (aspnet_state) - Unknown owner - F:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\aspn et_state.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: Bonjour Service - Apple Inc. - F:\Program Files\Bonjour\mDNSResponder.exe
O23 - Service: Symantec Event Manager (ccEvtMgr) - Symantec Corporation - F:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\ccEvtMgr.exe
O23 - Service: Symantec Network Proxy (ccProxy) - Symantec Corporation - F:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\ccProxy.exe
O23 - Service: Symantec Settings Manager (ccSetMgr) - Symantec Corporation - F:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\ccSetMgr.exe
O23 - Service: Symantec AntiVirus Definition Watcher (DefWatch) - Symantec Corporation - F:\Program Files\Symantec Client Security\Symantec AntiVirus\DefWatch.exe
O23 - Service: Diskeeper - Executive Software International, Inc. - F:\Program Files\Executive Software\Diskeeper\DkService.exe
O23 - Service: FLEXnet Licensing Service - Macrovision Europe Ltd. - F:\Program Files\Common Files\Macrovision Shared\FLEXnet Publisher\FNPLicensingService.exe
O23 - Service: InstallDriver Table Manager (IDriverT) - Macrovision Corporation - F:\Program Files\Common Files\InstallShield\Driver\11\Intel 32\IDriverT.exe
O23 - Service: iPod Service - Apple Inc. - F:\Program Files\iPod\bin\iPodService.exe
O23 - Service: IS Service (ISSVC) - Symantec Corporation - F:\Program Files\Symantec Client Security\Symantec Client Firewall\ISSVC.exe
O23 - Service: LiveUpdate - Symantec Corporation - F:\PROGRA~1\Symantec\LIVEUP~1\LUCOMS~1.EXE
O23 - Service: Nero BackItUp Scheduler 3 - Nero AG - F:\Program Files\Nero\Nero8\Nero BackItUp\NBService.exe
O23 - Service: NMIndexingService - Nero AG - F:\Program Files\Common Files\Nero\Lib\NMIndexingService.exe
O23 - Service: NVIDIA Display Driver Service (NVSvc) - NVIDIA Corporation - F:\WINDOWS\system32\nvsvc32.exe
O23 - Service: Pml Driver HPZ12 - HP - F:\WINDOWS\system32\HPZipm12.exe
O23 - Service: SAVRoam (SavRoam) - symantec - F:\Program Files\Symantec Client Security\Symantec AntiVirus\SavRoam.exe
O23 - Service: Symantec Network Drivers Service (SNDSrvc) - Symantec Corporation - F:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\SNDSrvc.exe
O23 - Service: Symantec SPBBCSvc (SPBBCSvc) - Symantec Corporation - F:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\SPBBC\SPBBCSvc.exe
O23 - Service: Symantec AntiVirus - Symantec Corporation - F:\Program Files\Symantec Client Security\Symantec AntiVirus\Rtvscan.exe
O23 - Service: Symantec SecurePort (SymSecurePort) - Symantec Corporation - F:\Program Files\Symantec Client Security\Symantec Client Firewall\SymSPort.exe

--
End of file - 11136 bytes

[ManagerJosh]

Quit F:\Program Files\DAEMON Tools Lite\daemon.exe and try launching Spore. I'm betting the DRM SecuROM is picking it up and suppressing the game because of it.

[Bahamut]

No change, sorry.

[djizzle]

http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/support/download.htm#DFT
test your hard drive with this program. i think your hard drive might be failing and writing corrupted data.