Anyone else sees it crashing on your XP machine?

Try running it in Win98 compatibility mode.  Also, see if launching it directly from the exe instead of through the launcher or Stardock Central helps.

 

I'm getting crashes too, and after trying everything CariElf suggested, there has been no improvement.

Has anyone resolved these problems with crashing in XP? I can't even run the game ... and I just purchased it...

I'm seeing the same problems. It crashes freezes wth 100% CPU usage when I click "New Company". Compatibility mode let me get to the company creation screen, but that screen would freeze when I tried to start the game. I am running XP 64, maybe that is the problem?

Update: It's not just XP 64. It won't work on my laptop either (XP Pro). Anyone think we'll be able to get a refund, or better yet a patch?

Yeah, I'd much rather have a patch ....

same as. i run the game and it just crashes. Any news?

Awesome. It's been over a month since the last post from Stardock. They won't even give us hope by saying they might release a patch if they have some spare time. I'd really like to see Impulse become a viable alternative to Steam, but given our experiences here, I can't say I'm feeling very inspired to buy a second Impulse game. Back to Bioshock for me ($15 last weekend w00t!)

Same problem. It worked fine on my work computer (1 year old Dell XPS quad core with XP pro), but at home it's a no go. Home hardware is EVGA 680i mb, EVGA 8800gtx, quad-core 6600, 2gb ram. Besides water cooling nothing out of the ordinary. I also tried the compatibility mode changes with no luck.

What a waste of time. Is stardock actually looking into this problem? Any option i choose ingame takes me to a screen with just a picture and the version number at the bottom. Nothing happens! Patch please or atleast a refund!

Guys/Gals, in my experimentation, its not the fault of Win XP, rather its that Corparate Machine does not like computers with More than 1 core. I've installed and played it on 3 Pentium 4s with XP, all is well. However when i tried it on 2 intel dual cores and a quad core computer(all with Win XP), i simply get all the above problems.

Starting with compatability does not work, neither with just forcing it to run on 1 core as you can only adjust that once the game is started.

So the only solution is to run it on an older single Core PC, i'm running it on my old P4 and it works though switching computers is annoying.

You spent $4.95 on a game that's ancient (2001) by modern standards an want a refund.

The system requirements clearly state what is supported.  Why would you expect it to run on unsupported systems at all?  Crazy. 

If you really want official support you can try emailing [email protected].  Refunds are at [email protected].

VirtualPC or some similar solution?

Zubaz, note that the only requirements listed are the MINIMUM requirements. Allow me to define the word MINIMUM:

min·i·mum Audio Help [min-uh-muhm] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation noun, plural -mums, -ma Audio Help [-muh] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation, adjective
–noun 1. the least quantity or amount possible, assignable, allowable, or the like.
2. the lowest speed permitted on a highway.
3. the lowest amount, value, or degree attained or recorded.
4. an arbitrary amount set by a restaurant, nightclub, etc., as the least amount to be charged each person for food and drink. Compare cover charge.
5. Mathematics. a. Also called relative minimum, local minimum. the value of a function at a certain point in its domain, which is less than or equal to the values at all other points in the immediate vicinity of the point. Compare absolute minimum.
b. the point in the domain at which a minimum occurs.
–adjective 6. noting or indicating a minimum.
7. least possible: minimum risk.
8. lowest: a minimum rate.
9. pertaining to a minimum or minimums.
(thanks to dictionary.com)

What that means is that the game show be expected to run on a machine with the given specs OR BETTER. My machine exceeds all of the listed specifications, therefore I have Stardock's assurance that the game will work. Furthermore, the game may have originally released in mid 2001 (several months before Windows XP), but the version I bought was RE-released in 2008. Just as I would expect the original game to run on most systems available when it was released, I would expect the game to also run on most systems available at the time when it is RE-released. That means dual-core CPUs running Windows XP (or Vista). I would be more understanding if they said "this game doesn't work on most systems" BEFORE they took my money. I would ALSO be more understanding if they said "sorry, we didn't actually test the game before we sold it, maybe we'll patch it". Instead my understanding is that their attitude is more like "we've got your money, f*** off lol". I don't care if I'm being robbed of 5 dollars or 5 cents, I'm still being robbed. I'm just glad that there are more honest services out there

I agree and hopefully stardock place a message on this games home page stating that dual core or quad core processores are not supported! Unless they can produce a patch! ASAP please....

I'm using on a single core AMD 3000 with XP... and its crashing for me too. What the fuck...

You should contact [email protected] then.

I checked Impulse. 'The Corporate Machine' is on the 23rd and last page of Games....it's a 2001 release game and thus pre-dates. XP, hence comment #1 refering to Win98 Compatibility mode.

Minimum specs patently can ONLY be relevant to the date of release...so the expectation of 'or better' is also limited thus.  There really IS no need to quote Dictionary definitions....;)

One of our testers tried and was able to run TCM in XP32 sp3 with a quadcore, and I installed it today and ran it on my Core Duo with Vista, so it's not a multicore problem.  Depending on how old your system is, you may want to read through some of the links in this thread:

https://forums.galciv2.com/102033

 

Mine crashes too, unless I set compatibility mode to run in 256 colors, and even then almost nothing works - i get just the background image (Screen shot attached). I have to exit using alt-f4, and that results in a crash.
Setting win98 compatibility mode results in crash.

Setting affinity to 1 core only has no effect.
Using winXP SP2, and an NVIDIA 8800gt, forceware version 175.16.
Intel core2duo E8400

Sure, it's an old game, but so is Starcraft, and I still enjoy playing it once in a while.
I was really looking forward to checking it out.

 

Same results here. Are there any known workarounds?

Heft: Any chance that you have an NVIDIA card too?

My hunch tells me it is something to do with the display drivers.
I've tried running it in another computer, which uses an ATI card (x1600 pro), and it worded fine - without the need to use compatibility mode.

Since I only changed a display option (256 colors) on my machine, I think it has something to do with it.

That other CPU has just a single core, but CariElf said they managed to run the game on a quad-core, so... Hopefully the problem is the graphics drivers / cards.

t1ny_g0dzilla: Yeah, I have an NVidia FX5500 with the latest display drivers.

After reading your post, I decided to try to revert to an older driver (169.21 - 12/2007) and see if that worked. No go.

Also, the demo no longer works, but it did before I installed the full version. Now the demo says that Stardock.net is unavailable.

The demo thing is odd. I hope it will give point someone in the right direction though.

I also tried installing the game on a core2duo at work, with an integrated intel graphics driver, and there was no problem.
So, almost certainly something with the NVidia drivers... I guess they don't care much for old fashion 2D drawing

It would be interesting to see if that was the case... I have run some pretty old games--many of them older than this one--with no problems.