Emperor won't run at all

[jjtangye]

I know there's a lot of these messages all over, but I've tried everything that's been posted.

I have a p4 3.4ghz with a GeForce 4 5200 Soundblaster Audigy2 runnin XP

I don't have norton on my comp at all.  The game installs fine. I have Direct X 9.  I go to play the game, and a black screen flashes then nothing happens, even if I wait 15 mins.  Nothing Works!!

HELP!!!! Please

[erjin999]

It kicks you back to desktop, or you end up looking at a black screen for 15 mins ?

Graphics card. Does it have the latest drivers ?

I believe there is another player here who has the same graphics card (at least one other, maybe more) and he should be able to give us a version number for the driver that worked for him. The person I am thinking of is scar5150. So lets hope he sees this, if not I will pm him.

Has it ever worked on this computer ? Do you have more then one CDDVD drive ?

[jjtangye]

Man I hope.  I was thinkin about it too, and it definitely seems like my video card, because even the internet is funky, like if I scroll its all jerky, its not smooth, and even my other game FH Dune, the picture's all funky, its not crisp.

[jjtangye]

Alright I now have the up-to-date video drivers, and the rest of the computer is running good, and even the internet is scrolling smoothly, but the games are still screwed up.  Any ideas?

[erjin999]

Your motherboard has an effect on how the graphics feel, and can be a big help. try to update mobo drivers too.

The reason I asked about if you have more then one optical drive is because emp has problems with more then 1 drive. Or CAN have problems. This was acknoledged by EA who made a patch, the Install Patch.

It means reinstalling the game, but I have had lots of luck with this. My self and with helping others. I only install using this patch now, as there doesnt seem to be any adverse effect even if you dont need it.

The syptoms of the problems this curse includes exactly your problem, going back to desktop when launching the game.

try the patch, and see if that helps.

[jjtangye]

I only have one DVD drive, and I tried the patch, nothing helps.  The screen blinks, its like the monitor blinks I should say, and than it goes right back to the desktop its for like a split second thats it.

[jjtangye]

here's my dxdiag

[attachment deleted by Gobalopper]

[erjin999]

Make a shortcut to the game. Right click on the shortcut. Choose properties. In properies, go tot he end of the line that says Target and add a space and then -w as an option. That should start the game in a window. Let me know if that happens or not.

[jjtangye]

I get a game.exe error, and its nothing but a blank screen.

[jjtangye]

I don't know what else to do, I'm completely out of options here.  Can anyone help at all?