SOLVED: Need help F4AF won't start

Posted By: Clydewinder

SOLVED: Need help F4AF won't start - 09/09/08 03:02 AM

My previously-functional installation of F4AF seems to have taken a crap after a few months of not playing. When I double click the start shortcut, the screen goes black and I can hear the air-raid siren playing but no visuals. Hitting mouse btn or ESC does not stop the sound and the only way out is CNTRL-ALT-DEL. The only thing that I have changed since last running F4AF is the driver for my 7800 GS card, I'm running 175.19 from the Nvidia website.

Anybody else had or overcome this problem?

Posted By: Panther

Re: Need help F4AF won't start - 09/09/08 03:53 AM

Straight from the Lead-Pursuit Website:

2. When I start the game up I get only a black screen and not even a User Interface.
FSAA (Full Screen Anti-aliasing) currently causes problems, especially when set to 4x, though 2x can cause some problems in cockpits too, particularly for nVidia graphics cards. Switch off FSAA via your Display Settings menu for your graphics card. Consult your graphics card manual or the manufacturer's website if you have difficulty finding this. Also, uninstall and reinstall your graphics card's drivers, and install the latest version of DirectX from the Microsoft website. If you have "ffdshow" installed at the same time, it might be a cause of a conflict, too.

http://www.lead-pursuit.com/FAQ_01.htm#Graphics

Posted By: Clydewinder

Re: Need help F4AF won't start - 09/09/08 03:57 AM

I have FSAA set to "application controlled", should I override to "always off?"

Posted By: Bard

Re: Need help F4AF won't start - 09/09/08 04:45 PM

search for 'quincunx' in this forum - you should find a thread on the FSAA settings that'll work.

Posted By: Clydewinder

Re: Need help F4AF won't start - 09/10/08 12:11 AM

search function inoperative.

disabled all forms of AA in the Nvidia control panel, same result. Black screen, air raid sound but won't advance from that screen. maybe my installation is broken. or i gotta figure out what "ffdshow" is.

Posted By: Clydewinder

Re: Need help F4AF won't start - 09/10/08 01:30 AM

Solved:

I had downloaded a codec pack for Media Player called "K-Lite mega codec pack". After uninstalling, F4AF works normally again. Something to do with that ffdshow hoo-ha. Thanks for your assistance, Bard & Panther!

Posted By: Panther

Re: Need help F4AF won't start - 09/10/08 02:52 AM

By the way, if you go into your falcon setup and disable startup movie you can reintall that codec pack, and it won't prevent falcon from starting.

Posted By: The Punisher

Re: Need help F4AF won't start - 09/14/08 11:24 PM

Or you can disable the MP42 codec and keep everything else the same.

Check here for details:
http://forums.frugalsworld.com/vbb/showthread.php?p=1375950