Jedi academy black screen

[eezstreet]

Sounds like driver issues for sure. That or the video card really really sucks. How old is this laptop again? Elite Forces doesn't use ARB shaders though and uses fairly out of date rendering methods when compared to JKA. That, or try contacting AMD about the issue. Also try doing a dxdiag and make sure that it recognizes the video card correctly. What is the framerate like in Elite Forces?

[Onysfx]

The frame rate in elite force is locked at a full 60FPS. I checked ingame for my driver details, and it claims the rendering method is DirectX, it doesn't list openGL there...dah, does anyone know how I can attach screenshots? That would help make this easier. I can still player games like Half-Life 2 and Halo Combat Evolved just fine, but jka just isn't rendering...I know the video card I'm using now is better than the one I used previously, which was an ATI Radeon mobility, which didn't support OpenGL too well and didn't support anti-aliasing or anisotropic filtering, while this card I have now does. Yet the old one rendered JKA properly.

 

Heres a link to my graphics cards direct X and OpenGL capabilities:

http://www.kludx.com/card.php?card=70

 

This is the only download I could find, but its for vista, and I might have tried it already, not 100% sure though (probably have):

http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/windows/Legacy/Pages/radeonaiw_vista32.aspx?type=2.4.1&product=2.4.1.3.13&lang=English

 

 

 

By the way, thanks eezstreet for sticking with me so far.

[Onysfx]

I have some interesting news for you all. This may solve the black screen problem. Possibly.

 

When I was trying to access Star Trek Elite Force Holomatch (AKA multiplayer), the program kept crashing on me.

I couldn't solve the problem, even with the 256 colors thing, it just kept crashing. I didn't know why.

 

I tried downloading a mod called "RPG-X", even though I knew it probably would crash too since it uses multiplayer. However, it had its own exe, and when I ran it, it told me I was missing a file called "SDL.dll". So, I downloaded it and fixed the problem. 

 

It then ran fine!

 

I tried running holomatch again, it still crashed like before, but I was able to get the RPGX working and it loads multiplayer fine now.

 

 

 

EDIT: Interesting, I unchecked "Run in 256 colors" in the single player exe, and now the game works without it!

 

 

I have come to a conclusion (albeit, it may be a false one, but: I think I may be missing required dll files for JKA to run properly. The weird thing is is that it isn't telling me what I am missing. This problem has also happened before with N64 emulators I've been using, where they would crash, but for some apparent reason tell me at the strangest times what I am missing.

 

 

...what should I do?...

[Onysfx]

WHAT THE HECK! I UNCHECKED "Run program as admin", while attempted to +condump info into a text file to try to figure out the problem, and then all the sudden when I double clicked the exe, the black screen was gone! The run program as admin wasn't the cause of the blackscreen, but it was somehow preventing the SDL.dll from working.

 

I'VE DONE IT! I HAVE DONE IT! YES!!!! FINALLY, 7 MONTHS OF WAITING HAS PAID OFF. I CAN NOW PLAY JEDI ACADEMY AGAIN! YES!

 

IT WAS THAT SDL.dll FILE! I'VE DONE IT!...I'M OFF TO MAKERMOD! (Wow...a single dll file...wow...)

 

See you guys ingame!

[eezstreet]

1. Elite Forces isn't locked at 60 FPS unless you have vertical sync on.

 

2. RPG-X mod is irrelevant. SDL refers to "Simple Directmedia Layer", Linux builds of OpenJK use it, albeit they use version 2.0 while RPG-X probably uses 1.2 or 1.5. Look at SDL.org and find precompiled 1.2 or 1.5 binaries for that.

 

3. JKA doesn't use SDL. I think the fix was done elsewhere

[Onysfx]

Strange. Because JKA worked once I installed that...unless the problem was that I had run as admin checked, because once I unchecked it the game worked...I do not understand what the problem was...regardless it works now.

[eezstreet]

inb4 game crashes with VM_Create on UI failed

[Wolo]

I think I found the solution -and- the cause. Also, this solution worked for both JK2 and JK3 when I used it!

 

For Windows 7/8/8.1/10:

• Goto My Computer, then right click and goto properties.
• Your system information (CPU, RAM etc.) should appear.
• On the left pane, click Advanced System Settings.
• The System Properties window will open, and you'll automatically be on the Advanced tab, which is good!
• Under the Advanced tab, select Settings under the Performance section of that tab.
• The Performance Options window will open and you'll start on the Visual Effects tab, which is, again, good!
• Under the Visual Effects tab, near the top, select Adjust for best appearance.
• Run your game and enjoy! No more black screen with sound and the ability to hit menu buttons as you described.

For Windows XP:

• This problem should not exist, IIRC.

If this fixes it for anyone, please second this. Apparently, Adjust for best performance makes JA give you the black screen somehow. Also, maybe it only does this with certain video cards and not with others. I wrestled with this issue for a long time, for many hapless hours, so I'm happy to see others not have the same sorry experience.

[Somoa]

I think I found the solution -and- the cause. Also, this solution worked for both JK2 and JK3 when I used it!

 

For Windows 7/8/8.1:

• Goto My Computer, then right click and goto properties.
• Your system information (CPU, RAM etc.) should appear.
• On the left pane, click Advanced System Settings.
• The System Properties window will open, and you'll automatically be on the Advanced tab, which is good!
• Under the Advanced tab, select Settings under the Performance section of that tab.
• The Performance Options window will open and you'll start on the Visual Effects tab, which is, again, good!
• Under the Visual Effects tab, near the top, select Adjust for best appearance.
• Run your game and enjoy! No more black screen with sound and the ability to hit menu buttons as you described.

For Windows XP:

• This problem should not exist, IIRC.

If this fixes it for anyone, please second this. Apparently, Adjust for best performance makes JA give you the black screen somehow. Also, maybe it only does this with certain video cards and not with others. I wrestled with this issue for a long time, for many hapless hours, so I'm happy to see others not have the same sorry experience.

Thank you sir. That did work for me!