Championship Manager 4 Frequently Asked Questions
Last Revised Thursday, 03 April 2003
Q1. I cant install the game?
A1. If you are running Windows 98 (and maybe Me, and if you try on 95) You may get an error when trying to install the game. The version of Windows Installer that shipped with your OS is old and wont work with our installer. In that case you'll need to download and install:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...FamilyID=CEBBACD8-C094-4255-B702-DE3BB768148F
After installing, reboot. It simply updates windows installer from version 1 to version 2.
If you are running Windows XP, browse the CD and run the file "instmsiw." Once this has finished, restart the computer and then install the game as normal. If your operating system is Windows 98, run "instmsia” restart the computer and then install the game as normal.
b) If your getting an error along the lines of "Installer Error 1607"? (Cheers to Jay from Eidos for this solution)
Goto Start then Run
type
MSIEXEC /UNREGISTER
click ok
(nothing will visibly happen, maybe icons flash on desktop)
then go back to run and type
MSIEXEC /REGSERVER
click ok
(again nothing visibly will happen, however windows is reregistering all components of the installer - which is what error 1607 relates to)
Try and install the game (its been proven to work on a few systems).
Q1a. The patch is telling me to "Please install before using this update" - But Cm4 IS installed!
A1a.A number of people have reported problems with the CM Update tool. What it is doing for a tiny amount of people is asking them to install the game before they patch it. But these people have the game installed. Firstly, I must warn you to be careful and only do exactly what I say. I take no responsibility for people doing this wrong and making a mess of their PC! I must thank 'GWX' for this solution!
What you have to do is go to Start, and click run. In the run box type ‘regedit’ (no comma’s) to bring up the Windows registry editor.
Click on HKEY_CURRENT_USER
Then click on Software,
Then click Sports Interactive LTD,
Then right click on the Championship Manager 4 folder..
Click Permissions on the menu that appears.
In the permissions section give all the users use full permissions..
Now reboot the machine.
When the machine comes back up, try first go into CM4 again..
When that is ok, try and apply the patch again..
If you still have this problem, mail me at
[email protected]
Q2. My game wont start, because I’m getting a "...copy protection.." error?
A2. The first thing to you should do is to ensure that you have the CM4 Enhancement Pack 1 (available from www.sigames.com) Second is to make sure the CM4 CD is in the drive when you are attempting to launch the game, and that your CDROM drive recognizes that it is inserted. (As seen in My Computer)
If you have certain CD-burning software installed, such as Nero Burning Rom, or other system tools like Inseektors, Daemon Tools, or others, you may need to disable any processes the software installs, such as the NeroCheck utility installed with Nero.
This problem may also occur if you are running debuggers, decompilers, or CD-ROM Drive emulators on your system, or if you are using Real Mode [DOS] drivers for your CD-ROM drive.
Finally make sure you have a valid copy of CM4 and indeed that you don’t have a no-cd crack or indeed the Crack directory; within which came a No CD crack. Both of these will stop the game working, or will cause problems down the line at best.
Q3. My game wont start, because I’m getting a spinning CD icon and then nothing else?
A3. First make sure you have the patch installed; if the problem is still there contact
[email protected] for more info about how to fix this.
Q4. My game just crashed (maybe with a “This Program has performed an Illegal Operation and will be shut down” error”) What can I do?
A4. These errors happen now and again to everyone with all kinds of windows applications, which will include CM4. We have found that more often than not they happen when Windows encounters a conflict with a driver in use in your system. Click on the "Details" button for more information about the error message. If the error is an invalid page fault in module kernel32.dll or module CM4.exe, it is indicative of a driver that is not functioning correctly. Generally, the driver in question will be either the one used by the video or sound card. Since hardware manufacturers update their drivers frequently, the problem is resolved by visiting the manufacturer's website, then downloading and installing the updated drivers.
Your best bets are:
1. Get the latest patch for CM4.
2. Run Scandisk on the drive CM4 is installed on to check it out.
3. Update Windows from
http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/
4. Get the latest drivers for your hardware from the manufacturer’s website.
We are always glad to help you in the sigames community message board (
http://community.sigames.com), what you should do first is run the Direct X diag tool.
Click Start > then run, and then type dxdiag into the box. I box will pop up and it will be busy doing stuff for a few seconds. After that is finished click "Save all information" ; post the contents of that file into your thread asking for help; and we can help you much quicker!
Q5. When I press "Continue” the game crashes back to the desktop?
A5. Your best bets are:
1. Get the latest patch for CM4.
2. Run Scandisk on the drive CM4 is installed on to check it out.
3. Update Windows from
http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/
4. Get the latest drivers for your hardware from the manufacturer’s website.
We are always glad to help you in the sigames community message board (
http://community.sigames.com) what you should do is run the Direct X diagnostics tool.
Click Start > then run, and then type dxdiag into the box. I box will pop up and it will be busy doing stuff for a few seconds. After that is finished click "Save all information" ; post the contents of that file into your thread asking for help; and we can help you much quicker!
Q6. I’m running Windows XP and I’m being asked to run scandisk and I can’t find it?
A6. Open My Computer, and then right click on the hard drive CM4 is installed on (usually C: ) Click on Properties and then on Tools in the box that pop’s up. Click on the top box “Error Checking”
Q7. I’m getting an error when opening CM4 “"Error:0x000D: Unable to open full screen mode"?
A7. There are a few ways to sort this out. Firstly make sure your colours are at True Colour (32 bit) and your screen is at least 1024 by 768 pixels.
(Right Click on the desktop, click properties, click settings..
Set Colours on the left to True Colour (32 Bit) and Screen Area to 1024 by 768 pixels)
If you can’t get to 1024 by 768 pixels then refer to question 6 about how to force it into 800 by 600 pixels.
Q8. I want to run the game in Windowed mode, but I can’t. Is there a way to force the game to run in a window?
A8. Firstly to run in a window you have to be in a screen resolution above 1024 by 768 (1152 by 864 is the next one up for example). Now you can try and run CM4 with the -windowed flag.
Click Start > Run > and in the box type in the location of CM4 – c
program files\cm4\cm4.exe -windowed for example. Now after cm4.exe add “-windowed”. So what you end up putting in the run box is
c
program files\cm4\cm4.exe –windowed
This forces the game to run in a window.
(you can always right click on the shortcut on your desktop, click on properties and put -windowed at the end of the command that launches the game, if you always want it in a window)
Q9. I’m being asked for the version number of the driver for my NVIDIA graphics card - How do I find it?
A9. It’s a little bit complicated, Right click anywhere on desktop > click properties > click settings > click Advanced...
In the top right of that new window it will tell you your card name "geforce 2 mx" (or whatever type of card it is). Click that name to go into the cards information tab..
At the bottom of this window you will see a driver and version; the version will be along the lines of 6.13.10.4109.
Q10. I’m running Windows XP and have a NVIDIA graphics card and I’m having problems with Windows changing the refresh rate?
A10. Windows XP has issues with changing screen resolutions for games if you use an NVIDIA graphics board. It is a common problem with win9x games, and even games that officially support 2000/XP, that they display at a 60Hz refresh rate when in full-screen mode. This is caused by the way Windows XP interacts with software when the software asks Windows what screen resolutions and refresh rates it can use. In win9x, Windows uses your desktop refresh rate settings for each resolution. But in XP, Windows does not send those settings to software -- it expects software to choose an appropriate refresh rate on its own. Unfortunately, very few applications have their own refresh rate setting option, nor do they try to use the highest available; they just default to the first one Windows gives them, which is usually 60Hz. This problem is universal enough that I really think Windows XP should have a function to set the default refresh rates that it passes to software, but alas, it does not.
There are pieces of software that will get around this here –
http://www.ntcompatible.com/faq332.shtml
On a side note, anybody not using latest NVIDIA graphics drivers should upgrade to the latest set from www.nvidia.com.
Q11. Can the resolution be changed to 800 by 600?
A11. .Yes, but the game is not designed to look like that, the game is designed for 1024 by 768. The minimum resolution is 1024 by 768. If you have to you need to, you can try this mode by using the following -
c
program files\cm4\cm4.exe -small_screen
You can right click on the shortcut on your desktop, click on properties and put -small_screen at the end of the command that launches the game, if you always want it in on your small screen
Q12. I have poor eyesight/my monitor is bad and I can’t see the ball on the 2D match screen, is there anything I can do?
A12. There is indeed! In your Game\Data folder there is a file called init.cfg. What you need to do first is right click this file and click properties, and uncheck the read only box so you can save your changes. Then you want to enter “BIG_BALL”
(Exactly as it is there, with the inverted commas). This makes the ball much bigger and should help you seeing it!
Q13. I have problems connecting to a network / Internet game under Windows XP?
A13. It is quite likely that the Built in Win XP firewall is enabled and thus blocking the port CM uses. To disable it follow these instructions:
-- Go to the Setting section in the start menu
-- Click Network Connections
-- Right click on the Connection and click Properties
-- Go to the advanced tab and un-tick the ‘enable firewall’
A better option may be to open ports 9091 on UDP and 9092 on TCP rather than to disable the firewall. You can add these ports by going to your Connection Properties --> under the tab ’Advanced’ > click settings in the bottom-right hand corner and add CM twice - one for port 9091 on UDP and then one for 9092 on TCP. It’s much safer this way because you don’t run the risk of being hacked. If you still have problems, post a message in the cm forums with the contents of the net.out file (found in the CM directory) as well as the usual details.
Q14. Which is the Pre Game/Save-Game Editor to use for CM4?
A14. There are no official or unofficial game editors for CM4.
Q15. I am having trouble downloading the patches. I keep getting cut-off and have to start downloading again.
A15. Use a Download Manager like GetRight. You can get it here:www.getright.com
Q16. Game freezes / stops when loading game / saving / end of season, if I press Ctrl+Alt+Del it says: Not Responding?
A16. Wait longer - Not Responding doesn't mean that it has crashed; it just means the program is too busy to respond to Windows. If you leave it, it will eventually get past this; the processing at the end of the season can take especially long. If it does crash, you usually get an error message or it crashes back to the desktop.
If you are convinced it’s a problem then ask a question in the sigames community messageboard (
http://community.sigames.com). To speed up the process what you should do is run the Direct X diag tool first.
Click Start > then run, and then type dxdiag into the box. I box will pop up and it will be busy doing stuff for a few seconds. After that is finished click "Save all information" ; post the contents of that file into your thread asking for help; and we can help you much quicker!
Q17. Are save games compatible from older game versions to this new version? E.g. from CM 01/02 to CM4?
A17. No, they are not compatible. Save games from different versions of CM (like 00/01 etc) are not either. You can load CM4 Demo saves with the Full version though.
Q18. I’m having trouble installing off the CD?
A18. Copy the contents to a place on your hard drive and install the game from there by running setup.exe.
Q19. The PC restarts itself when playing CM?
A19. CM cannot restart the computer on its own (except in eXP where it will restart by default after a critical error). As a result, the problem is usually related to overheating and restarting is the computer’s way of telling you that it is getting too hot. The best fix is to get some more case fans. If you can’t do that, try taking the side off your computer to let some more air in. (WARNING: don’t let anything spill/fall into the open case!)
Q20. My save game no longer appears in the restore list?
A20. This means that the file header has become corrupt and your game is beyond repair. The most likely causes for this happening are bad sectors (run scandisk) or data updates.
Q21. My save game gives me an error when I try and load it and it won’t load?
A21. Similar to A16 - this means that the save game is more than likely corrupt and your game is beyond repair. Again, the most likely causes for this happening are bad sectors (run scandisk) or data updates.
We are always glad to help you in the sigames community message board (
http://community.sigames.com), what you should do first is run the Direct X diag tool.
Click Start > then run, and then type dxdiag into the box. I box will pop up and it will be busy doing stuff for a few seconds. After that is finished click "Save all information" ; post the contents of that file into your thread asking for help; and we can help you much quicker!