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Solved Black Screen of Davy

Mere_Mortal

Free Like a Radical
Storm Modder
Ahoy!

As I lost my original copy I haven't played this game for quite some time. Now that I have replaced it I am eager to make up for lost time. However, I cannot for the life of me get the mod to work properly. It's worth considering that the original game is working fine (well, quite frankly I find it unplayable as it's so buggy and incomplete, but it works). Back when I was playing this, on whichever build it was at the time, I had no such problems. I might download Build 13 to see if there is any difference.

I have installed afresh, several times actually. I have installed the mod over the top of the original files. No matter what I do I am landing on a black screen when the game loads (all I see on the screen is a notification at the top-left that I have a new item). I can use the F-keys to access the profile, inventory, etc, but as I have no landing screen I cannot do anything. There are no sounds so I assume nothing is going on in the background. This is happening just by using the default player creation set-up, although some story-lines will result in the game exiting to desktop when they load.

I am using a desktop PC with an nVidia GT 520, on Windows 10. I have to set the game to run in compatibility mode for either Vista or XP (doesn't seem to matter which) because if I do not then the game will not go full-screen and it will be completely off-centre, meaning I cannot see what I'm doing. In any case, if it is not in compatibility mode I can manage to start a new game by clicking the menu and then hitting the enter key. Either way, I still get the black screen. It also makes no difference if the game runs windowed, full-screen or in safe mode. The game is not installed in Program Files or a user directory (such as My Documents), and I have only one hard drive.

I have looked at compile.log and I can see no errors in there, but error.log itself does show some stuff. System.log mentions something about the “scene”, so that could be a pointer.

[EDIT]

Okay, looks like I'm being dumped in the middle of nowhere. The map shows me in some random place and seemingly the save file cannot determine the location.

Fair winds be with ye.
 

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I have to set the game to run in compatibility mode for either Vista or XP (doesn't seem to matter which) because if I do not then the game will not go full-screen and it will be completely off-centre, meaning I cannot see what I'm doing.
I have the exact same. :yes

error.log itself does show some stuff
Exactly how did you run the installation? Something went BADLY wrong there.

Are you sure you followed the instructions?

1. Install the stock PotC and make sure it runs OK
2. Create a folder anywhere, such as in "Downloads"
3. Download Part 1 and Part 2 and put them in that folder
4. In that folder, click on the EXE
5. Browse to your PotC install. Point the installer there
6. Choose the options you want when asked
7. Play!

As long as you actually use the EXE Installer, it should be almost impossible to do it wrong. o_O
 
Hi Pieter, thanks for the fast response.

Wait, hold on. I just remembered that the installer is not finding the game, I was very tired when I first installed. That's likely the problem. I manually extracted the files from both the EXE and the TAR archive, and I have kept a back-up of those files as well as the original installation. In any case, I've reinstalled the game from disc maybe half-a-dozen times, but regardless the installer won't find it. This shouldn't matter anyway, simply extracting the mod files should be good enough. Why isn't the installer finding the game? I've checked the registry, the entry is right there alongside Fallout 3, Morrowind and Skyrim, and I have even copied the key from HKLM to HKCU, so I don't understand why it's having a problem. As I said, the original game works absolutely fine, bugs and all, so there must be a problem with the extraction.

Oh, and the installation path is...

C:\Data\Games\Adventure\Pirates\Pirates of the Caribbean

(yeah, I have Cutthroats, Sea Dogs, and Sid Meier's in there as well :))
 
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I manually extracted the files from both the EXE and the TAR archive
I cannot possibly stress enough how much you should absolutely NOT DO THAT! The Installer EXE isn't optional; it is CRUCIAL!
The "TAR" file has such an uncommon extension specifically to discourage people from touching it.

In any case, I've reinstalled the game from disc maybe half-a-dozen times, but regardless the installer won't find it.
You have to point the installer to the same folder as the game, for example C:\Games\Pirates of the Caribbean .
I am assuming that the mod installer tells you it cannot find the original game?
The registry has nothing to do with it; it just tries to find an "ENGINE.exe" and a "readme.txt" file in the destination folder.
A clean PotC installation should have both those files.
 
I appreciate that a manual installation like I have done is not the best option, but since the installer wasn't finding the game then I kinda had no other choice. I'm guessing that the installer is supposed to write stuff to the config files.

Anyway, you just nailed the problem... whenever I install a game I pretty much always delete the readme because, well, I just don't read them (as you can probably imagine). The same goes for the intro videos, they're generally the next thing I delete for any game. So yeah, I kept removing these files when I reinstalled, I didn't even think about it.

I've created a blank readme.txt and the installer is now working. My days, it just had to be something stupidly simple like that, didn't it? I'm installing over the top of the mod at the moment so it might still throw a wobbler, but if I have any issues then I'll just delete everything and do it all from scratch. It'll be a good 10 minutes yet, I'm gonna grab me a cuppa for now.
 
I'm guessing that the installer is supposed to write stuff to the config files.
It needs to move, copy and rename a whole bunch of files and it also takes care of "delocalizing" different language versions of the game.

Anyway, you just nailed the problem... whenever I install a game I pretty much always delete the readme because, well, I just don't read them (as you can probably imagine). The same goes for the intro videos, they're generally the next thing I delete for any game. So yeah, I kept removing these files when I reinstalled, I didn't even think about it.
Ah yes; that.... doesn't help. :facepalm
Readme.txt is only a tiny file; there should be no harm in keeping it in place, right?
As for the videos, you can press space when they play to skip them. Though deleting those shouldn't really do any harm.

The reason for the "readme.txt" check is that "Caribbean Tales" ALSO has an "Engine.exe", but NOT a "readme.txt".
So that check exists to prevent people from installing the mod on top of the wrong game.

Right, it's working now. Thanks muchly for your help!
Glad that it is sorted now! :cheers
 
Readme.txt is only a tiny file; there should be no harm in keeping it in place, right?
Quite, but I'm pedantic like that. You have no idea how much I fill up my recycle bin on a daily basis!

The reason for the "readme.txt" check is that "Caribbean Tales" ALSO has an "Engine.exe", but NOT a "readme.txt".
So that check exists to prevent people from installing the mod on top of the wrong game.
I was wondering actually, now it makes perfect sense.

Glad that it is sorted now! :cheers
Yep, now I just have to remember how to actually play the game!
:checklist
 
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