Issue starting Battle of the Bulge Campaign

[bloodphoenix]

I was a relative late-comer to the Battle Academy series, so when BA2 came out, I'd not yet finished the BA1 single-player campaigns. I'm mostly playing MP in BA2, but I've also gone back to finish BA1, just for fun and "practice". I've been playing through them in historical order, rather than the order they were released, and really enjoyed the challenge of the Metz and Market Garden campaigns.

Unfortunately, that brings me to The Battle of the Bulge. I started it, expecting no problem, but the loading bar gets about half way across...and...stays...there. Trying to diagnose the problem, I confirmed that I have the latest patch...
(build 2.6.0) and checked the "Unlock Expansions" option on the game's main screen.

I'd purchased the Mega Pack, and to the best of my knowledge, had previously unlocked all the expansions. Its worked for every other campaign. But when I looked, the Bulge expansion was not included in the drop-down list within the Unlock Expansion screen. I chose "unlock everything", but the campaign still won't load.

I have the serial number for my Mega Pack, if that will help you. Thanks for your time!

[pipfromslitherine]

What platform are you playing on? The Bulge campaign is indeed part of the main game and has worked without issue for however many years since launch

Cheers

Pip

[bloodphoenix]

Hey Pip! I'm playing on my lap-top at the moment, running Windows Vista home premium. I've never had any trouble running BA1 or 2, or any of the other campaigns.

[bloodphoenix]

An additional detail that may be relevant? I noticed today when I tried to start it again, that it seemed as if there were two instances of the background music playing...they were overlapping and so close to synchronization that I hadn't noticed it before. But I could barely make out that there were "two bands playing" so to speak. The first load screen bar fills up normally, but when it progresses to the second, it never makes it more than half way across before locking up.
When I open Task Manager, it will show BA as "not responding".

[pipfromslitherine]

It sounds like something is very wrong with either the install or the way the game is starting up. I'd suggest a reinstall.

Cheers

Pip

[bloodphoenix]

Okay, uninstalled the game and reinstalled it. To the best of my knowledge, I even did it correctly!

LOL, now it doesn't run at all. Click on the icon on my desktop...nothing. It just doesn't start.

I guess this is what I get for being greedy. Now I can't get into the multi-player games I was playing...

[pipfromslitherine]

Check that the desktop shortcut points to where you installed it. Does the game run if you navigate to the install folder and launch the game?

Cheers

Pip

[bloodphoenix]

I tried that, and no, it did not run when I navigated to the folder.
I will attempt to uninstall and install again, in case I did something wrong.

[bloodphoenix]

Okay, I've been dealing with this issue for about two weeks now.
Would like to play the Bulge single-player campaign, as its the only one I haven't finished.
But REALLY want to get back into the game so I can resume my open multi-player matches!

When this started, I couldn't access the Bulge Campaign, but everything else was working fine (including multi-player
scenarios set during the Battle of the Bulge). You suggested that I uninstall the game, and reinstall it, which I did.
Ever since, I have been unable to get into Battle Academy at all. I have no idea why. I've uninstalled and reinstalled about three times now, with the same result. I've tried going into the BA folder and running the game from the executable file there, with no change. Whether I click on the shortcut on desktop, or go into the file, the game does not open. At all. If I had it to do over, I would go back and live without the Bulge Single Player Campaign.

I play the game on this computer (my lap-top) when I'm away from home on business, or when I'm having an issue with my Desktop PC, which has the speed, power and graphics to be my primary gaming computer. Recently, I had a major crash with my main PC, and wound up having to install a new operating system on it.

I've been working on recovering some of the games that I had on it, which are now archived in files under "windows.old" and this included all my Slitherine titles. But I suspect I may have to just do a fresh install, as they seem to behave similarly to the way BA now does on my laptop...they don't open or run. The only difference is that when I click on the icon on my Desktop computer, I will get a grayish-black blank screen that I would see in the past for for a second or two before the game would open...now it just hangs there until I get tired of looking at it and open Task Manager, where it will show that particular game is "not responding".

If I need to do a fresh install of the games on one or both computers, would I need to get a download link from you?

[pipfromslitherine]

If you email support@slitherine.co.uk with your details they will be able to get you links to download installers as needed.

Cheers

Pip

[bloodphoenix]

Thanks for your help, Pip, that resolved the issue!