Help with TOR on windows 8

[waterdaemon]

There isn't enough info here for someone to take a swag at the perfect fix. It's likely something you need (GPU, chipset, SATA controller...) is running off of drivers that aren't 100% compatible. I can only suggest you look at two things: go get the latest drivers, and 2, look at your event log for any errors that were logged at the exact time the game failed to launch. Paste the error ID and description into google and 9 times out of 10 you will find info from people who have had the same problem. You may also want to 'repair' your SWTOR installation.

[TieJu]

launcher works fine, download as well.

 

when i click on PLAY the first wait screen should come up and NOTHING. checked to ensure all programs are run as ADMIN(swtor.exe, launcher.exe), DirectX 9 stuff, running in compatibility mode. and I don't have the old windows7 to redo. so has anyone fixed this problem or knows how?

 

for the record I do like windows 8, I just need a solution.

 

You should take a look at the launcher log. My play button didn't worked after os reinstall. In my case the launcher was unable to download the dx9 redist, but only reported this on the log.

And after i found the cause at the log, the fix was easy, installed the dx9 redist manually and the launcher stopped trying to load the dx9 redist and the play button worked again.

[waterdaemon]

Windows 8 sucks anyways.

Well, you make a very good argument. The again, after forcing myself to use it for a few days I'm beginning to appreciate that it's faster and leaner for everyday tasks. SWTOR runs so smoothly I wish they offered the option of an HD texture pack. I've got FPS to burn even at max settings.

[Rafaman]

You should take a look at the launcher log. My play button didn't worked after os reinstall. In my case the launcher was unable to download the dx9 redist, but only reported this on the log.

And after i found the cause at the log, the fix was easy, installed the dx9 redist manually and the launcher stopped trying to load the dx9 redist and the play button worked again.

 

Good call. I don't currently run Win 8, but in the past with similar issues I have found not only game logs but OS log files, usually in the root directory, that tell me what failed or at least what was loading when there was a failure.

 

Since you are not getting an error message I think the exectuable or threads are running and something is interfering with that. Check task manager and see what else is running concurrently with TOR.

 

Another thing. It very well could be a firewall or antivirus not letting the executable run. Turn off everything but the bare essentials and see if that will work.

 

One last thing... keep in mind... this is all speculation as at this point as we are flaying away trying to help, but there are a couple of cache files in C:\Users\AppData\Local\SWTOR\swtor. You might try and delete them, run launcher again and repair. It could be a corrupted cache. Deleting cache files is not a huge risk, but it is a risk. So.. take it for what is worth.

 

Good luck OP and keep us posted. If I run into anything that I think well help I will post it here.

Edited November 6, 2012 by Rafaman

[Yndras]

Yeh, one of first things I did was to create an exception for SWTOR/launcher thru the windows firewall/defender.

 

Didn't help much.

 

Are you running in compatbility mode for any distro?

 

Turn firewall off completely. On all profiles. Home, Work, etc.

 

see if that makes a difference.

[RacerDemon]

I never had a problem with TOR or any other game in 8 so far.

 

But the Windows firewall had a prompt up that I saw by alt-tabbing out that needed an "allow" press.

 

 

Same, SWTOR running perfectly as with other games on Windows 8 PRO 64bit

Edited November 6, 2012 by RacerDemon

[Jacen_Starsolo]

Same, SWTOR running perfectly as with other games on Windows 8 PRO 64bit

 

I said that before I tested a single player Bioware space setting game (big enough clue what that is lol). It had sound issues and some graphic issues. But they were fixed with clean install of drivers for graphics and sound just needed updating in the configuration after updating driver.

 

And once I've been using Windows 8 so much, I go to my laptop and have to remember how to do things "old school". I actually have that promo code for my laptop but I'm just not sure I want to deal with touchpad and Windows 8 yet.

[PurSid]

You should ALWAYS do a clean install of a new OS.

So far I have not had any issues with Windows 8 and TOR, just installed and ran TOR with out doing anything fancy.

 

BUT, I did a clean install of the OS, which means everything is clean and no issues or old programs and other items are left over from the old OS.

 

I have learned over the years to never upgrade the OS, always backup my stuff to an external source and do a clean install with a format of the HD.

[Xenirath]

This is why you don't jump to a new OS as soon as it is released. They never work right for a long time. -_-

[Jacen_Starsolo]

You should ALWAYS do a clean install of a new OS.

So far I have not had any issues with Windows 8 and TOR, just installed and ran TOR with out doing anything fancy.

 

BUT, I did a clean install of the OS, which means everything is clean and no issues or old programs and other items are left over from the old OS.

 

I have learned over the years to never upgrade the OS, always backup my stuff to an external source and do a clean install with a format of the HD.

 

But I didn't want to do a clean install since some apps I can't install again from 7. And upgrading to 8 has not had the normal pitfalls of upgrading as before. The nVidia driver issue I spoke of, I'd have had it no matter what because it was the weak-sauce version from the update site causing the problems and not the one directly from nVidia. So I would have had to get the driver no matter what.

[Belb]

I had an identical problem. I chose to do and upgrade - just kept settings and data NOT programs. But since my SWTOR was on D: I was able to start the launcher. It did as yours.

 

I had to reinstall game (almost a 20GB download now) and now it works.

[Xenirath]

But I didn't want to do a clean install since some apps I can't install again from 7. And upgrading to 8 has not had the normal pitfalls of upgrading as before. The nVidia driver issue I spoke of, I'd have had it no matter what because it was the weak-sauce version from the update site causing the problems and not the one directly from nVidia. So I would have had to get the driver no matter what.

 

That's a risk you take when you decide not to do a clean upgrade for the sake a few apps. Mind if I ask why you upgraded? I find Win 7 to be amazing.

[bahdasz]

I had a similar problem when I upgraded to windows 7 (yes I ran XP until I couldn't any more). I know you said you checked to make sure the program was running in admin, but did you make sure you hit all the folders?

 

On 7 TOR has application and application extension files in the Program Files (x86)>EA>BW>SWTOR folder as well as in several of the subfolders, but also in the common files>BW folder. It took me making about 5 or 6 of them run as admin before I could finally get it to work. Or, as previously stated it might be an OS issue that 8 isn't designed to run games or is expecting touch screen inputs.

Edited November 7, 2012 by bahdasz

[Jacen_Starsolo]

That's a risk you take when you decide not to do a clean upgrade for the sake a few apps. Mind if I ask why you upgraded? I find Win 7 to be amazing.

 

And no problems with the upgrade. I was actually prepared to do the clean install but tried upgrade first. And as I said, I needed the driver directly from nVidia. It didn't matter about clean or upgrade. I have 8 on more than 1 machine. 1 machine I use as my movie/entertainment center I had to do a clean install because of the version of Windows it was running prior. Plus that machine had a few games like TOR, ME3, DA2, and CoX but I never really used them on that one so they were a waste of space.

 

My gaming machine I got another drive, cloned my Win7 to it, then upgraded so I could dual boot in case I really ran into the problems you said I risked. And I didn't know it would actually handle games better. Since I didn't run into those problems, I didn't bother clean installing. I got MS Office 2k10 through an EDU situation I can't use anymore so would have lost that although I use LibreOffice mostly.

 

Again, the nVidia driver and sound driver were all I had to deal with. nVidia clean install didn't even require a redownload. I still had the driver saved in the folder so just reran that. But again, it was the Microsoft packaged nVidia driver that was weak so clean install would have given me the same weak nVidia driver so I would have still had to do the same work.

 

And the real big reason was the upgrade only cost me 15 dollars. lol

 

Edit: And the sound issue wasn't even universal. It was only in another space setting Bioware game *ME3*. And the issue was surround sound. There's a thread on social.bioware.com site about this issue actually way back in Windows 7. I found it again to fix it again in 8. And the problem also affects ME2 as that is what the thread mentioned had the issue and asked if ME3 would have an issue as well prior to ME3 release. And to show how it wasn't universal, I had 8 installed for a week and didn't know I had a "sound issue". I only played MMOs in 8 then the other day I decided to test single player games. And the last I tested was ME3 (never tried ME2 yet) then noticed the surround sound issue. The weak MS driver lacked function so grabbed the driver from the manufacturer and then proceeded with the settings to fix the issue.

Edited November 7, 2012 by Jacen_Starsolo

[Jacen_Starsolo]

I had a similar problem when I upgraded to windows 7 (yes I ran XP until I couldn't any more). I know you said you checked to make sure the program was running in admin, but did you make sure you hit all the folders?

 

On 7 TOR has application and application extension files in the Program Files (x86)>EA>BW>SWTOR folder as well as in several of the subfolders, but also in the common files>BW folder. It took me making about 5 or 6 of them run as admin before I could finally get it to work. Or, as previously stated it might be an OS issue that 8 isn't designed to run games or is expecting touch screen inputs.

 

My games running better in 8 than they did in 7. So not sure what you mean.

[smellmop]

wish I could help...but have installed win8 as an in place upgrade on win7 home gaming pc - ToR runs like a champ...no tweaking neccessary.

Installed it on my work comp (love my job!) which is a fresh win8 pc...no problems with ToR there either.

can you check your memory with memtest 86 or windows memory diagnostic? this may be a hardware issue and not an OS issue.

[United_Strafes]

Sorry I wasn't stupid enough to buy Windows 8.

[DaRoamer]

Been running SWTOR on Windows 8 since the Consumer Preview and haven't had any issues. Make sure you have DirectX 9 installed.

[waterdaemon]

Sorry I wasn't stupid enough to buy Windows 8.

Good contribution. Yep, I can tell you aren't stupid.

[MoltenRog]

Err.. no... this is probably the last Windows to be useful on PCs so it will be supported long after Win7 dies... best to get it tamed now.

 

As for drivers almost all the gear has new Win8 drivers.

 

Yes because a windows sold for £24.99 is better then a windows sold for £89.99, Windows 8 was primary development stages were to mount Microsoft into the tablet/touchscreen era of technology which they've sucked at along with their very own made surface computer which doesn't run anything but windows 8 because it makes the keyboard in-operable.

 

And all operating systems are supported long after their released, Look at Windows XP it got support all the way up to 2012 at which it ended in June.

 

You don't know a great deal when it comes to legacy manufactured Operating Systems,

 

Also its a pile of steaming bantha poodoo

Edited November 7, 2012 by MoltenRog

[Jacen_Starsolo]

Yes because a windows sold for £24.99 is better then a windows sold for £89.99, Windows 8 was primary development stages were to mount Microsoft into the tablet/touchscreen era of technology which they've sucked at along with their very own made surface computer which doesn't run anything but windows 8 because it makes the keyboard in-operable.

 

And all operating systems are supported long after their released, Look at Windows XP it got support all the way up to 2012 at which it ended in June.

 

You don't know a great deal when it comes to legacy manufactured Operating Systems,

 

Also its a pile of steaming bantha poodoo

 

Vista cost more than XP did. I had to pay more for ME than 98. Ooops. So much for equating price to actual quality. And if price REALLY mattered that much, go buy a Mac.

Edited November 8, 2012 by Jacen_Starsolo

[ObsidianVashti]

Currently I'm having similar issues. This is actually the only game and program I am having problems with running it in Windows 8. I downloaded and installed the game fresh last night. Attempted to launch the game, and it launches gets to the loading screen (before character selection) but then after two seconds or so it kicks me back to the desktop with no error messages. Eventually I tried compatibility mode with Windows 7 and that didn't work. I restarted my computer attempted to launch it, and it worked actually and ran very well. However I exited out and when I tried it later in the day, it would not launch again. As far as I am aware I never created any network exceptions. (How would I do this if no pop-up came up) The repair option is greyed out for me in the launcher. I pretty sure my drivers are up to date. Any other suggestions? I was thinking of just completely uninstalling it and then re-installing it again, but downloading all of SWTOR takes forever. Edited November 12, 2012 by ObsidianVashti

[BogyOne]

Have you solved your problem already? Be nice and share.

 

Only problem I had after switching to W8 and SWTOR was the firewall. Game stops and black screen looks familiar, to me it was always when firewall blocked new game entering the entertainment-full screen mode.

I had to get new firewall version for W8 and then it got stuck in "block most" mode so I could not enable rule creation, auto learn modes nor (sic!) disable it.

This ceased after 1-2 system restarts, of course already after contacting CS of firewall provider.

 

From technically profficient guildy I heard that SWTOR, DX9 and W8 are not best mix but for me everything runs better after installing W8.

[TolaGarf]

First off.. I get all the hate towards Windows 8. Really I even believe most of the people here understand it. But here is a guy asking for help and a possibly solution, so quit being a ******** and help the guy.

 

Second.. Currently running Windows 8 Pro, and SW:TOR is running perfect. Never had any issues with it, however I didn't install it. I simply made a complete backup of the installation and moved it over. So either it's an issue with the installation, bad drivers, or you missing a software component the game just forgot to tell you about (like the million versions of .NET stuff).

[Gawlron]

I haven't had any issues running SWTOR and Windows 8 Pro. I have been running Windows 8 Pro since it was released on MSDN. Are you running the latest drivers from NVidia or AMD? The NVidia drivers 306.97 are WDDM 1.2 and WHQL, I'm positive that AMD has 1.2/WHQL drivers also.

 

I did however just reimage my machine, so I'll post back if I have similar issues.

 

I've had no issues, except the stuttering that is fixed by running the game in FULLSCREEN (WINDOWED). Runs perfect.