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Populous seriesPopulous the Beginning and its Expansion Won't Launch.(22 posts)(22 posts)
(22 posts)
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This is my favourite topic
Posted September 27, 2013
I'm using Windows 7, and after I installed the latest version of Populous the Beginning (Pop3), neither the main game nor the expansion will start. The errors it returns are "D3DPopTB.exe cannot be started" and "D3DPopTBUW.exe cannot be started." Is there anyway to fix this?

Update:
It looks like the shortcuts that the game creates on the Desktop are not correct. They're supposed to invoke the UAC but they don't for some reason. I looked in the game's directory and clicked on the D3DPopTB.exe files directly and it finally launched. However, I'm still not seeing an option to manually set the resolution and clicking "GOGLauncher.exe" doesn't work either.
Post edited September 27, 2013 by IronArcturus
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Posted September 27, 2013
I was able to fix this by editing the shortcuts. I've removed the GOG Launcher thing and pointed them directly into the game files. In my case:
"D:\Gry\Populous - The Beginning\D3DPopTB.exe" (base game, Direct3D)
"D:\Gry\Populous - The Beginning\PopTB.exe" (base game, Software)
"D:\Gry\Populous - The Beginning\D3DPopTBUW.exe" (expansion, Direct3D)
"D:\Gry\Populous - The Beginning\D3DPopTBUW.exe" (expansion, Software)
Posted September 27, 2013
avatar
JamesBond007: I was able to fix this by editing the shortcuts. I've removed the GOG Launcher thing and pointed them directly into the game files. In my case:
"D:\Gry\Populous - The Beginning\D3DPopTB.exe" (base game, Direct3D)
"D:\Gry\Populous - The Beginning\PopTB.exe" (base game, Software)
"D:\Gry\Populous - The Beginning\D3DPopTBUW.exe" (expansion, Direct3D)
"D:\Gry\Populous - The Beginning\D3DPopTBUW.exe" (expansion, Software)
I finally got the game to launch, but the resolution is too low. Have you figured out how to edit the display resolution? When the game is run, the only options it gives are 640x480 and 800x600. But I've read that there should be a way to make the resolution higher.
Posted September 27, 2013
Use the GOGSetup.exe to change the resolution. The maximum resolutions are:
1280x720 for 16:9 monitors
1280x800 for 16:10 monitors
1280x1024 for 5:4 monitors
You must use 16bpp, the 32bpp will be reverted. Note that the main menu is resolution locked and your resolution won't be applied until you go into the game itself.
Posted September 29, 2013
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Shukaku: Use the GOGSetup.exe to change the resolution. The maximum resolutions are:
1280x720 for 16:9 monitors
1280x800 for 16:10 monitors
1280x1024 for 5:4 monitors
You must use 16bpp, the 32bpp will be reverted. Note that the main menu is resolution locked and your resolution won't be applied until you go into the game itself.
I checked in the game's directory, but unfortunately there is no "GOGSetup.exe" file in there. There is a GOGLauncher.exe file, but when I try to run it it won't load.
Posted September 30, 2013
From what you said, it sounds like that this expansion pack is removing the file(s) from the install directory for no apparent reason. If GOGSetup.exe isn't there, you'll either have to install Populous The Beginning again (without expansion) or just ask someone to send you a copy of the file.
Posted September 30, 2013
Anyone already contacted the support regarding this problem?

Edit:

Very strange. I uninstalled the game an reinstalled it with the same installer I did before but now it works.
I can also set a higher resolution ingame. There is no need for the GOGSetup.exe.
Post edited September 30, 2013 by Silverhawk170485
Posted September 30, 2013
avatar
Silverhawk170485: Anyone already contacted the support regarding this problem?

Edit:

Very strange. I uninstalled the game an reinstalled it with the same installer I did before but now it works.
I can also set a higher resolution ingame. There is no need for the GOGSetup.exe.
I believe that there is a point to GOGSetup.exe, as ingame it will only let you go up to 800x600, it doesn't support 1024x768 and 1280x720, which the GOGSetup.exe allows you to push for....
Posted September 30, 2013
avatar
Silverhawk170485: Anyone already contacted the support regarding this problem?

Edit:

Very strange. I uninstalled the game an reinstalled it with the same installer I did before but now it works.
I can also set a higher resolution ingame. There is no need for the GOGSetup.exe.
avatar
Shukaku: I believe that there is a point to GOGSetup.exe, as ingame it will only let you go up to 800x600, it doesn't support 1024x768 and 1280x720, which the GOGSetup.exe allows you to push for....
You have to look in the install folder. There are two different game exe files. When you start the game with the normal exe files you can't set the resolution higher than 800x600 but there are other game exe files wich names start wit "D3D" (for Direct 3D). When you start the game with these files you are able to set a higher resolution ingame.
Post edited September 30, 2013 by Silverhawk170485
Posted October 11, 2013
I am getting the same error, and also don't have GOGSetup.exe in the install directory. I've uninstalled and reinstalled several times, making a point not to install the expansion, and GOGSetup.exe still fails to appear.

As someone noticed above, I can launch the game directly from the executables in the install directory, but they are choppy, low resolution, and the colors are totally messed up.

I installed a couple other games from GOG at around the same time, and noticed some differences from previous installs. The game icons are circular, rather than the rectangular box covers, and the games are by default installing into a different directory. Could it be that GOG has changed things slightly, and this would account for the lack of GOGSetup.exe?
Posted October 11, 2013
The lack of GOGSetup.exe notwithstanding, I was finally able to get the game to run without looking like a hot mess by following a bit of advice in the GOG Windows General Troubleshooting:

"[Windows Vista/7 only] Try running the game by right-clicking it and selecting "Run as Administrator" (even if you're logged onto an account with Administrator privileges)."

And that seemed to do the trick. Right-click on the icon installed on the desktop, "Run as Administrator" and I did not get the "D3DPopTB.exe cannot be started" error.

I am experiencing the graphical glitches as described in another post, I'll try the highlighted solution from there next.
Posted December 31, 2013
Yeah, it looks like the installer was updated and changed a few things, namely the removal of the GOGSetup file. (Edit: Though someone said installing the expansion deletes some files; haven't tested)

As for the box to circular icons, that's a change they've been making when updating their old 1.x installers to 2.0. I personally don't agree with the change as the icons look disgusting and out of place and have to manually change every shortcut's icon to the actual program's icon. The old boxart looking icons were far better. Course, this is a problem with old 16bit applications.. because they don't have icons. Need to find some third party icon or picture and make an icon file myself, which is a PITA, but still worth it because of how terrible the newer icons look. I backup the old icons of any 1.x games I have installed for the times when I force myself to 'upgrade' to a 2.0 installed version.

Oh and as for the launching issue, I can't run the hardware version anymore. I tried playing the game a year ago and had to stop before I even started because of a mouse issue. Came back to a fresh install of it and now the hardware versions crash on launch (and do weird things to my system for the initial 10-15 seconds after the crash). Absolutely no idea what's causing that now, but it's making me wish I never uninstalled in the first place (only d id it because I expected GoG to eventually fix the game.. not sure they ever did).
Post edited January 01, 2014 by Blind
Posted December 31, 2013
If anyone wants me to include GOGSetup.exe in a forum post, let me know here. It is also possible that your anti-virus programs may be preventing the file from being moved so try disabling it to see if that makes it appear.
Posted January 02, 2014
Getting Populous to Run and sorting out the graphics

Last week I installed "Populous the beginning" and "Populous the beginning undiscovered worlds"...

Firstly the GOG links don't run however go to the directory and you should be able to run them directly.

"C:\GOG Games\Populous - The Beginning\popTB.exe"
"C:\GOG Games\Populous - The Beginning\popTBUW.exe"

(If not experiment by right-clicking on these and changing the Compatibility Tab options to run in Compatibility mode for Windows XP SP2 or Windows 98

PROBLEMS WITH GRAPHICS!!!!

You may now experience problems with the graphics... yes the game is a 16-bit game and your 32-bit or higher graphics card won't work unless you use TASKMANAGER to shut down Windows Explorer before manually running the exe above.

A better solution is to create two new batch-files in the directory and then shortcuts to these on your desktop...

The Batch file needs the following text between the two line (open notepad - paste it in and then save as "PopTB.bat"):

--------------
taskkill /f /IM explorer.exe
"C:\GOG Games\Populous - The Beginning\popTB.exe"
start explorer.exe
--------------

again you could do this one

---------------
taskkill /f /IM explorer.exe
"C:\GOG Games\Populous - The Beginning\popTBUW.exe"
start explorer.exe
---------------

Now right-mouse-drag these to your deskop and select to create a shortcut....

If you want to make them pretty you now can change the ICON to the one stored in the popTB.exe file. Right-click the short-cut file and select to change the ICON.

You're done!!! Populous works and everyone is happy!!!!!

Happy Gaming...
Posted December 31, 2014
Hi bunneyd,

I did everything you described, but the graphics are still mixed up - strange colors.
The game gave a notice that i don´t have a 3D graphic card....
I have an HP 14 - i looked it up and it says it has an AMD Radeon HD 8210 Graphics...

Leo

avatar
bunneyd: Getting Populous to Run and sorting out the graphics

Last week I installed "Populous the beginning" and "Populous the beginning undiscovered worlds"...

Firstly the GOG links don't run however go to the directory and you should be able to run them directly.

"C:\GOG Games\Populous - The Beginning\popTB.exe"
"C:\GOG Games\Populous - The Beginning\popTBUW.exe"

(If not experiment by right-clicking on these and changing the Compatibility Tab options to run in Compatibility mode for Windows XP SP2 or Windows 98

PROBLEMS WITH GRAPHICS!!!!

You may now experience problems with the graphics... yes the game is a 16-bit game and your 32-bit or higher graphics card won't work unless you use TASKMANAGER to shut down Windows Explorer before manually running the exe above.

A better solution is to create two new batch-files in the directory and then shortcuts to these on your desktop...

The Batch file needs the following text between the two line (open notepad - paste it in and then save as "PopTB.bat"):

--------------
taskkill /f /IM explorer.exe
"C:\GOG Games\Populous - The Beginning\popTB.exe"
start explorer.exe
--------------

again you could do this one

---------------
taskkill /f /IM explorer.exe
"C:\GOG Games\Populous - The Beginning\popTBUW.exe"
start explorer.exe
---------------

Now right-mouse-drag these to your deskop and select to create a shortcut....

If you want to make them pretty you now can change the ICON to the one stored in the popTB.exe file. Right-click the short-cut file and select to change the ICON.

You're done!!! Populous works and everyone is happy!!!!!

Happy Gaming...
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Populous seriesPopulous the Beginning and its Expansion Won't Launch.(22 posts)(22 posts)
(22 posts)