Hi all,

Just downloaded Populous the beginning installed OK but when I fire up the game I cant get any further than a gold coloured screen. On this screen I have four options at the top, name, allies etc then a list of restrictions and a text fiels at the bottom. I cant seem to find a way to get past this screen even if I enter a name in the text field at the bottom of the screen.

Any help greatly appreciated.

Cheers, Chris

Are you trying to start a multiplayer game? Does a single player game work? Is it the original game or the expansion "Undiscovered Worlds"?

Hi there,

I am trying to run the original game. The game loads up OK it seems but I cannot find a way past the first screen. I am only trying to start a single player game. I never mention this in my original question but underneath the title at the top of the screen it says connected.............

Apart from this there are no clickable links/buttons on this screen that work other than the back button which closes the game and the restrictions buttons. Where it reads, Player name, allies, ping & ready these links are unresponsive.

Cheers, Chris

That's odd. Try running the game by directly starting ...\Populous - The Beginning\D3DPopTB.exe and not the desktop shortcut.

The first menu you see should show:
New Game
Tutorial
Load Game
...
(see screenshot)

To start a single player game simple select "New Game".

Hello again buddy. I have added a link of a screenshot of what I get. Doesn't matter how or where I start the game its always this screen.

clientwise.co.uk/populous.jpg


Edit: Would not let me post a link so had top remove the http.

This is the screen to host a multiplayer game. What happens when you click several times on "BACK". It should bring you the main menu I posted above.

If I click the back button at the bottom it closes the game and I am back at desktop.

you're using the gog version, right?

Some of the old games allow you to play multiplayer only if no cd is in drive. Maybe that's the issue here? I'm only guessing since I only have the gog version, and that shouldn't require the CD.

Okay, that's weird indeed. The game starts up with the first screen being the matchmaker for multiplayer games. Why doesn't it use the original main menu? *thinking* Maybe it is missing some information from the registry and falls back to the matchmaker (it could be that this was the default start during development and testing). Try running the game as administrator, by right-clicking the game's shortcut => Run as..
If it doesn't work, got into the \Populous - The Beginning\ folder and try the same with D3DPopTB.exe and popTB.exe.

Sorry, tried running as administrator and it made no difference.

Is it a vanilla GOG installation or have you used any patch from elsewhere?

Try re-installing it to a custom folder (not into Program Files).
A good place for testing would be directly to "C:\Populous - The Beginning"

Hello again,

The .exe is the 308mb download from GOG, no patches or anything. As for its install directory, by default its created a folder in C:\GOG Games/Populous - The Beginning

Might try the GOG Downloader and DL it again?

Okay, so much for this, no patches or anything. Also the default install location is fine. Still, try an uninstall and re-installation, just to be sure, maybe even by re-downloading the file, but I doubt that it's corrupt. Try running it in Compatibility Mode for Windows XP and see if that makes a difference. Right-click the file/shortcut you're using to start the game => Properties => Compatibility tab.

Have you tried the Software version (popTB.ex)? What about Undiscovered worlds?

Could you give the exact size (to the byte) of your files D3DPopTB.exe and popTB.exe (if they are different from what they should be, then the executables are somehow corrupted...)

EDIT: also if you haven't already, open a support case, that never hurts. Have to say, that the weirdest issue ever I came across with this game. And I've seen my shares of bugs and problems with it.