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The moment I launch the game the intro pops up. However the screen is black, and I only hear the audio. A more serious problem is that I can not get past it. The black screen and the audio remains no matter what key I click. I have let it run its course from start to finish, however the screen still remains black even when the audio has stopped.
I have tried to find a solution to this problem, like running the game in XP compability mode (I have Vista), deleting or renaming the intro video (this makes the game ask for a CD) and changing the colour palette, however this has not worked.
Does anyone have any idea what could cause this problem, and how it could be solved?
This question / problem has been solved by Nissurimage
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Nissur: The moment I launch the game the intro pops up. However the screen is black, and I only hear the audio. A more serious problem is that I can not get past it. The black screen and the audio remains no matter what key I click. I have let it run its course from start to finish, however the screen still remains black even when the audio has stopped.
I have tried to find a solution to this problem, like running the game in XP compability mode (I have Vista), deleting or renaming the intro video (this makes the game ask for a CD) and changing the colour palette, however this has not worked.
Does anyone have any idea what could cause this problem, and how it could be solved?

Having the same problem, mate...tried just about anything i could think of...oh and, when you try to close A.N. does vista say that it stopped responding?...well, ill be watching this thread like a hawk, hopefully we get something fairly soon.
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Kyrridas: ... when you try to close A.N. does vista say that it stopped responding?...

Yes exactly like that.
I can however get the game to work on my portable XP computer, but the music doesn't work.
Sorry to hear about the problems :-\
If you haven't already, please raise an issue with support and provide us with details about your PC eg. if possible attaching a dxdiag output.
I can't do much to help you right now until the team gets in to the office in the morning (GMT+1).
Thank you for your reply,
I have indeed sent an issue to tech, with a Dxdiag, so hopefully they will come up with something.
Hmm...but I have only sent a Dxdiag for my Vista Computer, should I send one for my portable XP as well?
Same deal on Vista, what a bummer!
It works for me now!
A solution was posted in the support section:
"If you're experiencing problems with the intro and have the ffdshow codec installed, you will need to change its settings to exclude Alien Nations. To do this, you will need to an appropriate shortcut in your codec pack's Start Menu group. For instance, for CCCP it would be Start -> Programs -> Combined Community Codec Pack -> Filters -> FFDShow Video Decoder Configuration.
You can also open a video file which uses ffdshow and look for a dark red icon in the system tray, right-click it and go into "ffdshow Video Decoder".
Once in the Video Decoder's settings, go into "DirectShow control", locate the "Don't use ffdshow in:" setting and make sure it's checked. In the text field next to it, add AN.exe and separate it from the other entries with a semicolon (";"). Now save the settings and try launching the game."
Perhaps this could also be the case for other video decoders? Nevertheless it is incredible. Thank you GOG, that was tech magic.
The only problem I have now, is that there is no music in the menu or the game itself.
Post edited March 25, 2009 by Resil
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Nissur: The moment I launch the game the intro pops up. However the screen is black, and I only hear the audio. A more serious problem is that I can not get past it. The black screen and the audio remains no matter what key I click. I have let it run its course from start to finish, however the screen still remains black even when the audio has stopped.

The exact same thing is happening to me under Windows XP, but I don't have anything called FFDShow installed. I've tried dialing back the hardware accelerations under Display/Troubleshooting (this has helped with graphics problems in other games, such as Baldur's Gate), but it didn't make any difference.
[EDIT]: Oops, after running dxdiag, I see that FFDShow was in fact installed on my computer, as part of something called "Replay" which I've never used. I uninstalled it, and presto, Alien Nations is OK now! Thanks for identifying this solution - there's no freaking way I would have figured this out on my own.
Post edited November 04, 2009 by jbunniii