Hi,
I'm using Win7 64 bits.

Pretty often, when I launch the game, I'll get stuck on a black screen with a "Windows" frame. Sometimes the game loads normally; most often than not, though, I can't launch the game.

I've tried launching the game in compatibility mode and as an administrator, to no avail.

Does anybody else have the same problem? Is there a known solution?

I've not come across this problem before. I'm currently playing on Windows 10 64-bit, but was previously playing it under Windows 7 64-bit with no issues (compatibility mode and administrator not needed). Nevertheless, happy to try and help you troubleshoot the problem unless someone else comes up with a solution.

A few questions/requests to help troubleshoot:

1. What video card are you using? Do you have scaling turned on under your video cards config software?
2. What is your desktop resolution set to and what is your monitors native resolution?
3. Can you post screenshots of the B17Setup dialog box showing your settings in the Graphics, Sound and Options tabs.
4. Can you also post a screenshot of the compatibility tab of your B17 shortcut that you're using to launch the game.

Hi,
Thanks for replying to my query! I disabled scaling in my video card software, as you suggested, and the game seems to work now... I'll get back to you if the problem pops up again. In the meantime, thank you!

Hey glad that got it working. I'm using an AMD Radeon R9 390 card with GPU scaling turned ON and it works fine for me. With you having scaling turned off does the game fill your monitor vertically?

OK, I spoke too fast. I just tried to launch the game and it crashed...

I'm using a nVidia GTX 680; My screen resolution is 1920x1080 (native). I run the game at the 1280x960 32bpp setting. I've tried checking and un-checking the "Use Hardware T&L" setting, but it didn't do anything.
In the Sound tab, I can't do anything and all I see is the message "No Aureal A3D drivers found".
In the Options tab, I tried creating, deleting and re-creating the graphics cache... Still nothing.

At what point does the game crash? Does it still work most of the time? Have the intro movies ever played? What happens if you press the "Esc" key when the black screen is displayed?

Do you have the latest drivers from nVidea installed?

Hi,
The game crashes a couple of seconds after I launch it from the configuration application. When the game locks-up in a black screen, nothing happens if I press ESC. I have the lastest drivers installed.

Now that you mention it, I don't think I've ever seen the intro video; when the game does launch, it takes me directly to the main menu...

I'll have a think about your problem but doubt I'll have a solution. I suspect it is a video compatibility issue ans so the only thing I can suggest right now is try ALL of the different resolution,colour depth, refresh rate options in the B17Setup (config) just to see if there is any setting that does work.

BTW - what is the install location for your game?

I had been wondering if there was an issue with playing the intro videos which are in Bink format. These only play the very first time you run the game after installation. After that the game always goes straight to the main menu as you're experiencing. You can manually play the intro video from the main menu. Select the lower right of the four panels in the main menu and then click on the Continue switch in the lower right corner.

I have update my graphics drivers again (2016.10.6 version); the game hasn't crashed since... I'll let you know if bad stuff starts happening again

Hey, that's great news. I've got my fingers crossed for you that it stays that way :)