Common Solutions

There have been a number of threads covering various different technical problems with installing or playing The Movies game by Lionhead Studios posted here. In this thread I am going to attempt to post a description and solution to the more common problems encountered within the game. Please do not post asking for help in this thread - this thread should be used for posting known (and working - at least in some cases) solutions.

Things To Try First

Patch - There are two patches for the game which fix a number of issues and make one or two improvements. These are v1.1 and v1.2. You should download and install v1.1 and then v1.2 to make sure your game is up to date. The patches can be found by following these links: Black & White 2 v1.1 Patch, Black & White 2 v1.2 Patch.

Before trying the solutions that are listed below it's worth noting that most problems with games are caused by out of date drivers, the need to carry out some standard maintanence tasks or unsupported hardware. Please do the following as a first step in making sure you have no problems:

• Check for windows updates (Windows Update).
  
• Make sure you are running the latest version of DirectX.
  
• Update your display drivers (commonly either nVidia or ATI).
  
• Check for sound driver updates for your card.
  
• Defragment your Hard Disc Drive.
  
• Scan your PC for viruses and spyware.
  
• Check your PC meets the Minimum Requirements

Additionaly if you are experiencing slow performance try turning down detail levels and make sure you are not "forcing" high quality modes or other features using your graphics drivers.

Solutions For Problems

Please follow the links below for solutions to problems (links take you to posts within this thread):

• I can't install Black & White 2
• Black & White 2 won't start with message "Please Insert Correct Disc"
• Black & White 2 won't start, exits after showing the introductory screens
• Black & White 2 runs too slow/bad performance
• Black & White 2 has sound Issues
• The hand appears to be invisible
• My game is missing Grass/Fur etc.
• The hair on my advisors/creature stretches to infinity
• I have a problem with the Tiger Unlocker

None Of This Helped

If none of these solutions helped you with your problem you could try posting a thread in the Technical Help Forum or contact Electronic Arts through The EA Support Page. If posting a thread in Technical Help please give as much information as possible such as when exactly the problem occurs, what the problem is and give as many details about your system as possible (eg. CPU, RAM, GFX Card, Sound Card, Driver Versions etc.).

To find out your system specifications (if you're not sure) simply go to the Start Menu select "Run" and type "dxdiag" (without quotes) and press enter. This will bring up a window giving you all the information you need. The display tab of this window will also tell you your graphics card make and driver version.

I can't install Black & White 2

Error: The Filename, directory name, or volume label syntax is incorrect.
You may need to change your region and language settings in Windows. To do this do the following:

• Go to the Windows Control Panel and open "Regional and Language Options".
  
• Select the "Advanced" tab.
  
• In the menu for "Language for non-Unicode programs" the selected option should be "English (United States)" if not change it to this and click ok.
• Try the intallation again - it should work correctly this time.
  

Black and white 2 has failed to install. Your system has not been modified. Please re-run the installer to try again (Error: Access is denied).
The following solution should fix this error for you:

• You will need approx 8Gb of hard disc space. Either all on one drive or 4Gb on one drive and 4Gb on another.
• Create a new directory (folder) on the drive to copy the contents of the CDs/DVD to (for example C:\BW2_CD).
  
• Copy the contents of all the CDs (or the DVD) into this folder and then run Setup.exe from the folder.
  
• The game should now install.
  

Please note that you will still need to have the original CD/DVD in the drive when playing the game.


Game failed to install please try again (unknown error).
The same solution to should be used here as for the problem mentioned above (copy the CD/DVD to the hard disc and install from there). Again the disc must be in the drive in order to play the game.


I get a "CRC" error when installing the game.
A CRC error (cyclic redundancy check) is most often caused by a damaged or faulty CD/DVD disc. You should return the disc to the shop and get it exchanged.


My computer cannot read the disc.
The first thing to check here is if you have the DVD or CD version. If you have the DVD version you must have a DVD-ROM drive to play it in. A CD-ROM drive can not read DVDs. If you have the DVD-ROM version and a CD-ROM drive you should try returning the disc to the store and asking them to exchange it for the CD-ROM version or buy a DVD-ROM drive to play it in.

Black & White 2 won't start with message "Please Insert Correct Disc"

This error is more than likely caused by the copy protection system used by Black & White 2. Electronic Arts is responsible for choosing which copy protection method to use so if you don't like it please contact them - not Lionhead!


Copy Protection
Black & White 2 uses SafeDisc v4 copy protection (reffered to as CP from here on in). This type of CP uses a blacklist of certain software to prevent pirate copies from being used or the game from being copied. This means that if you have certain software installed or running on your computer the CP will prevent the game from running telling you that you must insert the correct disc.


Solution
In order to play the game without this error you may need to disable or uninstall some burning software or virtual drive/CP emulation software. If you are having this issue and have any of the following installed on your computer this is probably the issue and I will tell you how to fix it (items marked with a * have been confirmed by myself or other users as preventing the game from loading - after removal or disabling it works):

• Deamon Tools* (Pre-version 4)
  
• Alcohol 120%
  
• CloneCD/DVD
  
• Nero ImageDrive*
  

How to fix

Deamon Tools
It has been confirmed that with Deamon Tools installed the game will not run. Disabling the virtual drive and CP emulation does not work. You must completely remove Deamon Tools from your system.

Alcohol 120%
It hasn't been confirmed if having this software installed affects the game. It is more than likely that having a Virtual Drive/CP Emulation running will stop the game running though. To begin with try disabling the virtual drive (you may need to re-start). If that doesn't work try uninstalling the program completely and see if that solves the problem.

CloneCD/DVD
I don't know if the version of SafeDisc on this game blacklists CloneCD/DVD but other versions of SafeDisc do. If you have CloneCD/DVD installed and the game doesn't start with the insert correct disc error then try uninstalling CloneCD/DVD this may fix the error.

Nero ImageDrive
You DO NOT have to uninstall Nero. The game will work fine with Nero installed. However Nero comes with a feature called Nero ImageDrive. This runs a virtual drive on your system if enabled and prevents the game from starting. To check if you have the feature enabled try starting Nero ImageDrive, if it is not enabled it will tell you and you can click no (don't enable). If it is enabled it will start up and you should then disable it. In some cases it may be neccesary to delete the ImageDrive folders from your PC.


Still not working?

Firmware
If it is still not working it may be that you need to update your DVD/CD ROMs Firmware. Go to your manufacturers website and check to see if there is any new firmware available. Some old firmware versions don't work with newer CP methods and need these updates.

Note be very careful to follow the manufacturers instructions and read all warnings. Flashing firmware can cause permanent damage if not done correctly.


DVD or CD?
I know it sounds obvious but check wether you have the DVD or CD ROM edition. A DVD will not work in a CD ROM drive. A few people have had this problem.



This is not an exhaustive fix list so may not work in all cases. Also note that while there may be other solutions such as NO-CD cracks these may contain viruses, may cause your gameplay to suffer and may prevent you from using online services with the game. They are not supported and by using them you void your rights to support. Please do not post that kind of thing here.

Black & White 2 won't start, exits after showing the introductory screens

In some cases the game will load but exit to the desktop after showing the introductory screens (or after the splash screen). The following solutions should fix this for most people.


Download and install the version 1.1 patch
The first thing to try is downloading the version 1.1 patch and installing it - note save games from the game before patching are not compatible with the game after patching. You can download the patch from here: http://largedownloads.ea.com/pub/misc/BW2/BW2Patch1_1.exe. Installing the patch might fix this issue, if not try the solutions below.


Update Drivers
Make sure you have the most recent drivers for your Video Card. You can get them from nVidia or ATI in most cases. You should also run Windows Update and make sure you have all the required updates installed.


Does your CPU have SSE support?
This is a problem with some older AMD CPUs. Some AMD CPUs can have their SSE support enabled through a BIOS update or using another tool. Some people have reported success using this method.

Black & White 2 runs too slow/bad performance

There could be a number of things causing this. First of all please check that your system meets the minimum requirements for the game: http://www.lionhead.com/bw2/about.html.

If you do meet the minimum requirements and are still having performance issues try turning down the detail in the game settings. Turn off options like Anti Aliasing, try turning some of the options to low or off and think about lowering the resolution.
If none of these help then here are some other things to try:


Update Drivers
Make sure you have the most recent drivers for your Video Card. You can get them from nVidia or ATI in most cases. You should also run Windows Update and make sure you have all the required updates installed.  


AGP Texture Acceleration (for AGP cards)
Sometimes AGP Texture Acceleration is turned off. To turn it on you should:

• Go to the Start Menu and choose "Run".
  
• Type "dxdiag" (without quotes) and press ok.
  
• When the dxdiag window opens go to the display tab.
  
• About half way down that window there should be a small group of options, one of which says "AGP Texture Acceleration" - if it is disabled click the button to enable it.

If there was no option to enable this feature you may have a PCI-Express card not an AGP card or may need to download the latest chipset drivers for your motherboard and install them first (possibly installing your graphics drivers again after doing this).

Black & White 2 has sound Issues

If you are experiencing sound issues with the game there are a few things you can try:

Creative Sound Cards
Some people have reported that installing the OpenAL pack from Creative has fixed some sounds issues. If you have a creative card it may be worth going to the Creative website and running the auto-update tool to make sure you have the latest drivers and software installed.

Turn down hardware acceleration
In some cases people have reported that turning down the sound acceleration fixes their sound issues. To do this do the following:

• Go to the Start Menu and click "Run".
  
• Type "dxdiag" without the quotes and click ok.
  
• When the dxdiag window appears go to the "Sound" tab.
  
• In the DirectX features box there is a slider for "Hardware Sound Acceleration Level".
  

Try turning this down until performance improves.

The hand appears to be invisible

If you cannot see the hand in-game you should go to your graphics drivers control panel and turn of "MultiSampling". Then in Black & White 2 turn of Anti Aliasing and exit the game. The next time you go back into the game this issue should be fixed.

My game is missing Grass/Fur etc.

This is a problem on some slightly older graphics cards. The game will detect what graphics card you have. There are a number of preset detail levels which affect how the game looks in order to make sure performance isn't adversly affected. These settings prevent some systems from rendering fur etc. to increase the performance on those systems.

It is possible to alter these default detail limitations by editing the graphics config file in the game directory. This fix is not officially supported though and you should always keep backups of any files altered.

Unfortunately the thread links pointing to these fixes were changed during the move. When found the will be re-posted here.

Remember that increasing the basic level of detail can negatively impact the performance of your game. Some people have reported turning on various effects without any problems though so feel free to try :)

The hair on my advisors/creature stretches to infinity

This is a bug which was discovered in some driver releases. It was mainly a problem with nVidia drivers but might have happened with ATI driver sets too. The solution to the problem should be quite simple.

To fix this issue you should update your graphics drivers to their latest version. If you don't know what graphics card you have:

• Open the Start Menu and select "Run".
  
• Type "dxdiag" without quotes and press ok.
  
• When the dxdiag window opens select the display tab. This will tell you what graphics card you have and what driver version is installed.
  

If you have an nVidia card you should find suitable drivers here: http://www.nvidia.com/content/drivers/drivers.asp
ATI card owners can find suitable drivers here: https://support.ati.com/ics/support/

Installing the latest drivers should fix this issue.

I have a problem with the Tiger Unlocker

I bought the Collectors Edition but can't find the Tiger/Unlocker
The Tiger Unlocker is an executable file (.exe) which can be found on the bonus disc which comes with the collectors edition. After installing the game put the bonus disc into the PC navigate to the Tiger Unlocker and run it to unlock the Tiger creature.


I successfully unlocked the Tiger but can't get it in game
The unlocker won't change your current creature into a Tiger. It will give you the option of picking the tiger at the beginning of the game. If you have started a game and want to play the Tiger you will need to start another game to do so. If you are having difficulty finding the try looking by the stone heads behind the 4 standard creatures at the creature selection screen.


My Tiger Unlocker is in German! What's going on?
This is because on some systems the unlocker can't detect your language settings. You shouldn't worry the unlocker will still work correctly. There is one button labelled "Freischalten", press that and you will get the message "Der Tiger Wurde Freigeschaltet" (the tiger is unlocked). You have then successfully unlocked the Tiger creature and can play as that creature in the game.