Empire Earth boots fine without NeoEE, but not with it.

If you're having any technical difficulties with EE, or installing or using the NeoEE patch, make a post here and someone will try and help you out.
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Merty
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Empire Earth boots fine without NeoEE, but not with it.

Post by Merty »

So I have this issue that's been happening yesterday and today. I have a computer with a graphics card that is up to date with everything, Windows and drivers. I own the GOG version of the game, and I used to be able to play with NeoEE until very recently. As soon as I run the program, two or three seconds pass and the game does not respond. Nothing proper of the game opens, it just zooms in as to adjust the screen, and I have to close it using Task Manager.

I reinstalled the game and ran the stock version of Empire Earth without the NeoEE patch and it booted perfectly, but as soon as I install the patch, it does not boot anymore.

I already tried running the game in Windows 8 compatibility mode, using administrator permission, disabling fullscreen optimizations, I am sure I convinced my anti-virus to not check for anything NeoEE related, no luck. I am unaware of what the "Loader.exe" file does, but it comes with NeoEE and if I try to run it individually, it doesn't even open, so that may be the issue.

I have another computer with the GOG version and NeoEE version installed and it works fine, this other one does not have a graphics card and is much less powerful in general, but sometimes the game will go to the desktop for a bit, and in one of those trips it will crash completely. I am unsure of what to do at this point to keep playing, has anyone experienced these problems before?

Edit: Something I forgot to mention: Even if I have a clean reinstall, for some reason the game still says "NeoEE edition" in the top right corner. Perhaps there is more to uninstalling the patch?

Jodocus
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Re: Empire Earth boots fine without NeoEE, but not with it.

Post by Jodocus »

The loader basically reads your current screen resolution and overwrites the fixed 800x600 lobby resolution in EE with that one. Apparently, this leads to problems to some people (with certain resolutions EE may not be able to handle). Furthermore, many antivirus tools detect it as a virus, so in retrospect, it was a failure to add it to the patch.
You may try to launch EE by just clicking on the plain Empire Earth.exe, this should still be possible I suppose.

Merty
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Re: Empire Earth boots fine without NeoEE, but not with it.

Post by Merty »

Still doesn't boot even if I open the exe file directly. I've tried with compatibility mode as well...

Edit: Uninstalling GOG as a whole and then reinstalling Empire Earth removes the "NeoEE version" mark at the top right corner. Still won't run though, and I made sure to uninstall NeoEE before attempting this.

Micky1757
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Re: Empire Earth boots fine without NeoEE, but not with it.

Post by Micky1757 »

Hi all, i have the same mistake. When i install the Ultimate-Edition, EE will work fine. Then i install the neoee-patch and EE does not start neither in the normal nor in the admin-mode. Some help out there ? Will be fine, thanks.

Thanøs
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Re: Empire Earth boots fine without NeoEE, but not with it.

Post by Thanøs »

@Micky1757 / @Merty: This sounds annyoing :/. Had a similar problem once. You could try to not only deinstall the game/patch, but also to search for remnants of Empire Earth and NeoEE Files and delete those + cleaning your registry after (for example with ccleaner). Then reinstall PC and try again (disable antivirus when installing, causes somethimes problems with the patch).
Alanja Pekic wrote: It is said that many many installations and registration keys could be a problem. I also had similar issues a few years ago (weird errors, dll. missing or nothing happened).I I advise you to remove all remnants of EE completely with a program (incl. Registry clean, use "CCleaner" free program after deinstallation to clean up unused or old registry keys, suggest you make a "safe" as the programm recommends ;) but i never had an issue tbh). You may want to save your Names/civs/saves/lobby background images, friendlists or whatever *_*)

To delete all files / keys, use a program like "revo uninstaller" or similar (a free program i recommend cause i had success with it with similar issue, https://www.revouninstaller.com/revo-un ... -download/). With this you can also search for remnants of the deinstallation and remove it completely.

I also suggest to restart your Pc after cleaning the PC of EE first before the new installation (make sure all folders are gone).

I have solved similar stuff with this. GL :thumbsupl:
you can also try it the way this guy here just wrote:
Bogdan_xD wrote:try this for the moment

1. Go to Control Panel -> Apps&Features and delete every instance of Empire Earth
2. You can do what the guy above said, it can be true, although it's kind of a hard case when it comes to EE, as EE doesn't make that many registrys, and not even installs files into windows folders.
CCleaner can help to remove those kind of stuff, although just Right-Clicking the partition in where the windows is, and do a Disk Cleanup should be enough.

3. Download and install this Installer, it's based on the GoG version ( even tho i saw that you tried that, try this aswell )
4. Once installed, enter the game to check if it does.
5. If it does, Install NeoEE and check again, but make sure firewall is allowed, both public and private.
6. If it still doesn't, say it here again.

If it's indeed just that file, there might be the case in which your windows blocked the .dll file as it doesn't trust it.
To do so, right click that .dll -> Security Tab and check if you have a "unblock" box.If you do, check it, if you don't, and something like this appears :
Image
Press on the Edit button : and check the boxes except for Full Controll and Special Permissions.

Thanøs
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Joined: Tue Nov 13, 2018 6:47 pm
Lobby Username: Thanøs

Re: Empire Earth boots fine without NeoEE, but not with it.

Post by Thanøs »

Jodocus wrote:The loader basically reads your current screen resolution and overwrites the fixed 800x600 lobby resolution in EE with that one. Apparently, this leads to problems to some people (with certain resolutions EE may not be able to handle). Furthermore, many antivirus tools detect it as a virus, so in retrospect, it was a failure to add it to the patch.
You may try to launch EE by just clicking on the plain Empire Earth.exe, this should still be possible I suppose.
Could this be fixed or removed in a new patch version? Many people maybe faces this issues like this guys here or don't want to install because of safety concerns. Is this the only file (loader) that antivirus claim to be a virus or are there others as well?


I heard somethimes they are alert cause its an "uknown" program. You wrote this to this issue some time ago:
Jodocus wrote:
bradleybrand wrote:Are you able to contact the Anti-Virus producers and perhaps get them to recognize NeoEE?
Which one? There are dozens. And certainly some of them won't just "believe" me that it is no malware. And whenever I modify the NeoEE installer, I have to contact them all again. This is pointless.

The real solution would be to buy a software certificate. But you won't get those without sharing your personal information with a certificate authority, like a scan of the ID card. Those CA are instances that you are supposed to trust, but, ironically, I really have no good feelings sending some organization my ID from that I never heard of alot. Also, ~350$/year is not quite cheap.
Alternatively, NeoEE goes open source and I will not distribute any binary files any longer. No real option on Windows as you then would have to install a compiler AND compile it yourself, this is more a Linux thing.

So I fear it stays as it is: every user has to just trust on his own.
If its for the money, it would be an option to ask in social media or discord for support for this and we may could delete this problem :P Are there enough donations in general?

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