FOF 6.3 in Windows 7 64 bit

[TheFoosballWizard]

I have not been able to get this program to run in Windows 7, much to my dismay, since it is my favorite simulator of all time.

I tried making sure that DLL file was in the same directory, running it in administrator mode, and even running it in the XP emulator and none of them work. I get an error/denied message from the game's security in the emulator and when I run it in Windows 7 64 bit I get the "hourglass" but nothing appears on screen.

Any help is VERY appreciated!

Thanks!:

[dwardzala]

Are you sure you are running the program and not the shortcut in admin mode (i.e. go into the actual directory and run .exe in admin mode)?

Otherwise, I got nothin'.

[johneh]

Try running it in the compatibility mode for XP, that fixed it for me.

[33sherman]

compatibility mode worked for me, though it is kinda slow

[TheFoosballWizard]

Which XP compatibility mode are you running it in, Service Pack 3 or 2?

I'm pretty sure I've tried both, including Vista & ME but it just loads the program and nothing comes up on my screen, although it shows in task manager listing of processes.

[johneh]

Running it in XP compatibility for service pack 2 worked for me.

[TheFoosballWizard]

Hmm, I must be having some different problem with it then. I run it with Windows XP Service Pack 2, Run as Administrator, and the .dll file that is mentioned on the webpage and sometimes being a problem if it is not in the same directory is in the directory.

[33sherman]

Service Pack 2 worked for me as well.

[johneh]

When you start the game do you get the little pop up box asking if it is ok for FOF to access the internet (or something like that) where I'm assuming it checks the elicense? Maybe you have it set up soe Windows 7 is not letting it access the internet?

[TheFoosballWizard]

I get that pop up box that I get for every program, and I give assent.

I noticed that the program is actually RUNNING when I look at my task manager under processes and is using 25% of my CPU....however there's nothing on my screen.

If anyone has any new ideas based on this information, I'd really appreciate it!

Just to clarify: I am running it in XP compatibility mode as an admin.

[Jughead Spock]

Are you sure you are running the program and not the shortcut in admin mode (i.e. go into the actual directory and run .exe in admin mode)?

Otherwise, I got nothin'.


Did you try this? Sure sounds like the issue, but otherwise, I'm with dwardzala.

[Karim]

I'm running it on Windows 7 Home Premium 32-bit. On the compatibility tab I'm running it as Windows XP (Service Pack 3) and as administrator.

You may be able to track down what is actually being run using:
Dependency Walker (depends.exe) Home Page (http://www.dependencywalker.com/)

[stevew]

I have never had any issues with anything in windows 7. Are you using a custom built machine or a store bought one?

[Karim]

The elicen40.dll needs to be in the same folder as the game's executable.

Examining the dll shows that it depends on:

kernel32.dll
user32.dll
advapi32.dll
version.dll
wsock32.dll

All of these are in the c:\windows\system32 folder on my machine. I'm not sure about 64-bit architecture but maybe the elicense dll can't find the required pre-requisites on 64-bit?

The other dll FOF depends on is oleacc.dll also in c:\windows\system32.

[TheFoosballWizard]

Did you try this? Sure sounds like the issue, but otherwise, I'm with dwardzala.

Yup, I tried running it directly from the directory with the "Run as Admin" right click option too. I'm pretty baffled since it seems to run on other people's 64 bit Windows 7 systems.

[TheFoosballWizard]

The elicen40.dll needs to be in the same folder as the game's executable.

Examining the dll shows that it depends on:

kernel32.dll
user32.dll
advapi32.dll
version.dll
wsock32.dll

All of these are in the c:\windows\system32 folder on my machine. I'm not sure about 64-bit architecture but maybe the elicense dll can't find the required pre-requisites on 64-bit?

The other dll FOF depends on is oleacc.dll also in c:\windows\system32.

I just tried copying all these .dll files from system32 to the executable's folder, but no dice!

Anyway, thanks for the attempt to help, everyone. If anyone gets any new ideas let me know and I'll give them a shot, I miss FOF!

[TheFoosballWizard]

I tried out dependency walker and it seems like all the modules FOF tries to load are 64 bit ones except these:

ELICEN40.DLL
FRFOOT2007.EXE
IESHIMS.DLL

I suspect the fact that everything is not 64 bit or 32 bit is what is causing the problem, but I'm not sure how I would go about fixing it.

[dacman]

IIRC -- you need to grant yourself permissions to write the the install directory of FOF for the elicense stuff to work.

Go to this webpage -- Windows 7 Take Ownership & Grant Permissions to Access Files & Folder (http://www.blogsdna.com/2159/how-to-take-ownership-grant-permissions-to-access-files-folder-in-windows-7.htm)

Scroll down to the part "How to Grant Permissions in Windows 7" -- and give yourself "Full Control" of the C:\Program Files\Solecismic Software\Front Office Football 2007 directory (or wherever your FOF is installed).

[Karim]

I read on Grey Dog Software's site that eLicense doesn't work on 64-bit. :(

[PilotMan]

I have Win 7 64-bit and no problems with getting programs to run, elicense or otherwise. I know this doesn't add much to the discussion other showing that it does run. On top of that, I don't need to run it in compatibility mode.

[neromadrid]

I'm actually in the same boat as you Foosball.

I've tried every thing I could think of, changing groups, permission, admin, compatibility mode. I even talked to the game and tried to lower its performance anxiety but nada.

Also running Win7 64 and pretty much at my wits end. Did you ever find a solution?

[TheFoosballWizard]

I'm actually in the same boat as you Foosball.

I've tried every thing I could think of, changing groups, permission, admin, compatibility mode. I even talked to the game and tried to lower its performance anxiety but nada.

Also running Win7 64 and pretty much at my wits end. Did you ever find a solution?

I've tried just about everything and it won't work....at least there's reason to have hope that it will since it runs on other people's win7 64 bit systems!

[neromadrid]

I emailed Jim to see what he has to say.

[TheFoosballWizard]

I emailed Jim to see what he has to say.

That's great to hear, nero. Let me know if you hear anything.

[NawlinsFan]

I run FOF, BBCF (Greydog), had run DDPB (Wolverine) all on Win 7 64 bit with no issues at all.

[aston217]

What is everyone's Win7 64-bit version?

[stevew]

64 bit windows 7-home premium.

Works like a champ.

[TheFoosballWizard]

Just to see what would happen, I tried installing the demo version. It does run while my paid version does not.

Maybe this does have something to do with elicensing?

[aston217]

I'm really frustrated with this. It seems to either work for people easily, or not work no matter what measures are taken. No rhyme or reason to it. I have 64 bit Win 7 home premium as well. Run as administrator, from the directory itself, changing ownership, in Windows XP SP2 mode, etc. No dice. I hope I haven't wasted my license.

[Solecismic]

ViaTech would like to find someone who is experiencing this problem on Windows 7 who is willing to run some diagnostic tests.

It's frustrating for all of us. Every once in a while, after an install, I get stuck like that - click on the icon, nothing happens. But running the game as administrator once always solves the problem.

[aston217]

Yeah, and I understand it completely. Potential Win7 compatibility, and x64 compatibility, for a program whose base code probably was built for x32. It's unreasonable to demand support for it especially this quickly - but it's frustrating nonetheless. Not to mention, eLicense has its own (big) compatibility issues.

I may have come off too hard in the venting.What happens for me (I always run as administrator), is I get a popup alert saying "Front Office Football has stopped working." And that's the end of that.

I'd be more than happy to run some tests.

[neromadrid]

Just to see what would happen, I tried installing the demo version. It does run while my paid version does not.

Maybe this does have something to do with elicensing?

And this only goes to strenghen my suspicion that it's an eLicense issue, not an FOF one.

I'm going to install the demo later on today and see what happens.

[Timmyotall]

I have the exact same issue with the stopped working error message. The demo does work on my machine, whilst the eLicense Control center in the Control Panel pops up a message saying that "the file does not have a program associated with it for performing this action" if I try to run it, suggesting that that's where the issue lies. I would also be willing to run any tests (I'm running Win 7 Home Premium x64)

[neromadrid]

the eLicense Control center in the Control Panel pops up a message saying that "the file does not have a program associated with it for performing this action" if I try to run it,

+1

[TheFoosballWizard]

ViaTech would like to find someone who is experiencing this problem on Windows 7 who is willing to run some diagnostic tests.

It's frustrating for all of us. Every once in a while, after an install, I get stuck like that - click on the icon, nothing happens. But running the game as administrator once always solves the problem.

I'd have no problem with running diagnostic tests.

[neromadrid]

Neither do I

[Solecismic]

If you're interested in helping out, please send an email to customer support (address at the end of my faq). Thanks.

[TheFoosballWizard]

I filled out the support form at the end of the secondary FAQ on the Solecismic site. I'll let everyone know if I learn anything about the problem.

[TheFoosballWizard]

Still messing with this to try and get it to work on my own.

I just tried creating manual exceptions for this in DEP by excluding the executable from it.

Now, instead of the program just closing without opening anything up, I get the following error message:

"The application was unable to start correctly (0xc0000005). Click OK to close the application."

[stevew]

Just to see what would happen, I tried installing the demo version. It does run while my paid version does not.

Maybe this does have something to do with elicensing?

did you have norton running on your machine? I had a bitch of a time getting a license cause norton was running in the background(expired) and had to get an offline license the first time.

this next time it worked easily.

If I were to screenshot a bunch of folder settings for the game, would that help? Or would everyone look the same there?

[Timmyotall]

I got this from customer support

I'm confused by this. It looks like a proper install. You can run the demo.
The crash report indicates a problem with FOF being unable to allocate
memory (but this should be the same as experienced in the demo at this
point).</pre>

[aston217]

Which customer support? It seems pretty clear that the prime suspect right now should be eLicense, unfortunately...

[Timmyotall]

That was from Solecismic support as that was the one we were told to contact. I agree that it is likely eLicense which is the problem, however the reply from support implies that once the product is licensed it should run normally - perhaps the eLicense application isn't required to run once the game is already licensed.

[neromadrid]

That was from Solecismic support as that was the one we were told to contact. I agree that it is likely eLicense which is the problem, however the reply from support implies that once the product is licensed it should run normally - perhaps the eLicense application isn't required to run once the game is already licensed.

Absolutely incorrect.

[stevew]

somewhere there is an elicense fix tool. Can someone dig that up from a search, maybe it would help?

[Timmyotall]

I managed to get the game running by uninstalling my AV - although the game didn't run with my AV disabled. I found a thread in a forum suggesting that at least Comodo and also Zone Alarm's Anti-Spyware toolbar prevent eLicense from working.

[neromadrid]

somewhere there is an elicense fix tool. Can someone dig that up from a search, maybe it would help?

Don't know why they wouldn't have at least asked us to give this a shot.

Took me a minute and here it is: http://www.elicense.com/download/uninst_eLic.exe

Going to run it now.

[TheFoosballWizard]

Don't know why they wouldn't have at least asked us to give this a shot.

Took me a minute and here it is: http://www.elicense.com/download/uninst_eLic.exe

Going to run it now.

Does this program fix elicense? It seems to just uninstall it.

[stevew]

If you aren't using Norton, download the "Norton Removal Tool" It might help, dunno, worth a shot. Especially if you have a rack system that had it installed with a limited trieal.

[neromadrid]

Ok...I uninstalled eLicense and restarted my machine.

Removed the game and reinstalled it.

This time the licensing screen came up and I thought GREAT!!

So I unlicensed my game from my virtualbox XP install and installed the license in Win7.

And boom went the dynamite. Now I can't unlicense and can't use the game on either.

[ravensmac66]

Downloaded/installed new update on new install of win 7 on a clean/separate hard drive in my system.....FO loaded, confirmed license, seems to work fine.

Move my league/universe files over from old program/hard drive......updated bat files.....

Still none of my 3 existing leagues are showing up.

What am I missing?

[TheFoosballWizard]

I use PCTools Spyware Doctor as my anti virus and it was evidently what was causing the problem. Simply disabling features didn't allow me to run the program, but if I "fully" shutdown Spyware Doctor using the shutdown command FOF runs again for me.

Hopefully, it's a similar problem (or perhaps even the same problem) holding other people back.

[aston217]

I use Avast, and disabling it hasn't done any good for me.

I think games like FOF, BBCF, and others should just get away from eLicense and use something else. Honestly, as long as x64 systems have been around and as long as Windows 7 has been around now, there's just no excuse. It's an archaic form of licensing protection. The company's support form doesn't even list "Windows 7" under the dropdown options.

FOF certainly runs fine on Windows 7 x64, and there's no reason it should accept being tied down by a relic of a system that causes problems.

For those who have gone to eLicense for testing help, any verdicts?

[Sanderz]

i am thinking of buying this game - but have win7 64 bit - does the game now work ok with this?

thanks

[gstelmack]

i am thinking of buying this game - but have win7 64 bit - does the game now work ok with this?

thanks

It always has worked fine, it's just that the number of hoops you've had to jump through to make it work has been reduced. The key is to "Run as Administrator" the first time to let the licensing work, should be fine after that. And you have to hunt through the hidden AppData folder to find the data if you are a multiplayer user (to get your exports) or if you need other access to the data.

[Sanderz]

It always has worked fine, it's just that the number of hoops you've had to jump through to make it work has been reduced. The key is to "Run as Administrator" the first time to let the licensing work, should be fine after that. And you have to hunt through the hidden AppData folder to find the data if you are a multiplayer user (to get your exports) or if you need other access to the data.

thanks for your help

[stevew]

I never had any kind of an issue at all with it. Using a HP Laptop with 64 bit windows 7. I think most of the problems are custom installations/computers/funky PC preexisting conditions.

[Sanderz]

just bought the game - as said above if you run everything "as administrator" then all is fine (this is on win7 64bit) - also didn't need to use any compatibility settings