Operation Flashpoint: Troubleshooting

This article's main purpose is to document common problems and solutions to fix those problems in Operation Flashpoint. If none of the problems here describe your situation then please check the BI forums or a good starting point would be to visit OFP FAQ Troubleshooting section, where you can find a list of problems and fixes that cover a wide range of topics.

Crash Files & Error Reports

See Crash Files for information on the RPT file and crash files.

System Drivers

Stay current! Make sure you have the most recent drivers available for your hardware. Older drivers often contain bugs and can cause various performance issues and bugs while playing the game. Hardware manufacturers often work to improve performance through driver updates.

General

• Update DirectX

Note: you may need to reinstall DirectX even if you already have 9.0c or Windows Vista - the most recent DirectX 9.0c release is from December 2006.

Audio

• Install OpenAL updates
• Update Creative Audigy drivers
• Update Creative XFi drivers

Video

• Update ATI drivers
• Update nVidia drivers

Installation

CD Key Location

The CD key is listed on the last page of the instruction booklet included with the game.

Strange Error Messages, Corrupted Installation

When running OFP, I am getting strange error messages like: "No entry config.bin::CfgWorlds" or I am getting other strange errors.

Solution

You can verify your installation using the OFPCheck utility available here _{(dead link)}. If any files are indicated to be corrupted, follow step-by-step list of things to do included in file OFPCheck.txt file.

Note: The most common cause of data corruption is a bug in some VIA chipset based motherboards. If you are using such motherboard, check VIA other related topics in this forum section, like VIA Chipset Problems.

Patches & Updates

Patches and updates for Operation FlashPoint can be obtained here on the Operation Flashpoint _{(dead link)} website.

The following is a patch & upgrade path for Operation Flashpoint.

Patches and Upgrades can be found here BIS Updates _{(dead link)}

I have Operation Flashpoint: GOTY edition or Resistance upgraded to version 1.91:

• Resistance and GOTY edition patch 1.91 to 1.96

I have Operation Flashpoint: GOTY edition:

• GOTY edition patch 1.96

I have Operation Flashpoint: RESISTANCE:

• Resistance Patch 1.96

I have Operation Flashpoint: GOLD edition:

• Patch 1.46

I have version 1.20(US):

• Ultimate upgrade 3 (v1.30) > Patch 1.46

I have version 1.00 (EU):

• Ultimate upgrade 2 (v1.20) > Ultimate upgrade 3 (v1.30) > Patch 1.46

Patch install, corrupt files

Why cannot I apply patch when I have some files corrupted?

Solution

To keep patch size as small as possible, patch uses as much data from original version as possible (this is called incremental patching). If we would allow applying patch to corrupted data, the patch result could be even more corrupted than current data you have. For correct patching it is critical that you have all files in the same state as they were distributed.

If you have some files corrupted, you may easily encounter random crashes in different parts of the game, therefore you should try to fix the problems leading to data corruption before you apply patch.

Different sources of corrupted data may be:

1. Faulty hard disc controller or hard disc
   • If you have VIA chipset, you may be affected by known bug in IDE channel controller. See above for possible solutions.
2. Physically bad CD
   • In this case you should get your CD replaced for free in the shop where you bought it (in most countries law guarantees you at least six moths for replacement of faulty material)
3. Unreliable CD ROM drive
   • Some CD ROM drives are unreliable. Copying damaged file several times from your CD and trying running patch after each attempt you may (with a little luck) repair your files. You can also use our Installation Verification utility, that comes with a step-by-step lists of things to do in this case.
     If you have unreliable CD ROM drive, you might want to consider buying a new one or borrowing it from a friend just to install the game.
4. Faulty hard disc surface
   • Hard discs sometimes (very rarely) fail. To check if your disc is healthy, run some Disk checking utility with "Scan for bad sectors" enabled.

Patch install 1.20, Error found in file DTA\Sound.pbo

When I try to install patch 1.20, I get error message like "Error found in file DTA\Sound.pbo (2e091cb6!=6c2ebbc9)". I am unable to install the patch.

Solution

The problem is caused by corrupted data already stored on your hard disc. If you have a VIA chipset, this may be caused by bug in VIA drivers / chipset. Disabling DMA for both hard drive and CD ROM often fixes the problem. See also VIA Chipset Problems for more information about VIA chipset problems. If you have other chipset than VIA, reinstalling game should help. If not, you should probably ask for replacement disc, as your media seems to be corrupted.

Original CD not in drive.(while patching)

If I try to install a patch, I receive the message "Original CD not in drive" or "Please insert the correct CD-ROM, select OK and restart application." will appear. I have the Original CD in the drive.

Solution

Please download Ultimate Upgrade from here _{(dead link)}. If it doesn't help please contact Codemasters support at Codemasters Support.

General Issues

Frequent crashes or out of memory errors

The games crashes frequently to me, or I am getting errors about not enough memory.

Solution

Try adding -nomap command line argument into the shortcut you are using to start the game.

Intermittent control issues at high framerate

Control issues, such as erratic mouse movements (especially while strafing) and some toggles (such as the walk key) intermittently ceasing to function can occur if the game runs at a very high framerate.

Solution

Using your display adapter's control panel (i.e. ATI's Catalyst Control Center), check if vertical synchronization is set to off. If it is, switch it to "Application Preference" or "Always On".

Graphical Issues

Cannot Create 3D

I cannot start Operation Flashpoint due to error message "Cannot create 3D..." I have GeForce and latest drivers. I'm using 16 bit color depth.

Solution

The following steps may help:

1. If you have nVidia TnT or GeForce / GeForce 2 card and you are running in 16-bit mode, you must check in D3D settings "Adjust Z-buffer depth to match render buffer depth". "Adjust Z-buffer depth ..." option can be found this way:
   Right click on Desktop > Properties > Settings > Advanced > GeForce bookmark > Additional Properties > Direct3D setting.
2. Select a lower resolution. This may help especially if you have graphics card with 8Mb or 16 Mb of RAM.
3. Edit line "refresh=;" to "refresh=0;" or "refresh=60;" in your Flashpoint.cfg. If there is no such line, then add it.
4. Test DirectX 8: Run DxDiag and perform Direct3D test. If anything is reported as not working, reinstall DirectX and/or graphics card drivers.
5. If none of above helped, please contact technical support (support@bistudio.com)
6. Try adding the -nomap extension to your startup shortcut.

Textures Are White

When Operation Flashpoint is started some of the textures on vehicles or ground are white.

Solution

Install the latest graphic card driver on your system.

Disable multitexturing in ingame video options.

If only the Island's textures are white, recopy the Island PBO's (Abel, Noe, Eden and Cain) from your CD. Note that the island consists of a .WRP and .PBO. The PBO contains textures and the such.

Flickering Shadows ATI GFX Adapter

In game shadows on objects and/or roads are flickering badly. I have a ATI Radeon 9500/9700 graphics card.

Solution

This problems is caused by a bug in many older ATI drivers.

To fix it download ATI Catalyst 3.1 or newer driver from ATI Web Site.

If you do not want to update your drivers, you can also disable HW T&L (use slower plain Direct3D device) as a workaround.

Slow Performance

I play Resistance on high detail terrain and visibility of about 2500m - which should be of no problem, as I'm playing on very powerful computer. Still performance seems to be very slow, especially in some missions. What can I do?

Solution

Use lower terrain detail settings (like "Normal"), especially when using increased viewing distance. Terrain detail level "High" requires a lot of memory and CPU resources, and it was included mostly in anticipation of hardware that will be available several years from now.

Freezing every 5 seconds

Operation Flashpoint is freezing for a while every 5-10sec. I have Geforce XX and the newest drivers.

Solution

You must uncheck in D3D settings "Enable alternate depth buffering technique".

Where can I find it?

Right click on desktop >Properties >Settings >Advanced > Geforce bookmark >Additional Properties > Direct3d setting.

Another cause of regular freezing is often incorrect joystick setup.

If there is some controller shown in your Windows Game Controllers Control Panel which is not actually connected, it may cause the game freezing regularly. Removing this controller fixes the issue.

VIA Chipset Problems

Operation Flashpoint often randomly crashes. I have Via chipset and AGP 4x

Solution

Setting AGP speed to 1x or 2x often helps. If you have AMD processor, you can also check this link to Microsoft's Knowledge Base

Following troubleshooting guide was compiled by Ravefree:

1. Use the LoadMinimum registry fix listed on AMD's site under patches
2. Install latest VIA chip set drivers
3. If possible reserve an IRQ setting for your video card (GeForce)
4. Make sure your computer has proper ventilation and cooling
5. Check power supply for higher end systems a 350+ or 400 watt power supply is a must have...
6. If your BIOS supports it, find out what the recommended PCI latency should be set to
7. Try lowering the AGP from 4x to 2x, to 1x if problems continue

Addons

Default Addons List

Cold War Crisis

6G30.PBO  	 
ABOX.PBO 	 
APAC.PBO 	 
BIZON.PBO 	 
BMP2.PBO 	 
BRMD.PBO 	 
CH47.PBO 	 
FLAGS.PBO 	 
G36A.PBO 	 
HUMR.PBO 	 
HUNTER.PBO 	 
KOZL.PBO 	 
LASERGUIDED.PBO 	 
M2A2.PBO 	 
MM-1.PBO 	 
OH58.PBO 	 
STEYR.PBO 	 
SU25.PBO 	 
TRAB.PBO 	 
VULCAN.PBO 	 
XMS.PBO

Resistance

KOLO.PBO 	OFP: Resistance patch 1.85
MINI.PBO 	OFP: Resistance patch 1.85
NOE.PBO 	OFP: Resistance
O_WP.PBO 	OFP: Resistance patch 1.85
O.PBO 		OFP: Resistance

Game of the Year Edition (GOTY)

6G30.pbo
ABox.pbo
Apac.pbo
Bizon.pbo
BMP2.PBO
brmd.pbo
ch47.pbo
Flags.pbo
G36a.pbo
humr.pbo
hunter.pbo
kozl.pbo
LaserGuided.pbo
m2a2.pbo
Mm-1.pbo
oh58.pbo
Steyr.pbo
su25.pbo
trab.pbo
VoiceRH.pbo
vulcan.pbo
XMS.pbo

Addons At Ease

BISCamel.pbo 	Sopwith Camel 

Red Hammer Campaign

VOICERH.PBO 	Red Hammer

Mouse Issues

Double Cursors

Two mouse cursors are visible in the game. One classic Windows mouse and the second is the ingame mouse.

Solution

Alt + Tabbing to Windows and then back to the game corrects the problem.

Many users report this problem can be solved by installing latest video card drivers.

It also seems this problem can be solved by selecting different resolutions or different refresh rates for the game and the Windows desktop.

Laggy Mouse

The mouse cursor appears to be laggy, it moves a little after I moved the mouse.

Solution

Try to use a lower resolution, your computer may not be powerful enough to support such resolution.

Mouse not Responding

I see game screen, but mouse cursor doesn't move when I moved the mouse and I can't use keyboard too.

Solution

Sometimes press Alt + ↹ Tab. After each pressing try if the mouse works.

Sound Issues

EAX

I can hear footsteps and other sound from very large distances. This is annoying. What can I do? I have SoundBlaster Live or other EAX capable card.

Solution

This problem is probably caused by incorrect EAX calculation in large environments. BIS's communication with Creative Labs suggests it will be probably fixed in next driver release for SB Live. The Latest drivers for SB Audigy seem to fix this problem. You can download them at the Sound Blaster Web Site.

Note: A workaround for this issue was implemented in Resistance upgrade. Users of this upgrade should not experience this issue with any driver version. If you did not purchase the Resistance upgrade then you may want to disable EAX. Some users (mostly having SBLive 5.1) are able to use HW 3D acceleration, some have to disable even 3D acceleration to get around this bug.

SoundBlaster+686b Southbridge Chipset

I am having trouble with a system using a VIA chipset including a 686b southbridge and a Creative Sound Blaster Live card.

Solution

When the 686b southbridge was first released, motherboard manufacturers and VIA discovered a problem when trying to transfer files between the primary and the secondary IDE channels on motherboards using ultra-DMA, when a Sound Blaster Live was plugged in and drivers activated. This issue was caused because too much noise is transferred across the PCI bus by the Sound Blaster Live driver set. In an attempt to fix this issue, some motherboard manufacturers modified their BIOS. In some instances, these modifications to the BIOS caused a data corruption error even when not using a Sound Blaster Live. VIA released a patch which resolves this issue, which is incorporated in the 4in1 drivers from the 4.31 version onwards. Motherboard manufacturers were advised to change the modifications made to their BIOS to eliminate the data corruption issue.

If you are experiencing data corruption or lock up when transferring files between two IDE drives:

1. Make sure you have the latest BIOS from your motherboard manufacturer.
2. Make sure you have the latest 4in1 drivers
3. Make sure when you set up your system that you install the 4in1 drivers both before and after you install the SBL to make sure that the drivers see your SBL and install the correct patch. The patch will only install if the SBL is installed.

For more information about possible data corruption on VIA based motherboards visit VIA web site.

Multi Player

Serious Multi Player Warning

This important messages comes from the developers at Bohemia Interactive and has been copied directly from the official forums _{(dead link)}.

There's a serious problem in Operation Flashpoint 1.75 and above (including versions 1.90/1.91) that may cause loss of all files on the partition where the game resides under some circumstances:

1. TCP/IP protocol is not fully supported or it is not working properly (e.g. it is disabled in Windows Network settings or there's a firewall disabling it)
2. The user creates a new server in DirectPlay mode.

The problem can never happen using "Sockets" implementation of the network protocol.

It is recommended to not create any network games under DirectPlay, in versions 1.91 and lower to avoid the risk of loss of all data on your hard drive partition. Creating a network game with DirectPlay mode in version 1.96 is to be safe.

Fade

What is Fade?

BIS has equipped Operation Flashpoint with embedded coding technology that can recognise the difference between counterfeit and real copies of the game's CD.

How is the Fade protection activated?

Any hacking of the exe (like unlimited ammo hack etc.) may activate FADE and you can experience various gameplay problems including low accuracy of some weapons. The same may happen when using any trainers or any other single player or multiplayer cheating applications. The only solution is to use the original game without any modifications.

What are the symptoms of Fade?

When FADE is activated, it affects gameplay aspects of the game. This may include (but is in no way limited to) the following: reduced accuracy of some weapons, reduced weapon performance, increased enemy hit endurance and increased player injuries.

What Fade is not

Fade does not affect major technical parameters of the game. Fade does not create any visual artifacts. It also does not make the game run slower. When encountering any problems like this, it is very likely you are experiencing some compatibility problems between various parts of the operating system, computer hardware and our game. Refer to other information on this page regarding other system/game problems.

Note: If you feel you have original version and this or other FADE degradation appears in your game, please get in touch with our tech support directly (support@bistudio.com).

Codemasters Press Release on Fade

Modified Config.bin messages

The following information has been taken directly from the BIS Multi-player forums.

When modifying Config.bin, you can control many aspects of the game, some very important (like reload times or other weapon, ammunition or vehicle parameters), some not that important (like weapon sounds or other minor things).

We considered a lot what parts of config should be protected against cheating, and after some thinking and experimentation we decided that modifying almost any field in the config can be used to get some advantage.

Let's consider two favorite config.bin modification types that seem innocent: sound replacement packs and face set replacements.

Sound replacement packs

Most sound replacement packs currently available replace original in-game sounds with other sounds, that are considered more realistic or simply nicer. Exactly the same technique can be used for cheating: consider replacing the very quiet HK sound or the sound of footsteps of eastern soldiers with some distinct and very loud tone. This would give you quite a big advantage, as the enemy would be unable to approach you unheard.

Face set replacements

Most common face set replacements replace original faces with some camo/spec-ops faces. The very same technique could be used for cheating: imagine replacing all faces with a bright yellow face. This would make spotting the enemy much easier.

Conclusion

While the message about modified config does not necessarily mean a player is cheating, it tells you it is impossible to guarantee he is not, as identical techniques can be used for non-cheating and cheating config modifications alike. When seeing this message, it is your decision whether or not you will believe the player when he tells you he is not cheating.

If you are using a config modification that is causing this message, you should understand why some people/servers may be unwilling to play with you. They see you are using modified config and they cannot know if you modified it in a cheating or non-cheating way. If they want to stay on the safe side, they will often kick you or even ban you from the server. Seeing the number of people that use config modification to cheat, you can hardly blame them.

Campaign & Mission Issues

Crash during save

When saving a mission during the game, OFP often crashes. This happens with autosave as well.

Solution

Operation Flashpoint is allocating a very significant amount of memory during saving the game state. To work around this problem, increase size of your swap file (400 MB works for most users, some reported 1GB swap file helped them).

Campaign will not continue

I have successfully completed a mission and the campaign will not continue.

Solution

You must play this mission again (or you can use some cheats). If you click on Replay Mission you will repeat only the selected mission, and if you have completed the mission, the game will not continue in the campaign. If you want to continue in the OFP Campaign you must click on Continue (in campaign window) or choose Revert.

Missing entry config:Oleg

I receive an error Missing entry config:Oleg when connecting to a multi player server.

Solution

If the server has installed full Gold Upgrade / Version 1.30, clients without this upgrade installed - upgraded to 1.30 using the patch - will get message "Missing entry config:Oleg".

This problem is fixed in 1.40 version available for download at the BIS web site _{(dead link)}.