Help!OA just will not start on Steam

[markhe 10]

I purchased ArmA II Combined Operations two days ago on Steam and downloaded ArmA II original first. I can play it and it works perfectly.

However, after I finished downloading OA a few hours ago, the game just cannot start at all.

When I click play game, steam just pop up this

"Performing first time setup...

installing:(step 1 of 3)"

Over and over again

It just cannot stop even if I click "cancel". The only way to stop it is to exit steam all together.

The original ArmA II works fine. But I just cannot play OA this way.

Is there a way to fix this?

[markhe 10]

Furthermore , when I clicked "_runA2CO"

A DOS window pop up, you can see the screen shot here(copy them to the address bar in IE)

http://www.chinavme.com/attachment.php?aid=MTk5ODV8NWM4MGI0Yjl8MTI3ODcxODk1NXw0NTc2c0NUY0hiMHpERmptQVRMb0xtaEdXcUMzRUpOaEtwWWo4dlJZcVAycjVHbw%3D%3D&noupdate=yes

http://www.chinavme.com/attachment.php?aid=MTk5ODZ8NzMwNTA1MWF8MTI3ODcxODk1NXw0NTc2c0NUY0hiMHpERmptQVRMb0xtaEdXcUMzRUpOaEtwWWo4dlJZcVAycjVHbw%3D%3D&noupdate=yes

http://www.chinavme.com/attachment.php?aid=MTk5ODd8NzdlODEzNzV8MTI3ODcxODk1NXw0NTc2c0NUY0hiMHpERmptQVRMb0xtaEdXcUMzRUpOaEtwWWo4dlJZcVAycjVHbw%3D%3D&noupdate=yes

The Chinese characters there says something like "error:system cannot find the designated registry item or value"

---------- Post added at 12:45 AM ---------- Previous post was Yesterday at 11:52 PM ----------

I did what this post(http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?t=101214) say, but it is still not working.

I checked the regedit, the registry is like

HKEY_Local_Machine=>Software=>Bohemia Interactive Studio=>ArmA 2

HKEY_Local_Machine=>Software=>Bohemia Interactive Studio=>ArmA 2 OA

there are three more items (default, Key, Main) after that.

After "main" there is the installation folder for ArmA 2 OA.

But I still cannot run the game

---------- Post added at 01:56 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:45 AM ----------

What should I do about it?

....

[Bulldogs 10]

First try closing Steam completely (check your taskbar or task manager to make sure it's completely closed) then goto the Steam directory and delete "Clientregistry.blob" then start Steam again. It will autoupdate.

I that doesn't fix your issue, goto the beta section of the forums and try the OA:Beta patch, just make sure that you run it from the beta shortcut.

[markhe 10]

First try closing Steam completely (check your taskbar or task manager to make sure it's completely closed) then goto the Steam directory and delete "Clientregistry.blob" then start Steam again. It will autoupdate.

I that doesn't fix your issue, goto the beta section of the forums and try the OA:Beta patch, just make sure that you run it from the beta shortcut.

I tied both options, it's not working

Still the same steam message every time I tried to launch OA

"performing first time setup

(step 1 of 3)" non stop

So far I cannot even launch OA successfully for the first time

[markhe 10]

I got the screen shot, hope this tells the problem more clearly

This is what happened when a double click "_runA2CO" from steam=>steamapps=>common=>arma 2 operation arrowhead

This is what happened when a double click "_runA2CO" from steam=>steamapps=>common=>arma 2 operation arrowhead

This is what happened when I tried to launch ArmA 2 : Operation Arrowhead from steam. The same message just shows itself repeatedly non-stop

Registry entry for OA. Notice that there is a SOFTWARE\Bohemia Interactive Studio. But in that DOS pop up window, there is one extra SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Bohemia Interactive Studio

This is the registry for ArmA 2

Edited July 10, 2010 by markhe

[Dwarden 1125]

don't worry about the values you see from batch,

it tries to query different keys (4) for each detection run (for A2, then A2:OA, then STEAM in last version of the cmd file)

if it finds value it skips to next run and if it got them all it executes the title

in your case i see the A2:CO batch sees both titles installed

the problem there could be your language specific characters but that's just my wild guess

or it's different problem

(because You are being freezed on the DirectX setup (that's 1st step in the install procedure))

please try run only A2:OA (not the A2:CO mode)

Edited July 10, 2010 by Dwarden

[markhe 10]

don't worry about the values you see from batch,

it tries to query different keys (4) for each detection run (for A2, then A2:OA, then STEAM in last version of the cmd file)

if it finds value it skips to next run and if it got them all it executes the title

in your case i see the A2:CO batch sees both titles installed

the problem there could be your language specific characters but that's just my wild guess

or it's different problem

(because You are being freezed on the DirectX setup (that's 1st step in the install procedure))

please try run only A2:OA (not the A2:CO mode)

I don't really think it has much to do with language, other people with the same operating system has no such problem. The Chinese characters there says something like "Error: the system couldn't find the needed registry key or value", which is the same message the other player encountered on steam forum. ie (http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1335248)

I did try to run only A2:OA, but got the same result. In fact, in the past few hours, it is always A2:OA that I have been trying to run, yet always unsuccessful.

The steam message about performing first time setup pop up no matter I try to run OA or CO, it's always the same.

Edited July 10, 2010 by markhe

[Dwarden 1125]

that error message about missing key value is nothing to worry about unless it happen with all 4 tries,

from your screnshots i can tell it found them

Your problem is not related to A2:Combined Operations mode so please let's focus on the pure OA startup

[markhe 10]

that error message about missing key value is nothing to worry about unless it happen with all 4 tries,

from your screnshots i can tell it found them

Your problem is not related to A2:Combined Operations mode so please let's focus on the pure OA startup

Sure

just kinda worried, still cannot get pure OA launched successfully

Edited July 10, 2010 by markhe

[markhe 10]

....

OA is still not working

---------- Post added at 08:12 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:07 AM ----------

Sure

just kinda worried, still cannot get pure OA launched successfully

Sorry

OA is still not working as of today

---------- Post added at 10:01 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:12 AM ----------

Deleted the game, redownloading now, hope it could work

---------- Post added at 10:44 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:01 AM ----------

Besides, is there a way for me to look into the reports or somewhere, at least to figure out what the problem is?

[markhe 10]

What do I need to do?To fix this?

[Dwarden 1125]

markhe i have really no idea why is Your A2:OA stuck in the install sequence (1of3==DirectX redist)

especially

if You running the STEAM as admin

if You already installed latest DirectX redist standalone as admin

anything special about your OS setup?

some security software?

special rights limitations (in domain etc.)?

[markhe 10]

markhe i have really no idea why is Your A2:OA stuck in the install sequence (1of3==DirectX redist)

especially

if You running the STEAM as admin

if You already installed latest DirectX redist standalone as admin

anything special about your OS setup?

some security software?

special rights limitations (in domain etc.)?

Thank you

I dunno if there is anything special about my OS setup, I guess it should be normal.

I am using kaspersky

I have deleted and re-installed it several times, and now try to re-download the game.

BTW, what are the two remaining steps? would they matter in this case?

Also, can I somehow delete DirectX redist from my computer(can't find it in programs) and let steam install it when installing OA?

[MJK-Ranger 0]

Turn off kaspersky/delete kaspersky and try again