4DO won't start - I don't know why

[Wobb]

Hello. I decided to register and post this because I cannot for the life of me figure out why 4DO wont start. I am on WinXP SP3. I have the latest Direct X 9, the C++ 2010, and .net 4.0. I downloaded the full installer (dotNetFx40_Full_x86_x64 - about 48mb) and everything went fine.

Then I installed the SlimDX Runtime for .NET 4.0 (March 2011). Everything with that went fine.

But when I try to start 4DO, i just get a "4DO has encountered an error" message, and it closes.
Here is the log:


2/11/2012 7:33:12 PM 4DO Starting up
2/11/2012 7:33:13 PM Unhandled exception: System.IO.FileLoadException: Could not load file or assembly 'SlimDX.dll' or one of its dependencies. This application has failed to start because the application configuration is incorrect. Reinstalling the application may fix this problem. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x800736B1)
File name: 'SlimDX.dll'
at FourDO.UI.GameCanvas.CreateChildCanvas()
at FourDO.UI.GameCanvas..ctor()
at FourDO.UI.Main.InitializeComponent()
at FourDO.UI.Main..ctor()
at FourDO.Program.Main(String[] args)


Does the SlimDX.dll file that came with 4DO need to be in a different directory? I don't get it. Like I said, I installed everything that was required. I also tried quite a few different releases of 4DO. Same issue with all.

Please Help

[BryWI]

That is very weird if thats happening and you even ran the installer for slimdx. The only thing I can think of is to try renaming the SlimDX.dll in your 4do folder to SlimDX.dll.bak so that it will fall back to the .dll that the SlimDX Installer put into your system32 folder.

Other than that, the only thing I can think of is some other basic things...

-it could be a corrupt file. Try checking your hard drive for errors. If errors are fixed, re-install everything.

-it could be a permissions issue. Try to run the program as administrator, or even try putting your 4DO folder directly on the root of your harddrive ( C:\4DO\ ). Even better would be in a folder on a seperate drive from your OS drive.

[Wobb]

Thanks for the reply. Non of the suggestions worked. Still getting the same error. It's not my drive, as I just bought it last week and put a fresh XP on it. I tried it on a different drive too with the same result.
I noticed that the SlimDX.dll file was not in my system32 folder, which was strange considering the program installed everything just fine with no problems. I ran the installer again, removed SlimDX, then reinstalled it. Same thing... no .dll in system32. I copied the one that came with 4DO into the system32 folder, but it made no difference. Also tried your idea of adding the .bak to it...nada.

edit - sorry to say this...but I'm using a 3DO emulator now called Phoenix. I just had to add the bios to its directory and now everything works perfectly.
I'f 4DO is a better emulator, I'd love to get it working.

[BryWI]

Actually it wasn't a folder in system32, I remembered wrong... It's supposed to be at C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\assembly\GAC_32\SlimDX\v4.0_4.0.11.43__b1b0c32fd1ffe4f9\ But it's moot point really. The dll is already in your 4DO folder and it should be using it already.

The only other thing I can say to try is to install the developer sdk at http://www.slimdx.org/download_mar11.php

and if that dont work, the directx sdk. http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/de ... en&id=6812


It really shouldn't come down to installing those though. Do you have some sort of program running that might be blocking access to libraries in your windows folder?

Did you download all the updates to .net 4.0 framework in windows update?

I really am at a loss here. SlimDX is there, it's a dependency of it that is missing. Unless there is a way to figure out which dependency of SlimDX is missing on your machine...

[Johnny]

I've been struggling to come up with an explanation for this. If you're interested in trying out 4DO, I have some ideas to help out.

I can at least clarify that the problem is loading SlimDX.dll. To clarify, it is finding SlimDX.dll, but it can't load it. I do not know why it's not loading, especially given what all you've installed. Most likely this is a situation in which one SlimDX.dll relies on another DLL it can't find. This is pretty similar to situations seen in SlimDX forums, unfortunately.

There are ways to get investigate why the SlimDX is not loading...

First option: you can try increasing the amount of information Windows gives 4DO to debug. If you add a registry value, you should get more detailed output in the logs. Add a value called HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Fusion\EnableLog registry value to 1 (the value is a DWORD).

Second option: use ILSpy to identify what dependency SlimDX is unable to load. http://wiki.sharpdevelop.net/ILSpy.ashx. Click and drag "4DO.exe" into the left pane, and expand the root node. Then, go to the "References" folder. Each dll listed below is a dependency of 4DO, and each DLL that doesn't have a "+" next to it could not be found (except for mscorlib). This works recursively. I expect SlimDX.dll will show up with a "+", but if you expand it, you will see some child elements that are missing the "+'.

You could also get ".NET Reflector", which was better than ILSpy, but they sold out and it costs money. There may be a free trial.

Also, you could try newer versions of the SlimDX runtime. I haven't tried this myself, though. If you do this, you'll want to remove the SlimDX.dll that's living in 4DO's directory (since that would take precendence).

[Wobb]

Thanks again for the reply. Option 1 - I'm really not sure how to add that registry line. If you have a .reg file, I can do it that way

Option 2 - I used ILSpy. I took a screen shot. Let me know if there's anything else you'd like to see.

I might try a newer version of the SlimDX later tonight. I'll post back with results.

[Johnny]

Thanks again for the reply. Option 1 - I'm really not sure how to add that registry line. If you have a .reg file, I can do it that way

Option 2 - I used ILSpy. I took a screen shot. Let me know if there's anything else you'd like to see.

I might try a newer version of the SlimDX later tonight. I'll post back with results.

Gah. Well, this isn't looking good. But don't worry, if you have the patience to troubleshoot this with us, we'll get this solved come hell or high water!

ILSpy seems to indicate that even SlimDX's dependencies are being located properly. I don't have much hope for option 1, but give it a try and we'll see if we get more info out of the logs.

Regarding Option 1:
I don't have a file upload bucket handy, so just save this as BetterLogging.reg, and double-click it to add to the registry

Code: Select all

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Fusion]
"EnableLog"=dword:00000001

Plan B
Is your machine 64 bit? I believe you said you also installed SlimDX. If so, can you try copying C:\Program Files\SlimDX SDK (March 2011)\Bin\net40\x64\SlimDX.dll to the 4DO directory? If you're 32 bit, copy from \bin\net40\x86\ instead.

I would have a couple more ideas if you're 64 bit.

[Wobb]

I am on a 64bit machine,but this hdd is running winXP 32.

Lookey here


I installed the SDK (January 2012) then 4DO worked right away. Didn't even have to copy that dll over to the 4DO directory.

Thanks so much for your help! I have been reading good things about 4DO. I tested it out. Configuring my gamepad was sooooo easy. It also ran better than the other 3DO emulators I tried.
Between the regular updates and the great support (thanks again), 4DO will now be my only 3DO emulator.

[BryWI]

Ahh! cool. Maybe updating to the latest SlimDX is in order then, so that this bug does not occur. Thanks for letting us know that you got it working!

[Johnny]

Alright! Good call Bry. I agree I should update SlimDX versions. With SlimDX.dll in the ZIP this is a pretty lightweight change.