Pre-requisits:
1. You MUST be using the Steam version of Half Life 1. It cannot be a retail version. It cannot be Half Life: Source. It MUST be the Steam version of Half Life, no exceptions.
2. You MUST be using the CoF launcher for the game to be working as expected. Launching through Steam or a custom shortcut can cause unexpected behavior.
3. You MUST NOT be using Desura to install or launch the mod. The developers do not support that method. Please download the standalone installer on moddb.comProblem: Game crashes or freezes when loading a game and gets on the "Parsing information" stage
Solutions to attempt (test them in this following order):
1. Make sure you are running Cry of Fear in OpenGL video mode. To do that, launch Half-Life and set the video options to OpenGL. Now try and launch Cry of Fear.
2. Update your drivers (chipset driver, video driver, audio driver, network driver)
3. Uninstall and reinstall Half-Life AND Cry of Fear
4. Disable your security software
5. Restart your computer
6. Turn off any driver enforced renderings (such as anti-aliasing), and disable CrossFire or SLI if applicable.
7. Reset permission ACLs for HL
Open cmd (Instructions here:
http://www.computerhope.com/issues/chdos.htm . If Vista/7, run as administrator)
Type: cacls "<your game directory here>" /p everyone:f (e.g. C:\Steam\steamapps\<steam account>\half-life)
8. Check for NTFS or FAT corruption
Open cmd (Instructions here:
http://www.computerhope.com/issues/chdos.htm . If Vista/7, run as administrator)
Type chkdsk <drive CoF is on> /f
Restart your computer
9. Run Windows Update
10. Check for Windows corruption (Does not work on XP)
Open cmd (Instructions here:
http://www.computerhope.com/issues/chdos.htm . Run as administrator)
Type sfc /scannow (this will take quite some time to complete)
11. Reset all system permissions back to default
Download and install Subinacl (leave the location at default) here:
http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=23510 Open cmd (Instructions here:
http://www.computerhope.com/issues/chdos.htm . If Vista/7, run as administrator)
Copy these commands, then right-click the cmd prompt, and click "Paste"
cd /d "%ProgramFiles%\Windows Resource Kits\Tools"
subinacl /subkeyreg HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE /grant=administrators=f /grant=system=f
subinacl /subkeyreg HKEY_CURRENT_USER /grant=administrators=f /grant=system=f
subinacl /subkeyreg HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT /grant=administrators=f /grant=system=f
subinacl /subdirectories %SystemDrive%\ /grant=administrators=f /grant=system=f
12. Check for malware (viruses and rootkits)
Download Malwarebytes free version at
http://www.malwarebytes.org/ Install it and run a quick scan
Download TDSSKiller
http://support.kaspersky.com/downloads/utils/tdsskiller.zip Run TDSSKiller (locked files are OK, they are not viruses/rootkits)
If TDSSKiller will not launch, download FixTDSS
http://www.symantec.com/content/en/us/global/removal_tool/threat_writeups/FixTDSS.exe Run FixTDSS, restart your computer
Attempt to run TDSSKiller again
13. Test for hard drive failure
Download and install smartmon tools
http://sourceforge.net/apps/trac/smartmontools/wiki/Download#Installprecompiledpackage Open cmd (Instructions here:
http://www.computerhope.com/issues/chdos.htm . If Vista/7, run as administrator)
Copy these commands, then right-click the cmd prompt, and click "Paste"
cd /d "%ProgramFiles%\smartmontools\bin"
smartctl -H /dev/hda
Smartmon will give you a result. If it says "PASSED", you're good. If it says "FAILED", your hard drive is failing and you will need to have it replaced.
If smartmon was unable to obtain a conclusive result, type smartctl -H /dev/sda instead.
If smartmon is still unable to get a result, you probably have your hard drives connected to a SCSI bus, making smartmon tools unable to test it. Refer to your SCSI card or motherboard on hard drive testing.
Any other suggestions would be welcome. For the sake of keeping this thread compact, please PM me about anything you'd like to add.
Edit:
If none of the above steps resolved your problem, please post a new thread in the help and support section stating that you did follow this guide but it did not solve your problem. Please list information such as a detailed description of the problem, your system specifications, CoF install directory, HL1 install directory, any error messages you are receiving, any screenshots (if possible).To obtain your system specifications, perform the following:
1. Open cmd (Instructions here:
http://www.computerhope.com/issues/chdos.htm)
2. Type: dxdiag
3. In the Dxdiag window that opens, click "Save All Information"
4. Upload the saved log file to the thread you made
Suggested by DinoThrasher
I just downloaded and installed Cry of Fear and was having this parsing info crash with a warning "ATI Drivers have stopped working and responded". Tried everything you suggested and nothing worked. However, I remembered I had a similar problem and fixed it by placing an old atioglxx.dll in the games directory. I just tried this same fix on Cry of Fear by placing the atioglxx.dll in my Half-Life directory and the problem no longer persists. I started a new game and there don't appear to be any issues, but it's using older drivers so I can't confirm if some visual effects may not be working, or if there will be crashes later in the game. However, I figured since you didn't have this fix listed I'd let you know of another possible fix on ATI cards.
I downloaded the older atioglxx.dll from here, the Hard-Light forums for FreeSpace 2 Open. The file links are about halfway down that post, under ""I have an ATI X1*** graphics card." and "Quick Fixes". I can confirm that these links do not contain any viruses.
More detailed instructions:**
1) Download either of the atioglxx.dll files from the provided link.
2) Place the .dll file in your Half-Life directory (C:\Program Files\Steam\steamapps\(username)\half-life)
3) Run the Cry of Fear mod normally. The game should no longer crash.
** This will only work with an ATI Card.
