Hi everyone

The render window is inactive when I open the CS on my pc. As I have MW installed and saved elsewhere, I un-installed the game and the CS and also wiped all traces of both in the registry.

However upon re-installation, the same occurred again and the render window seem persistently dead. :shakehead:

I would be most grateful for your help.

Cheers

Patrice

It's gray even after you load a esm or esp file and click on one of the areas to load?

The render window is always grey when you first open up the CS - as it hasn't been asked to render anything yet

When you double click on a cell like Seyda Neen can you see in the info bar at the bottom of the CS if anything is loading?

Your preview window is not ticked in the view options is it?

Hi Vivi, Hi Illuminiel

Thank you for your replies.

Usually when one opens the CS, the render window is initially a brownish colour. Then when I go to Data file to tick ESMs and activate the mod I want to work on, it goes grey and only comes to life when I activate the cell. Then I can start to drag things in the render window.

Well at present nothing happens, render window-wise: it's not brown, when I double click the chosen cell stuff are listed in the cell view window, but the render window does not show anything, stays grey and the bar above is as a greyed-out inactive status.

I really hope this will help you to help me! :banghead:

Cheers

Patrice

Hello, Patrice

Sadly, this may be a Windows Vists "feature" if you are running the CS under Windows Vista.

Even though I have configured not only my CS .exe file to run in Windows XP compatability mode, but also the shortcut I use to open it,
on my computer I still cannot get the "Region Paint" feature to work (just a grey field) and cannot even open the CS "Help" file (computer tells me that the file was "...created in an earlier version of Windows and is not compatible with Vista. For further information, visit the Microsoft Knowledge Base at ...." (Yeah, right! Thanks a lot.)

Then, ther's Video Card/Driver stuff to consider.

Try checking to make sure you have "Run in XP compatability mode" checked on your CS executable (using the "properties" tab on right-click).
Then try Illuminiel's suggestions.

Hope you can sort this

DARoot

I have a stupid question; is the CD in? Oftentimes I've tried to load my CS only to find it not work...this was simply my fault because I did not
put the CD in the drive...
Or DARoot might be correct; Windows Vista does have some issues with CS.

Hi DARoot, Hi Overload11

And thanks for your replies.

DARoot, the pc is running Windows98, where the problem is occurring, and I have no issue with Vista, which is run on the laptop. Furthermore the CS was working fine before on the pc.

Overload11, yes, the cd was in a drive, and I tried both drives on the pc.

Scratching heads big time there, isn't it?

Cheers :banghead: :brokencomputer:

Patrice

Hi Everyone!

I'm sorry to bump this topic, but I still haven't managed to have a working CS on my pc.

That was the beginning of my modding career, and it's looking like the end too....

Cheers

Patrice

Come on Patrice 'there's always another way'

I'd start with uninstalling the CS and then reinstalling again

I'm not familiar with Win98 - I was a Win2k user for years - however the CS worked fine in Win2k for me so I don't think you have any OS compatability issues

I think the CS is working correctly for you as it is rendering the default texture which is the muddy brown you see when you first open the CS

I just want to check the next steps you are taking -

1.Go to your menu bar and make sure the folling items are selected in the view menu
Toolbar
statusbar
Render window
Object window
cellview window

2. select the folder icon in the toolbar - the datafiles window should open
3. tick Morrowind.esm for your master file - press ok the esm will load and your render window turns grey

In the cellview window click once on one of the ashland regions field (it should just have a gray selction over it not look as if you are going to change its name) and type sey

This will drop you down to Seyda Neen -2,-10

Double click on this field quickly and the render window should load the cell - let me know what happens

As I said at the start just to be sure do an uninstall reinstall of the CS first to make sure there is no issue there.

Just to add onto Illuminiel's steps, after you double click on seyda neen try doubleclicking on an object in the list on the righthand side of the cell view window (like Doormarker). Afterwards in the bottom left of the main window, does it show that its selected? Something else you might look at is your preferences. Check where your clipping distance is set. And I don't think it matters, but what boxes are checked in the cell load settings group?

Hi Illuminiel, Hi NZdawghaus

And thank you for coming to my rescue.

I have uninstalled MW and the CS, and re-installed everything.

When I double-click on the CS, all 4 windows appear. However, the render window that should be a brown colour at this stage is grey, a Microsoft grey as is dead, inactive.

1. All 5 items in the menu are active

2. The Data file opens as normal.

3. I tick Morrowind.esm and click OK and the render window is grey as I know it should be at this stage.

Eventually I get to Seyda Neen and the render window is dead. Everything is listed in the cell view window, and when I double click, say on the door marker as suggested it is highlighted as selected in blue as normal but nothing else changes and the render window remains inactive.

NZDawghaus, I've looked and checked at preferences many times...

And Illuminiel, you're right, I do not lead by the example, with regards to my sig, do I !!! :whistling:

Cheers

Patrice :blink:

I'm just grasping at straws here, but how much RAM and VRAM do you have? Did you maybe update drivers recently?

Hi NZdawghaus

Thanks for persevering with me and my case.

I have sufficient RAM (512 mb), and sorry, I do not not what VRAM is.

The point is that the CS used to run perfectly fine in the past. Lately when I wanted to have another crack at modding it stopped working properly. As I mentionned in a previous post, not only I un-installed it together with the game, I also wiped all traces of MW and Bathesda in the registry to start afresh, all to no avail... it re-installed with the render window not rendering.

Still fancy the challenge?

Cheers

Patrice

I couldn't have said it any better...

(hope I don't get in trouble for this)
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1082105-downloaded-cs-not-working/

Hi NZdawghaus

Thanks for the reply and the link.

Maybe my disc is the problem, so I will investigate further and try to purchase and install a new version of the CS via "Steam".

Cheers

Patrice :shrug:

It could be a memory issue. I get this effect sometimes when I've got too much running at once and try to start up another instance of TESCS.

Hey, Patrice

You PROBABLY won't like this suggestion, but I'll toss it out there anyway, for your evaluation:

1: Uninstall the Construction Set;

2: Re-set your Desktop Resolution to 640 X 480 (certainly no more than 800 X 600) and 16-bit color
(Don't panic! We'll set it back later!) This is, as I recall, what you end up with after one of those Morrowind Full-Computer lockups that involve "pulling the plug" (e.g., even Alt-Tab and CTRL-ALT-Delete cannot save you) - after "DEFRAG" finishes it's thing, while telling you that "Windows was improperly shut down" - just get a cuppa your favorite beverage, and wait..
Never had one, Patrice? Heh, Heh, keep playing the game...

3: Reinstall the Construction Set. Open it, see if the Render Window now works.
(Think the CS Installer "reads" your current desktop resolution when installing, and this installer was written a long time ago, when 1920 X 1200 Widescreens and such were nonexistent)

4: If so, Great! If not, Oh, well.
In either case, re-set your Desktop Resolution to what is was previously, and (if the CS worked), try again with the Render Window.

In any case, stop beating your head against the wall.
(You'll hurt yourself).

Cheers

DARoo

Hi Melian, Hi Daroot

Thanks for your replies and suggestions.

Melian, I've trimmed what's running in the background to the minimum and I get the same un-rendering window...

Daroot, I've done everything your recommended down to having a sip or two of my ..hips.. favourite bev..hips ..rage
and this has come to nothing, unfortunately, apart having partly quenched my thirst.

And you're right, I should stop banging my head against the wall: I just cracked it! (the wall, that is....)

This problem may not have a solution, but it is proving interesting entertainment

Cheers and more cheers

Patrice

Found this after doing some more searching:
http://www.designamatic.com/MW-Home.html#RenderWindowGrey

Which suggests that your display should be set at 32-bit. And apparently this would also happen to folks with nVidia cards when they updated their video drivers. Just some more stuff to check...

....And the winners are......NZdawghaus and DARoot!!!!!!!!!!!!

A giant thank you to you both. :celebration:

The changing/restoring the monitor colour setting to 32-bit TOGETHER with lowering of the screen resolution did it. :twirl:

In my own attempts to remedy to the problem I changed colour and resolution many times, but one by one in order not to rock the boat. :clap:

So, lots of cheers all round to our heroes, NZdawghaus and DARoot and my everlasting gratitude. :foodndrink:

Patrice :wave:

Congrats!!!!

Good Smeagol...Always helps.

Hooray - looking forward to your first mods then
Looks like this problem could be included in the technical issues as a known problem

Just curious, if you change your resolution back to what it was, does the render window die again?

Hi NZdawghaus

Sorry I didn't reply any earlier, RL occurrences, you know...

Just curious, are you? You really want to know? Shall I tell you then?

OK, joke apart, I switched back to to the original higher resolution and it worked fine, even after a couple of re-starts :tops:

So case solved then.

Many belated thanks to Vivi, Illumiel and Melian for taking time to look and help. :wavey:

Cheers

Patrice

Hey, Patrice

If you're itching to try out your newly-reconstructed Construction Set on something, I invite you to check out the "Riller-Mosh Beta" project by Midgetalien (thread on the "Mods" section - it's sorta buried on page 3 or so at present, since Midgetalien has been busy with RL stuff, but look around).

Read up, maybe download and check out the current Beta, and c'mon aboard if it interests you. You seem to have a real flair for writing entertaining and amusing dialogue (based on your posts in THIS thread) in our Mother Tongue (and no typos, grammar, spelling, or punctuation glitches, which Icannot achieve consistently!) and would probably offer some real assistance in cleaning up the dialogue and such in this mod. If you're interested, that is, of course.

Cheers

DARoot