Freedom Force 1, Charater Tool and Vista: a solution and a question

[Merchant]

Freedom Force 1

I had similar problems to others trying to run on my Vista system but it looks like I fixed them so I am posting how I did this with a few pictures for others to try.

I had a problem after the first mission where Minuteman showed on a black screen and clicking Mission Briefing did not fix the problem. I tried Repairing then a Uninstall/Reinstall but it didn't get fixed. I also had an issue where the information shields stopped giving messages sometimes. Upon checking Properties of my folders to set the compatibility mode, I discovered all my folders were set to Read-Only.

Unchecking this did nothing as the Read-Only attribute just came back. My install was placed in a custom C:\Freedom Force folder and previously had tried in a C:\Irrational Games\Freedom Force folder.

I searched the Internet for this Read-Only problem and came across a solution not found on the Freedom Reborn message board or anywhere else, found in the fourth message here.
http://www.eggheadcafe.com/software/aspnet/30790594/folders--read--only-cann.aspx

So I went back to the folder Properties and under the Security tab, I found four users. Authenticated Users did not have Full Control and Users (Eric-PC\Users) lacked Full Control, Modify and Write.

Note in the picture Full Control has a bold check, this is from after I modified the settings.

I clicked the Edit button under Group or user names and checked off the missing items for the two users mentioned.


Clicked Apply, OK then Apply and OK again.

Since then I have not had one problem with Freedom Force 1 on a Vista system.

Charater Tool

Installed this twice, both times it kept crashing when opening any mesh file. I tried running Help -> Contents and got an error message that ctool.htm was missing from the Help folder, checked and it is not there. From this, I am wondering if when Character Tool installs, perhaps it is not installing all the files it needs but I do not have a working install to check and don't know what changes are made when it installs. Anyone know anything about this?

[Merchant]

Of all the times I have tried to run Charatcer Tool 1 (7 on March 3, 1 on April 6, 2 on April 8 and 1 today), it seems most problems might be related to the Standard_e.dll file. The Fault Modules (according to Vista's Problem Reports and Solutions feature) break down like this with number of times faulty:

CharatcerTool.exe 2
Standard_e.dll 8
zlib-1.1.3.dll 1

I have to admit it is driving me nuts. Character Tool will run but crashes no matter what mesh I try to open.
And the NIFViewer program that comes with the Mod Tools opens nothing either.

[Merchant]

It appears that Character Tool 1 now works on my Vista system....

....provided I don't maximize the window.

Apparently that is the whole problem for me. In a Normal non-Maximized window, it runs, opens any mesh file for    and will open as many as I wish.

Maximized, it will run but try to open just one mesh and crash!

Open a mesh in a Normal window then Maximize it and crash!

I don't get this stuff.

[Velocity]

Yeah, I tried doing it exactly the way you did it for  and I still get the black screen with Minuteman on it. For some reason it's not working for me. And it's annoying the hell out of me.