YES!!!! I'm finally in the game. What worked was going into the System Configuration and clicking on the Startup tab, and selecting "disable all", reboot the computer, then install the game. Now it's running beautifully. Of course, I'm now seeing what all the other fuss is about the game. The game is very shaky and jumpy, so I've been playing around with the video configurations to figure out what will give me the smoothest and most controllable gameplay.

If you look at my first post on this thread, I supplied what I have on my PC. So if anyone is running their Gears of War on Vista and have a similar system to mine, I'd appreciate any input on what has been found to be the best setting for playing the game. I've turned on the DX10, set most settings to HIGH, and myresolution at 1680x1050 pixels. Should I aim for a lower resolution rate, and keep everything else on high? Any pointers??

I'm just so stoked to finally be able to play the game! Big thanks to those who replied to my thread! I hope to see you guys in the game. As my new challenge is playing online. I've yet to play a game online, any game, so I've got some learning to do.

Happy Holidays to everyone!

[QUOTE="frantic300"][QUOTE="Deihmos"][QUOTE="Grantelicious"][QUOTE="Deihmos"]

[QUOTE="Grantelicious"]Look at the gears of war forums cause the game hasn't been patched since launch and sooo many people are having problems or can't even play. Epic are completly useless and they get my award as worst developer of 2007.Deihmos

There was a patch. I didn't have any problems installing it on Vista 32bit. Judging from what i read many of the problems are caused by incompatiblities with older versions of AVG and Kaspersky. If you don't have one of those programs boot your PC with all the start up programs disabled. There is something on your PC causing the problem.

There was a windows live patch..... not a gears of war patch cause Epic hasn't patched it yet if they ever will. Also i could run it myself but the performance was crap even though i could maxed out UT3 at a steady 60FPS but Gears stutters like feck However sooo many people can't run it with no problems on their PC mainly having crashing issues and that.

theres not even any dedicated servers.....


epic needs to get their arse in gear and patch it before the community for it goes elsewhere.

Did you ever log on to Windows Live? A patch was released over a month ago and it doesn't crash for me. It must be caused by software incompatibility. Link

I clicked on the link and tried to install the patch, but it won't go through. A C: window popped up with a message saying "Failed to find launcher register key!" I've got the game disk in the drive and I thought that I had installed the Windows Live, went through the registration and an XBox Live window popped up and I got signed in. But since then I can't find the file or folder on my PC to open it up again. My Windows Live folder in the Start Menu brings up program for my Hotmail. What folder should I look under to find the gaming Live?

AVG and Kaspersky are antivirus programs. Which program are you using? You cannot launch the Live interface seperately. it only launches with games that use it. Go to system config to disable all the start up items.

I am running Norton 360 for my antivirus. I see what you meant about launching the LIVE interface, I found the Games for Window - Live Goldtrial card that came with the game. Which leads to one more question, has anyone been able to register for the trial with Gears of War? I've got the subscription code (on the card) and LIVE access key (yellow sticker inside disc case), but it wouldn't accept either one. When I looked at the Games for Windows site, it only said "If you purchased Halo 2 for Vista or Shadowrun", that you could register for the trial? Is it just my bad luck or has anyone had any similar problems with this?

Back to the main topic at hand with installing the game, I didn't know about the System Configuration window, and I went the hard way I think to turn off all of the startup programs, my internet, and anything I could find that I thought wasn't needed just to run the PC and install the game. I tried to install again, and let it run for about 9 hours (had to go to work). When I got back, instead of running for the usual 30-45 seconds and the green bar just barely starting to fill in the installation, it actually made it just about halfway through before it froze up on me again. I've sinced turned everything back on and got rebooted.

So I'll try the System Configuration, and just click on the "disable all" under the Startup tab, correct? I don't need to shut down or do anything else? I'll give the installation another try and will be back in an hour or so and see where it's at.

Thanks again for the continued assistance. I will play this game if it's the last thing I do!!!!!!! DAMMIT!!! LOL!!

[QUOTE="Grantelicious"]Look at the gears of war forums cause the game hasn't been patched since launch and sooo many people are having problems or can't even play. Epic are completly useless and they get my award as worst developer of 2007.Deihmos

There was a patch. I didn't have any problems installing it on Vista 32bit. Judging from what i read many of the problems are caused by incompatiblities with older versions of AVG and Kaspersky. If you don't have one of those programs boot your PC with all the start up programs disabled. There is something on your PC causing the problem.

I'll try again with disabling the start up programs and rebooting. Let you know if I make any progress.

[QUOTE="Grantelicious"][QUOTE="Deihmos"]

[QUOTE="Grantelicious"]Look at the gears of war forums cause the game hasn't been patched since launch and sooo many people are having problems or can't even play. Epic are completly useless and they get my award as worst developer of 2007.Deihmos

There was a patch. I didn't have any problems installing it on Vista 32bit. Judging from what i read many of the problems are caused by incompatiblities with older versions of AVG and Kaspersky. If you don't have one of those programs boot your PC with all the start up programs disabled. There is something on your PC causing the problem.

There was a windows live patch..... not a gears of war patch cause Epic hasn't patched it yet if they ever will. Also i could run it myself but the performance was crap even though i could maxed out UT3 at a steady 60FPS but Gears stutters like feck However sooo many people can't run it with no problems on their PC mainly having crashing issues and that.

theres not even any dedicated servers.....


epic needs to get their arse in gear and patch it before the community for it goes elsewhere.

Did you ever log on to Windows Live? A patch was released over a month ago and it doesn't crash for me. It must be caused by software incompatibility. Link

I clicked on the link and tried to install the patch, but it won't go through. A C: window popped up with a message saying "Failed to find launcher register key!" I've got the game disk in the drive and I thought that I had installed the Windows Live, went through the registration and an XBox Live window popped up and I got signed in. But since then I can't find the file or folder on my PC to open it up again. My Windows Live folder in the Start Menu brings up program for my Hotmail. What folder should I look under to find the gaming Live?

Yeah, I saw on the Epic forums that they're supposedly not responding to any of the threads anymore. WTF? It said that they would only answer personal messages. Damn!

You mentioned patches, I just installed already a 4th Call of Duty 4 patch to their none. Yeah, great customer service on Epic's part. In the mean time I'll keep looking around for ways to get this game to play, or just use the box as a paperweight. :cry:

I'll also appreciate any more feedback or assistance anyone might be able to throw my way. Thanks again for all the replies so far.

Thanks for replying...

Yeah, it uses like 12 GB of hard drive. I actually let it try to install over night, thinking the same thing that because it is so big, it just needed more time. But it never completed the installation, staying stuck after about 45 seconds after I hit the install button.

I'll try again turning off the Vista securities. I'm already set in Administrator mode. Any other ideas?

Also, I even took back my copy of Gears thinking and hoping it was just defective, but no luck on the 2nd copy.

First of all, here are the specs for my PC:

Windows Vista Home Premium, AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 5200+ 2.60 GHz, 2.0 GB RAM, 32-bit operating system, NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTS

Now my problem:

I have so far been able to install and playevery game that I have purchased this past year, from Crysis to Call of Duty 4 to Tomb Raider Anniversary to Madden 08, etc., etc., etc.

When I first tried to install Gears of War, the installation window pops up and I click through the user agreements. Then it starts to install the game, but only for about 30-45 seconds, and then the install freezes with no warning or pop-up saying that there was an install error or anything. The only way I can get out of the installation is by doing CTL-ALT-DEL and shutting down the installation window. I have downloaded all the hotfixes that I could find and all of my Windows updates that I could find, but to no avail. I've looked as much as I could through the game's website, NVIDIA, and Microsoft, but the only things that I come across people having trouble with their game crashing during play.

I know that I can't possibly be the only one who is having this problem with this game, and I'm baffled that I can run all the other brand new games, but Gears of War has got me stumped before I could get a chance to try it out. I would appreciate any advice or input on this, as I have been looking so forward to play this game, especially in co-op with my college buddies, but I'm stuck on the sidelines at the moment.

One last thing, and I don't know or think that this would apply to this particular game or situation. But there is an update on Microsoft with the file name KB940105 that my PC won't download, even though it's for Vista. During download an error message pops up with "update does not apply to your system". Does anybody know what this particular update is for? Could this be my missing piece of my Gears of War puzzle? I've e-mailed Microsoft about the file update, but have yet to hear from them.

So I'm hoping I might get lucky and find some answers here in this forum. I don't mean to sound cheesy, but this would definitely make my Christmas if I can play this game. Thanks for your help!