I've played EM4 for many years and have never had this problem before. When I click play, the game will switch to a black screen for about three to five seconds and then crash to desktop before playing the intro or entering into the main menu. I did recently install a codec that was required for a different program, though I since uninstalled it. (At least to my knowledge, it could still be hidden somewhere, I've checked it all) I've done practically everything possible; I believe the problem is either a codec issue, video card issue, or registry issue. These are all of the fixes I have tried so far:
1. Run as Administrator
2. Windows XP Service Pack 3 Compatibility Mode
3. Reinstall Windows Media Player and install the MPEG-2 codec extension.
4. Use different applications as default for viewing .mpg and .mov files.
5. Reinstall on both Amazon and Steam.
6. Used Dgvoodo application for any help.
7. Used the EM4 Registry fix on Emergency Planet.
At first, I noticed all of the video's in the EM4 directory would not play and would give me an error. I have since corrected that with step 3, though the game will still not start. This is the only error the logfile says before terminating: ?VVideoTexture::InitTextureRenderer(): failed to add source filter [80040241]
!WARNING: global listener object is still registered! Unregister listener before destroying object!
The weird thing is I can run Emergency 2 and 3 practically just fine. All of a sudden, Emergency 4 Deluxe will not start at all for me. I have looked up and searched every fix/forum I could, but nothing describes a solid fix for that specific error code in my logfile. Any help is very appreciated! Thank you!