Penumbra Demo not working - Why?

[Dog--]

I posted in the developers tech support forums, but no one seems to like to reply over there, so I'll post here exactly what I posted over there:

This game isn't working. When I click on the icon, it just goes to a black screen, flickers once, then exits to desktop, I don't get to even see the menu or anything. I have well above the requirements, I installed new drivers, I re-installed the game several times, and it still isn't working.

I have:

Pentium 4 2.6GHz
1024MB RAM
GeForce FX 5600

Here the error log thing:
Quote:
-------- THE HPL ENGINE LOG ------------

Initializing FMOD.
Number of hardware 2D channels: 32
Number of hardware 3D channels: 32
Number of total hardware channels: 64
Creating Engine Modules
--------------------------------------------------------
Creating graphics module
Creating system module
Creating resource module
Creating input module
Creating sound module
Creating physics module
Creating ai module
Creating scene module
--------------------------------------------------------

Initializing Resources Module
--------------------------------------------------------
Creating resource managers
Misc Creation
--------------------------------------------------------

Initializing Graphics Module
--------------------------------------------------------
Init low level graphics
Setting video mode: 800 x 600 - 32 bpp
Init Glee...OK
Setting up OpenGL
Max texture image units: 16
Max texture coord units: 8
Two sided stencil: 0
Vertex Buffer Object: 0
Anisotropic filtering: 0
Multisampling: 0
Vertex Program: 0
Fragment Program: 0
NV Register Combiners: 0
NV Register Combiners Stages: 8
ATI Fragment Shader: 0
Creating graphic systems
Renderer2D created
Creating screen buffers size 800.000000 : 600.000000
Creating programs
Could not find a working profile for cg file ''!
CG ERROR : The profile is not supported.
ERROR: Couldn't create program 'PostEffect_Blur_vp.cg'
ERROR: Couldn't load 'PostEffect_Blur_vp.cg'!
Could not find a working profile for cg file ''!
CG ERROR : The profile is not supported.
ERROR: Couldn't create program 'PostEffect_Blur_Rect_fp.cg'
Could not find a working profile for cg file ''!
CG ERROR : The profile is not supported.
ERROR: Couldn't create program 'PostEffect_Blur_2D_fp.cg'
Could not find a working profile for cg file ''!
CG ERROR : The profile is not supported.
ERROR: Couldn't create program 'PostEffect_Bloom_vp.cg'
ERROR: Couldn't load 'PostEffect_Bloom_vp.cg'!
Could not find a working profile for cg file ''!
CG ERROR : The profile is not supported.
ERROR: Couldn't create program 'PostEffect_Bloom_fp.cg'
ERROR: Couldn't load 'PostEffect_Bloom_fp.cg'!
Could not find a working profile for cg file ''!
CG ERROR : The profile is not supported.
ERROR: Couldn't create program 'PostEffect_Motion_vp.cg'
ERROR: Couldn't load 'PostEffect_Motion_vp.cg'!
Could not find a working profile for cg file ''!
CG ERROR : The profile is not supported.
ERROR: Couldn't create program 'PostEffect_Motion_fp.cg'
ERROR: Couldn't load 'PostEffect_Motion_fp.cg'!
RendererPostEffects created
Could not find a working profile for cg file ''!
CG ERROR : The profile is not supported.
ERROR: Couldn't create program 'ShadowExtrude_vp.cg'
ERROR: Couldn't load 'ShadowExtrude_vp.cg' program! Shadows will be disabled.
Could not find a working profile for cg file ''!
CG ERROR : The profile is not supported.
ERROR: Couldn't create program 'Diffuse_Color_vp.cg'
FATAL ERROR: Couldn't load 'Diffuse_Color_vp.cg'
Deleting ATI shader to 0

Ok, so I 'got' the full retail version of the game, and when I try to run it, it just tells me my card does not support vertex shaders, when, from what I've read, it does. Can I bypass this somehow?

 

[Dog--]

Ok, so installing old drivers worked.. Whatever..

Problem is fixed now, I suppose. Mods can lock this thread.

 

[Barney Fife]

I posted in the developers tech support forums, but no one seems to like to reply over there, so I'll post here exactly what I posted over there:




Ok, so I 'got' the full retail version of the game, and when I try to run it, it just tells me my card does not support vertex shaders, when, from what I've read, it does. Can I bypass this somehow?

Its hard if not impossible to bypass the engine; it's modding the game engine when you do.
If your card is supported then maybe it's a glitch and only modding or a patch can sort out.

See if there's a game update, otherwise don't be shy to give the developer a call.

Good Luck.