That would not happen 
(although I’d recommend you wander a bit through the forum so you gain ‘regular user’ status).
They need those files to check for possible causes, as they’re the ones who know what’s behind.
I guess you have your drivers updated to the latest version (from official pages) as you say you can play the game from the installer at least. I hope we can clarify this, I’m sure there are still people with the same problem.
The only downside by starting through the installer is the fact that I’d have to deinstall the game everytime beforehand, which makes it a little… useless 
Anyway, I’ll simply wait for an update through Steam and see what happens then. Logs have been supplied and the shader error from the log can’t be the culprit as the log starting from installer produces the same error and works. I’m at my wits end.
At the moment it’s slightly difficult to say something interesting keeping in mind that I’m not able to check the latest build and I don’t want to add comments to other topics just for the sake of posting, so this ‘regular user’ status is maybe not the easiest to achieve or does simply reading count towards it? I usually don’t say a lot if it’s not necessary.
it is a combination of factors… but i believe we can simply adjust your status manually… one moment please!
edit: ok, you’re a “regular user” now… your t-shirt should arrive in 4-6 weeks… enjoy… 
The latest version of Stonehearth on Steam (unstable channel) contains a fix for the crypto issue (this might be the problem you’re experiencing), so give that a try if you are able to. It should be on stable Steam in a week or so.
@not_owen_wilson pulls off the combo!
I really wanted to toss in a MK “fatality” reference, but couldn’t quite manage it… such is life
I just tested the version that Steam downloaded last night (the one from the [latest] branch). Still the issue is a completely black screen when started through steam.
The only way to get the game starting correctly is by using the ‘Play Now’ option from the installer of the Humble Bundle.
Both Steam and Humble Bundle are under the ame User Account, the same rights and everything. So this Crypto-Thingy you linked to earlier shouldn’t be the problem (at least that’s what I guess from my small knowledge in that matter).
Anyway: it still confuses me why the Humble Bundle starts when launched right from the installer, but not with the shortcut or the .exe itself. So what is the difference IF there is a difference that’s to blame and not simply the voodoo-queen inside my machine.
Ah well, I always knew that I was the perfect beta tester, because I get all the problems other didn’t even think could be possibly happen.
@shamayne - That is indeed weird. What happens if you launch the Humble Bundle stonehearth.exe by right clicking the file and selecting “Run as administrator”?
Also, do you have a stonehearth.log file in the same folder as the executable or in C:/Users/[username]/AppData/Local/stonehearth?
I just tried running this on a machine with Free Commander, and it still works (launching via the exe located in the Stonehearth directory, launching from the desktop link). That’s probably not the problem.
Anything else running on your machine (any performance ‘optimizers’ or such? I’ve seen some odd things with ‘razr’ utilities.)
what about antivirus apps quarantining, perhaps? have we had any incidents of that yet?
@Albert and @not_owen_wilson I’ve moved everything over into this thread, saves you having to jump between the two.
Sorry for just replying now. To answer the questions: I don’t use any optimizing tools running in the background. The only thing is an antivirus but I doubt that it’s the culprit either, because if it were it shouldn’t allow any version of Stonehearth (neither Steam NOR Humble) besides the only time I can get it to start up once is after the installation of the Humble Bundle download and using the start option from the installer itself.
It doesn’t matter if I run it using “Run as Administrator”, changing the settings under Properties to “Administrator”. I’d say I tried nearly everything with those options.
The latest updates through Steam didn’t change anyting at all. This is pretty strange as I usually don’t have any trouble running even games with the weirdest copy protections. Steam and UPlay-protected games for example can act up pretty weird when using an uncommon installation setup.
I am close to just rip out my harddrives and get a fresh one just to test this again with a complete “clean” installation of Windows and Stonehearth, just to see if it’s my actual setup, causing this behaviour, but this will take some time as I am frankly not bored enough to do this atm 
Guess it’s about time for a second test system.
edit: Quarantining or anything the like doesn’t seem to be in effect, as my AV clearly states when this is the case.
No, don’t blow away your hard-drive! Not until we’ve figured out what’s going on here 
Okay, next theory: you’re getting a black screen (but visible mouse cursor) because somehow our embedded version of Chromium (that’s how we do Stonehearth’s UI) isn’t starting up correctly/at all. No real idea how or why, but let’s run with this.
If you are feeling adventuresome, try adding this to your user_settings.json file:
"logging": {
"browser" : "spam"
},
This should be as child of the top-level entry in your settings files, so your whole settings files should now look something like this:
{
"user_id" : "blah-blah-blah-blah",
"collect_analytics" : true,
"logging" : {
"browser" : "spam"
},
"renderer" : {
"enable_shadows" : true,
"msaa_samples" : 16,
"shadow_resolution" : 8192,
"enable_vsync" : false,
"enable_fullscreen" : false,
"screen_width" : 1920,
"screen_height" : 1017,
"draw_distance" : 1000,
"enable_gl_logging" : true,
"last_window_x" : 1912,
"last_window_y" : -8,
"use_fast_hilite" : true,
"enable_ssao" : true,
"last_screen_x" : 1928,
"last_screen_y" : 54
}
}
With that in place, try running the game again, and forwarding me your log file. Maybe the browser is trying to tell us something…
Here are the log.files after including the browser logging. I hope it is helpful:
I am having trouble with this game… Anyone??? I am not to good with a pc, but know hoe to but and download and install a game…So. I bought and downloaded and installed stonehearth. after the install and th 30.00 purchase of coarse. I click on start game and nothing happens. I then uninstalled and reinstalled using windows and steam. same result every single time… please help me… jsnhll02@gmail.com
Thank you,
J
I hear you are the guy to talk to in time of need!! I downloaded stonehearth, after purchasing of coarse. I then installed it… I then clicked start game…Nothing happened., I uninstalled…reinstalled…uninstalled…reinstalled using a different method…uninstalled…reinstalled using steam…uninstalled…reinstalled…Each time resulted in the same thing… NO LAUNCH… I even disabled anti virus during install… NOTHING…please help...jsnhll02@gmail.com
Thank you,
Jason
Sorry that things aren’t working @jsnhll02 , as you can see in the thread a few people are having similar issues. The team will need more to go on than what you’re saying so, first things first:
What operating system are you using? XP, Vista, 7, 8?
What are your system specs?
Do you know how to get into the control panel? In the control panel if you click “system and security” (I’m on windows 8, this may be different for previous systems I’m not sure), and then click “system” you should have a screen that tells you about your system? It should show what processor you’re using and how much RAM you have? Could you tell us what those two things are please?
Then on the left hand side there should be something that says “device manager”, click that.then in the new window that opens look for “display adapters” click that and it should drop down, can you tell us what it says in the “display adapter” bit please?
As you may know I’ve been playing Stonehearth for quite a while. Today, though, when I started up r188 for the first time, there was a black screen. I uninstalled and reinstalled the game, and started it back up. Whoops, it was in Alpha 6. I downloaded the latest version again, and got a black screen when I started the game again. I uninstalled again, made sure I had the latest version selected, and reinstalled. Black screen again. I’ll even be helpful and post a screenshot 
:
Give it more time, please. We’re having some issues when opening the game. There’s another report that mentions it. Sometimes it shows the Radiant logo after some seconds in the black screen, but other times it takes longer to show it (in r188).
It was the first thing I noticed with this release. It takes more time to show that the game is opening correctly.
Also, your system specs would help, in case you really don’t get the game to start after several tries.
The fact that randomly takes more time to load is a mystery. If it takes too long close it and wait a few seconds, then try opening it again and wait the same amount of time or more. (And no mods, of course…)
After two tries of not loading after 5 minutes, I lost my patience. Here’s my basic system specs, is there anything else you need?
I don’t know. Follow the typical steps, check for latest graphic drivers in your manufacturer’s website (I think someone had to update them again for this release), delete the Stonehearth folder and reinstall from Steam…
And we’ll page @not_owen_wilson in case he can suggest something else. 
Here’s the related thread:
Edit: This is the relevant answer: [Ack] Game doesen't load (black screen) - #16 by not_owen_wilson
