Customer Support

In our Frequently Asked Questions we answer the questions that reach us the most. Very often you will find a solution to your issue by reading this FAQ. Simply select the category your question falls under and look for an answer.

If you cannot find an answer in this FAQ, you can contact us directly with the form found in the last entry. Please enter a valid email address, so we can reach you with our answer!
For inquiries about your WORLD of EMERGENCY account it’s also helpful if you include your account name or the email address you have registered with in your initial message.

Upgrading EMERGENCY

I have bought EMERGENCY 5, EMERGENCY 5 Deluxe, EMERGENCY Reloaded or EMERGENCY 2016 as Retail version and want to upgrade the game to EMERGENCY 2017.
Upgrading is no longer possible.

I have bought EMERGENCY 5, EMERGENCY 5 Deluxe, EMERGENCY Reload, EMERGENCY 2016 or EMERGENCY 2017as Retail version and want to upgrade the game to EMERGENCY 20.
Upgrading is no longer possible.

Compensation for lost CD`s, Keys or no disk drive

It is not possible to compensate lost CD`s, lost game Key`s or not having a disk drive, with a Steam key.

Problems installing the game

If problems arise during the installation process, we recommend the manual installation.

If the manual installation aborts, please check if the game is still running in the background. If DLL-files are still in use, they cannot be replaced.

Instructions to manually install DirectX & Visual C++
Go to http://em5.world-of-emergency.com/patch and download the "Prerequisites (DirectX, Visual C++ Redistributables)"

DirectX

The download extracts the files. At this point a new folder can be selected, e.g. on the desktop. The SETUP.exe has to be started manually. Please follow the instructions of the setup program.

Visual C++

Select vcredist_x64.exe (only for users of 64bit Windows) and vcredist_x86.exe (for all).
Execute both files after the download one after another. Follow the instructions of the setup program.

Alternatively you may download the files separately on the following websites:
DirectX: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=8109
Visual C++: http://www.microsoft.com/de-de/download/details.aspx?id=30679

Problems with the update or the patch

Please extract the downloaded packages (which are packed with 7-zip) directly into the installation folder of EMERGENCY 5 (usually "C:\Program Files (x86)\EMERGENCY 5") and overwrite existing files.

Problems on program start

Crash inside "C:\Windows\USB_Vibration\3331\EZFRD64.DLL" or similar
Certain game controllers and other devices may cause this crash. Make sure to unplug any game controller before starting the game. This might also help alleviate issues with strange behaviour of your mouse and/or keyboard.

Crash inside "IMETIP.DLL"
Open the Windows Control Panel -> Regional and Language Options -> Keyboards and Languages -> Change Keyboard, and there switch to English as default input language.

Crash in "ltc_game64-103398.dll" or similar (plays.tv)
The plays.tv gameplay recorder can cause crashes. If you have problems on game start, deactivate this program first.

Steam overlay crash in "gameoverlayrenderer64.dll"
On some PC configurations, the Steam overlay can lead to crashes inside the game. Consider deactivating it in Steam's settings under "Interface".

Error message "The application failed to initialize properly (0xc000001d).":
This error occurs under Windows 7 when Service Pack 1 (SP1) is not installed. As EMERGENCY requires SP1, you have to install it from Microsoft: Download.

Game won't start and shows an error message. 
Error message at game start:

"Exception: OGRE EXCEPTION(-2147024809:RenderingAPIException):
Failed to create Direct3D11 device in
D3D11RenderSystem::D3D11RenderSystem at G:/Projects/qsf-external-source/ogre/ogre_v2-1-ofenberg/RenderSytsems/Direct3D11/src/OgreD3D11RenderSystem.cpp (line291)"
Please make sure your hardware fulfills the system requirements, especially that your graphics card is DirectX 11-compatible.
 


When starting the game via Steam, nothing happens. No window, no error message.
Please try to launch the game by using the Windows Explorer in order to see possible error messages Steam might suppress.

When starting the game, an error message comes up telling me that "api-ms-win-crt-runtime-l1-1-0-dll" is missing.
Please ensure you have all latest Windows updates installed. After this, ensure you have Visual Studio 2015 redistributable update 2 installed which requires the latest Windows updates.


Game won't start after startscreen. 
The game might be trying to run on an integrated graphics device. Depending on the manufacturer of your graphics card you can make sure your device runs EMERGENCY on your graphics card.

AMD
Please try to edit this in the "AMD Catalyst Control Center". Open the menu "configure switch graphic" with a right mouse click. Put all adjustments to high. Now the game will starts with your normal graphic card.  
NVIDIA
Add EMERGENCY as a in the NVIDIA Control Panel options under "3D Settings" - "Program Settings" and enable "Use High-Performance GPU" as the preferred device.

Black Screen

If you use several screens, please remove one.

Or try the following:
Open the emergency_5_settings.json file:

  • PC: C:\Users\\AppData\Roaming\Promotion Software GmbH\EMERGENCY 5\emergency_5_settings.json
    (The AppData folder may be hidden. In this case one can tell the operating system to show hidden files.)
  • Mac: /Users//Library/Containers/com.promotion-software.emergency5.deluxe/emergency_5_settings.json
Search for "qsf::RendererSettingsGroup" and change the entry to "Resolution": "1920 1080".

The game can also be played in windowed mode. With Alt-Return one can switch between the modes. As an alternative, the mode can be changed by altering the emergency_5_settings.json file: The setting "Fullscreen" can manually be changed to "false" or "true".

Anti-virus Alerts while using the Launcher of EMERGENCY 5

If security programs give warnings about possible viruses while using the launcher application of EMERGENCY 5 the development studio suggests to ignore it until a longterm solution has been part of an update.

Compatibility problems due to modifications

After updating EMERGENCY to a newer version, modifications may still be active that are not compatible any more. If you face problems inside the game like no events starting or missing commands for your units, please make sure to disable all modifications.
Beginning with update 2.0.2, EMERGENCY will do this itself after each update. You need to re-enable modifications to make sure they still work with the update, or wait for an updated version of the modification if it doesn't.

Multiplayer connection troubles

Please read the manual of the game and the README-files!

Connection problem - Host and Client:

If you are sure that your game has the newest game update please try this:
Start the Game-Launcher and press "User Data".
In the opened folder please delete oder rename the folder "Cache" to "OLD_Cache".
Please do this for all users who want to play with you.

Performance:
You may find that your computer is having problems running EMERGENCY 5, perhaps making your vehicles move more slowly in multiplayer. In this case, reduce the graphic detail settings in the program settings (in the "Options" menu in the game's main menu) before you start a multiplayer game.

General
If your computer is being used as server for a multiplayer match, you should keep in mind that a poor performance on your computer may have an impact on the gameplay of the other players too.
You can't join a multiplayer game that is already in progress. Servers where games are already in progress will be grayed out in the server list.

Automatic Patch Function:
If you want to create a server or wish to join a multiplayer game, your game version will be checked automatically and patched to the latest game version if need-be. You can only play online when using the latest version of the game!

The use of “ALT-TAB” causes crashes

The development studio suggest not to use the ALT-TAB combination to leave the game.

Mac: Test your system requirements

Simply check if your Mac can play EMERGENCY 5 as described in this How-To.

Crashes due to AMD Crossfire

EMERGENCY 5 / 2016 does not support AMD Crossfire technology making use of two graphics cards. Having it activated can lead to crashes in the game, so make sure you disable it before starting EMERGENCY.

Problems with your Game Graphic

The main menu and the game itself look pixelated / blurry, although I set it to FullHD.
Possible solution: Disable MSI Gaming App or similar tools, check your graphics card driver settings

Crashes and regular freeze due to active V-Sync

If EMERGENCY crashes at startup or freezes during the game, you can try disabling the V-Sync option in the following two places:

  • Inside the graphics card setting: choose V-Sync "always off"
  • Inside the game's options windows: disable V-Sync

Crash in MMDevAPI.DLL on Windows 7

Depending on the sound hardware and driver, EMERGENCY may crash when started with the following error message:
emergency5.exe caused ACCESS_VIOLATION in module "C:\Windows\system32\MMDevAPI.DLL" at 0033:000000FB32B4EE, Ordinal2()+11342 byte(s)

As far as we know, this only affects the Windows 7 64 bit Service Pack 1 operating system (build 7601).
As a solution, we recommend uninstalling the audio driver on a test basis.

Repairing the Steam version

In case the Steam version of EMERGENCY does not start or freezes, check if your installation is okay.
Steam offers an easy option to do this:
Open your games library in Steam -> Right-click the game -> Properties -> Local files -> Verify integrity of game cache


Other issues