After reinstalling both Vassal and Java, I still can’t get Vassal to open. Running Vassal does nothing (sometimes it makes my mouse pointer hourglass briefly). I have noticed when trying to follow instructions in other threads that typing “java -version” at the command prompt gives an error message that ‘java’ is not recognized (but I can’t redownload it because it’s already installed according to Java.com, unless I uninstall it first).
OS: Windows 7 Home Premium
CPU: i5-2500K 3.3ghz
Memory: 4GB
Video: GeForce GTX460
VASSAL: 3.1.17
Java: 1.6.0_29
Thus spake Doomclown:
After reinstalling both Vassal and Java, I still can’t get Vassal to
open. Running Vassal does nothing (sometimes it makes my mouse pointer
hourglass briefly). I have noticed when trying to follow instructions
in other threads that typing “java -version” at the command prompt gives
an error message that ‘java’ is not recognized (but I can’t redownload
it because it’s already installed according to Java.com, unless I
uninstall it first).
OS: Windows 7 Home Premium
CPU: i5-2500K 3.3ghz
Memory: 4GB
Video: GeForce GTX460
VASSAL: 3.1.17
Java: 1.6.0_29
If running ‘java -version’ at a command prompt gives that error message,
then the problem is that java.exe is not on your path. If Java was
installed correclty, then it should be. The simplest way to correct this
is to uninstall and reinstall Java.
If you do that and the problem persists, then you have a different
problem and we should look into it further.
J.
That’s what I thought, but I’ve already uninstalled and reinstalled Java and still have the same issue.
Thus spake Doomclown:
That’s what I thought, but I’ve already uninstalled and reinstalled Java
and still have the same issue.
Then your problem is not with VASSAL, but with Java. You need to find
out why you can’t run java from the command line after intalling Java.
Do you know how to print your PATH from the command line? What does it
look like?
–
J.
I modified my PATH via Environment Variables to point to Java, and now I get the following at the command prompt (from “java -version”):
java version “1.6.0_29”
Java™ SE Runtime Environment (build 1.6.0_29-b11)
Java Hotspot™ Client VM (build 20.4-b02, mixed mode, sharing)
Still having the same problem. I tried restarting, uninstalling and reinstalling VASSAL to no effect. I tried running the batch file in the “other” installer and all that happened was the command window popped up briefly and disappeared.
Thus spake Doomclown:
I modified my PATH via Environment Variables to point to Java, and now I
get the following at the command prompt:
java version “1.6.0_29”
Java™ SE Runtime Environment (build 1.6.0_29-b11)
Java Hotspot™ Client VM (build 20.4-b02, mixed mode, sharing)
What happens when you try to run VASSAL now?
–
J.
Thus spake Doomclown:
Still having the same problem. I tried restarting, uninstalling and
reinstalling VASSAL to no effect. I tried running the batch file in the
“other” installer and all that happened was the command window popped up
briefly and disappeared.
Your changes to the PATH are probably not persiting outside the shell
where you made them. Look for a way to make those changes global.
–
J.
I thought the whole point of Environment Variables was that they were global. How do I make those changes global?
Thus spake Doomclown:
I thought the whole point of Environment Variables was that they were
global. How do I make those changes global?
If you set one in a shell, it applies only to that shell. I don’t know
how to make them global in Windows, as I haven’t been a Windows user
for more than a decade. Nonetheless, a way to globally set the PATH is
one way you could solve your problem.
–
J.
I don’t know anything about shells, and Google is not helping, so if anyone can tell me how to set PATH in the correct shell or no shell at all or whatever I need to do that would be great.
I haven’t done any programming since I retired, so I am not up to speed on this stuff. However, I did check my windows 7 system and discovered when I run “java -version” in a shell, it is not found, which means it is not in the path on my system, but it doesn’t care because it still finds it. When I look at the environment variables (control panel /system/ environment variables (button near bottom)", I see a system variable called java_home, and it points to “c:\program files (x86)\java\jre6\bin”. Again, it is not in the path. When I check that directory, I see all the java stuff including java.exe. Perhaps you should do the same.
Thanks for the suggestion. I added a java_home variable and set it to the Java directory (C:\Program Files (x86)\Java\jre6\bin in my case) but am still having the same problem.
I have a couple more suggestions, and then I am out of ideas. My first idea is try running vassal from the command shell. When it fails, it MIGHT print something that normally is unseen. I have a vassal shortcut on my desktop, and properties says it runs this: “c:\program files (x86)\vassal\vassal.exe”. So, try running the command shell, change to that directory and run vassal.exe. For me it started vassal with no messages. Maybe it will be different for you.
After that doesn’t work, I would look for one more thing. If you go to c:\users<myname>\vassal", you should see a file called “errorLog”. Open it using a text editor to see if there are any messages (clues) to what is going wrong.
Running from command window behaves the same; a split-second hourglass and then nothing, no messages.
The error log’s only entries are from March 20 of this year, when I guess I was able to run Vassal successfully. Surprising, since I thought I’d rebuilt my computer since then, but there you have it. No entries from my recent efforts.
Thanks anyway!
Thus spake Doomclown:
Running from command window behaves the same; a split-second hourglass
and then nothing, no messages.
The error log’s only entries are from March 20 of this year, when I
guess I was able to run Vassal successfully. Surprising, since I
thought I’d rebuilt my computer since then, but there you have it. No
entries from my recent efforts.
No log is written because that’s written by VASSAL, and it never gets to
the point where VASSAL starts.
Try running vassal.exe from a shell where you’ve already set the PATH.
–
J.
I don’t really know what this means. I tried running Vassal from Windows, where I set PATH in the environment variables. I tried running it from command, where the java -version command functions. I don’t know of any other “shells” where I can run it.
I did manage to get Vassal to run by using Windows 95 compatibility mode. And I can get it to open modules and apparently run alright so far. But I have to open the modules via Windows Explorer; if I go File → Open in Vassal the program hangs (nothing visual happens, and I have to use Task Manager to close it). 
Edit: It also hangs up when saving a game.
Thus spake Doomclown:
“uckelman” wrote:
Try running vassal.exe from a shell where you’ve already set the PATH.
I don’t really know what this means. I tried running Vassal from
Windows, where I set PATH in the environment variables. I tried running
it from command, where the java -version command functions. I don’t
know of any other “shells” where I can run it.
So you can run ‘java -version’ as the first command in a new terminal?
I did manage to get Vassal to run by using Windows 95 compatibility
mode. And I can get it to open modules and apparently run alright so
far. But I have to open the modules via Windows Explorer; if I go File
→ Open in Vassal the program hangs (nothing visual happens, and I have
to use Task Manager to close it). :?:
Edit: It also hangs up when saving a game.
Are you running 32-bit or 64-bit Java? You should be running 64-bit.
If you’re not, that could be the problem.
–
J.
I suspect there is something wrong with your java installation. My windows 7 system has a java_home system variable, and I know I didn’t put it there, so I think the java installation did. Since yours is missing, I would guess that something went wrong.
When I hit start, run “cmd” I type java-version as the first command and get the following:
C:\Users\Dave>java -version
java version “1.6.0_29”
Java™ SE Runtime Environment (build 1.6.0_29-b11)
Java HotSpot™ 64-Bit Server VM (build 20.4-b02, mixed mode)
This is after installing the 64bit version of Java (I had the 32bit version before). Vassal doesn’t run.
I agree something is probably wrong with my Java installation but other than reinstalling it several times I don’t know how to rectify that. I’m not getting any error messages or anything when I install Java (or do anything else).
I changed PATH and JAVA_HOME to point to \program files\ instead of \program files (x86), and removed 64bit so only Java 32bit is present. Vassal now appears to run without compatibility mode.