Not sure if this is in the right place but anyways, every time i try to play the game (steam version) I get black screen and a crash to desktop after a couple of seconds, I have all settings set to recommended and my system specs are as follows: ATHLON 64 X2 7750+ 4GB CORSAIR XMS2 800MHz ASUS M4N78 mobo Vista Home Premium 64bit 1GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTS250 PCI EXPRESS ARCTIC COOLING FREEZER 64 PRO 700w PSU. i am using the mobos onboard sound as well. It worked fine for about a month but now crashes all the time. I have looked around for a solution and the main suggestion is to change the sound settings, I have tried this to no avail. All other games i have (L4D, CSS, Crysis, Bioshock, TF2) run with no problems at all.
I had this problem too, it ran fine for about a week then did the same. I deleted the game (right click>Delete local content) and then re-downloaded it which has fixed it. A lazy fix but if you can spare the bandwidth it might just do the trick for you as well. I also backed up my online profile as I wasn't sure if this is deleted too.
thanks for the info but i managed to sort it out, just had to enable stereo mixing!! only problem now is i can hear all the 12 year olds on their mics.......
