Known issues and solutions - FAQ

[Bardi Golriz]

I have just installed the game and run the downloadable licence key fix, which told me that the key was OK and I should try to run the game. OK.

But whenever I try to run the game I just receive the error message fm.exe has encountered a problem and needs to close. This is it. No error message or anything!

What problem could I have?

http://community.sigames.com/showpost.php?p=2579510&postcount=4538

[Bardi Golriz]

Hi,

Have been playing the game since release day, via steam and now whenever I try to boot up the game it shows the warchild & sega screens. Then the screen stays blank and no message appears to explain the error, i have tried a full re-install (having to redownload the game as well) , could you please help as i have a rather addictive save that is in the year 2011 and it would be lovely to be able to play it again!

Cheers

Do you know whether or not this may have been triggered when Steam automatically updated your game to 9.2.0? Or were you able to play the game when it was updated to it?

I know you've stated you've already done a re-install, but can you do so again following the below set of instructions so to complete a full manual un-install.

- Remove game from Steam

- How to complete a Manual Uninstall

To Remove the Game files follow these steps:

Windows XP

1: Open “My Computer”

2: Navigate to “C:\Program Files\Sports Interactive

Windows Vista

1: Click “Start”

2: Click “Computer”

3: Navigate to “C:\Program Files\Sports Interactive

If you have more than one version of the game installed (For example, you have FM2007 and FM2008 installed) and only wish to remove one then go into the Sports Interactive Folder and delete the folder of the game you wish to remove.

Next you need to remove save games and other content (your saved games are in the 'games' folder - move its content out of here if you wish to keep your saved games)

Windows XP:

1: Open “My Computer”

2: Navigate to “C:\Documents and Settings\<Name>\My Documents”

Vista:

1: Click on “Start”

2: Click on “Computer”

3: Navagate to “C:\Users\<Name>\Documents”

Look for the Sports Interactive Folder and follow the same steps for the game files.

Next remove your Cache files

First of all you need to turn on hidden files and folders. Go to My Computer and at the top select 'Tools' the 'Folder Options'. The go to the 'View' tab and select 'Show hidden files and folders'

Windows XP:

1. Open “My Computer”

2. Navigate to : “Documents and Settings\<Username>\Application Data\

3. Go into the “Sports Interactive” Folder.

4. Delete the “Football Manager XX” Folder.

Wndows Vista:

1. Click “Start”

2. Click your username on the start Menu

3. Click on “AppData” and then “Roaming”

4. Go into the “Sports Interactive” Folder

5. Delete the “Football Manager XX” Folder.

Mac OSX

1. Open Finder.

2. Select <User>

3. Navigate to Library\Caches\Sports Interactive

4. Remove the “Football Manager XX” Folder.

How to Delete your Registry Files

Finally you will need to edit your registry to remove information Sports Interactive stores there.

To do this follow these steps:

Windows Xp

1: Click on “Start”

2: Click on “Run”

3: In the text prompt box type “regedit”

4: Navigate to:

Windows Vista

1: Click on “Start”

2: In the Search box type “regedit”

3: Navigate to: “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\

4: Delete the “Sports Interactive Ltd” Folder.

Note: Please do not tamper with anything else in this folder, your registry is very sensitive and changing something could cause your computer to malfunction.

Once all the steps above are complete your computer will be completely uninstalled.

Have you purchased the game via Steam? If not, maybe attempt a re-install via Uniloc?

[Sverre]

Sverre, in the 1st screenshot you had steam and uniloc open at the same time. It seems it was installed with Steam then you are trying to activate it with uniloc. You followed everything in the opening post of this thread to the letter?

Yes. I actually got a step by step from support(the same which is posted in this thread, afaik). Tried it several times. No luck : /

But should I exit steam before attempting the Fixv3 program? is that what you are saying?

[Bardi Golriz]

Hi was hoping for some advise on 3d mode. hope im in the right place.

I have up to date directx and good enough graphics but when in 3d mode players are all in 2d mode and at an angel.please can someone shed some light into whats giong on.??

cheers.

Unfortunately, this would imply that your graphics card is incapable of displaying the match in 3D mode, as it does not meet the minimum requirements to do so.

[Bardi Golriz]

When i get to actually playing a game against another team i get this message 'DirectSound error- 2004287480'

then the game shuts down

can anyone help please

desperately need help and want to play

4. I'm getting a message that says: "Direct Sound error -2004287480" when entering a match.

Potential workaround:

- Update your sound card drivers or disable in game sound.

- To disable sound:

- Go to the Preferences screen ('Options' -> 'Preferences').

- Go to the 'Display & Sound' section.

- In the 'Sound Settings' area, deselect 'Play Sounds' and confirm your changes.

- You should also ensure your DirectX is up to date.

- Install the Microsoft DirectX re-distributable package from here:

- Web Installer: 4. I'm getting a message that says: "Direct Sound error -2004287480" when entering a match.

Potential workaround:

- Update your sound card drivers or disable in game sound.

- To disable sound:

- Go to the Preferences screen ('Options' -> 'Preferences').

- Go to the 'Display & Sound' section.

- In the 'Sound Settings' area, deselect 'Play Sounds' and confirm your changes.

- You should also ensure your DirectX is up to date.

- Install the Microsoft DirectX re-distributable package from here:

- Web Installer: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...displaylang=en

- Full re-distributable: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...displaylang=en

- Update the SoundDriver for your particular system (visit the system manufacturer website and check their support section on drivers for your particular system - See Useful Link below for common system websites)

- Full re-distributable: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=C1367BC3-4676-481A-BFAA-5C15D1D7199D&displaylang=en- Update the SoundDriver for your particular system (visit the system manufacturer website and check their support section on drivers for your particular system - See Useful Link below for common system websites)

http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php?t=55372

[Bardi Golriz]

I read this.... but

I dont have the exe file, im on vista and it is my first time dealing with this sort of method... totally lost

Have you tried re-installing the game and/or Steam?

[Bardi Golriz]

Hello,i'm getting a message fm.exe has encountered a problem and needs to close...when i click on the shortcut,please could you help us out,many thanks.

http://community.sigames.com/showpost.php?p=2579510&postcount=4538

[Bardi Golriz]

Every time I try and play a match on the 3d match engine I get a msg saying fm.exe encounterd a problem, send or dont send, and then the game crashes. I am playing in window mode and have a nvidia gforce fx5600 graphics card, 1gb of ram and a 3.06ghz pentium 4 processor. I cant understand while it is not working. Please can someone help?

Have you got your graphics card's latest drivers?

Does 2D work fine for you?

[Griffo1989]

Do you have to download the update via Steam before you get the exe file? I ran the demo sucessfully but the disc version is not being as helpful

[Griffo1989]

Ok I just installed again but not the steam way and now my activation code wont register! quite frustrating

[footiemad]

Unfortunately, this would imply that your graphics card is incapable of displaying the match in 3D mode, as it does not meet the minimum requirements to do so.

Thanks Bardi lll need to look into it cheers.

[Suzie MUFC]

First off, I've actually posted this in the FM09 Bugs/Technical Issues forum and the PC Support forum. I've also emailed SI support, and Uniloc (with my licence key enclosed) but had no reply from either.

I've since been advised by Matt from Sega to post my problem here, so here goes.

I'll quote my original posts:

The past couple of days, I haven't been able to activate FM09 via Uniloc at all. When I've typed my key in and clicked on the activate button, the activation software crashes with an error message saying there's a problem with fm.exe. The same happened when I tried to use the offline activation fix, but that had an error with activator.dll. I checked out the Deactivation website and saw that I had a seat taken, even though I deactivated it when I uninstalled the game a few days before.

I can only guess that there's a problem with Uniloc, which is causing my game not to activate, and which could have caused my previous seat to not be deactivated.

I have since successfully installed on the same machine with Steam, but it would be great if anyone from SI/Sega could check these problems out as I might not be the only one suffering this.

It turned out Steam actually hadn't activated my game, as explained here:

Steam asked me for the activation key, and said that I would be asked for it again when I launch the game. It gave me the option to copy the key from the clipboard, which I did, and then I clicked continue. Then it crashed with activator.exe having an error. It then loaded up the Uniloc program, which of course also failed.

I suspect it's the seat which had not been deactivated properly by Uniloc, and which still can't via the deactivation site ("Unable to deactivate" it says), which is causing a conflict.

And yes, as mentioned in the other thread, it was always installed on a fresh computer install (via saved hard disk image), so there had been no previous trace of FM anywhere.

In short, I can neither activate FM09, nor deactivate the seat it previously took, making it unplayable on my laptop. Is there anything that can be done to fix this? Whatever it is, it does seem that Uniloc is broken somewhere.

Any official assistance would be greatly appreciated.

[Matt ex SEGA]

If you PM me your support ticket number, and your email address, I'll ask for it to be looked at tomorrow.

[Suzie MUFC]

If you PM me your support ticket number, and your email address, I'll ask for it to be looked at tomorrow.

Unfortunately, I don't have a support ticket number. I emailed contact@sigames.com as it was the only email address I could find.

I'm guessing I should have submitted it to Sega support, not SI. I'll do that now, and then PM you the ticket number as soon as I get it.

[Suzie MUFC]

Ok, ticket raised and PM sent.

Thanks.

[Ronny Solid]

Do you know whether or not this may have been triggered when Steam automatically updated your game to 9.2.0? Or were you able to play the game when it was updated to it?

I know you've stated you've already done a re-install, but can you do so again following the below set of instructions so to complete a full manual un-install.

Have you purchased the game via Steam? If not, maybe attempt a re-install via Uniloc?

Thanks for that, in the mean time i have bought the Arsenal edition of the game, tried installing without the above steps and it didn't work, then did all the steps above and re-installed the arsenal edition. Luckily it started fine, i can't use my old save game, due to editing the database (and deleted the edited database) but at least i can play the game now.

Thanks alot SI, as usual you deliver!

[Bardi Golriz]

Ok I just installed again but not the steam way and now my activation code wont register! quite frustrating

What error are you getting?

There's a fix located at http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php?t=65715 for online activation issues that may be of use to you.

[Bardi Golriz]

Thanks for that, in the mean time i have bought the Arsenal edition of the game, tried installing without the above steps and it didn't work, then did all the steps above and re-installed the arsenal edition. Luckily it started fine, i can't use my old save game, due to editing the database (and deleted the edited database) but at least i can play the game now.

Thanks alot SI, as usual you deliver!

Good to hear Ronny!

Hope you enjoy the game

[Suzie MUFC]

I'd just like to thank Matt and his associate Nick for helping me fix my copy. Everything's working as it should now.

Thanks again!

[LIAM_AFC]

I have installed fm09 but when i try to active it code is saying certifacte could not be active and it says i'm not connected to the internet.

[Bardi Golriz]

I have installed fm09 but when i try to active it code is saying certifacte could not be active and it says i'm not connected to the internet.

Please try the fix located at http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php?t=65715.

[rcat35]

Has any solution been found for the computer freezing when you click on go to game? I've gone through quite a few pages but haven't time to look through 47 pages - sorry. My game goes through steam so I'm presuming that will pick up any patches that would be needed. I've only just bought the game and thought that al the initial bugs would be sorted.

Thanks for any help although I'm not a teckkie so would need step by step help.

:confused:

[Manc689908]

1. Have you installed Microsoft DirectX SDK? (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=5493F76A-6D37-478D-BA17-28B1CCA4865A&displaylang=en)

2. Have you updated your Microsoft .NET framework? (http://community.sigames.com/showpost.php?p=2294041&postcount=3758)

3. Make sure you have your graphics card's latest drivers installed.

If none of that helps, have you attempted a re-install of the game? You may want to try to re-install it via Uniloc, if you do, assuming you had purchased the game on DVD and not via Steam.

Bardi, or anyone.. What if you bought the game through steam and are getting the same error? I have done step 1, 2, & 3, completely unistalled and re-installed with a little help from steam and still get the same "Football Manager has stopped working" windows error! What now???

[Brearley]

On startup the fm.exe crashes, the following is in the "Send error..."

AppName: fm.exe AppVer: 9.1.0.26064 ModName: fm.exe

ModVer: 9.1.0.26064 Offset: 00e5dbce

Latest version of Direct X 9, November, is installed, latest Java 1.0.6 u10 is installed.

Cheers

Stedders

i have the same problem aswell it does the same codes aswell i dont work out tbh if you find out could you tell me

[carrarud]

Do all these problems apply to everyone that has purchased the game or does it just happen to random people.

I've ordered a copy online but after reading all these problems, im not looking forward to the game coming through my letterbox.

:(

[yunga1988]

Hi,

I play Football Manager through steam. When I go to visit my gf at Uni I take my laptop so I can play on Football Manager. But I've never actually managed to load the game because I'm not connected to the internet.

Surely there is a way to play Football Manager without been connected to the interet as I never play on-line.

Thanks in advance.

[strangefruit80]

Somebody please help me!!

Ive been playing football manager 2009 with no issues for weeks and weeks now, even this morning it was fine! But this afternoon i try launching it and im getting a message box saying 'SI Activator has stopped working.... A problem caused the program to stop working correctly. Windows will close the program and notify you if a solution is available'

Then nothing happens!!! If anyone has any ideas i will be your slave for life!

Thanks for reading

[ahmufcwafc]

Hi,

I play Football Manager through steam. When I go to visit my gf at Uni I take my laptop so I can play on Football Manager. But I've never actually managed to load the game because I'm not connected to the internet.

Surely there is a way to play Football Manager without been connected to the interet as I never play on-line.

Thanks in advance.

Steam has an offline mode - you can play offline after selecting it.

Do all these problems apply to everyone that has purchased the game or does it just happen to random people.

I've ordered a copy online but after reading all these problems, im not looking forward to the game coming through my letterbox.

:(

It only happens to some people. Ever since patching the game, I've had no technical issues at all.

Has any solution been found for the computer freezing when you click on go to game? I've gone through quite a few pages but haven't time to look through 47 pages - sorry. My game goes through steam so I'm presuming that will pick up any patches that would be needed. I've only just bought the game and thought that al the initial bugs would be sorted.

Thanks for any help although I'm not a teckkie so would need step by step help.

:confused:

Have you tried selecting windowed mode in preferences? That stops the game from freezing on most computers.

[the man]

I tried to set the game up in windowed mode and messed up and now when I click on the game this comes up

"Steam-error this game is currently unavailable. Please try again at another time."

Anyone know how to fix this.

Cheers,

O

[ducky1]

I am having problems setting up fm2009. I install it and then it says there are some errors. When I try and open it,nothing happens. No shortcut has been created on the desktop. It has validated everything but i cannot get it to work!

help!!!

[strangefruit80]

Somebody please help me!!

Ive been playing football manager 2009 with no issues for weeks and weeks now, even this morning it was fine! But this afternoon i try launching it and im getting a message box saying 'SI Activator has stopped working.... A problem caused the program to stop working correctly. Windows will close the program and notify you if a solution is available'

Then nothing happens!!! If anyone has any ideas i will be your slave for life!

Thanks for reading

Im still having the same problem as yesterday so its not a temporary glitch by the looks of it Been looking on the steam forum and it seems a couple of people have had the same problem just yesterday just like me. Weird.

If anyone can help i'll be eternally grateful, this is the first football manager game ive used since champ manager 01/02 and yet again im hooked! The withdrawl symptoms are setting in and its not a good place to be.....

Someone help?

[carrarud]

Steam has an offline mode - you can play offline after selecting it.

It only happens to some people. Ever since patching the game, I've had no technical issues at all.

Have you tried selecting windowed mode in preferences? That stops the game from freezing on most computers.

Thank you ahmufcwafc, here's hoping I am one of the lucky ones, although I have Vista and most problems seem to happen because of this.

[qotsfan4eva]

Have scrolled through about 30 pages on here and cant find a solution to my problem. It has happened to me many times before but has never bothered me because my saed games havent been as far in. This time ive got a Liverpool game going for about 6 seasons and cant face having to quit it!! so was hoping somebody could please help without me having to delete my saved game. Would like to stress that i CAN start new games but cant open my saved game or the ""xml parsing error not well formed (invalid token) at line 1 of last saved game.xml"" comes up. Now, i know why this happens..its because after saving the game, the electricity cut out and then when i treid to restart it , it never woked. I know this beause whenever i use to turn the computer of at the plug the saved game would never start up either but need a solution.

Please could somebody help..None of the currect parsing error solutions help me because they all reset preferences...which would delete my saved game.

[tyronestfc]

not a major problem, but ****ing me off all the same...

on the filters section, it usually has a hide players option, for hiding unavailable players etc, on my current game this has disappeared and been replaced with one saying 'show players' with 2 options, 'selected schedule' and 'all schedules', so im unable to filter out all my crocks. the same thing happened in an fm08 game and i managed to sort it but cant remember how:(

i think it has coincided with me registering my european squad, anyone have any ideas how to fix it?

This has happened in my game as well. Had a flick through this thread but can't see an answer anywhere, does anyone know how to sort it? Cheers.

[Seanh]

Every time i try and go into a new match on my arsenal game it won't start and then something comes up saying

XML Parsing Error

Not well formed (invalid token) at line 1 of speed.xml

what should i do???

I have downloaded on steam.

I have uninstalled and reinstalled and nothing happens and i have started a new game and the same thing happens.

[boca1010]

i have just recently installed the new patch for my game on mac and during the 3D games there seems to be a lag and during the match engine the games stagger??

this has been occurring on my saved game which i thought the patch didnt work for?

how can i fix this?

[ahmufcwafc]

Every time i try and go into a new match on my arsenal game it won't start and then something comes up saying

XML Parsing Error

Not well formed (invalid token) at line 1 of speed.xml

what should i do???

I have downloaded on steam.

I have uninstalled and reinstalled and nothing happens and i have started a new game and the same thing happens.

I can't play the game due to an XML parsing error

If you have a shortcut on your desktop you can do the following:

• Right-click on the FM shortcut.
  
• Choose "Properties" from the pop-up menu.
  
• In the "Target" field, add the --reset_preferences command line option after "fm.exe", so it should look like this:
  "C:\Program Files\Sports Interactive\Football Manager 2009\fm.exe" --reset_preferences
  
• Press OK and then try to run the game as normal, using the shortcut.
  

You'll want to remove the command after you run the game, as otherwise it will continue to reset your preferences every time you launch.

If you don't have a shortcut you can make one and then perform the instructions on the shortcut you've made.

• If you purchased and installed the game through Steam you should be able to find the fm.exe in the following directory:
  C:/Program Files/Steam/SteamApps/Common/Football Manager 2009/
  
• If you purchased and installed the game from a boxed DVD copy you should be able to find the fm.exe in the following directory:
  C:/Program Files/Sports Interactive/Football Manager 2009/
  

Other XML Errors

First of all you need to turn on hidden files and folders. Go to My Computer and at the top select 'Tools' the 'Folder Options'. The go to the 'View' tab and select 'Show hidden files and folders'

Delete the following folder:

XP: C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Application Data\Sports Interactive\Football Manager 2009\settings

Vista: C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Sports Interactive\Football Manager 2009\settings

This may solve some issues regarding the XML Errors

[FRADISTA]

Some buttons are missing, cannot play the game correctly. I cannot arrange friendlies, cannot make offers or reject them, cannot use the filter functions, this is really frustrating!

Any help on this please? I read and checked all over the place, no solutions that were mentioned helped me...

[Veron]

Siccome ho riscontrato il problema xml parsing error not well-formed (invalid token)..........(7-8 finestre d'errore).........volevo sapere se potevate aiutarmi???

volevo provare cm sta scritto nel topic però nella mia casella "Destinazione" nn c'è scritto.....

"C:\Programmi\Sports Interactive\Football Manager 2009\fm.exe"

Ma c'è scritto....

"C:\Program Files\Steam \steam.exe" -applaunch 10540

Potete aiutarmi???

Se potreste aiutarmi ve ne sarei grato da quando ho comprato il gioco (3 Giorni fa) ho giocato solo una volta anche perchè salvai la partita ma quando andavo a caricare dp pochi minuti di gioco mi usciva un crush dumps (Dp qst crash mi ha dato il problema sopra elencato).....CHE FORTUNA....

Grazie Mille....Aspetto vostre risposte.....

[arniewl]

can someone please tell me how to fix my problem with data editor for fm2009.

'The application has failed to start because it's side-by-side configuration is incorrect. please see the application event log for more detail.'

i dont even know what an 'application event log' is

please help, thanks

[Bardi Golriz]

Bardi, or anyone.. What if you bought the game through steam and are getting the same error? I have done step 1, 2, & 3, completely unistalled and re-installed with a little help from steam and still get the same "Football Manager has stopped working" windows error! What now???

Did you ever manage to the game to run for you?

Could you also let me know what your machine's specs are (including its graphics card)?

[Bardi Golriz]

Has any solution been found for the computer freezing when you click on go to game? I've gone through quite a few pages but haven't time to look through 47 pages - sorry. My game goes through steam so I'm presuming that will pick up any patches that would be needed. I've only just bought the game and thought that al the initial bugs would be sorted.

Thanks for any help although I'm not a teckkie so would need step by step help.

:confused:

Has it always frozen for you?

Or did this start to happen only after patch 9.2.0 was released (and your game automatically updated)?

[Bardi Golriz]

i have the same problem aswell it does the same codes aswell i dont work out tbh if you find out could you tell me

Download/install the 9.2.0 patch if you are having the same error code as the other user.

http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php?t=82282

[arniewl]

can someone please tell me how to fix my problem with data editor for fm2009.

'The application has failed to start because it's side-by-side configuration is incorrect. please see the application event log for more detail.'

i dont even know what an 'application event log' is

please help, thanks

i have installed patch 9.2.0 and run the IExpress setup but still not working

[Bardi Golriz]

Im still having the same problem as yesterday so its not a temporary glitch by the looks of it Been looking on the steam forum and it seems a couple of people have had the same problem just yesterday just like me. Weird.

If anyone can help i'll be eternally grateful, this is the first football manager game ive used since champ manager 01/02 and yet again im hooked! The withdrawl symptoms are setting in and its not a good place to be.....

Someone help?

Have you attempted a full manual un-install?

If not, carefully follow the instructions I have provided at http://community.sigames.com/showpost.php?p=2579463&postcount=4535.

[Bardi Golriz]

I tried to set the game up in windowed mode and messed up and now when I click on the game this comes up

"Steam-error this game is currently unavailable. Please try again at another time."

Anyone know how to fix this.

Cheers,

O

Have you tried undoing the changes you made to get 'Windowed' mode to work?

Otherwise, maybe try a simple re-install of the game.

[Veron]

I just want to kwow If you can help me because I have found this problem "xml parsing error not well-formed (invalid token).... (7-8 error page)... I just wanted to try as it's written in topic but in my "Destination" folder it isn't written this thing:

"C:\Programmi\Sports Interactive\Football Manager 2009\fm.exe"

there's written this;

"C:\Program Files\Steam \steam.exe" -applaunch 10540

Since I bought this game, trhee years ago, I've played just only once, because I saved the game but when I went to load It told me there was a crash dumps (after this crash system showed this problem I have spoken about before)...WHAT A LUCK!

[ahmufcwafc]

I just want to kwow If you can help me because I have found this problem "xml parsing error not well-formed (invalid token).... (7-8 error page)... I just wanted to try as it's written in topic but in my "Destination" folder it isn't written this thing:

"C:\Programmi\Sports Interactive\Football Manager 2009\fm.exe"

there's written this;

"C:\Program Files\Steam \steam.exe" -applaunch 10540

Its fine if its written like that. Just enter the reset preferences bit & it should be fine.

[strangefruit80]

Have you attempted a full manual un-install?

If not, carefully follow the instructions I have provided at http://community.sigames.com/showpost.php?p=2579463&postcount=4535.

Im not the most switched on when it comes to doing technical stuff so is a dumbass capable of following those instructions before i start?

What I dont understand is why the problem started anyway.... Sorry to be a pain Bardi

[Bardi Golriz]

Have scrolled through about 30 pages on here and cant find a solution to my problem. It has happened to me many times before but has never bothered me because my saed games havent been as far in. This time ive got a Liverpool game going for about 6 seasons and cant face having to quit it!! so was hoping somebody could please help without me having to delete my saved game. Would like to stress that i CAN start new games but cant open my saved game or the ""xml parsing error not well formed (invalid token) at line 1 of last saved game.xml"" comes up. Now, i know why this happens..its because after saving the game, the electricity cut out and then when i treid to restart it , it never woked. I know this beause whenever i use to turn the computer of at the plug the saved game would never start up either but need a solution.

Please could somebody help..None of the currect parsing error solutions help me because they all reset preferences...which would delete my saved game.

You need to delete your cache as stated on http://community.sigames.com/showpost.php?p=2592862&postcount=4586.