FAQs

There are several possible causes of this issue.

Corrupted config files

Often this is because ConQuest's configuration files have become corrupted and deleting them solves the problem.

Go to your home directory (type %USERPROFILE% into the Windows Explorer bar) then go to the View tab and make sure "File name extensions" and "Hidden items" are ticked. Delete the csds_data folder and any .csds_defaults or .csds_defaults[number] files, then try to run ConQuest again.

Foreign characters or spaces in home directory

If the above steps do not resolve the issue, it may be caused by foreign characters or spaces in the path to ConQuest's workspace. This is usually in your home directory. The instructions below explain how to change it to C:\conquest_workspace.

1. If it exists, open C:\Users\username\.csds_defaults3 (where username is your windows username) in a text editor and clear out all contents of the file. If it does not exist, start a text editor (e.g. notepad) and create a new file.
2. Add the following line to the file:
   csds_data_directory = 'C:\\conquest_workspace'
3. Save the file as .csds_defaults3 in C:\Users\username (check the file in file explorer to ensure it exists and does not have any added extension such as .txt - it must be just .csds_defaults3).
4. Create the folder "conquest_workspace" in the top level of your C: drive.
5. Try to run ConQuest again.

Old version of ChemOffice

Another cause of this problem is having an old version of ChemOffice installed. ChemOffice puts its old version of opengl32.dll in the system PATH and ConQuest tries to use this library and gets confused because it is too old. Rename the folder "C:\Program Files (x86)\ChemOffice2002" and try running ConQuest again.

Other options

• Install Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable (x64 version) from https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/the-latest-supported-visual-c-downloads-2647da03-1eea-4433-9aff-95f26a218cc0
• Uninstalling and reinstalling ConQuest may resolve the issue (just the ConQuest component, not the whole CSD Portfolio).

If none of the above works, run ConQuest with logging, paste the output into a text file and send it to support@ccdc.cam.ac.uk. On a standard Windows installation the command to run ConQuest with logging is

"%USERPROFILE%\CCDC\ccdc-software\conquest\exe\csds.exe" -debug