I installed the XNA shooter project (using the installer provided in the download), and although I can hear sounds, I get nothing but a black screen when I enter a mission - the main menu is fine.

My laptop exceeds the minimum requirements, and I have all relevant software installed.

Anything to do with monitor refresh rates maybe?

There is a log file saying:

[22:49:18] Creating RenderToTexture failed: System.InvalidOperationException: The method call is invalid.
   at Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Graphics.RenderTarget..cto r(GraphicsDevice graphicsDevice, Int32 width, Int32 height, Int32 numberLevels, SurfaceFormat format, MultiSampleType multiSampleType, Int32 multiSampleQuality, Boolean isTexture2D)
   at Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Graphics.RenderTarget2D..c tor(GraphicsDevice graphicsDevice, Int32 width, Int32 height, Int32 numberLevels, SurfaceFormat format, MultiSampleType multiSampleType, Int32 multiSampleQuality)
   at XnaShooter.Shaders.RenderToTexture.Create()
[22:49:37] Failed to execute Mission
Error: System.Exception: You can't call Resolve without first setting the render target!
   at XnaShooter.Shaders.RenderToTexture.Resolve()
   at XnaShooter.Shaders.ShadowMapShader.GenerateShadows (RenderDelegate renderObjects)
   at XnaShooter.GameScreens.Mission.RenderLevelBackgrou nd(Single levelPosition)
   at XnaShooter.GameScreens.Mission.Run(XnaShooterGame game)
   at XnaShooter.XnaShooterGame.Draw(GameTime gameTime) .......

It looks like your graphic card is refusing to render the shadow map render target texture because the multi sample type is not supported. Try using MultiSampleType.None in the BaseGame constructor or try to disable the shadow mapping all together. I will try to add a few more options to the GameSettings xml file in order to disable these advanced effects without having to edit the source code.

http://abi.exdream.com

Thanks Abi,

I too also had the problem;
Changing
// Always turn on multisampling, looks much nice, especially on the Xbox360
this.graphics.PreferMultiSampling = true;

to
this.graphics.PreferMultiSampling = false;
In the BaseGame.cs made it work on the PC

Great! Thanks for this! I was having problems with the mission. What does multi sampling do exactly? And why does my graphics card refuse to render it?