Help! My computer will not run Open Rocket

goose_in_co · Jul 10, 2011

I just cannot get this program to run on my computer, and I probably messed something up in the process that I will have to reverse, but here it goes:

I am running Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64 bit 6G of Ram and plenty of Hard Disk space. I Downloaded Open Rocket and it there were no programs that would recognize it. So I downloaded a trial version of WinZip, and it unpacked the files, but there is no .exe. I then downloaded the latest version of Java, however, there is no automatic association with java with the .jar file. I have associated the .jar file with java and javaw, and all I get is an error window from the Java Virtual Machine Launcher that states; "Could not find the main class: c:\<pathname>\OpenRocket-1.1.5.jar. Program will exit"

This has been slightly frustrating since the online Open Rocket documentation states to "simply double-click" the Icon and it runs. :bang:

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Mike (Goose)

BEC · Jul 10, 2011

goose_in_co said:
This has been slightly frustrating since the online Open Rocket documentation states to "simply double-click" the Icon and it runs. :bang:

As it should. It's a Java program so unless your Java installation is corrupt or missing, double-clicking on the .jar file should launch it.

Perhaps a visit to this page will help....
https://www.java.com/en/download/faq/java_win64bit.xml

goose_in_co · Jul 11, 2011

BEC said:
As it should. It's a Java program so unless your Java installation is corrupt or missing, double-clicking on the .jar file should launch it.

Perhaps a visit to this page will help....
https://www.java.com/en/download/faq/java_win64bit.xml

Ok, followed all of the instruction to make sure that I do not have an old version of Java, and the proper version installed. I have downloaded and verified that the Java 64 bit version is properly installed. I still have the same issue:bang:

Now what?

jpummil · Jul 11, 2011

So, I doubt that it's the OpenRocket .jar file. Let's download another .jar file that's known to work and test it to see if you get the same thing. https://code.google.com/p/loc-calculator/downloads/list

blackjack2564 · Jul 11, 2011

I had the same problem.

My 14yr old neighbor kid fixed it. [of course]

Opened Java preferences and moved the latest update to the top of list. Making it the default to open first. Solved the problem for me & others I have told about it with the same issue.

goose_in_co · Jul 11, 2011

blackjack2564 said:
I had the same problem.

My 14yr old neighbor kid fixed it. [of course]

Opened Java preferences and moved the latest update to the top of list. Making it the default to open first. Solved the problem for me & others I have told about it with the same issue.

I don't think that this is my issue since I only have one version of Java (the latest) installed on my machine. Unfortunately I don't have a 14yr old neighbor kid available...

goose_in_co · Jul 11, 2011

jpummil said:
So, I doubt that it's the OpenRocket .jar file. Let's download another .jar file that's known to work and test it to see if you get the same thing. https://code.google.com/p/loc-calculator/downloads/list

Great Idea, I will try that this evening.

WiK · Jul 11, 2011

goose_in_co said:
I am running Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64 bit 6G of Ram and plenty of Hard Disk space. I Downloaded Open Rocket and it there were no programs that would recognize it. So I downloaded a trial version of WinZip, and it unpacked the files, but there is no .exe. I then downloaded the latest version of Java, however, there is no automatic association with java with the .jar file. I have associated the .jar file with java and javaw, and all I get is an error window from the Java Virtual Machine Launcher that states; "Could not find the main class: c:\<pathname>\OpenRocket-1.1.5.jar. Program will exit"

When you say the .jar file (the one which you associated with java), is this the original file which you downloaded, or one which you extracted using WinZip?

My suggestion would be to delete all the OpenRocket files you've downloaded/extracted so far, then go and re-download the program from the website. Winzip could have done something to the original .jar which Java doesn't like.

This has been slightly frustrating since the online Open Rocket documentation states to "simply double-click" the Icon and it runs. :bang:

It does, if you follow all the instructions on that page in the correct order.

Cheers,
Phil

Rex R · Jul 11, 2011

um, the past few versions I've downloaded( https://openrocket.sourceforge.net/ ) were not zipped, they were just the .jar file...
rex

modeltrains · Jul 11, 2011

doesn't help resolving the issue to add this comment: I'm not technogeek and let Java and Adobe all that do their own automatic updating and Open Rocket worked fine for me downloading, uh, yesterday or day before yesterday.

Oh, there did, IIRC, seem to be 2 versions of OR on their page.
Hang on a minute, will go back and look.

https://openrocket.sourceforge.net/download.html

--> could this little phrase be some kind of clue?

The Sun Java Runtime is recommended.

jms · Jul 11, 2011

Here's something to try:

1) Put the OpenRocket.jar file somewhere easy, like C:\

2) From your start menu click the "Run" or "Run Program". Alternatively you can hit and hold the Windows key and then hit the letter R on your keyboard. This is a universal shortcut for Run.

3) Type in this:

Code:

java -jar C:\OpenRocket.jar

* This is assuming you put it in the C:\ directory, replace the C:\ part with whatever directory you chose *

And hit enter.

Does this run it properly?

o1d_dude · Jul 11, 2011

I just dropped the OR .jar file on to my desktop. Whenever I want to run it I just double click the OR icon.

I also have Sun Java installed and have never had any problems.

Good advice on NOT letting Windows handle any unzipping tasks. 7Zip is highly recommended and it is free.

Reinhard · Jul 11, 2011

modeltrains said:
https://openrocket.sourceforge.net/download.html

--> could this little phrase be some kind of clue?

The Sun Java Runtime is recommended.

Click to expand...

Sun got bought by Oracle, so it is now labeled as an Oracle product. This is the standard version of Java and it is pretty unlikely that you downloaded a different one.

Reinhard

goose_in_co · Jul 11, 2011

First of all, Thanks for all of the help. I am getting close to getting this working, what I have done this evening:

removed WinZip
Deleted all copies of Open Rocket
Re-downloaded Open Rocket

Tried Double Clicking, and it did not work, there looked to be an error screen that flashed and dissappeared, just like before.

Downloaded the loc-calculator, It didn't work either.

Ran the Loc-calculator from the run menu, and it worked.

Tried Open rocket from the run menu and it didn't work

Changed the syntax of the openrocket start in the startmenu to:java -jar C:\OpenRocket-1.1.5.jar and it worked!

So now I know that the code will run on my computer, however the remaining problem is that I would like to make OpenRocket clickable from an Icon, and not a command line in the run menu. I believe that I do not have the file associated correctly, and I am having trouble figuring out which Java file that it needs to be associated with.

But for now it works. Thanks to all for the help.

Peter Olivola · Jul 11, 2011

For now, put the command line that worked into a batch file and iconize it on your desktop.

goose_in_co · Jul 11, 2011

Peter Olivola said:
For now, put the command line that worked into a batch file and iconize it on your desktop.

Documentation for Posterity:

To solve the last issue, I generated a file in the same directory (your directory path may vary

) that OpenRocket resides with the contents:

java -jar C:\Users\Mike\Rocket\OpenRocket\OpenRocket-1.1.5.jar

and named it, "openrocket.bat". Then I rightclicked the file and created a shortcut, and dropped it on the desktop. Now when I double click the Icon on the desktop, the Open Rocket program starts.

Again, thanks for all the help. This forum is a great place.

Mike

davel · Jul 11, 2011

Right click on the .jar file, mouse over "Open With" and click on "Chose Program". If you are offered the option of "Java(TM) Platform SE Binary", select that - check "Always use the selected program to open this kind of file" and click OK.

If that option is not offered, then click on "Browse" and navigate to C:\Program Files\Java\jre6\bin and select Java.exe. Again be sure "Always use the selected program to open this kind of file" is checked and click OK.

jms · Jul 12, 2011

goose_in_co said:
Documentation for Posterity:

To solve the last issue, I generated a file in the same directory (your directory path may vary) that OpenRocket resides with the contents:

java -jar C:\Users\Mike\Rocket\OpenRocket\OpenRocket-1.1.5.jar

and named it, "openrocket.bat". Then I rightclicked the file and created a shortcut, and dropped it on the desktop. Now when I double click the Icon on the desktop, the Open Rocket program starts.

Again, thanks for all the help. This forum is a great place.

Mike

Ah glad to hear you got it working. It is definitely bizarre that it's not allowing you to run it properly just as a normal program. The other thing to consider (which can be a potential security threat) is to try right-clicking the OpenRocket.jar file and saying "Run As Administrator" if you get that as an option.

Let us know if there's anything else we can help you with

blafetra · Jul 20, 2011

Openrocket starts up and "seems" to run just fine. I can add, reorder and delete components (e.g. body tube, nose cone, etc.), but it won't let me edit any of the components. I have the same problem on both my computers (Win7 32 and 64-bit). Any thoughts?

alborak · May 5, 2021

goose_in_co said:
First of all, Thanks for all of the help. I am getting close to getting this working, what I have done this evening:

removed WinZip
Deleted all copies of Open Rocket
Re-downloaded Open Rocket

Tried Double Clicking, and it did not work, there looked to be an error screen that flashed and dissappeared, just like before.

Downloaded the loc-calculator, It didn't work either.

Ran the Loc-calculator from the run menu, and it worked.

Tried Open rocket from the run menu and it didn't work

Changed the syntax of the openrocket start in the startmenu to:java -jar C:\OpenRocket-1.1.5.jar and it worked!

So now I know that the code will run on my computer, however the remaining problem is that I would like to make OpenRocket clickable from an Icon, and not a command line in the run menu. I believe that I do not have the file associated correctly, and I am having trouble figuring out which Java file that it needs to be associated with.

But for now it works. Thanks to all for the help.

Hi, I got same error like you and done with your code, only change version number, it works!!!!
Im so happy now. Thank you very much.

neil_w · May 5, 2021

alborak said:
Hi, I got same error like you and done with your code, only change version number, it works!!!!
Im so happy now. Thank you very much.

Don't rely on 10 year-old computer advice.

Try this: https://www.rocketryforum.com/threa...d-mac-to-solve-all-your-java-problems.143540/

alborak · May 5, 2021

neil_w said:
Don't rely on 10 year-old computer advice.

Try this: https://www.rocketryforum.com/threa...d-mac-to-solve-all-your-java-problems.143540/

Thank you but it works and it's enough for me :clapping:

Also Im very happy to discover here.

Greetings.
Burak

Help! My computer will not run Open Rocket

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