immediate lock-up/crash after initializing game

[Ivy]

Right after login, the game would run for a few seconds and then crash. Anybody having similar problems? No issues with eq2/vg/lotr and many other games. Most recent drivers.

[awdz]

i don't usually have that problem but it did happen to me at the most recent login. i assumed something interfered with my wireless, but if it happens again in light of what you said, i'll be wondering.

[Ivy]

I just realised : it only happens while playing in windowed mode. Sadly windowed mode is something rather vital for him while playing - and he wont really be able to play full screen for different reasons.

Whenever he switches from full screen to windowed, the game immediatly hangs up and boots him to desktop.

2560x1600 is the solution he uses ( 30" screen )

[Justa Mirage]

Welcome to my world Ivy, I have had this problem from day 1

I don't know if it's ATI video drivers, the game, or just the fact that I have things in the background running that causes it but:

I can switch from full screen to windowed with about a 90% success rate. I cannot ALT-TAB out of the game, as ALT-TABBING back into the game crashes it.

If I am running in Windowed mode, it switches my display to 800 by 600 and won't let me run it at my screen resolution (1600 by 1200), if I try to resize or minimize / maximize the window, the game will crash.

If I try to go back into full screen mode from windowed mode... the game will crash. (all of these are 100% guaranteed to happen)

So I stay in full screen and log out and back in if I need to do something out of the game.

[gopher65]

I can't switch from full screen to windowed at all when I'm ingame. Instant CTD. The only way for me to do it is to directly change it in the def file before I log in. I have no idea if you are having the same problem I have/had, but if you are, this might help (I have an nVidia card for one, so what happened to me might be completely different than what you're going through). You can force the game into windowed mode at a certain res before you log on by doing this: go to the prefs directory in your main HZ (IS) folder. Find the ClientPrefs_Graphics.def file. In that file, try changing the following settings to something like this:

int mainWinSizeX = 1280
int mainWinSizeY = 775
int mainWinPosX = 0
int mainWinPosY = 0

bool fullscreen = false

Couple things to note: my res is currently set at 1280x800. That 775 you see is because of the Windows Taskbar that everyone has at the bottom of their screen. It is 25 pixels high (in Vista, I assume it is the same in XP and 2K), so make sure to subtract 25 pixels from your vertical window size. So for Justa it would be 1600x1175 window size. Also, 0,0 is the top left pixel of the screen. If your game starts in a funky position in windowed mode, then change that those initial position ones to 0 and 0 (mine use to start in a weird place like 300,400 or something like that; I had to move the window before I could hit the maximize button).

[Ivy]

Thanks a lot gopher, sounds like excactly the same problem. Iam gona give it a try soonish. He is using an Nvidia card too, btw.

[Justa Mirage]

"main HZ (IS) folder"

Shameless plug for your acronym replacement no doubt

[gopher65]

Nope. I don't have a preference. That's just the only one I could remember off the top of my head. Shorter might be better for that reason.

[Ivy]

tried today - sadly it doesnt help at all. Loging in with the changes you suggested produces a crash aswell. Aslong as the game is in fullscreen everythings cool - but sadly 2560x 1600 doesnt exist as full screen resolution and the screen looks really crappy if its played in full screen.


Any other ideas ?

[Zexoin]

Do you get any error message when crashing, Ivy ?

[Ivy]

none at all. game freezes, stays like that for a few seconds and then he is booted to desktop

[Zexoin]

none at all. game freezes, stays like that for a few seconds and then he is booted to desktop

I got that problem once. It was related to the place the character was loading. Try to recall from the web page and see if it works

[Justa Mirage]

I also had that problem once, there was a corrupted world cache file in Bristugo that caused a CTD everytime.

Zexoin said it best, click the checkmark to recall to your bind point on loading the game.

[gopher65]

I also had that problem once, there was a corrupted world cache file in Bristugo that caused a CTD everytime.

Zexoin said it best, click the checkmark to recall to your bind point on loading the game.

Now that I think about it... yeah. I had that exact problem once too. A long time ago on Life. I was told to delete my Life_cache folder (which I reluctantly did), and that fixed it.

[Ivy]

it cant be the locations fault, because if happens with 3 characters and in 5 different towns. Trying to delete the life_cache folder.

[Ivy]

are you sure there is something called life_cache folder ? unable to find ..

[Zexoin]

are you sure there is something called life_cache folder ? unable to find ..

For you it should be Chaos_cache. But have you tried to recall from the web page ?

[gopher65]

For you it should be Chaos_cache. But have you tried to recall from the web page ?

If it is happening on multiple characters recalling won't help.

And yeah, sorry, it is <shardname>horizons. I was just on Life server at the time. In this case it will be this path: /horizons/world_cache/chaoshorizons. Delete the folder called chaoshorizons. That sometimes helps with this type of problem, depending on the cause. This is just your world cache for chaos shard, so deleting it isn't a big deal. You'll just have longer load times the first time you log in or port.

[Ivy]

gona try this next... however, its very unlikely its gona help.

Today we figured out that the resolution seems to cause the problem. If the windows resolution is lowered to a resolution the game understands, then the game can be played windowed without crashing. Sadly, using a non-native resolution on his screen looks absolutely crappy. The game is not really playable like that.

[gopher65]

Dunno, but Steelclaw says he's run it at 3200x2400 in windowed and it's worked. Or at least it didn't crash.