Tabbitha

*Be warned this is a LONG thread and there are some LONG posts *



A thread I didnt initially post here but having kept an eye on it,I think its worth a heads up for folk still experiencing problems in logging into KR.I know I had all the problems mentioned initially,but updating my graphics card sorted the problem for me .However there are still those who arent able to even get a flash screen up.

So I hope those of you who are still having trouble find some help/ solace from this thread.

Is your system posted here ?

Although the initial query was solved,there were still other things that need sorting so, some of you may well find the answer you need,from the first posts.

If so read on ,it may well be there is a fix already posted by some one.


Also if you need to locate EAsy Info that's
Start >
all programs >
EA Games >
Ultima Online Kingdom Reborn >
EAsy Info

Failing that.
Start >
control panel >
System.
On the 'general' tab, near the bottom 'computer'

If you have any questions and cant log into Stratics for any reason,either post here or send me a PM and I will happily post over for you.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

source posted in UO U.HAll by Petra Fyde



Can just those who have an identical problem please post their EAsy Info system overview so that we can compare? Not the whole file, just the top bit.

I've submitted another bug report, I've attached the full file to that.

What happens: I double click the desk top icon, the patch screen loads, all patches have downloaded and applied. I click 'ok'. The patchscreen disappears and I get the small bar 'ultima online is loading' Shortly afterward I get a windows error message. I clear that, the loading bar then disappears.
What the windows event log says:
Faulting application uokr.exe, version 2.45.3.3, faulting module uokr.exe, version 2.45.3.3, fault address 0x005b9302. (Start > control panel > administrative tools > event viewer > application > error.)

What EAsy info says Code:


System Overview / Comparison

Your System Results Game Requirements



Operating System Microsoft Windows XP Professional Service Pack 2 (Build 2600) Pass Windows XP



System Memory 640.5 Pass 512.0



Processor Speed 1477.4 Pass 1000 MHz



DirectX Version 9.0c Pass 9.0c



Display Device NVIDIA GeForce4 MX 420 Unknown Compatibility



Display Memory 64.0 Pass 64.0



Display Driver 6.14.10.9371 Unknown Compatibility



Sound Device C-Media Wave Device Pass



Sound Driver 5.12.01.0643 Unknown Compatibility



Looking in kingdom reborn folder, the one file that was changed at that patch and hasn't been changed since is: d3dx9_30.dll
Is this possibly the culprit?


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

1. Uninstall

2. Reinstall.

3. Re-patch.

See if that fixes it.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Have.
Didn't.
I know there are others with the same problem, I would like to compare pc specs with those.

Since the 30th May patch which cut off my access to KR I have:
updated graphics driver
checked that there are no further direct x 9 updates
checked that sound driver is directx 9.0c compatible
uninstalled, completely re-downloaded the client, reinstalled and patched.
looked up what the heck T&L is and whether my graphics card has it - it has.
run dxdiag twice. Once before video driver upgrade, once after, all tests passed both times.
compared my pc specs with my husband's. His will load, but crashes on exit and needs the pc to be rebooted. - windows lags!

Terry's system:
Code:

System Overview / Comparison

Your System Results Game Requirements



Operating System Microsoft Windows XP Professional Service Pack 2 (Build 2600) Pass Windows XP/98



System Memory 512.5 Pass 128.0



Processor Speed 1473.0 Pass 500 MHz



DirectX Version 9.0c Pass 9.0



Display Device NVIDIA GeForce4 MX 440 Unknown Compatibility



Display Memory 64.0 Pass 32.0



Display Driver 6.14.10.9371 Unknown Compatibility



Sound Device Realtek AC97 Audio Pass



Sound Driver 5.10.00.6160 Unknown Compatibility



You tell me what else I can do? My pc meets specs, the uokr.exe will not initialise.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I suspect your GForce(s 420/440) are the culprits, for this Beta patch. But this is a non-EA-emp's guess. It just seems like there are (& probably will be until release, or whatnot) issues with the multitude of graphics that they are trying to endulge us with/in, within the KR.

Hopefully things will clear up soon.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I don't think it's the graphics cards. His will load, mine won't and they're both using the same driver.

What's most frustrating is knowing it did work, till that patch. I was in game and testing. It didn't run very well, but it did load!


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yeah, I'd hoped that the latest patch would fix things and it didnt. Im running

AMD Athlon 1.33
768 MB RAM
NVidia FX 5600
Windowns XP Pro (SP2)
Soundblaster Live Soundcard.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Im having the same problem at Petra. Click ok and it crashes.

My system:
AMD Athlon 1 ghz
1 gb ram
geforce 2 gts vid card w/32 megs using the latest driver for the card (below spec but per nvidia website, T&L was added to all nvidia cards starting with the geforce 2/geforce 256).
realtek ac'97 audio (have the latest drivers)
win xp sp2 with the latest updates
direct x 9c

I've tried uninstalling, reinstalling, repatching etc (can cancel patching before the problem patch and KR will run but with some graphics issues)

Tried a newer video card (geforce 7600 gs) which didnt fix the problem.

Even went as far to re-format the drive and re-do everything from scratch with no luck.

The event log gives the same application fault error as Petra stated above.

All details have been emailed to the bug report address.

Anyone else have any success at getting around this crash bug?

PS: I could run and play KR prior to the problem patch. Ran KR in the 1024x768 32 bit color mode. I had lag in heavy use areas and would crash at times but could still play (did not try the 800x600 16-bit color mode that was mentioned for vid cards less that 64 megs)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

People:

scroll down the EAsy info sheet a bit further to 'processor'

mine is AMD AMD Athlon(TM)Processor 1477.4 Mhz

Terry's is AMD AMD Athlon(tm) XP 1700+ 1473.0 Mhz

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


After the latest patch downloaded this morning (2.45.3.3 I guess it was) I just get a black splash screen and then it does nothing at all. Other than being a bit slow it had worked before.

My system specs from EAsy Info are…

Operating System Microsoft Windows XP Professional Service Pack 2 (Build 2600) Pass Windows XP

System Memory 1983.5 Pass 512.0

Processor Speed 2204.5 Pass 1000 MHz

DirectX Version 9.0c Pass 9.0c

Display Device NVIDIA GeForce 6150 LE Unknown Compatibility

Display Memory 256.0 Pass 64.0

Display Driver 6.14.10.8205 Unknown Compatibility

Sound Device Realtek HD Audio rear output Pass

Sound Driver 5.10.00.5213 Unknown Compatibility

Operating System Information
Microsoft Windows XP Professional Service Pack 2 (Build 2600)

Internet Explorer Information
Version 6.00.2900.2180

System Device Information
Processor
AMD AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 4200+ 2204.5 Mhz

Memory
System Total 1983.5
Virtual Total 2047.9
Pagefile Total 3874.1

Snapshot
System Available 1298.0
Virtual Available 2001.7
Pagefile Available 3270.9

Monitor Information
Monitor Name Plug and Play Monitor
Refresh Rate 60 Hz

Media Device Information
Mass Storage Devices
Type Fixed
File System NTFS
Total Space 224.4 GB
Free Space 185.2 GB

DirectX Information
Version 9.0c
Long Version 4.09.0000.0904

Display Device (Primary Only)
NVIDIA GeForce 6150 LE
Device
Description NVIDIA GeForce 6150 LE
Manufacturer NVIDIA Corporation
GUID D7B71E3E-4101-11CF-8C73-3A0A0DC2CD35

Driver
Version 6.14.10.8205
Module nv4_disp.dll
Date 1-24-2006

Memory
Local 256.0
Local 250.0
Non-Local 56.0
Texture 306.0

Sound Device (Primary Only)
Realtek HD Audio rear output
Device
Description Realtek HD Audio rear output
Manufacturer Realtek Semiconductor Corp.
GUID BD6DD71A-3DEB-11D1-B171-00C04FC20001

Driver
Version 5.10.00.5213
Module RtkHDAud.sys
Date 1-23-2006

Capabilities
Max 3D Buffers 33
Supports Mono Output True
Supports Stereo Output True

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Oki. I *think* I have a common denominator.

The problem is not our graphics cards. They're all different and all listed as being used successfully by others.

However. We all have plain 'AMD Athlon' processors. Terry's is an 'AMD Athlon XP'. To use an analogy, same make and engine speed, but a newer model.

Something in the May 30th patch is asking our older AMD processors to do something they can't. Terry's, being a bit newer, is able to. Or at least that's my uneducated theory.

This will only be true for pcs crashing at exactly the same point and throwing up the exact same windows event log error. ie, not the same one for Dr Dolittle, sorry Doc.

Berrya, I can't find that you've told us any more than your processor speed anywhere. But if I'm right you have an AMD Athlon 800mhz. Please confirm?


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Did you try updating your drivers? The 80.25 drivers are extremely old. Go here :Nvidia Driver Download

This could quite possible be the issue.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

80.25 driver? where did you find that in my info?

I'm running the 93.71 driver. The one you linked to doesn't actually work with GeForce 4 MX 420.
If you read my earlier post in the thread you'll see what measures I've taken myself to try to solve the problem.

Never mind, I see it. DrDolittle is running the 82.05 driver on his card. Perhaps he could benefit from updating.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Petra, I'm feeling that.....

Min e still isnt working either
And take a gander at this!

************************************************** ************

Processor
AMD AMD Athlon(tm) Processor 1333.6 Mhz

System Overview / Comparison
Your System Results Game Requirements

Operating System Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition Service Pack 2 (Build 2600) Pass Windows XP

System Memory 640.5 Pass 512.0

Processor Speed 1333.5 Pass 1000 MHz

DirectX Version 9.0c Pass 9.0c

Display Device RADEON 9200 (Omega 2.6.71) Unknown Compatibility

Display Memory 128.0 Pass 64.0

Display Driver 6.14.10.6571 Unknown Compatibility

Sound Device SB Live! Wave Device Pass

Sound Driver 5.12.01.3300 Unknown Compatibility

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thank you all. I think we can now say 'problem identified'

Something in the 30th May patch is beyond the capabilities of our older Athlon processors. So although we meet the cpu speed requirements, we can not run the program.

It now remains to be seen whether an adjustment to that patch can be made to accomodate our processors or if we're out in the cold. I've sent in a supplementary bug report with this information. Maybe if she's not too busy with other things Jeremy can find a minute to follow it up for us next week.

....

All the emphasis over the last couple of weeks has been 'is my graphics card ok?' We should have been looking at our processors.

I think I've established that those of us who were shut out by the May 30th patch all have older AMD Athlon processors. I'm not sure what the Athlon XP and later processors can do that the straightforward Athlon can't, but that's the common denominator on that one.

Fluffy, You and DrDolittle didn't have a problem till this last patch. How does your error, and processor, compare with what DrDolittle has posted further up the thread?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The AMD Athlon 64 is a much newer and more powerful processor. Im sure if we had Athlon 64s or XPs with the motherboard/chipset to support it we could launch KR and login just fine.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


My son has an Athlon 1800 XP and has never had any problem logging in, so is it maybe a problem with ones that are under 1700? Petra did you say your husband had an Athlon 1700 and could still log in, but yours was an Athlon 1400 and you couldn't log in? My husband and I have Athlon 3000 64's, same as Crysta and we have not had a problem.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

No, Jaytin. It's the model.

The ones that don't work are all straightforward 'AMD Athlon' The 'AMD Athlon XP' is a newer processor with different architecture (don't ask me what that means I only read it when I googled)

Terry's processor is actually 1473mhz to my 1477mhz if you look back at the two EAsy Info reports I posted earlier in the thread. The 'AMD Athlon 64' is newer still, and seems to work, I think those that have problems with this processor have to look elsewhere for their conflict.

Myself, The Craftsman, Berrya, BreannaVallard, Garm the Green all get an error message at exactly the same point giving exactly the same error in the Windows event log. There are 3 others, but I haven't yet heard back from them what they're processor type is. However since all 5 of those we've compared have the earlier Athlon model, and none have a different processor. I think it's fairly safe to say that's the answer. Waiting to hear from Luretia, Dhran and TorAnn, I sent pms.

[edit] Further research reveals the Athlon XP was developed to work with Windows XP. Possibly the fix that is hopefully going to make KR playable on Win98 might also enable our processors to run it, even though we are actually all using Win XP. Maybe?

I'm *trying* to help, honestly I am.[/edit]


Jeremy

If you read this. We've found it, will you pass this on for us, and please ask. Is it fixable or do we have to raid our piggybanks for new pc's?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Passed on, we're lookin at it.

E. Jeremy Dalberg
UO Community Coordinator
EA Mythic

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Well done Petra!! I am so glad all the peeps who can't log in have got you on the case, let's just hope the Devs can work out what the actual problem is and get a patch out for it. Fingers crossed (and toes!) that next patch day you will all get back into Beta.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


im havin the same issue as always before and after the patch..on the user name/pass page the pointer goes kinda slow and choppy..on the log in i see my char and home start to load up and bang...comp fart!
my easy info is

Your System Results Game Requirements

Operating System Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition Service Pack 2 (Build 2600) Pass Windows XP/98

System Memory 447.4 Pass 128.0

Processor Speed 3058.8 Pass 500 MHz

DirectX Version 9.0c Pass 9.0

Display Device VIA/S3G UniChrome IGP Unknown Compatibility

Display Memory 64.0 Pass 32.0

Display Driver 6.14.10.0212-16.94.42.16 Unknown Compatibility

Sound Device Realtek AC97 Audio Pass

Sound Driver 5.10.00.6240 Unknown Compatibility



Operating System Information
Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition Service Pack 2 (Build 2600)

Internet Explorer Information
Version 7.00.5730.0011


System Device Information
Processor
Intel Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.06GHz 3058.8 Mhz

Memory

any ideas?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yes

I did the same search for you I did for L.S. Kennedy. Try it yourself

VIA/S3G UniChrome IGP +tnl

result: Your integrated graphics card does not support TnL.

Very few integrated cards do. They're office machines with basic graphics capabilities, never meant for gaming.

There's a software solution in the works I believe which may help, and a thread with a link to a program you can download which may help

Here it is good luck.

And Jeremy: Thank you! *big hug*

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


First, you don't have enough system RAM. From my own check, KR has 360k commited to it, and is assigned 400k+. I run Vista, so I realy don't know how much is actually used by XP upon start up, but I would make a bet that once it's loaded, and whatever else you may have running in the background is loaded, that by the time KR starts and then tries to load up everything when you enter the game itself, that you are simply out of memory at that point. You also have an IGP (integrated graphics processor), but considering that you can actually start up and load would suggest it's not a TnL issue (although I wouldn't rule rule that out till you checked the specs for it).

I would at least double up on system ram, and then give it a try.

Hope this helps!

P.S. Also, you actually have 512 system ram, but your IGP uses up 64 of that.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Hmm, so, we are having some trouble reproducing this on a machine internally. Is there anyone reading this who has a non-XP or 64 Athlon who can get KR to load just fine? We seem to be missing a factor, here.

E. Jeremy Dalberg
UO Community Coordinator
EA Mythic

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Operating System (Get Updates) Microsoft Windows Server 2003 family, Professional Service Pack 2 (Build 3790) red cross there
System Memory 2046.9
Processor Speed 3000.4
DirectX Version (Get Updates) 9.0c
NVIDIA GeForce 7600 GS

KR works fine. At least I can login and do something. OS is XP-64 bit, CPU is Pentium-D 930.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If a real-time conversation would help you can find me in Stratics irc. Either join #ultima-online or just send /msg Petra for a private conversation

( http://chat.stratics.com/content/com...ickconnect.php )


Was the effort I put into trying to work out what was wrong all a waste of time? This is one despondent player saying goodnight. Maybe it will all look better in the morning.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

AMD Athlon 1GHz
1GB of DDR RAM
ATI Radeon 9600 XT Video Card
Windows XP Pro (Service Pack 2)


That's what we've been testing on. I don't have chipset/BIOS info, but can get it - anyone running those particular specs, or close to them, and not able to get in?

E. Jeremy Dalberg
UO Community Coordinator
EA Mythic

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Then I'm lost. I don't know what else to look at.

I'm planning to try to update my mb drivers, but I don't feel competent enough to do that alone so I have to wait till my son visits. I got in enough of a panic when I tried to update my video card driver and the one I thought was the right one threw up 'no compatible hardware found'.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

ATI Radeon 9600 XT Video Card
Supports DirectX® 9.0 and the latest version of OpenGL®
SMOOTHVISION™ 2.1


Could this be the problem because UOKR is DirectX® 9.0c

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Terry's pc has GeForce 4 MX 440 running on driver ForceWare Release 90
Version: 93.71

He can load the game, I can't.
He can't actually play it. That might be because he only has 512MB ram. I'm trying to improve that. But he can log in a character and walk around the house.

I could play it. I was wandering all around Sosaria on test - crashing every few minutes I'll admit. That all stopped with the issue of the patch 2.45.1.2. My question is: What change was made to the uokr.exe at that patch that shut me out?

I've compared our two machines as much as I can. He has different onboard sound. So I checked that mine was 9.0c compatible. I'm told it is.

Our processors are the same speed, but his is an Athlon XP, mine is just AMD Athlon. Since 4 other people with the same processor type, but different other components, have the same problem I thought that was the source of it. Apparently not. My data so far. Any further input is appreciated if anyone has the exact same error as listed in my first post. Any other error, no matter how similar, is irrelevant to our particular problem. I include Terry's info for comparrison.

Also, as Jeremy said, anyone who has an AMD Athlon but can log in please post.

Code:

name processor speed graphic sound ram

Petra AMD Athlon 1477 GeForce 4 MX420 CB Media 640

craftsman AMD Athlon 1330 FX 5600 Soundblaster Live 768

Breanna AMD Athlon 1000 GeForce 2 Realtek AC 97 1000

Garm AMD Athlon 1333 Radeon 9200 SB Live! 640

Berrya AMD Athlon 800 2048



Terry AMD Athlon XP 1473 GeForce 4 MX 440 Realtek AC 97 512


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

i have a AMD 64x2 with onboard NVida graphics card, and was having the same problem. Once I added a pci-e Graphic's card all the problems went away preformance is great.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Petra I am almost positive it is your video card. I used to own one. it was decent but to run KR you need something more powerful.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Well my vid is a GF 6200 and I have the same exact error. And I just cant comprehend why WoW, eq2 and any other high graphic intense games play like a dream .We all could log into KR before that patch. I don’t think it is anything we need to update, hardware wise anyway. And there is no way I would buy a better vid card than what I have to play an inferior game on anyway.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thanks for the suggestions, but you're totally missing the point that my husband, with a GeForce 4 MX 440 can access the program while I, with a Geforce 4 MX420 running on exactly the same driver, can not.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My point is that something they enabled/turned on/added in the d3dx9_30.dll file, this last update, is screwing with some video cards. It wouldn't matter if the video cards had the same driver or not, if the video card itself can't handle it, it just won't work.

If you notice, Nvidia puts out single Forceware driver for each generation of chips they make. They use the same driver version and everything, just somethings get installed for certain models and not for others. So having the same driver version doesn't always mean something.

My guess would either be the lighting, the weather effects, or the "cloud" effect is the culprit. More than likely it's one of the latter two.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

OK I'll post here so hopefully Jeremy sees.

As a CLOSED BETA player I (and many others) were able to log in and play OK until the patch that went out a week and a half before OPEN BETA started.

THAT is when our computers would crash upon entering the game world. Before that patch everything was OK.

WHAT CHANGED in that patch that it was ok to play before and then NOT ok to play now? Maybe that is what they need to test.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

heres my EAsy info:
OS- vista home premium FAIL
CPU-AMD Athlon 64x2 dual core 4600 2410.3 mhz pass
SYS MEM-3582.0 pass
pros spd-2410.3 pass
directx- 10 pass
display-diamond x1950prope 512 unknown compat
display mem-2048.0 pass
display drv- 7.14.10.0487 unknown compat

KR beta works great on this setup even with the fails and unknowns.
i was only in the closed beta for about 1 week before they opened it up but everything has been steadly improving

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Petra, that's an awesome test case - are those cards onboard, or could you swap them between machines? If you can swap them, it would definitively narrow down the issue.


E. Jeremy Dalberg
UO Community Coordinator
EA Mythic

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

oh heck

Yes the cards can be swapped to test, but I can't do it. I rely on my son to do the technical stuff for me and he won't be visiting until Saturday. Terry won't even allow me to take the side off the machine!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hey, Petra, try this - take that d3dx9_30.dll file and move it somewhere else - like, your desktop or whatever, then try to launch KR and tell me if anything changes.

(And anyone else having this *specific* problem)


E. Jeremy Dalberg
UO Community Coordinator
EA Mythic

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


No change. It didn't even come up with a missing file message. I go from

http://img510.imageshack.us/img510/9538/patchzp7.jpg

To

http://img513.imageshack.us/img513/5307/gonezh5.jpg


with the 'ultima online is loading' little box so briefly in between that I can't capture it.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

OK, well, was worth a shot. *puts head together with programmers*

E. Jeremy Dalberg
UO Community Coordinator
EA Mythic

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

heh, shifting the same file out of my system32 folder as well does however get me a 'file not found error'. Both versions now put back where I found them.

file size does match.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yeah, that's what should happen - basically KR was looking at the version in its folder first, but if it weren't there, it'd find the other one in system32. The off chance that the KR version of the file was breaking something was what we were testing for.

Another wacky theory, since I'm in that mood - have any of y'all done a fresh install since this patch? (Apologies if you've said that already - I'm just trying to figure out why we couldn't reproduce the problem)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

yup
original install was from the last batch of closed beta, downloaded from the email link. I played that till the patch I listed, the open beta one. When it first locked me out I tried noting which files had changed and copying them from Terry's in case they'd been corrupted somehow, didn't help.

Last week I uninstalled and completely re-downloaded from fileplanet, reinstalled. Ended up exactly where I'd started.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Interesting. The build we couldn't reproduce the problem on was an internal build - so it's possible that we've fixed the issue already. Here's hopin!

E. Jeremy Dalberg
UO Community Coordinator
EA Mythic
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I was told by a relyable sorce that directx has nothing to do with your video card directx runs on your computer it only states that it is compat so you know that you won't have a conflict....

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Actually it does. Some older cards are only direct X-8,while the nvidia 8800 series are direct X-10.

You see some of the older cards can't do all the 3D effects well. There is a reason that the cards vary a lot in price and it is not only speed.

I used many and they vary greatly what they can do. I think the cpu's and ram are not the culprit. It must of been some of the changes to the video.

I had a very similar problem with direct X before also. It was a d3dx9_27.dll file. It would go missing. There is a chance something like that is happening here.

I had to actually download it from the web. Then the game worked.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Direct X is a middleman.

You have video card, sound card, cpu, memmory, mouse, keyboard, controller, etc etc.

When you run a game Direct X orchestrates all these components into the final product you play.

Direct X will not make your video card function in a way it wasnt designed to.
A video card may be compatible with DX9 but not have use of all the advanced features a DX9 designed video card will have.

A ATI 9600 series video card is DX9 compatible and was designed for DX9.
ATI 8500, 9200, 9250, 9500, 9600, 9700, 9800, X200-X1950 are all DX9 fully functional cards.
ATI 9000, 7500, 7200, 7000, VE, Rage Are supported in DX9 but are not made to handle all of the abilities available in DX9.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Actualy there is a good reason for the two diff model names.

The geforce mx420 is 250mhz core clock, 2x2 pixel pipelines, peak fill rate of 500 mpixels/s, 1000 peak fill rate mtexels/s, 64mb of 166mhz 128bit sdram, 2.7 GB/s peak memory bandwidth.

The mx440 is 270mhz core clock, 2x2 pixel pipelines, peak fill rate 540 mpixels/s, 1080 peak fill rate mtexels/s, 64mb of 400mhz 128bit ddr, 6.4 GB/s peak memory bandwidth.

Both cards though are from the DX7 generation. It appears without having my hands on them that the 440 was a overclocked gpu updated to use ddr ram. Or it is a diferent core gpu altogether. If its a different core it may have something in it that is slightly more advanced than the 420 model.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I'm totally unconvinced that my GeForce 4 is the problem, especially as Ommadawn posted in another thread that he has 'graphics glitches' with a GeForce 2 ie he can log in. Also the others having the same problem have different cards, Craftsman has a FX 5600, Garm the Green has a Radeon 9200.
Both those I think are better than mine?

However if it's still the same when my son visits at the weekend I'll ask him to try the test Jeremy suggested, swapping cards with my husband. (I did ask him about risking trying to swap them myself, he said 'no way' very emphatically )

By Saturday I think we'll have had the next patch, and since it doesn't seem to be a problem with the build Jeremy has been working with I am risking getting my hopes up a bit yet again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

__________________

Tabbitha

Re: Shut out by patch 2.45.1.2 - Problem Identified, Jeremy please look.


Hello all, I've been following this thread with gathering interest and, although not a tech wiz except by the shoddiest of standards, I think I have a relevant observation to share. It strikes me that the one exception on the dev team's system is that they are using an ATI Radeon 9600XT vid card - I didn't see that in anyone else's specs.

The reason I feel compelled to mention this is that I got this card myself about a year ago, for my Athlon XP (2500+ w Barton Core) system, and it fixed all the crash issues I'd had with both my previous cards (ATI 9200SE, GF5600 - both 128mg). Granted my 9600 has 256ram but my crashes used to cause my system to boot to BIOS & I'd have to reduce CPU speed to minimise crashes (and performance) - which leads me to believe that some incompatibility was in the offing, such as compatibility with DX9.0c. For your info, the games that crashed for me were Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast ; and Doom3. Both of them liked to crash when shading (or shadows) was turned on - if I turned it off & reduced CPU speed, crashes decreased a lot or vanished altogether.

The info I've given may seem a little extraneous, but I think it might be proof that [AMD Athlon (pre XP) CPU] + [most video cards] = [KR does not initialize] ; rather than being strictly related to CPU. This may be a little out in left field, but it may be worth a try. Jeremy can you tell us if the dev team used any other vid card?

KR works fine on my system, by the way (... my chip being one of the first Athlon XP's ...looks like I'm right at the cut-off...).

I hope my little 'observation' helps...

Merdus

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

eremy,
Dont know if it will help or if its even related but here is what sounds like an identical issue and its fix under another game developement package:

http://forums.microsoft.com/MSDN/Sho...82800&SiteID=1


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thank you, as I said in previous posts, I only understand a fraction of what I've read and reported back on in trying to get my head around this. I didn't understand the significance of what you were saying until you explained it this way, I guess several of the rest of us are the same.

I sincerely hope that you have managed to find a way through the impass we seem to have reached.

Please, if you haven't already done so, pm Jeremy with your suggestion. I don't feel it's fair, given all else she is doing right now, to expect her to keep up with our postings in this thread.

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[Re: Merdus]


It might just be the insight we needed, too - we're trying to set up that exact system type now. If we can just reproduce the crash, it will be a thousand times easier to fix.



E. Jeremy Dalberg
UO Community Coordinator
EA Mythic

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Tabbitha

*UPDATE TODAY* posted by Jeremy.


So, update for y'all. Turns out there is a switch in the engine that makes it use SSE whenever it thinks it will make the game run faster - that switch was turned on. Something we added in the offending patch must have caused the compiler to decide to use SSE for that new bit of code. We can turn the switch off, no problem - but we don't know what effect it will have overall, and would have to do pretty extensive testing. (It might make the game run slower for everyone else, for example.) So, there's a simple solution, it's just not an easy or a fast solution - and it may not actually be a viable one.

E. Jeremy Dalberg
UO Community Coordinator
EA Mythic

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