Re: Lockup issues! Post here please

number6 · July 28, 2001

xray,

I am not sure what video card you have, but here is the website I think you are looking for:

http://www.asus.com/Products/Addon/Vga/asuse/driver.html

number6 · July 28, 2001

LivingForADay,

If you have not tried the +w thing, then I suggest you give it a try.

jeromeku,

That Matrox video card is an outstanding 2D card, but it's a below average 3D card. Even though it has ample memory onboard, it's not up to a standard Geforce or Radeon card. It's very hard to determine if that is truly the problem, but when you mention changing the AGP aperture sizes made the game stop freezing at one of the settings, that makes me think it could be the vid card.

July 28, 2001

number6,

I agree the G400 is not the best 3d card on the market, but it plays all my games sufficiently for me. yes I would love to play EB4D at a full 1600x1200 with the GF3's wonderful antialiasing. Alas I'm not going to plunk down $300+ USD for a card that is just still proving itself. Like I said before... the G400 is within spec for the game. Ergo it should _work_ so it's not an excuse to allievate any company of bad coding :).

July 28, 2001

Nyar, how will i find this older driver?

Nvidia has in their site only the newest driver (12.41)

number6 · July 28, 2001

jeromeku,

I agree your card is within spec. I am not suggesting a Geforce 3, but a Geforce GTS can be picked up for less then $150 and would be much better than a Matrox (for 3D anyway). I understand your reasoning, but I really don't think it's the game code that's at fault. Every 6 months video cards are coming out, it is very hard to have a game that works on every model perfectly. The Matrox family of cards are not as common as the ATI and NVidia series of cards. I was only trying to point out that the game works on your system when you change the AGP aperture size in your BIOS, which to me points at the video card.

July 28, 2001

Can I just mention that if you are using ME I would reccomend creating a system restore point before playing with drivers. I just tried to install a new audio driver and for some reason it locked up during installation. If it wasnt for system restore my sound would no longer work!

Nyarlathotep · July 28, 2001

-x-ray, as mentioned, try to find out who manufacutered your card. Once you know, search theur site ! I know Visiontek has older drivers on their site. As far as I can tell, Nvidia doens't have an archive on their site.

And -X-ray, Alley solved it by getting driver 1.04 for his videocard and put +w behind the shortcut :)

Nyar...

Nyarlathotep · July 28, 2001

mongonel, no we don't for 2 reasons:

1) game doesn't work

2) indeed spending to much time here trying to get probs fixed. :D

Nyar...

July 28, 2001

Hello guys,

I'm back again. I've tried and I've tried, but I still get the crash on my Geforce 3. The one and only thing I haven't tried yet is using older drivers, and I doubt that will work. Here is a list of things I've tried.

Adjusted accelerator settings.

Color depth

Resolution

changed acceleration rates

changed IRQ

Edited Windows registry.

Direct X 8 and 8.a

Newest Drivers.

Agp aperture in bios

refresh rates for monitor

command extensions in EB4D executable

Graphic settings in game

Reinstalled game.

Checked power supply

Tested Direct x in diag

In one of the postes I read here someone said WW claims that EB4d doesn't support Geforce 3 cards. I think I'm going to wait for a patch, maybe that will work. Untill then I'll keep myself occupied by playing the campaign. I hope I don't get any crashes further into that.

Thanks for you suggestions guys,

Killwithsound.

July 28, 2001

It started working because I used the voodoo driver number6 used.

July 28, 2001

But I'm still going to let Westwood review my problem cause I would much prefer to play the game with the 1.07 driver.

July 28, 2001

Nyar, few questions.

1) how do i find my card manufacture? :)

2) i went to visiontek's site, they have there detonator 1,2,3. i got detonator3 with the newest drivers. so, maybe i'll try to install #1/#2 which have an older driver versions.

3) what do u mean added +w to his shortcut? where do i add +w and how?

Nyarlathotep · July 28, 2001

-X-ray, the store where you bought your comp should be able to tell you what card you have. NOTE!: do not download any visiontek drivers, unless it's the manufacuterer of your card !

And with shortcut, I meant the icon on your desktop where you double click to start the game :D

Nyar...

July 28, 2001

1) Don't start the game through the CD auto play

2) go to the shortcut of the game, right click on it and select properties. Go to "shortcut", and edit the "destination" field so it would look like this:

C:Emperor_directoryEMPEROR.EXE +w

Now, try to open the game ONLY from this shortcut.

[This message has been edited by alley_cat (edited 07-28-2001).]

Nyarlathotep · July 28, 2001

To make things easy, here's a list of comp, and card manufacturers which make use of GeForce:

PC Manufacturers:

Compaq:

http://www.compaq.com/support/index.shtml

Dell:

http://support.dell.com/us/en/index.asp

Fujitsu-Siemens:

http://www.fujitsu-siemens.com/rl/servicesupport/index.html

Gateway:

http://www.gateway.com/support/index.shtml

HP (Hewlett-Packard):

http://welcome.hp.com/country/us/eng/support.htm

Micron:

http://www.micronpc.com/support/index.html

NEC:

http://www.necus.com/support/

Packard Bell:

http://www.packardbell.com/

Add-In Card Manufacturers:

3D Power:

http://www.3dpower.com

AOpen:

http://www.aopen.com/tech/

ASUS:

http://www.asus.com.tw/company/support.html

CardExpert/Gainward:

http://www.gainward.com/

Creative:

http://www.creative.com/support/

ELSA:

http://www.elsa.com/international/us/service.htm

eVGA:

http://www.evga.com/support/

Gigabyte:

http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/support/support.htm

Jaton:

http://www.jaton.com/support/index.htm

Leadtek:

http://www.leadtek.com/support.htm

MSI:

http://www.msicomputer.com/support/support.htm

Pine Technology:

http://www.pineusa.com

Prolink:

http://www.prolink-usa.com/english/faq.html

VisionTek:

http://www.visiontek.com/support/index.htm

Nyar...

[This message has been edited by Nyarlathotep (edited 07-28-2001).]

July 28, 2001

oh, then the store is plonter from israel.

i'll give them a call tomorrow.

and meanwhile i'll try the +w trick.

Nyarlathotep · July 28, 2001

Ok, hope it works.

Nyar...

July 28, 2001

I may have missed it in another post, but is there a list somewhere of all the command line parameters that can be run with E:BFD (i.e. +x, +c)? Nyar, I will have an update on my situation with my machine locking up soon.

July 28, 2001

Here is my Easy_EA report:

----EASy System Summary--------------------------------------

Video Card : Rage Fury Pro/Xpert 2000 Pro

Video Driver : ATI2DRAA.DRV

Driver Version : 4.13.01.7140

Sound Card : CMI8338/C3DX PCI Audio Device

Sound Driver : cm8338.vxd

Driver Version : 4.06.00.1056

DirectX : DirectX 8

Operating System Windows 98 4.10.1998

----EASy System Output---------------------------------------

Computer Name : Y6C5C8

BIOS Info

Name : Award

Version : Award Modular BIOS v4.51PG

PNP : Plug and Play BIOS

Manufacturer : (Standard system devices)

CPU Info

CPU Count : 1

CPU Type : 535 MHz GenuineIntel Celeron

6 6 5

RAM : 255 MB Total

180 MB Free

Virtual RAM : 1792 MB Total

1766 MB Free

Operating System : Windows 98 4.10.1998

Default Browser : Internet Explorer

Version : 5.50.4522.1800

Temp Directory : C:WINDOWSTEMP

Size : 68 MB

------------------------------------------------------------

----Display Info--------------------------------------------

Number of Displays : 1

Current Mode (Primary) : 800x600 32

Refresh Rate (Primary) : Optimal refresh rate

Primary display device

Description : Rage Fury Pro/Xpert 2000 Pro

Manufacturer : ATI Tech. - Enhanced

Video Memory : 32 MB

Main Driver : ATI2DRAA.DRV

Version : 4.13.01.7140

Provider : ATI Tech. - Enhanced

Supported Display Modes

---------------------------------------------------

640 x 480| * | * | * | | *

800 x 600| | * | * | | *

1024x 768| | * | * | | *

1152x 864| | * | * | | *

1280x1024| | * | * | | *

1600x1200| | * | * | | *

------------------------------------------------------------

----Sound, Video and Game Controllers-----------------------

Description : ATI Multimedia Video Driver

Manufacturer : ATI Technologies Inc.

Main Driver : atippcap.vxd

Version : 4.10.01.8114

Provider :

Description : CMI8338/C3DX PCI Audio Device

Manufacturer : C-MEDIA

Main Driver : cm8338.vxd

Version : 4.06.00.1056

Provider :

Description : ATI WDM Rage Theater Video

Manufacturer : ATI

Main Driver :

Version :

Provider :

Description : Specialized MVD WDM VBI Codec

Manufacturer : ATI

Main Driver :

Version :

Provider :

Description : Wave Device for Voice Modem

Manufacturer : Zoltrix, Inc

Main Driver : serwave.vxd

Version : 4.10.00.1998

Provider :

Description : CMI8338/C3DX PCI Audio Legacy Device

Manufacturer : C-MEDIA

Main Driver : cm8338.vxd

Version : 4.06.00.1056

Provider :

Description : CMI8338/C3DX PCI Audio Joystick Device

Manufacturer : C-MEDIA

Main Driver : vjoyd.vxd

Version : 4.08.00.0400

Provider :

Description : DOS Mode MPU-401 Emulator

Manufacturer : C-MEDIA

Main Driver : cmswmpu.vxd

Version : 4.05.00.1019

Provider :

Description : Microsoft SideWinder game pad

Driver : MSGAME.VXD

Version : 2.01.00.0163

Attached : Yes

Description : Microsoft SideWinder game pad

Driver : MSGAME.VXD

Version : 2.01.00.0163

Attached : Yes

------------------------------------------------------------

----Direct X------------------------------------------------

DirectX Info

Version : DirectX 8

DirectDraw Info

Version : 4.08.00.0400

Certified : Not certified

DirectSound Info

Version : 4.08.00.0400

Certified : Not certified

DirectPlay Info

Version : 4.03.00.1096

DirectInput Info

Version : 4.08.00.0400

------------------------------------------------------------

----Drive Information---------------------------------------

----CDRom Info----------------------------------------------

Cache size : 1238 KB

Access Pattern : Quad-speed or higher

Drive Letter A

Volume Name :

Type : Floppy

File System :

Total Space : 0.00 KB

Free Space : 0.00 KB

Drive Letter C

Volume Name :

Type : Fixed

File System : FAT32

Total Space : 6.02 GB

Free Space : 3.81 GB

Drive Letter D

Volume Name :

Type : Fixed

File System : FAT32

Total Space : 7.83 GB

Free Space : 3.49 GB

Drive Letter E

Volume Name : EMPEROR1

Type : CDRom

File System : CDFS

Total Space : 639.69 MB

Free Space : 0.00 KB

Sec/MB : Test not performed

Detected Speed : Test not performed

------------------------------------------------------------

----Monitor Information-------------------------------------

Primary monitor

Description : Plug and Play Monitor

Manufacturer : (Standard monitor types)

Max. Resolution : 1600,1280

------------------------------------------------------------

----Network Information-------------------------------------

Description : Dial-Up Adapter

Manufacturer : Microsoft

Driver : pppmac.vxd

Provider : Microsoft

Bound Protocols

TCP/IP

IP Address: Obtained from provider

IP Mask: Obtained from provider

Description : EZ Connect USB/Ethernet Converter

Manufacturer : SMC

Driver : SMCUSB.sys

Provider : SMC

Bound Protocols

TCP/IP

IP Address: Obtained from provider

IP Mask: Obtained from provider

------------------------------------------------------------

----Input Device Information--------------------------------

Mouse Information

Description : Standard Serial Mouse

Type : Serial

Keyboard Information

Description : IBM enhanced (101- or 102-key)

------------------------------------------------------------

----Modem Information---------------------------------------

Description : Zoltrix Int Sp Phone K56Flex (FMVSP56i)

Driver : Zoltrix Int Sp Phone K56Flex (FMVSP56i)

Provider :

------------------------------------------------------------

----Glide/OpenGL Information--------------------------------

Glide Info

Glide2 Version :

Glide3 Version :

OpenGL Info

Version : 4.0

------------------------------------------------------------

----Task List-----------------------------------------------

msgsrv32.exe

mprexe.exe

mmtask.tsk

Explorer

Systray

ddhelp.exe

emperor battle for dune_ez.exe

------------------------------------------------------------

----Autoexec.bat--------------------------------------------

C:WINDOWSSYSTEMsetaudio /S

------------------------------------------------------------

----Config.sys----------------------------------------------

*empty*

------------------------------------------------------------

X_CASE_START

X_CASE_DESCRIPTION: Freezes

X_CONTACT_FIRST_NAME:

X_CONTACT_LAST_NAME:

X_GAME: Emperor: Battle for Dune

X_SERIAL_KEY: ---

X_OPERATING_SYSTEM: Windows 98 , Version 4.10, Build 1998

X_PROCESSOR: Celeron

X_SPEED: 535 MHz

X_MMX: Yes

X_RAM: 255 MB

X_MANUFACTURER:

X_PRODUCT_ID:

X_VIDEO_CARD: Rage Fury Pro/Xpert 2000 Pro

X_DISPLAY_DRIVER: 4.13.01.7140

X_DISPLAY_DIRECTX: Not Certified, Hardware Support

X_DISPLAY_MEMORY: 7 MB

X_AUDIO_CERTIFIED: Not Certified

X_AUDIO_DRIVERS: cm8338.vxd 4.06.00.1056

X_MODEM: Zoltrix Int Sp Phone K56Flex (FMVSP56i)

X_V_MANUFACTURER: ATI Tech. - Enhanced

X_A_MANUFACTURER: C-MEDIA

X_CASE_END

Just out of curiosity, what does the +w actually do? I added that to my target on a shortcut and what a surprise! For the first time ever, I was able to run this game on the newest of the new driver without the title screen freezing! I never thought this was my problem, as my movies do not freeze, and it's supposed to help that, but it seems it helps title screen freeze ups too! WW, is there any relation beteewn the title screen and movies? Is the title screen some sort of movie application? I know they won't awnser, but I wanna know! Hopefully the game won't freeze in game for me anymore, I'll have to test it. I'll get back to you guys soon. . .

July 28, 2001

Forget what I just said! **** THIS GAME! I just got lucky! I tried it again with the +w and the title screen froze. Seems like it was a one time wonder! Of course this wouldn't of solved my problem, that would just be too easy as my problem is unsolvable!

July 28, 2001

Arghhhhhh! Campaign crashes too. When I go to attack a territory the game locks up durring the breifing, you know the one that tells you the new units for the mission.

Well that's it. I guess I'll just wait for a patch, because I don't have a clue how to fix it, and tech support keeps telling me to do things that I've already tried. I hope my EB4D days aren't over, but they just might be. I'm not taking out the card because it cost 400 dollars and makes all my other games look great.

Goodbye,

Killwithsound.

July 28, 2001

Hey guys (Nyar, in particular) refer to http://messagebrd.westwood.ea.com/boards/emp/english/Forum1/HTML/007147-3.html, so I don't repost all of that. Good news, bad news. I upgraded my drivers and I can play without any lockups during both Single Player and skirmish modes. The only problem is that it still crashes to the desktop every time I try to load either saved game, when I am getting ready to destroy the Harkonnen city after getting the pep talk movie from the Duke. Also, I am playing it right now without the -c parameter. I tried loading those saved levels with and without the -c. Same results. Any suggestions on that? WW has given me a couple of things to try and they haven't worked. I haven't heard back from them since Friday morning.

July 28, 2001

Mind if i throw my hat into the ring?

I've been through the whole e-mail support routine with ea and been on the phone to them when i've had the chance.

I've managed to get one of them to swear blind that the game doesn't work on a GeForce3 (I have a Hercules 3D Prophet III) and i was just going to wait for a patch that fixed it but now I see that there are times when it works fine. This is really annoying me now. Anyway - i'm going to try that older driver business, and look into the motherboard power supply issue. Like everyone else has said it seems to work fine on all other games, and when i ripped the GeForce out and stuffed my old Voodoo3 in it worked. It was at about this point that the people at westwood gave up on it.

Unlike most other people my system doesn't lock up, hang or freeze - it just vanishes. One minute fine and the next you're staring at you're desktop background image and feeling slightly miffed. After this has happened about seventeen times you begin to bleed out of you're ears.

It crashes during missions (campaign or scenario) at the first point that the game tries to scroll the map across the screen, which for most missions is the first few seconds.

EA support wrote:

" Unfortunately the Geforce 3 was not tested with Emperor: Battle for Dune and

it does seem to be your main reason for why the game is crashing. I have

notified our test department and westwood and they will investigate further

for us.

I hope this helps and thank you for your continued patience

Regards

Liam

uk-support"

I'm not holding out much hope for hearing from them in the near future.

Suffice it to say i've been through the whole 'adjust this slider and close down that file and don't sit with you're back to the door and wear you're lucky pants' business with ea.

Right - I'm off driver hunting. Wish me luck.

sanj

EAsy_EA.txt follows:

Please note the complete faliure of EAsy_EA to detect my sound card correctly. I'm using a SB Pci 128 with the lastest driver.

----EASy System Summary--------------------------------------

Video Card : NVIDIA GeForce3

Video Driver : nvdisp.drv

Driver Version : 4.13.01.1241

Sound Card : Modular Technology Galaxy TV Tuner (Audio)

Sound Driver : BtPciAud.vxd

Driver Version : 4.00.00.0950

DirectX : DirectX 8

Operating System Windows 98 4.10.1998

----EASy System Output---------------------------------------

Computer Name : SANJ

BIOS Info

Name : Award

Version : Award Modular BIOS v4.51PG

PNP : Plug and Play BIOS

Manufacturer : (Standard system devices)

CPU Info

CPU Count : 1

CPU Type : 402 MHz AuthenticAMD AMD K6-III

5 9 1

RAM : 287 MB Total

161 MB Free

Virtual RAM : 829 MB Total

829 MB Free

Operating System : Windows 98 4.10.1998

Default Browser : Internet Explorer

Version : 5.50.4134.600

Temp Directory : C:WINDOWSTEMP

Size : 9 MB

------------------------------------------------------------

----Display Info--------------------------------------------

Number of Displays : 1

Current Mode (Primary) : 1280x1024 32

Refresh Rate (Primary) : Optimal refresh rate

Primary display device

Description : NVIDIA GeForce3

Manufacturer : NVIDIA

Video Memory : 64 MB

Main Driver : nvdisp.drv

Version : 4.13.01.1241

Provider : NVIDIA

Supported Display Modes

---------------------------------------------------

640 x 480| * | * | * | | *

800 x 600| | * | * | | *

1024x 768| | * | * | | *

1152x 864| | * | * | | *

1280x1024| | * | * | | *

1600x1200| | | | |

------------------------------------------------------------

----Sound, Video and Game Controllers-----------------------

Description : Modular Technology Galaxy TV Tuner (Video)

Manufacturer : Modular Technology

Main Driver : BtPciVid.vxd

Version : 4.00.00.0950

Provider :

Description : Modular Technology Galaxy TV Tuner (Audio)

Manufacturer : Modular Technology

Main Driver : BtPciAud.vxd

Version : 4.00.00.0950

Provider :

Description : Creative Sound Blaster PCI128

Manufacturer : Creative

Main Driver : ctpci9x.vxd

Version : 4.12.01.2011

Provider :

Description : Wave Device for Voice Modem

Manufacturer : U.S. Robotics, Inc.

Main Driver : serwave.vxd

Version : 4.10.00.1998

Provider :

Description : Creative Sound Blaster PCI128 Legacy Device

Manufacturer : Creative

Main Driver :

Version :

Provider :

Description : Creative Gameport Joystick

Manufacturer : Creative

Main Driver : vjoyd.vxd

Version : 4.08.00.0400

Provider :

Description : Wave Device for Voice Modem

Manufacturer : 3Com Corp.

Main Driver : serwave.vxd

Version : 4.10.00.1998

Provider :

------------------------------------------------------------

----Direct X------------------------------------------------

DirectX Info

Version : DirectX 8

DirectDraw Info

Version : 4.08.00.0400

Certified : Not certified

DirectSound Info

Version : 4.08.00.0400

Certified : Not certified

DirectPlay Info

Version : 4.03.00.1096

DirectInput Info

Version : 4.08.00.0400

------------------------------------------------------------

----Drive Information---------------------------------------

----CDRom Info----------------------------------------------

Cache size : 1238 KB

Access Pattern : Quad-speed or higher

Drive Letter A

Volume Name :

Type : Floppy

File System :

Total Space : 0.00 KB

Free Space : 0.00 KB

Drive Letter C

Volume Name : IBM

Type : Fixed

File System : FAT32

Total Space : 4.24 GB

Free Space : 829.66 MB

Drive Letter D

Volume Name : QUANTUM

Type : Fixed

File System : FAT32

Total Space : 8.53 GB

Free Space : 4.47 GB

Drive Letter E

Volume Name :

Type : CDRom

File System :

Total Space : 0.00 KB

Free Space : 0.00 KB

Sec/MB : Test not performed

Detected Speed : Test not performed

Drive Letter F

Volume Name :

Type : CDRom

File System :

Total Space : 0.00 KB

Free Space : 0.00 KB

Sec/MB : Test not performed

Detected Speed : Test not performed

Drive Letter G

Volume Name :

Type : CDRom

File System :

Total Space : 0.00 KB

Free Space : 0.00 KB

Sec/MB : Test not performed

Detected Speed : Test not performed

------------------------------------------------------------

----Monitor Information-------------------------------------

Primary monitor

Description : SONY CPD-100SF

Manufacturer : SONY Corporation

Max. Resolution : 1280,1024

------------------------------------------------------------

----Network Information-------------------------------------

Description : Dial-Up Adapter

Manufacturer : Microsoft

Driver : pppmac.vxd

Provider : Microsoft

Bound Protocols

TCP/IP

IP Address: Obtained from provider

IP Mask: Obtained from provider

------------------------------------------------------------

----Input Device Information--------------------------------

Mouse Information

Description : CordlessOptical1 (PS/2)

Type : PS2

Keyboard Information

Description : IBM enhanced (101- or 102-key)

------------------------------------------------------------

----Modem Information---------------------------------------

Description : U.S. Robotics 56K Pro Msg EXT

Driver : U.S. Robotics 56K Pro Msg EXT

Provider :

------------------------------------------------------------

----Glide/OpenGL Information--------------------------------

Glide Info

Glide2 Version :

Glide3 Version :

OpenGL Info

Version : 4.0

------------------------------------------------------------

----Task List-----------------------------------------------

msgsrv32.exe

mprexe.exe

mstask.exe

ddhelp.exe

mmtask.tsk

Explorer

taskmon.exe

Systray

ctmix32.exe

Logitech Mouse Control

plextool.exe

netscp6.exe

rnaapp.exe

tapisrv.exe

icq.exe

uk support_ez.exe

------------------------------------------------------------

----Autoexec.bat--------------------------------------------

Rem TShoot:

@echo off

SET BLASTER=A220 I7 D1 H7 P330 T6

SET SBPCI=C:SBPCI

mode con codepage prepare=((850) C:WINDOWSCOMMANDega.cpi)

mode con codepage select=850

keyb uk,,C:WINDOWSCOMMANDkeyboard.sys

------------------------------------------------------------

----Config.sys----------------------------------------------

DEVICE=C:WINDOWSHIMEM.SYS

DEVICE=C:WINDOWSEMM386.EXE

device=C:WINDOWSCOMMANDdisplay.sys con=(ega,,1)

Country=044,850,C:WINDOWSCOMMANDcountry.sys

------------------------------------------------------------

Gobalopper · July 28, 2001

Duke you could try installing the 7078 drivers:

http://support.ati.com/products/pc/rage128pro/win98/rage128pro_win98_drivers.html

The one you have now is a unsupported beta driver.

Nyarlathotep · July 28, 2001

Fact => The game runs on a GeForce 3 without problems ! I'm the happy owner of a GeForce 3 and it works like a charm for me, so no discussion possible :D

Nyar...

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