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Posted

Time for a summary again (this way you don't need to read all the posts):

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If the game freezes, or turns black, try the following (Don't know if it'll work, but if so, it's your video card which is causing the problem):

Win 98, right click on the desktop and select proporties. On the Settings tab, click Advanced.

Click the Adapter tab. Use the Refresh Rate box on the Adapter tab to manually

reset the video refresh rate for your monitor. To do this, follow these steps:

On the Adapter tab, click Adapter Default in the Refresh Rate box.

Click OK. If you are prompted to test the setting, click OK.

If the setting appears to function properly, click Yes.

If the setting does not function properly, click No.

If the above doesn't work, follow below:

Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.

Double-click System. On the Performance tab, click Graphics.

Move the Hardware Acceleration slider until it is one notch to the right of None (the Basic acceleration setting). Click OK, and then click Close.

When you are prompted to restart the computer, click Yes.

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If the game locks up when you start it, try to disable Direct3D hardware acceleration, follow these steps:

Restart the computer.

Insert the CD-ROM for the game. Press and hold down the SHIFT key when you insert the CD-ROM to prevent the program from starting automatically.

Click Start, and then click Run.

In the Open box, type the following line, and then press ENTER

cd-rom:setupdirectxdxsetup.exe

where cd-rom is the drive letter of your CD-ROM drive.

Click to clear the Direct3D Hardware Acceleration Enabled check box.

Click OK.

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Verify that the correct version of the Ddraw.dll file is installed, follow these steps:

Click Start, point to Find, and then click Files Or Folders.

In the Named box, type ddraw.dll.

In the Look In box, click My Computer, and then click Find Now.

In the list of found files, verify that the Ddraw.dll file is installed in the WindowsSystem folder, and then rename any copies of the Ddraw.dll file that are not in the WindowsSystem folder. (make it something that you can remember easily, so when it doesn't do you any good, or when something else stops working, you're able to change it back !)

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SBLive! users !!

If the game stops responding, try the following (make sure you've updated Liveware! to the latest version !):

Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.

Double-click Multimedia.

On the Audio tab, click Advanced Properties under Playback.

On the Performance tab, move the Hardware acceleration slider all the way to the left. Click OK, and then click OK again

Close Control panel.

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When using the "Hardware Acceleration slider", try different positions on the bar, probably a light slide to the left already might work...

Another thing, which I know it's been posted before, but here goes again: Try to reduce CD-ROM caching and prevent read-ahead activity:

Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.

Double-click System.

On the Performance tab, click File System.

On the CD-ROM tab, note the current settings, and then move the Supplemental cache size slider to the Small position.

In the Optimize access pattern for box, click No read-ahead.

Click OK, and then click Close.

When you are prompted to restart your computer, click Yes.

If these steps do not successfully resolve the issue, repeat the steps to restore the settings to the original values noted in step 4, and then proceed to the next method.

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Voodoo 3 users, try the 1.04 drivers. As addition, try using the drivers with the option -c and/or +w

behind the short cut. Here's a link where you can download the drivers: http://www.gamers-ammo.com/v3.html

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The options that you can put behind the shortcut:

- you can add "+w" (without the quotes) to the Target line in the game's shortcut. This will force the game to preload each movie into memory before playing.

- If you have a Voodoo card, you may experience display problems due to texture compression. To disable the texture compression, you will need to add "-C" (without the quotes) to the Target line in the game's shortcut.

- If you are running two video cards, the game may choose the video card you do not wish to use. You can force it to use your alternate card by adding "-ALTVID" (without the quotes) to the Target line in the game's shortcut.

- Also try the +v option. Still not sure what is does, but it helped out some before..

***

Make sure that the GeForce card is not sharing IRQ with any other device, except for 'IRQ Holder for PCI Steering' (Right click on “my computer” on desktop and select “properties” Go to device manager and select “settings” Here you can view IRQ resources for all devices).

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Check if you have screensaver enabled. If so, disable it.

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Try setting the Video BIOS shadowing option to disabled (in the BIOS).

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Try setting your desktop colours to 256.

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If you are using a non-Intel chipset based motherboard, make sure you download and install the very latest AGP drivers from your chipset manufacturer's website.

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Try turning off V-SYNC in the NVIDIA control panel

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If you're overclocking your system (or GeForce), try putting it back to default.

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Try assigning a IRQ to your VGA in the BIOS.

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Try the following settings in the BIOS:

- Video BIOS Shadow - Disabled

- Video BIOS Cacheable - Disabled

- C8000 - xxxxx Shadow - Disabled

- Peer Concurrency - Enabled

- Concurrent PCI Host - Enabled

- PCI Streaming - Enabled

- VGA Palette Snoop - Disabled

****

Try installing the Intel chipset drivers from:

<http://support.intel.com/support/chipsets/driver.htm> for all versions of Windows 9x.

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If you have an 'AGP Driving Control' setting in your BIOS, try switching it to 'BA' or another value instead of 'Auto'.

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Check the AGP4X setting in the BIOS (If it's there that is).

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Disable non-essential add-in devices except video one at a time in Device Manager. For example:

- Network card

- Sound card

- TV card

- Scanner interface

See if lock up behavior is resolved. If not, physically remove the add-in cards and run the game again. Once you get a stable platform, start re-installing/re-enabling devices

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All users with AMD chipset based motherboards should also install AMD's latest AGP Miniport Driver. You can get it at the following webpage:

<http://www.amd.com/products/cpg/bin/>

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Make sure that there is adequate cooling for your GeForce, your AGP chipset and your processor. You can see if overheating is the problem by leaving your case lid off and using a desk fan to blow inside the case.

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Try disabling Advanced Power Management in the System Control Panel.

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Try switching on AGP Turbo in your BIOS, turning up the Front Side Bus speed slightly, or setting your AGP ratio to 1:1 (in that order).

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Try going into the System Control Panel, Device Manager, System Devices, Direct Memory Access Controller, and changing the Access Restrictions (on the Settings Tab) to restrict DMA transfers to memory below 16MB.

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Things to experiment with:

- AGP aperture size (keep it above 16 as setting it at or below 16 will disable AGP)

- AGP 2x/4X mode

- Be sure card is on IRQ 11 and no other devices share same IRQ

- Be sure you have Via 4 in 1 driver ver 4.25 or later (If Via chipset)

- Be sure you have latest Ali AGP driver (if Ali chipset)

- Try the card in a different system if possible

- Reformat if you’ve had other video cards in system before

****

A post from a user:

http://forum.matrox.com/mgaforum/Forum10/HTML/003139-2.html

Check out what bjergand's message. He has in AGP Aperature @ 256 and no Video Shadow in BIOS configuration either. Game settings are Shadows off, 1024x768 @32bit, and all other settings at maximum.

So I decided to try his setup, and it fixed the lockup for me. Recall that the game completely locked on me before at any AGP Aperature setting above 16meg.

(Thanks Jeromeku !)

****

Taken from Soundblaster.com:

"Q7. Where can I download Creative's Windows 2000 drivers for my Sound Blaster Live!?

Windows 2000 support for the Sound Blaster Live! is now available through :

Live!Ware 3.0 for Windows 2000 ( includes core applications & driver )".

So if if you've downloaded and installed Liveware 3.0 for Win200, you have the latest SBLive! drivers.

****

Taken from another thread:

Voodoo 5 users:

please use these modified 3dfx drivers:

http://www.gamers-ammo.com/3DFX/MODS/Vs-w2k-1.04.00-rv1.zip

It will solve the startup screen and movies in emperor on a voodoo5 5500 AGP

(Thanks Ridge71).

****

Here's what I did to get the game working:

1. I disabled maintenance manager, shutdown all running programs, and turned off all background tasks except systray and explorer.

2. I disabled screen savers, virus protection and set my energy saving features to always on (no system stand-by, no blank screens, hard drives always up).

3. In my BIOS, I also got rid of virus protection, palette snooping, video ROM BIOS shadowing and video ROM caching. I have my AGP aperture set to 64megs.

4. In my Win98 settings, my desktop runs at 800x600x16. In the game, I run 1280x768x32. I have hardware acceleration set to full for video and sound. My CD-ROM is set for maximum caching. Windows manages my virtual memory settings.

5. In the game's video settings, I run shadows low, detail, modeling and everything else at medium settings. In the hardware options I have multi-texturing enabled. Sometimes I disable multi-texturing but I don't see any difference.

6. On the command line I use the +w and -c options for texture compression and movie playback.

(Thanks Spiderlee !).

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From another post:

"I had the problem with crashes for some time. I had tried contacting westwood technical support or searching through forums, but found no solution. I have msi 6330 mainboard and geforce2 mx400 graphics card. After a long time I have finally found solution myself and I'd like to post it in case any other user has the same problem. Upgrading mainboard BIOS to version 3.1 (it can be downloaded from msi page, www.msi.com.tw) solved the problem with Emperor, it also helped with Red Faction & 3DMark2001. I hope this will be helpful to someone."

(Thanks Domek !)

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Win XP users:

I found a program called 'Application Compatibility Toolkit' (Microsoft) when I was looking for WinXP tweaking tools. In there is a program called 'Application verifier' that runs in the background and checks what happens when you run a certain application. I tested it on Emperor of course. I think it made some interesting remarks helpful in solving or at least knowing the cause of my crashes (which I sent to WW). And finally, although I have only tried it 3 times, that program made me able to play even internet games.

(Thanks Rajzor !)

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PROBLEM

Game either wouldn't boot, would freeze on loading screen or would bring up the usual "Error in Game.exe" message after installation of DirectX 8.1 (over DX7)

SOLUTION

Decreased AGP aperture size from 256MB to 128MB. Game now runs at maximum graphical quality with no problems. Appraently some of the new DX8 features make certain files too large to handle if your aperture is set too wide.

(Thanks pr8cjb !)

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CloneCD 3.2.1.1 breaks EBFD! I should have paid closer attention to Nyar's suggestion that CloneCD is the possible culprit. I installed 3.1.1.0 with no problems starting up EBFD.

(Thanks Rees & pr8cjb !)

****

Nyar...

Posted

If you need to ask for WW tech support, go here:

http://westwood.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/westwood.cfg/php/enduser/ask.php?p_sid=jSB5UZ1g&p_lva=&p_sp=&p_li=

Submit your problem.

To update you question/problem, go here:

http://westwood.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/westwood.cfg/php/enduser/acct_login.php?p_sid=jSB5UZ1g&p_lva=&p_sp=&p_li=&p_next_page=myq_alp.php

Here you'll need to fill in your e-mail and a password to get access to your problem.

Nyar...

Posted

Removed the default monitor and mailed WW. In their reply they stated: 'Your question has been received. You should expect a response from us soon.'

Posted

Haven't got two monitors. And where can i see my ref. number? Sent the info via the ea_info program.

Posted

From your e-report:

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

Primary monitor

Description : NOKIA 920C

Manufacturer : Nokia Display Products Oy

Max. Resolution : 1600,1200

Secondary monitor

Description : Default Monitor

Manufacturer : (Standard monitor types)

Max. Resolution :

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

Try to see in the control panel > system > harware > if it shows two monitors. If so, remove the one you do not have.

Nyar...

Posted

Nyar,

Sorry for not replying sooner. Yes, EBFD runs on my system. However, it has very infrequently locked up when accessing the Options Menu after a battle or two. Extremely hard to duplicate. I have updated to the latest nvidia drivers (23.11 dated 12/3/01) since these lock ups. No further lock ups have occurred since the update. WW tech support is essentially useless. They told to "close" CloneCD before running the game; they never heard of that application. That was very apparent since I would never run a CD replicator program while playing any game. The EBFD crash was due to some DLL or VXD driver used by CloneCD and loaded by the OS at boot time.

FYI - A new version of CloneCD (V3.2.2.1) is available that is reported to fix this bug. I haven't tried it yet though.

Keep up the good work; this thread is invaluable and better than WW tech support.

-rees

Posted

Setting my desktop setting to 800x600, and adapter refresh rate to default did not work.

Posted

Hmm.. weird. I've never seen them taking so long to reply...

Not to worry, I'm still looking into a solution for you (curretly checking the drivers you're using)...

Nyar...

Posted

This maybe old, but when i enter a game(online) my comp crashes to the desktop and when i click on the Emperor Icon it shows me that little screen before it goes into the logos. But it never finishes loading, any help thanks.

caranto5

Posted

Vladimir, you try to enter a game (online), crash back to desktop and when you then try to start EBFD again, your comp locks up before the WW logo shows (did it ever work correctly before)?

If so, do you experiance any problems while playing single player ?

Nyar...

Posted

Radar, although I suspect your problem to be related to your videocard/drivers, I did find something else strange. Look at the following copy of both of your reports:

1st report:

Virtual RAM : 600 MB Total

461 MB Free

2nd report:

Virtual RAM : 1759 MB Total

1630 MB Free

That's a big difference to show up in just 3 days. Do you know what changed ??

could you do the following:

Search for the file "Win386.swp". Right click on it and select proporties. Check if the file is read only.

Nyar...

Posted

win386.swp is not read only (or anything else for that matter). My GeForce2 MX is produced by Eclipse.

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