ATI Vs. EQ2: Five Years on....

[karinations]

Like this game a lot, love the visuals, fun gameplay, unfortunately....I have an ATI Radeon card.Now.....I've done everything over the past 5 years I updated/cleaned replaced drivers of all kinds related, installed re-installed bought EVERY version online, opened 3 accounts ATI just does not work for me with Eq2. EVERY other game is fine....except EQ 2.I'll subscribe and resubscirbe hoping something will be different but it never is.I play for a few weeks (sometimes months) and then I just loose it as the VPU recovers become more and more common then I go away for awhile.Recently bought a station pass and now get Eq2 "free" so I gave it another shot.Well only 10 days in the constant VPU's win once again.I'd love to play this game.I want to try Vanguard but fear the same thing (I play EQ1, SWG)Anyone else have ATI problems?

[Devout Disciple]

<p>I used to crash alot with a X1900GT with XP SP 2 but even though I now have a Nvidia 8800GT and Vista SP1 combo I can still crash occasionally.  I played the former combo on High as well as this one.</p><p>Kylong Plains with the Terens Grasp town in particular or using sokakar, Kunark Jungle, and DFC seem to all be fun chances for me to crash.  Just some places I have trouble with a 8800GT and Vista SP1 combo.  </p><p>With the X1900 GT and XP SP2 combo it was everywhere especially in Enchanted Lands and Barren Sky.</p>

[Armawk]

<p>We use ATI exclusively because we have never had any problems with them. starting with 9600s and going through X800 series and X1650s and also X1900 series. Never a problem associated with the graphics cards at all.</p><p>Shaun</p>

[Jai1]

My ATI in EQ2 works fine but AoC was a little tricky to get going.

[Oh]

<p>a) this isn't the correct forum for technical issues.</p><p>b) what IS your technical issue you are having, basically this game does all (99.9999999999%) of the graphics on the CPU not the video card so really you could have the cheapest video card out there and it will still look the same.</p>

[StormCinder]

I have the exact same problem with the exact same card in the exact same zones. Do not expect help on this issue from SOE. What you will get is: (best Ben Kenobi impersonation) "There's no problem here. These are not the droids you're looking for. There's not a compatibility problem. If there is, it's ATI's fault." If you contact ATI, simply substitute 'SOE' for 'ATI' You have to find a DYI solution. GL SC FWIW, there is a 1+ year old thread (80 pages) that was stickied and then summarily ignored on the tech forums.

[Cassea]

ATI cards run EQ2 just fine. If you are getting alot of recovery errors then your card might be overheating either by being borderline defective, fan/heatsink on card needs to be cleaned or it's clocked too high.Some games use different parts of a video card so one game can have issues and others might not. EQ2 does not use many advanced features of your vid card but it can and does beat it up by using the "old" brute force approach which was more common years ago on video card. Things that are now done on newer games in shaders are done the old fashioned way in EQ2 which is to use multiply passes to render the graphics. This can be hard on some cards.I'm not saying this is it but I've played EQ2 on a number of ATI cards (and Nvidia) and they all run EQ2 just fine from the ATI 9200, 9600, 9700, 9800, x1650, x1950 and 3850 and all ran EQ2 very well so it's not ATI and it's not the drivers.It might be a combination of drivers... have you updated your motherboard "chipset" drivers?VPU recovery errors, however, almost always point to overstressing/overheating  your video card.-JBP.S. The reason some zones have issues and others do not can depend on what is going on in the zones. In others words some zones stress your video card more than other. Newer zones are a ton harder on your cards vs the older ones and even some older ones, if they have alot of background animation (whether you see it or not) going on can cause your video card to work harder.

[Evadrian]

<p>ATI cards do not run "just fine" with EQ2. This is an issue that hundreds of EQ2 customers have been experiencing, since release, off and on, to the present day. Just search the clause "VPU Recovery" in the support forums. You'll find 40+ pages of threads detailing this specific issue. But of course not every individual with an ATI video card has experienced this.</p><p>Overheating is a viable suggestion, but I think with the broad range of people experiencing this, it's hard to pin a single problem/solution on the issue in general, as it could be a combination of thousands of issues all resulting in the video card reacting the same way.</p>

[Cassea]

<cite>Evadrian wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>ATI cards do not run "just fine" with EQ2. This is an issue that hundreds of EQ2 customers have been experiencing, since release, off and on, to the present day. Just search the clause "VPU Recovery" in the support forums. You'll find 40+ pages of threads detailing this specific issue. But of course not every individual with an ATI video card has experienced this.</p><p>Overheating is a viable suggestion, but I think with the broad range of people experiencing this, it's hard to pin a single problem/solution on the issue in general, as it could be a combination of thousands of issues all resulting in the video card reacting the same way.</p></blockquote>ATI only makes one brand of cards.... the others are made by 3rd party companies who "can" run the cards faster, change cooling designs and basically do anything they want.Do you have an ATI card made by ATI or another company?ATI cards are just fine and just like there are issues with Nvidia cards there are issues with ATI cards but it's not a "design" defect but rather quality control or parts issues is what my point was and still is.The issue you describe can be caused by overheating. Overheating can be caused by clocking the VPU or memory too high either by yourself or the 3rd party company looking for an edge against the competition or it could be a loose fan/heatsink, dust clogging the fan/heatsink yadda yadda.It is most certainly NOT some design defect on the line of ATI cards aside from the above possibilities.As I stated above... I have run EQ2 on many many ATI cards of various generations of ATI product. They all run EQ2 just fine. Does this mean that every single ATI card on the planet is fine? Of course not but will even a small 1% defect rate out of millions of cards that still leaves a large number of people who can have a bad card. Cards also go bad. Memory that is borderline can start to go bad due to heat or other considerations.My point was to post that EQ2 does not have some inherant problem with ATI cards as you suggest. I'm sorry you are having issues. I hope you can work them out.-JBP.S. I once had a bad Nvidia card... naturally, since I read that others have had bad Nvidia cards, ALL nvidia cards are bad <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

[karinations]

Oh I'm pretty sure there is an ATI situation<img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />I imagined I would basicly just get "works fine for me" responses but it's good to see other people with the same problem(s).Card is clean it's not overheating (I have a room fan blowing on it...) it just VPU recovers constantly until it crashes to black.I'ts just weird 5 years in...or 4 or however long still cant play this darned thing.Darned.I apologize for my harsh language I know children are in the forum.When I first got EQ2 I thought wow someday we'll be able to run the shadows and effects once computers catch up with this game!What a dummy......I guess Vanguard has a similar "designed for some unknown future where it will work right" thing going on with it as well.I still want to try it because it sounds like I would like it.Anyway im pretty done here with EQ2.Again..would love to play it, but I don't work for NASA so im not sure I can figure out how.Thanks for the responses and everyone have a good 2nd half of summer.

[Smirk]

<p>what system do you have? what radeon, drivers etc?</p><p>and what happens when you get vpu recovery msg?</p><p>have you tried running without vpu recovery? do you crash etc if you dont use it? </p><p>can you check temps in ati's CCC etc, any other info than you posted would be great :p</p><p>i very rarely get error msg with driver restarting if i play windowed mode but thats it.</p>

[g0thiC_iCe_cReaM]

<cite>Cassea wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Evadrian wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>ATI cards do not run "just fine" with EQ2. This is an issue that hundreds of EQ2 customers have been experiencing, since release, off and on, to the present day. Just search the clause "VPU Recovery" in the support forums. You'll find 40+ pages of threads detailing this specific issue. But of course not every individual with an ATI video card has experienced this.</p><p>Overheating is a viable suggestion, but I think with the broad range of people experiencing this, it's hard to pin a single problem/solution on the issue in general, as it could be a combination of thousands of issues all resulting in the video card reacting the same way.</p></blockquote>ATI only makes one brand of cards.... the others are made by 3rd party companies who "can" run the cards faster, change cooling designs and basically do anything they want.Do you have an ATI card made by ATI or another company?ATI cards are just fine and just like there are issues with Nvidia cards there are issues with ATI cards but it's not a "design" defect but rather quality control or parts issues is what my point was and still is.The issue you describe can be caused by overheating. Overheating can be caused by clocking the VPU or memory too high either by yourself or the 3rd party company looking for an edge against the competition or it could be a loose fan/heatsink, dust clogging the fan/heatsink yadda yadda.It is most certainly NOT some design defect on the line of ATI cards aside from the above possibilities.As I stated above... I have run EQ2 on many many ATI cards of various generations of ATI product. They all run EQ2 just fine. Does this mean that every single ATI card on the planet is fine? Of course not but will even a small 1% defect rate out of millions of cards that still leaves a large number of people who can have a bad card. Cards also go bad. Memory that is borderline can start to go bad due to heat or other considerations.My point was to post that EQ2 does not have some inherant problem with ATI cards as you suggest. I'm sorry you are having issues. I hope you can work them out.-JBP.S. I once had a bad Nvidia card... naturally, since I read that others have had bad Nvidia cards, ALL nvidia cards are bad <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></blockquote><p>Actually I gave up on the 8600 and 8800 nvidia cards due to the bugginess with them and textures.</p><p>It is a very, very good possibility that the card is overheating. I had an x1650, seated really close to another card in my system. One day the computer flipped out, had all kinds of weird graphical glitches and VPU messages...and I smelled a burning PC board smell...I opened up my computer and I could have fried an egg on the card sitting next to the x1650. It had been going on so long that the coating on the other card finally started to deteriorate enough to start "burning"...needless to say, I didn't put anything next to my ATI card after that LOL.</p>

[Nail]

I have used ATI cards (always use sapphire myself) for a number of years and have never had any problems with any game, including eq2. Ive run this game on an x700 , x850 , x1950 , and now hd2900xt - none of these cards have given me any errors ever (I started in beta up til now). My friend plays on an ATI x1950 with no issues as well , and my wife plays on an Nvidia 8800GTS with no problems.So do some people have problems with ATI cards? Im sure they do , but some people have problems with nvidia 8800 cars as well. It really comes down to all of the hardware combined. But as others have said if your getting  VPU recovery crashes it is because your video card is defective / over heating.

[Rhysati]

I played EQ2 on an older ATI card and got that error.  Overheating was indeed the cause.  Once I upgraded my video card and case it fixed my issues.  And just so you know, I tried the room fan blowing into my computer idea too.  It doesn't help.  In fact, it won't really help at all.  You need to get a good case that pushes the hot air out of your computer.  Until you do that you'll have some bad overheating issues.  ESPECIALLY when playing EQ2 which is a very big drag on your parts and causes them to output a lot more heat.