>> An old customer with Vista 64Bit <<

[Vanir]

<p>OK... as the title says I'm an old EQII player with a new OS.</p><p>About half a year ago I got a new computer with Windows Vista 64Bit. At the time I was playing WoW but wanted to return to EQII.</p><p>To cut a long story short, I purchased all of the current expansions that I didn't have (I stopped playing during DoF) and installed the game with a smile on my face.</p><p>That smile was gonna turn into a frown very quickly because I found that I couldn't start the game. I could patch it well enough, but when I tried to start the game it would crash after the first splashscreen. Giving the well known error, EQII has stopped working bla bla bla...</p><p>I reseached and read page up and page down throughout the forums finding, that some could run it on 64bit, some couldn't, and someone just didn't have a clue (including me). I finally gave it up and returned to WoW.</p><p>So here I sit again, tired of WoW and Warhammer, and tried reading through the forums for a definitive answer before I purchase anymore expansions or gametime. But I haven't found it yet...</p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Should EQII be compatible (either via a patch, update whatever) with Vista 64Bit ??</span></p><p>(here I should note, that when I tried to get the game to work half a year ago, I tried almost every solution there was. Running as admin, installing microsofts generic game fixes, DX updates, turning my SLi 8800GTS 512 off and running with a single card... you name it..) </p><p>Pls help a frustrated EQII veteran =/</p>

[ganjookie]

SHort ANswer: YEs

[Araxes]

Yes, absolutely.  I play on Vista 64 bit.Couple of things:Make sure you are running the program as an Administrator.Right click the executable icon and select:Properties > Shortcut > Advanced > and check the box for Run as Administrator (Doing this from the right-click dialog box itself will only enable for one session, doing it the way I describe will permanently mark it for all sessions.)Also make sure:Go into Start > Control Panel > Securityand <b>DISABLE </b>the UAC (User Account Control) -- as this will otherwise prove extremely annoying and may also prevent EQ2 from initializing properly.You must be logged in as the owner of the computer (the person who installed Windows or the right Administrator) to change either of these settings.Finally:Go intoStart > Control Panel > Security > Windows Firewall > Allow a Programand browse to the EQ2 directory (usually on 64 bit it is C:/.../User/Program Files (x86)/Sony/Everquest II)and select BOTH the launchpad.exe AND the EQ2.exe filesto allow them both to pass through the firewall.It may take two 'launches' of the game for the Firewall to accomodate this.

[Vanir]

<p>Thanks for the tips.</p><p>Last time I tried running as admin, and allowing the exe's in the firewall settings. Didn't work then.</p><p>I'll try it all again (afterall I just formated and I might get lucky, also running newest gfx drivers).</p><p>What happens? stay tuned!</p>

[Vanir]

<p>My god it works! IT'S ALIVE!</p><p>Thanks for your help!</p><p>=D</p>

[RaandJ04]

<p>Thanks it helped me too!</p>

[asmiro]

<cite>Araxes@Antonia Bayle wrote:</cite><blockquote>Yes, absolutely.  I play on Vista 64 bit.Couple of things:Make sure you are running the program as an Administrator.Right click the executable icon and select:Properties > Shortcut > Advanced > and check the box for Run as Administrator (Doing this from the right-click dialog box itself will only enable for one session, doing it the way I describe will permanently mark it for all sessions.)Also make sure:Go into Start > Control Panel > Security<i>and <b>DISABLE </b>the UAC (User Account Control) -- as this will otherwise prove extremely annoying and may also prevent EQ2 from initializing properly</i>.You must be logged in as the owner of the computer (the person who installed Windows or the right Administrator) to change either of these settings.Finally:Go intoStart > Control Panel > Security > Windows Firewall > Allow a Programand browse to the EQ2 directory (usually on 64 bit it is C:/.../User/Program Files (x86)/Sony/Everquest II)and select BOTH the launchpad.exe AND the EQ2.exe filesto allow them both to pass through the firewall.It may take two 'launches' of the game for the Firewall to accomodate this.</blockquote><p>i STRONGLY disagree with the portion i italicized. UAC can actually PREVENT alot of malware from even becoming installed in the background on your computer.</p><p>vista 64bit, or 32bit, it does not matter; you can install and play this game WITH THE UAC running. i know, i do it myself on my computer at home.</p><p>when i get home, i will try and update this post with info on how to not only how i got EQ2 working with UAC enabled, but ALSO, how i got the beta station launcher to load at startup without being blocked by windows defender at boot.</p>

[Vanir]

<p>The only thing I did was tagging the exe files so they run with winXP sp2 combability and running everything as admin.</p><p>Works perfectly.</p>

[Rotworm]

<hr /><p><span><p>"The only thing I did was tagging the exe files so they run with winXP sp2 combability and running everything as admin.</p><p>Works perfectly."</p></span></p><hr /><p>what do you mean by run everything as admin? what does that entail?  did you go into each exe file and check the box that says "Run this program as an administrator" under Privilege Level in the Security tab?  if so, i have a problem...I'm the admin of this comp, ie. the only person who uses it and am logged on as the admin, but that box is grayed out and i can't check it.  am i missing something here?  program locks up while the patcher is initializing.</p>

[TSR-DanielH]

<p><cite>Rotworm@Vox wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><hr /><p><span><p>"The only thing I did was tagging the exe files so they run with winXP sp2 combability and running everything as admin.</p><p>Works perfectly."</p></span></p><hr /><p>what do you mean by run everything as admin? what does that entail?  did you go into each exe file and check the box that says "Run this program as an administrator" under Privilege Level in the Security tab?  if so, i have a problem...I'm the admin of this comp, ie. the only person who uses it and am logged on as the admin, but that box is grayed out and i can't check it.  am i missing something here?  program locks up while the patcher is initializing.</p></blockquote><p>If the box is greyed out then you should be able to right click the program and select 'run as administrator' from the list of options.  That accomplishes the same thing.</p><p>I'd agree with the other person who recommended keeping the UAC on.  You should be able to play with it on as long as you are running as adminstrator.  If the problem persists at that point then you might want to move the Everquest 2 folder out of the program files directory.  Vista places extra security on that folder and it can interfere with the game at times.</p>

[Rotworm]

<p>i was right clicking on the icons and trying to check run as administrator...that is the box that was greyed out.  I saw in another thread on this forum that the reason the box was greyed is because I had the UAC turned off.  I had to turn the UAC back on to check the boxes to run those application files as administrator.  i've made all exe files in my eq and launcher folders "run as administrator" and compatible with xp, but i still have the same problem.  when i run eq2, everything goes fine right up to the launchpad.  i receive files, then i sign in and the launchpad pops up.  it says "patcher initializing" but freezes right there.  doesn't download anything and the character list on the right is blank.  this is the exact place where it always freezes up on me. <img src="/smilies/9d71f0541cff0a302a0309c5079e8dee.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p>

[TSR-DanielH]

<p><cite>Rotworm@Vox wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>i was right clicking on the icons and trying to check run as administrator...that is the box that was greyed out.  I saw in another thread on this forum that the reason the box was greyed is because I had the UAC turned off.  I had to turn the UAC back on to check the boxes to run those application files as administrator.  i've made all exe files in my eq and launcher folders "run as administrator" and compatible with xp, but i still have the same problem.  when i run eq2, everything goes fine right up to the launchpad.  i receive files, then i sign in and the launchpad pops up.  it says "patcher initializing" but freezes right there.  doesn't download anything and the character list on the right is blank.  this is the exact place where it always freezes up on me. <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/9d71f0541cff0a302a0309c5079e8dee.gif" border="0" /></p></blockquote><p>When I said to right click and select 'run as admin', I didn't actually mean in the properties menu.</p><p>If you right click on the icon there should be a 'Run as administrator' option on the same context menu that contains the properties option.  It should be the 3rd option down, immediately below 'Open file Location'.</p>

[Rotworm]

<p>okay.  i missunderstood you.  but i have all application files checked to run as administrator now.  and then i go to the eq2 executable icon on my desktop, right-click and hit run as administrator and the same thing happens.</p>

[TSR-DanielH]

<p><cite>Rotworm@Vox wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>okay.  i missunderstood you.  but i have all application files checked to run as administrator now.  and then i go to the eq2 executable icon on my desktop, right-click and hit run as administrator and the same thing happens.</p></blockquote><p>If you're following both of those steps then it probably isn't Vista that is blocking the download.  Lets make sure the game files aren't being set to read-only.</p><p>1. Navigate to the Sony folder (Default: C:Program FilesSony)2. Right click the 'Sony' folder and select 'properties'3. Go to the 'General' tab4. Uncheck the box that says 'read-only' at the bottom of that window5. Select 'apply to all files/folders' when prompted</p><p>If that's not it then you probably have some kind of security software running in the background.  Do you have any kind of anti-virus or firewall on that computer?</p>

[Rotworm]

<p>i did as you said.  the folder was set to read-only.  i unchecked the read-only box and applied to all subfolders and files and restarted EQ2.  this time, however, a new window popped up on the launchpad saying that it did not close down properly last time and that there may be some compromised files.  it asks if i want to perform a thorough scan or a standard scan, but it is frozen again and i can't click on either button.</p>

[Rotworm]

<p>I am running vista 64 bit on a gateway fx laptop that i bought just to play eq on...funny thing is...i can't play eq on it.</p><p>I installed from the new Shadow Odyssey disk by exploring the disk and running the setup file as administrator.  I disabled all antivirus software while installing the program.  Once the insallation was complete, I tagged all application/exe files in the Sony folder as compatible with xp and run as administrator.  I did this while my UAC was turned on.  I made sure that acceptions were made in windows firewall for eq and launchpad.  I also went to the Sony folder in C: ProgramFiles(x86) as well as the Sony folder in C: Programs and unchecked the boxes for read-only and applied that to all subfolders.  Then I ran the program by right clicking the eq executable and clicking run as administrator (i already had the file set to run as administrator, but i wanted to be certain i tried everything that has been advised).  EQ opens and asks if i want to use an existing account.  It lets me sign in and then receives files for 5-10 minutes.  Then the launchpad opens up.  It says "patcher initializing", but freezes there.  The character list to the right is blank. </p><p>I cannot get beyond this point with vista 64.  This computer came with a disk to install vista 32bit OS.  I installed 32 bit and had no problems running eq.  However, I had some other problems with the computer not related to EQ and when I called gateway, they said they do not offer support for 32 bit, that the computer shipped with 64bit and if i want support i have to run 64bit.  So i reinstalled 64.  The computer is running with the same settings and programs that I used on 32bit (on which eq ran without a hitch). After reinstalling 64 I jumped through the hoops that are listed above and still eq freezes at the same spot.  I was told that the problem may be some antivirus software that is blocking the program, but I had the same antivirus software running when I played EQ on 32bit Vista on this computer and there were no issues.  In spite of that, I have tried running EQ on 64bit with the antivirus running and then again with the antivirus turned off.  Each time I run EQ on 64bit, it freezes in the same spot.</p><p>Even though I have the option of installing 32bit vista on this computer and running eq that way (which I am highly tempted to do), I need to find some way to get eq to run on 64bit so that I will be able to utilize my warranty with Gateway should I need support in the future.  I know it can be done because I see on the forums that many people are running EQ on vista64 bit without problems.  Some people got eq running on 64bit vista so easily that they assume the problem other peole have is due to some fault of the user.  There is something in my OS that is freezing EQ, probably some windows service or other behind the scenes setting that needs a simple click on or off.  Does anyone have any ideas that I have not tried already?</p>

[Rotworm]

<p>update: i noticed that vista is retagging my sony files as Read-only.  I can right-click the sony folder, uncheck the read-only box, apply changes to sub-folders, it takes a few seconds to apply the changes, then i click ok and close the window.  I immediately right-click again and go to properties and the read-only box is rechecked.  I have tried this procedure while UAC is enabled and again with it disabled and got the same results both times.  Farferdnugen!! How do i stop this from happening?</p>

[TSR-DanielH]

<p>I doubt Vista 64 bit is stopping the program in a way that Vista 32 bit wont.  It's certainly possible that something is installed in the background that is stopping the game from loading and a reinstall of vista will fix it, but that wouldn't be my first recommendation. </p><p>You might want to try preventing all background applications from starting with Windows to see if one is blocking the game.</p><p>To disable background programs:1. Select the START button.2. Select RUN, then type in "msconfig" (for Vista, type msconfig in the search bar at the bottom of the Start Menu)3. Press OK4. Select the STARTUP tab.5. In the list, uncheck all boxes EXCEPT for SCANREGISTRY and SYSTEM TRAY. If you use Windows XP, please note that SCANREGISTRY and SYSTEM TRAY will not be listed - just uncheck the entire list.6. Hit apply and then OK. Restart the computer and try the game again.</p>

[EricFother]

<p>I have the same setup as the poster above (gateway FX with vista 64).  I have tried everything...including the suggestion from the poster above (disable everything on startup via MSCONFIG) and STILL hang when I get to the patcher initializing.  I've uninstalled/reinstalled/run as admin/UAC on/UAC off/xp compat mode and STILL cannot get it to work. </p><p>I am also having the problem off the files being read only and when I change that vista instantly changes it back.  and yes...I am the administrator with UAC off.</p><p> Any other suggestions other than go buy Vista 32?</p>

[TSR-DanielH]

<p><cite>EricFother wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>I have the same setup as the poster above (gateway FX with vista 64).  I have tried everything...including the suggestion from the poster above (disable everything on startup via MSCONFIG) and STILL hang when I get to the patcher initializing.  I've uninstalled/reinstalled/run as admin/UAC on/UAC off/xp compat mode and STILL cannot get it to work. </p><p>I am also having the problem off the files being read only and when I change that vista instantly changes it back.  and yes...I am the administrator with UAC off.</p><p> Any other suggestions other than go buy Vista 32?</p></blockquote><p>Greetings,</p><p>The fact that you are using 64-bit has absolutely no effect on the download process.  Buying Vista 32 will not have any effect.  What you are seeing is either a file protection issue or a connection issue.</p><p>Are you using a router with that computer?  If so, you'll probably want to try bypassing it so that your computer is plugged directly into the modem.  That will let us know whether the router is part of the problem.  You'll probably want to disable any firewalls or anti virus programs on your computer as well, at least temporarily for testing.</p><p>Besides that, you'll probably want to move the game to another folder if you have it installed in the 'Program Files' directory.  Vista places additional security on that folder and that security might be causing the problem.  Try moving the entire Everquest 2 folder to a location like C:Games or whatever you prefer.  You can simply cut and paste the folder without reinstalling.</p><p>Let us know if the issue persists after trying the above.</p>

[EricFother]

<p>Thank you for the help!  I moved the Sony folder to another location and the patcher is downloading the latest patches as I type!  Looks like the problem is solved.  Thanks again</p><p>Eric</p>

[M0rticia]

<p>Thanks for the tips here. I use Vista 64 bit and have never had any issues with playing EQ2 (or any other game) since I built this pc in February.</p><p>My friend just got a new machine and has Vista 64 and was encountering all kinds of problems when trying to play EQ2. I read through the info here and got his machine up and running. Thanks!</p>

[TSR-DanielH]

<p><cite>M0rticia wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Thanks for the tips here. I use Vista 64 bit and have never had any issues with playing EQ2 (or any other game) since I built this pc in February.</p><p>My friend just got a new machine and has Vista 64 and was encountering all kinds of problems when trying to play EQ2. I read through the info here and got his machine up and running. Thanks!</p></blockquote><p>Great, I'm glad to hear this information helped.  Please let us know if you ever need assistance in the future.</p>