BDoodle
10-10-2009, 01:37 PM
<p>Having read through a number of the posts concerning video freezes, blank screens and Out Of Memory errors (and getting these issues myself,) I have done some looking around to try and figure out what is causing them. First I thought that my 3 year old machine may not be up to scratch, but having seen the posts of many individuals with machines far more up to date than mine I have decided that the hardware it self is not the crux of the issues. (Though I'd love to update to a top of the line model, wouldn't we all.)</p><p>Overheating, while causing some problems, I don't believe to be the root cause either. Something is causing it to get hot. If you find an overheating issue, consider testing your system with some benchmarking software while monitoring the temperatures.</p><p>It is my understanding that the EQ2 engine relies heavily on Microsofts DirectX APIs, so as a part of my search I consulted a knowledge base on the makeup of DirectX, specifically Direct3D. The information I found indicated that there are a number of abstractions that allow the API to manage the system resources. Two of these are of particular interest:</p><p>1. A Reference Device, which enables the simulation of features not yet supported by the hardware. (NOTE: It is necessary to have installed the Direct3D <em>Software Development Kit</em> in order to use this device. Microsoft made the software developer responsible for redistribution of it where necessary.)</p><p>2. A Null Reference Device that does nothing but returns a <em>black screen</em> when the SDK is not installed and a reference device is requested.</p><p>Could it be that EQ2 is calling a function that does not exist on many peoples machines? It would certainly explain the blank screen and possibly some of the other experiences.</p><p>I have yet to download the SDK, and am not sure that it is legal as an end user.</p><p>One of the errors I have experienced and has been reported in at least two other post is as follows:</p><p>"EverQuest II has detected an unrecoverable error and must shut down.</p><p> <verify> E:liveeq2frameworkcoredevicessrcDirectX9RenderDevi ce.cpp ( ):</p><p> DirectX Error. (E_OUTOFMEMORY) "</p><p>Looking in the online reference manual for the DirectX SDK, some functions return D3D_OK when successful, but if they fail, the return value can be one of the following: D3DERR_NOTAVAILABLE, D3DERR_INVALIDCALL, D3DERR_OUTOFVIDEOMEMORY, (or surprise surprise,) E_OUTOFMEMORY.</p><p>So, we have an issue with the file DirectX9RenderDevice.cpp on our E: drive. SAY WHAT! I don't have an E: drive! And I certainly dont have that file on my computer anywhere.</p><p>But I think there might be a developer somewhere with an E: drive. (oops!) Hmm, and that file extension .cpp, doesn't that mean C++? (Can we fix this without the boss finding out?)</p><p>I don't know if this is <em>the</em> problem causing alot of the issues people are describing, but I think it is worth alerting the Dev team, if they haven't spotted it already.</p><p>If this doesn't fix the issues please let me know as I am having almost as much fun trying to find a solution as actually playing the game <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p>