Game freezing on startup [Archive] - EQ2 Forum Archive @ EQ2Wire

Vunux

10-27-2009, 08:24 PM

Getting a black screen anytime I try to startup EQ2, pointer changes over to the EQ2 one and nothing more then that happens.I've tried: 191, 190, and 186 nvidia drivers, re-installing.Any ideas or suggestions would be appreciated.

TSR-DanielH

10-27-2009, 08:34 PM

Greetings,Can you provide some additional information about your computer? Specifically I would like to know your basic CPU, RAM, and graphics card info. Also, when it crashes will it eventually exit back to desktop or do you need to close it through the task manager or restart? Finally, do you have any type of antivirus on that computer and have you tried disabling it if so?

Vunux

10-27-2009, 08:39 PM

CPU: Opteron 1352Ram: 4gigs, ddr2Graphics card: GTS 250Needed to use task manager to kill it.I've tried disabling my anti-virus and firewall already - no difference unfortunately.

Vunux

10-27-2009, 09:24 PM

Any further suggestions as to what may resolve the issue?Oh, and I'm running vista x64 if that makes any bit of difference.

Vunux

10-28-2009, 01:51 PM

Alright. I've tried getting rid of every unneeded .exe that was running prior to starting up EQ2. That didn't have any effect on the game either. Also tried messing around with a few nvidia control panel settings on the off-chance something was causing issues...Still nothing. <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/9d71f0541cff0a302a0309c5079e8dee.gif" border="0" />

TSR-DanielH

10-28-2009, 07:01 PM

When did this issue start? Were you able to play the game before using this computer or is this a new computer build/your first time playing? If you were able to play with this computer recently then has anything changed since it stopped working?I see that you have tried several driver versions but which one are you using now? I would recommend using the 186 version if you are not doing so right now. Make sure to completely uninstall your current drivers and run a driver cleaner before installing the older version. Updating your sound card and chipset drivers to the latest versions would be a good idea as well.Based on your description this sounds like a driver or memory issue. Are you experiencing any issues with other games that you play?

Vunux

10-28-2009, 07:09 PM

<cite>TSR-DanielH wrote:</cite><blockquote>When did this issue start? Were you able to play the game before using this computer or is this a new computer build/your first time playing? If you were able to play with this computer recently then has anything changed since it stopped working?I see that you have tried several driver versions but which one are you using now? I would recommend using the 186 version if you are not doing so right now. Make sure to completely uninstall your current drivers and run a driver cleaner before installing the older version. Updating your sound card and chipset drivers to the latest versions would be a good idea as well.Based on your description this sounds like a driver or memory issue. Are you experiencing any issues with other games that you play?</blockquote>I played EQ2 towards the start of the year just fine. Very little has changed on this machine since. For the time being I've switched back to 191 drivers, but I'll keep the 186 drivers in mind.Oh and all my other games run perfectly fine.

TSR-DanielH

10-28-2009, 08:34 PM

<cite>Vunux wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite></cite>I played EQ2 towards the start of the year just fine. Very little has changed on this machine since. For the time being I've switched back to 191 drivers, but I'll keep the 186 drivers in mind.Oh and all my other games run perfectly fine.</blockquote>Try loading the game from the Everquest2.exe that is located in your Everquest 2 directory. Before you do that, though, set that specific file to run in compatibility mode for XP. You can set it that way be following these steps:1. Right click on the program launch icon2. Left click on "Properties".3. In the new window that pops up click on the "Compatibility" tab.4. In the "Compatibility Mode" area check the box next to "Run this program in compatibility mode for:"5. In the drop down list make certain that "Windows XP (Service Pack 2)" is selected.Let us know if you are able to access the game using that method. If so, try reloading from the regular launchpad again.

Vunux

10-28-2009, 08:41 PM

<cite>TSR-DanielH wrote:</cite><blockquote>Try loading the game from the Everquest2.exe that is located in your Everquest 2 directory. Before you do that, though, set that specific file to run in compatibility mode for XP. You can set it that way be following these steps:1. Right click on the program launch icon2. Left click on "Properties".3. In the new window that pops up click on the "Compatibility" tab.4. In the "Compatibility Mode" area check the box next to "Run this program in compatibility mode for:"5. In the drop down list make certain that "Windows XP (Service Pack 2)" is selected.Let us know if you are able to access the game using that method. If so, try reloading from the regular launchpad again.</blockquote>With compatibility mode checked theres no visible window, but the .exe is running the background (checking with task manager). while taking up almost no memory at all. Without compability mode the game window shows up and is "Not responding" (As windows puts it) with the usual black, no sound, just the pointer changes. Either way I have to kill the .exe with task manager.

TSR-DanielH

10-28-2009, 08:47 PM

<cite>Vunux wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite></cite>With compatibility mode checked theres no visible window, but the .exe is running the background (checking with task manager). while taking up almost no memory at all. Without compability mode the game window shows up and is "Not responding" (As windows puts it) with the usual black, no sound, just the pointer changes. Either way I have to kill the .exe with task manager.</blockquote>I know you mentioned that you disabled your antivirus but this really sounds like a security program has quarantined the game. Open the quarantine list for that antivirus and see if the game is on there. If it quarantined the program before you disabled it then it could still be causing this problem. We use symantec in the office so I can help you find that list if you use that same program.Also, post your DXdiag.

Vunux

10-28-2009, 08:57 PM

I use ESET and it doesn't seem to have done so to any of the EQ2 files.

Vunux

10-28-2009, 08:59 PM

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Vunux

10-28-2009, 09:03 PM

(Removed)

Vunux

10-29-2009, 12:50 AM

Hah! Managed to get an error to pop up finally after messing around with the everquest2.exe"Everquest II has detected an unrecoverable error and must shutdown.(Location of file) Directx9RenderDevice.cpp (1459):Failed to create D3D device for NVIDIA Geforce GTS 250"Not sure if that error is related to the troubles I'm having, or what. but I did get that to show up once and only once.

TSR-DanielH

10-29-2009, 05:10 PM

<cite>Vunux wrote:</cite><blockquote>Hah! Managed to get an error to pop up finally after messing around with the everquest2.exe"Everquest II has detected an unrecoverable error and must shutdown.(Location of file) Directx9RenderDevice.cpp (1459):Failed to create D3D device for NVIDIA Geforce GTS 250"Not sure if that error is related to the troubles I'm having, or what. but I did get that to show up once and only once.</blockquote>You're still using the 191 drivers in the DXdiag that you posted. As mentioned previously you need to uninstall those drivers and revert to the 186 version. With your current setup it would be impossible to tell if we fixed anything since you'll simply transition from one crash issue to the next. The crash issue you're seeing here is a direct result of the 191 drivers.

Silmaranel

10-31-2009, 10:31 AM

I have the same issue. Stopped playing after GU52 (around June), resubbed today to try the new things that GU53 added, just to see EQ2 window on startup being black and staying that way till I kill it from task manager. Only thing I've changed are drivers, going to 191 for Aion.I uninstalled those drivers, rebooted pc, cancelled windows automatic driver download (since it was re-downloading 191), installed 186 manually, rebooted again.Window still stays black, after full file scan, both in windowed or full-screen mode, returning no error at all. Considering I resubbed 2 accounts today it's 27 Eur spent for staring at a black screen... awesome.If there is a deeper way to revert back to old drivers apart from uninstalling them, please enlighten me. I am wondering if maybe there is some corrupted files (I've always kept EQ2 up-to-date even when not playing) that needs deleting (I remember in GU52 having to delete a patch file otherwise the launcher would freeze), please let me know.

Comalv

10-31-2009, 04:28 PM

Same, had 191, black screen, reverted back still black screen. I tried something, that was uninstalling drivers, cleaning from any trace of the drivers, rebooting, launching the game before I installed ANY drivers, still same response, if it was a driver issue it would say the driver version isn't supported or at least it would actually crash (like when I tried to run the game the first time from the notebook 2 or so years ago, it crashed giving a direct3d error because drivers were too old), but it seems it doesn't even get to that point. So unless 191 installed something that CANNOT be uninstalled/reverted (very doubtful) that is causing this issue, or with some update something went wrong and people with a particular hardware setup are experiencing this

Vunux

10-31-2009, 05:12 PM

<cite>Comalv wrote:</cite><blockquote>Same, had 191, black screen, reverted back still black screen. I tried something, that was uninstalling drivers, cleaning from any trace of the drivers, rebooting, launching the game before I installed ANY drivers, still same response, if it was a driver issue it would say the driver version isn't supported or at least it would actually crash (like when I tried to run the game the first time from the notebook 2 or so years ago, it crashed giving a direct3d error because drivers were too old), but it seems it doesn't even get to that point. So unless 191 installed something that CANNOT be uninstalled/reverted (very doubtful) that is causing this issue, or with some update something went wrong and people with a particular hardware setup are experiencing this</blockquote>Well... I've since reverted back to the 186 drivers after going through the fun of completely removing the 191 drivers as you did. Although I ended up with the SAME black screen as before. No errors. Just freezes up. Ah well. Hopefully one of the SOE tech guys will have some more ideas on what may fix this.

Comalv

10-31-2009, 05:18 PM

yeah that's what I meant, i still get stuck to the black screen

Vunux

11-01-2009, 12:47 AM

Well I figured out what the problem was!For me it was my C-media Audio drivers... Now the question is, do I really want to do everything without sound simply to play EQ2?I was using the "CMI8768+" C-Media drivers in-case anyone would like to know.

Comalv

11-01-2009, 07:57 AM

Ty very much, disabled my Asus Xonar D2X and game launched flawlessly.So I guess instead of fixing issues related to the card (I had voice chat issues before I resubbed), they just completely broke any support they had for my card, will try with different Audio drivers but something tells me it's not gonna work.Will reply anyway if I try in case anyone else has this issue

Vunux

11-01-2009, 12:21 PM

<cite>Comalv wrote:</cite><blockquote>Ty very much, disabled my Asus Xonar D2X and game launched flawlessly.So I guess instead of fixing issues related to the card (I had voice chat issues before I resubbed), they just completely broke any support they had for my card, will try with different Audio drivers but something tells me it's not gonna work.Will reply anyway if I try in case anyone else has this issue</blockquote>I'll be doing the same. Maybe theres a way to make the audio to get along with the game....

Comalv

11-02-2009, 09:09 AM

Installed new Xonar drivers the fiddled around with sounds settings (since I had no audio in any application), and when I finally fixed it, EQ2 was back to normal

Vunux

11-02-2009, 12:33 PM

<cite>Comalv wrote:</cite><blockquote>Installed new Xonar drivers the fiddled around with sounds settings (since I had no audio in any application), and when I finally fixed it, EQ2 was back to normal</blockquote>Heh. Good to hear someone fixed the issue for themselves. I'm not so lucky...Theres only one driver ver I could find for my audio card. Meaning I can't play EQ2....Gah.

Comalv

11-02-2009, 04:09 PM

If you're running Windows 7 let it install the optimal driver for your soundcard (go into the sound panel, right click either the speakers you're using or the mic, i did it for both, properties, driver window, update driver). Worst case scenario nothing happens <img src="/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

TSR-DanielH

11-02-2009, 04:52 PM

<cite>Vunux wrote:</cite><blockquote>Heh. Good to hear someone fixed the issue for themselves. I'm not so lucky...Theres only one driver ver I could find for my audio card. Meaning I can't play EQ2....Gah.</blockquote>What operating system are you using currently? If this is Windows 7 then keep in mind that the OS just released and driver support always takes a little while to catch up. I'm not really familiar with C-Media audio cards. You said that there was only one driver version available, but when was that driver version released?

Vunux

11-03-2009, 04:15 AM

<cite>TSR-DanielH wrote:</cite><blockquote>What operating system are you using currently? If this is Windows 7 then keep in mind that the OS just released and driver support always takes a little while to catch up. I'm not really familiar with C-Media audio cards. You said that there was only one driver version available, but when was that driver version released?</blockquote>"2009-01-09" (According to the website I got the drivers from)

TSR-DanielH

11-03-2009, 04:56 PM

<cite>Vunux wrote:</cite><blockquote>"2009-01-09" (According to the website I got the drivers from)</blockquote>Is that January 9 or September 1? Without knowing where you're from it would be hard to guess. Either way, both of those drivers came out before the release of Win7. I could understand a September release working correctly but I'm fairly sure a January release would have some issues. Do they have some kind of support you can contact to see if those drivers support Windows 7 and whether or not they plan to support it in the future? Only having one driver release in a year is fairly bad.

Vunux

11-05-2009, 03:26 PM

Seems like the problems happening on vista and windows 7 for me. I recall that back when I had windows XP that the game ran perfectly fine with the XP version of the driver... Any ideas on that one? And yeah. They seem to rarely update drivers...Quality. I may just go back to using onboard at this rate.