Not Responding

[14lexington]

<p>I have 6 different characters. When ever I try to play my Level 17 Freeblood Assassin whom is currently in Timorous Deep on Antonia Bayle Server, the game stops responding. It does not do this on any other charcter, just him. I'm wondering since I bought my Freeblood the Freeblood pack (bats, claws, and house) if that has something to do with it. I only assume this since he is the only one that causes the game to *not responding* while loading.</p>

[Levatino]

<p>also having this on my newly created iksar monk. Suddenly game stops responding and have to restart the game</p>

[14lexington]

So, Levatino and I are the only ones having this problem then?

[Petrosapien]

<p>I have this same problem in Timorous Deep on my Iksar Inquisitor. Can you all even access those toons at all, because I can't even do anything to retrieve my character.</p>

[Levatino]

<p>Curious my char is also in TD, related?</p>

[Kpau]

<p>Any time I switch characters:</p><p>1) using /camp Toon</p><p>2) Logging in initially using the character select screen.</p><p>It will hang and start flipping between Respond/Not-Responding ... the only way to move is to kill the EQ2 process from the task manager.</p><p>Interestingly, I usually succeed in getting into the game, if I select the character from the Sony Launcher.  I've filed a bug but no response... and I'll admit its not trivial to describe since the UI is terrible at letting me know what handshaking might be failing.</p>

[Kpau]

<p>Of course, immediately after posting - I had an epiphany.</p><p>DoV put in a NEW executable (named the same but a different checksum). Windows 7 Firewall wasn't notified the new executable was "ok" so it removed the eq2.exe from the "ok to pass" list. (fail Sony EQ).</p><p>The firewall... didn't bother to notify me it had done that (fail Microsoft). I went into the control panel, examined the "ok" list on the firewall ... the eq2 voice module was still listed, but NOT the main client. I added it back in and started the game: suddenly my '/camp' and my character screen selects are working again. Bloody hell.</p><p>Microsoft operating systems need to return to doing their REAL job instead of doing all the OTHER jobs badly, but then I still think the Registry idea was bloody lunacy.</p>

[TSR-JoshuaM]

<p>Can anyone else confirm Kpau's fix for your own issues?  I had a feeling this was the case initially.</p><p>Double and triple check your security applications, firewall exceptions, everything.</p>

[Kpau]

<p>I spoke too soon.... the problem only seemed to go away for a while.  Its back in full force and I' rechecked the firewall.</p><p>I'm running in windows 7 so next thing I'll try is the compatibility mode (xp sp 3) on the eq2 executable.  Should I run the launcher in compatibility mode as well?  "turn off the firewall" is not a solution (unless you like running naked in nettles).</p><p>Until Velious, I was able to switch characters without any issues -- this basically makes it impossible to switch characters to bring up a crafter unless the customer is willing to wait up to 10 minutes for me to relog... in other words, why even try?</p><p>I'm beginning to think I need to log all handshaking during a game run and try to see exactly where the breakdown in protocol occurs.  Lovely way to spend an evening <img src="/smilies/9d71f0541cff0a302a0309c5079e8dee.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p><p>Part of what is befuddling is that it isn't consistent/repeatable all the time...</p>

[TSR-JoshuaM]

<p>Kpau, where do you have the game installed to?  Right click the icon and select open file location.</p>

[Kpau]

<p>Game is installed at: D:ProgramDataSony Online EntertainmentInstalled GamesEverQuest II (the free trial account install did everything except the D: part <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" /> , when I ended up using the SONY launcher to get updates properly back in the fall 2010, it downloaded everything again rather annoyingly but to the same spot) Okay, it seems to be working again after I changed the program executable to run "compatibility mode XP SP 3". So this is what I've done so far: 1) Checked firewall, updated as necessary to let executable pass. 2) Set compatibility of executable to "XP SP 3" So far have not elevated privileges to administrator. Again - it *seems* to be working, I've been switching characters frequently just to slam it a bit. Will walk away for a while and then slam it again in an hour or so.</p><p>The only downside is now the UAC whines at me when I start up (stupid implementation, once you clear it and it knows the checksum it shouldn't ask again).  FYI, I'm running Win 7 (64 bit).</p><p> Thanks to some official noticing ... will keep you posted as necessary.  I will note again I did not have to do any of this prior to the DoV patch so it naturally makes me curious as to what configuration the developers do their work on and on what operating systems they test it on.</p>

[TSR-JoshuaM]

<p>ProgramData is protected, and hidden, specifically by design.</p><p>I would suggest moving the game from that folder and fixing your shortcuts accordingly.  This should get around the UAC nagging.  You may not need to run it in compatibility mode once you have moved the game folder to something unprotected, such as the root of D (i.e. D:<span >Sony Online EntertainmentInstalled GamesEverQuest II) </span></p>

[Kpau]

<p>Okay will move the location and update icons, thought it was an odd location anyway. Otherwise - the bandaids applied seem to be letting me /camp "switch toon" at will now.</p>

[Kpau]

<p>Moving the folder out of Program Data to root of D: didn't relieve the UAC issue but that's rather minor.  Turning off compatiblity no matter where I put it brings back the "respond-norespond" hanging loop.  The executable and Win7 are clearly expecting some kind of slightly different protocol or there's some bogosity on the interaction with the firewall.</p><p>Will try turning the firewall off along with unchecking the compatibility mode tonight.  I'm behind a NAT+firewall router anyway so the MS firewall is broken-overkill anyway.</p><p>I have it "working" so further research is more academic than "I can't play"... would just like to illuminate the actual problem/solution rather than band-aid and move on.</p>

[Kpau]

Meh.... I'm not going to torque my win7 operating system around the bend just to suit EQ2, so it'll stay in compatibility mode for the foreseeable future. I'd much rather they spend resources on the Shader 3.0 issues or maybe a fashion update of lower tier gear.

[Ojarra]

<p>I too am having a similar issue, but it happens in Broker Window, when I put something in crate, and do a search for price, the game stops responding, which of course means a total shutdown,,,very very frustrating.</p><p>I run WinXP, so its not just related to Win7/Vista apparently.</p>

[TSR-JoshuaM]

<p>@Ojarra are you using a custom UI mod?</p>