WaG Blue screens my system...

[miquelfire]

I would love to know what that graphic quality setting does in that if I set it too low (below 8 I think), the game will actually blue screen my system with a code of 0x7d (Basically, my CPU is messed up and needs to be replaced. WaG is not the only game giving me issues, but only one actually causing a blue screen)

Sadly, as my CPU is below the 2GHz speed (AMD Athlon XP 2000+, running at 1.6GHz I think), I noticed I can't really play at full screen otherwise the game stutters with the sound

Currently I'm playing at 800x600, sadly, that results in a black picture frame on my system as the game is widescreen only, and my system keeps the aspect ratio when a game is not running at my native res for my LCD (1680x1050, 16:10 ratio)

One thing, how does the game figure out the default settings to run? I went to play Muzzled after beating Last Resort, only to get the blue screen, and found the setting at 4.

[DjNDB]

Originally Posted by miquelfire

WaG is not the only game giving me issues, but only one actually causing a blue screen

That screams "Test my Hardware".

But let's check your software first.

Please start dxdiag:
Windows XP: Go to your start menu and click on run. Type in "dxdiag" and hit enter
Windows Vista: Press the windows key on your keyboard or click on the start menu. Type in "dxdiag" and hit enter.

Now click on the button that says "save all information".
It will prompt you to save a file. Save it where you can find it.


Now you have two options to make it accessible for us. Pick the one that works best for you:

1. If you know how, you can zip the file and attach it to a message.
   
2. You can upload it to Rapidshare and copy the link to the file into a new message.

[miquelfire]

Here.

I know I need to get a new computer because I can't play SoMI:SE because of lacking SSE2 stuff (or so the reason/rumor floating around for my processor not working is). Yay for laptop...

[DjNDB]

Since i didn't answer those before:

Originally Posted by miquelfire

Sadly, as my CPU is below the 2GHz speed (AMD Athlon XP 2000+, running at 1.6GHz I think), I noticed I can't really play at full screen otherwise the game stutters with the sound

Currently I'm playing at 800x600, sadly, that results in a black picture frame on my system as the game is widescreen only, and my system keeps the aspect ratio when a game is not running at my native res for my LCD (1680x1050, 16:10 ratio)

One thing, how does the game figure out the default settings to run? I went to play Muzzled after beating Last Resort, only to get the blue screen, and found the setting at 4.

Your processor might be sufficient anyway. I think of minimum requirements
as "you have to be this high to get on this ride". It's not exact, only an estimation. You might still be able to ride without getting hurt.

Start the Task manager (CTRL-SHIFT-ESC) and select the pereformance tab. It shoes you the CPU load.
Now the best way to watch it is if you start the game in a window. Since you are using small resolutions anyway you might be able to see both at once. If you can't you still have the logged information in the graph.

If it does not peak, at least not for more than some seconds, you should be fine with your cpu. If you don't play windowed there will always be a peak when you alt-tab out of the fame. I got confused by that while i was checking my own stats once.

The game always runs in a 16:9 aspect ratio, as you can read here. I think you'll be better of choosing a 16:9 resolution than a 4:3 such as 800:600, concerning the black bars.

[DjNDB]

Originally Posted by miquelfire

Here.

I know I need to get a new computer because I can't play SoMI:SE because of lacking SSE2 stuff (or so the reason/rumor floating around for my processor not working is). Yay for laptop...

Requiring SSE2 is a bit strange. I can't think of any reason why that kind of game would depend on it.

DirectX Files Tab: The file d3d9d.dll is a debug version, which will run slower than the retail version.

Let's do some updating.
Install the latest driver for you graphics card and the newest DirectX. Your's seem to be the SDK judging by the message above.

Sound Tab 1: The file cmaudio.sys is not digitally signed, which means that it has not been tested by Microsoft's Windows Hardware Quality Labs (WHQL). You may be able to get a WHQL logo'd driver from the hardware manufacturer.

Description: Turtle Beach Riviera Wave
Driver Name: cmaudio.sys
Driver Version: 5.12.0001.0643 (English)

WHQL Logo'd: No
Date and Size: 11/17/2002 23:51:40, 377358 bytes

That's one really old non WHQL driver. Might be the reason for your stuttering sound.

The XP Driver on this page, rivi_wdm.exe, should be the right one.

That's it for now.

[miquelfire]

Wow, all those drivers came out this month!

I'll install the new drivers and see if the game runs smoothly with the native res on my monitor. I believe the stuttering is related to a slow CPU, or at least it being a bottleneck for performance. It always is.

[miquelfire]

And I do have the SDK of DirectX installed.

[DjNDB]

Originally Posted by miquelfire

Wow, all those drivers came out this month!

I'll install the new drivers and see if the game runs smoothly with the native res on my monitor. I believe the stuttering is related to a slow CPU, or at least it being a bottleneck for performance. It always is.

The stuttering is related to your Graphics card. It is pretty slow, and since you can't run in low graphics levels it is much too weak for the task. We should try to get it working in Graphics level 1 without blue screening. Level 4 and higher will for sure not work smoothly. The others might.

Originally Posted by miquelfire

And I do have the SDK of DirectX installed.

Do you need it to be the SDK?
I think it wouldn't hurt installing the End-User Runtimes for testing.

There's one more thing we should do. Your dxdiag didn't identify your Mainboard model. We need it for updating your chipset drivers. Let's hope it works this way.


Identifying your mainboard:

Download and install the latest version of cpu-z.
Start it and open the mainboard tab like this:


Write a message containing
Motherboard
Manufacturer:
Model:
Chipset:
BIOS
Brand:
Version:
Date:

[miquelfire]

Gigabyte
GA-7N400-L1 (CPU-Z only reports nVidia-nForce2)
NVIDIA nForce2 Ultra 400

Award
F6
08/02/2004

My version should be F11. With their download, the date matches the F11 version.

Anyway, even with the updates, the game will blue screen the moment it hits level 6 (and most likely below), but the sound doesn't stutter any more. May have been the old drivers.

The stop error is 0x7F, with the first parameter being 0x0D (only page I saw explain that part of the error didn't include this value)

[DjNDB]

Originally Posted by miquelfire

Gigabyte
GA-7N400-L1 (CPU-Z only reports nVidia-nForce2)
NVIDIA nForce2 Ultra 400

Award
F6
08/02/2004

My version should be F11. With their download, the date matches the F11 version.

Anyway, even with the updates, the game will blue screen the moment it hits level 6 (and most likely below), but the sound doesn't stutter any more. May have been the old drivers.

The stop error is 0x7F, with the first parameter being 0x0D (only page I saw explain that part of the error didn't include this value)

That's strange. You can also see the BIOS version when booting. I think that's the most reliable source.

I don't know exactly its position. Here it is on the top (Intel X38...F4), but it might as well be on the bottom. At least the date (here: 19/09/2007) is interresting.
If you know how, you could update to F12.




Here's also the most recent nforce2 chipset driver.

If that doesn't help at least your drivers are up to date :-)

Here's a bunch of things you can try afterwards and test between each one of them:


Fresh Download
Uninstall the game and choose not to delete your save games.
Then make a clean download as described below, and install it.

Deleting temporary internet files:

Before downloading it again it is generally recommended that you
delete your browsers cache/temporary internet files so that it is not loaded from there:

In recent Firefox and Internet Explorer you can delete the cache/temporary internet files with CTRL-Shift-Del.

In Firefox you would only select "Cache".

In Internet Explorer only select "Temporary Internet Files".
Uncheck all other boxes in each case.

After installation check if the error still occurs.



Msconfig for Windows XP:
To Boot Clean in Windows XP

1. Click Start --> Run --> Type MSCONFIG --> Click OK
2. On the General tab, choose Selective Startup
3. Uncheck Process SYSTEM.INI file
4. Uncheck Process WIN.INI file
5. Uncheck Load Startup Items
6. Click on the Services tab
7. At the bottom, check Hide All Microsoft Services
8. Uncheck all boxes in the window or click the button labeled Disable All
6. Click OK
7. Click Restart
8. After reboot, run the game to see if it works.

After performing the necessary steps, restore your system by doing the following:

1. Click Start --> Run --> Type MSCONFIG--> Click OK
2. On the General tab, choose Normal Startup
3. Click OK
4. Click YES, when asked to restart your computer

Based on Will's post



Try if the ToMI demo works, since they have a similar basis.