Well I went out and bought Black & White. I THOUGHT it would work as my machine more than met its recommended system requirements. Oddly, every time the game ran, there was an error. Every single time. There was either an error message or a lockup. I figured it was a driver problem again (have had problems for a while now), so I just flushed my computer with the image restore CD that came with it and then installed DX8 off another CD. No go. I considered the game itself was damaged somehow, so I tried to run another 3d game, but with a less-complicated engine, Jedi Knight, to see if it was the game or my machine. JK ran smoothly for a while, but then started to get... weird. Every time I moved my weapon around after about ten minutes of play, the animation smeared all over the screen. The game still ran, though, with no error messages and no lockups. Actually the enemies kept on attacking. Just smeared animation; it has done this once before on this same machine. So I figured B&W just used a lot of RAM. So before I would start it up, I would close my virus protector and CD-RW burners to free up some memory. The game actually ran much more smoothly and lasted a few minutes longer, but after a while, it again would fail. So I took the drivers/software CD that came with the computer and reinstalled all the drivers. Minutes after doing this I got a bluescreen error message that said (see if I can remember) some VXDs that were recently installed have stacks that are too large. Something like that, but this was a while ago so I vaguely remember. So, Black & White wouldn''t run like it should, and I have uninstalled it until I find out what''s wrong with it and my machine. If you''re a techie, can you think of anything that''s wrong with this? I''m definitely not one and I want to know so it can be fixed.

umm try reinstalled evry thing, F-Disk your computer and reinstale windows, DX, evrything else you may have.
windows is just being its really crappy self, you should do this ones or twos a year (at lest), if that dont work get a better computer (if its an older AMD that would be one)

hope that helps

-VBLimits
Sorry about the Spelling..

Alright. I''ve used fdisk once before on another machine, but it was a while ago. Just to be safe, can you give me instructions on how to do this so I don''t screw it all up.

And if this is a bad idea, can I get a second opinion. Sorry to sound like an idiot, but please help me.


Man I gotta learn this stuff one day.

fdisk will destroy all your stuff. i wouldn''t do it if i were you. maybe it''s a video card problem, i cannot be sure. but reformat should be last option, just wanted to say that, unless of course you don''t have much on there in the first place.

Image restore? Is this an HP?

Your power supply is crapping out or your video card (it happens, they overheat and lock). I''d need detailed specs on your system to make the call.

A tech I was in the same area as had a call where someone was playing a graphics intense game and the power supply burst into flames.

fdisk won''t do shit.

Ben
http://therabbithole.redback.inficad.com

I you re-partion the harddrive (via fdisk), then you know windows didn't leave any configuration information laying around.

If you have less than 128megs of RAM, buy new ram. It's $50 for 128 now.

I can't count how many people try to reinstall windows ontop of an old installation that's fubar, and then are surprised when it's still fubar after the "re-install".

Before you attempt a reinstall fix (which sometimes works & sometimes doesn't); Start windows in safe mode (if you still can), goto the control panel->system->hardware->video card and remove all the entries. If there's languishing drivers there (ones with red X's & yellow !'s) it could be the source of the problem.

If you don't format/fdisk, you're not reinstalling. I've had some luck with renaming windows to winblows and progra~1 to progold prior to re-installing to c:\windows (it'll detect the previous installtion, make certain to change the install directory). If you have data you don't want to lose (and no where else to copy it to), I'd go this route. You need enough space free to reinstall winblows (~300MB). Once it's installed you can delete winblows, and progold; and start reinstalling the drivers & programs.


I have noticed that the cpu & gpu both get alot hotter while playing games. An external (large) cooling fan helps with this.
Replace your CPU fan. They last about two months. Overheating the cpu is like overheating your car engine - once the damage is done...


I've had more problems with B&W locking up than most games. Since it takes 10+ minutes to save or load, I gave-up trying to play the game.
W2k, 256MB SDRAM, 1GHz Athlon, GeForce2 GTS, SB Live!




Magmai Kai Holmlor
- The disgruntled & disillusioned


Edited by - Magmai Kai Holmlor on May 24, 2001 2:22:36 AM

I doubt it''s your PC Some Guy. Unless you have the exact computer the Lionhead programmers used, it is unlikely you will get anywhere near perfect performance, and even then, you would be lucky. BNW is one of the buggiest games to be released in ages, but the Lionhead team is working on a patch and hopefully it will fix these sorts of problems.

I wouldn''t reccomened formatting or anything because I seriously doubt that your computer is really at fault (although it may fix your Jedi Knight probs..)

quote:

---

Original post by KalvinB

Image restore? Is this an HP?

---

Micron

Alright, so I won''t reformat it, and I won''t flush it again because it didn''t help much the first time. Black & White is just too buggy.

I''ll more than consider getting a new fan, too. I''ve had this machine for short of a year now, and have never even _thought_ to get a new fan. I have an AMD Athlon and nVidia Vanta AGP-- I don''t want to replace them because of a crapped-out fan.

I''ll look into my drivers and settings to see what needs help, too.


By the way, what is a stack?

The stack is an area of memory. Sort of.

Er... other things to try:
1.Can you try someone else''s graphics card in there?
2.What about testing a different monitor?

I definetly recommend giving those two a shot to see if either solve the problem.

You said Jedi Knight had display faults too... I''d say this indicates that there is something not quite right with your PC.

Good luck.