Dungeon Siege problem........

[Hanamichi]

Well , I installed Dungeon Siege and was eager to play it when this message " Unable to locate DDRAW.DLL " message or something like that popped up. any ideas ? :(

[Betamax]

sounds like a DirectX issue. Reinstall it. If that doesn't work then update your video drivers.

[Hanamichi]

Whoa that was quick. Alright ill try it , thanks ;)

[Hanamichi]

Doesnt work :(
Hmm.... no patches yet ? Ill install new drivers i guess......

[sxamiga]

Hanamichi, I have the same problem w/Dungeon Siege. It causes problem w/Direct Draw, causes an illegal operation in Module Unknown, and other things. When an error report is generated and i try to send it, the computer locks up and the only way to get out of it is to press cntrl alt delete and then end task. I have barely been able to do anything in thegame at all. Since you are having thesame problems, and I am using the latest video drivers, Detonator version 28.32, I would say it is another "shoddy" MS relase. Some people seem to have no problems, but you and I, and maybe more, are. I hope some patches come out soon, otherwise i just wasted my money.
sincerely,
sx/amiga

[Hanamichi]

Hey Sx , After downloading the newer drivers and reinstalling windows , thing still didnt work out for me .... then I reinstalled a non-DS DirectX 8.0 and it worked. Maybe you should try installing DirectX from another game like MoHAA or something ?

edit: BTW , I have some minor graphical problems as well , like weird symbols appearing on objects . This dog-like creature has black skin and white words on top of it... some programming symbols. Kinda like The Matrix...

[spajdr]

Interesting : i didnt have any graphic problems or stability problems,i tried it on three different systems.Hanamichi what graphic card you have ? Ive had here direct X 6.0,reinstalled it to 8.1 from DS cd,everything was fine.Im most of time on planet dungeon siege forum now,im throwing url to section for you guys,maybe it will help you.http://www.forumplanet.com/planetdungeonsiege/forum.asp?fid=4803

[Hanamichi]

Im usin a GeForce2 MX . No problems so far , only in DS .... weird

[sxamiga]

Thanks Spajdr, I'll check out that link just as soon as I get my system back together. I reinstalled Windows and installed DX 8.1 from the DS CD. I'm also still using the very latest and the only Detonators optimized for my card, the 28.32 Detonators. If DS and Grandia 2 still don't work, then I give up. I do not really want to reinstall Windows again and, like DX 8.0. As gorgeous as those two games are, no games are worth all that. At least, not to me they aren't.:(
sincerely,
sx/amiga

[Hanamichi]

Uh , you formatted or something ? I only reinstalled windows to get the DLL files back , and installed DX8 downloaded from Microsoft.com to get it working..

[sxamiga]

No Hanamichi, I didn't format, I just reinstalled windows without formating the drive. But DS still does not work. What I'm getting is Access Violation errors. But what is it accessing that is causing the errrors, Windows, Direct Draw, Direct Sound, could be any number of things. So what I am wondering is, did you reinstall DX 8.0 or 8.1? I'm using DX 8.1 from the DS CD and it isn't working. I'm think of going back a step to DX 8.0 and see if that helps. Reinstall Windows, again:mad: , and then DX 8.0. What do you think?
sincerely,
sx/amiga

[Hanamichi]

What I did was reinstalling windows to get the lost .dll files back , then reinstalled DirectX 8.0 downloaded from Microsoft.com. It appears that the DX8.1 from the DS cd gives me alot of problems...
Im not sure if it will work for you though , best of luck :(

[sxamiga]

Thanks for the reply Hanamichi, I'll try it tomorrow. I'll post and let you know what I find out. BTW, I saw over at Planet Dugeon Siege that Dungeon Siege is really a DX 7.0 game. It just uses DX 8.1 for a few things.
sincerely,
sx/amiga

[Hanamichi]

Hey , being helpful gives more stars ;) jk
So how's it now ?

[sxamiga]

It is a complete and total wash out. It simply will not run on my system. Last night it "screwed" up my video driver. I don't know if it can't handle my card, my video drivers, or what the h**l it is. Until Gas powered Games or :spy: MS decides to fix it or puts out patches for it (if they ever do), I give up. The trouble it has caused me is not worth it. I have already sent in two bug reports to Gas Powered Games, maybe that will do something. Lastly, the funny thing is, it will run on my friends system and his is much less than mine. He has an AMD K-63 450, a generic sound card, and a generic video card (that does do 3d). It runs fine for him, but not for me. Thanks for asking though.
sincerely,
sx/amiga

[spajdr]

sxamiga : Hmm interesting ... i think they didnt test game with GF4 Ti at all,cause its too new.I hope first patch will fix your problem,i didnt encountered any crash for now.Just sometimes theres been no sound (only one time actually).

[sxamiga]

spajdr, I think that you have "Hit the nail on the head." as they say. I totally agree with you. I think it is my video card and, possibly, the drivers I am using. What drivers are you using, if I may ask? I am using the 28.32 detonator drivers because these are the only drivers that are optimized for my card. I went over to the Vision Tek site (the makers of my card) and drivers that they had listed for it were the 28.32s also. I got my drivers directly from Nvidias site, so they are not rip offs or illegal. What ever the problem, there is nothing more I can do at this point. I have tried everything and I mean everything, but for get it. Exceptions every single time. I'll just have to "wait it out" and see what they come up with. Thanks for replying, I appriecate it.
Thanks, too, Hanamichi, for your help and good advice as well.
sincerely,
sx/amiga
P.S I formatted my Hard Drive Last night and reinstalled Windows. Then I tried Dungeon Siege again, same problems.

[Hanamichi]

Im using the same drivers as yours .....
My DS cd would be in the thrash can by now had I that problem of yours , sx... It was a gift anyway.
Sorry for you :(

[spajdr]

sxamiga : did you tried to write your problem to Microsoft tech ? And i use same detonators as you. When you get it working,dont play it solo on hard,cause its not that hard,but it takes too long time to kill anything,what is past the caves.

*UPDATE* if you have problems with game,try to download detonator 28.80 beta (for XP/2000)
at http://www.guru3d.com/files/detonator/

[sxamiga]

Thanks for the advice spadjr. Maybe I will try writing to MS Tech and see what they can come up with. I have sent 3 bug reports to Gas Powered Games and I'm waiting to see what happens with them. I know you and Hanamichi are using the same drivers, but I have a GeForce4 TI 4600 video card and I think that that card plus those drivers are causing problems w/the game. The card is so new, that, as you mentioned spadjr, it hadn't even come out when they were still working on the game. The problem seems, possibly, to be w/Direct Draw because another game that uses Direct Draw has problems also. I have no problems w/OGL and I did get Grandia 2 running. Also, I would "love" to try the 28.80 Detonators, but they are for Win XP/2000 and I have Win 98 First Edition, so I don't think that they would work for me. Thanks for all your help, though, guys, I really appriecate it.
sincerely,
sx/amiga

[Cless]

Do you should read the insructions it says on there that they had probelms with GeForce 4's. And to wait for Nvidia to fix it.

[sxamiga]

delita, where did you hear this? I ask because I have read the manuel throughly, and I didn't see anything about that. I'm not doubting you, I just would like to know where you saw this so I can check it out myself. If this is the case, then that is my problem, my card simply will not work w/this game at this time. Thanks for any reply.
sincerely,
sx/amiga

[Cless]

I'm sorry not the manuel it is in the readme.
It says:
Specific 3-D Graphic Accelerator Issues
There are a number of known issues for 3-D graphics accelerators. If a problem affects all or most cards of a particular chipset, the chipset is listed below. If the issue only affects specific cards of a chipset, then the card name and chipset are listed. It is usually a good practice to install the latest certified drivers for all of your hardware (unless otherwise noted below).

[Bgnome]

http://search.support.microsoft.com/search/default.aspx?Catalog=LCID=1033&CDID=EN-US-KB&PRODLISTSRC=ON&Product=msall&Query=Dungeon%2520Siege&Queryc=Dungeon+Siege&withinResults=false&srchstep=0&KeywordType=ALL&Titles=false&numDays=&maxResults=25

check under "known video issues"

[sxamiga]

Thanks for the link Bgnome, I have already seen and read it. While it does not pertain, specifically, to the GeForce4, some of those issues could be what is happening. I think it may be a Direct Draw problem. I'm thinking of installing a lower version driver and see if that helps any. Currently, I am using the 28.32 drivers, these are the only ones that are optimized for my card. Anything below these will work w/my card but are optimized for the GeForce3 and below. Thanks again for the help.
Delita, thanks for responding, I've read the read me throughly and have not found anything specifically related to the GF4. But maybe, as I've said, the issues w/the GF3s pertain to the GF4 as well, plus there may be some new issuses as well.
sincerely,
sx/amiga

[spajdr]

sxamiga : Maybe problem lies in Win98 with cooperation with GF4. Did you tried to throw your graphic card on some friends PC that have different operating system ? In the meantime here are some more screenshots from the game. (I finally got next 128 DDR RAM,so playing DS rocks !)

[sxamiga]

That is good idea spadjr, but all my friends, except for one, don't have PCs. The one friends who does, uses Win 98 and so does my Mother-in-Laws PC. But I had an idea, I'm going to try "downgrading" my drivers to the 27.42s and I'm going to try treating my GF4 as if it were a GF3 and follow the suggestions in the read me. Maybe that will do the trick. I think you are correct about the GF4 not cooperating, but I think it is not cooperating w/Direct Draw which Dungeon Siege uses. I say this because I have a Mahjongg game for my wife and I can't run it in 3D, it crashes every time. It uses DX and driect draw to do its 3D. Do you see what i am getting at? OGL works fine, but Direct Draw seems to have a problem, I think. Thanks for the suggestion.
sincerely,
sx/amiga

[Cless]

I use a geforce 3 and it works fine. it might be some thing else. I'm not sure what.

[sxamiga]

I'm using a GeForce4 TI 4600 and it dosen't work, at all. It crashes "hard, fast, and repeatadly". I've tried everything I can think of. It is now up to MS or Gas Powered Games to fix it, I can't.
sincerely,
sx/amiga

[sxamiga]

That sounds like a good idea Spadjr, how do you disable T&L? I'm not sure I know how or have seen how to do it. if you could explain, I might try that. Still, it seems odd, because my card should be able to handle T&L, I would think.
sincverely,
sx/amiga

[Hanamichi]

Originally posted by sxamiga
That is good idea spadjr, but all my friends, except for one, don't have PCs. The one friends who does, uses Win 98 and so does my Mother-in-Laws PC. But I had an idea, I'm going to try "downgrading" my drivers to the 27.42s and I'm going to try treating my GF4 as if it were a GF3 and follow the suggestions in the read me. Maybe that will do the trick. I think you are correct about the GF4 not cooperating, but I think it is not cooperating w/Direct Draw which Dungeon Siege uses. I say this because I have a Mahjongg game for my wife and I can't run it in 3D, it crashes every time. It uses DX and driect draw to do its 3D. Do you see what i am getting at? OGL works fine, but Direct Draw seems to have a problem, I think. Thanks for the suggestion.
sincerely,
sx/amiga

Forget about DS for a while and play REAL Mahjong with your wife and someone else. Its fun and exercises your logical thinking.;)

[spajdr]

sxamiga > did you tried to disable T&L ? in setup menu,i dont seen any speed decrease.

[Cless]

sxamiga: your should be able to kill anything that uses t&l hell my computer can run DS with quinnix FSSA and 1024 res and get a decent frame rate.

[sxamiga]

Delita, I know that, but, at this stage of the game, I'm willing to try anything. I also ran accross another idea that might help. But, basically, you are right. My 1.4 T-Bird and GF4 TI 4600 should be able to handle this game easily, but they aren't, something is wrong.
sincerely,
sx/amiga

[Cless]

I guess there is nothing you can do except wait and see what ms or gpg says.