Need tech help.
By
Addicted,
Posted on: 2010-05-26 16:38 in ALL ACCESS Gameplay Technical Issues Bugs
I believe that's one of your OpenGL files. I'd try making sure your video drivers are up to date and see what that does. If you've not ever updated them that could be an issue.
I'd suggest reading over this thread and seeing if you can get the solution there.
You might post the results of the Helper program found here.
That may tell us a bit more about the system.
Edit: Here's the link to the HijackThis program. You might run it as well and post the results here.
My Deviant Art page link-link
CoH/V Fan Videos
This is what the helper program came up with.
---System information gathered by CoH Helper version 0.2.0.2---
DxDiag gathered at May 26, 2010 17:40 (-07:00)
Operating System: Windows Vista Home Premium (6.0, Build 6002) Service Pack 2 (6002.vistasp2_gdr.100218-0019)
System Manufacturer: TOSHIBA
System Model: Satellite M305
BIOS: PhoenixBIOS 4.0 Release 6.1
Central Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU T5550 @ 1.83GHz (2 CPUs), ~1.8GHz
Memory: 2038MB
.Net Memory Report: 905MB out of 2037MB available
Page File: 3455MB (1576MB currently in use)
C Drive: (TOSHIBA MK2546GSX) 129019MB out of 236973MB (54%) free
D Drive: (PIONEER DVD-RW DVRKD08L ATA Device) zero-size drive
Windows directory location: C:\Windows
DirectX: DirectX 11
DirectX Diag version: 7.00.6002.18107 (32-bit version)
Display Notes: No problems found.
Sound Notes: No problems found.
No problems found.
Input Notes: No problems found.
Monitor: Generic PnP Monitor
Monitor's Max Resolution: (blank)
Video Device Name: Mobile Intel(R) 965 Express Chipset Family
Manufacturer / Chip: Intel Corporation / Mobile Intel(R) 965 Express Chipset Family
Video Memory: 358 MB
Driver Version: 7.14.0010.1329
Driver Date: 9/13/2007 2:23:46 PM
Driver Language: English
Sound Device Description: Speakers (Conexant High Definition SmartAudio 221)
Driver File: CHDART.sys
Driver Version: 4.36.0006.0000
Driver Date: 2/1/2008 12:46:08 PM
Sound Device Description: SPDIF Interface (Conexant High Definition SmartAudio 221)
Driver File: CHDART.sys
Driver Version: 4.36.0006.0000
Driver Date: 2/1/2008 12:46:08 PM
WMI Information
Motherboard Manufacturer: TOSHIBA
Motherboard Model: (empty)
Motherboard Product: Satellite M305
Motherboard Version: Not Applicable
BIOS Manufacturer: TOSHIBA
BIOS Name: PhoenixBIOS 4.0 Release 6.1
BIOS Version: TOSQCI - 6040000
BIOS Release: 20080306000000.000000+000
Registry Information for Current User
Resolution: 1024x2147483647
3D Resolution: 1024x2147483647 (Not using renderscale)
Full Screen: No
Maximized: No
Screen Position: Unknown, Unknown
Refresh Rate: UnknownHz
Vertical Sync Enabled: No
Physics Quality: Unknown (2147483647)
Maximum Particles: 50000
Max Particle Fill? 10.000
Physics Card Enabled: No
Anti-aliasing: Unknown (2147483647)
Anisotropic Filtering: Unknown (2147483647)
Texture LOD Bias: Unknown (2147483647)
Water Effects: Unknown (2147483647)
Bloom: 1.000 (turned off)
Depth of Field Enabled: No
Desaturation Effects (Sepia) Enabled: No
Shader Detail: Unknown (2147483647)
World Texture Level: Unknown (2147483647)
Character Texture Level: Unknown (2147483647)
World Detail Level (Vis_Scale): 1.000
Entity Detail Level: 1.000
Shadows Enabled: No
Shadow Mode: Unknown (2147483647)
Shadow Map Shader: Unknown (2147483647)
Environmental Reflections: Unknonwn (2147483647)
Advanced Occlusion Settings: No
Ambient Occlusion: Off
Occlusion Strength: Unknonwn (2147483647)
Blur: Unknonwn (2147483647)
Ambient Resolution: Unknonwn (2147483647)
Gamma Correction: 1.000
Geometry Buffers (VBOs) Enabled: No
Suppression of FX When Camera Close Enabled: No
Close Suppression Range: 3.000
Show Advertisements: Yes
Audio Mode: Performance
3D Audio: No
FX Sound Volume: 1.000
Music Sound Volume: 0.600
Show Advanced Graphics Options: No
Overall Graphics Quality: 0.500
Reverse Mouse Buttons: No
Save Login Username: Yes
Transfer Rate: 473038 bytes/second
Current Game Version: 1800.201003300904.25T5r
Installation Directory: C:\Program Files\City of Heroes
Mod files in the Data directory
No modifications found
I have no idea what any of that means, hopefully someone can help me out lol.
It means your video drivers are way out of date.
Unfortunately, Toshiba has a bad habit (as do many OEM') of tweaking the code for their laptops so that you can only install their official drivers. Intel has a newer driver but the Toshiba tweaks likely won't let it install. It's still a little over a year old, but it's all that's available.
You can "try" to install it, it won't hurt anything.
If the game spit out 20 dollar bills people would complain that they weren't sequentially numbered. If they were sequentially numbered people would complain that they weren't random enough.
Black Pebble is my new hero.
Yea, it will not let me update with that one, does that mean that I have to buy a new computer or something?
That's not something I'll answer either positively or negatively. It's a decision only you can make.
If the game spit out 20 dollar bills people would complain that they weren't sequentially numbered. If they were sequentially numbered people would complain that they weren't random enough.
Black Pebble is my new hero.
Quote:
Since this is a mobile chipset and the Toshiba is a Satellite (a laptop line), I'm pretty comfortable in saying "yep".|
Originally Posted by Shin100
Yea, it will not let me update with that one, does that mean that I have to buy a new computer or something?
|
I'm sorry. If this were a desktop machine you'd have upgrade options. Since it's a laptop, your options come in two varieties.
- Slim
- None
Clicking on the linked image above will take you off the City of Heroes site. However, the guides will be linked back here.
Thats kinda sad they upgrade their graphics and now I have to pay for it. Well thanks for the great answers, but I have one last question. What do I need to look for on my new computer so I don't have a problem like this again?
Quote:
Steer clear of proprietary systems, heh. If you're toying with the idea of getting a desktop, a good starting point would be to take a look at the systems in Father Xmas's sig. If you're gunning for a laptop, I'm not sure as I don't keep up on current laptop model lines.
|
Originally Posted by Shin100
Thats kinda sad they upgrade their graphics and now I have to pay for it. Well thanks for the great answers, but I have one last question. What do I need to look for on my new computer so I don't have a problem like this again?
|
Quote:
this is a hard question to answer, and here's why: http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showp...47&postcount=4|
Originally Posted by Shin100
Thats kinda sad they upgrade their graphics and now I have to pay for it. Well thanks for the great answers, but I have one last question. What do I need to look for on my new computer so I don't have a problem like this again?
|
Quote:
|
There's a very good reason why for years neither AMD nor Nvidia gave official support for laptops. Vendors can, and did, often change chip configurations such as clock speeds, memory buses, memory amounts, and even ordered special chips with cut pixel processing pipelines or on-board disabled hardware. Vendors would also link extra display hardware, such as the LCD luminosity controls (brightness / tint / hue) to the graphics chip, components that wouldn't be in the reference driver. So while the chip in your laptop may have been sold as a Geforce 440MX... it might not actually have BEEN a 440MX, and it might not map to a reference 440MX's device-id's and IRQ's. |
For years ATi/AMD and Nvidia have largely depended on the Vendors to keep their drivers up to date. In recent months, both companies have started releasing the reference drivers, used by the ODM's and OEM's to the public. These reference drivers may or may not work with the graphics chipset that your laptop ultimately uses.
***
There's also the additional financial incentive on behalf of the actual laptop vendors to NOT update the drivers for their hardware. Their theory runs like this: If they update their drivers and continue to provide support, customers will have no reason to buy a new laptop. If they discontinue the hardware and drop support, an eventual software change will mean that the laptop is no longer functional and customers will HAVE TO BUY new equipment.
The reason desktop vendors (largely) can't, or don't do this, is that components used in desktop computers are rarely proprietary or specially manufactured. True, some companies like Dell do go out of their way to use non-standard motherboard connections or mounting points... but for the most part, commodity parts are commodity.
***
From a perspective moving forward, there's no guarantee that any laptop vendor you buy from will have a chipset that AMD or Nvidia will support as a company later down the line. About the only thing that can be guaranteed is that the laptop vendor will not be updating the driver on their own.
Quote:
The three main ingredients in this feces sandwich you find yourself being forced to palate are:|
Originally Posted by Shin100
Thats kinda sad they upgrade their graphics and now I have to pay for it. Well thanks for the great answers, but I have one last question. What do I need to look for on my new computer so I don't have a problem like this again?
|
- Intel Graphics. Even at it's best it was a sub-par solution for this game.
- Laptops. The majority of laptops out there simply aren't equipped with upgradeable video hardware. Those that are are rather STUPID EXPENSIVE.
- Toshiba. Some people have luck with them (probably because they're not using them as more than portable web browsers). In my experience, the entire Satellite and Satellite Pro lines are crap. Especially the garbage with the tweaked firmware so you can't apply updates directly from the company that actually provided the hardware.
Your cheapest and easiest solution is to not buy a laptop.
As has been pointed out to you, there are people like Father XMas who have gone to the trouble to put together hardware lists for various reasonable budget levels. If assembling a system yourself isn't your bag, there are numerous reputable vendors out there that'll sell you a system for a relatively modest price and absolutely ROCK in CoH (and other games).
If you REALLY need to keep it portable (a laptop), look for systems sporting non-Intel graphics (and just avoid Toshiba (dropped an extra T there someplace) like the plague.
Note: Such machines are going to be more expensive than your average $600 laptop.
This particular machine will run CoH VERY nicely. And were I in the market for a laptop right now, one would already be on order. But, as you can see, it's about $1600.
For that price, you'd get a desktop machine that sucks it's doors off AND a huge monitor to play it on. And probably still have cash left over.
Normally when I ask people how much they want to spend on a system I ask for two sums.
- How much would you LIKE to spend? This way it gets us a general price range for a base system that'll meet your needs.
- How much is the MOST you'd stretch to spend? In other words, if spending an extra few bucks here and there would net you a SIGNIFICANTLY more powerful machine, how much is the max you can spend, reasonably? This way, we can look at upgrades to your base system, or possibly consider more powerful base systems in your price envelope, make some tradeoffs and show you a couple options.
Clicking on the linked image above will take you off the City of Heroes site. However, the guides will be linked back here.
If I had a dime for every player with a laptop driver problem I could retire to Aruba.
Sorry, the post was interrupted by the words thunder and storm. A pretty nasty one to boot (reboot actually, power blip).
<rant>
The game should still run, minimally, on a laptop with Intel 965 graphics or later. I understand the desirability of a laptop in college and high school. I understand the concept of hand me downs from the older siblings. But gaming and the laptops you find on sale at Staples and Best Buy for under $500 aren't going to handle a 3D game very well. Popcap games, flash games, sure. Farm in facebook as much as you want. Even play that other MMO, the 8 million pound gorilla because their developers understood it's better for them to aim for a small slice from a bigger pie than try to get a bigger slice from a small pie.
But this game has just gone through it's 2nd graphics engine revision. And while the devs should have a vague idea how many players are playing on laptops Vs desktops and on integrated graphics of various vendors and try not to do anything too cutting edge while the graphics are set at their lowest, this latest revision has tripped up Intel users as well as older ATI and nVidia integrated chipsets that have moved on past their prime.
This is why I cringe every time je_saist starts talking about OpenGL 3.1 and beyond because I know that the drivers from older generation cards aren't going to get updated to support it and that if a game developer, our game developer, ever starts coding with the assumption that everyone is going to be able to get supported drivers is wishful thinking at best.
I don't assign all the blame to driver writers or laptop manufacturers or even our developers. Intel has gone out of their way to make it attractive to computer manufacturers to simply use Intel's sub par integrated graphics because it's essentially "free". And Microsoft from Vista on considers OpenGL to be a deprecated graphics standard and only indirectly supports OpenGL 1.4 (IIRC), which came out in 2002, through emulation and passes the buck to the video chip manufacturers to support DirectX and OpenGL natively. Of course the chip manufacturers pass the buck for laptops to laptop manufacturers and we have the start of a serious problem with laptop gaming in general.
Do I think our devs should have anticipated the percentage of players in this situation and have spent more time giving them a better or at least the same experience as they use to have while reworking the graphics engine for ultramode effects even though their graphics wouldn't be able to handle it, sure. Ticking off your customers when you say all will be the same and then when it comes out it's not the same and your first line of defense is "update your drivers" when it's common knowledge that older hardware and laptops aren't getting driver updates on a regular basis is negligent at best. If you are going to, from a practical basis, obsolete support for Dx7 and Dx8 cards have the guts to announce that, change the published requirements and not simply continue to say they are supported and have tech support convince them to upgrade.
In short, if you are a gamer with a run of the mill inexpensive or older laptop, you are up a river without a paddle when it comes to video driver support for new or updated games. And if your laptop's graphics are Intel based, you don't have a paddle, the river is full of hungry piranha and your boat is leaking.
</rant>
Father Xmas - Level 50 Ice/Ice Tanker - Victory
$725 and $1350 parts lists --- My guide to computer components
Tempus unum hominem manet
Well I will add one vague semi-solution which is this: http://www.intel.com/support/graphics/sb/CS-022355.htm These are instructions to force the latest Intel drivers to install on your system. How much good they will do you I don't know for certain. However as this is not an 'officially supported thing to do' so it may have other consequences that I can't accurately predict. But it may at least get the game to work.
It is known that there are an infinite number of worlds, simply because there is an infinite amount of space for them to be in. However, not every one of them is inhabited. Therefore, there must be a finite number of inhabited worlds. Any finite number divided by infinity is as near to nothing as makes no odds, so the average population of all the planets in the Universe can be said to be zero. From this it follows that the population of the whole Universe is also zero, and that any people you may meet from time to time are merely the products of a deranged imagination.
I'm not sure if this will help you with the "black screen error" but try minimizing your desktop resolution prior to starting the city client. I've had a similar black screen upon installing city before and this helped me load it initially. Once inside city I went to windowed mode, and then restarted the client with the full resolution my monitor is capable of successfully
Don't be a mindless farm toon, we may need you on a non-soft SF someday. =)
First off, i'm not a computer savy person so I don't really know what info is needed to help diagnose this but i'll try anyway. I was a long time player of this game since from i5-i15, My computer has always been able to play it.
I had recently been away from the game and decided to reinstall it and play again. It loaded up fine, but when i attempt to start playing and it says "loading" across my screen, it goes black first then an error box comes up saying, City of Heroes has encountered a problem and needs to close. The crash occurred in ig4dev32.dll. I'll try to post useful info, let me know what else is needed to help me out.
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2Duo CPU @ 1.83GHz (2CPUs), ~1.8GHz
Operating System: Windows Vista Home Premium (6.0, Build 6002)
Chip type: Mobile Intel(R) 965 Express Chipset Family
Main Driver: igdumd32.dll
Version: 7.14.0010.1329 (English)
System Type: 32-bit Operating System.
Any suggestions or fixes you can give me would be much appreciated, also if you need more information ask and i'll try to get it asap.