Thief2 and XP Problems

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Archived from groups: alt.games.thief-dark-project (More info?)

Need some help to get Thief2 running under WinXP (home),
here is the situation..

I installed Thief2 (not using the "-lgntforce" switch) without
problems, but it will not run properly. I can get it to open, play the
videos, and select the difficulty option. But when I click "Continue"
the game crashes and I get a blank screen.

Alt+Tab shows this error message, "Direct 3D Driver Device does
not report texture memory usage".

Windows Task Manager says "Thief2.exe is not responding".

I've tried removing the ";" from safe_texture_manager in User.cfg
and get the same blank screen at the same point of trying to run
the game.

I've also tried Task Manager | Processes | right-click | Set Affinity
route and only one of the two CPU's is checked (CPU 0). As you
probably can tell, I've been checking out the "ttlg.com" site for a
solution, but no joy.

The computer is a new P4 3.6 with a Raid0 configeration, a gig of
SDRAM, and a Nvidia GeForce 6800 GTO graphics card that is
running the latest drivers.

A couple of things, the game has (and still does) work perfectly on
my old P2 Win98 system, as does Darkloader and FM's. And should
I have used the "-lgntforce" switch when I did the install (in other words
would that have changed anything).

Any help would be greatly appreciated, please reply to the newsgroup.
 
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Archived from groups: alt.games.thief-dark-project (More info?)

gsmithnf@hotmail.com wrote:

> my old P2 Win98 system, as does Darkloader and FM's. And should
> I have used the "-lgntforce" switch when I did the install (in other words
> would that have changed anything).

If I understand that switch correctly, it is a method of bypassing
some sanity checks of the installation program. Windows NT was not
a end-user OS, and DirectX on this platform did not perform to the level
the game required. The install program refuses to install
Thief on a platform where it knows it won't work, but I suspect
the developers predicted that NT would improve, and provided
this bypass mechanism. If your installation has been successful, there
should not be any need to redo it, as far as I understand. The only
times I've used it myself was on a old 2k-system where installation
refused to work.

You're running the latest Direct X drivers as well? Windows Update
doesn't suggest that anything graphics-related should be installed (except
perhaps some old version of the Nvidia drivers)?

Have you tried dxdiag? It's in the C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\ directory --
it checks that your DirectX installation is sane. You can also use it
to disable various features, such as AGP Texture acceleration, for
experimentation.

I'm running a much older card (FX 5200) with resonably late drivers
(6.6.9.3 from October), Win XP Pro SP2, only graphics patch reported (as
optional hardware update) is a NVidia driver from July 2003. The only thing
I did after standard install (no -lgntforce) was the 1.07->1.18 patch
(version number is only displayed in autoplay screen, weirdly enough),
and the CPU affinity 'patch' (I'm on a 3.2 G P4 with 512M). Not running
in compatibility mode.

Odd behaviour in Thief can be audio-related -- on my previous
system I had to decrease audio hardware acceleration one notch to
avoid crashes. (One game -- DungeonKeeper II -- refused to run at all
on that setup until I started tweaking audio setup.) So don't
assume the problem must be graphics-related ... better check that your
audio drivers are up to date as well.

--
Anders Thulin ath*algonet.se http://www.algonet.se/~ath
 
G

Guest

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Archived from groups: alt.games.thief-dark-project (More info?)

On Wed, 05 Jan 2005 08:32:02 GMT Anders Thulin said :
>
> Have you tried dxdiag? It's in the C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\ directory --
>it checks that your DirectX installation is sane.


"sane"

I take it you don't fully bow dowm to MicroCost believe that they
have matters well in hand.

Geneve


--
"If confused why this or that is going on."
"I suggest you go to http://www.timdoc.com"
 
G

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Archived from groups: alt.games.thief-dark-project (More info?)

Anders Thulin <ath_no_spam_please@algonet.se> wrote in news:6CNCd.126444
$dP1.455954@newsc.telia.net:

> gsmithnf@hotmail.com wrote:
>
>> my old P2 Win98 system, as does Darkloader and FM's. And should
>> I have used the "-lgntforce" switch when I did the install (in other words
>> would that have changed anything).
>
>If I understand that switch correctly, <snip>

Yes, the game installed without any problems.

>You're running the latest Direct X drivers as well? Windows Update
>doesn't suggest that anything graphics-related should be installed >.
>(except perhaps some old version of the Nvidia drivers)?

Update doesn't recommend anything. I did a Nvidia Driver update to get Thief3
(Christmas gift) running properly. Would older drivers be an option?

> Have you tried dxdiag? It's in the C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\ directory --
> it checks that your DirectX installation is sane. You can also use it
> to disable various features, such as AGP Texture acceleration, for
> experimentation.

Did that, everything is ok (it's version 9.0C), I wasn't aware you could
disable stuff, any instructions?

> Odd behaviour in Thief can be audio-related -- on my previous
> system I had to decrease audio hardware acceleration one notch to
> avoid crashes. (One game -- DungeonKeeper II -- refused to run at all
> on that setup until I started tweaking audio setup.) So don't
> assume the problem must be graphics-related ... better check that your
> audio drivers are up to date as well.

Thanks, I'll check my audio drivers.

Regards,
Gerry
 
G

Guest

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Archived from groups: alt.games.thief-dark-project (More info?)

Geneve <a@n.com> wrote in news:crh46v02srg@drn.newsguy.com:

> On Wed, 05 Jan 2005 08:32:02 GMT Anders Thulin said :
>>
>> Have you tried dxdiag? It's in the C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\ directory --
>>it checks that your DirectX installation is sane.

Yep, done that. Thanks
 
G

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Archived from groups: alt.games.thief-dark-project (More info?)

gsmithnf@hotmail.com wrote:


> Did that, everything is ok (it's version 9.0C), I wasn't aware you could
> disable stuff, any instructions?

It used to be a useful trick several years ago to switch display driver
to 'plain VGA' for misbehaving programs. If that crashed, it was a problem
that could be safely directed to Microsoft. In it worked, it had to be
referred to the author of the display driver along with a note that
it worked with the Microsoft driver...

This isn't as easy to do now, but you typically can reduce various
hardware acceleration options, which seems to be on by default.

right-click on background | Properties | Settings | Advanced ... | Troubleshoot.

I suspect you have a slider showing the degree of display hardware
acceleration configured. You may also have different check boxes etc.
One way to test is to minimize and disable all extra functionality.
If that gets you past the place where the game crashes without
other messages about missing functionality, you're on to
something, and may want to spend more time investigating different
settings. (Minimize colour depth and screen size while you're at
it as well. )

Same thing with Audio:

Control Panel | Sounds and Audio Devices | Audio | Sound playback: Advanced ... |
performance

and again you may have a 'hardware acceleration' slider to tweak.

There are probably similar settings in your dxdiag:
My Display tab has three buttons for disabling various DirectX features,
and the Sound tab has the same slider already mentioned above.

It's probably easiest, though, to begin by checking any audio or video
specific knowledgebases for problems with Thief: someone may have had
the problem already and been able to solve it.

--
Anders Thulin ath*algonet.se http://www.algonet.se/~ath
 
G

Guest

Guest
Archived from groups: alt.games.thief-dark-project (More info?)

Anders Thulin <ath_no_spam_please@algonet.se> wrote in
news:EW7Dd.13369$d5.113482@newsb.telia.net:

>It used to be a useful trick several years ago to switch display (Big Snip)

Thanks Anders, very interesting possibilities that I'll work on. If I get it
solved I'll post.

BTW, checked the audio drivers and they are up to date. I can always use my
old P2 Win98 to play the game and FM's but it's disappointing not to be able
to play on the new one (especially when most others can get it to work). I
feel that I'm missing a trick somewhere. Kinda frustrating.

Regards,
Gerry
 
G

Guest

Guest
Archived from groups: alt.games.thief-dark-project (More info?)

Anders Thulin wrote:
>
> If I understand that switch correctly, it is a method of bypassing
> some sanity checks of the installation program. Windows NT was not
> a end-user OS, and DirectX on this platform did not perform to the level
> the game required. The install program refuses to install
> Thief on a platform where it knows it won't work, but I suspect
> the developers predicted that NT would improve, and provided
> this bypass mechanism. If your installation has been successful, there
> should not be any need to redo it, as far as I understand. The only
> times I've used it myself was on a old 2k-system where installation
> refused to work.

I believe the check was removed or refined for Thief 2. It no longer
detects Win2k and up as WinNT.

-Kevin
--
My email address is valid, but changes periodically.
To contact me please use the address from a recent posting.
 
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