NOTE to PEOPLE WITH TECH ISSUES

MattH · June 11, 2003, 16:08

NOTE TO ALL PLAYERS WHO ARE HAVING ISSUES:
It might be a good idea to start a new thread about your problem (if you have questions about how to find the information below, post here).

There is no way we can help you when you don't include the specs of your computer. Saying "The graphics for the X's look bad" doesn't help a ton.

Please try to work some or all of this information into your post:
CPU: Exampletron 2.7ghz
RAM: Ex Brand 128mb
Motherboard: EXUS A7NEX deluxe
Graphics Card: ATI Example 9800 Pro 256mb
Graphics Card Drivers: ATIexample1.2.03
Sound Card: Example Beach 4.1 titanium
Patch Version: 1.0.1
Screen Shot: Attach it to the post

Please include the exact error message that the game gives you (if there is one). "Some message" is not a valid error.

Also:
UPGRADE YOUR DRIVERS- it's probably the first thing we'll suggest.
And remember, except for the cool folks at BHG, we won't be able to fix everything. Patch 3 fixes many common problems, download it from riseofnations.com or by clicking 'check for updates' in RON.

Where is this Information?
The CPU and RAM information should be under Start - control panel - system - general tab.

The motherboard information is not always necessary, but it's not harmful to include it. If you don't know your motherboard info, the best way to find out is to pop your case*.

Graphics Card: Start - control panel - display - settings tab. The device should be the one selected by the pull-down menu labeled 'display'

Grahics card drivers: Start - control panel - system - hardware tab - device manager button - display adapters. Select and right click the display adapter and properties. Driver information is under the driver tab.

Sound Card: Start - control panel - sound (and audio device properties) - audio. It should be the selected playback device.

Screen Shots: While in-game, hit ctrl and print screen to copy the screen to the clipboard. Quit the game and open a picture editing program like paint or photoshop. Paste the picture in and save it. To attach it to a post, press the new thread button. Two tables below the smilies box is a field labled "attach". Click the browse button and choose the file you want to add.

* Please be careful whenever opening your computer. There are numerous guides availiable, try a google search.

Makeo · June 11, 2003, 16:49

For us computer illiterates where do i look for some of this information. ie the motherboard and card info

MattH · June 11, 2003, 17:02

Oops, forgot to include that.
[edit] and after 30 min, I finally got the colors right!

FrustratedPoet · June 11, 2003, 17:23

Good post.

I'd always wondered where to find some of that system info.

Quote:

the best way to find out is to pop your case*.

I assume you meant the asterisk in this sentence to point to some kind of disclaimer saying "Do this at your own risk. Be careful and try not too poke around too much in there" or something similar. I'm not seeing such a thing in the post.
Is that a mistake, or have I got the wrong end of the stick here?

Also, how about adding a line that says "If you are having a graphics problem please try and take a screenshot of the error. You can take a screenshot by ....."
I think this would be useful. But hey, it's your thread - you do whatever you want with it.

Isn't there a hotkey for taking a screenshot (besides using PrntScrn and Photoshop). I could have sworn somebody mentioned one ... it should be in a thread around here someplace. Sorry : bad memory.

Makeo · June 11, 2003, 17:30

ok. i'm getting this error message

Video Card is not supported.

I have a 1.3Ghz Athalon
224 mb ram
S3 Graphics Pro Savage DDR
VIA AC'97Audio Wave

So if my video card is not supported does that mean i'll have to pay money to get the game to run? I only got this computer three days ago,i'd kind of expect it to run the game.

MattH · June 11, 2003, 18:22

Makeo: Other people have had issues with S3G's. Do you know if yours supports directx 9 or has more than 8 mb. of ram?

Frustrated: Sorry, I couldn't find that key

. But I did add the info, thanks!

p.s: Sorry if you witnessed this thread when the colors were changing, I hope they're ok now.

Makeo · June 12, 2003, 04:09

yep lots of ram. dunno about directx9. i downloaded it and that didn't help so maybe it doesn't support it

azalae · June 12, 2003, 04:27

I know this may sound cruel but before you buy anything you really should find some information about it.

I spent 2 weeks digging up articles and reviews prior to buying my Pioneer DV-525 AUD200 (around USD120) DVD players. I know what my PC is capable of since I picked all the components, except the case, FDD, and cables.

Nowadays games are resources hungry. Minimum requirements are what needed to run the game. As long as it runs, no matter how poorly.

Nobody is computer illiterate. The information is all there. Just waiting for you to find and read them. I'm no computer guru. If I can, then so can you.

Forgive my rants.

Makeo · June 12, 2003, 04:36

now where is my up yours emoticon

FrustratedPoet · June 12, 2003, 04:57

Quote:

Originally posted by Makeo
now where is my up yours emoticon

Right next to the "If you'd asked us first we'd have told you it was a mistake" emoticon.

Makeo · June 12, 2003, 05:31

Quote:

Originally posted by MattH
Makeo: Other people have had issues with S3G's. Do you know if yours supports directx 9 or has more than 8 mb. of ram?

Frustrated: Sorry, I couldn't find that key

. But I did add the info, thanks!

p.s: Sorry if you witnessed this thread when the colors were changing, I hope they're ok now.

mine has 32mb ram

Makeo · June 12, 2003, 05:34

Quote:

Originally posted by azalae

Nobody is computer illiterate. The information is all there. Just waiting for you to find and read them. I'm no computer guru. If I can, then so can you.

Forgive my rants.

I'm just arguing for the sake of arguing.

If I'm illiterate in the literal sense it means I can't read. All the information may be all there in the book, but if i can't read then I still can't access that information. So all the information may be there but if i don't know how to access or understand that information the fact that it is there doesn't help me much.

Q Classic · June 12, 2003, 06:36

to get cpu, ram, and OS, all you need to do is rightclick on "My Computer", and select "Properties".

skystreak · June 14, 2003, 00:56

Has BHG made ANY progress in figuring out the 5-30 min freeze/lockup bug ? When do you folks plan on addressing that problem ?

azalae · June 14, 2003, 03:17

Quote:

Originally posted by Makeo
now where is my up yours emoticon

*sigh* I was only trying to help.

Makeo · June 14, 2003, 05:04

Cosmos · June 14, 2003, 14:05

Today, I purchased Rise of Nations as it was the type of game which is in my interest. I was excited to play it and when I found that there was a MAJOR problem with crashing I was extremely disappointed. I have read on numerous message boards that report hundreds of people have had problems with crashing. My computer specs are listed below and any other information which may provide vital in finding a symptom. The problem is the game crashing forcing me to restart. I am entered into a blue screen where I get different errors, I think this is due to the current file the game is using as the file has been different nearly every time. One time it was nv4_display.dll and then it was w32k.sys. I have tried booting with minimal options enlisted on the Microsoft support service website where I had booted up with the least possible programs to run the game and the same problem occurred. I have altered my AGP memory to 256 on the bios and I have also altered the video performance slider on the display properties under troubleshooting. I have patched the game to the latest and have tried running the game unpatched, with the first patch and the latest patch and the same trouble occurs over and over. Usually happens within 5 minutes of game play every time. I am not running any cracks, trainers or any cheats or mods it is the original retail game full version and my computer meets the requirements by a long shot.

O/S:
Windows XP Professional Service Pack 1 (build 2600)

Processor:
2050 megahertz Intel Pentium 4
8 kilobyte primary memory cache
512 kilobyte secondary memory cache

Drives:
70.14 Gigabytes Usable Hard Drive Capacity
29.01 Gigabytes Hard Drive Free Space

Mobo:
Board: ASUSTeK Computer INC. P4S533 REV 1.xx
Bus Clock: 100 megahertz
BIOS: Award Software, Inc. ASUS P4S533 ACPI BIOS Revision 1010 Beta 003 05/23/2003

Memory:
1024 Megabytes Installed Memory

Slot 'DIMM 1' has 256 MB
Slot 'DIMM 2' has 256 MB
Slot 'DIMM 3' has 512 MB

Display:
NVIDIA GeForce2 Ti [Display adapter] (Version 44.03 Drivers – Also Tried 44.10)
LG Electronics (GoldStar) 63LE [Monitor] (14.9"vis, February 2001)

Other Info:
Direct X Version 9.0a
All Official Windows XP Updates Installed / No Alpha-Beta Updates Installed.
No Problems in DxDiagnostic.
All DirectX Features Enabled.

Q Classic · June 14, 2003, 18:10

that Nvidia GeForce2 TI... how much onboard memory does it have? if it's got less than <16mb, won't work.

PashaSBU · June 14, 2003, 20:10

GRRRRR! I love this game, but I hate these problems!
I cant even play it at home on my own computer, I get the same message even after I upgrade my vidoe drivers and patch the game. Any suggestions are welcome, my computer specs are listed below:

CPU: Authentic AMD Athlon processor 1.33
RAM: 256 DDR
Graphics Card: NVidia GeForce MX 420 64MB
Graphics Card Drivers: 5-02-2003
Sound Card: Sound Blaster live 5.1

I get a message that my video card is not compatible right after the intros of the "Big Huge Games" and the game itself are played, the game crashed back to windows (windows 98)

PashaSBU · June 14, 2003, 23:55

Also, when I test Direct 3D with DirectX Diagnostic Tool, the test just would start it give me this error message "Test failed at step 8 (creating 3D device): HRESULT = 0x80004005 (Generic failure)

Cosmos · June 15, 2003, 05:23

Quote:

Originally posted by Q Cubed
that Nvidia GeForce2 TI... how much onboard memory does it have? if it's got less than <16mb, won't work.

Its 64Mb DDR... 4 times the requirements. It runs on a 4X AGP Bus.

Q Classic · June 15, 2003, 10:01

i remember reading something about some issues with certain motherboards on this forum. gimme a bit to find it, maybe it's got something to do with asus or not...

Scrubs · June 15, 2003, 11:00

I recently fixed my computer with multiplayer problems by uninstalling any privacy service software, such as McAfee's Privacy Service, and everything started working normal.

Try doing a clean boot and see how it does:
http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;EN-US;331796
If it still doesn't work, check for any viruses.
After that's done, try to uninstall any software thats might be causing problems.

I ended up troubleshooting my own system by installing a clean copy of Windows XP on a new hard drive, then installed SP1, all my drivers, etc.

When I installed RoN and made it work in multiplayer, I knew it wasn't my hardware (at first I blamed it on my A7N8X because of the Nforce2 chipset). After I installed my McAfee security services, I noticed that RoN's multiplayer wasn't working again. So I went back to a system restore point, and the game worked again. When I went back to my old hard drive and uninstalled my privacy service, it worked!

However, that won't pertain to this issue, but that's just how I ended up solving the problem.

I'd save a system restore point, tweak around with some graphics and accelerations settings, and see what you end up with.

Cosmos · June 15, 2003, 11:07

Quote:

Originally posted by Q Cubed
i remember reading something about some issues with certain motherboards on this forum. gimme a bit to find it, maybe it's got something to do with asus or not...

Ok... See what you find.

Cosmos · June 15, 2003, 14:01

This game has been a great dissapointment to me. I have playdeed many many games in my time and this has to be the one with the most problems... its like the game is still in its beta or alpha stage there are so many bugs and so many patches which aren't fixing all the problems. I will wait for a few more days to see if any patch comes available or any cure comes along. I will be returning my game next week and get my money back if it isnt resolved.

Cosmos · June 16, 2003, 18:10

I've returned the game now and got my my money back respectively.

PashaSBU · June 16, 2003, 23:53

Hmmm....reinstalled my video drives today, actaully downgraded them, and then express installed RON, and as weird as it sounds, IT WORKED!!! Hopefully this helps someone.

Skanky Burns · June 19, 2003, 03:06

My game keeps crashing to the desktop. The demo worked perfectly after using newer drivers, but I have changed them once again for the full game but it still has not helped. Anyway, to the details.

CPU: Athlon 1GHz
Memory: 512Mb
Mobo: Asus A7V kt133
Sound: Soundblaster Live
Graphics: GeForce 4 Ti 4600
Driver: 40.72 (ms signed)
(crashed with this, 41.09 and 44.03)

I have not yet patched the game, trying a few other things first. Will report back if something happens. Right now I'm trying the game without soundcard hardware acceleration.

EDIT: Ok, that seemed to work for a while, but still crashed. I got about 5 minutes play rather than 15 seconds. After restarting, XP said the system instability was caused by my graphics driver.

EDIT2: Its the soundcard that is killing the game. I set the sound flag in rise2.ini to off, and the game works perfectly. Time to look for a new soundcard driver. Well, tomorrow anyway. I stayed up until 2am "testing".

EDIT3: New SB Live driver, game still crashes when sound is enabled even with music disabled. :sigh: I guess this will have to wait for a patch.

EDIT4: And it is crashing even with sound disabled completely.

Katalyst54 · June 21, 2003, 03:05

when i play multiplayer games it worked fine but now (i think it was the 2nd patch that caused it all) it gets to the "attempting connection" screen and just stays there for about 5 min. then changes to "Attempt failed: Unknown causes" and i cant play multiplayer??!!

i have cable modem and have 2nd patch. i also tried reinstalling.

PLEASE HELP!
Katalyst

Skanky Burns · July 12, 2003, 07:40

I formatted and reinstalled WinXP with all the latest drivers, patches, etc. The game is much more stable now, however it still crashes every so often (freezes the computer but the mouse can still move).