Windows 7 and DDo

[paraplegic]

well after many years playing on Win XP i never had a single issue, my DDO was perfect everything really smooth.
then one day i decided to change my Win XP to Win 7.. at first everything was perfect but then suddently
the client just freeze, (yea in the middle of combat on a raid or in the middle of korthos.. its the same, the client just freeze and i cant do anothing but the sound keeps running, so i hear my teammates yelling hey para, do something..



after the whole story here is my problem

i start the game as normal, i dont have problems then it just freeze (but just the game, and it state as program not responding, the system works fine, i can still do cont al supr) and after few mins the game un-freeze (de- freeze?)

i have played ddo on xp and dont have issues.. i know graphics are not the problem.

any ideas about what can i do to solve the tproblem? i cant play like this.


thanks para,

(when i get home ill post more details)

[TechnicallyZero]

So my issue is very similar to the OP's, which is why I tagged on. The KB articles didnt appear to address this, so...

Randomly, from the time the initial splash screen goes up till I log out, weather in windowed mode or full screen, I will freeze. I can hear sounds like party chat and the like, but am unable to interact with the game other than moving mouse. After a few seconds like this, The title bar (in windowed mode) displays (Not Responding) for up to 30 seconds and then poof everything is back to normal.... until the next time.

I'm on a stock Acer Aspire x1301 (easiest way to give specs) with a clean install of Win 7 Home Premium with SP1. First thought was drivers so they the most up to date i can get.

It's really frustrating... people think i'm just standing around doing nothing, when in fact I am... but only because I CANNOT do anything.

[Irinis]

Yeah I was getting that a bit with upd8 (as well as zone crashes I'd never had before) so I increased the size of the pagefile in windows instead of letting it be auto. It hasn't been quite as bad since but also put player crowd quality down to 0 and player mesh combining on.

I also play at very low settings when the game itself recommends I play at very high settings. Very high is unplayable. :/

[Natashaelle]

The possibilities are that ...

1) it's a recent W7 setup, and Windows is still in the process of automatically indexing and optimising the setup (which can take weeks before it settles down)

2) bad drivers

3) hardware specs insufficient for Vista/W7 (this a problem particularly with some older Intel CPU computers)

4) hardware damage (XP is based on Windows 2000 which was *specifically* designed to keep on functioning as normally as possible on damaged hardware, so that it crashes less often than Vista/W7, but far more spectacularly when it does)

---

Concerning the follow-up poster's Acer Aspire x1301, you really shouldn't be having any problems with it...

---

hmmmmm, did either of you guys use some non-standard method to upgrade XP to W7 rather than clean installing ?

---

Otherwise, the current DDO client (U8 patch 2) does seem to be a little unstable, it could be just that...

[GreenGurgler]

OP, without more info I dont think you can say with certainty that the graphics aren't the problem.

Since you say the problems started when you upgraded to Win7, some things to consider:
-Which version of Win7 (32bit or 64bit)? I know when I go to download drivers from ATI, there are 32bit version and 64bit version. Makes sure you have the correct ones for the OS you run.
-Did you go to Nvidia or ATI's site and download the latest drivers when you upgraded to Win7? Or are you trying to run the same ones you had prior to upgrading? (assuming you upgraded xp rather than doing a clean install of win7).
-In DDO, are you trying to use DX10 or DX11 settings? If so, does your graphics card support those versions of DirectX (older cards DO NOT)? I didn't think you could select them in DDO if you don't have them on your PC but I am unsure.
-Lastly, if you didnt reinstall DDO, try deleting your UserPreferences.ini file in Documents/My Documents/Dungeons and Dragons Online then relaunch the game (it will recreate the file once deleted). This file could have some conflict with your old settings in it and wiping it out might help.

These are just a few suggestions I can think of off the top of my head. As you may know, many people run DDO just fine wit hWin7 (myself included) so it is most likely a conflict between the old and new not Win7 itself.

But more info about your system would go a long way in helping solve your issue.

I'm on a stock Acer Aspire x1301 (easiest way to give specs) with a clean install of Win 7 Home Premium with SP1. First thought was drivers so they the most up to date i can get.

Just have to say, your have a fine web surfing pc there, but playing intense graphical games isn't what it was made for. I think you may be asking too much of a lite PC with integrated graphics. Not just my opinion: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2362960,00.asp
"The Acer Aspire X1301-B1812 has a 2.7GHz AMD Athlon II X2 215 (2 X 512 L2 Cache), and only 3GB of DDR2 RAM. The integrated Nvidia Geforce 9200 graphics (256 MB) it's not going to let you play any intense 3D games, but it should be fine for the basic word processing, Web browsing, and viewing Flash-based sites like Hulu. ..."
Perhaps turn settings way down and see what happens?

My 2 cents, I hope they might help.

[paraplegic]

------------------
System Information
------------------
Time of this report: 3/22/2011, 23:19:39
       Machine name: USER-PC
   Operating System: Windows 7 Professional 32-bit (6.1, Build 7600) (7600.win7_gdr.101026-1503)
           Language: Spanish (Regional Setting: Spanish)
System Manufacturer: INTEL_
       System Model: D865GBF_
               BIOS: BIOS Date: 03/07/05 16:05:05 Ver: 08.00.10
          Processor: Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.00GHz (2 CPUs), ~3.0GHz
             Memory: 1536MB RAM
Available OS Memory: 1534MB RAM
          Page File: 1776MB used, 1293MB available
        Windows Dir: C:\Windows
    DirectX Version: DirectX 11
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
   User DPI Setting: Using System DPI
 System DPI Setting: 96 DPI (100 percent)
    DWM DPI Scaling: Disabled
     DxDiag Version: 6.01.7600.16385 32bit Unicode

------------
DxDiag Notes
------------
      Display Tab 1: No problems found.
        Sound Tab 1: The file smwdm.sys is not digitally signed, which means that it has not been tested by Microsoft's Windows Hardware Quality Labs (WHQL).  You may be able to get a WHQL logo'd driver from the hardware manufacturer.
          Input Tab: No problems found.

i belive that covers all my dxdialog

i fully cleared xp and then instaled win7 so i belive all controlers are "new" as well as DDO.

any help? today i tried to use the compatibility mode on windows 7 to "emulate" windows xp--

havent test it but ill post anything.

[TechnicallyZero]

GreenGurgler-

I appreciate the input, sure, I'll freely admit that it isnt a machine designed for high end gaming, but i've had no issues with other, newer apps (and even a few older ones).

I run DDO on custom settings, significantly lower than the game says I should be able to run, but close to mid range than low. With exception of the "Not Responding" issue and BSoD (mentioned in another post, srsly not tryin to hijak this one), I experience very little lag and no other issues.



Natashaelle- My box came (new) with its present installation of Win7, I upgraded to SP1 via windows update. So, to my best knowledge it was a "proper" installation.

DDO client was an upgraded trial, I returned to the game after a few years away and tested before i bought just to see if it would spark interest.


********** Please Note - I will not be replying here, as I do not want to hijak this thread and I now realize that I should have just started my own. OP- Apologies. Please reply to my BSoD thread instead of this one, if responding to my issue so as to allow the OP to get proper assistance. Thank you*****************

[GreenGurgler]

I just have to say, I consider myself computer savvy but by no means an expert so any advice I give may or may not be useful. I do not claim to be an expert .

Looking at this setup you have, I see that motherboard uses an older integrated graphics solution. I suspect the issues may lie with that. I wouldn't say it wont work (obviously it did under WinXP and DX9) but I still suspect your issue may be related to DX and your graphics card.

My advice is to make sure that DDO is not trying to use DX10 or DX11 graphics but only DX9. While Win7 supports DX10 & 11, your older integrated graphics controller does not come close.

Secondly, I would suggest trying to find the most up to date graphics drivers for that integrated graphics card (not the ones that came on an original install disk as these would be too old or the default Win7 drivers). I am not certain where you go to get these but a quick Google search found this : http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Deta...9&DwnldID=7005.

But these look pretty dated to me (12/31/2003) and I am not sure if you could get newer ones somewhere else.

Unfortunately, I do not nor have I ever used integrated graphics so I cannot give you any advice on what to do to get the newest (whatever they are) drivers.

But my hunch is the conflict stems from your integrated graphics controller, proper/updated drivers for this and what version DX DDO is trying to use (for you, stick with DX9 in DDO). As far as I know, DX11 is backwards compatible so it does not matter that your Windows is using DX11, but DDO and your setup will not work that way.

Lastly, I would discourage any serious gamer from ever using integrated graphics to play these kinds of games. A stand alone video card is the way to go as it can be upgraded and generally offers more power than any integrated. While DDO is not terribly system intensive, when run on a 7+ year old system, it can be tough. I understand this is general advice and not everyone is in a position to run out and spend money on mid/high end hardware but it is a general piece of advice that should always be striven fore (within budgets).

I hope you can get your issues resolved and I hope any info I have provided is helpful.

[Natashaelle]

Just have to say, your have a fine web surfing pc there, but playing intense graphical games isn't what it was made for. I think you may be asking too much of a lite PC with integrated graphics. Not just my opinion: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2362960,00.asp
"The Acer Aspire X1301-B1812 has a 2.7GHz AMD Athlon II X2 215 (2 X 512 L2 Cache), and only 3GB of DDR2 RAM. The integrated Nvidia Geforce 9200 graphics (256 MB) it's not going to let you play any intense 3D games, but it should be fine for the basic word processing, Web browsing, and viewing Flash-based sites like Hulu. ..."

hmmmm, I found some completely different specs for Acer Aspire X1301 in my own Google search LOL

They've obviously shipped a few different hardware configs under the same codename, so in fact we know next to nothing about that member's computer, oh well.

[GreenGurgler]

Yeah I did see various ones as well, so I just punted and guessed which it was/is. It didn't look like there were vastly significant specs between them though.

I would say that on those kinds of systems, you shouldn't be having problems as long as your not asking it to do more than it is capable of.

My PC is about 1 year old now but still very good at gaming and what I want it to do. At the time, I built it with cutting edge* parts (* I did go top end AMD/ATI route which some would argue isn't cutting edge enough as Intel had a bigger dog at the time, but that's a debate for another time). I have a friend hat I play Left4Dead2 with and he is using a PC that is approaching 7-8 years old now and is based on single CPU and an old Nvidia 66oo card. After he saw what my game looks and runs like, he gets mad because his doesn't so he tries to set his settings maxed so it looks like mine does. But when he does that his game is nearly unplayable with frame rates so low you could almost hand draw them faster. So I try and explain that you can only expect so much performance out of older hardware but he doesn't get it (or doesn't want to accept it). The game plays fine for him if he goes with his recommended settings. My point in this long ramble is that older pc's can run games just fine if they are not asked to do more than they are capable of.

Pointless story? Maybe sorry I'm bored.

[paraplegic]

i was hopping the the discussion turns on me

[GreenGurgler]

i was hopping the the discussion turns on me

I'm sorry, with the exception of some digression on my part, it has been about you and your problem.

My advice still is:

-Make sure DDO is using DX 9 not DX 10 or 11 (just because your version of Windows can use DX11 does not mean your hardware can and for the record your hardware cannot).
-Try and find more recent drivers for your video hardware. What comes as default in Windows (xp or 7) really is not usually enough or out of date.

Did you check these items? This process really is like a game of ping-pong. You lobbed the ball over to anyone (I replied with some things that you need to answer or check) there bye lobbing the ball back to you. Until you can answer those things, the ball is still in your court (darn now I'm mixing basketball and ping-pong analogies).

Really, it's all about you

[paraplegic]

ok perfect, thanks for the input.

 -Make sure DDO is using DX 9 not DX 10 or 11 (just because your version of Windows can use DX11 does not mean your hardware can and for the record your hardware cannot).
-Try and find more recent drivers for your video hardware. What comes as default in Windows (xp or 7) really is not usually enough or out of date.

how do i check if ddo is using dx9 insted of dx 10 or dx 11? im not a super computer gifted boy (and not a english speaker so try to explain me as simple as possible)

about the recent drivers, i had some program that help me to determinate if im using new drivers. and yea the only driver im using that is old is the keyboard but i dont think that has something to do.

[GreenGurgler]

ok perfect, thanks for the input.
how do i check if ddo is using dx9 insted of dx 10 or dx 11? im not a super computer gifted boy (and not a english speaker so try to explain me as simple as possible)

No problem. While you are in DDO, press <esc> or \ to open main menu... select <options> then in the <Graphics> tab (usually the first tab), about the 3rd option down is a drop down box labeled <Graphics Hardware Level>, make sure this is DirectX9... if not, use the drop down arrow on the right side of it to select DirectX 9. It may already be defaulted to DX9 but this is where you would change it or check it.

about the recent drivers, i had some program that help me to determinate if im using new drivers. and yea the only driver im using that is old is the keyboard but i dont think that has something to do.

I agree with you that the keyboard driver should not be an issue and I think you can safely ignore that. I would still be curious if there isn't a newer video driver. Did you use Windows update that comes built in Win7 to see if a newer video driver is listed there? That might be a place to check. In my opinion, I still wouldn't rule out an old driver conflicting with Win7.

My thoughts in Red.

[paraplegic]

i used a program called driver doctor
http://www.pcdriverdoctor.com/

sure there is a .001% chance the program database its not update but i bet its accurate

at night im going to test the direct x stuff

[GreenGurgler]

i used a program called driver doctor
http://www.pcdriverdoctor.com/

sure there is a .001% chance the program database its not update but i bet its accurate

at night im going to test the direct x stuff

Yeah, that should do it for your driver. Like I said, I don't know where one gets integrated graphics drivers so that's probably as good a place as any.

Otherwise, I go straight to the chipmakers site (ati or nvidia) but that wouldnt apply for you (maybe intel's site but on an older board, I doubt they support it anymore??)

I hope you can get it figured out and running, keep us posted.

[Natashaelle]

OK

Looking at your dxdiag, the problem with your computer is this one :

3) hardware specs insufficient for Vista/W7 (this a problem particularly with some older Intel CPU computers)

Basically, your computer is not powerful enough for W7.

You can stop messing around with DX9/DX10/DX11 stuff, because your computer is incapable of anything above DX9, and DDO will simply run itself automatically in DX9.

The only Windows upgrade that I would recommend for that computer is Windows Vista Basic Edition (and no other version of either Vista or W7)

Basically, you should not have installed W7 on that computer

The working solutions would be --

1) to upgrade the computer to better W7 compatibility, which in any case will be limited, and would basically require installing a better graphics card -- however you would still need to run DDO on some medium settings, because the processor and especially the RAM are pretty slow by today's standards. Your hardware is not really W7-compatible, although a graphics card upgrade and some system optimisation could just about make it workable. You would also need an AGP graphics card, and they are becoming a bit hard to find (today's graphics cards use the newer PCI-EX standard)

1A) a far wider hardware upgrade is possible of course, but we're basically talking about building a new computer here while keeping some parts of your old one -- or otherwise just replacing it with a new one (this is, if you *really* want to run W7, and have a better DDO setup, and etc)

2) revert to XP

3) install Windows Vista Basic Edition instead (this edition of Vista is the only newer Windows version that your computer will be fully compatible with -- Vista has a poor reputation, but this version ships without the bloatware, it's clean and fast, and it's therefore the only edition of Vista that's faster than XP in all hardware scenarios -- there is a W7 Basic Edition, but it's unlikely to be available in your country)

The only easy solution there is 2) ; whether you have the budget for a graphics card upgrade is your choice, but I'm not sure that spending €€€ on that machine is a good idea ; Vista Basic is technically the best solution, but again we're talking about more expenditure (and for some strange reason, Vista is currently more expensive than W7 ).

Some other more technically demanding solutions do exist, I mean you could potentially tweak and optimise that machine into a semblance of W7-compatibility, but unless you have the necessary technical skills there's no point even trying anything like this.

Sorry.

[Illarvan]

well after many years playing on Win XP i never had a single issue, my DDO was perfect everything really smooth.
then one day i decided to change my Win XP to Win 7.. at first everything was perfect but then suddently
the client just freeze, (yea in the middle of combat on a raid or in the middle of korthos.. its the same, the client just freeze and i cant do anothing but the sound keeps running, so i hear my teammates yelling hey para, do something..



after the whole story here is my problem

i start the game as normal, i dont have problems then it just freeze (but just the game, and it state as program not responding, the system works fine, i can still do cont al supr) and after few mins the game un-freeze (de- freeze?)

i have played ddo on xp and dont have issues.. i know graphics are not the problem.

any ideas about what can i do to solve the tproblem? i cant play like this.


thanks para,

(when i get home ill post more details)

I have this same error that started when U8.1 came out.

[Impaqt]

------------------
System Information
------------------
Time of this report: 3/22/2011, 23:19:39
       Machine name: USER-PC
   Operating System: Windows 7 Professional 32-bit (6.1, Build 7600) (7600.win7_gdr.101026-1503)
           Language: Spanish (Regional Setting: Spanish)
System Manufacturer: INTEL_
       System Model: D865GBF_
               BIOS: BIOS Date: 03/07/05 16:05:05 Ver: 08.00.10
          Processor: Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.00GHz (2 CPUs), ~3.0GHz
             Memory: 1536MB RAM
Available OS Memory: 1534MB RAM
          Page File: 1776MB used, 1293MB available
        Windows Dir: C:\Windows
    DirectX Version: DirectX 11
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
   User DPI Setting: Using System DPI
 System DPI Setting: 96 DPI (100 percent)
    DWM DPI Scaling: Disabled
     DxDiag Version: 6.01.7600.16385 32bit Unicode

------------
DxDiag Notes
------------
      Display Tab 1: No problems found.
        Sound Tab 1: The file smwdm.sys is not digitally signed, which means that it has not been tested by Microsoft's Windows Hardware Quality Labs (WHQL).  You may be able to get a WHQL logo'd driver from the hardware manufacturer.
          Input Tab: No problems found.

i belive that covers all my dxdialog

i fully cleared xp and then instaled win7 so i belive all controlers are "new" as well as DDO.

any help? today i tried to use the compatibility mode on windows 7 to "emulate" windows xp--

havent test it but ill post anything.

Thats like 2% of your DXDIAG log.... Wheres the rest that describes all the drivers you didnt install?

[paraplegic]

ok ill post the full dialog thanks impact