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RE: Screen Messes up upon loading - 12/5/2007 11:17:34 PM   
Dego

 

Posts: 13
Joined: 2/15/2006
Status: offline 		...and I've manually set my screen res to 1024 x 768, but there is the same problem.

(in reply to Marshall Ellis)
Post #: 31
RE: Screen Messes up upon loading - 12/5/2007 11:17:52 PM   
Marshall Ellis


Posts: 5630
Joined: 10/2/2001
From: Dallas
Status: offline 		ulver:

You say your laptop res is locked (i.e. you cannot manually change it)?

_____________________________

Thank you

Marshall Ellis
Outflank Strategy War Games



(in reply to ulver)
Post #: 32
RE: Screen Messes up upon loading - 12/5/2007 11:19:25 PM   
cdbeck


Posts: 1374
Joined: 8/16/2005
From: Indiana
Status: offline 		My screen resolution has always been 1024x768 (my standard). Is there a way to go to the data file to see if that is an issue? I run a CRT monitor, BTW.

_____________________________

"Neca eos omnes. Deus suos agnoscet!"
(Kill them all. God will know his own.)

-- Arnaud-Armaury, the Albigensian Crusade

(in reply to Marshall Ellis)
Post #: 33
RE: Screen Messes up upon loading - 12/5/2007 11:24:46 PM   
Marshall Ellis


Posts: 5630
Joined: 10/2/2001
From: Dallas
Status: offline 		Son_of_Monfort:

Your screen paint looks like your screen res is more than 1024 x 768. The intro BMP is exactly 1024 x 768 and it looks like it is only taking up a small portion of your screen??? Can you double-check?



_____________________________

Thank you

Marshall Ellis
Outflank Strategy War Games



(in reply to cdbeck)
Post #: 34
RE: Screen Messes up upon loading - 12/5/2007 11:28:57 PM   
cdbeck


Posts: 1374
Joined: 8/16/2005
From: Indiana
Status: offline 		The BMP takes up only a small rectangle window in my screen (not full screen like other Matrix titles). So that makes some since then, the game is switching to another resolution than my native.

Here is something interesting, I switched my resolution way high, up to 1650x1000. My native desktop looked like a mess (all skewed and bent). Upon running EiA, the screen cleared up and did EXACTLY the same thing it was doing under 1024x768 (it even changed by refresh rate back to 90hz).

The game seems to be switching my resolution.

EDIT: I re-confirmed this. No matter my native resolution, the game switches it to its resolution of 1024x768. The video is still a rectangle in the middle, and the loading screen still distorted.

SoM


< Message edited by Son_of_Montfort -- 12/5/2007 11:32:17 PM >

_____________________________

"Neca eos omnes. Deus suos agnoscet!"
(Kill them all. God will know his own.)

-- Arnaud-Armaury, the Albigensian Crusade

(in reply to Marshall Ellis)
Post #: 35
RE: Screen Messes up upon loading - 12/5/2007 11:31:31 PM   
Marshall Ellis


Posts: 5630
Joined: 10/2/2001
From: Dallas
Status: offline 		SoM:

It should be switching to 1024 x 768 BUT should also be restoring your resolution when exiting. IT's all DX doing this???



_____________________________

Thank you

Marshall Ellis
Outflank Strategy War Games



(in reply to cdbeck)
Post #: 36
RE: Screen Messes up upon loading - 12/5/2007 11:32:53 PM   
cdbeck


Posts: 1374
Joined: 8/16/2005
From: Indiana
Status: offline 		Oh no... it does return when exiting, sorry to add confusion.

What I really meant was that it makes no difference what my native resolution is to the screen of EiA, as it switches to the distorted on upon loading.

SoM

< Message edited by Son_of_Montfort -- 12/5/2007 11:33:42 PM >

_____________________________

"Neca eos omnes. Deus suos agnoscet!"
(Kill them all. God will know his own.)

-- Arnaud-Armaury, the Albigensian Crusade

(in reply to Marshall Ellis)
Post #: 37
RE: Screen Messes up upon loading - 12/5/2007 11:43:01 PM   
ulver

 

Posts: 527
Joined: 9/9/2001
From: Danmark, Europe
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: Marshall Ellis

ulver:

You say your laptop res is locked (i.e. you cannot manually change it)?



Sory - yes I can. I did and t makes no difference

(in reply to Marshall Ellis)
Post #: 38
RE: Screen Messes up upon loading - 12/5/2007 11:55:25 PM   
cdbeck


Posts: 1374
Joined: 8/16/2005
From: Indiana
Status: offline 		Per Erik in another thread, I double-clicked the matrixlogo.avi movie from the directory. It came up, full screen (taking up nearly all of my 1024x768). So it is something inside the program that is altering both the .avi playback size and the screen distortion.

EDIT: Also tried to run directly from directory. No help.

SoM


< Message edited by Son_of_Montfort -- 12/6/2007 12:46:13 AM >

_____________________________

"Neca eos omnes. Deus suos agnoscet!"
(Kill them all. God will know his own.)

-- Arnaud-Armaury, the Albigensian Crusade

(in reply to ulver)
Post #: 39
RE: Screen Messes up upon loading - 12/6/2007 1:00:44 AM   
mmattson

 

Posts: 18
Joined: 5/1/2007
Status: offline 		Is there a means to delete the entire file and folder (obviously)

rerun the download and go thru the install again.

I supose is there a means to get back to the download screen?

mm

(in reply to ulver)
Post #: 40
RE: Screen Messes up upon loading - 12/6/2007 1:37:34 AM   
cdbeck


Posts: 1374
Joined: 8/16/2005
From: Indiana
Status: offline 		Just a bit of an update. I installed EiA onto an old laptop of mine and the screen came up fine. So I do know that it is not an improper DL, corrupted DL or a faulty install file. The laptop is a dell as well, onboard video, about 256mb RAM, Windows XP, an older version of DirectX9.

Not an optimal solution (that laptop is old and slow), but it does prove there is something specific to this setup.

SoM


_____________________________

"Neca eos omnes. Deus suos agnoscet!"
(Kill them all. God will know his own.)

-- Arnaud-Armaury, the Albigensian Crusade

(in reply to mmattson)
Post #: 41
RE: Screen Messes up upon loading - 12/6/2007 1:45:38 AM   
Erik Rutins

 

Posts: 37503
Joined: 3/28/2000
From: Vermont, USA
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: Son_of_Montfort
Just a bit of an update. I installed EiA onto an old laptop of mine and the screen came up fine. So I do know that it is not an improper DL, corrupted DL or a faulty install file. The laptop is a dell as well, onboard video, about 256mb RAM, Windows XP, an older version of DirectX9.

Not an optimal solution (that laptop is old and slow), but it does prove there is something specific to this setup.


Very useful info, thanks - though it also means that unless we can figure out what it doesn't like in these setups, we're going to be hitting a brick wall.


_____________________________

Erik Rutins
CEO, Matrix Games LLC



For official support, please use our Help Desk: http://www.matrixgames.com/helpdesk/

Freedom is not Free.

(in reply to cdbeck)
Post #: 42
RE: Screen Messes up upon loading - 12/6/2007 1:56:09 AM   
Marshall Ellis


Posts: 5630
Joined: 10/2/2001
From: Dallas
Status: offline 		SoM:

Great info! Appreciate the footwork!



_____________________________

Thank you

Marshall Ellis
Outflank Strategy War Games



(in reply to Erik Rutins)
Post #: 43
RE: Screen Messes up upon loading - 12/6/2007 2:22:56 AM   
cckcdw

 

Posts: 34
Joined: 8/28/2004
From: Townsville, Australia
Status: offline 		Hi Guys,

This might not be useful in this particular error, since the game does not halt or exit, however we commonly use Microsoft SysInternals suite to diagnose software that is working in lots of boxes but failing on one or two.

I recommend ProcessMonitor (it use to be a few programs individually called FileMon and RegistryMon but this version is more complete)
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/FileAndDisk/processmonitor.mspx

It allows you to see everything that is going on when the program runs.

Mostly, once it is running you filter the results for the process you are trying to monitor 'EiANW.exe' or whatever the process is called, you can then look for failures or other anomalies and try to correct from there.

Can I also suggest that you you do a complete Microsoft Update on the offending PC so that you have a known working good OS (well it is MS so that's a relative statement).

Also try rebooting into safe mode (F8 while booting then select safe mode) this will load a generic vga driver, then try the game in that mode. If it is successful, try finding the next last version of the video card driver and use it instead. (Always make sure you have a copy of the current video card driver on your PC so if you bugger it you can boot to safe mode and put the one you know works with everything else back on).

I would suggest Safe Mode as the first try, then go for the MS Update, then if we still can't fix it we can start looking at the ProcessMonitor logs. (you can run the monitor, then start the game, then quit, then save the logs and email them to me and I can have a look at them for you, might not prove helpful, but it has worked before).

Let me know and I will send you my contact details.

Keep posting I am sure we will find an answer.

Kelvin

< Message edited by cckcdw -- 12/6/2007 2:25:56 AM >

(in reply to Marshall Ellis)
Post #: 44
RE: Screen Messes up upon loading - 12/6/2007 4:01:24 AM   
cdbeck


Posts: 1374
Joined: 8/16/2005
From: Indiana
Status: offline 		Thanks for the ideas Kelvin, unfortunately none worked for me. I'm not really willing to try that ProcessMonitor quite yet, as I don't want to add any more variables until I have ruled out all other. I have used MSconfig to axe all non-essential processes, I have used lower versions of nVidia Forceware, my MS/OS is completely up-to-date.

I have no idea why my out of date, lower video card, lower memory, lower directx version laptop runs it fine. The only thing I can think is that it is the nVidia card causing the problem (laptop is not nVidia).

SoM


_____________________________

"Neca eos omnes. Deus suos agnoscet!"
(Kill them all. God will know his own.)

-- Arnaud-Armaury, the Albigensian Crusade

(in reply to cckcdw)
Post #: 45
RE: Screen Messes up upon loading - 12/6/2007 4:29:10 AM   
pieceinword

 

Posts: 5
Joined: 12/6/2007
Status: offline 		I have the exact same problem as SoM, and not solved after going through the same steps.

thanks

PiW

(in reply to cdbeck)
Post #: 46
RE: Screen Messes up upon loading - 12/6/2007 5:44:02 AM   
cdbeck


Posts: 1374
Joined: 8/16/2005
From: Indiana
Status: offline 		I use a freeware program called cpuz to give a monitor of my system. It has a regdump function that can give information on all of the things attached to my system. I could provide that (over PM incase it has sensitive info like IP address) if anyone thinks this is useful (it has addresses and technical data on all aspects from memory speed to headphones).

Just thought I would offer, in case it helps.

SoM


< Message edited by Son_of_Montfort -- 12/6/2007 5:45:14 AM >

_____________________________

"Neca eos omnes. Deus suos agnoscet!"
(Kill them all. God will know his own.)

-- Arnaud-Armaury, the Albigensian Crusade

(in reply to pieceinword)
Post #: 47
RE: Screen Messes up upon loading - 12/6/2007 5:46:10 AM   
Marshall Ellis


Posts: 5630
Joined: 10/2/2001
From: Dallas
Status: offline 		SoM:

Appreciate the offer and we may call for your help! I am currently looking to get a test EXE uploaded for anybody with screen problems to try. Let's see what happens with this which should tell me a lot.



_____________________________

Thank you

Marshall Ellis
Outflank Strategy War Games



(in reply to cdbeck)
Post #: 48
RE: Screen Messes up upon loading - 12/6/2007 5:48:12 AM   
Erik Rutins

 

Posts: 37503
Joined: 3/28/2000
From: Vermont, USA
Status: offline 		Just uploaded the test exe in the other thread, please give it a try!

_____________________________

Erik Rutins
CEO, Matrix Games LLC



For official support, please use our Help Desk: http://www.matrixgames.com/helpdesk/

Freedom is not Free.

(in reply to Marshall Ellis)
Post #: 49
RE: Screen Messes up upon loading - 12/6/2007 6:08:52 AM   
pieceinword

 

Posts: 5
Joined: 12/6/2007
Status: offline 		what thread?

(in reply to Erik Rutins)
Post #: 50
RE: Screen Messes up upon loading - 12/6/2007 6:12:30 AM   
Shaharaim

 

Posts: 4
Joined: 8/31/2004
Status: offline 		I am having the same problem. Using a Dell laptop. The video has run fine each time but the game splash page is as indicated in the previous screen shots that have been provided in this thread.

As a test I disabled my Radeon graphics adapter. Now my computer runs slow as mud because it lacks the graphic acceleration... However, the splash page is loading correctly.

Is there possibly an incompatibility issue here?



< Message edited by Shaharaim -- 12/6/2007 6:13:54 AM >

(in reply to pieceinword)
Post #: 51
RE: Screen Messes up upon loading - 12/6/2007 6:18:02 AM   
Erik Rutins

 

Posts: 37503
Joined: 3/28/2000
From: Vermont, USA
Status: offline 		There's a thread pinned to the top of this forum that has the new test exe, please give it a try.


_____________________________

Erik Rutins
CEO, Matrix Games LLC



For official support, please use our Help Desk: http://www.matrixgames.com/helpdesk/

Freedom is not Free.

(in reply to Shaharaim)
Post #: 52
RE: Screen Messes up upon loading - 12/6/2007 6:18:42 AM   
Erik Rutins

 

Posts: 37503
Joined: 3/28/2000
From: Vermont, USA
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: Shaharaim
As a test I disabled my Radeon graphics adapter. Now my computer runs slow as mud because it lacks the graphic acceleration... However, the splash page is loading correctly.


Hm, did you try decreasing your hardware video acceleration step by step to see if that made any difference short of disabling it entirely?


_____________________________

Erik Rutins
CEO, Matrix Games LLC



For official support, please use our Help Desk: http://www.matrixgames.com/helpdesk/

Freedom is not Free.

(in reply to Shaharaim)
Post #: 53
RE: Screen Messes up upon loading - 12/6/2007 6:20:22 AM   
pieceinword

 

Posts: 5
Joined: 12/6/2007
Status: offline 		i do too. i use a dell laptop.
god, i've been waiting so long for this game to come up in computer version....

(in reply to Shaharaim)
Post #: 54
RE: Screen Messes up upon loading - 12/6/2007 6:22:18 AM   
Shaharaim

 

Posts: 4
Joined: 8/31/2004
Status: offline 		Didn't really know what I was doing or what to try... :) So now my main concern is reinstalling what I inadvertently disabled. lol

Here's the technical info on what I have that I had disabled. If there is something you want me to try for you let me know. You may need to point me to some things with a bit of detail though.

Title : Video:ATI MobilityRadeon X300 BIOS
Version : A01
OEM Name : ATI
OEM Ver : 008.017M.192.058
Computers : Inspiron - 9300
Oses : Windows XP Home Edition,Windows XP Professional
Languages : English
Created : Mon Mar 7 09:05:53 CST 2005

Title : Video:ATI MobilityRadeon X300 Driver
Version : A00
OEM Name : ATI
OEM Ver : 8.063.2.1-041203a-019751C
Computers : Inspiron - 9300
OS : Windows XP
Languages : Brazilian Portuguese, Chinese-S, Chinese-T, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Spanish
Created : Mon Dec 13 14:44:01 CST 2004

(in reply to Erik Rutins)
Post #: 55
RE: Screen Messes up upon loading - 12/6/2007 6:22:51 AM   
cdbeck


Posts: 1374
Joined: 8/16/2005
From: Indiana
Status: offline 		Here is the result of using the test .EXE.

Pretty much the same, although with a grey background.

When I tried running EiA in safe-mode, it gave me a license error. Is there any way to circumvent this so that I can run in safe mode and see if it is a graphic driver issue?

I wanted to add that I appreciate the diligent help today. I know it adds stress to release day to have problems, so it is nice to see the big guns helping on this.




Attachment (1)

< Message edited by Son_of_Montfort -- 12/6/2007 6:24:50 AM >

_____________________________

"Neca eos omnes. Deus suos agnoscet!"
(Kill them all. God will know his own.)

-- Arnaud-Armaury, the Albigensian Crusade

(in reply to Erik Rutins)
Post #: 56
RE: Screen Messes up upon loading - 12/6/2007 6:28:50 AM   
Erik Rutins

 

Posts: 37503
Joined: 3/28/2000
From: Vermont, USA
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: Shaharaim
Here's the technical info on what I have that I had disabled. If there is something you want me to try for you let me know. You may need to point me to some things with a bit of detail though.


No problem. First, run DxDiag - then look at the Display tab. You should see some options there to turn off the DirectDraw Acceleration. Try that out with a re-enabled video card and let me know if it helps.


_____________________________

Erik Rutins
CEO, Matrix Games LLC



For official support, please use our Help Desk: http://www.matrixgames.com/helpdesk/

Freedom is not Free.

(in reply to Shaharaim)
Post #: 57
RE: Screen Messes up upon loading - 12/6/2007 6:32:20 AM   
pieceinword

 

Posts: 5
Joined: 12/6/2007
Status: offline 		here
i did run the tests (before) and no problems detected

thanks guys

Attachment (1)

(in reply to Erik Rutins)
Post #: 58
RE: Screen Messes up upon loading - 12/6/2007 6:35:57 AM   
cdbeck


Posts: 1374
Joined: 8/16/2005
From: Indiana
Status: offline 		Erik and Ellis, FYI.

I checked every slider setting on my Video acceleration - no effect on the EiA screen.

I also disabled the DirectDraw and Direct3d in my dxdiag - no effect on EiA screen.

I am now going to change my CMOS video aperture size and other motherboard settings: will report back.

SoM


< Message edited by Son_of_Montfort -- 12/6/2007 6:37:17 AM >

_____________________________

"Neca eos omnes. Deus suos agnoscet!"
(Kill them all. God will know his own.)

-- Arnaud-Armaury, the Albigensian Crusade

(in reply to pieceinword)
Post #: 59
RE: Screen Messes up upon loading - 12/6/2007 6:54:10 AM   
cdbeck


Posts: 1374
Joined: 8/16/2005
From: Indiana
Status: offline 		No change.

My Dell Dimension 8300 - Bios Rev. A05 had no change with different CMOS settings.
Standard Settings: AGP Aperture 128MB, Hyperthreading - Enabled

Changing this to AGP 32, 64 or disabling Hyperthreading had no effect.

I'm beginning to wonder, the Dell laptop I have that I tested EiA on (and got it to run fine) has an ATI Radeon Mobility 64MB video card. My desktop (which has the screen problem) has a nVidia Geforce 7800GS 256MB card (eVGA manufacturer). Perhaps the difference is between nVidia and ATI?

SoM


_____________________________

"Neca eos omnes. Deus suos agnoscet!"
(Kill them all. God will know his own.)

-- Arnaud-Armaury, the Albigensian Crusade

(in reply to cdbeck)
Post #: 60
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