lynnc Posted February 14, 2010 Share Posted February 14, 2010 I have installed the patch and am running from the hard drive on my ASUS netbook. However it keeps hanging and sputtering at random times, even when I play in windowed mode. I ran DXDIAG and I seem to have Direct X 5.03 that came with this machine. Display 1 passes the DXDIAG tests even though there are lots of files flagged as missing. The machine has Windows NT 5.1 and Intel Pentium MMX. I have plenty of RAM and disk space. I would really love to be able to play this game when I travel on planes, so I hope someone can help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MeddlingMonk Posted February 14, 2010 Share Posted February 14, 2010 A netbook is a pretty wimpy machine, even where a 12-year-old game is concerned. And, personally, I'd rather gnaw my own legs off rather than come anywhere near Windows NT ever again. That said, it's possible that your main problem is DirectX. I believe that GF needs at a minimum DirectX 6, which came on the original game CDs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lynnc Posted February 17, 2010 Author Share Posted February 17, 2010 I uninstalled the game, reinstalled DirectX 9.0 which I can find online. I run DXDIAG on the machine and it confirms DirectX 9.0 (which is apparently what ships with ASUS netbooks.) So then when I look in the Program Files/Lucas Arts directory and run that DXDIAG it says it is version 5.03 - this is apparently what came on the CDs that I bought. Should I download DirectX 6.0 and try to replace the 9.0 that I currently have? Will that work? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MeddlingMonk Posted February 18, 2010 Share Posted February 18, 2010 If you have DX 9 (on a WinNT computer??), don't install DX 6. The game's diagnostic program is just misidentifying the DX version. Is the game's diagnostic program also identifying your OS as Windows NT? If so, don't bother using the game's diagnostic program. It's too old to correctly identify anything. Now that I know you have DX 9, it's obvious you couldn't possibly have NT installed. And if you really, truly have a netbook it doesn't seem likely that it'd have a Pentium MMX processor now that I think about it. Now that's straight, you must have XP at least installed on this computer. Or you may have Vista or even Windows 7, depending on how old the netbook is. It's possible that you might benefit from running GF in compatibility mode. And/or maybe installing the game using the Quick and Easy installer/launcher would be a good idea if you haven't already. BTW, how are you installing the game at all? Netbooks don't have optical drives, so you would have to be using an external drive. Whether or not you're using the Q&E installer, are you copying the data files to the hard drive? On the other hand, maybe your hard drive just needs defragging. I know I'm throwing a lot at you, but there isn't an obvious cause or solution. I suggest starting by uninstalling GF again, check drive fragmentation and defrag if over...let's say 7%. If you've never defragged the drive, you may be surprised at how highly fragmented it might be. Reinstall using the Quick and Easy installer, making sure that it copies the data files and runs the patch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lynnc Posted February 18, 2010 Author Share Posted February 18, 2010 I have a very new netbook, it says it runs Win XP Home. Here is the output from the DXDIAG that comes with the machine: Operating System: Windows XP Home Edition (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 3 (2600.xpsp_sp3_gdr.091208-2036) Language: English (Regional Setting: English) System Manufacturer: ASUSTeK Computer INC. System Model: 1005HA BIOS: BIOS Date: 06/18/09 17:28:52 Ver: 08.00.12 Processor: Intel® Atom CPU N280 @ 1.66GHz (2 CPUs) Memory: 2040MB RAM Page File: 535MB used, 2873MB available Windows Dir: C:\WINDOWS DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904) DX Setup Parameters: Not found I did use an external CD drive to do the install through the hard drive installer GrimSetup1.0.exe and installed the patch, as the point is to try to run it without the drive so I can play it on airplanes. It starts working just fine from the hard drive through the first extended animated sequence. It is only when I go to try to play the game that it starts to hang at various unpredictable times and the music/sound stutters. And then you can't control Manny any more either. Here is some more output from DXDIAG: isplay Devices --------------- Card name: Mobile Intel® 945 Express Chipset Family Manufacturer: Intel Corporation Chip type: Intel® GMA 950 DAC type: Internal Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_27AE&SUBSYS_83401043&REV_03 Display Memory: 224.0 MB Current Mode: 1024 x 600 (32 bit) (60Hz) Monitor: Digital Flat Panel (1024x768) Monitor Max Res: Driver Name: igxprd32.dll Driver Version: 6.14.0010.4906 (English) DDI Version: 9 (or higher) I can send you the whole file if that would help but I didn't want to clog the forum post any further. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lynnc Posted February 18, 2010 Author Share Posted February 18, 2010 Here are some other things I tried after reading more posts: turning off 3D acceleration and DirectDraw in DXDIAG. Running in software mode. RIght clicking on the program in the task manager and choosing only CPU 1 in the Affinity setting. Turning down the sound quality in DXDIAG to standard. None of these fixed the problem. Not sure what exactly you mean by compatibility mode if it is not software mode? I really do appreciate the advice! I can run for about 4 -5 minutes before it hangs and I have to save the game, and then quit and restart.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lynnc Posted February 19, 2010 Author Share Posted February 19, 2010 The patch from Jona seems to have fixed my problems, once I finally got the files extracted from the .rar file. Thanks Jona! For anyone reading this thread, it is here: http://www.lucasforums.com/showthread.php?t=195709 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MeddlingMonk Posted February 20, 2010 Share Posted February 20, 2010 Good to hear. I hadn't even thought about Jona's fix. Probably because I've never used it myself. Not sure what you meant by 'hangs' since you say you can save and quit. I have a sneaky suspicion you were running into the hyperthreading problem, though, one of the thing's Jona's fix addresses. I prefer imagecfg.exe myself for that because it works on any older game that doesn't like hyperthreading. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Longcat Posted February 20, 2010 Share Posted February 20, 2010 Well, my fix does use imagecfg:P lynnc: np. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MeddlingMonk Posted February 21, 2010 Share Posted February 21, 2010 Yes, as part of a package that only works with GF; and a very, very convenient and useful package it is, too. My point, badly made, was only that I like to use imagecfg all by its lonesome as a one-size-fits-all solution. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Longcat Posted February 21, 2010 Share Posted February 21, 2010 Right. I agree that it is a very useful tool. It fixed Black Dahlia for me as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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