Anyone else using Radeon 9250, 256 MB? [Resolved!]

[lexi44]

Hi,

I've had nothing but trouble with this game since I started my Trial on January 9th. I felt it was due to my old video card, so I went and got a new one.

I bought a Radeon 9250, 256 MB (the best Radeon I could get with a PCI bus) and I'm still unable to even get past the login. The game crashes, which corrupts numerous files, which makes me spend up to 6 hrs patching....over and over and over and over (4 days of this now).

I would like to know if anyone else is using a Radeon 9250 vid card - what driver you are using, and if you've experienced any problems that you have resolved.

Before anyone asks:

~I have tried running the game in OpenGL and 3D, with and without sound.

~I have virus scanned through 3 different anti-virus programs, including Symantec online scan, and checked for Spyware/Adware - my computer is CLEAN.

~I have run both scandsk and chkdsk, and repaired any files there were problems with. I have also defragged my computer twice.

~I have downloaded and installed 3 different copies of Ryzom - two were downloaded from the official website, and one was with Bit Torrent.

~I have deleted the "unpack" folder and run recover.exe x5 too many times to count.

~I have all graphics in the game set to their lowest settings, and have disabled sound.

~I have set my computer's graphics acceleration to it's minimum (and every setting in between)

~I have assured that I have both .Net 2.0 and 1.0 since ATI Command Center requires .Net 1.0 (no, ATI for some reason didn't make their product retroactive)

~I am running Windows XP with 512 RAM, and currently have 8.9 GB free space on my HD. My current ATI driver version is 8.205.0.0 (Edit: Catalyst 6.1)

~I have spoken with many of the wonderful tech support folks in Klients, and they seem to be out of ideas.

~(Edit) I've also assured that my computer is *not* overheating


Summary of "the problem": I launch Ryzom through the icon on my desktop and I get the small splash screen. I then get a pop-up window that says something to the effect that I do not have an AGI card and that this may cause graphics problems, I click "No" (as I do not need or want more information). I then load into the large Nevrax splash screen and then into the login screen. I log in my password and it checks files for integrity - I *always* seem to get the "checksums do not correspond" error and am prompted to relaunch. I relaunch and sometimes I don't get any checksums errors so I click to connect - the game then crashes. At this point I have to re-launch the game (I usually shut the computer OFF before relaunching) and I have to "Check Data" - *everytime* this game crashes, I get numerous "missing or corrupt files" (20-65 files) which takes anywhere from 2 to 6 hrs to patch.

Sometimes the game crashes even before I can "Check Data", or before it checks files for integrity - which again, cause many corrupt files and I have to spend hours patching. The crashes I get are sometimes Windows errors, and sometimes the game's error dialog opens. There does *not* seem to be any particular point that the game crashes - except that I have yet to get IN the game in the last 4 days.

Because of the ridiculously long patching process this game goes through, it is nearly impossible to troubleshoot my issues with ONE tech in Klients....and not to be rude at all, but some techs are better than others and I really get tired of having to repeat my problems over and over, and everything I've done to try and resolve the issue(s).

I have until February 16th to resolve this issue - I will not pay for another month of crash/patch/recover non-stop. This is *all* that I have done over the past four days, and let me tell ya, it gets old. If anyone has any new ideas of what I can try - I'm all eyes.

Thank you in advance.

[turjake]

I have had some funny issues with my gfx card after the OP patch, and personally found that for happy co-operation of the gfx card and ryzom you should set the desktop and game to same resolution, same bitdepth and refresh rate.

My problems occurred mainly when alt-tabbing to desktop or back and I went through all catalyst revisions from 5.13 to 5.9 until I found out the refresh rate between the client and desktop was different.

Now using the 6.1 Cats without issues.

Is your HD using NTFS by the way or FAT formatting? (just an issue that sprang into mind as you seem to get the corrupt files). If you have NTFS then the HD itself might be starting to fail

[sumoman]

try turning your graphics up, as when i turnd my graphics up from low to normal i found thati got less crashes(well before giving PC world my computer)
and check which graphical options you hav disabled

[vguerin]

If you have NTFS then the HD itself might be starting to fail

This would be closest to my guess, bad sectors. It might require a HD scan marking the bad sectors.

Too much of the right things being done to troubleshoot for it to point to anything else.

[lexi44]

This would be closest to my guess, bad sectors. It might require a HD scan marking the bad sectors.

Too much of the right things being done to troubleshoot for it to point to anything else.

Sorry it wasn't on my list, but we did this also (marked any bad sectors).

[mtsmith]

Honestly, it sounds like a memory problem to me. If you have run chkdsk /r and you are still having problems, then I really don't think it's an issue with bad blocks. Ryzom is very sensitive to memory issues and bad RAM is one of the most common problems, aside from buggy drivers.

If you go to http://www.memtest86.com, you can download a very good memory testing program. Download the file and run it and it will make a boot floppy. Boot from the floppy and it will load the program in DOS. Run the full test to determine if one of your modules is bad. It will take a while, but it will write data to each chip until they are completely full. Then it will read that data again, checking CRC to make sure there is no corrupt data. If a module is bad, it will tell you the bank that has a problem. Then you can remove the memory from the good bank and put a single stick one each of the paired slots. Run the test again and you will find your bad module.

I also found recently that the latest patch has some issues with certain chipsets when running dual channel mode. You can usually disable dual channel in your BIOS and you will see very little loss of performance, if any at all. The only real gain is generally with video/audio encoding and massive database operations.

If you run memtest86 and it doesn't find any problems, try removing all but one stick of RAM. If this resolves the problem, you might need to update your BIOS or look into getting a different brand of RAM. To test, add one stick of RAM at a time until you have the problem. When you do, remove the last stick you added and make sure the problem no longer occurs.

We are all really sad to see you having so many issues and I'll do everything I can to help you get things up and running. If you have any questions or would like me to walk you through some hardware troubleshooting steps, join us on Ventrilo. You are already missed!

[lexi44]

*hugs Spiff tightly*

My hubby is at work atm, but I'm bookmarking the site for him. We'll give it a try and see what comes up. Just about everything you wrote here is Greek (Geek?) to me, lol. Hubby is MS certified too, so he'll know what you are suggesting and how to go about it.

Thank you *so* much to everyone who has taken the time to respond to this post. Your concern is very much appreciated. *hugs*

[lexi44]

One last reply...

THANK YOU, SPIFF!!!

It was a mem stick that was messed up. So we replaced the messed up 256 stick with a brand new 512, ran the checks again and all is well!!! For the first time in almost a week, I'm back in game! (and now with 768 RAM instead of 512 too, hehehe).

You're the best! *hugs*

[mtsmith]

Glad to be of assistance. Now, get to work. The past few days have been very detrimental to your leveling progress. ::cracks whip::

[Zerlin]

I guess this means you won't be having any more 4 hour patch sessions every other day