FG II crashes when starting:

[Xorn]

I just got a full license (& 6 lite) for my gaming group, and I've gotten five of them set up with no issues at all. One of them however (the first one to try) installed, copied his code in, updated (all no problems). Then when he runs FG II he gets this error message:

214

(Excuse the fact that it's in 16-color on the screen, I'm using a remote connection program to view his screen from my house, he knows very little about computers.) I can't for the life of me find an error log so I can see what's going on. I updated his DirectX & installed new video drivers for his Nvidia GeForce 8600 GT video card, completely uninstalled his FG and manually deleted all the folders that were left, and even dug through his registry after reinstalling to insure that his license is put in correctly with dashes. (Everything checks out.)

I'm at a loss now. I'd love some help in figuring this out, here is a copy of his DXDiag.txt:

215

UPDATE:
I tried adding "-f" to the command line. It waited a moment longer to error, but gave the same error popup. Anyone know where that error log is, so I can check it?

[Dachannien]

Does the error message occur before or after the screen where you choose what server to connect to?

[Xorn]

Does the error message occur before or after the screen where you choose what server to connect to?

Before. The moment you double-click on the Fantasy Grounds II icon, error. If you run the .exe from the directory, same thing. If you run the FantasyG.exe (updater it appears) the updater works fine.

[Xorn]

Wait, wait, wait. Will FG II run in Windows 2000?

Everyone but this guy are running XP or Vista, and I just read a post mentioning that FG2 won't work on 2K. Please tell me this is incorrect. *sigh*

[Griogre]

My understanding is FG2 will run in Win2k. The problem is typically the video drivers being dated and not real compatible with a modern version of DirectX. The System Requirements say DirectX 9.

https://www.fantasygrounds.com/features/systemreqs.xcp

[Xorn]

I've got a second computer with Win2K on it; I installed FG2 on it and updated, then connected to the DM client without a hitch. :( I don't know what's wrong with his machine, but there's something funky.

I've redone his video drivers twice, he said his WoW is actually running even smoother (60 fps avg now). This is a real drag that he can't get FG2 going. Now that I've used the FG2 combat tracker and maps... I don't know that I can go back to WebRPG... :P

[Astinus]

A fresh reinstall of Windows? Reformat the hard drive and everything. I feel bad for even suggesting it, but if nothing else works and you really need it...

[Xorn]

Yeah, I was afraid someone was going to suggest that. Since it's the only thing I can think of too... I think that's gonna be what happens. I'm gonna have him bring his computer over here and I'll do the reinstall then.

[Hamish]

I'd try cleaning the registry after an uninstall first. Probably won't help, but if it does, it saves you a lot of time.
And for finding the mysterious log file, try searching his HD for files modified today, and then sort them by the date they were modified. It should be one of the last files there have been changes to.....

[Griogre]

It is possible his video card may not be DirectX 9 compliant. With a Win2k box his video card may be too old.

[Xorn]

Thanks for the great idea to find the error log--if I could find that I'd be in a much better position to fix it. As for the video card, a GeForce 8600 GT is not an old card, and it's DirectX 10 compliant.

More news after I remote connect to his PC and search for modified files.

[Oberoten]

Drivers and DirectX up to snuff to handle a Dx10 card on W2k?

[Xorn]

Drivers and DirectX up to snuff to handle a Dx10 card on W2k?

Up to 60 frames per second on World of Warcraft, I'd say it's doing just fine. If you check the DxDiag log in the first post, all the tests went off with out a hitch, and all the drivers were recognized as WHQL signed. (But I don't know how to read the rest of it, so I don't know if the secret to the error is there.)

By the way, I looked through the Event Viewer and found several entries that coincided with the FG failure to launch and they just read "The application, , encountered an error at address blahblahblah." The mmc.exe kept getting an error when I tried to sort by date in the event viewer too, but when I saw the log, it doesn't look like FG2 identifies itself well for the error log.

I've uninstalled it again, removed all FG2 files, and cleaned any mention of fantasy grounds from the registry, then poured some holy water into a cup next to his PC (remotely, of course). I reinstalled FG2 and it's updating now. (Always did that part fine.)

So we'll see in a few minutes.

EDIT - Nope. Same thing. Short of wiping the OS and reinstalling, I'm not sure what to do next. I told him to install FG2 on his girlfriends laptop, which is a crappy machine, but it ran the FG1 demo, I just want to see if it will fire up. I also don't want him to miss our 12:00 noon start time today (heh, 5 hours away). Maybe I'll just make him bring his PC over. *sigh*

[kalmarjan]

Drivers and DirectX up to snuff to handle a Dx10 card on W2k?

According to NVidia's site, there is no driver. https://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us.

I suspect that the problem more lies with a corrupted install of Windows.

Sandeman

[Xorn]

Used this driver:

https://www.nvidia.com/object/winxp-2k_archive.html

The top one (162) lists 2000 as supported, and 8600 GT as one of the included drivers. Note that when you actually go to that link, 2000 is not listed as supported. I think you're right, he's just got too much video card for 2000 to handle. My second Win 2000 machine (that runs FG2 just fine) is sporting a 6800 GS, which still has win2k driver support.

Sigh.

[Griogre]

I though DirectX 10 is Vista only? Did you get the latest version of DirectX for (dated 2/5/2001) Win2K here? https://www.microsoft.com/downloads/browse.aspx?displaylang=en&productID=9C954C37-1ED1-4846-8A7D-85FC422D1388

[Xorn]

RESOLVED!

While we missed game time, we're going to start up at 6:00 tonight and get in the time that we can! The problem was... *drum roll*

Trying to use the GeForce 8600 GT in Windows 2000. He got a copy of Windows XP Pro, ran the install, added drivers, added FG2, and double-clicked it again.

BAM. Connected to the DM client and updated his character sheet. We're so excited. Thanks for the suggestions, if someone hadn't persisted about the driver in Win2000 I would have kept overlooking it since my fiance's Win2K machine runs FG2 fine (with an older video card that has Win2K support).

I think I'm gonna have to start up a campaign story thread now. Where can I do that?

EDIT - Incidentally, his WoW runs CRAZY good now. I thought it was nice before... but holy crap.

[Griogre]

Glad you got it his computer working. :)

On the campaign story thread it kinda depends. If you are looking to recruit then the Guild, so people can see what you are running.

You could also set up a game on the Game Calander here (https://www.fantasygrounds.com/calendar/). This is like a private message board where the players and post and you can post information. Unfortunately it is a little buggy and the old players post are automatically deleted past a certain limit. Also there is no way to delete old games so many on the list here are not active.

Personally, I use a private Yahoo Group (https://groups.yahoo.com/) for one game because of its storage for files, pics, private message board/mail list. My players sometimes do a great deal of roleplaying, organizing or purchacing between sessions there.

For another game I use a forum on Four Ugly Monsters (https://www.fouruglymonsters.com/community/index.php). If you ask they would give you one too.

[Dachannien]

I'd just point out that the solution that was arrived upon changed so many variables simultaneously that it's impossible to know what the true cause of the problem was.

[Xorn]

I'd just point out that the solution that was arrived upon changed so many variables simultaneously that it's impossible to know what the true cause of the problem was.

The solution was [switching to an operating system which had supported drivers for the video card. The key difference between the Win2K machine that I was running FG2 on with no issues and his Win2K machine was the video card. They have identical motherboards, with onboard sound/video (I built them at the same time), but my Win2K has a 6800 GS card (which has Win2K drivers) and his has a 8600 GT (which does not have true Win2K drivers). When he came over, I pulled the 6800 GS out of my old machine and popped in into his, and put his into the old one.

His machine worked (with the older card & drivers) and now my Win2K was crashing (with workaround drivers). At that point I'm confident it was a lack of video driver support. Besides, he's running XP now and happier. As 2007 comes to a close, it's time to put Win2K out to pasture, isn't it? He had a pretty painless reinstall anyway... came over to my place and plugged into my network, copied anything important to my computer, reinstalled and got his network driver on, then pulled all his stuff back to his computer. He was up and running again in an hour. :)

So while it could have been the switch to XP that changed some variables--I'm comfortable just assuming the problem was the lack of a Win2K driver for the 8600 GT, as was suggested.

And for the campaign story, I really like that one guys Ravenloft post (as a great way to promote FG2, too!) so I might drop a link in there.

[Dachannien]

My guess is that it was something involved in the prior OS install - not necessarily Win2k itself - that was removed from the equation when XP was installed. FG doesn't even initialize DirectX until you get past the "DM or join a game" screen and the FG tabletop appears.

[Xorn]

My guess is that it was something involved in the prior OS install - not necessarily Win2k itself - that was removed from the equation when XP was installed. FG doesn't even initialize DirectX until you get past the "DM or join a game" screen and the FG tabletop appears.

Except that switching to a Win2K supported video card--without doing anything else--fixed it.