[NOT-FIXED]Episode 2 crashes on episode launch (Category: Graphics)

[MusicallyInspired]

Installation went well, game started up fine (except that it looked like the image that showed up, whatever it was, before the Phoenix Online logo animation was all stretched out or something so I could only see the top left of the image), went to launch Episode 1 and the game immediately crashed when the launching bar reached somewhere around 70%. Happens when launching Episode 2 as well. Can't play the game.

Specs:

Pentium 4, 3Ghz Processor
3GB RAM
ATI X1650 AGP

[wilco64256]

If this happens every time, did you install it over Episode 1 or as a brand new install?  If over 1, try uninstalling completely and then doing a new one from scratch.

[MusicallyInspired]

Nope, I uninstalled episode one ages ago.

[wilco64256]

Try it a few times and see if it crashes around the same time every time, if so go ahead and post your computer specs and I'll see what I can figure out.

On occasion it just acts a bit like a lawnmower the first time it's starting up after being installed, gotta shove it through the startup a few times to get it going.  Something that's better than it used to be but still acts up now and then.

[MusicallyInspired]

Exact same spot every time. This is where the crash happens (in full screen and windowed mode for either episode).



And this is the skewed image that appears before the logo animation video.

[wilco64256]

In the game directory open that console.log file and copy/paste the last 10-15 line of that into a reply here.

[mataku]

what's the color depth in your computer? usually skewed visuals like that happen when it's 16 bit colors instead of 32 bit.

[MusicallyInspired]

I'm definitely running 32-bit. Here's the entire console.log file. It's not very big.

//-------------------------- 9/19/2010 -- 00:20:52 -----
Processor Init:
   Intel Pentium 4, ~2.95 Ghz
     (timed at roughly 2.97 Ghz)
   FPU detected
   MMX detected
   SSE detected
 
Math Init:
   Installing Standard C extensions
   Installing Assembly extensions
   Installing FPU extensions
   Installing MMX extensions
   Installing SSE extensions
 
Input Init:
   keyboard0 input device created.
   mouse0 input device created.
   DirectInput enabled.

//-----------------------------------------------
Synapse Gaming Lighting Pack for TGE - 1.4.0.0
  Lighting Pack Core version: 2.2
  Based on Torque version: 1.4
  Compiled lighting options:
    SG_LIGHTING -                      enabled
    SG_USE_TERRAIN_COLOR_CORRECTION -  enabled
    SG_STATIC_LIGHT_SHADOWS_BLUR -     enabled
    SG_TRANSPARENT_INTERIORS -         disabled
    SG_ADVANCED_INTERIOR_LIGHTING -    enabled
    SG_ADVANCED_DYNAMIC_SHADOWS -      enabled
    SG_ADVANCED_DTS_DYNAMIC_LIGHTING - enabled
    SG_ADVANCED_PARTICLE_LIGHTING -    enabled
    SG_OVEREXPOSED_SELFILLUMINATION -  enabled
    SG_INTERIOR_DETAILMAPPING -        enabled

//-----------------------------------------------
Initializing chunk mappings...
   o 'TEXT' maps to TextChunk
   o 'SCHK' maps to UnknownChunk
   o 'SCHK' maps to SimChunk
--------- Loading MODS ---------
Loading compiled script game/main.cs.

It doesn't hang or anything. The loading bar zooms up to that 70% mark and then promptly displays the crash window dialogue. No hanging or waiting at all. Like it can't wait to crash.

[wilco64256]

Try a complete uninstall and reinstall, and put the game in a different directory from where you originally installed it, like C:\TSL12 or something.  See if that helps at all.  The game doesn't even recognize that it's crashing so it may be just hitting a faulty bit of memory or something.

[MusicallyInspired]

I haven't yet tried a different directory. Been a busy few days. If that doesn't work I'll try out the other solution you gave me on SHP. I'm thinking though, because the graphics weren't the ritsz on the old version of Episode One that it might actually be a gfx driver issue. In Episode One I could see the wireframes of all the models on screen (of the world, not the characters). Which was probably a driver issue (or at least something about the game that didn't sit well with my drivers or graphics card). I have an ATI card (X1650 AGP) and I'm currently running and unofficial driver which is the only one that I can get running smoothly with all available features on my system (and also so that EDuke32 will run as decently as it can). I'm thinking that's the reason. Which, if it is, means that I don't really feel like endangering the playability of my other games just to get this one running properly.

EDIT: This confirms my hypothesis. These are the error message details when the game crashes. It's clearly having issue with an element of my graphics drivers:

AppName: tsl.exe    AppVer: 0.0.0.0    ModName: atioglxx.dll
ModVer: 6.14.10.8544    Offset: 00508925

I won't be able to play this until a fix can somehow be made, assuming the problem can even be found.

I also tried setting all the graphics options to their lowest level and smallest resolution and the crash still occurs.

[wilco64256]

That's totally understandable - I wouldn't risk having all my other stuff stop working to get one other thing to start working.  I assume that you've tried Omega Drivers as well, along with some of the older ATI drivers from earlier this year?  A bunch of people had reported having all kinds of crazy problems with the ATI releases in the last few months and the common fix seemed to be going back to an earlier one.

I don't suppose you have a friend or relative with a computer you could commandeer for a few hours to play this episode?  I definitely would like for you to get to experience more than just the short first one.

[MusicallyInspired]

Yeah, I've gone back and forth between Catalyst and Omega drivers which used to work in the past, but the current drivers (on both sides) won't allow me to run certain games properly and the Catalyst Control Center doesn't function at all which is something that I need. Currently I'm running on the Xtreme-G 9.11 Legacy driver. The only one that works.

Unfortunately, I don't have another computer I can test this on. I'll have to wait until either the game is fixed, I somehow find a more compatible driver (not likely), or I finally buy a new rig altogether (which is long overdue, to be honest).