Steam/XP/CotN locks up computer in Campaign

[Moshiach]

Not just a crash to desktop, but a full hard lock. I can play the tutorials and scenarios fine, but the Grand Campaign locks the computer up as soon as it starts. I've tried several things mentioned on the forums, specific versions of DirectX, etc. I've upgraded to the latest available nvidia drivers and disabled sound. No luck. Any ideas?

:mad:

Nvidia 8500 GT
AMD Athlon 64 Dual Processor 3800+
3328 MB Ram

[Miut]

You could try opening Steam and asking it to Verify local files, then defrag them again through Steam. I solved a CTD problem by doing that. Remember to Restart the PC and Cold Boot frees off everything. :)

Just a point, have you got the latests Nvidia Drivers? The ones Phil suggests in Tech help I know are good as i use them and helped test them.
I have an 8600 Nvidia card but the drivers do for 8300 too I think..
http://www.tiltedmill.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5724&page=11&highlight=Phil

Hope this helps.

[Moshiach]

No luck, but thanks for the tip. I had the right version of drivers installed already, but I went ahead and removed them completely and reinstalled. Still no luck. I can play scenarios and tutorials, but no grand campaign.

[Will Jennings]

Hi, Moschiach,

Thanks for the dxdiag.

Could you tell me exactly at what point you experience the freeze? When you click on the Grand Campaign button? When you select a scenario on the campaign map? When you click Open? When you click Proceed?

Do you know what level of privilege the account you're running the game under has (administrator / standard user / restricted user)? I ask because there's a similar-sounding problem that is fixed in the upcoming patch, but I've only encountered it as a non-administrator user on Vista with UAC turned on.

[Moshiach]

I use XP Home, not vista. My account is administrator level.

The freeze happens after clicking on the Grand Campaign and selecting a city. It goes to the city map and I can move the mouse for about a second before it hard locks. No CTD and no CTRL-ALT-DEL. Have to power down to get the computer back.

[Will Jennings]

Thanks.

I'm having trouble reproducing this with a similar setup (an 8600 GT instead of an 8500). The hard lock, if your mouse freezes, suggests there's something interacting badly with the video card / drivers, though it's odd that this only happens playing through the campaign. Sorry to double-check something it sounds like you've already looked at, but the freeze doesn't happen if you load the same scenario that you choose from the campaign map another way?

If you go to the Control Panel / Administrative Tools / Event Viewer, do the Application or System logs show any events for the time when the freeze happens?

If you choose "Best Performance" from the settings menu, does that do anything to the lock-up?

[Moshiach]

Don't worry about repeating something I've already done. I remember the fun I had playing this when it first came out. Wish I still had the disk.

No errors are reported in the logs, which isn't strange considering the nature of the lockup. I don't even get a "Windows just recovered from a serious error" message on bootup.

I checked Best Performance. It still locks up hard immediately upon going to the city if I choose Nekhen or Men-Nefer from the Grand Campaign. Strangely enough Nubt plays through fine (at least the first 10 minutes of it, haven't tried to complete the whole scenario) if chosen from the Grand Campaign or the scenario menu.

Running Nekhen or Men-Nefer through the scenario menu on best performance locks up within the first 20 seconds of game clock, which is better than when I have it set to best graphics where they lock up within the first 2 seconds.

Even Dr Watson doesn't register a blip in the logs when this happens.

I'm baffled. Caesar IV plays just fine (Just as a for instance), but my computer seems bound and determined to not let me build the pyramids. Conspiracy?

At this point I'll try anything. I just want my little people to worship me.

[Keith]

Have you tried running the game with the compatability mode set to Windows XP?

[Moshiach]

There is no compatibility mode for XP in XP.

[Keith]

Hmmm...thought it had one specifically for XP w/Sp2.

I don't have Vista myself. If you don't have a XP mode try one like Windows 2000. What modes does it have?

[Moshiach]

I don't have Vista either.

95/98/ME/NT 4.0 SP 5/2000

Just as a side note, Steam doesn't like compatibility mode very much at all. One of it's two big glaring weaknesses.