[Crash] igfx has stopped responding and has recovered

from Elemental Forums

There are a few lengthy disclaimers to this crash:

1. I know that the chipset graphics controller I am using is not supported. Onboard graphics suck. I get it. However the graphics do support Pixel shader 2.0 and I read somewhere that thats all that was needed even if they didn't guarantee it. If you decided to disregard the rest of the post from this point and tell me to go cry in a corner until I get big boy graphics thats your right.

2. To get the game to run involves some odd workarounds that I have not seen anyone else mention. The first time I d\led and then ran betas 0.22 and 0.23 I had Spybot Resident running and that killed a file called DXAtlasWin.exe when the map tried to load. The game ran until the point that the file was killed as suspected spyware. After that the game wouldn't go past the splash screen, which I tried to fix with the familytree kludge. That didn't do me any good. (I got pretty excited when 0.23 came out as it actually went to the menu again until spybot killed the .exe again, then back to CTD at splash) What finally worked is making sure the program data\.....\screens was empty, going into program files\....\elemental and deleting the DXAtlasWin.exe file until I get to the menu screen, alt-tabbing to re-paste the DXAtlasWin.exe into the elemental folder (not sure if this is crucial as the debug file pretty much stops after seeing that its not there) then continuing into a skirmish. If i leave the files in the program data\....\screens folder I get menus with no background, text only, and a CTD on world creation but if they are gone the workaround does the trick.

At this point I am in the game and every thing runs hunky-dory. Until I research the first level of the warfare tech tree. As soon as I can build barracks I can't go back into the kingdom info screen without getting switched back to windows and seeing the igfx recovery. And of course the driver crash means I can't go back into elemental because the map won't re-initialize. If I never research the tech, or if I don't go into the KI screen after I do I don't have any problems and I can run around terrorizing spiders and rival cities to my hearts content.

And thats my story (novel?).

Oh yeah debug.err: http://pastebin.com/m1b438e74

For any that had the patience and stamina to read this entire post I truly appreciate it.

For any that can fix my problem I will reaaalllllly appreciate it.

P.S. I do plan to get a "compatible" card before they roll out the 3D stuff.

3,276 views 8 replies
Reply #1 from Elemental Forums Top

stupid question. Does this occur if you research the Kingdom tech tree?

Reply #2 from Elemental Forums Top

https://forums.elementalgame.com/364302

Elemental will require a DirectX 9.0c video card. While it currently uses Shader Model 2 only and will probably work on DirectX 9.0 a/b cards, we will not be guaranteeing that it will. Listing of video cards and which versions they support are available for ATI, Nvidia, and Intel (9.0c chips are those that list Shader Model 3.0). More specific requirements have not yet been set, so your technical and performance feedback will be helpful in determining them.
End of quote

There's the official word.  As for your current situation, about all you can really do until getting a capable video card is make sure your drivers are fully updated and cross your fingers.  As for the Spybot Resident, that all sounds pretty strange.  Personally I'd disable that from running and just run weekly scans with it instead.

 

CursorFX - Customize your Windows cursor
Reply #3 from Elemental Forums Top

The only time I've noticed is when I research warfare. Civilization and agriculture don't cause any strangeness. I'm just not meant to have anything above basic guards. I am going to try the update tonight and see where that gets me (if I remember to kill Spybot first this time).

Reply #4 from Elemental Forums Top

Please let us know how that goes...If it supports shader 2 then we need to get it working on your machine, crappy video card or not  ;)

Reply #5 from Elemental Forums Top

0.24 did me no good.

The debug from directly after update: http://pastebin.com/m1b50b5d9

The debug after the workaround with the warfare tech crash: http://pastebin.com/m1b069a0

Game still only loads if the DXAtlasWin.exe is not in my game folder and the program data\....\screens folder is empty. I am beginning to think that the DXAtlasWin.exe is corrupted from Spybot killing it but I did an uninstall, reboot, install after it crashed after the 0.23 update and that didn't fix the problem (temporarily) like the 0.23 update did.

Added to fogbugz.

Reply #6 from Elemental Forums Top

Thanks lilcinw...I'm going to go test the Warfare bug on my laptop (also an internal GFX video card) and see if that is reproducable.

Reply #7 from Elemental Forums Top

Got a new one same result. After my first village upgraded to lvl 3 when i try to click on the town the igfx driver crashed again. Elemental didn't generate a debug.err only a memory dump. I will try to replicate the bug and get a debug file.

Reply #8 from Elemental Forums Top

I checked Dell for you but it seems your graphics driver is newer than the one they have available.  Your sound driver is about 8 months out of date though, just to let you know.  I'd suggest to run SpeedFan and chart the temps you're getting up to when the error occurs, but heat really doesn't sound like the cause at all.

Looking at your pastebin, I see you're running at 1024X768 on a 1280X1024 monitor.  Try increasing to your monitor's native resolution as well.