Ok, Cet is one ingenious PITA, because now he is finding new ways to corrupt my computer with his dark magic.

I'm getting the following error when I flip the lever to enter the Bersault crypt:

Texlist_FindTextureSlot: texid == -1

Does anyone have any idea what that means?

This problem does not seem to be related to the problem in Thomas Duus Henricksen's January 2003 post, but I'm no computer expert, so I really have no clue.

My specs, again, are:
OS: Win98 (4.10, build 2222, if that matters)
Vid card: GeForce 5200
Direct X: 9.0 (4.09.0000.0900)
Memory: 318 MB

My virus checker is up-to-date, and says my system is clean; I'm not running anything else except Explorer and Systray; and dxdiag says DirectX is all up to date. I know I'm short on memory, but I manually set my virtual memory to 768 MB so Windows won't mess with it in the middle of a battle or something.

Any ideas you guys might have would be appreciated. I can't get into the crypt, and Rethpian's rat pie is getting cold.

--the Dark Neighbor

Hmmm... I've not seen that before, so let's try the minimalist approach.

Start the game and go into your game settings. Set everything to its lowest levels -- resolution to 600x480, software drivers instead of 3D, and minimize the other graphic settings -- detail, mips, and so on. Sometimes, you've just got to cut things back to the beginning.

Also, check your start menu in Windows. There may be things there that don't show up in the task manager... QuickTime, Real, and other similar critters. Make sure they're only there if you want them.

Your DX is a little behind, as I noted in the Tech Tips thread. You can download 9.0C from MS, but I'm not sure if it actually runs on Win98. It might...

Let's try that and see what happens.

Thanks for the suggestions, Bungleau! They did work. Well, sort of... at first... Let me explain:

Okay, I thought about your theory from the other post about the lever sound file being corrupted. I checked through every sound file in the main W&W directory (ugh!), and found nothing out of the ordinary. So, I uninstalled and reinstalled yet again, this time making sure the troll speech did not come up corrupted again. So far, so good. I reduced the resolutions to the minimum as you suggested, and man, is everything pixellated! Oh, well, we don't play six-year-old games for the graphics, right? I know I don't; I still play games like Darklands because of the gameplay value. But I was able to get into the crypt after the reinstall. Rethpian finally got his pie, but Bilbump was right--it was kind of stinky by then. Everything was going well at first; I killed a couple of skeletons, an asylum ghoul, a few bandits, some oozes, and a swarm of crypt bats. After gaining a level (no reloads this time--thanks Wyv!), I figured my group was powerful enough by then to nab the bauble stick and pay F'lokis Ra a visit.

But, of course, our friend Cet can't leave well enough alone! Now it seems he has put a curse on all the treasure chests--one far worse than the ordinary Minion's Curse. Now, every time I try to open any chest, the game hangs. I swear, I'm not making this up. WTF? If it's not one thing, it's another, I swear!

None of my characters have the Locks & Traps skill yet (I made my Ratling a Warrior with the intention of promoting him to Barbarian ASAP. A Locks & Traps specialist, but with tons more hit points, I figured.), and I thought that might have had something to do with it. However, I've NEVER had problems having my fighters bash open chests before. Er, well... not issues with the game crashing, anyway. ;) My fighters have gotten their fair share of scars opening something without the proper tools, I can tell you! But these game-crashing chests are a new one to me.

Any ideas about this one, guys? (Other than putting my fist through the CPU)

Gosh you have had more than your share of problems!!!

Wish I had an answer or suggestion for the traps/chests problem but Bungleau is far more likely to be of help with this sort of trouble.

You could ignore the chests in this portion of the game until you have established your Barbarian with enough skill. Chests in the earlier stages of the game don't really provide that much that is *really* worthwhile.

I'm sure there is probably an exception that isn't coming to mind at the moment - but mostly I recall getting rusty this and that in the early stages.

If you're opening them for the $$ value - we could probably give you alternatives that will work more effectively.

Hope Bungleau shows up soon and has better advice to offer!!!

[ 09-02-2006, 11:26 AM: Message edited by: Wyvern ]

I showed up, but I've got to think some more on it. Seems that there were other cases of events causing crashes, but I don't remember what the fixes were. I'll have to go digging...

As for the chests, you can also buy scrolls of Prying and use those to open them.

Well, you can use them if you're not a peasant, that is.... ;)

I also had the problem with the chests causing a hang. I installed the patch and I don't have it anymore, but I think that you said that you installed that already.

I got the habit of always saving before opening a chest.

The thing that seemed to help when I had this problem (before the patch) was to stand a little away from the chest and click on the chest and then, before the chest opening controls appeared, to move the cursor off of the chest. It seems silly and or superstitious but it did seem to reduce the times I had to reload after trying to open a chest.


And Wyvern is right. At this part of the game the chest with the babble stick is the only chest that you have to open. The next set is in the Serpent temple.

Law, I'm about ready to try anything, no matter how it sounds. I've managed to get most of the chests open with the Pry spell (with a couple of reloads from the stonegrave traps), and I do stand a good distance away from the chests in order to dodge the nasty things that shoot out. I think you might have a point, Law; the program seems incredibly tempermental, and the exact distance away from the chest might play a role.

Bungleau, your suggestion to keep the graphics setting on low seems to be working for now. Thanks again! It also has the bonus effect of making Scabban look even more hideous! I'm working on implementing your other suggestions, too. I'm trying one thing at a time to see if I can isolate the problem.

Now, F'Lokis is a pile of ash, I talked to Scabban, I got the Sigil of the Mavin, and I'm on my way to Ishad N'ha. Along the way, I decided to pay the Toads a visit and get a shiny, new spear from Shinwiki. However, when I tried to climb the ladder to get into Ekbu's hut, the game decided to hang again. And again. And yet again. I'm going to test the speech files again and see if Ebku's speech got corrupted.

The fun never ends!

Hmmm... far too much un-fun going on in there. I think you said it already, but I'm too lazy to go look it up elsewhere. Are you running the patch? It may be worth installing it, or installing it again. Perhaps there's some compatibility issue going on.

Also, you should consider bumping up to DirectX 9.0C. I run with it, and the game is fine with one minor flaw... I can't exit completely without it hanging. I exit back to the initial menu, then Ctrl-Alt-Del and kill it from Task Manager.

What's the source of your game? Is it an original Activision CD, or is it from one of the reissues? There may be some issues there that aren't anticipated.

I'll mention two other things as well. I'm currently playing with the game icon set to run in Win 2k compatibility mode (instead of the Win95 or Win98 that I used to). It made a difference for me...

I also have set the icon properties to run in 640x480 mode. Both of those settings are on the compatibility tab of the icon... right click, properties, and hit the last tab.

As for Ekbu, look for the "Hello again, warm skin" file. I think that's the one that's used when you come back to him.

Hi, Bungleau! Thanks for coming to the rescue, yet again!

I’m still looking into DirectX 9C. I want to make sure it’s not going to screw anything else up; as you mentioned earlier, once I install 9C, there’s no going back. It’d be a poor trade, IMO, if W&W ran, but nothing else did (as cool as W&W may be).

I believe I am running the original release (it’s a legal copy I bought from Best Buy, if that’s what you mean [img]smile.gif[/img] ). I wasn’t aware of any reissues, and how would I check mine?

My W&W shortcut does not allow me to edit the compatibility, and neither does deep6.exe. The tab I normally use to change the display of other shortcuts does not appear on the W&W shortcut. But now that you mention it, I had thought there might be an issue where the display properties cause a problem. When the game hangs, sometimes (approx. 1 in 3 times) I can hit Esc, and it drops me to the desktop. From there, the desktop remains in 640x480 mode, there’s no taskbar or program tray, and if I try to open any files or adjust the display back to normal, the computer crashes and I have to hit the power button to restart. Could this be linked to a display issue?

As for Ekbu, he’s fine. No glitches with his speech, and his files all play normally. Yesterday, I was able to get into the village with no further hangs. However, I still have the unrelated problem of the stuck toad. Yes, I do have the patch installed. I even downloaded it again from Ironworks just to make sure mine didn’t get corrupted somehow. I’m just going to wait until I get the Vanish spell before trying to go to Shinwiki again. But it’s going to be a while—I’m trying a weird experiment by making my Wizards into Rangers and Monks before upgrading them to Warlocks; it’ll be kind of like having two extra Zenmasters—at least, that’s my hope! ;) I really miss having that cool spear. It’s a shame it can’t be enchanted further, though. :(

And to Law, thanks for the tip about the treasure chests. Unfortunately, I can’t get it to work. It seems to be the “inspect chest” window that causes it to hang, somehow. At least Pry spells and lockpicks still work (probably because they don’t bring up the inspection window). I just wish lockpicks weren’t so damn expensive.

In addition, the game hangs when I try to split objects into groups from the inventory screen. It’s not that big a deal, but it is an annoying glitch. I don’t know, but it might be related to the chest inspection window. Does anyone have any ideas about that?

We’ll see if an upgraded DirectX helps at all, first.

well gee - I can't be of much help on most of your troubles BUT

it might be possible (if you are willing) to hack you some additional lockpicks! ;)

I've forgotten - are lockpicks stackable or do they each have to have their own space in the inventory??

I wasn't asking about whether your copy was legal or not. 'Round these parts, that's a given [img]smile.gif[/img] Rather, there was a company last year or so that put out a reissue of W&W on a game compilation CD... I was wondering if you had one of those.

If all the documentation and such is from Activision, then you've got the original.

And DX9.0C won't screw up any modern programs or apps... that's part of the joy of DX. It's only the old stuff like this that might have a problem.

Hmmm... just checked, and it does work for Win98, first and second edition. So 9.0C should be the good version for you.

And sheesh... ignore my comments about compatibility mode. That's a Win2k or XP feature, and you don't need it because you're on Win98. Sometimes, I forget to check the details... ;)

It's really sounding like there's a graphics glitch in there. What's your vidcard, and what level of drivers do you have?

BTW, Wyv, Lockpicks are stackable.... :D

I thought so!! Which does mean it would be possible to equip tDN with lots of lockpicks! Well, that is if he wants to make use of the power of hacking. ;)

Aha! Video drivers! [img]redface.gif[/img]

[smashes forehead with a Witch’s Stick…]

[…regains consciousness]

I've got a nVIDIA GeForce FX 5200, and due to a windows re-install back in January, I forgot to reinstall the drivers CD that came with the vid card! And, of course, I haven’t played W&W since before the re-install. Which, of course, might explain why I’m having problems all of a sudden.

I’m going to run a driver update from nVIDIA, too, and see if that makes a difference. I wish the Idol of Aku existed in real life, because I’m feeling about as dumb as a Boogre right about now! [img]tongue.gif[/img]

Bungleau, you’re a life-saver! I sure hope this works. And congrats on your recent victory over the salads!

And Wyvern, thanks for the offer, but I think I’ll pass. I’m no good at hacking, and I am having problems enough as it is--I don’t want end up screwing myself even more. Besides, if I wanted to go that route, I hear Smitty is having a sale on Willow Arrows +1! :D

I'm also playing with an FX 5200... looks like I'm running driver version 6.10.14.6693 (and XP Home SP2, for a minor major difference).

Let's see how that works!

Hope the video drivers resolve the problem!!! You've been through a lot! ;)

Well, so much for that. [img]graemlins/1pissed.gif[/img]

I upgraded my old drivers, which were apparently so old that Oakenmir had them when he was a sapling. Although my desktop now looks shinier and more crisp than I remember it being in a long time, these new drivers did positively squat to resolve my W&W problem. :(

edit: I don't mean to sound like a crybaby. I blame myself for this entire fiasco.

To answer your question, Bungleau, I’ve now got the GeForce 5200 drivers: version 4.11.01.1321. I realize it is not the newest version available, but it is the best one they have to offer for Win98. Sadly, though, I am not in a (financial) position to upgrade to XP or 2000, so the newest GeForce drivers are tantalizingly out of reach for me at the moment. I also installed DirectX 9.0c, which, I’m happy to say, seems to work just fine for my other apps. [img]smile.gif[/img]

Bungleau, if I may, I’d like to suggest an addendum to your motto:

“Save Early, Save Often, Save Before, Save After… and Save a Freakin’ Copy too, Just in Case!” [img]graemlins/crying.gif[/img]

I nearly lost all my progress thus far because the game decided to hang during a save, and was thereafter unloadable. If it weren’t for my second save, I’d have to revert to a much earlier save, and I’d be chasing Mekdawa all up and down Nymph Lake right now, trying to foist those stupid potions onto him again! [img]tongue.gif[/img]

We might be starting to isolate the problem, though. Despite new problems that seem to pop up as suddenly as a pack of Wogurs, all the problems happen consistently. There is never a case where sometimes it works and sometimes it hangs. No, if it hangs, it hangs every time. Is that any better? I don’t know, but I think there’s still hope. Here’re the things that happen consistently:

1. Examining treasure chests. I tried Law’s suggestion to start from a distance and clicking on the chest, but it doesn’t help (thanks anyway, Law [img]smile.gif[/img] ). As soon as the party reaches the chest and the computer tries to bring up the examination window (e.g. the thing with all the little gears and stuff), the game will immediately and invariably hang. Pry spells and lockpicks work just fine; like I said before, those things don’t bring up the examine window, so they work, even up close. (I’m glad it’s my Oomphaz that has the Pry spell; that Mana Seed keeps ‘em comin’.)
2. Splitting stackable items. I don’t know why it happens, but again, this is another instance where the game tries to bring up another window, so it hangs.
3. Every so often for no visible reason. I’m not sure, but I think when the computer tries to do a major calculation (e.g. load something graphically intensive, such as the entire Serpent Temple viewed from a distance), it hangs. Could this be an “out-of-memory” type of error? Is there a way to check, like a memory log file or something?
4. When I try to experiment with the graphics settings. Things don’t look great in Software Mode with all the settings on low, but it at least keeps the game running… for a while, anyway. However, when I try to tweak them, the problems crop up MUCH sooner. Could this be another memory issue?

These problems all seem related somehow. Perhaps a memory issue linked to the graphics card or the graphics themselves? Or is it a big red herring, with Cet howling with maniacal laughter as his ultimate curse unfolds upon the Gael Serran? This is becoming quite a complicated mess—but we gamers love a good mystery, don’t we? ;)

At least, I hope we do, or I’m screwed. And so is the Gael Serran.

[ 09-07-2006, 07:21 PM: Message edited by: the Dark Neighbor ]

It all seems to be graphics-related. I'm not quite sure what the best approach is. You've already tried setting all the graphics options to their minimal settings (if I read you correctly)... that's usually where we get the best results.

Hmmm... have you tried this from the tech tips thread?



Two things there... try resetting the compression mode, and try a larger swap file. I don't remember what you set yours to... 768 fixed, I think, which should be good. Still, you could up it to 1024 without a concern (provided you've got the disk).

Failing that, there are directions for busting back to an earlier version of DirectX in Best Tips as well. We may need to go there... but if we do, I may ask about wiping the hard drive and starting over... ;)

What about your sound drivers? Did you upgrade those when you did that rebuild in January?