startup/graphics error

Stashu · 11-14-2002, 08:00 PM

I keep getting a bad startup lately, but it comes sporadically.

I've tried closing all programs to make sure it wasn't a memory drain or anything causing the problems, but that didn't fix things.

This doesn't happen everytime, but it's hella annoying having to start/shutdown/restart/..... the program before finally getting it to work.

I have 2 screenshots showing how bad things look in case anyone has seen the same thing and can suggest some way to fix it.

http://home.rochester.rr.com/hicknsar/ootp4-1.jpg
http://home.rochester.rr.com/hicknsar/ootp4-2.jpg

thanks!

11-14-2002, 08:18 PM

Do you have it on Direct3D mode? If you do, I would try either turning D3D mode off, or making sure you have the newest versions of DirectX and your video card drivers.

Stashu · 11-14-2002, 10:45 PM

i'll mess with my modes and everything, but i've had the game since it came out and it's only been happening in the last few days.

Steve Kuffrey · 11-14-2002, 10:54 PM

Does this occur when you have been running awhile w/o restarting your PC?

Stashu · 11-15-2002, 08:09 AM

I restart my computer everyday. I usually have it on from about now(8am) til 9am and then after work from approximately 3pm until bed(11pm or later), but i always shutdown at night. That was another thought I had, but since i restart/shutdown a couple times a day, i figured that wasn't the problem.

Scott Vibert · 11-15-2002, 09:43 AM

So what have you done to the system, or game in the last few days? (Any new programs installed?, maybe they messed with some of the settings, any new hardware? Did you delete something?) What new factor has been added into the equation?

Stashu · 11-15-2002, 03:36 PM

yeah, that's the only thing i can think of...i recently went up to the latest DirectX...installed 2 demo's(Age of Mythology and Casino Empire). that's about it actually.

I'm pretty good with computers, so i've thought about these things. Just posting here to see if it's an isolated incident or if others have had anything like this happen and knew anyway to fix it.

I'll look into removing some programs and check into everything.

morningstar8 · 11-23-2002, 10:59 PM

I've got the same issue. Windows XP, P4 2.0 GHz with 512 MB RAM. Plenty of system resources. The problem shows up with ootp 4.2a and ootp 4.1. I tried reinstalling ootp using the WISE installer, but it didn't help.

I hadn't played ootp for awhile, so I'm not sure what I might have installed to hit a conflict. I've installed Unreal Tournament 2003 and Madden 2003 since the last time I played OOTP.

The game is effectively unusable for me. Scrolling (on the views that allow it) doesn't remove any characters, it just adds them...so garbage builds up quickly.

morningstar8 · 11-23-2002, 11:23 PM

By the way, I've created a list of DLL's, versions, etc. that OOTP4 uses on my PC by using Dependency Walker (http://www.dependencywalker.com). I'll be happy to e-mail the list to an OOTP support person; I just need an e-mail address.

According to the dependency walker output, the only DLLs OOTP uses that were modified since the last time I successfully played OOTP are CRYPT32.DLL, SHDOCVW.DLL, URLMON.DLL, and MSHTML.DLL. Here's the version data:

CRYPT32.DLL: version 5.131.2600.1123
SHDOCVW.DLL: version 6.0.2722.900
URLMON.DLL: version 6.0.2722.900
MSHTML.DLL: version 6.0.2722.900

Here's another possibility... I believe I've played OOTP since this one, though:

WININET.DLL: version 6.0.2718.400

morningstar8 · 11-24-2002, 12:39 AM

One more note...

I tried starting the game up a few more times with DirectX turned off, just to see what happened. I finally saw a single successful startup! So I decided to start the game a series of times. Each letter below represents a trial. "N" represents the game coming up with hosed graphics; "Y" indicates a playable game. I performed 24 trials in rapid succession. For each trial, I started OOTP, then quit immediately. I did nothing between the trials.

NNYNYNNNNY
NNNYNYNNYN
NNNY

Very odd. At least I can play, and I know if the game doesn't start right away, I can try again. Given the output above, I wonder if this is some kind of concurrency issue that turns up on fast boxes.

morningstar8 · 11-25-2002, 11:11 PM

Tonight, 30 attempts to start the game, 30 failures.

This is very frustrating, to say the least.

Killebrew · 11-26-2002, 12:23 AM

This is an issue related to XP and OOTP4 - hopefully someone with XP that has experienced this has been able to figure out what is up. I must assume that most XP users are not experiencing this issue though, as XP is a common OS by now.

Morningstar:

Quote:

I tried reinstalling ootp using the WISE installer, but it didn't help.

Have you tried uninstalling OOTP completely and then reinstalling? That is one of the 1st things (after reinstalling Direct X) that you need to do in this situation. Not sure what you mean by the Wise Installer comment, but reinstalling over OOTP4 won't do it, you need to uninstall it completely first, then reinstall. Use the XP Add/Remove programs option and don't forget to unlicense first before the uninstall. Good luck, it is so frustrating when software does not cooperate

.

JoeRockEHF · 11-26-2002, 07:19 AM

I don't have OOTP, I have STB but I do have XP and it runs fine, no problem at all.

morningstar8 · 11-27-2002, 12:41 AM

WISE is the brand name for the Windows installation software OOTP4 uses. It's not a WISEcrack. :-)

I've got DirectX 8.1. That's more than enough for OOTP, which (I believe) requires DirectX 7. I've run the DirectX diagnostic utility, DXDIAG, on my PC and found no issues.

Thanks, but I'd prefer to not run the uninstall, for a few reasons:

* Many uninstall programs are poor; nobody makes money dumping time into an uninstall program. (This is why there's third party software out there for complete uninstallation, such as Norton Uninstall Deluxe and McAfee's Uninstaller Online).
* The DLLs I mentioned above are all shared by some other application. The best that'll happen by uninstalling and reinstalling is that the OOTP installer will leave them alone. The worst that'll happen is that OOTP will get rid of the files, then replace them with old versions...in which case some other application on my PC won't work. No thanks.

If Markus or somebody else from the development team tells me that uninstalling and reinstalling is a good plan, I'll do it...but otherwise I won't.

Killebrew · 11-27-2002, 02:21 AM

Heh, I know the installer brand, I actually use this game too

.

The reason the uninstall/reinstall is a common and useful support response (check the games manual) is that if existing files on your PC are corrupted then a reinstall back into the same directory will likely do nothing - it will not overwrite files that are already there. The OOTP game files can be easily corrupted when an application crashes on your PC 30 times in one sitting.

About uninstall programs being poor: There is actually not much to them, not a lot of user worries that you'd encounter and the wise installer/uninstallers will query you if they are about to delete a file used by other programs as well as if they are about to overwrite a newer version of a file. You could also use an outside program to uninstall if you wanted to, Norton has a few utils that do this. As a backup plan to avoid any installer-related PC mayhem why not reinstall the game into a brand new directory - that should accomplish the same goal without the overwrite concerns.

Quote:

If Markus or somebody else from the development team tells me that uninstalling and reinstalling is a good plan, I'll do it...but otherwise I won't.

Okay-dokey, just trying to help you get your game working here buddy

.

morningstar8 · 11-29-2002, 02:44 AM

Here's another weird fact about this issue.

Whenever I start the program from the Windows Start Menu (i.e., Start >> Programs >> Out of the Park Baseball 4 >> OOTP4), the program starts *successfully*.

When I was starting the program earlier this week, I was using a shortcut on either my desktop or in a toolbar, both of which still frequently yield the graphics glitch.

Of course, the program reference in the Start Menu is also a shortcut, which makes this yet more weird. I've verified that all three launch methods (Start menu, desktop, toolbar) point at the same location, and that the shortcut properties are all the same.

I can't explain why the desktop shortcut and toolbar shortcut don't work...but at least I have a way of reliably starting the program now.

Hey, stashu, if you're still following this thread, does starting OOTP4 from your Start menu, rather than your desktop, help?

Maddux · 12-05-2002, 08:43 PM

How would I go abouts finding out if I have the Video/DirectX requirements?

Scott Vibert · 12-05-2002, 10:27 PM

You can download DirectX for free so it should be ok.

11-14-2002, 08:00 PM	#1
Stashu Minors (Double A) Join Date: Dec 2001 Posts: 177	startup/graphics error I keep getting a bad startup lately, but it comes sporadically. I've tried closing all programs to make sure it wasn't a memory drain or anything causing the problems, but that didn't fix things. This doesn't happen everytime, but it's hella annoying having to start/shutdown/restart/..... the program before finally getting it to work. I have 2 screenshots showing how bad things look in case anyone has seen the same thing and can suggest some way to fix it. http://home.rochester.rr.com/hicknsar/ootp4-1.jpg http://home.rochester.rr.com/hicknsar/ootp4-2.jpg thanks!

11-14-2002, 10:45 PM	#3
Stashu Minors (Double A) Join Date: Dec 2001 Posts: 177	i'll mess with my modes and everything, but i've had the game since it came out and it's only been happening in the last few days. __________________

11-14-2002, 10:54 PM	#4
Steve Kuffrey Administrator Join Date: Jul 1999 Location: S.E. TN - Georgia born and raised Posts: 17,036	Does this occur when you have been running awhile w/o restarting your PC? __________________ Steve Kuffrey DABS Atlanta Braves - 2008 Eastern Division Champ *DBLC Atlanta Braves - 2011, 2014 East Division Champ, 2012, 2013 NL Wildcard Baseball Maelstrom-Montreal Expos-2013 Tourney winner, 2014 WC Team Sparky's League - Tampa Bay D'Rays Epicenter Baseball League - Astros 2014 The CBL Rewind - Phillies '95

11-15-2002, 03:36 PM	#7
Stashu Minors (Double A) Join Date: Dec 2001 Posts: 177	yeah, that's the only thing i can think of...i recently went up to the latest DirectX...installed 2 demo's(Age of Mythology and Casino Empire). that's about it actually. I'm pretty good with computers, so i've thought about these things. Just posting here to see if it's an isolated incident or if others have had anything like this happen and knew anyway to fix it. I'll look into removing some programs and check into everything. __________________

11-23-2002, 10:59 PM	#8
morningstar8 Minors (Single A) Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Milwaukee, WI Posts: 82	I've got the same issue I've got the same issue. Windows XP, P4 2.0 GHz with 512 MB RAM. Plenty of system resources. The problem shows up with ootp 4.2a and ootp 4.1. I tried reinstalling ootp using the WISE installer, but it didn't help. I hadn't played ootp for awhile, so I'm not sure what I might have installed to hit a conflict. I've installed Unreal Tournament 2003 and Madden 2003 since the last time I played OOTP. The game is effectively unusable for me. Scrolling (on the views that allow it) doesn't remove any characters, it just adds them...so garbage builds up quickly.

11-14-2002, 08:18 PM	#2
ExposFan08 Guest Posts: n/a	Do you have it on Direct3D mode? If you do, I would try either turning D3D mode off, or making sure you have the newest versions of DirectX and your video card drivers.

11-15-2002, 08:09 AM	#5
Stashu Minors (Double A) Join Date: Dec 2001 Posts: 177	I restart my computer everyday. I usually have it on from about now(8am) til 9am and then after work from approximately 3pm until bed(11pm or later), but i always shutdown at night. That was another thought I had, but since i restart/shutdown a couple times a day, i figured that wasn't the problem.

11-15-2002, 09:43 AM	#6
Scott Vibert Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: My Computer Posts: 8,257	So what have you done to the system, or game in the last few days? (Any new programs installed?, maybe they messed with some of the settings, any new hardware? Did you delete something?) What new factor has been added into the equation?

11-23-2002, 11:23 PM	#9
morningstar8 Minors (Single A) Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Milwaukee, WI Posts: 82	By the way, I've created a list of DLL's, versions, etc. that OOTP4 uses on my PC by using Dependency Walker (http://www.dependencywalker.com). I'll be happy to e-mail the list to an OOTP support person; I just need an e-mail address. According to the dependency walker output, the only DLLs OOTP uses that were modified since the last time I successfully played OOTP are CRYPT32.DLL, SHDOCVW.DLL, URLMON.DLL, and MSHTML.DLL. Here's the version data: CRYPT32.DLL: version 5.131.2600.1123 SHDOCVW.DLL: version 6.0.2722.900 URLMON.DLL: version 6.0.2722.900 MSHTML.DLL: version 6.0.2722.900 Here's another possibility... I believe I've played OOTP since this one, though: WININET.DLL: version 6.0.2718.400 Last edited by morningstar8; 11-24-2002 at 12:09 AM.

11-24-2002, 12:39 AM	#10
morningstar8 Minors (Single A) Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Milwaukee, WI Posts: 82	further testing One more note... I tried starting the game up a few more times with DirectX turned off, just to see what happened. I finally saw a single successful startup! So I decided to start the game a series of times. Each letter below represents a trial. "N" represents the game coming up with hosed graphics; "Y" indicates a playable game. I performed 24 trials in rapid succession. For each trial, I started OOTP, then quit immediately. I did nothing between the trials. NNYNYNNNNY NNNYNYNNYN NNNY Very odd. At least I can play, and I know if the game doesn't start right away, I can try again. Given the output above, I wonder if this is some kind of concurrency issue that turns up on fast boxes.

11-25-2002, 11:11 PM	#11
morningstar8 Minors (Single A) Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Milwaukee, WI Posts: 82	Tonight, 30 attempts to start the game, 30 failures. This is very frustrating, to say the least.

11-26-2002, 07:19 AM	#13
JoeRockEHF All Star Reserve Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Niles, MI Posts: 933	I don't have OOTP, I have STB but I do have XP and it runs fine, no problem at all. __________________ PSN: JoeRockEHF

11-27-2002, 12:41 AM	#14
morningstar8 Minors (Single A) Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Milwaukee, WI Posts: 82	WISE is the brand name for the Windows installation software OOTP4 uses. It's not a WISEcrack. :-) I've got DirectX 8.1. That's more than enough for OOTP, which (I believe) requires DirectX 7. I've run the DirectX diagnostic utility, DXDIAG, on my PC and found no issues. Thanks, but I'd prefer to not run the uninstall, for a few reasons: * Many uninstall programs are poor; nobody makes money dumping time into an uninstall program. (This is why there's third party software out there for complete uninstallation, such as Norton Uninstall Deluxe and McAfee's Uninstaller Online). * The DLLs I mentioned above are all shared by some other application. The best that'll happen by uninstalling and reinstalling is that the OOTP installer will leave them alone. The worst that'll happen is that OOTP will get rid of the files, then replace them with old versions...in which case some other application on my PC won't work. No thanks. If Markus or somebody else from the development team tells me that uninstalling and reinstalling is a good plan, I'll do it...but otherwise I won't.

11-29-2002, 02:44 AM	#16
morningstar8 Minors (Single A) Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Milwaukee, WI Posts: 82	Here's another weird fact about this issue. Whenever I start the program from the Windows Start Menu (i.e., Start >> Programs >> Out of the Park Baseball 4 >> OOTP4), the program starts successfully. When I was starting the program earlier this week, I was using a shortcut on either my desktop or in a toolbar, both of which still frequently yield the graphics glitch. Of course, the program reference in the Start Menu is also a shortcut, which makes this yet more weird. I've verified that all three launch methods (Start menu, desktop, toolbar) point at the same location, and that the shortcut properties are all the same. I can't explain why the desktop shortcut and toolbar shortcut don't work...but at least I have a way of reliably starting the program now. Hey, stashu, if you're still following this thread, does starting OOTP4 from your Start menu, rather than your desktop, help?

12-05-2002, 08:43 PM	#17
Maddux Bat Boy Join Date: Dec 2002 Posts: 1	How would I go abouts finding out if I have the Video/DirectX requirements?

12-05-2002, 10:27 PM	#18
Scott Vibert Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: My Computer Posts: 8,257	You can download DirectX for free so it should be ok.