Microsoft KB Archive/321084

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Article ID: 321084

Article Last Modified on 1/7/2006


APPLIES TO

  • Microsoft Dungeon Siege
  • Microsoft Dungeon Siege: Legends of Aranna


This article was previously published under Q321084

SYMPTOMS

You may not be able to start Microsoft Dungeon Siege. The game may stop during startup at a black screen with white dots in the lower left corner.

When you are playing, the game may stop responding.

CAUSE

This behavior may occur if one or more of the following are true:

  • The introductory movie is failing to start.
  • The computer's playback device for the sound card is not set correctly.
  • The game is opening in a different resolution than your windows screen resolution.
  • One of the game's preference files has become damaged or corrupted.
  • You have an NVIDIA-based video card with antialiasing enabled.


RESOLUTION

To resolve this behavior, use the following methods in the order that they appear.

Start the Game without Introduction

To start the game without the introduction, follow these steps:

  1. Click Start, point to Programs, point to Dungeon Siege, point to Troubleshooting, and then click Dungeon Siege No Intro.
  2. Start Dungeon Siege.

For Dungeon Siege: Legends of Aranna, start the game by using the nointro=true parameter. For additional information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

325037 Dungeon Siege: Command-Line Parameters and Troubleshooting Shortcuts



If the behavior continues, proceed to the next method.

Disable Hardware TnL

To disable the use of Hardware TnL in the game:

  1. Click Start, click Programs, click Dungeon Siege, click Troubleshooting, and then click Dungeon Siege Video Configuration Tool.
  2. In the Video Driver drop-down list, select Primary Display Driver - Hardware.
  3. Click OK.

Replace Preference Files

Create new preferences and settings for the game. To do this, follow these steps:

  1. In Microsoft Dungeon Siege1.0, double-click My Documents on the desktop.
  2. Right-click the Dungeon Siege folder, click Rename, and then type Dungeon Siege.old.
  3. Start Dungeon Siege 1.0, and then quit Dungeon Siege 1.0.


This creates a new folder that is named "Dungeon Siege" in the My Documents folder.

  1. Double-click Dungeon Siege.old, right-click the Save folder, and then click Copy.
  2. In My Documents, double-click the Dungeon Siege folder, and then click Paste on the Edit menu.


When you are prompted to replace the folder, click Yes to All.

  1. Start Dungeon Siege.

For Dungeon Siege: Legends of Aranna, follow these steps:

  1. Double-click My Documents on the desktop.
  2. Right-click the Dungeon Siege LOA folder, click Rename, and then type Dungeon Siege.old.
  3. Start Dungeon Siege: Legends of Aranna, and then quit Dungeon Siege: Legends of Aranna.


This creates a new folder that is named "Dungeon Siege LOA" in the My Documents folder.

  1. Double-click Dungeon Siege LOA.old, right-click the Save folder, and then click Copy.
  2. In My Documents, double-click the Dungeon Siege LOA folder, and then click Paste on the Edit menu.


When you are prompted to replace the folder, click Yes to All.

  1. Start Dungeon Siege: Legends of Aranna.

If the behavior continues, proceed to the next method.

Saved Games

If you are trying to play from a saved game, try a previously saved game or a new game to see if the problem is with the saved file that you are using.

If the behavior continues, proceed to the next method.

Set your Sound Playback Device

To set the preferred playback device to your sound card:

  1. Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.
  2. Double-click Sound and Audio Devices.
  3. On the Audio tab, under Sound playback, if it is not already selected, select your sound card.
  4. Select the Use only default devices check box, and then click OK.

If the behavior continues, proceed to the next method.

Lower Sound Acceleration

  1. Click Start, and then click Run.
  2. In the Open box, type DXDIAG, and then click OK.
  3. On the Sound tab, in the DirectX Features section, change the Hardware Sound Acceleration Level to Basic acceleration.
  4. Click Exit.

If the behavior continues, proceed to the next method.

Set Windows Screen Resolution

To set your screen resolution, follow these steps:

  1. Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.
  2. Double-click Display.
  3. Move the Screen area or Desktop area slider to 800 by 600 pixels, and then click OK.

If the behavior continues, proceed to the next method.

Disable the Active Desktop

  1. Click Start, point to Settings, click Control Panel, and then double-click Display.
  2. To disable the Active Desktop, click the Web tab, click to clear the View my Active Desktop as a web page check box, and then click OK.

For additional information about how to disable or enable Active Desktop, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

190228 How to Enable or Disable the Active Desktop


If the behavior continues, proceed to the next method.

Disable Antialiasing

  1. Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.
  2. Double-click Display.
  3. On the Settings tab, click Advanced.
  4. on the GeForce tab, click Additional Properties, and then click 3D Antialiasing Settings.
  5. Select Manually select the antialiasing mode, and then select Off (no antialiasing).


Note If the card is already set to Manually select the antialiasing mode, click Allow applications to control the antialiasing mode, and then test the game.

  1. Click OK three times to exit.

If the behavior continues, proceed to the next method.

Verify the Dungeon Siege Files

Verify that the resource files is corrupted by running a cyclical redundancy check (CRC) on the files. To do this, follow these steps.

Note Because there are several versions of Windows, the following steps may be different on your computer. If they are, please consult your product documentation to complete these steps.

  1. Right-click the desktop, point to New, and then click Shortcut.
  2. Click Browse, click DungeonSiege.exe, and then click Open.


By default, the path is "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Dungeon Siege\DungeonSiege.exe".

  1. In the Command line box, to the right of the quotation marks ("), type a space, and then type verifydata=true.
  2. Click Next, and then click Finish.
  3. Double-click the new shortcut.

The CRC takes several minutes to complete.

If any of the files do not pass the CRC test, the files are corrupted. To remove and reinstall the game, follow these steps:

  1. Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.
  2. Double-click Add/Remove Programs.
  3. On the Install/Uninstall tab, click Dungeon Siege, and then click Add/Remove.
  4. Click Uninstall, and then click OK.


Note Do not click to select the Remove saved games check box.

  1. Reinstall Dungeon Siege.


REFERENCES

For additional information about how to troubleshoot this type of issue, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

303032 Games: The Game Stops Responding or Quits Unexpectedly



Additional query words: msgame lock hang freeze drops quits terminates display video performance

Keywords: kbprb kbconfig kbdisplay KB321084



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