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ToMI 2 & 3 crash on entering fullscreen in Windows 7 (+ workaround)

LeakLeak
edited October 2009 in Game Support
Hi folks,

I've been quite a bit slack with playing ToMI, so while I've played through episode 1 I haven't even played 2 & 3 yet. So when I wanted to do this today, I've found that both games crash on launch when they're switching to fullscreen mode.

I can run Lair of the Leviathan (or at least get to the settings menu) in windowed mode using the prefs file Will attached here, but for obvious reasons (like anti-aliasing) I'd rather play the game in fullscreen. Well, as soon as I switch to fullscreen in the options menu I get the same crash I previously got directly when launching the game. :(

I'm running Windows 7 x64 RTM here (since we have a MSDN subscription at work and the latest and greates OS used everywhere in the office is still Windows XP).

+++ NEWSFLASH +++

Okay, while I was typing I thought giving Windows' compatiblity options a go before submitting this, and actually setting "Disable visual themes" which makes "regular" Windows apps less, well, new-Windows-Theme-shiny did the trick. But note that this isn't neccessary with Launch of the Screaming Narwhal...

Still, since Windows 7 will be the latest and greatest version of Windows out there in about 11 days you might want to either make that setting the default via the installer (if possible) or look into this crash and fix it for good... ;)

Just my 0.02 EUR... :D

EDIT: P.S., while I'm at it: the link to launch Siege of Spinner Cay in Windows' game explorer actually opens the folder where the game is installed instead of directly launching the launcher as with ToMI 1 & 3...

Comments

  • WillWill Telltale Alumni
    edited October 2009
    I'll have Seg take a look at this when he gets back in town.
  • LeakLeak
    edited October 2009
    Will wrote: »
    I'll have Seg take a look at this when he gets back in town.
    Great.

    And besides the above I happily played through ToMI 2 without a hitch yesterday... :D

    np: Blamstrain - Alive In Arms (Lackluster Remix) (Blamstrain Remixed)
  • SegSeg
    edited October 2009
    Glad there's a fix and it's posted as it allows us to narrow down the problem. I'm afraid it's something that the core engineers need to look at, but I do need a little bit of more information from you. More info helps me to write the report.

    What's the make & model of your graphics card?

    Are you using the latest drivers for the card?
    Since Win7 is still 'unreleased', there's enough work being done on drivers where it may catch some driver specific issues. If you do find a more recent driver, it would help if you updated and then tried to run the game normally again.
  • LeakLeak
    edited October 2009
    Seg wrote: »
    What's the make & model of your graphics card?
    ATI Radeon 4850
    Are you using the latest drivers for the card?
    Catalyst 9.9, which was the latest one last time I checked (i.e. today).
    Since Win7 is still 'unreleased', there's enough work being done on drivers where it may catch some driver specific issues. If you do find a more recent driver, it would help if you updated and then tried to run the game normally again.
    To be honest, I really doubt something that's fixed by disabling control theming is caused by the graphics drivers - especially with a game that doesn't (seem) to use any Windows controls outside of the launcher and that doesn't crash when run in a window - then again, maybe it's the lack of antialiasing in windowed mode, but that'd still be highly illogical and/or voodoo... :D

    But yeah, doing .NET programming during the day doesn't get you close to the graphics driver and the OS, so I don't know Windows' ugly innards too well... ;)
  • SegSeg
    edited October 2009
    * bonks head *

    Forgot one more thing. Can you do me a favor and run the DirectX web installer for me? This will likely not do anything, but I want to cover the bases.

    Ninja Edit: Also, what Windows Theme are you using? I'm wondering if this is something specific to a theme or not.
  • LeakLeak
    edited October 2009
    Seg wrote: »
    Forgot one more thing. Can you do me a favor and run the DirectX web installer for me? This will likely not do anything, but I want to cover the bases.
    Sorry, I'm one step ahead of you on that one - but neither the web installer nor the full redist (for good measure) made any difference.
    Ninja Edit: Also, what Windows Theme are you using? I'm wondering if this is something specific to a theme or not.
    Standard aero glass theme with a user-set background image and a slight tweak of the colours - but at least nothing that should make programs act different than the defaults.

    But ain't life great? I've just found that it now won't crash, even if I revert any compatibility settings I've made... :confused:

    Okay, either this was a freak conicidence, or I'm currently doing something wrong doing something wrong... :(

    np: Blamstrain/Brothomstates - Envelope Diving 2 (Brothomstrain vs. Blamstates)
  • SegSeg
    edited October 2009
    Since you can't reproduce the problem, we may have to chalk it up to something strange that happened on your local computer.

    This is noted as something to look out for on Win7, so moving forward we'll work out this aspect and figure it out from there.

    Thank you for helping us out! This at least identifies what we need to look at in the future!
  • daftiedaftie
    edited October 2009
    Definitely not just Leak's local machine.

    I just re-installed Win7 from scratch to see if it could play ep3.
    Downloaded all 3 TOMI episodes thru Steam.
    Episode 1 & 2 work just fine. Episode 3 gives me the following dialog before any launch occurs:
    Sorry, this account is not authorized to access this game
    And no launch ever occurs.

    My system is intel T9300/nvidia M8600 GT (to contrast Leak's ATi system) running latest video drivers, on 64-bit Win7.
    edit: OCZ 32GB SSD

    For full reference, my other post linking here.
  • SegSeg
    edited October 2009
    daftie wrote: »
    Sorry, this account is not authorized to access this game
    Different issue. Is this from a Steam message box, or a normal Windows message box?
  • daftiedaftie
    edited October 2009
    wrmjd5.jpg
    Please remove when you're done :)
    (Notice the position of the PS icon)
  • SegSeg
    edited October 2009
    What are your game controls like? This alert shows up when you have parental controls set to not allow the user account to run a game with no or too high of a content rating.

    The executable for all Monkey chapters included this information before. Apparently Steam started using it with chapter 3.
  • daftiedaftie
    edited October 2009
    I had removed parental controls with vlite on my win7 ultimate x64 install.
    No parental controls in Games Explorer nor in Control Panel.
    I don't even have the Parental Control service.

    What I did just try was to enable the full Administrator account as per:
    http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/67567-administrator-account.html

    I setup passwords on both the admin and my standard account, restarted the machine.
    I tried launching on both accounts, neither works.

    I know I'm asking alot (need support on a slightly modded, unsupported Windows) but it's frustrating, especially when the other two episodes work and the game is not the problem, just the launcher :P
    It seems to me like a simple "is the Parental Control service even running" check has been forgotten? (not necessarily by TellTale, maybe MS)


    Update:
    Just checked what MS has to say...

    What's New in Windows 7 Parental Controls
    http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd630560%28VS.85%29.aspx

    I don't have the "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Parental Controls\Providers" folder in my registry.

    I do have "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Parental Controls", but it's devoid of keys and contains only a folder called "HTTPExemptions" which is also empty.
  • SegSeg
    edited October 2009
    daftie wrote: »
    I had removed parental controls with vlite on my win7 ultimate x64 install.
    No parental controls in Games Explorer nor in Control Panel.
    I don't even have the Parental Control service.

    Your issue is occurring because you removed a core functionality in Windows.

    The function being called is IGameExplorer::VerifyAccess. In your case, it's returning false due to the absence of the software to verify access. You could try removing the entry for the game in Games explorer and find out of that fixes it. The only change between the chapter 3-5 and 1-2 is Steam registering the game with Games Explorer.

    Telltale games will not be the only games you'll have this problem with in the future. Now that Steam has added this functionality to it's games, you'll keep running into this problem.
  • daftiedaftie
    edited October 2009
    Funny thing is, there's no entry in Games Explorer for any games other than "Internet Backgammon, Internet Checkers, Internet Spades" and "More Games from Microsoft".

    I have Team Fortress 2 installed along with the episodes.
    That's not in Games Explorer either, yet I can play it without a problem...
    I'm sure its rating wouldn't have let me play?

    I guess I haven't said it yet but THANK YOU very much for your time already!

    Update:
    Here's output from DebugView of the three steps in my screenshot... anything seem off? 
    00000020	9.52789021	[2344] FTH: (2344): *** Fault tolerant heap shim applied to current process. This is usually due to previous crashes. ***	
00000021	9.89607239	[2344] Enabling language database "english.langdb" to match system language setting "english".	
00000022	9.89610481	[2344] 	
00000023	9.89797688	[2344] english	
00000024	9.89801216	[2344] 	
00000025	18.25269890	[2344] HandleObjectInfo::QuickSave: Saved to "c:\users\daftie\documents\telltale games\lair of the leviathan\prefs.prop".	
00000026	18.25279808	[2344] 	
00000027	21.18121147	[684] Game removed: AppID 31190 "Tales of Monkey Island: Chapter 3 - Lair of the Leviathan", ProcID 2344

    Update 2:
    Could it be that Team Fortress 2 checks whether the game was actually added to Games Explorer or not, but you guys just check the VerifyAccess? Heh, not trying to bust any balls :)

    Update 3:
    Here's a weird one:

    I drag&drop the Ep3 shortcut from my Desktop into Games Explorer and attempt to launch...
    If Steam was closed, it'll launch Steam and then attempt to launch Ep3, then it removes the shortcut I put into Games Explorer and fails as before.
    If Steam was open, Ep3 fails as before but does NOT remove the shortcut from Games Explorer.

    I tried this with the Team Fortress shortcut, it launches fine and is never removed..
    DebugView is exactly the same output as above in all cases.
  • MurrayballMurrayball
    edited October 2009
    I don't get it.
    I just installed Windows 7 x64 (via MSDN subscription). I installed ToMI episode 1 and it went smooth (I did not do the DirectX test-thingy). I use the first stand-alone installer - not via Steam.
    But when I try to start the game I just get following message; "The program can't start because d3dx9_41.dll is missing from your computer. Try reinstalling the program to fix this problem.".

    I thought this was simply just because the game is incompatible with Windows 7 x64. But when I read this post and see that people are playing it on x64, I don't know what might be wrong.

    I've tried to run the program in Vista or XP "mode", but I still get the error and the game won't launch.

    Any idea on what to do ? Is there an installer for x64 I must use instead ?

    This system runs with nVidia 9600gt 512mb, 4x 1GB DDR2 ram and Intel E6550 dual core. All the latest drivers for everything.
  • corruptbigginscorruptbiggins
    edited October 2009
    it's a DirectX file that is missing so you probably should have let it check your DirectX settings and stuff. Try re-installing and let it check for DirectX files (mainly because Win 7 x64 mainly uses DX10/11 and ToMI needs DX9).
  • LeakLeak
    edited October 2009
    Murrayball wrote: »
    Any idea on what to do ? Is there an installer for x64 I must use instead ?
    Yes - the installer for DirectX. DirectX (or rather, it's Direct 3D part) is updated every few months and usually each update comes with a new on of those D3DX9-DLLs. If a program depends on a newer DLL than you have installed, you'll get this error. (And no, Windows 7 didn't exactly ship with the newest Direct 3D DLLs - and DirectX isn't distributed via Windows Update either...)

    Though when you run the ToMI setup the game asks if you want to run the DirectX installer - did you answer no to that question? Because otherwise I can't see how you wouldn't have the latest DirectX version installed...

    np: Vladislav Delay - Tummaa (Tummaa)
  • MurrayballMurrayball
    edited October 2009
    Leak wrote: »
    Yes - the installer for DirectX. DirectX (or rather, it's Direct 3D part) is updated every few months and usually each update comes with a new on of those D3DX9-DLLs. If a program depends on a newer DLL than you have installed, you'll get this error. (And no, Windows 7 didn't exactly ship with the newest Direct 3D DLLs - and DirectX isn't distributed via Windows Update either...)

    Though when you run the ToMI setup the game asks if you want to run the DirectX installer - did you answer no to that question? Because otherwise I can't see how you wouldn't have the latest DirectX version installed...

    np: Vladislav Delay - Tummaa (Tummaa)


    Yes, I answered no - thinking that Windows 7 had everything I needed. I will try to reinstall ToMI and answer yes to the DirectX check.

    Thanks so far guys and have a nice weekend!
  • WillWill Telltale Alumni
    edited October 2009
    I'm still shocked and amazed that Windows doesn't come with the most up to date versions of DX and/or update it every time you run windows update. Generally speaking, it's ALWAYS a good idea to update your DX.
  • SegSeg
    edited October 2009
    Time for me to mention my rant on DirectX on my personal blog.

    For the game installers, I changed around how a Telltale game does DirectX as of MonkeyIsland103. Before, I would invoke the web installer to get your DirectX working. This mostly works, but if your Internet connection is weird you won't get anything. To make sure the game at least launches, I put in the _41.dll at the game folder.

    With 103 and after, a few things changed. Installers now include a DX off-line installer that only installs the following via DirectSetup (all x86 versions):

    * Aug 2005 D3D9 v27 (Aka: 9.0c)
    * Mar 2009 D3D8 v41
    * Mar 2009 X3DAudio
    * Mar 2009 XAudio
    * Apr 2007 XInput

    This adds 5.23mb to the installer file, but at least you get the right files in the right place the first time. After I invoke the Web installer to fill in the gaps if you opp-in. What I don't do is put in the _41.dll loose anymore in any case.
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