Help! Dominions locks up my system...

[BugRoger]

Hey folks,

I am trying to run Dominions 2 on an IBM Thinkpad T20 laptop. The problem is that the game freezes the laptop completely after maybe 2 minutes of playing. The laptop is running Win2k with latest DirectX and 512MB RAM. The onboard video card is made by S3 and is very slow but bearable on low settings.

I tried turning sound off but it still locks up.

Also I tried to install it on another but similar IBM laptop (T21) running Windows XP... same problem.

*sigh* Any ideas what I can do about that?

[ March 08, 2004, 18:08: Message edited by: BugRoger ]

[fahdiz]

What Version of the game are you trying to play? Has it been upgraded to 2.08?

Also, you said that your DirectX was current, but have you checked to make sure all the drivers for your machine's hardware (especially video) are up to date?

[BugRoger]

Yes, I updated to 2.08. I guess my video drivers are pretty outdated but I can't do anything about that. There just aren't any drivers. S3 went bancrupt or something...

[fahdiz]

Originally posted by BugRoger:
Yes, I updated to 2.08. I guess my video drivers are pretty outdated but I can't do anything about that. There just aren't any drivers. S3 went bancrupt or something...

That could be the problem...it's entirely possible that your video card doesn't play well with DirectX 9, because of its age, and because no new drivers have been written to overcome that issue.

[Gateway103]

Originally posted by BugRoger:
Yes, I updated to 2.08. I guess my video drivers are pretty outdated but I can't do anything about that. There just aren't any drivers. S3 went bancrupt or something...

Err? S3?

Do you mean this S3 at http://www.s3graphics.com/index.html ?

You may be able update your driver at the site.

I think the T20 uses S3 Savage IX8 card, if so, here is a patch for it on the S3 site.
WARNING! Make sure S3 Savage IX8 is your card
http://ranger.s3graphics.com/swlib/290-298drv/

Should be either 79036agplogo_S3.zip or 79036pcilogoS3.zip.

It is also a good practice to back up your registry and hardware setting before updating... just in case ^_^

Good luck,

-Gateway103

[ March 09, 2004, 02:12: Message edited by: Gateway103 ]

[BugRoger]

Oops. S3 is still there? How embarassing...

I just checked the driver you mentioned. It is in deed the one I should need. But Windows insists that there's already a more suitable driver installed. I installed the S3 driver anyway but still the same lock ups.

I'm currently starting Dom with these cmdline switches:

--nosound
--nofade
--noanimback
--opacity 100
-x

It's pretty fast, almost comparable to my high end desktop system. Too bad that it only Lasts for 2 minutes or so.

I guess this is pretty much a hopeless case. Before I start a rant about all those driver issues in "modern" games I better go and get some work done.

Thank you for your help.

[Gateway103]

Oh... that's too bad.

Guess the card is simply too old for Dom2

-Gateway103