Larian Studios Forums Divine Divinity (English) General DD has weird behavior at times.

I had just purchased a new PC, 2 GB RAM, 256 video card, integrated sound. I installed the patch which brought me to the current version 1.00034. With that said, during game play, when it gets to a point it needs to access the CD, as soon as the CD starts revving up the game minimizes. I click to maximize and it does with no picture and does this until the CD is caught up and then I can continue the game. Also, when I find a hidden object (usually fruit) the sound makes a hissing sound as well as when talking to someone. This doesn't happen all the time, but I don't believe it even should do it, given my hardware. Can someone please help me with this?

Thank you,

Ficarosso

During game play, the only time the game should need to access the CD is for the blessing ceremony and end game videos. Make sure you shut down all non-essential programs (ie anti-virus) before starting the game, particularly anything that monitors optical drives (auto-play extenders, etc).

For minimizing during startup, you could try setting the game resolution and your desktop resolution the same and see if that helps.
With the patch installed there is a configuration file edit to skip the intro videos (see here), which might help (you will not need the play CD then, except for the blessing ceremony and end game videos).


There should not be any hissing sounds, except maybe with snakes.

Did you check the computer / motherboard manufacturer's site for updated drivers (onboard audio, chipset, etc)? There may be updates even though the computer is new.

Try lowering your hardware sound acceleration a notch, or even disabling it completely (click Start | Run, type in dxdiag and hit Enter, then switch to the sound tab).

Do you have a multi-core processor? If so you may want to try setting DD to only use one core (it is only able to utilize one anyway).
Sound errors with static - maybe fix found!

Raze,

Thank you again for your response. I didn't have the intro skipped, because it only happens during game play. Does the monitor refresh rate have anything to do with the flickering? Also my system resolution is 1024x768, but DD config is 640x480, does that matter? I suppose it isn't accessing the CD, but occasionally the CDROM revs up, do you know why? I have an Intel core 2 P4 1.86Ghz. I did turn the acceleration down a notch, all the test ran great.

Thank you very much

ficarosso

[color:"orange"]I didn't have the intro skipped, because it only happens during game play.[/color]

Skipping the intro videos will allow you to play most of the time without the play CD in an optical drive. This in turn should prevent whatever is periodically checking the drive from causing it to spin up and minimize the game.


[color:"orange"]Does the monitor refresh rate have anything to do with the flickering?[/color]

What flickering? During gameplay, or when DirectX is switching resolutions?
If you do not notice any flickering in Windows, then the monitor refresh rate probably isn't an issue with the game. The refresh rate might drop switching to a higher resolution than your desktop, but shouldn't at a lower resolution.


[color:"orange"]my system resolution is 1024x768, but DD config is 640x480, does that matter?[/color]

It shouldn't. In general, whether a problem gets worse, better or stays the same when changing resolutions could help narrow down the source of the problem.

A couple people playing Beyond Divinity had problems (crash on startup) with the way DirectX switched resolutions, but setting the game and desktop resolutions the same avoided that. Similar issues have not been reporter for DD, but since the game is being minimized maybe having the game and desktop resolution the same will help.

You might want to try the game at 1024x768 anyway (at the very least you will have a much larger field of view... as long as text is still large enough to read).


[color:"orange"]occasionally the CDROM revs up, do you know why?[/color]

My guess would be a background program or something in Windows periodically checking the drive.

very informative, thank you Raze. As far as the flickering, I was talking about when the game minimizes. I did try 1024x768 but it made everything smaller, so how did you mean larger field of view?

thanks

FR

The flickering when the game minimizes is just from how DirectX is switching resolutions; I don't think the refresh rate would make any difference with that.

By larger field of view I meant you would be able to see farther. At a low resolution everything is larger so you only see the area immediately around the character; at higher resolutions you can see more of the surroundings, which is better for exploring and dealing with enemies. While you loose some detail in characters and objects at higher resolutions, when they are smaller, probably the main limit on resolution would be whether text is still readable or not.

Raze,

sorry to bother you again with this topic. Needless to say the minimizing has never stopped, then I re-read what you said. So I shut down my firewall and AV since they run in the background. I have nothing running in the background, I even went in to msconfig to see if I could disable anything, but didn't know what was what. So I have no idea why it still happens? Could it have anything to do with the fact my monitor is older and didn't come with the computer? Can you think of anything else it might be?

I really appreciate your help as always
thanks

ficarosso

[color:"orange"]the minimizing has never stopped[/color]

Did you edit the configuration files to skip the intro videos, so you don't need the play CD in the drive (most of the time)? If so, then it is not the disk access itself that is causing the minimizing, but something else causing both...
The question is, what would minimize a game, spin up an optical drive and use enough CPU and/or memory that the game takes awhile before it can redraw the screen when maximized?


[color:"orange"]I even went in to msconfig to see if I could disable anything, but didn't know what was what.[/color]

There is a searchable list of XP startup programs/processes here, or you can Google unknown entries (or to find other guides). If you attempt to disable something essential, Windows should pop up a warning.

Lady_Rain describes how to use the startup manager in Spybot in this topic.

The topics below contain some system troubleshooting suggestions, though you would have to skip over the Beyond Divinity specific stuff.
yet another "Game simply won't start!"-thread and BattleFields N00b ?


[color:"orange"]So I have no idea why it still happens?[/color]

Have you run an anti-virus program recently? I assume so if you usually have an AV and firewall program running.


[color:"orange"]Could it have anything to do with the fact my monitor is older and didn't come with the computer?[/color]

The only conflict I can think of with the monitor would be if it had trouble with certain refresh rate and resolution combinations. However, that would only be triggered when changing resolutions (starting/exiting the game or cutscene videos).


[color:"orange"]Can you think of anything else it might be?[/color]

Do you have any other DirectX games? If so, do you experience the same problem with them?

Does the problem seem random or periodic?

Did you check the Windows Update site for critical and driver updates? Check the system / motherboard manufacturers site for updated BIOS or chipset drivers.

I just not made it to skip the into, so I will see what happens. As far as DirectX games, I believe this is the only one, unless that includes some internet games (miniclip.com)?


thank you

Games played in a browser are usually done with Flash. By DirectX games I meant commercial RPG, TRS, FPS, adventure games, etc; there are some freeware and shareware games that use DirectX, but AFAIK they tend not to be nearly as resource intensive.

forgive my ignorance I apparently didn't edit like I thought. Where is the config.div text file??




thanks

..\Divine Divinity\Run\config.div

If you add the line to the very end of the file, make sure you hit Enter afterwards (the game expects the last line to be blank, and ignores it). Sorry, I thought that was mentioned in the topic I linked to about this, but I must have been thinking of a different topic.

Maybe an older copy protection that is still uninstalled ? I know of some that remain on the HD even when the game is beinmg uninstalled.

Also, some DVDs have copy protection programs.