Vista/Nvidia problem /sigh

[Tanthalass]

Got a new, really nice laptop....that included 2x NVIDIA GeForce 8800M GTX SLI video cards and Vista Ultimate. So of course, I'm having problems.

FFXI works fine, but Windower crashes once i get to FFXI (can get through the POL Viewer just fine -.-).

I've tried disabling the UAC and running it capable with XP. Nothings working.

Anyone have any suggestions on what I can try?

[Elvis]

ive had this problem too. halp!

[Aksannyi]

Might try messing with plugins if you haven't already.

Aside from that, I don't really know. My laptop allows me to play, but the game crashes at random intervals. Certain zones more than others, as well. Like Dynamis-San d'Oria, can't make it through a run without crashing at least 6 times. (Record is 14.) And this leads me to believe that it might be video card related, but I have updated all the drivers and still have the problem so it's just something I've come to deal with.

And when I say random, I do mean random. I can go 5 days without crashing, then crash 4 times in 10 minutes. It's fucking frustrating as hell. But I've done google searches for this problem and so far, the only thing I've gotten is that this laptop that I have just does that, and there's nothing I can do to fix it.

If you're crashing right on load, though, I'd guess it's one of the plugins for windower. You said you've disabled UAC (which was my big problem at first), you could try to run as administrator. I had to do that, as well. I can't remember how I did it, but I bet you can google it and it will come up.

Also, the windower forums have a lot of good solutions for geting windower working with Vista, which helped me and I'm sure many others. You might try looking there.

[Tanthalass]

I already posted on Windower forums, just haven't gotten a reply yet. Thought I'd try here as well just in case.

I've tried disabling multiple plugins, but that didn't stop the crash.

I can get it to work by clicking outside before the box appears...but if i alt+tab or minimize it crashes, making it next to useless.

I've also tried disabling administrator

[Reality]

DISABLING administrator? what?

try reinstalling FFXI, or try using windower 3.3

3.4 for some reason doesn't work on my Vista machine, perhaps you're having the same problem I am

[njitjk68]

Control Panel -> Hardware and Sounds -> Device Manager -> Human Interface Device

Look for any IR Device installed. If so uninstall it. (IR Device is for TV Tuner).

[Reality]

Control Panel -> Hardware and Sounds -> Device Manager -> Human Interface Device

Look for any IR Device installed. If so uninstall it. (IR Device is for TV Tuner).

it'd be nice if the windower guys could pinpoint this conflict and fix it, so those of us with TV tuner cards can use our MCE remotes

[Tanthalass]

Sorry =/ Disabling admin is a typo. Meant running as Admin.

I also don't have a TV tuner.

[njitjk68]

Sorry =/ Disabling admin is a typo. Meant running as Admin.

I also don't have a TV tuner.

You did check in Device Manager though right? It doesn't actually come with a TV tuner. It is mostly just used for it.

[Amele]

I am using 3.4 windower on vista ultimate with UAC enabled and an nvidia card (well, it's a 9800GX2 so it's not quite the same as mobile SLI) so it's probably not a vista/nvidia problem. although you should check which drivers you're using against the approved list on SE's website and upgrade/rollback as necessary.

look to see if there's an IR device enabled, also, make sure you've got the vista compatible POL (from SE's website and not from your install discs). check the 'run as administrator' box for both POL and windower.

you may want to disable secure desktop but I don't think that actually causes the crashes (it's just that secure desktop and some directX games don't play nice) if you disabled UAC entirely you've already disabled secure desktop (and defeated the primary reason to be using vista *shrugs*)

as for plugins: all the plugins should be auto-load friendly now, but some may not be 100% compatible with FFXI. if you haven't tried windowing around with no plugins loaded do that too - it's possible you're just loading one that has trouble with being alt-tabbed out.

[Reality]

as for plugins: all the plugins should be auto-load friendly now, but some may not be 100% compatible with FFXI. if you haven't tried windowing around with no plugins loaded do that too - it's possible you're just loading one that has trouble with being alt-tabbed out.

strange, because for whatever reason, 3.4 refuses to work on my machine. I even reinstalled FFXI and redownloaded windower as well. 3.3 works fine, though

i stopped asking for help @ the windower forums as they don't really seem to do much tech support help anymore over there

[Amele]

strange, because for whatever reason, 3.4 refuses to work on my machine. I even reinstalled FFXI and redownloaded windower as well. 3.3 works fine, though

i stopped asking for help @ the windower forums as they don't really seem to do much tech support help anymore over there

for whatever reason, the windower community seems to have issues with holding onto capable tech-support. (or dev's other than the current project leads for that matter). I couldn't tell you why really.

I've wondered a little bit about whether or not user level has anything to do with 3.3 vs. 3.4 (I've been using an admin account for convenience issues; I have a regular account set up but it's only for housemates to add/catalogue media files for the extenders) I should set up XI on the user account sometime and see if 3.4 breaks.

[Reality]

I'm running the actual Administrator account on my Vista x64 machine, not a user with Administrator Privelages, the ACTUAL Administrator account. and 3.4 does not work.

http://img170.imageshack.us/img170/9...board01da4.jpg

[Amele]

I'm running the actual Administrator account on my Vista x64 machine, not a user with Administrator Privelages, the ACTUAL Administrator account. and 3.4 does not work.

I would say 'you're doing it wrong' but I can't guarantee that it's not that I'm a fluke heh.

I am using x64 as well yes. I'll get you the details of how I set it up tonight and we can see if we're doing anything differently.

one thing you could try is disabling Aero. I was able to get it to work with Aero without incident but it might make a difference for you.

[Reality]

I would say 'you're doing it wrong' but I can't guarantee that it's not that I'm a fluke heh.

I am using x64 as well yes. I'll get you the details of how I set it up tonight and we can see if we're doing anything differently.

one thing you could try is disabling Aero. I was able to get it to work with Aero without incident but it might make a difference for you.

odd thing, is when the game crashes with 3.4, it's when it starts loading the plugins

the plugins that i used were the ones that came with the 3.4 package that's on the website now (i deleted my entire plugin folder before installing 3.4)

[Amele]

odd thing, is when the game crashes with 3.4, it's when it starts loading the plugins

the plugins that i used were the ones that came with the 3.4 package that's on the website now (i deleted my entire plugin folder before installing 3.4)

I had to tick 'run as admin' on 3.4 before I could use plugins with it (yes, despite being on an admin account)

even as an administrator, programs don't get full admin rights. one of the things they don't appear get by default is interprocess memory mapping rights.

since most of what windower does is read/write to memory I think this might have something to do with your problem.

likewise, I know they restructured the plugin interface with 3.4 so that could explain why 3.3 works and 3.4 doesn't.

edit: and several of the default 3.4 plugins are broken as of mid-july, so you may need to test them all individually.

[Reality]

I had to tick 'run as admin' on 3.4 before I could use plugins with it (yes, despite being on an admin account)

even as an administrator, programs don't get full admin rights. one of the things they don't appear get by default is interprocess memory mapping rights.

when you're running on the administrator account, "Run as Administrator" checkbox is greyed out, as there's no need for it as the system understands you're running at the highest privelage level

http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/2...board01lv4.jpg

[Amele]

when you're running on the administrator account, "Run as Administrator" checkbox is greyed out, as there's no need for it as the system understands you're running at the highest privelage level

http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/2131/clipboard01lv4.jpg[/img]

that'd be one difference between a user with admin privilege and the admin account then.

I've never had a reason to use the admin account directly myself.

edit: so you're back to trying out the individual plugins; if it loads to the point where plugins start loading that's most likely a problem with specific plugins and not 3.4 itself.

[Reality]

that's what I thought, until i started asking friends of mine that use 3.4 + Vista and they're able to get TParty to work, whereas I'm not able to load that specific plugin at all, same with Distance, etc.

Like i said earlier, this is all with freshly downloaded 3.4, a freshly reinstalled FFXI + redownloaded everything from SE's servers rather than saving a backup of my game directory then checkfiles. everything is newly installed.

something tells me there's a problem with the plugins and perhaps certain hardware configurations that causes them to crash, otherwise it would happen to a lot more people

[Amele]

that's what I thought, until i started asking friends of mine that use 3.4 + Vista and they're able to get TParty to work, whereas I'm not able to load that specific plugin at all, same with Distance, etc.

Like i said earlier, this is all with freshly downloaded 3.4, a freshly reinstalled FFXI + redownloaded everything from SE's servers rather than saving a backup of my game directory then checkfiles. everything is newly installed.

something tells me there's a problem with the plugins and perhaps certain hardware configurations that causes them to crash, otherwise it would happen to a lot more people

tparty does work for me. the default exp and distance plugins with 3.4 do not. need to download the fresh ones from the website.

could possibly be a specific configuration issue yeah.