FFXI Crashing...

[kyosak]

Hello. Just as the title of the thread says, I have an issue with my FFXI crashing. This is not while I'm playing, I can't even get into the game. I'll start PlayOnline and go as far as the character selection screen. But when I try to log into my character, it'll start to load in that black screen with the downloading message on the bottom right and give me that Windows error saying "PlayOnline viewer has encountered a problem and needs to close."

The funny part is, I was playing FFXI just last night and everything was fine... I left the computer on overnight, with no changes to my computer, and I wake up to this error every time I try to log in. I am running Windows XP Pro.

My specs are:
Intel Quad-Core Q9550
Asus P5Q Pro
2x2GB OCZ Reaper DDR2 800
ATI Radeon 4870
750GB Seagate SATA
750W PC Power & Cooling

Initially, I was using the 8.9 Catalyst driver. I've tried downgrading to 8.8 and 8.7 with no luck. My Windows is completely up to date, and I've also tried the optional upgrades for DirectX 9.0c. I've tried both Windower 3.41 and the PlayOnline viewer and each time I get the same error message when I try to log in. I am just running out of ideas at this point... Every other program on my computer runs flawlessly. Any help would be great, thanks!

[Jeny]

Try a file check on FFXI. Might be a corrupted .dat file.

[kyosak]

Try a file check on FFXI. Might be a corrupted .dat file.

Thanks for the quick reply!

Unfortunately, I tried the file check for both PlayOnline and FFXI and found no corrupted files... Any other ideas?

[Kohan]

Try using the Lite version of the Windower. If it functions correctly, a plug-in may be causing the issue. Even though you weren't having this problem before, it's worth it to check that nonetheless.

If you don't want to use the Lite version, you could set up your INIT so none of your plug-ins load.

[kyosak]

Try using the Lite version of the Windower. If it functions correctly, a plug-in may be causing the issue. Even though you weren't having this problem before, it's worth it to check that nonetheless.

If you don't want to use the Lite version, you could set up your INIT so none of your plug-ins load.

Tried it with no luck also. I don't think the problem is Windower related because the original PlayOnline is giving me the same exact problems.

EDIT: Wow, I JUST solved the problem... When I reformatted my computer a week ago, I saved my macros to the PlayOnline server. For some reason, loading my macros before logging into my character allowed me to get in-game (I had already loaded my macros a week ago).

[Kohan]

Sounds like a corrupt file was the culprit, then.

[Skie]

had similar problem although would get to pol fine, get onto ffxi fine. soon as lsmes loaded would say it stoped responding and crash. ended up being corrupt ffximail.dll file. wiped pc (fix another problem) re-installed and it works fine again

[bombard]

did a search and found this, sorry for the month bump.

Lately I've been having FFXI crash on me 2-3 times a day, windower, full screen, official windower -- doesn't matter.

Any suggestions other than a reinstall? should i try to check files first on POL and see if that fixes it? I'm unsure if I am the only one having this problem, as it has just started to become a problem the past couple of weeks.

I haven't download... wait a minute. I hooked up a Philips controller (from Walmart if that helps any lol, I'm at work and unsure of model number) and installed that recently and it works fine, and use an unused button as a vent hotkey. This is the only new hardware/software i've installed on my computer since these problems started occurring. Could the problems stem from the USB controller? I remembered I bought it during a recent server down day due to a maintenance and I hooked it up maybe a few days later. I get no warning signs before FFXI freezes and crashes that I know of, it's just random. Is it as easy as unplugging the controller and playing to see if it happens again? I'd like to isolate the problem, but not knowing how to cause it, or having a pattern to when it happens is limiting me on easy troubleshooting.