PC locks up after less than a minute in-game
 

Title says it all, really: after roughly a minute in-game my screen freezes, the mouse locks up, the audio stutters then dies. The task manager can't be opened, leaving no alternative but to reboot the machine.

I'm on an Intel quad-core machine running Vista 64, which apparently causes all sorts of issues I've spent the last few hours correcting one by one. To preempt the "read the stickies" posts, I've applied every solution in the Dual / Quad Core CPU Fixes OP, plus setting up RunFirst and ensuring that CPU Affinity is set to 0. I'm running a legitimate copy of the Titanium client as per instructions for the server I'm connecting to, and the drivers for my video card (an Nvidia GTX 295) are up to date as of May 6th.

All I can think of is that there may be some conflict with the video card or my display settings. I've set the client to run in Windowed mode at 800x600, which has allowed me to at least get in-game, but the lock-ups continue.

Any thoughts?

Does this only happen in EQ? Have you tried any other 3D games?

Only in EverQuest: Fallout 3, Neverwinter Nights 2, and Mount & Blade all work fine. Opening the out-of-game settings configuration utility also seems to cause the lock-up.

As a followup, I've also set compatibility modes (both XP and 98 ) and tried changing the desktop resolution to match those of the Windowed Mode settings I set in eqclient.ini. No dice. The lock always occurs in less than a minute, every time.

An interesting new wrinkle has appeared. I tried running the normal shortcut to eqgame.exe using Run As Administrator and setting the affinity manually. The computer locked up even earlier: I didn't even get to type in my password before it froze.

Are there any log files I should be searching that might contain a clue as to what's going on?

Update: I may have partially fixed this issue.

I reproduced the crash and searched through dbg.txt for information, and came up with something interesting. The relevant excerpt is highlighted below.
================================================== =======
2009-05-26 09:36:18 Creating window.
2009-05-26 09:36:18 Checking display driver version.
2009-05-26 09:36:19 Activating window.
2009-05-26 09:36:19 Picking a default resolution, desktop is 1920 x 1200, 32 bits
2009-05-26 09:36:19 Ratio is 1.60
2009-05-26 09:36:19 Resolution was capped at 1280 x 720
2009-05-26 09:36:19 Resolution verified 1280 x 720, 32 bits ... diff was 1000 from 0 modes
2009-05-26 09:36:19 Resolution selected 1280 x 720, 32 bits
2009-05-26 09:36:19 CRender::InitDevice: Using 32bit mode.
2009-05-26 09:36:20 CRender::InitDevice: Using vsync 0.
2009-05-26 09:36:20 CRender::InitDevice: Using 24bit depth buffer with 8 bit stencil.
2009-05-26 09:36:20 CRender::InitDevice: HardwareTnL Enabled.
2009-05-26 09:36:20 Using hardware vertex shaders.
2009-05-26 09:36:20 Initializing render system.
2009-05-26 09:36:20 Trilinear Mipmapping available.
2009-05-26 09:36:20 Vertex Shader Version: 3.0
2009-05-26 09:36:20 Pixel Shader Version: 3.0
2009-05-26 09:36:20 Initializing engine internals.
2009-05-26 09:36:20 CRender::InitDevice completed successfully.
2009-05-26 09:36:20 Parsing INI file ./eqlsUIConfig.ini
2009-05-26 09:36:20 INI file ./eqlsUIConfig.ini loaded.
================================================== =======

The default resolution is off. My eqclient.ini settings are for 800x600 in both fullscreen and windowed, yet it is selecting 1280x720 and looking for a default resolution based on my desktop. I set my desktop resolution to 1280x720 and loaded the game. Once in-game I let it idle for five minutes - no lockup. I opened the in-game options menu, set it to fullscreen and changed the resolution to 1920x1200 and let it idle for another five minutes - still no lockup.

It seems to be completely stable now, but damned if that isn't an annoying procedure to have to go through every time I want to play EverQuest. Any thoughts?

Yeah these seem hard to fix but I have gotten to be a pro at running EQ at high resolution. I only get a lockup when switching between full screen and windowed mode, and that is only 25 percent of the time. If I do not switch to windowed mode and just stay full screen I can run 1920x1200 for days and no lockups. The problem I think is that eq has tried to evolve from good old 640x480 vga mode to what we use today, I am sure some of that code is still around.

Give us some more information though.

Are you running Nvidia or ATI ?

Can you post your eqclient.ini for me ?

Are you trying to run full screen or windowed ?

What is your desktop resolution that you want to stick with ?

I'm using an Nvidia GTX 295, trying to run full-screen. Desktop resolution is 1920x1200. The EQClient.ini settings that follow are what I've got after changing my settings in-game as described in the post above. I've left out everything from HitsMode onward for brevity's sake.

================================================== =========
[Defaults]
WindowedMode=FALSE
Sound=TRUE
TextureQuality=1
VertexShaders=TRUE
20PixelShaders=TRUE
14PixelShaders=TRUE
1xPixelShaders=TRUE
MultiPassLighting=FALSE
UseLitBatches=TRUE
UseLuclinHumanMale=TRUE
UseLuclinHumanFemale=TRUE
UseLuclinBarbarianMale=TRUE
UseLuclinBarbarianFemale=TRUE
UseLuclinEruditeMale=TRUE
UseLuclinEruditeFemale=TRUE
UseLuclinWoodElfMale=TRUE
UseLuclinWoodElfFemale=TRUE
UseLuclinHighElfMale=TRUE
UseLuclinHighElfFemale=TRUE
UseLuclinDarkElfMale=TRUE
UseLuclinDarkElfFemale=TRUE
UseLuclinHalfElfMale=TRUE
UseLuclinHalfElfFemale=TRUE
UseLuclinDwarfMale=TRUE
UseLuclinDwarfFemale=TRUE
UseLuclinTrollMale=TRUE
UseLuclinTrollFemale=TRUE
UseLuclinOgreMale=TRUE
UseLuclinOgreFemale=TRUE
UseLuclinHalflingMale=TRUE
UseLuclinHalflingFemale=TRUE
UseLuclinGnomeMale=TRUE
UseLuclinGnomeFemale=TRUE
UseLuclinIksarMale=TRUE
UseLuclinIksarFemale=TRUE
UseLuclinVahShirMale=TRUE
UseLuclinVahShirFemale=TRUE
UseLuclinElementals=TRUE
UseD3DTextureCompression=TRUE
MipMapping=TRUE
ShowDynamicLights=TRUE
LoadSocialAnimations=TRUE
TextureCache=TRUE
InspectOthers=TRUE
Log=FALSE
AttackOnAssist=TRUE
ShowInspectMessage=TRUE
LockWindows=FALSE
InvWinLabels=TRUE
HidePlayerWin=FALSE
HidePartyWin=FALSE
HideTargetWin=FALSE
HideSpellsWin=FALSE
HideBuffWin=FALSE
HideHotboxWin=FALSE
HideChatWin=FALSE
HideMainMenuWin=FALSE
ChatLineSpacing=0
ChatFontSize=3
ShowNamesLevel=4
VideoMode=0
MousePointerSpeedMod=0
ShowSpellEffects=1
CombatMusic=TRUE
MixAhead=8
ServerFilter=0
TrackPlayers=TRUE
TrackSortType=NORMAL
TrackFilterType=0
DefaultLanguage=0
ShowGrass=TRUE
UseArrowCamera=FALSE
NetStat=FALSE
DoProperTinting=FALSE
Sound44k=0
SpeakerType=0
UISkin=Default
AtlasSkin=Default
LoadArmor17=FALSE
LoadArmor18=FALSE
LoadArmor19=FALSE
LoadArmor20=FALSE
LoadArmor21=FALSE
LoadArmor22=FALSE
LoadArmor23=FALSE
DefaultChannel=8
LastCharSel=0
SystemInfoDelay=0
ShowCreationHelp=FALSE
WindowedModeXOffset=115
WindowedModeYOffset=35
Music=10
SoundVolume=10
Gamma=11
SpellParticleOpacity=1.000000
EnvironmentParticleOpacity=1.000000
ActorParticleOpacity=1.000000
ShowAlarmWindow=false
SendSystemInfo=1
LastSysInfoDate=1243291231
[VideoMode]
Width=1920
Height=1200
WidthWindowed=800
HeightWindowed=600
WindowedWidth=800
WindowedHeight=600
FullscreenBitsPerPixel=32
FullscreenRefreshRate=59

Okay one thing for sure that kept me from crashing. Trust me this works.

Right click on your everquest icon and go under compatibility mode. There is a checkbox for "runs in 640x480 resolution". Click this. It does not mean the game will run in 640x480 but the intro screen will. Without that one checked I cannot even get into the game.

Now change these under your video mode. If EQ starts in windowed mode, or if the character select is in windowed mode do this, center the windowed mode window up on your screen, to where it covers the entire screen. Now Hit ALT-ENTER and you will go full screen before you go into the game. Only then enter the world, not in windowed mode. The reason for this is if you go full screen it sometimes crashes and I would rather crash before my character enters the world.

Make a copy of your eqclient.ini then delete what you have under the video mode section and change it to this. Not sure why your refresh is 59, it needs to match what your video card is running.

[VideoMode]
Width=1920
Height=1200
FullscreenBitsPerPixel=32
FullscreenRefreshRate=60
WindowedWidth=1920
WindowedHeight=1200

That worked! Thanks, provocating! :)

Holy crap ! I helped someone !

Hahah and your still helping :D Thx dude

Yup, just helped this old timer too.

Got me past my eqgame.exe event id 1000

Thanks!