ToEE crashes to desktop after intro

The game crashes after intro videos of Atari/Troika/Wizards of the Coast appear. If I try disabling these videos then it crashes immediately (black screen for 1-2 sec and then back to the desktop).
I 've tried the following:
- install 2nd patch
- install 1st & 2nd patch
- install all 3 patches
- install 2nd, 3rd patch & Co8
- install 2nd & Co8
In all cases the game crashes at the very same point.
I 've also updated the drivers of my video card (8800GT) but nothing changed.
Compatibility mode didn't help either.
In the past, I was able to play ToEE but not any more.
The only difference is that the OS is WinXP SP3 and not SP2 anymore.

Does anyone have an idea what I should do so as to play this game again?

Thank you in advance

 

Check the ToEE installation and bug threads. They have nicely detailed instructions and help for all sorts of issues. It seems you're missing a few important steps.

 

Another poster had a similar problem not too long ago, the advice that worked for them was to google and d/l the RAD Video codec and the RAD Bink video player.

 

Thank you both for your replies.

I've tried using a no-cd crack and installing RAD Video Tools but nothing changed :/
I've also read more carefully (I guess!) some sticky threads regarding such issues. Do I miss something?

 

I have recently just pulled this game off of my shelf. Never played it though I have pwnd it for along while. I installed it and had problems with it loading up, going to a black screen then dropping back to the desktop.I installed the Patch one and tried again. Again Same thing black screen then dropped to the desktop. I then tried Patch 2, Once again not to my suprise Black screen and then Desktop. I was also searching Atari's support site and came across the link for here. I have read many of the post dealing with this problem, and in such I am glad I did, I have NOT installed patch 3. I downloaded the N0-CD and tried that. Once again black screen then desk top. I installed the TOEE mod 5.5.0 beta and was hoping that it would have worked but did not. Same thing. I wish it would have at least given an error message but did not. Here is my Specs for one of my Game systems.


Asus A8N-SLI DELUXE
AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 4400+
2 x NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTS pciE (SLI)
Driver Version: 6.14.0011.8122 (English)

Memory 2gb

DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)

Onboard Realtek AC97 Audio
Driver Version: 5.10.0000.5830 (English)

Any and all help would be greatly appreciated a hole lot.

Thank you

Cheers

SandMan

 

Thank you Gaear for your reply. I have Made sure that my Anti-Alias is defined as Application control under my Nvidia control center for both my video cards. As such I rebooted and tried the game again. Still nothing. I am using the TOE front end loader and I have disabled the intro movies. So now i'm thinking maybe it could be a fact that this game is not supportive of the Dual / Quad cores cpu's? I know other games have had issue if my memory serves me right. Just wondering if anyone else is using a multi-core cpu with this game? Back to my problem. This still exist the problem has not gone away. Load the game, Black screen (though it does blink 3 times in the black screen now) then Drops to Desk top.
Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated hole heartedly.

Thank you

Cheers

SandMan

 

Just the same thing for me. AA setting was already set to Application-controlled.
I am almost 100% sure that I have played ToEE with my current pc (which includes a C2D cpu). Also if you try setting the affinity for ToEE via task-manager or a third party application to just one core, the situation is still the same.

Sandman, are you using WinXP SP2 or SP3?

 

Solution found

a) Right click the executable (TOEE.exe) -> Compatibility tab -> check "Disable visual themes"
OR
b) Right click desktop -> Properties -> Appearance -> Windows and buttons = "Windows Classic style"

In any case, there is an error message regarding "ntdll.dll" after exiting ToEE but who cares.

Thanks for your support and for keeping the game alive guys

edit: The strangest about it is that if you follow (b) then you can return to "Windows XP Style" without having enabled the "Disable visual themes".

 

antonl,
Thank you for your reply. I am currently using XP sp3, Your idea about disabling VT is a good one. One that After an install of XP I always disable it. I do not run VT on either one of my 2 game systems. Before you ask if this game will run on my other sys It is a quad core amd. So I am more leaning towards the core issue. I will try to set the game to run under one core and see what happends. I thought there was a 3rd pty util that forced the Sys to run a specific game under one core. But it's a vauge memory of such a thing. Again I do appreaciate everyones help in this matter. I have heard good things about this game and I'm a huge fan of the D&D generation. Paper and Pen style when it first came out back in 78.

Cheers

SandMan

 

.....................Update Update Update................

Ok here we go. This was a bit of a pain to do because of the problem with it dropping back to the desktop. I finaly got into Task Manager. I set the affinity to Core 0. The game now comes up. But now I have another issue the TOE co loader is not working, So I ran the TOE.exe file directly. So Now to figure out the problem of why the loader is not executing. The game now boots up if I load the toee.exe file directly but not by the loader. I would recommend to anyone that is using a Multi-Core CPU to put there affinity core to one core only. Again, thank you everyone for your help, it is most so greatly appreciated.
I hope that with my solution will help some one else that might be having the same problem.

Enjoy, Now to go play some TOEE.

Thank you very much

Cheers

SandMan

 

ok figured out the problem for the loader, Don't set it's compatibility. lol.... loaded the loader now.
Thanks again.

Cheers

SandMan

 

It's nice to know that your problem is also solved.

I know that there is a dual-core hotfix for AMD cpu but I am not sure if it's related with your problem.

Anyway, since everything is fine now, enjoy ToEE

 

antonl,
Thank you, Now i'm just rolling up some characters. Very picky about what my stats will be so this might take some time. lol. Anyways, yeah everything is working now. I try to make sure that when I post a problem I also try to post the solution that I came too, to resolve that/those issues. That way anyone with the same problem can at least have another place to start. You can say i've been working helpdesk support / Sys admin for far too long. Like the end results better then I do the problems at times. Again thank you and everyone for the kind help that has been shown here. I hope to start this mod soon to see how well it has been put together. Again Many MANY thanks and appreciations

Cheers

SandMan

 

antonl and SandMan:

Ugh. I've been pulling hair trying to get my ToEE to run and thought I'd found the trick with your post, but, still black screen and out to desktop. My system is slightly similar to what you've described just lower end:

Windows XP Home Edition (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 3

Award Modular BIOS v6.00PG
AMD Athlon(tm) 64 Processor 3500+, MMX, 3DNow, ~2.2GHz
1024MB RAM

DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)

NVIDIA GeForce 8500 GT
6.14.0011.8585 (English)
1024 x 768 (32 bit) (75Hz)

SB Audigy 4 [9800]
6.00.0001.1370 (English)

Realtek AC97 Audio
5.10.0000.5940 (English)

AA is application controlled. Video drivers updated. Uninstall/reinstall. Tried flipping VT and classic Windows style (both, either, neither). I have a newer version of the game that seems to include all three patches. Though, I might try the patch 2 crack, anyway. Any ideas? Dang!