Solution to EQ crashes to Desktop in Windows 7 (KB 2488113)

[mwatt]

Hello fellow gamers,

I keep seeing threads cropping up about crashing to desktop in Windows 7 while playing EQ. I have responded to three threads so far with a solution that worked for me. However, threads with various titles regarding this problem keep popping up. I am creating this thread with the hope that the title will be explicit enough to prevent futher threads from being created.

The scope of this problem should be very large - essentially any Windows 7 system with SP1 is susceptible. If you have this problem, you need a patch from Microsoft. See the Knowledge Base article and downloadable files at this link:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2488113

This post might possibly be better placed in the Technical forum, but it seems that people are posting in the bug forum and I want them to be able to see this. If it should be moved, please do so Mr. moderator.

[Ozudin]

I crashed twice last night engaging sand scarabs in EC. It happened both times almost identically. I also crashed while right clicking to trade with a merchant in WC in the houses near the Qeynos zone once today. Every time the crash was immediate without any slow down or any other indication/ warning message. Running Win7 Home Premium 64bit.

Edit; forgot to mention, I will try this tonight and report any success. Thanks a bunch for the solution.

[Benebric]

So, downloaded and installed - completely erased my settings on my computer, desktop gone, icons gone, browser settings gone, everything gone. Yay for system restore.

[mwatt]

So, downloaded and installed - completely erased my settings on my computer, desktop gone, icons gone, browser settings gone, everything gone. Yay for system restore.

What? Are you saying that patch wiped out your desktop and other settings? No way should that happen.

[phantom]

I haven't played much since this update was released (about a month ago) but I believe I have still had a couple of crashes in that time.

Also, this problem is not dependent on SP1 - I had it looong before SP1 was out.

[Ozudin]

I tried installing this patch this morning only to find that I have it installed already. Perhaps this is not the fix for the crashes I am getting.

[mwatt]

Ok, a couple of things. First, I found out that I had to install that same patch twice. Why? Because after I patched for SP1, a Silverlight 4 fix came through auto update that apparently put the same bugged DLLs onto my machine that the Windows 7 SP1 patch did. I think it is worth a try for you to uninstall the patch (a necessary step) and then re-install it. This worked for me.

There is one other try that is probably worth a shot. Funkyguru posted about it in a previous thread about crashing to desktop. It involves setting processor affinity. I also took this step because it seemed like a good one, but my problems did not completely go away until I did the KB2488113 patch. Anyway, here are Funkyguru's instructions and an excerpt from his comments:

1. Locate your EQ folder
2. Open your EQ folder then create a new text doc within it
3. Open the text doc you just created and copy/paste in the following line:
c:\windows\system32\cmd.exe /C start /affinity 1 eqgame.exe patchme
4. Save the text doc then right-click it and rename as eqgame.bat
5. Run the eqgame.bat file you just created (Or make a shortcut on your desktop, whatever tickles your fancy)
This issue was haunting me for ages and was totally random; some days it would happen several times in short span and then not again for several days. I also tried lowering the frame rate to ~30 fps which 'appeared' to lessen the frequency of the issue to some degree (Pretty hard to tell considering how random it had been) but did not resolve the issue completely.

After some investigation I found out that the issue might stem from the fact that EQ, at least the Titanium version I am using, can have some kind of conflict with multiple cores as it was never designed specifically with them in mind. The .bat basically forces EQ to run on 1 processor (/affinity 1 being CPU 0). After trying this solution I've not had the issue occur and it's now been ~8 weeks

[Ozudin]

I will try this tonight. Thanks a bunch for your helpful information. Sucks to have eight cores and only get to use one though :p

[phantom]

I will try this tonight. Thanks a bunch for your helpful information. Sucks to have eight cores and only get to use one though :p

EQ isn't multi threaded so you're just stopping it from moving between cores, not stopping it from running on multiple cores at once (it could never do that).

The processor affinity thing had no effect on the crashes on my computer, I did it shortly after I started playing when I first had the problem.

[phantom]

Ok, a couple of things. First, I found out that I had to install that same patch twice. Why? Because after I patched for SP1, a Silverlight 4 fix came through auto update that apparently put the same bugged DLLs onto my machine that the Windows 7 SP1 patch did. I think it is worth a try for you to uninstall the patch (a necessary step) and then re-install it. This worked for me.

I don't have silverlight so this wouldn't explain the problem continuing for me.

[mwatt]

I don't have silverlight so this wouldn't explain the problem continuing for me.

Man I feel for you. This is a terrible bug. Although the primary reason for this post was to give people information on how to fix what Windows 7 SP1 broke, I will diverge a little here to offer you a few more suggestions for fixing your particular issue. Maybe you have tried them, but things that might have some impact beyond what I know you have already done are:
* Restrict frame rate to 45 or 50 via EQ setting (mine is at 50)
* Turn off all versions of shader usage within EQ except 1.1
* Turn of dynamic lighting within EQ
* Disable EQ texture caching

All of the bulleted items above are just the result of some guessing on my part, with the exception of the frame rate thing which did seem to help some people. Good luck man.

[Ozudin]

Uninstalling this patch and reinstalling it did not fix this problem for me. I just had a crash to desktop today mid-fight and got the smack down.

[mwatt]

Uninstalling this patch and reinstalling it did not fix this problem for me. I just had a crash to desktop today mid-fight and got the smack down.

Ugh! I had one as well. Just one though, whereas they usually come more than one at a time. I still believe this patch fixes a lot of the issues that got introduced withi W7 SP1. What I think is that there is still some problem that they did not yet correct. I have taken one more new step and so far so good. I no longer run IE in the background while fighting. I went this route because text associated KB article mentions the issue is related to calls to graphics DLLs when IE is on the system. May do nothing, but it's all I can think off.

So far so good - no crashes since. But I've seen that before, so I am going to keep on eye on related issues on the web.

[Ozudin]

I had about three of these this last weekend as well as one this morning. All but one were mid fight but I was lucky enough to survive. I also had one at a merchant. Any word from Devs on this? Any tips? Things to try? There are no errors in the windows logs.

[Ozudin]

Had another one of these crashes to desktop, mid fight, at lunch today. No errors in management console.

[Xebarsis]

I'm getting this too... and it only seems to happen when I'm kiting mobs! :mad:

[TanDemain]

I'm getting this too... and it only seems to happen when I'm kiting mobs! :mad:

Happened earlier today during a quad.. logged back in naked. I tried several of the "fixes" and we shall see - wish there was a way to prove dieing in this manner so that we can get GM-rezzes.

[jamsen]

Have any of you tried using "Windows XP Mode" for Windows 7 to try to stop the crashing to desktop? I found it at http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtual-pc/download.aspx and was curious if any have tried it already, and if yes, did this help?

[mwatt]

Have any of you tried using "Windows XP Mode" for Windows 7 to try to stop the crashing to desktop? I found it at http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtual-pc/download.aspx and was curious if any have tried it already, and if yes, did this help?

How odd. I was JUST coming back to this thread to talk about that. I had this idea myself (I didn't see that page, I'll have to look). I decided to try XP SP2 mode. No crashes since, though it has only been a day and that means little with this bug, as I have found it (I've reported it fixed like 3 times already).

What I HAVE seen, is suddenly my screen will flash black for like half a second, not very often. I am thinking this might have represented a crash to desktop in non XP mode. I'd advise you and anyone else with this problem running Windows 7 (I have 64 bit) to give it a try.

[Ozudin]

Have any of you tried using "Windows XP Mode" for Windows 7 to try to stop the crashing to desktop? I found it at http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtual-pc/download.aspx and was curious if any have tried it already, and if yes, did this help?

I did this about a week ago and it was all good, until I crashed while kiting this morning and died :/

[blingeorkl]

I've tried everything in this thread including wineq2 and still getting crashes every day... How frustrating.

[mwatt]

As brought out in another thread, if you zone before you start fighting in a zone, it seems to prevent the problem. I have not crashed yet in maybe 10 days or so since doing this. Still I thought I had this problem licked before but didn't, so I am not yet proclaiming a fix.

[Nokio]

As brought out in another thread, if you zone before you start fighting in a zone, it seems to prevent the problem. I have not crashed yet in maybe 10 days or so since doing this. Still I thought I had this problem licked before but didn't, so I am not yet proclaiming a fix.

same here!

[beeshma_nameless]

I am getting this randomly too, I am on a Windows 7 laptop.

what do you mean by zone before fighting in a zone? I zone into CoM, then I need to zone out then zone back into CoM again and then start fighting mobs there?

[Bigcountry23]

I assume they mean if you log into a zone, zone to another zone and back before you start fighting (for example you camp out in CoM, when you log back in, hit EJ before you start fighting in CoM).

[Jify]

I'm getting this too... and it only seems to happen when I'm kiting mobs! :mad:

K so I figured it's about time I've chimed in on this. Since P99's humble beginnings I've had this exact problem. Situation goes like this

-Engage Mobs (ie: have agro)
-Cast 1-2 spells/songs (standing still)
-Begin kiting (ie: run away)
-CLIENT CRASHES

It's happened with my Magician, my Bard, and now even lowbie druid I was just messing around on.

No idea what's causing the crash, but I've basically given up all forms of agro kiting. I've lost way too much exp, and with Kunark it's just not worth it to kite anymore. (ugh)

Is there anyway I can provide some sort of error message or readout from the client that will help?

Please note: My client ONLY CRASHES WHILE AGRO KITING. Rooting a mob and doting it has never caused a crash.

Cheers,

Jify

[nalkin]

This happened to me all the time on my bard when I would AE kite. It has also happened to me on my mage before as well but maybe only once or twice for him in his whole career. I have found a fix that works for me and has worked for about a month with many AE kites during this time.

My computer has a quad core processor. I start everquest and under the processes tab in windows task manager I change eqgame.exe to run on only 1 processor core. This is done by right clicking and choosing 'set affinity'.

When I do this I have never crashed while kiting any number of mobs, and a couple times I forgot to set it and crashed everytime.

[Nagash]

This happened to me all the time on my bard when I would AE kite. It has also happened to me on my mage before as well but maybe only once or twice for him in his whole career. I have found a fix that works for me and has worked for about a month with many AE kites during this time.

My computer has a quad core processor. I start everquest and under the processes tab in windows task manager I change eqgame.exe to run on only 1 processor core. This is done by right clicking and choosing 'set affinity'.

When I do this I have never crashed while kiting any number of mobs, and a couple times I forgot to set it and crashed everytime.

How do you do that? Sorry computer illiterate here. Thanks.

Petitpas/Nagash

[Wisetree]

I have been doing the safety zone technique and it has cured me of dropping to the desktop. Basically, when i first log in I make sure that i either log in an alt first and then log to my main or with my main zone atleast once before attacking anything. Do this everytime that you come in from server select and see if this cures your dropping. Works for me, I started doing this about a month ago and have not crashed to desktop once since.

[nalkin]

How do you do that? Sorry computer illiterate here. Thanks.

Petitpas/Nagash


If you are running windows hit ctrl alt delete, then click windows task manager. Or maybe windows task manager will just pop up depending on which version of windows you use.

There should be a few tabs at the top, click the Processes tab, which will then show you a large list of processes you are currently running.

Find eqgame.exe and right click on it. Choose set affinity and uncheck all but one processor. After you do this zone once in the game.


bonne chance! Si tu as plus de questions, n'hesites pas a demander!
(or is it n'hesiterai)

[mwatt]

I said I'd come back after a while and report on the zone before fighting technique. Well here I am. It worked for quite a number of days, but this past week I had to occurrences. Big zones seem to be part of the problem but who knows really.

I am going to try the manually binding affinity via the Task Manager. I already have a batch file to start the game that does this, but maybe that is being ignored. I also has just reinstalled the latest DX9 but hasn't been long enough to say if that mattered or not.

[Slax]

Has anyone come up with a permanent fix for this yet? Been crashing like crazy, whether I attack anything or not. Usually I won't last longer than 20 minutes or so before I either get an EQ crash message or a windows app error message.

I've tried every solution mentioned in this thread, including re-installing my operating system / EQTitanium. Made sure my resolution on desktop matched the resolution in-game. Tried default spell gems / default UI / no spell particles / dynamic reflections all that good stuff. Set affinity options > single core / zone trick. Updated all drivers / graphics drivers / windows update.

I'm beginning to lose my mind to the point where I just don't think I'm gonna be able to play unless I'm lucky enough to find a group that will put up with my constant LD's (solo is out of the question with all the crashes). Never really had this problem, aside from the occasional crash here and there, until about a few weeks ago or so.

Any help or any more suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

[Silentone]

I had a issue like this...in the end i got a new vid card and it solved my problems...if your lucky enough to be able to maybe swap one out to test it...try it..if not im out of ideas

[Slax]

New video card, bleh. Even if this would solve my problem, don't think I'm going to be able to invest in a new one any time soon.