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#1
03-12-2022, 04:17 PM
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getting EQ running on 17 year old Laptop
I restored an old Alienware "area 51 m9750" with Windows xp sp3 (32bit). It runs dual Geforce go 7950 GTX's in SLI configuration.I managed to find drivers for most of the hardware but the GPU drivers are giving me a bit of a problem. The latest version I've been able to find (that will install) is 6.14.0011.7948. On Nvidia's site, this file is called 179.48. It seems to be the latest available driver from Nvidia. When I start EQ, a popup tells me I should be using driver version 8185. I searched all over and couldn't find a 8185 that would install. The Nvidia installer just says no hardware was detected that can use these drivers.
If I continue EQ anyway, the game will load up but I get texture errors that stretch from the front of an NPC or PC model across the entire clip plane. The EC tunnel looks like a solid mass of colored spikes shooting off in all directions. Also some textures are just invisible. Here is a pic I found online that looks just like my character select screen. [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.] I'm hoping somebody better at internet sleuthing might share me a link to better drivers or maybe somebody knows another way to solve the problem. I really want to give this old laptop a reason to live. Thanks if you can help.
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#2
03-13-2022, 05:59 AM
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Alienware laptops are super picky about driver versions. Ask me how I know, lol. If support.dell.com doesn't have anything for your service tag that works, then it can be difficult. I've saved the versions that worked for me with my stuff (no sli I'm afraid) but I do have an old installer for the geforce 7700 (version 7931) - that's the closest I have to yours.
Anyway, I did come across this site that has archived links for the developer downloads for the drivers from nvidia (everything else I could find was from some shady looking 3rd party). Hopefully, you can find a version that will work with your config: https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/t...archive.71241/ Maybe this one? developer.download.nvidia.com/opengl/2008-12/NVIDIAGPUVista(181_00).exe -Mcoy | ||
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Last edited by mcoy; 03-13-2022 at 06:06 AM..
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#3
03-13-2022, 12:24 PM
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Thanks for the reply. I'll check it out.
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#4
03-14-2022, 12:05 PM
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No dice.... I've tried just about every driver I could find. So far, the latest one that will actually install is still 7948. I really wanted to make this an XP machine as that's what the laptop originally ran but Im tempted to load up windows 7 and see if I can get different results. It's also worth noting, I've tried limiting EQ to using only one core. It had no effect.
My research indicates that this card was used back in the day to play everquest and it ran just fine. The friend who owned it played WoW on it. There is a workable driver out there somewhere.
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#7
03-21-2022, 03:20 AM
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In my experience, this kind of stuff can happen with a faulty GPU, so that might be your problem, although if it really is a software problem, it's possible there's a driver setting that's causing it (maybe anisotropic filtering or antialiasing transparency).
If you're on a laptop, you can always just run the game off your igpu instead of your dgpu, i mean, it's not like you need a dgpu to run a game from 1999, even modern EQ can run off the weakest potato laptop you'll find these days. | ||
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#8
03-21-2022, 06:50 AM
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http://dege.freeweb.hu/dgVoodoo2/dgVoodoo2/ (Basically, copy the files into your EQ directory, and use the config utility to tweak settings / remove the watermark.) -Mcoy | |||
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