Toulia Posted October 18, 2003 Share Posted October 18, 2003 Here was another thing I was thinking about to possibly help the guild out a bit...Anyone have problems with their computer? EQ or non-EQ related? What would you all think if we made a place here on the forum that we could help each other out if need be. I am a computer tech with a few years of experience and I am willing to help any who need it with their comp problems. I am also able to help support some good programs to help keep your computer free of clutter and help it run smoother, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Synthania Posted October 19, 2003 Share Posted October 19, 2003 We have one on the Main "Community Forums". I fyuo look at the bar right above these posts you will see T.H.E Community>> Online Games >> EQ Discussions >> tech Help , which is this post. Now if you click on the first one T.H.E. Community it will take you to the Main board for The Honor Empire. Ther eis a board for tech help that I visit sometimes... (I may be wrong its been awhile) Synth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toulia Posted October 19, 2003 Author Share Posted October 19, 2003 I don't know...I just went through the forum area's and didn't find anyone unless it's under one of the other games... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toulia Posted November 11, 2003 Author Share Posted November 11, 2003 Alrighty...yet again boredom strikes as I sit upon my computer typing in code...so I thought I would take a break and put up a nice little "How To" for all those people out there who might not know some of the cool little things you can do to make your computer run like new again... **Warning: Although this is all meant to help, I do not suggest you do this if you fear that you will somehow "break" your computer. These things are suggested for those who are capable of troubleshooting their own system in case of an accident. If you need further help because of the things I suggest, please contact me here or at ShadowsongRP@hotmail.com** Alright...where shall we start? Have you been experiencing a disturbing trend where EQ seems to be slowing down? An example of this would be, that when you begin to cast a spell, your computer seems to freeze a few seconds before the spell cast timer comes up? Or how about when you begin to log into your Character Selection screen and your mouse freezes in the top left hand of your screen? These are all symptoms of your computer basically being too busy. What I'll try to teach you within this little splurge is what to do to open up some of your computer's priorities to allow EQ(and hopefully your computer) to run like it's on a brand new system. **FYI: All of these fixes are directed towards users of Windows XP Home and or Professional. If you need assistance with the other OS's, please contact me. On most occasions, they are so closely tied that you should not have to worry about it.** Step 1.) Make sure all your drivers and programs are up to date with the latest Patches and so forth. Well, if there is any place to start, this would be it. The lazy man's route would be to just use the Windows Update program. You can usually find this by clicking Start>All Programs>Windows Update. This will then take you to Microsoft and you can update all of your Windows Files. Usually for the big name brands like NVidia and Creative, you can actually find the most recently Window "Ok'ed" drivers(This, however, does not mean that it is the newest Driver out there). Here are some helpful links to some of the bigger brand Video/Sound Card companies: -Nvidia: Drivers -ATI: Drivers -Creative: Drivers Step 2.) Taking your RAM back from XP. This is something of an optional change for all of you. If you are running Windows XP, you'll notice that everything is just so much nicer and so much more colorful. The downfall to this is, it eats at your computer's RAM horribly. To get rid of this, and turn Windows XP back to something similiar to Windows 98, follow these steps: Click on Start>Control Panel(Make sure you have it set to Classical View for Control Panel)>System>Advanced>Performance:Settings>Visual Effects: Adjust for Best Performance. Step 3.) Allowing Windows to set it's own Virtual Memory. Now, this is a slightly controversial topic for many people. Some believe that it's better to choose your own Virtual Memory by use of either a program which can give you the number, or use a very annoying math formula. However, I believe that under the circumstances of using a game like EQ that, unless you have 1 gig of RAM, makes your computer limp like a wounded animal with Luclin Models, that letting Windows set it for itself can be very beneficial. To do this, you go to Start>Control Panel>System>Advanced>Performance:Setting>Advanced(Make sure all items are clicked to use Programs as it's main focus while you are here)>Virtual Memory:Change>Click System Managed Size:Set>Then hit okay and there you go. ((Also, turn off Error Reporting, which is in the same area as the Advanced System settings)) Step 4.) Shareware Loving and Spyware Loathing. What can I say? Some of the best programs on my computer I learned from using Shareware. Nothing like running around and finding programs that you can use for 30 days for FREE. In this step we are going to look at some of them that are going to help make your computer run as smooth as a babies bottom. There are essentially two shareware and freeware programs I suggest that everyone have on their computer(be it by these programs or something like it). These programs are: -Ad-Aware(Program): Spyware, what is it? Well, Spyware is a program or a file placed upon your computer by programs you download, web pages you go to, etc. Most of this stuff you will never know even exists on your computer, but it sits and collects information about you such as what pages you go to, what stuff you buy, etc. etc. What this program does is hunt down those programs and delete them. For those of you who are reading this, this program was what brought EQ back from the laggy hell it was in before because Spyware can take up so much of your Processor's time that it barely has time to run anything else. **Warning: Programs such as Kazaa and other File Sharing programs(Or many others upon your computer) may use Spyware and without their Spyware programs installed the programs will no longer run. Use this at your own discretion.** -Window Washer(Program): This is an optional, but beneficial, program that you can use for a free 30 day trial period. This program cleans and shreds all those old Web Page files you have sitting on your computer, along with pointless Cookies and all the other horrible things you can build up on your computer and not give a second thought to. I like to use this program and see how much of a record I can set with how much it cleans off my hard drive. Right now, I'm at a High Score of 1.2 Gig's. Step 5.) Allowing your computer a fresh start. This is possibly one of the most important parts of keeping your computer running smoothly. As your computer grows on in years(or if you have just bought a computer from a company like Hewlett-Packard, Dell, etc.) you'll find that your computer seems to have a seizure every time you start up. This is becuase your computer is stuck starting up around 10-15 programs right as your Desktop pops up. The bright side to this is, you can keep that from happening because not all of these programs are essential to your computer's well being. For example, do you really need something like QuickTime starting with your computer? No, not really. Or how about AIM? MSN? Or any of the other hundred programs you might have unwittingly allowed to be part of your start up system? Don't fret...it's all taken care of. **Warning: Follow this only if you are willing to take risks** To do this, go to Start>Run>Type in: msconfig. A program called System Configuration Utility will pop up. From here, click on the Startup tab, and begin looking over the many programs you see on the list. Probably pretty long, huh? what I suggest you do is, begin removing programs but keep an eye out for things you want to start up on your computer. For example, if you have Norton or McAfee Anti-Virus running as part of your startup, it's probably best to keep that running. However, things like AIM, MSN, QuickTime, RealPlayer really have no purpose to be part of the startup sequence. After this, click Services and click off the Messenger program. It's basically Microsoft's sneaky way of making sure Messenger doesn't get turned off. There are a miriad of other things that can be turned off, but for now, that's fine. If you all would like further information on what you can and cannot turn off, I will find some more info for you and post it here. Well, that about raps it up. If I seem to have forgotten anything or any of you have something you would like to add please feel free to do so Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toulia Posted November 13, 2003 Author Share Posted November 13, 2003 Has anyone tried these steps? Or someone have anything better they can suggest? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Altarial Posted November 14, 2003 Share Posted November 14, 2003 I did everything but 4 and 5, but I don't think I notice a difference. Maybe a teeny one, but nothing major. But then again, I have 1024 RAM as it is and was only a little laggy in bazaar, in a group where everyone is casting and the camp is enclosed by walls, and when there are a lot of trees around. If you think some of those programs you listed may clear up this extra lag can you suggest which one or ones would be best? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Krislor Posted November 14, 2003 Share Posted November 14, 2003 You reminded to check for drivers, thanks. My card needed updating. Its been awhile. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Altarial Posted November 14, 2003 Share Posted November 14, 2003 Ok, well if you want some work to do.. help me figure out why: 1. When Pinben (a barbarian) puts on his DE illusion mask his face is a blackish-redish color except for his nose and ears. 2. When I am switching between my alts (which I do frequently to switch around spells and gear) sometimes when I get to the character selection screen it is all black except for the bar which shows my character's names and I get some pop-up thing saying it was some kind of EQ client failure and to click yes or no to send the info to whoever. 3. When I look at the guild management tool sometimes the levels of people are way off. I have been told this happens to others as well. I have updated and installed the newest drivers through the Windows Update and the Nvidia website. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toulia Posted November 14, 2003 Author Share Posted November 14, 2003 Okay...of those two programs, I would definately suggest using Ad-Aware...you'd be surprised...I currently run a P4 1.7 Gig, 1 Gig of RAM, a GeForce FX 5900 Ultra 256 Meg, with a CreativeLabs Audigy 2 Platinum and my EQ was freezing up when I would attempt to cast spells/zone/etc for like a second or two, and then return to normal. I ended up asking around about it and everyone was telling me, "Do you have a Spyware checker?" to which I said no. They told me to download one, run it, and come back to them after I ran it and tell them if it made any difference. I was kind of skeptical at first becuase I didn't think it would have made much of a change, but in the end, it did. It returned everything back to it's normal functioning self. Kratan was experiencing many of the same problems I was, and when I had him do a few things I suggested in that post I wrote up, it cleared up his too. A person with over 1 gig of RAM probably won't really notice a difference in anything unless they are just running RAM extensive programs all the time, so you are doing fine I think. -As for the problem you are experiencing...I looked through the EQ "Knowledge Base" and found that a relative problem occured when someone was using Scale of Wolf. A color distortion would happen in the face and it gives the suggestion of removing all of the .txc files in your EQ Folder. (I don't know if this will fix it or not, but it is a suggestion. I'll look into it more tomorrow when I get off of work for you) -For the error problem, if you could, please try and write down the error for me. I'll look into it when I get a bit more info. -As for the guild management system, I can look into that tomorrow also. I can't really tell you much about that because I'm not an officer and haven't been one in EQ So, I can find out for you though. Hee hee...I just thought I would make that reply because it would have been sad to me if I wrote all that up and not even a single person found it of use Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Altarial Posted November 14, 2003 Share Posted November 14, 2003 Thanks Toulia! The guild management thingy is not for just officers.. it's the alt+G function. So, that is what I meant by guild management tool. I get that error a lot, so I will be sure to write it all down for you the next time I see it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Synthania Posted November 14, 2003 Share Posted November 14, 2003 I get the Horrid Black screen of EQ death as well. Usually when I am trying to switch between characters. Its just awful....makes me (sorry feeling silly today.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Altarial Posted November 14, 2003 Share Posted November 14, 2003 ok this is what the "eq black screen of death" says: "EverQuest has detected that your client may have crashed. It is often possible to determine where and why the crash occurred. Click Yes to send this date back to the developers in an effort to help the stability of the game. The only personal information that will be sent with the data is the character logged in, the server they were on and the zone they were in at the time." I have never clicked on Yes because this seems fishy to me. First of all, the grammar is not correct (should be "he or she" instead of "they") and they ended in prepositions. Normally this wouldn't matter, but if it's from Sony then I would think they would know how to do grammar correctly. Secondly, I get this message ONLY when I am switching between characters, so I don't know if that really qualifies as "the zone they were in at the time," since they were not in any zone really. I've only started getting this message since I updated DirectX (a week ago). I used to get them a while ago, but they went away after I did the Windows Update. Not sure why this message has returned. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Synthania Posted November 14, 2003 Share Posted November 14, 2003 Im not sure you have noticed Alt but Sony can not get ANY of their Grammar correct =) lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Altarial Posted November 14, 2003 Share Posted November 14, 2003 Hehe ok yeah I have realized that, but I still want to be sure it's safe before I click Yes on anything Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Altarial Posted November 17, 2003 Share Posted November 17, 2003 I just used Ad-Aware and found 62 files that I quarantined! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toulia Posted November 17, 2003 Author Share Posted November 17, 2003 LOL I told you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toulia Posted November 18, 2003 Author Share Posted November 18, 2003 2. When I am switching between my alts (which I do frequently to switch around spells and gear) sometimes when I get to the character selection screen it is all black except for the bar which shows my character's names and I get some pop-up thing saying it was some kind of EQ client failure and to click yes or no to send the info to whoever. Alright, here is what the almighty Tech Support representatives of Sony suggest you to do in this suggestion...The two possible(the first being the best bet but at the same time the most time consuming) are: 1. For crashing issues, you may try to delete (eqclient.ini,eqgfx_dx8.dll, eqmain.dll and eqgame.exe) files from your main EQ Folder and do an advanced repatch. 2. Make sure that your screens resolution in EQ matches the resolution of your Desktop. **If these problems continue to persist, please contact help support** These are some helpful hints from your friendly neighborhood EQ Technicians. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Krislor Posted November 18, 2003 Share Posted November 18, 2003 Ok I downloaded Ad-Aware 6.0. Very small and easy from download.com, plus its free. First I found 439, and when searching through my system32 it also encountered a virus which I was able to squash. Most of the files were tracking cookies or cydoors. Not sure exactly what they are but I didnt like the name of Tracking.......Deleted em all.... Thanks for the tech tips Toulia Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Altarial Posted November 18, 2003 Share Posted November 18, 2003 Ok, well i did both of those steps, so I'll let you know if the problem persists Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
novawop Posted November 18, 2003 Share Posted November 18, 2003 I found that my alts has been crashing to the send info to sony screen. now i found out your machine can cause this do to hardrive space. if your free space is under 20% this can happen. i have diskkeeper and a defrag program and this program show some interesting stuff. once i fix the amount of free space and defrag my computer , this crash went away Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Altarial Posted November 18, 2003 Share Posted November 18, 2003 At the moment, my used disk space is 17.1 and my free space is 20.1... how those numbers come about I dunno, since I'm supposed to have 40 gigs (not 37.2 as it says). So, I guess disk space is not an issue in my case. However, should I use diskkeeper and a defrag program to clear up more space? If so, where do I get the programs? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toulia Posted November 18, 2003 Author Share Posted November 18, 2003 Well, to answer your query about why your disk drive isn't exactly 40 Gig it is because they can't really make something exactly 40 gig. It will usually be a little bit smaller. My laptop, which is supposed to have 512 RAM only has something like 480....really strange. As for the defrag program and such, it's a nice thing to have, but not completely necessary to go out and find another. If you go Start>All Programs>Accessories>System Tools you will find a Window's version of those same files. Run them every so often(although usually it will just tell you it doesn't need to be scanned). Sitting in my web programming class...need to pay attention...Toul's away! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Synthania Posted November 18, 2003 Share Posted November 18, 2003 AHhh yes Touls but does your laptop ave 32 megs of Video ram? if so there your lost ram Most laptops are integrated ram which steals system memory to power video also... Anyway, Scan disk and disk defragmenter are wonderful programs... just be careful I ran sacn disk and disk defragmenter on a system that it had Never been run on (over 3 years old) and it destroyed the whole thing it was crashing once every other week after that. I had to back up to a removable disk every day in fear of losing everything... Yuck. Not saying it was defrager but man thats a Big coincidence... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toulia Posted November 18, 2003 Author Share Posted November 18, 2003 Actually my laptop has a 64 Meg ATI card in it...it's not integrated though. I made sure of that because your comp can really suffer because of things like that. About running a disk defragmenter, I would suggest it only if you have a lot of files on your computer that you are always replacing or if your hard drive has been reformatted many a time. What these programs do is basically completely (or try to) delete information off your hard drive. To explain a little more in depth, whenever you delete something on your hard drive, it's really never deleted. Rather, it's partially removed and your OS is told that it is gone. What then happens is, eventually your computer will just put new information over the old one and whipe it mostly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Altarial Posted November 20, 2003 Share Posted November 20, 2003 bah got the same stupid eq client crash error when switching between characters.. I did both steps your recommended, too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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