Compatibility Issue?

[freetobejulie]

I'm not very computer literate, but I've been able to fix problems before.  I was wondering if anyone here could help me.  (And not just by pointing and laughing)  I've had Life Stories for months and I finally had time to install and try it out this weekend.  I checked to make sure that my ancient laptop met all of the system requirements, and I was pretty sure that it did when I tried it out.  I was able to play the game for about 45 minutes before it crashed (when I was downtown) and my screen went blue and I got an error message.  It said something about the driver, so I installed all of the latest drivers on my computer.  I tried the game out again and it crashed when I was downtown and I got another error message, but this time the computer didn't stay blue, it just restarted, so I couldn't read the whole message.  I think the message said something different than before, but it wasn't on the screen long enough to read.  I went to the "Electronic Arts' Easy Info" screen for Life Stories, and it says that my computer passes or has unknown capability with everything except the display memory, which fails.  My video card (ATI Mobility Radeon 7500 - which is labeled as an accepted card on the system requirements), video driver, and sound driver are all under "unknown capability."  Under display memory, it says that 32.0 are required and my computer has 0.0.  I went to check the display memory on my computer and DirectX says the approximate total memory on the display tab is n/a.  Under "current display mode" it says 1024x768 (which I know is my screen resolution) then it says (32 bit) (60Hz) - is that the 32 bits of memory?  Is my computer really not compatible with this program?  I've been able to run Sims 2 and University, but everything after that requires more than my laptop can handle.  My computer meets or exceeds every other requirement listed.  Please let me know if I should list any other system specs or if there's any way to fix this.  Thanks!

[jrd]

Display memory unknown can be normal, especially on laptops where the memory is shared with the system. "32 bit" is the display depth, not the amount of megs it has available.

Any Radeon 7500 should have at least 32MB of video RAM. I don't think lesser models were even made. For a laptop, the MR7500 is a good card.

Make sure you have not just the latest drivers, but also the latest version of DirectX 9.0c installed -- currently this is the april 2007 release.

You didn't mention what version of Windows you have, so I am assuming XP by the way.

And don't look into the "TS2 runs so why can't LS?" angle -- they may run similar engines, but they are different games.

[freetobejulie]

Thanks for responding.  I do have XP.  I downloaded the latest DirectX 9.0c, and the installation went normally, but for some reason when I open up the DirectX screen, it doesn't show that I have the new version, it still lists the old version.  When I try to run Life Stories now, I get an error message before the game starts.  This is what the error message says: "Failed to find any DirectX 9.0c compatible graphics adapters in this system!  Please make sure you have a DirectX 9.0c compatible graphics adapter and have installed the latest drivers provided by the manufacturer.  This application will now terminate."  I haven't gotten this error message before, so DirectX definitely installed something different from what I had before.  I've also tried re-installing the latest DirectX - I installed "DirectX End-User Runtime Web Installer" - is that the right thing?  I'd really appreciate any advice on what to do now.

[Ryslin]

I get that error often if I do not give my system enough time to go from SWG to Sims2.

It means something is attached to your graphics in some way. It may not even be something that is obvious. It is just blocking Lifestories from finding it's way to the graphics port.

my gut says to make sure you have the current version of graphics drivers downloaded, then uninstall the graphics, reboot, reinstall graphics and RUN the directx  install again.

It could also be that directx9c didnt download entire , as the web install is bad bad.
http://downloads.guru3d.com/download.php?det=835

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=2da43d38-db71-4c1b-bc6a-9b6652cd92a3&displaylang=en


both of these links are the same file , one is direct link to MS.
Good luck!

(edited to change Sims2 to lifestories, though I have had this error in many games for many reasons)

[freetobejulie]

Thanks for replying.  The first link you gave is to the old DirectX 9.0c version that I used to have.  The second link is to the exact version that I downloaded and installed.  It did download completely, and it even says that it is already installed correctly when I try to re-install it, but it doesn't show that I have the newest version when I open up the DirectX diagnostic tool.  I don't understand what you mean that something is attached to my graphics.  It doesn't make sense to roll back, then re-install all of the latest drivers on my computer, because I had the problem with the game before I updated the drivers and DirectX.  I made sure to download all of the latest drivers for everything else on my computer before I downloaded the latest DirectX.  I've tried re-downloading and re-installing DirectX, but I keep getting the same message that the installation is complete.  I've tried re-booting numerous times, but I keep getting the same results.  Any ideas for anything different? 

[Alexx]

It may be not only problem with DirectX or drivers.Sometimes antivirus progs with old or corrupted database may provoke blue
screen.Sure.that your antivirus progs. off before you start the game?

[freetobejulie]

I just want to be clear that the problem began before I unsuccessfully installed the newest DirectX.  Now the game won't start, I get the DirectX error message.  Before I can test anything new with the game, I need to be able to start it up, so I need to figure out how to fix the DirectX problem first.  I turn off all of my antivirus programs before installing anything or starting up the game.  Also, the antivirus programs are all new and update automatically.

[Alexx]

If your system monitoring is on -system must avtomatically make restore points before you installing something new.Check
your system restore points and reroll to date before you tried to install DirectX.But remember that in this case may be need
reinstall LS too.Not sure.

[Ryslin]

-cusses at directx-

Right so basically your system isn't accepting the reinstall of direct x. You can try many things at this point. First .. do you have any other game on this system? If so .. does it load?

If no game.. I am stumped for options that do not involve lots of nasty things with reinstalling.