Some technical Problems With Demo

thehunt44 · #1 April 9th, 2001, 10:20 AM

Hi Guys,

Just downloaded the latest Demo (3.0). I have had the 1.2 Version for about 4 months and really enjoyed it. I'm an old ATC sim buff going back to my Commodore days with "Kennedy Approach" but I digress..

The Demo keeps crapping out with a General Protection fault in DIBENG.DLL. Microsoft's knowledge base says "Your Video driver is not standard" and they recommend using standard VGA. I have an ATI Rage Pro (Which sucks I know!) and it works fine with everything else on the planet except your Demo. Any suggestions? Or am I the only person on the planet with this crappy video card? I haven't tried it at home yet, I imagine my Geforce2 will handle it better.
Just wondering if you have had any other feedback about this error or problem.

Thanks.
TH
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I went to ATI's website and they had a some notes on DIBENG.DLL problems. I had to downgrade the Version of driver I am running in order for the Video Drivers that AC3.0 uses to work. Once I did that the game runs fine. (I just love ATI!)

[This message has been edited by thehunt44 (edited 09 April 2001).]

Joe · #2 April 9th, 2001, 02:13 PM

I have tested the game and it works fine on an ATI Rage Fury Pro - I don't know if this is the same card as an ATI Rage Pro. Also, DirectX has a lot to do with the interaction between the video card and DIBENG.DLL. While DirectX 8 is the latest, my experience is that it is not as stable as DirectX 7 and doesn't appear to offer any performance improvements. So I would recommend DirectX 7 for your card.

troccola · #3 April 9th, 2001, 02:38 PM

hunt... I was told to check this game out by a friend. I had mentioned to him that I use to love Kennedy Approach on the C64. I only recently built a gaming machine and immediately hoped to find a good ATC game.

Is this it?

Seems there are issues with the game... do you know if the release Version works? And is stable?

If Kennedy Approach was a 5 ( on a 1 to 10 scale ), what would you rate this game?

Richard · #4 April 9th, 2001, 03:47 PM

The issues displayed below are mainly because when some companies (especially ATI) put out new Versions of their drivers they do a lot of non standard things that can cause other problems, we have the same problem from time to time with new Versions of DirectX.

We have run the game under a large subset of machines and have not had a problem with the current Version and demo of the game. Make sure to download the demo from our site as it is the newest.

------------------
Sarge is coming...

Richard Arnesen
Director of Covert Ops
Shrapnel Games
http://www.shrapnelgames.com

thehunt44 · #5 April 10th, 2001, 01:54 AM

As for a review...

I have not seen the full Version of AC 3.0, but I assume it is the same as the demo except that it doesn't end after 10 minutes... (which is really annoying)..

While trying to solve the problems I originally posted.. I happened upon 3 Versions of this game. Version 1.2 which I got from CNET about 4 months ago, Version 2.0 from the GamesDomain, and 3.0 which I got from this website.

The 2.0 ad 3.0 Versions at least from what I can tell are almost identical. It looks like the graphics have been spruced up a bit, and there may be some more subtle changes that maybe I didn't notice, but they seem to be 98% the same item. The 1.2 Version is the same basic game, just that this older Version doesn't have the weather or pilots voices (which I have to be honest.. I think are pretty bad.. Sorry Joe..).

As for gameplay, it brought me back to those good old days of "Kennedy Approach". The grid flight system, the 45 degree turn limit, take KA and add an extra 5 thousand feet and you have Air Command. Which means it is really a pretty good game.

If you like "Kennedy Approach" then you'll like this game. It is very similar, and equally entertaining. If KA was a 5, this is a 7 or 8.

TH

Gabriel · #6 April 13th, 2001, 04:29 AM

Having troubles, to say the least, with the demo. I've downloaded the latest demo from this site and it locks up within 10 seconds of starting it. I have the latest DirectX (which could be the problem) and the latest drivers for my GeForce 256 and my Sound BLaster Live Value edition. Does anyone have any tips? I would love to have a game like this, but I won't spend my money on it unless I can play around with the demo first.

Richard · #7 April 13th, 2001, 05:56 AM

How long did you wait before trying to kill it?

The demo has an interesting way of launching so you need to wait about 20-30 seconds for the splash screen to scroll.

Otherwise I will leave this to Joe to troubleshoot.

------------------
Sarge is coming...

Richard Arnesen
Director of Covert Ops
Shrapnel Games
http://www.shrapnelgames.com

Gabriel · #8 April 13th, 2001, 08:36 PM

quote:
Originally posted by Richard:
How long did you wait before trying to kill it?

It was definately locked up...The music stopped on one note that never turned off, the mouse stopped moving, the keyboard locked up (CTRL+ALT+DEL wouldn't even work) and the only thing I could do was push the reset button. This occured when I watched the splash screen occur, and also when I pressed the space bar to bypass it.

Joe · #9 April 17th, 2001, 11:52 AM

Gabriel,

In the "Game Content" thread you mentioned you played the demo and like it a lot. Does this mean your lockup problem is solved? If so, what was the fix?

Gabriel · #10 April 17th, 2001, 12:51 PM

I think there is something wrong with my sound card. I turned off the music and it works fine. I had the same problem with Runesword also. It's strange that these 2 games caused problems, but not any of the major commercial games like Baldurs Gate 2, Deus Ex, etc. But, I have had suspicians about the sound card for a little bit anyway. I guess it is off to buy a X-Gamer 5.1 today.