Weird Issue (Might be Vista related??)

[Canoe]

I got a new computer a month or two ago, and have been so busy, I haven't tried to play any games outside of web based (Ogame etc) until this week.

The diablo 3 thread got me inspired to install D2 again and mess around for a 1/2 hour here and there.

The problem I have is when I click on the executable (or shortcut or whatever) to start D2, it literally takes 10 minutes before the program starts.

During this process, the computer just acts as if I never clicked on it, except for the fact in the upper left hand corner of the screen there is a tiny black box, that cycles through all the characters on a keyboard one by one.

Eventually the program starts, and everything works great.

Any clues what's going on? This is my first Vista computer so I kind of assumed it has something to do with that - some sort of validation before it will start a program, but I honestly have no idea.

It's not a huge issue, just annoying as I can't just sit down and start it up, I have to click on it, and wait 5-10 minutes.

[Boogahz]

I've never seen that with any of my programs before. Was it mentioned on any Diablo 2 forums?

[Canoe]

In the process of looking there, but in the meantime posted here in case anyone had any issues.

The D2 forums are so full of so many asshats I figured I would get a better response / answer here, but I'll keep looking

[noel]

I also recently installed D2 and LoD on Vista. I'm not having that issue.

Out of curiosity, have you installed the latest patch? There are known Vista issues with D2:
http://us.blizzard.com/support/article. ... geNumber=1

Latest Patch (1.12a) here:
http://us.blizzard.com/support/article. ... rhtml=true

At this point, it's running great for me.

[Canoe]

Thanks - I'll keep looking.

Got a new error saying Direct Draw won't work, so troubleshooting with the blizzard support, updating my drivers etc.

[Canoe]

Well now it won't run at all lol.

I get a "Error 22: A critical error has occurred while initializing Direct Draw"

I went through the steps they said - I went to NVidia and downloaded the latest drivers for my card, and downloaded the latest direct x.

Still getting the issue.

When I run dxdiag it says:

Direct Draw Acceleration: Not available
Direct 3d Acceleration: Enabled.

Any clues?

[Animalor]

What type/model laptop are you using?

I play D2 at home with Vista and it works great.

[Canoe]

It's a dell desktop not a lap top.

Geforce 8600GT

[Canoe]

Is it possible that because my graphics card doesn't support direct x 10 that i'm fucked?

Is there a way to go back to direct x 9?

[noel]

No way. I'm using an 8800GTX that supports both DX10 and DX9 just fine.

With Vista, DX10 is installed, period. I would highly recommend you reinstall it in the following manner:

Remove it entirely.

1. Install D2.
2. Install LoD.
3. Patch.

Attempt to play.

4. Restore any backed up characters and then attempt to play again.

Also, try rerunning the Video test (there's a programs group for it) and switch from DirectDraw to Direct3d or whatever the other option is.

[Canoe]

No way. I'm using an 8800GTX that supports both DX10 and DX9 just fine.

With Vista, DX10 is installed, period. I would highly recommend you reinstall it in the following manner:

Remove it entirely.

1. Install D2.
2. Install LoD.
3. Patch.

Attempt to play.

4. Restore any backed up characters and then attempt to play again.

Also, try rerunning the Video test (there's a programs group for it) and switch from DirectDraw to Direct3d or whatever the other option is.

I'll try a fresh install tonight - I can remotely connect and test all these things, but I'm not at the computer to switch out CD's etc.

However I cannot do the video test - as the result is "Video test did not detect any usable video modes". So it doesn't give me the option to switch at all.

[Animalor]

After doing a quick search on Google, I wasn't able to find anything on this issue.

When I re-installed D2 on vista, I skilled the part that tried to install DirectX9c. Not sure if that would have anything to do with it though.

Try running DXDiag to see if it gives you anything wierd or error messages.

[Canoe]

When I run dxdiag it says:

Direct Draw Acceleration: Not available
Direct 3d Acceleration: Enabled.

This is the only msg in dxdiag that looked odd - the Direct Draw "not available" - which I don't understand.

And I've research the heck out of this in google, and everyone just says to do what i've already done - replace drivers and direct x. Most of the information out there is not for Vista however, mostly older platforms.

I'll try just reinstalling the whole thing when I get home tonight. Have no idea if that will help or not.

[noel]

I guess that's your problem then, but it's weird. That's definitely not related to DX10, which btw is backward compatible to DX9 games (D2 isn't a DX9 game btw). My dxdiag shows all three items on that screen as enabled. Are you running NVIDIA's drivers or the ones from your card manufacturer, etc?

I'm running some drivers from Nvidia's site (though not the latest... long story).

[Dakanaf]

Try right clicking on the icon -> properties -> compatibility then run the program in compatibility mode for windows xp. That's what I have to do to get WC3 to work with Vista, but everyone else I talk to it works just fine.

[Truant]

DOSBOX!

heh, that's what I use to play my old games. (we're talking real old tho)
I would suggest trying to run it in xp compatability mode though.

You couldn't pay me to run Vista

[Canoe]

What's weird is when i got home - it ran fine.

Just strange.

Will keep you all updated if it keeps acting odd.