NWN and Radeon HD 3870?

[Legacy_abdulmuhsee]

                So I recently upgraded my GFX card from an old Nvidia 6500 to a Radeon HD 3870 (I've had NWN since before its expansions came out on my first laptop with a 16MB video card).  I got a hankering today to play an NWN campaign, but I receive the standard Windows error report (the one that asks you if you'd like to send a report) as soon as nwmain.exe loads.

I've attempted to run it in compatibility mode, gone into nwn.ini to disable the various effects, changed the resolution in nwconfig.exe, disabled the movies, took it out of fullscreen mode, etc., but the game simply won't run.

The only difference in my machine is the new GFX card with the latest (10.1 catalyst) drivers.  The error report involved nwmain.exe and multiple .dll files, such as binkw32.dll. ADVAPI32.dll, OPENGL32.dll, etc., so I can only assume it's an issue with the GFX card.

Should I give up on ever playing this game again or is there a known fix for this specific issue?
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Tarot Redhand]

               What OS are you using?

TR
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Pstemarie]

               Solution - put the nVidia.card back in and use the AMD card for a paper-weight (that's all AMD/ATI junk is good for).
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_abdulmuhsee]

               

Tarot Redhand wrote...

What OS are you using?

TR

Windows XP 32 bit.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Lord Sullivan]

               The latest Catalyst drivers is definitely not v10.1 it is v13.1
The most version you should use is Catalyst v12.6 and under  from this page and that should fix your issue.

[EDIT] : Besides reverting back to previous drivers, all the other things you've tried are not needed in Windows XP 32bit
               
               

               

                     Modifié par Lord Sullivan, 17 juillet 2013 - 11:21 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_abdulmuhsee]

               

Lord Sullivan wrote...

The latest Catalyst drivers is definitely not v10.1 it is v13.1
The most version you should use is Catalyst v12.6 and under  from this page and that should fix your issue.

[EDIT] : Besides reverting back to previous drivers, all the other things you've tried are not needed in Windows XP 32bit

Silly me, I have 13.1, but for some reason I thought they were 10.1.

Why would using 12.6 or below fix the issue?
               
               

               

                     Modifié par abdulmuhsee, 18 juillet 2013 - 12:30 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_kamal_]

               

abdulmuhsee wrote...

Lord Sullivan wrote...

The latest Catalyst drivers is definitely not v10.1 it is v13.1
The most version you should use is Catalyst v12.6 and under  from this page and that should fix your issue.

[EDIT] : Besides reverting back to previous drivers, all the other things you've tried are not needed in Windows XP 32bit

Silly me, I have 13.1, but for some reason I thought they were 10.1.

Why would using 12.6 or below fix the issue?

Because new drivers sometimes drop support for old features/cards.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_abdulmuhsee]

               

kamal_ wrote...


Because new drivers sometimes drop support for old features/cards.

Right, but is there a specific reason for 12.6 or before that relates to NWN, or is it just a shot in the dark?
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Skildron]

               

abdulmuhsee wrote...

kamal_ wrote...


Because new drivers sometimes drop support for old features/cards.

Right, but is there a specific reason for 12.6 or before that relates to NWN, or is it just a shot in the dark?

Experience of many users including myself, who use or used in my case an ATi card and found out that with latest ATi/AMD drivers, there are some incompatibilities with nwn. Reason is that drivers after 11.4 Linux / 12.6 Windows drop some older OpenGL functionality nwn relies on.

HTH
Greetings
Skildron
               
               

               

                     Modifié par Skildron, 18 juillet 2013 - 07:23 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_Empyre65]

               Also, Radeon cards cannot handle shiny water in NWN, so disable it.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_abdulmuhsee]

               Alright, so I can now start the game and it appears to run fine, but then as soon as the player tries to, say, add a robe to his armor or the "summon creature" graphic plays, the game suddenly skips and goes at a snails pace from there on out.  Would that just be a hardware issue or is there a fix for that as well?
               
               

               

                     Modifié par abdulmuhsee, 19 juillet 2013 - 12:25 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_abdulmuhsee]

               Here is a fix that worked for me, and I believe may work for everyone with an AMD/ATI card:

Go to the game's installation folder and find the file nwnmain.exe.
Rename nwnmain.exe to anything else, like nwnmain2.exe and, from now on, launch the game by double-clicking this renamed executable.

I installed the latest catalyst drivers, 13.1, and simply renamed nwmain.exe, and now there is no longer any crashing on startup or lagging within the game.  It runs flawlessly.  I would recommend anyone who is having similar problems on AMD/ATI cards to try this before messing with drivers. since the newest drivers actually run the game better once the nwmain.exe fiasco is fixed.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Pstemarie]

               I wouldn't recommend renaming nwmain.exe simply for the fact that you're likely to cause issues with other aspects of the game (e.g. utilities) that rely on an interface with nwmain.exe. There is a considerable self help section on these boards that deals specifically with AMD/ATI cards and Windows Vista/7/8 installations.

I would first look to see if DirectX 9 components are missing. Doubtful because the game ran fine before installing the new card, but you never know. Download the DirectX 9 SDK and run it. It'll install any missing components.

Next update your audio and video drivers to the latest versions. If you have a RealTek audio card, this might be the culprit.

If you are still having issues, look to the self-help forum here.

Sorry my first post wasn't more helpful. In my experience, over several models of computers, sooner or later AMD/ATI GPUs have always caused issues. I have NEVER had an issue with an nVidia GPU running ANY game. Wish I could say the same for AMD/ATI cards but I can't. IMO, nVidia is the better card for ALL games and applications and Intel processors have no peer from AMD.
               
               

               

                     Modifié par Pstemarie, 19 juillet 2013 - 11:09 .