Dominions II: Technical/Hardware Issues

This is to keep track of all Hardware/Technical Problems that occur when playing, running, installing, patching Dominions 2. This thread will be cleaned and pruned regularly adding in Questions and Answers as well as linking threads that get made outside of this thread in order to keep up to date.

In order to better serve and find any issues with technical or hardware issues, please use this format.

Game Version: (Full or Demo) Patch Version
Operating System:
Hardware Specific Name: (Video Card Radeon 9800 or SoundbLaster 5.1 Audigy)
Driver Specific Name Associated with Hardware: (Nvidia 56.6 Forceware Drivers for WinXP)
Specific Issue or Problem:

Also please use this thread to respond in order to allow the Developers and other Technical/Hardware Guru's the chance to help you with your problem.

Q: I'm having problems with starting Dominions 2 with Win98 or WinME.
Q: I can't see my mouse cursor with a Voodoo Graphics Card.
A: Help! Mouse not displayed! (http://www.shrapnelcommunity.com/threads/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=UBB74&Number=244691&Forum= f74&Words=voodo&Searchpage=0&Limit=25&Main=244691& Search=true&where=bodysub&Name=&daterange=1&newerv al=5&newertype=y&olderval=&oldertype=&bodyprev=#Po st244691)

Q: My sound keeps skipping or stuttering or won't work at all (Windows).
A: Try changing the Audio Output in Dominions 2 to Waveout. Preferences > Audio Preferences > Waveout. Then quit and restart Dominions 2 to see the results.

Q: I'm using Linux or Mac OS X, I can't remember which one, but I really don't like the dominions2 folder that gets created in my home directory. Can I move it somewhere else?
A: You can set the DOM2_SAVE environment variable to point to where you want the dominions2 folder to be located. Default is ~.

The following questions are from Saber Cherry's newby guide

Q: Why is my game running at approximately 6.5 frames per second?
A: Try updating your video drivers. If you have a "Rage" or "Radeon" card, these can be found at www.ati.com (http://www.ati.com) ; drivers for "Vanta", "TnT" and "GeForce" cards can be found at http://www.nvidia.com. Before you install new drivers, be sure to uninstall the old ones (normally from the add-remove programs menu). For Nvidia cards, I suggest this utility: http://www.guru3d.com/detonator-destroyer/ after uninstalling the old drivers, to fully remove them, before installing new ones. Please note that some people have had problems using ATI's Catalyst 3.9 and 3.9 drivers, and find 3.7 work the best. If you're still having trouble, try a more complete computer tuneup that should fix most problems caused by software.

Q: I have an ATI Radeon card, I'm using the latest drivers, and the demo won't run at all!
A: Try using Catalyst 3.7 drivers instead of the latest drivers, or if you have Hydravision turned on, try turning it off. These changes solved the problem of the demo not running at all for a couple people... and whenever changing drivers, be sure to uninstall the old ones prior to installing the new ones!

Q: I have a laptop and I can't find any drivers. Help?
A: If you are using a laptop and the manufacturer is too lazy to provide recent drivers, try generic drivers from here: www.omegacorner.com (http://www.omegacorner.com) . The drivers there are confirmed to solve this problem in ATI Radeon Mobility 9000 chips. Credit: Pocus

Q: Why is my refresh rate like 60Hz in every fullscreen resolution?
A: "This is not DOM 2 issue. Its windows issue. Windows will default to 60 Hz for every game/program that doesn't set its own refresh rate as some sort of protection from damage in case your monitor can't support it. There are some programs out there that help you set refresh rate for each resolution that will work in any game/program. One tool for NVidia graphic cards is NVRefresh and you can find it at http://www.nvrt.org/ (Credit: Daynarr). That worked for me. But, you can also switch to "windowed" mode and maximize the game window, in which case it will run at your desktop refresh rate. Plus you can quickly switch to a spreadsheet if someone comes by...

[Chazar]

[bug has been fixed in current Version]

[ July 06, 2004, 12:13: Message edited by: Chazar ]

[Marignon Zealot]

A great bug - somewhere in a mid-late game, especially on a large map with plenty of units and races, game drops to Windows without any message. This happens somewhere at the end of next turn generation. reloading the latest save doesn't help - the same drops at the same moments.

The only solution i have - to make back-up copies of save games and replace the latest one with some made several turns before.Only in this case it is possible to evade the drop.

Win XP; Full Version; GeForce4400Ti 64mb

[ March 24, 2004, 19:18: Message edited by: Marignon Zealot ]

[Johan K]

Zealot, you forgot to mention if you have patched Dominions to 2.08 yet. If you haven't done so then do so. Many crashing bugs have been fixed since the game was released.

[Aikamun]

Don't know if it was addressed by patch 2.08, but people are suffering through very low fps with Radeon cards. See: www.shrapnelgames.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=74;t=001222 (http://www.shrapnelgames.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=74;t=001222)

Thanks,
Aikamun

[Zapmeister]

I can't give a lot of detail, but I have noticed that in sessions (I reboot frequently) where I check my network games, and use other applications (NetScape 6.2, ICQ is about all) Windows 98 very frequently gets into a low-memory situation where it can't launch anything. That's with nothing running but the operating system.

I'm pretty sure this only occurs when I've been using Dominions on the net. I suspect that, in certain situations, Dominions is leaking memory under Windows 98.

[Ripcord O'Reilly]

From a post at Quarter to Three:

"Dom2 is a huge video hog, which is inexplicable considering the low quality of the graphics. Try hitting "W" at the start of the battle--that removes the 3D world background, replacing it with a wireframe view. That works for most people (the units are sprites)."

[Pirateiam]

I am having proplems with game freezing at the map view when I am panning the view around. This is a Hard lock up. I seems to happen when I get further into games (turn 40+) possible memory leak? Once it happens it seems to happen almost every other turn after reboot. Here are my specs:

CPU - AMD Athlon XP 2000+
256 MB Ram
VIA/S3 onboard graphics 32 MB
Windows 98SE
Full Game Version 2.11

[ April 23, 2004, 02:19: Message edited by: Pirateiam ]

[Psientist]

Some startup options for Dominions2 require parameters to be set while starting up from the command line. You can do this from Terminal, but I've provided an Applescript that can do this for you automatically without using the terminal at all.

1. Open Script Editor.
2. Paste the following script:

doshell script "cd /Users/Username/PathToDominions/Dominions2;dominions2.app/Contents/MacOS/dominions2 --badmouse"

3. Save as a run-only application, naming it whatever you want - I named my "Dominions 2 Startup".

You can then alias, or double click that applescript application to boot up Dominions 2 for you with whatever flags you wanted to set.

Some important points:
- The above example sets the "badmouse" flag; sometimes, when you play using the reduced window mode, the mouse coordinates are messed up, and this parameter will fix that. There are other options (I believe the "-w" mode will force the game to be played as a window instead of fullscreen).
- Be sure to replace the "Username/PathToDominions/" part of the script with YOUR login userid, and the path to wherever you keep the Dominions 2 application.

Good luck.

[Pirateiam]

Psientist,

Thanks for the ideas. I have already tried running it in a window, also I have tried everything under the sun with my grapics settings. I will try this badmouse command switch but during my hard lock-ups my mouse stays active but the screen and sound freeze. I will look at all the command switches and see if they help.

[Johan K]

You could try to run Dominions II without sound as well (switch: -s), that will eliminate one possible source of error. But since it crashes when you pan around I would guess that it is something weird with the graphics drivers. Maybe the card manufacturer has an updated Version.

[Pirateiam]

Yeah I have already tried that. What is strange is that I run Dominions II during the week on a laptop (work/traveling)with almost the identical onboard graphics chipset and it runs fine. The glaring difference is that the workstation that I run it on the weekend (that is failing) is a AMD Anthlon - Windows 98 OS system. I built the workstation myself so I know I have the most updated bios and graphic drivers. I think I have narrowed it down to either the graphic chipset or I am having power drops on my motherboard. I will be able to eliminate the power issue this weekend since I am running a monitoring log right now (I knew I should have used a 300 watt PS http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon9.gif ) One question I have that you may help me with is the Direct Draw Version that is supported (I assume you use Direct Draw calls in your code right?) My drivers say Version 1.0, is there not a newer Version?

I also think I am going to throw a AGP graphics card in to see if that eliminates the problem. Tell me which inexpensive AGP cards that you know for SURE that works with Dominions II. Also if there is anyone out there that has an AGP card lying around that they do not want anymore let me know. I would be willing to even spend a few bucks for it http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif .

[ April 25, 2004, 18:41: Message edited by: Pirateiam ]

[Johan K]

Direct draw is not used so I don't think it should cause any trouble, but you never know. Dominions II is developed with an AGP geforce2mx in mind (I have that one), so that card should work flawlessly.

[MCArt]

I am having problems to start the Demo. I get a Nagot gik fel error message that tells me it 'failed to init OpenGL'. I have tried the things suggested in the thread linked to from Zen's post here, to no avail.

I suspect NVidia's latest graphic driver (56.64) is at fault - because the demo was working some months ago, before I had de-installed, and later re-installed it - but I am not sure.
Does anyone have ideas how to get it back working again?

My system is an Athlon XP 2000, 256MB RAM, Windows ME and NVidia GeForce 4 MX 440

[ July 27, 2004, 21:40: Message edited by: MCArt ]

[Endoperez]

I have the same graphics card. I will check what happens if I update the drivers.

I downloaded drivers from NVidia homepage, installed them and checked. The game still works.

Maybe corrupted installation or temp file? Re-install the demo and empty Temp-folder.

[ July 28, 2004, 11:02: Message edited by: Endoperez ]

[MCArt]

Originally posted by Endoperez:
I have the same graphics card. I will check what happens if I update the drivers.

I downloaded drivers from NVidia homepage, installed them and checked. The game still works.

Maybe corrupted installation or temp file? Re-install the demo and empty Temp-folder. <font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">I deinstalled, reinstalled, deinstalled again, re-downloaded from another source, reinstalled... and I still can't get it to run, nor do I know what the exact problem is, except that it cannot initialize OpenGL, for whatever reason.

It doesn't even create a temp folder, either, so nothing to delete for me...

I've attached the debug log, if anyone can guess where the problem lies:
</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">code:</font><hr /><pre style="font-size:x-small; font-family: monospace;">dbglevel 1 pc_endian
datapath='.'
savepath='.'
temppath='C:\WINDOWS\TEMP/dom16882'
Något gick fel!
Failed to init OpenGL
flushopengl
DeinitPrint</pre><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Oh, and here is the stdout file:
</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">code:</font><hr /><pre style="font-size:x-small; font-family: monospace;">Could not init SDL: DirectInputDevice::SetDataFormat: Invalid parameters</pre><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">

[ July 30, 2004, 03:59: Message edited by: MCArt ]

[Endoperez]

I meant c:\Windows\temp folder, or temp folder of the OS you are running DomII in.


It doesn't even create a temp folder, either, so nothing to delete for me...

I've attached the debug log, if anyone can guess where the problem lies:
</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">code:</font><hr /><pre style="font-size:x-small; font-family: monospace;">temppath='C:\WINDOWS\TEMP/dom16882'</pre><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana"> <font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">The problem seems to be the dom16882 -folder in your c:\windows\temp -folder. It contains data needed by DomII for processing turns (or something like that), and I don't think they will be left in there if everything works. You can safely remove it, and anything else in your temp file too if it is starting to fill up your hard disk.

edit: won't => will

[ July 30, 2004, 19:11: Message edited by: Endoperez ]

[MCArt]

Originally posted by Endoperez:
I meant c:\Windows\temp folder, or temp folder of the OS you are running DomII in.

The problem seems to be the dom16882 -folder in your c:\windows\temp -folder. It contains data needed by DomII for processing turns (or something like that), and I don't think they will be left in there if everything works. You can safely remove it, and anything else in your temp file too if it is starting to fill up your hard disk.

edit: won't => will <font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">I know, I tried to find it the folder in my TEMP directory, but it isn't there. (I have hidded files/folders visible, so this can't be it)
So it seems the game doesn't even create the folder, maybe this could be the source of the problem? But why then is that so with my Version, and your demo (as you said, you have roughly the same specs) runs without any problems? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/confused.gif

Hm, I'll have to look a little further into this...

[slimemold]

Q: I get an error "Some files are missing or locked" in iPatch when I try to install the 2.14 patch for Mac OS X.

I can install and run Version 2.02 (full Version, from CD), to either my Applications or home directory. I have administrator rights.

Is the patch incremental? That is, do I need to update to some Version higher than 2.02 before the 2.14 patch can work?

[Johan K]

I'm not sure about this, but it is possible that the patch is broken regarding 2.02 -&gt; 2.14. Maybe you could try downloading 2.13 first and then do 2.13 -&gt; 2.14. The 2.13 patch is still on shrapnel, there is just no clickable link.
All mac patches are supposed to upgrade from either the previous Version or the latest Version.

[slimemold]

Ok, I tried patching from 2.02 to 2.13 (Mac OS X) but got the same iPatch error. I found the 2.13 patch from a google search that pointed me to filefront.com.

Searching in this forum turned up some advice about manually copying files from the patch into the application bundle, but that was 2.08, before iPatch was in use (as far as I can tell).

Looks like I'll have to do some messy trial-and-error on older Versions. I don't suppose someone could bundle up the diffs between what's on their CD and what's on their hard drive and post it somewhere?

Incidentally, the fact that this game (and its patches!) were released for Mac was instrumental in my decision to replace my recently exploded PC laptop with a Mac!

Thanks for any help.

[Johan K]

Have you tried to do it this way:?
* Copy Dominions application from CD
* Make sure all files are not write protected
* Apply 2.14 patch
* If that didn't work, apply 2.13 patch first

You can't patch by copying files manually with the iPatch patches.

The iPatch people say they will have a new Version of iPatch ready in a few weeks that lists what went wrong with which files if the patch doesn't work. So hopefully the next Dominions patch for mac will use this new and improved patcher.

[slimemold]

Problem solved! Dominions 2.02 gets installed in read-only mode. iPatch doesn't override the read-only flag. Before running iPatch, it is necessary to Command-I on the installed dominions2 application and set it to read/write. Then iPatch works fine, straight from 2.02 to 2.14.

Hopefully, iPatch's upcoming new Version will have a more helpful error message, or be able to override read-only (probably a security violation/impossibility, though).

Thanks for the help, Johan!

[Grim Knight]

Does anyone here have any experience with getting a server setup behind a firewall?

Specifically I am trying to get it setup so that people can connect to my server, which is behind a Netgear Prosafe FVS318 firewall router.

So far I have tried setting up port forwarding, and setting the IP address of the machine acting as the server to DMZ in both cases when I try to connect to the Dominions 2 Game that I have it hosting using the Public IP address of my cable modem it can not connect, when I use the private IP address of the server machine of course it works fine.

It seems to be an issue with Port Forwarding, or with the game listing only for packets sent to the IP address it detects when you create the game, (It of course detects the private IP of the Machine it is running on rather than the Public IP of the cable modem).

I am trying to run the server on Windows 2000 Pro SP4.

If anyone knows a way around this I would be very happy.

Thanks in advance, Grim Knight

[Grim Knight]

In addition I have only been able to try to connect to it from a different machine that is behind the same firewall.

Is it possible that a machine outside of my LAN could connect to the Public IP when my machine inside the LAN can only connect to the private IP?

If anyone wants to try to connect to the server it is currently running.

IP Address: 69.10.118.53
Port: 65000

Thanks again, Grim Knight

[deccan]

I just tested it and I could connect. And I'm in the Solomon Islands. If I can connect, I bet anyone can connect.

[Grim Knight]

Cool, thanks deccan.

Grim Knight

[Duncanish]

I'm having trouble with my game dropping me to the desktop before it even loads up. Don't even get to the menu. I get a tone, as is usual for Windows, but no error message. I've tried re-installing with no luck.

[Johan K]

Duncanish, if you have a folder thats look anything simliar to this

C:\WINDOWS\TEMP\dom16882

then you should remove it. Having a leftover domXXXXX folder in your temp directory can cause Dominions to never start up.

[Duncanish]

Checked. No domXXXXX folder around, but still the same problem.

[PyroStock]

Sometimes during battle scenes my game freezes up and forces me to cold boot. I have the latest graphic drivers (Nvidia 66.93), directx9c and the 2.14 patch on Windows2000. I don't play Online.

The culprit appears to be something from the following applications that occur at the same time the game freezes...

Information - ccEvtMgr 7:21:56 (from NT Authority/System, no specifics)
Information - ccEvtMgr 7:21:57 (same as above)
Warning - WinMgmt 7:22:39 (WMI ADAP was unable to create object index 2022 for Performance Library MSDTC because no value was found in the 009 subkey)
Error - PerfNet 7:22:40 (Unable to open the Server service. Server performance data will not be returned. Error code returned is in data DWORD 0.)

Disabling Norton did not help. Uninstalling/reinstalling did not help. Changing graphic options did not help, disabling sound (via -s) did not help &amp; this only happens with Dominions2 as no other games/software freezes everything and causes me to reboot.

Suggestions?

[Seawolf]

Hello,

My system crashed and I had to reinstall DOMII. I reinstalled it loaded the 2.15 patch. When I go to video options and I try to remove the check off the full screen option the DOM window becomes a SDL something window and then nothing happenes. I am using windows 2000 and I forgot how to check what video card and cpu stats sorry.

Any pointers?

[gabe]

Hi. A friend told me about Dominions, so I downloaded the demo. When I run it, I can hear the audio but there's no video. I'm prompted to change my resolution to 1400X1040, but it's already set to that!

Demo
Windows XP

Can you help? I'd like to play!

[Johan K]

Try running Dominions with the -w switch to start it in windowed mode.

[gabe]

Johan-

Thanks for responding. I'm not sure what you mean by '-w switch.' Is it a DOS command? The only way I know to start the game is from the 'All programs' menu. Sorry I'm not up to speed, but could you please specify? Thanks.

Gabe

[Endoperez]

The '-w switch' is a command line switch. In dos, it would be used like this:

C:\Games\Illwinter\Dominions II\&gt;dom2 -w

In Windowses, you can use dos promp. Click Start, click Run, write 'cmd', and a black window with white text that looks and acts very much like DOS pops up. Most dos commands work for it, and you can go to your Dominions II directory and test if the game works with this.

If it works, you want it to be easily usable. This can be done with the help of shortcut, like the one that probably is on your desktop. Right-click on the DomII icon (Belphegor the Lord of Corruption, IIRC) and choose properties. Now you should be able to write in the target (for me "E:\Dominions II\dom2.exe") amd working folder (for me "E:\Dominions II"). You just have to add the '-w' to the end of the target line. It seems it has to added outside the quotes, like this:
"E:\Dominions II\dom2.exe" -w

You might not have the words "target" and "working folder" in there, because those are direct translations from my Finnish windows's respective words.2

[Lingchih]

Just upgraded to 2.16 a few days ago, and have noticed a strange occurence. Twice now, while playing my turn in a multiplayer game on Mosehansen's server, my Mac suddenly reboots. Now, I have an older Mac, so I am prepared to say the power supply might be going, but it is strange that the only times I have had this happen are while playing Dom2. Any ideas? Could Dom be doing this?

[Ygorl]

Is there any chance of getting support for some widescreen resolutions into Dom2? Say, 1920x1200?
Is there some way to hack support into what we've got?

[Kristoffer O]

It is easy to set your own favorite resolution by using some commandline switches.

--res 1920 1200

should do what you want.

[Ygorl]

It's not quite obvious on Mac OS X... What you need to do is:
cd dominions2.app/Contents/Resources/
../MacOS/dominions2 --res 1920 1200
Otherwise the game doesn't know where to find the GUI graphics. This works, though.
Thanks!

[Hadin]

Hello, I played the demo a while ago, worked perfectly but when my friend brought his game over to play a "quick" game (i didn't buy it yet, was planning to though) I can create my god fine, as well as the game, however when i click to play my first turn, the game just boots me back to mac os without any error messages, no matter what I try, it just does that... I tried this with version 2.02, then 2.13, then latest, still the same... It's weird because the demo worked great...

[Johan K]

If you use Mac or Linux you have to start the game from a terminal in order to see the error message.

[Hadin]

Hmmm, I tried opening it through the terminal by doing open (pathname to dominions) it opened and quit at same time as usual but no error messages that i could see, only another command line showed up waiting for next command... so i tried opening the program that is inside the package and it quit right away with

Games/dominions2.app/Contents/MacOS/dominions2; exit
Något gick fel!
myloadmalloc: can't open ./guiborder2.tga
Något gick fel!
myloadmalloc: can't open ./guiborder2.tga
Abort
logout
[Process completed]

[Johan K]

You have to be in the proper directory before you start dominions.

$ cd Games
$ dominions2.app/Contents/MacOS/dominions2

should do the trick.

[High_Priest_Naresh]

the game works pefect for me! I got lucky

[NTJedi]

Saved game file not working... game crashes after clicking host:
ERROR: Nagot gick fel
unit -1
getmaxhp: bad unr


GAME IS WORKING AGAIN&gt;&gt;&gt;
[b]UPDATE: Apparently the game has a 32,000 unit limit which causes this crash... Hopefully the unit limit will be increased for DOM_3 so very large maps can be played without worry.

[B0rsuk]

Hey

I have two 3.5 questions. I didn't find answers in stickies/FAQ's (or perhaps I didn't search too well ?)
-----------------
1. Is there any way I can run Dominions2 on machine without hardware acceleration ? I can run (demo) on my home machine, but I have reasonably good, if somewhat old, video card.
The situation has changed and I no longer have internet access on my own machine. Here, there's no opengl, and I don't have root password.
Is there any hope for me ?

It would make sense for Dominions2 to run without hardware acceleration. After all, it is used in 3 cases, If i remember correctly.... Title screen, laboratory (pretty!), and battles.But I tried to run Dom2 with opengl disabled and it spat out some kind of error message.
-------
How about Dominions3 ? I didn't buy Dom2 mostly because of annoyances associated with purchasing online (Poland). And once I decided the games IS worth buying, Dom3 was already on the horizon.
So I'm going to buy Dominions3, but will it work on machine without hardware acceleration ?
I could play it on my own machine, which is not connected to internet, but that would basically mean no multiplayer, or terribly slugish game pace.
----------
3. Me and my friend are interested in Dominions3. But he's not so excited about it, so we'll probably buy one copy first.
What is Dominions2's threshold when it comes to IP's/cdkey ? How many IP's can be used before copy protection kicks in ? (I presume Dom3 will use similar mechanic)

[magnate]

B0rsuk said:
1. Is there any way I can run Dominions2 on machine without hardware acceleration ? I can run (demo) on my home machine, but I have reasonably good, if somewhat old, video card.
The situation has changed and I no longer have internet access on my own machine. Here, there's no opengl, and I don't have root password.
Is there any hope for me ?


Not sure - if you set all the graphics settings to lowest, I don't think it needs hardware accel, but if you're in Linux you do still need the opengl libraries (libmesa). You need them even if you run a graphicless server.

I can run Dom2 on an old 500MHz Celeron with an old 4Mb RageII video card, at the lowest detail settings.



What is Dominions2's threshold when it comes to IP's/cdkey ? How many IP's can be used before copy protection kicks in ? (I presume Dom3 will use similar mechanic)


Now this I do know. Every player has to have a unique CD key - but if you run a separate server, it can have the same key as one of the players.

CC

[Endoperez]

Try running Dominions with a command line parameter -a. This should set all animated background off. In Windows, make a shortcut and chance the 'Target' line like this: C:\YourDominionsFolder\Dominions II\Dom2.exe" -u This will remove the animation from the main screen and laboratory. In battles, you can press 'w' to chance the background into black void. If the grid isn't visible, press 'g' to have some impression of the battleground.

Dominions III will most probably just add things but use (mostly?) the same engine, so you can assume that anything that Dominions II works with, also works with the sequel.

Regarding multiplay with only one copy of the game:
When playing on the same computer, any number of human players can be present. Also, if you open the turn sent by your friend on your computer, and then finish without editing anything, those unchanged orders will be counted as if they were done on your computer. It works that way, but doesn't work that well when playing *against* your friend... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

I would recommend having one of you play with the demo against other's full version, but the demo is of an old version with a nasty bug on one of the Jotunheim themes.

[Zen]

Ydirbut wrote in another thread:
When I right click on a unit or enter a battle, Dominions 2 sometimes, but not all the time, just closes and I have to go back and do that turn over again. Has anyone else had this problem

[Beorne]

I have WinXP, and my HD crashed.
I have reinstalled Dom2, all ok.
When I install the lastest patch appears an error:
"sdl.dll: unknown version"
I've never had problems installing and patching Dom2, my old installation had the latest patch.
What's happening?

[Beorne]

I was installing a wrong patch version ... sorry.

[Grymnyr]

New Player, new iMac user (new Intel iMac OSX.4)
-Can't complete upgrade with iPatch
-Can't add mods or new maps

1) When running iPatch, it gives me the "cannot complete patch. Some files missing or locked."
I am not a Unix-guru, so while I can log-in as root and view the files under the "dominions2.app" I have no idea how to reset any permissions specifically to allow the Patch to upgrade from 2.02 to 2.14 (or 2.16). This is important because my gaming group have already upgraded and I need to be compatible with their settings.

2) Again, while I can view the sub-directories and Resources of the "dominions2.app" is there another way to add mods or maps other than within the terminal using Unix commands? That said...where, exactly, should these assets/files be added.

3) Last, concerning environmental variables -- where are these set and how do I change them to allow some of the functionality (resolution, etc.) that otehrs mention on the boards/forum?

[Johan K]

To make files "read&amp;write" right click on Dominions2.app and choose get info. Now you'll see ownership and permissions at the bottom. Making them "read&amp;write" should enable iPatch to run.

[Grymnyr]

Stunning. I tried it the hard way. The patch ran successfully, thanks.
Now, about adding MODS and MAPS...can this only be done via terminal as the "finder" doesn't allow viewing beneath the dominions2.app itself?

[Johan K]

Again, right clicking should give you that option.

[Zweiblumen]

Dominions 2.16
Mac OS X
Powerbook laptop (not sure the video card)
SDL version that shipped with the game.

In windowed mode my mouse y coordinates seem to be inverted. Is this an SDL or Dominions issue, and is it going to be addressed? Windowed mode is unplayable like this.

Thanks

[Alneyan]

One command switch seems to address this issue (from the relevant text file in /doc):
" --badmouse Inverts y-coords in windowed mode. Cures SDL bug on Mac OS X"

[djo]

What version of OS X are you using?

If you're not comfortable poking around in application packages, implementing that fix is a bit of a pain.

[Zweiblumen]

I'm running 10.3

I'm comfortable enough with technical things, but I'm not sure how to add command switches to the launch path...can someone describe how to do that?

[djo]

10.3, odd. I wonder if it's also hardware linked.

OK: I don't have time today to go into great detail, and I'm not in front of my Mac to check things, but here goes:

- if you right-click or control-click on an application, most will give you a "show package contents" option which lets you see into the application's guts

- (I think you need to install custom maps this way in dom2 as well--I forget)

- once you're inside the dom2 app, you can see the actual executable application and figure out its full path

- then, from the Terminal application, you can run the app by typing the full path to the executable (just like in Linux); at this point you can add command-line options

- if it works, you can then (if you are ambitious) write an Applescript to start the game with the switches, and you can save the Applescript as a double-clickable application itself

One still wonders why you'd see this issue, though...I would have thought that if you're running 2.16, it would be far behind you.

[Zweiblumen]

Hmm, I got that far, but apparently when I run the app the 'normal' way some other switches get enabled in addition to badmouse, because if I try to just run the app from the terminal I get all sorts of errors. I'm having a hard time figuring out what the 'default' switches that get passed when I just do an 'open' on the app are.

Hmm

[Zweiblumen]

A ha! It was a working directory thing. Apparently it won't work to execute ./dominions2 from deep inside the contents. I had to go back up to the parent folder level, and then give it a few directories worth of path, but now I can play in windowed mode. Excellent.

Thanks so much! Now I have to figure out how to stop getting wiped off the map http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Daynarr]

Zweiblumen said:
Now I have to figure out how to stop getting wiped off the map http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif



Thats the fun part. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Alneyan]

Odd that it wouldn't work while in the same directory.

No flags are passed by default, so doing an "Open" just means "Run the application" without any other information. Some programs do pass flags, in a way, as their default behaviour may vary depending on your privileges. It isn't very common, though.

[Tuna-Fish]

I'm running ubuntu linux, and after installing and updating to latest when I try to run dom2 it says <font class="small">Code:</font><hr /><pre>dom2: error while loading shared libraries: libSDL-1.2.so.0: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
</pre><hr />

Even if I have installed sdl, tried reinstalling it too. Can anyone help?

[Tuna-Fish]

Solved that one myself, of course you need to have the 32-bit libs for dom2. Kinda misleading names there when running 64bit system.

[shovah]

I know this shouldnt be a problem with dom3 right round the corner but whenever i start up dominions i have a problem. Recently got windows XP and has happened since i installed it, dom2 loads slowly and once its up, while the mouse works fine, i cant do anything. Can select network/new game ect and the background dosnt move.

As ive said it isnt a big problem with dom3 around the corner but i dont want to have to drop out of my current mp games.

[Johan K]

Try upgrading your graphics driver to the one supplied by your video card manufacturer. This is necessary to get decent OpenGl support for ATI and Nvidia.

[Jamie]

This seems to be related to the above. In order to stop myself playing too much I tend to periodically wipe the game. On the last two reinstalls the game has run *grindingly* slow so as to be unplayable. I'm not talking about the battles, I don't even go there, its on everything. Even the start up screen. Just maximising the window makes the CPU grind away.

I'm running this on a Laptop with SuSE 10.1 that has an ATI Radeon 9000 in it. I have recently installed the new driver in this from ATi which to the best of my knowledge is running fine (e.g. fglrxinfo). It made no difference.

Note also the dom2 has run absolutely perfectly on this machine in the past. Indeed when I had Suse 9.1 on it I managed both states - perfect and grindingly slow without any significant system changes in between.

Hope someone can clarify this or at least give me a systematic way of uncovering the problem.

Jamie

[Endoperez]

Jamie said:
This seems to be related to the above. In order to stop myself playing too much I tend to periodically wipe the game. On the last two reinstalls the game has run *grindingly* slow so as to be unplayable. I'm not talking about the battles, I don't even go there, its on everything. Even the start up screen. Just maximising the window makes the CPU grind away.

I'm running this on a Laptop with SuSE 10.1 that has an ATI Radeon 9000 in it. I have recently installed the new driver in this from ATi which to the best of my knowledge is running fine (e.g. fglrxinfo). It made no difference.

Note also the dom2 has run absolutely perfectly on this machine in the past. Indeed when I had Suse 9.1 on it I managed both states - perfect and grindingly slow without any significant system changes in between.

Hope someone can clarify this or at least give me a systematic way of uncovering the problem.

Jamie



Might be the ATI. Bad openGL support. NVidia cards usually work much better in that regard. Try the troubleshooting threads. If nothing happens, PM me or post to the Dom3 forum. This one has been pretty much abandoned once people started to have Dom3s.

[Chazar]

Hi! I had the same troubles: ATI Graphics, Suse 10.1, Laptop.

The problem seems to be that Domininons uses the MESA libraries, even if the ATI binary driver is installed.

The solution is to bend a link and then Dom2 will be fast. However, this does not work with Dom3 for me http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif , it just makes Dom2 go real fast only (even in a DualHeaded configuration). More information can be found at the end of this thread: Post#455756 (http://www.shrapnelcommunity.com/threads/showthreaded.php?Number=455756)

The problem is probably ATI/SUSE specific, since I recall that a similar problem existed generally for ATI under SUSE9.3, where the links had to be set manually. Furthermore, I do believe that installing updates generally causes troubles with ATI under Suse:
Go to Yast-&gt;Software-&gt;SoftwareManagement and search for fglrx.

If you have downloaded and installed the lasted driver, you will see a package like
"fglrx_6_9_0_SUSE101". In this case you should alter the links as described at the end of the above linked post.

Alternatively you should see "x11-video-fglrx" and "ati-fglrx-kmp-default". Using those instead of the above mentioned package should make things work right away, however they use an older binary ATI driver (8.26 instead of 8.29 for me), which may cause troubles elsewhere (TV-Out or DualHead).

Also keep in mind that running YastOnlineUpdate might require you to reinstall the binary driver again. You can add the following YAST software installation source http://www2.ati.com/suse to obtain the above named packages automatically.

Sent me a PM if you need more advice to get Dom2 running under ATI/SUSE10.1.

AND PLEASE sent me a PM if you are able to get Dom3 running under ATI/SUSE10.1!!!! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

NOTE:
I also run Suse10.1 on an 6 year old Desktop with an old Nvidia GeForce1. Installing the NVIDIA driver is automatic and Dom2 and Dom3 run fast right away, so it seems that ATI should take the blame here, not Illwinter nor SUSE!

[Jamie]

Thats the one, sorted now -- apologies for not finding it the first time. Very distro specific it appears...

I wish I could help with dom3, but I'm losing quite enough time as it is... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif