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Unable to launch W3 on my laptop... Please help!!!
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Posted by: litterbug
I just got a gateway M675E laptop with mobility radeon 9600 video card(128 meg memory) on it and 2g memory. I have windows 2000 installed on this laptop and I am logging in as Administrator. I was able to successfully install Warcraft3 and TFT. But I am unable to run the program.
When i click on the icon to run the program, I either get a splash screen and just stuck there (task manager said it's not responding) or I will get a "Warcraft is unable to initialize directX.. please make sure you have directX 8.1 or newer.......etc." followed by a "Warcraft CD is not in the cd-drive, please insert the CD and click try again....etc."
well... I do have directX and the version is 9.0c (newest download from microsoft) and my video driver is the latest 4/21/04. Any idea why I can't play?
p.s. if i explore the CD, i can view the preview of world of warcraft... that's 3D right? doesn't that mean my video card does support 3D?
Any helps are greatly appreciated!
Posted by: NegotiatorSmith
Click Start, click Run, type dxdiag in the box and click OK. Click the Display tab and see if you can run the Direct3D test.
I'd also like you to click the Save Information button at the bottom and attach the text file that is generated to your next post, please.
Posted by: litterbug
I clicked on the Display tab and the "Test Direct3D" is not clickable. It said Direct3D acceleration Not available. Does that mean my video card doesn't support Direct3D? once again, it's a mobility radeon 9600. Thank you
Posted by: NegotiatorSmith
There's the problem, and yes it supports Direct3D. Usually this means that the drivers you have installed aren't meant for your card or you didn't install the correct ones properly. Where did you get the drivers you currently have installed from?
EDIT:
Oh, BTW, you were able to view the WoW preview because it's a pre-rendered movie, being able to view it doesn't mean that your video card can perform 3D acceleration properly.
Posted by: litterbug
I did 2 things. I downloaded the video driver from gateway.com for mobility radeom 9600 and the date for it is something like 11/30/2003. When that didn't work, I went on microsoft's windowsupdate to download the video driver for mobility radeom 9600 and it was dated 4/21/2004.
it still didn't work, that's why I am clueless.
Posted by: NegotiatorSmith
Okay, I'd like you to please completely uninstall whatever drivers you have installed now and then download the video drivers on this page:
http://support.gateway.com/support/...n¶m=3501731
They are the latest, appropriate drivers for your card and should work.
Posted by: litterbug
I downloaded the latest video driver from gateway (the website you posted), it was like a 20Mb download. I went in to control panel and remove all ATi drivers and programs and restart my computer. At this time, my screen was like 256 color and with low resolution. I knew the driver was removed. Then I went ahead and extracted the file I download from gateway and ran the setup. After all that and restarting my computer again. I ran the dxdiag test again and still find Direct3D unavailable. I contacted gateway tech support and they told me I should contact Blizzard for problems like that. I think gateway really piss me off now.
I am still left with a powerful machine and I can't play warcraft... how sad is that?
Posted by: NegotiatorSmith
Direct3D acceleration being unavailable isn't Blizzard's problem, it's a Windows problem in software, and actually you'd probably have to contact Microsoft for the best help, not Gateway. See if anything in this knowledge base article helps:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=191660
Posted by: litterbug
Thank you NegotiatorSmith.
I just checked with my co-worker who has the same machine but with WindowXP that it was originally shipped with. and His Direct3D works like a charm. For me.. because of work I have to get Windows2000 and the Direct3D just doesn't work for me. I think the latest driver from gateway is for WindowsXP. Maybe that's why my video driver doesn't work on the 3D part.
I wonder if there are any other ways to download the driver for Mobility Radeon 9600 for Windows2000 besides the manufacturer (once again, Gateway does not provide drivers for the same card for Anything other than WindowsXP). If you know, please post me a link. If not, then I guess I am shit out of luck.
Thanks again for all your help though.
Posted by: NegotiatorSmith
The drivers I linked you to are for both Windows XP and 2000, so that's not the problem. You really shouldn't get the drivers from anywhere other than gateway, since ATI's Catalyst drivers aren't appropriate for the card and the ones from Windows Update are probably outdated and/or not appropriate (by this I mean they aren't designed for the card).
I take it that nothing in the knowledge base article helped?
Have you tried reinstalling DirectX?
You may want to try using the modified Catalyst drivers from here:
http://www.omegadrivers.net/
The Omega drivers should work with your card.
Posted by: litterbug
My god... Even Omega drivers couldn't help me. After I removed my video driver then download and install omega driver, my Direct3D is still not available. I think maybe it's the hardware problem. Well.... I don't think there is much else that I can do about it. NegotiatorSmith... I just wanted to thank you once again for the help. Maybe I just don't use my laptop for 3D gaming then...
Posted by: NegotiatorSmith
I think it's extremely unlikely that your laptop's video card is faulty, but if you suspect that's the case, you'd have to contact Gateway again for a way to determine if it is.
Posted by: coldghost
try runningwc3 in opengl
in the target add -opengl
"C:\Program Files\Warcraft III\Frozen Throne.exe" -opengl
its the only way it will run on my laptop
hope ot works for you
Posted by: litterbug
wow... opengl works. thanks coldghost. But the problem is the graphics is really bad. I just played a game and my eyes were killing me. I can't see the fonts and the pictures very well. for an high-end video card, that is a very very poor performance. Once again, it's probably because of the OS or the video driver i had on there (even though I tried so many different ways to update it).
Anyways.. it's playable now.. but I probably won't play it on my laptop just because the graphic was much much worst than my pc with has geforce fx5200 card. Thanks for your help.
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