Driver issues with today's Test server patch.

[Malibu Sally]

This morning's patch to the test server seems to have caused some problems with a lot of people.(myself included) We are getting an error message saying that our drivers need to be updated.

I scanned the official forums and it appears that even people with the latest drivers are being told that their drivers need updating. Maybe it's just a bug. Hopefully a red name will spot these posts and put out some clarification.

I am a bit concerned though. I'm downloading the most recent drivers available now but will hold off installing until it can be determined if this is not just a buggy patch alert. I guess my worst fear is that the entire graphics card may be obsoleted by what they are trying to do. I use an older GeForce and it is the abolute maximum that our computer can handle. I am not to keen on the thought that we might have to get a whole new system. :(

[Blackbat]

Is everyone that has this problem using an NVidia card? I'm using an ATI Radeon, i'll go hop into test and see if it gives me the same problem.

[Blackbat]

Nope, I just downloaded the patch, logged on and ran around for a bit. No problems.

What model GeForce are you using? Is it a 4700 or lower? Reason I ask, is because I had a GeForce 4700 and was forced to upgrade to play a few new games I bought, they required 5700 and higher. I ended up switching brands to a ATI Radeon X800 XL 256mb card. Worked wonders for me.

In your case, it seems that your motherboard might not have an AGP slot? Only reason I assume this is becuase that would be the only reason I would see you being stuck with an older card and not being able to upgrade.

But, i'm kind of jumping the gun. Might not be your card at all, could be a bug just like you said, but it would seem since my ATI works fine that it's a bug with NVidia cards.

[Malibu Sally]

Nope, I just downloaded the patch, logged on and ran around for a bit. No problems.

What model GeForce are you using? Is it a 4700 or lower? Reason I ask, is because I had a GeForce 4700 and was forced to upgrade to play a few new games I bought, they required 5700 and higher. I ended up switching brands to a ATI Radeon X800 XL 256mb card. Worked wonders for me.

In your case, it seems that your motherboard might not have an AGP slot? Only reason I assume this is becuase that would be the only reason I would see you being stuck with an older card and not being able to upgrade.

But, i'm kind of jumping the gun. Might not be your card at all, could be a bug just like you said, but it would seem since my ATI works fine that it's a bug with NVidia cards.

Yup. Older card. GeForce4 MX 4000

I have no idea what an AGP slot is but I'm going to assume we don't have one. Why? Because we have a bottom of the line HP desktop. The card we have was the best that we could get in the thing.

I've just downloaded NVidia's most recent driver and am currently downloading one from Omegadrivers that is a little newer than the one we're using now. I'll wait to see if this is a bug or not... then try out each of the drivers to see if either works better than what we have now.

[Blackbat]

Even if your card is a bit older, it played CoH fine before this update. I don't believe in coincidences. It would be incredibly stupid for them to just all of a sudden up the Hardware Minimum Requirements like that with no warning. So, i'm betting it's some kind of bug in the patch.

Edit: Also, if a red name does tell you to update your drivers, be careful with it. I see you're going to try a couple different versions, make sure that when you switch from one driver to the next that you use the 'rollback' feature before installing the new drivers.

For instance, say you install the Nvidia one and it has no effect. Before you install the other one, use the 'rollback' feature to revert back to the previous driver so that you are effectively starting with a clean slate. It's really just to be on the safe side, most times even if you install back to back new drivers it works fine more times than not. But this way, you can use the driver you have now as a control for your tests.

[Malibu Sally]

Even if your card is a bit older, it played CoH fine before this update. I don't believe in coincidences. It would be incredibly stupid for them to just all of a sudden up the Hardware Minimum Requirements like that with no warning. So, i'm betting it's some kind of bug in the patch.

Edit: Also, if a red name does tell you to update your drivers, be careful with it. I see you're going to try a couple different versions, make sure that when you switch from one driver to the next that you use the 'rollback' feature before installing the new drivers.

For instance, say you install the Nvidia one and it has no effect. Before you install the other one, use the 'rollback' feature to revert back to the previous driver so that you are effectively starting with a clean slate. It's really just to be on the safe side, most times even if you install back to back new drivers it works fine more times than not. But this way, you can use the driver you have now as a control for your tests.


Urrrm... I'm no propellerhead. What's the "rollback" feature and where do I find it. Please "dummy up" your reply so that I can understand it. :)

[Malibu Sally]

Aha! Wraith posted an explanation.

http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=technical&Number=3329748&bodyprev=#Post3329748

Hope this is what the problem is/was.:)

[Blackbat]

Sweet, see it wasn't you at all. ;)

But, for anyone else that ever has Video Card problems (video crashing, video freezing, or you've just installed new drivers but now your system is acting really weird), here is how you 'rollback' to your previous driver version.

Right click on your desktop, then click 'Properties'.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v723/BlackBat/Misc/Step1.jpg

Once the Properties box comes up, click the 'Settings' tab at the top. Then click the 'Advanced' button in the lower right.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v723/BlackBat/Misc/Step2.jpg

Once that window comes up click the 'Adapter' tab on the top. Then click the 'Properties' button under the Adapter Type section.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v723/BlackBat/Misc/Step3.jpg

When the new window comes up, click the 'Driver' tab at the top.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v723/BlackBat/Misc/Step4.jpg

And there it is. This is mainly to roll back after a failed driver update.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v723/BlackBat/Misc/Step5.jpg

[Tsarmina]

Cuppa just posted:
Attention Heroes -

Due to problems found with the current patch on the training room, we will be reverting the test server to the patch before this one. (The first Issue 5 Patch)

One of the main issues was that the Patch was causing some people to crash upon loading due to video issues.

The next patch should resolve the problem. It should go up some time next week.

Thanks for your patience!