Agreed, this is beyond frustrating.... I've been in a zoning crash loop since about 5min after xpac went live. Rushed to Tranquil Sea, crashed on "loading zone resources" and now am stuck in that state since I crash upon logging in each time. My report says "shader error" but I've checked just about everything and done the direct x/re-install/etc stuff to no avail. I don't see why my setup is good for years of gameplay - and for every other zone, since I can still log into other toons and travel the world - then suddenly can't handle Tranquil Sea. Haven't seen a second of xpac yet =/
Greetings! I'm sorry this is happening : / Have you gone through these steps after receiving the shader error? Check your system to ensure it is compatible, you can do that here: System Requirements If you are receiving an error stating, "Error while compiling vertex shader, retry?"--this can mean either: You do not have DirectX 9.0c installed. You can find instructions for that here: Install DirectX 9.0c Your graphics card is unable to process Shader 3.0. For more information about this, you'll need to visit the manufacturer's website for your graphics card. 32 bit systems with 3GB or less of memory can find troubleshooting suggestions here: Crash to Desktop If your problem persists, please submit a ticket with customer service so they can try to assist you with your specific issues.
Sorry guys, you are all on a "wild goose chase". The problem is that every object in a zone, every NPC, and yourself, all consume virtual memory. Something has clearly gone wrong with the way this memory is allocated - or not released - in the past 3 or so weeks, because the Everquest 2 client executable (the image that runs on your own PC) now consumes more virtual memory (and of course RAM and/or paging/swap file space) than ever before. So forget about patching DirectX, don't reinstall your operating system files, and don't throw away your graphics cards. The error isn't due to the Altar of Malice expansion. The problem will most likely happen when you enter a zone with lots of items or characters. It will also happen after changing zones a few times. I had unpacked a few looted trinkets into my house, and now have over 600. That was enough to trigger this error too. EQ2 crashed before I could leave the house - and therefore ALWAYS crashes when I start the game, before the first zone (my home) has finished loading. My main toon has been housebound for 2-3 weeks. This problem started two weeks before the Altar of Malice expansion was released. As DAig mentioned earlier, almost every time EQ2 "crashes to desktop", a new version of the file "outofmemory.txt" is created. There is also a considerable delay in response time to see any response from the computer - which is presumably busy trying to tidy up the 1.5 Gigabytes of virtual mess left behind.
I agree, I don't think this is a user-end problem. Since the update when the last city festival (Freeport) started, I have been crashing every few minutes in both Freeport and Qeynos, and the crashes happen regularly in specific locations. I was advised to delete my cache folder and a lot of other things (I thought the same advice was posted earlier in this thread, but now I don't see it - maybe I'm just tired); I deleted cache first (on November 12) as the least destructive and potentially frustrating step and it has made not one bit of difference. After deleting cache, I went into Qeynos and began to document my crashes, but was interrupted by the servers going down. Once they came back up, I crashed ten times in less than an hour, sometimes with and sometimes without an error message. Yesterday (Thursday) I avoided Qeynos completely, played all day, and only crashed twice, about 3.5 hours apart, both times while zoning. Today I did a couple of the Heroes' Festival quests in Qeynos and in 24 minutes crashed five times, at which point I gave up logging crashes for the day. I ran around Feerott for hours after I was done with Qeynos and I think I might have crashed once. I am fine in New Halas, Gorowyn, and Kelethin, where I regularly have my characters for banking and crafting. I did just check to see if I have one of those "outofmemory.txt" files, and I do - it's 17.4 MB, and Notepad froze trying to open it. It's 9,988 pages in my word processor! Yowza! I'm going to update my ticket and then either go back into Qeynos to crash for a while, or go to bed and crash for the night.
Well, I wanted to edit my last post, but I don't seem to have the option to do that anymore. I wanted to clarify that it was the November 4 update that seems to have caused the problem for me.
SOE.... When will you guys fix this????? I'm having the same problem since hero festival update. Ever since I've been crashing to windows with no warning. And now the last 4 days I get the directx9 error. I've done everything under the sun to fix this problem with all the suggestions people come out with in here...nothing helps! Redownloading directx Downloading the game all over again Updating windows Putting in files and removing files to the point that I'm about to throw my computer out the window.. My husband sits right next to me and plays eq2 also and his game runs no problem and we have both played the game since it came out and been having no problems till now...grrrr Hopefully SOE fix this very soon or else I'm gonna turn off my subscription. This is stupid!
I have found recently that when I try to edit a post the window that pops up is blank but has the "Post Reply" and More Options" buttons. if you click "More Options" you get back to a webpage with your post, the ability to edit and preview that edit.
This continues to happen to me - two different errors (slightly) - one DirectX the other talking about textures. It happens ALL the time in my guild hall just running around. It happens if I zone out of the guild hall into my house and back. It doesn't seem to happen once I get to a normal zone,etc. I still believe there is a memory leak of some kind or a problem loading graphics elements into large environments. The SOE ticket I opened was eventually responded to by telling me to start MSCONFIG and disable everything that starts when Windows does. Clearly that a) isn't going to happen and b) even if it works, it isn't a fix. I've been here since Beta and haven't had this issue before and my machine was built new with all new components in April - so it isn't old hardware causing it. SOE needs to figure out where this is coming from.
It's been two weeks now since the original post, and still no real solution. What is going on with SOE? I'm a 10 year veteran of EQ2. And I've had constant problems with crashes over the years. But this is really getting worse. Even before the drop out to desktop problem, I've had constant problems with the black screen/screen tearing in Obol Plains. Jerky performance in Q Harbor. Guild halls that were basically unloadable. The list goes on. Still, I stayed out of love for the game. But SOE is not on top of this more current problem, coming up with either red herrings, or impractical solution. Oh yes, I must start up my machine in safe mode every time I want to play? Or maybe reinstall outdated drivers to my system, i.e. Direct X 9, for EQ2 to work? Or better yet, throw out my video card, and get a new one? One that btw might still not work? C'mon, SOE. Don't we deserve better than this? If your support group is not quite up to snuff, isn't it time to hire better tech staff? Two weeks to solve a problem starts by admitting that it is your problem and not the fault of the user's machines. Until you do at least admit that, you're all looking in the wrong place. A true solution will not be found. Sorry, for the rant. But I'm really frustrated here.
I recognize and appreciate that you are trying to help - but a few things to mention: 1. I have been around since Beta and have never ever used the Streaming client (yes, I know it didn't exist in Beta or until relatively recently). So IF the G:\Live error has something to do with the streaming client they are making that call even when using the full install which seems silly. 2. I have a Windows 7 64-bit machine with 32GB of 2133 DDR 3 RAM. It isn't a lack of memory. Pretty much anyone that isn't still using some flavor of XP or Vista will be running a 64-bit OS and likely has at least 4GB of RAM. 3. I built this machine myself this year in April - it has a GTX 770 Nvidia card - MORE than enough to run EQ2. And as you appear to be pretty learned in computers you should also recognize that even driver updates retain backwards compatibility. Vertex 4.0 may replace 3.0 but they keep legacy calls in place for a LONG time to accomodate situations like this. You can't have a new set of drivers breaking every old product on the market. Eventually they will deprecate the other calls but that is a long time coming. I have been a Systems Admin for over 20 years and a programmer from early BASIC through C# and I'm well aware of how things 'work' in computers. This error is most definitely on SOE's side of the equation and will be up to them to fix. I now have three problems that I didn't have before the expac patch -- DirectX error, Texture error and crash to desktop with no error. All three are likely symptoms of the same thing but they all started happening after the most recent updates. I had no issues other than a VERY rare (Once or twice a year) crash to desktop prior to this. With all that said - they really DO need to update to a later version of DirectX but that is an undertaking all its own. This is a SOE problem and it needs a SOE fix.
I have directx 9.0c installed. Been using it with this game without issues for years. The bug is new. Hence its not my system.
I am having the same issue. The game crashes as soon as character logs into the world. I have tried with multiple chars and other accounts. I have tried to use the Directx 9 fix...no luck.
You can always tell when its going to crash, because it thrashes the HDD trying to load something (probably textures) and then BAM back to the desktop.
Turned of shadows and no luck. I have a HD6800 and 8gb of ram so equipment should not be the issue. I hope they come up with a fix. I can't even log in my characters.
I'm still receiving the textures bug and crashing, also still randomly crashing to desktop. It's sort of wearing a bit thin now.
I have done everything recommended in this thread. The issue has improved somewhat, but I'm now receiving the generic "EQ2 has encountered an error and must shutdown" message 100% of the time when zoning into the tranquil sea from another zone and oftentimes randomly within the zone itself. The recommendations did help with crashing in other zones, but I'm still having issues to the point where it is very difficult for me to enjoy the new expansion. I'm having issues even if I set my graphics to extreme. It is just frustrating because I was able to do everything in ToV no problem, but I haven't been able to do a single dungeon in this new expansion yet.
Question - you say that it seems to be pretty much working for zones that aren't Tranquil Sea. Have you tried having someone CoV you into someplace like HKC (with the understanding that you may crash and not be able to continue)? If you find that it's JUST Tranquil Sea, maybe that would hep you while dev continues to try and figure out why so many have this problem.
