Fatal Error upon Zoning into Tranquil Sea

I feared that would be the case. If it was certainty that my graphics card is the cause of my issues, I would replace it in a heartbeat because this crashing business is no fun.

I logged into game a little earlier on my daughters laptop. She has a better graphics card than I do. Zoning from the guild hall to the tranquil sea was successful. No fatal error.

I am really torn now. In the back of my mind I'm thinking maybe it is my graphics card and I should just upgrade it. However if I do and this problem persists, I am going to be livid.

Alright guys, I keep checking back here everyday & it seems people are still having problems zoning into Tranquil Sea or Phantom Sea & in some cases even logging into the game. I did fix my problem with logging into the game, however, this morning, I kept crashing to Character Select while trying to load into Tranquil Sea or Phantom Sea. Not sure if you all use custom UI's or Custom settings like myself, but I did get it to work by accessing EQ2 Settings from Launchpad. Click the Advanced Tools button on bottom left, when menu appears, choose Game Configuration, in a few seconds, you will get a pop up window (EQ2 Settings with tabs Main, Settings, Support), Choose Settings tab & Reset to suggested settings. This will NOT reset your custom UI's, but it will reset the settings for basic game use. It seems they don't want us running our graphics on Extreme or Ultra which is a disappointment. Can run this setting in all the other zones & once in awhile in New Zones, but while running these settings in new zones, people tend to lag out. I think this is because of all the crap they jammed into very small zones instead of enlarging the zones to make it a little more spread out. So until they upgrade their servers & game on their end, hopefully this is a work-around for some of you.

If you already tried this & still not working, well, keep posting & if I can come up with anything else to try, I will definitely post a reply to you since our "Dev's" for this game seem not to care to fix this problem, instead they rather blame all our systems. Yeah, right, like it's our systems when everything worked fine before this expansion.

I discussed my troubles with my dad. He kindly offered to put his card in my computer and test it to see if it resolved the issues before I purchased another one.

So currently I have a GTX 550 ti and my fatal errors and random shut downs persist. I am not at all happy about this. Technical support has offered me no solution. They suggested I do things which I had already read here and as a last resort and to get me to shut up I was told my graphics card needed upgrading. This is clearly not so. I fear their next suggestion is going to be for me to take a hammer to my current system and go buy a shiny new one.

Frankly I find it disgusting that the powers that be have offered nothing in the way of a real fix other than the standard update, download, upgrade drivel which is not helping any of us. I fully accept that the problem 'may' be mine but I have no idea what the problem is or how to fix it and it appears neither do they.

I purchase the content, I pay my subscription. The least I expect is to be able to play the game without crashing every half hour.

I broke down and bought a new video card and it fixed the issue I was having. Radeon X1950XTX not working, Radeon HD 7770 works fine. Not happy about having to spend the money

Its REALLY bad today, the worst it has been... now its any zone and all the time... oh and the lag on crushbone is horrible ATM.

So is there any fix for this yet SoE??? I gotta tell you it's wearing all kinds of thin with me now.

Yesterday was bad on Unrest too Wurm, the lag was server wide. I also crashed almost every time I zoned.

I got "failed to create zone" but I'll have to take a screenshot next time (I hope there isn't one though).

I suspect one reason this is such a huge issue is that they told us to use that web-install link for DirectX 9. That doesn't work for my 64-bit windows 7. It just says... oh you have 11, you don't need this. What I did that finally added/replaced files was go here:

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=8109

This is the not-web-connected version or "full download" of directx, but it's unclear if it's version 9. The version number does indeed start with 9, but it still doesn't actually say it's directx 9.

Nevertheless, I ran it, and it did behave the way they described it.. I had to choose a folder to unpack it to, and run dxsetup manually from there. Finally it looked for files and updated some of them.

However, I still have DirectX 11 listed as my version in dxdiag display. So if both versions exist on my PC now, I have no way of verifying that. I think basically that DirectX 11 is what is installed for Windows 7, and some files may have been missing because if you read the "Additional Details" on that link above, it says that certain versions of Windows are no longer supported (9x, and 2000). So the "missing files" may have been modified from their original forms anyway. I installed them, but my faith in that is lacking because of the well known tradition of Microsoft changing things whenever they feel like it.

If you're trying, like I was to switch somehow from Dx11 to 9, that's impossible. The most lucid conversation about that subject (that I found) was found here:

http://www.sevenforums.com/software/192934-there-way-switch-my-directx-version.html

I also moved all the previous assetcache files to an OLD folder, and it is now downloading the assets all over again (18+ gig at about 500 kbps it looks like). That will take a few to several hours. If that works, I'll let you know. I can't imagine they want everyone to do that.. it would put a huge drain on their bandwidth. But if you're stuck, you're stuck.

I have resolved my issues with fatal errors and random shut downs.

I have done a couple of things to my pc, which is responsible for the 'cure' I do not know, but I do know in my case it was nothing to do with my graphics card. I am back to my 8800 gts (the very same card support told me to change as it was responsible for the issue) for the time being and my game is running fine. After trying my dad's graphics card I will be looking to upgrade that some time in the near future.

I am well aware, that even when AoM was in beta and when my troubles started, there were discussions about 32 bit vs 64 bit os'. I had read as much as I could here and discussed it with some people and decided to not change. With everything else not fixing this problem, I gave in on saturday and had my pc wiped and installed win 7 64. At the same time, I had my processor changed from dual core to quad.

I can now successfully zone into the tranquil sea without issue, where prior to these changes I was getting the fatal error every time without fail.

Yes I am happy that finally I can play the game without fretting about zoning. No I am not happy that I have had to change a system that worked perfectly well previously in order to run AoM.

I was able to zone into Tranquil Sea, however, it was very very choppy, so I'm waiting for it to "full download" now. I think maybe I'll buy those return to highhold baubles from now on...

I am betting you're onto something here. I'm running 32 bit. Wonder how many other folks with this problem are.
I find it really hard to believe it has anything to do with anyone's video card, it's not as if we all have the same one.

I'm running win 7 64 bit upgraded to 8 meg - still having the problem - my win 8 with 4 meg can get there ok although i haven't tried to move around there yet

I need my win 7 machine to work since it's my main gaming machine!!!

It was said back on the beta forums that most of the crash reports coming in were from people running 32 bit. In my mind, most does not equal ALL so for me changing to 64 was too much hassle if it wasn't going to guarantee a fix. I also know of people, as Santargria above, who are running 64 bit and suffering this issue. For me, changing over was my very last attempt at making this work before I lost all patience and I guess for the system I am running, it was the fix that was needed.

I guess for people already running 64 bit and having issues, there are other factors at play. Maybe a starting point to try to resolve the issue for those running 32 bit, would be to change to 64 and take it from there.

Tried this today, still broke - good try though and appreciated:

Everquest II has detected an unrecoverable error and must shutdown.

<verify>
G:\live\eq2\framework\Terrain\CDLODStreaming\CDLODStreamingTypeTextureBase.cpp(228): rtexture->Texture != NULL 0185dab4

I'll tell you though, it's a good thing I have a machine that works to get my char out of there, otherwise my toon would be stuck in never, never land called AoM -

Btw, I see no one has said this yet, but this expac really sucks!!! And the lack of response from the devs sucks even more.

I'm just saying

To be honest, even with the constant shut downs and being unable to zone to the tranquil sea without a fatal error I was enjoying it. Of course the problems did take a bit of the shine off but on the whole I like it.

I do however 110% agree about the lack of response from the devs. We shouldn't have to be changing/upgrading anything. What was good enough to run every other expac this far should be good enough to run the new one. What of those people who cannot change os' or upgrade hardware? What of those people who have done those things and yet the problem persists? What are they meant to do when the issue is not even being acknowledged? I have only ever had great service from support and never have I had reason to complain. I think in this instance though they have fallen very very short.

Ok, doing some research on this error (i have no conclusion but posted this to help the devs if they ever decide to fix THEIR problem):

Here's the error:

G:\live\eq2\framework\Terrain\CDLODStreaming\CDLODStreamingTypeTextureBase.cpp(228): rtexture->Texture != NULL 0185dab4

First I found CDLOD = Continuous Distance-Dependent Level of Detail for Rendering Heightmaps

Next we see the drive designation as G: is assigned to a live directory (folder) for the terrain framework - I don't have a G drive and I bet others having this problem do not either

This makes it a DEV issue not a local issue.

Next we see that an address referenced is supposed to be NULL - but the address test fails and therefor the error and crash occurs

This again makes it a DEV issue not a local issue

So devs, if you ever decide to own up to this, fix your code so the rest of us can play again!!!

In ToV i was able to run 3 accounts on this computer, now i cant even run one without crashing.

I am trying very hard not use expletives that would get me banned, but i am beyond tired of this. I've cancelled my acounts, there is no point paying for a game i cant play. So im voting with my wallet, goodby and good ridance

It's not a server-side issue, it's your software/hardware that is causing the problem. As people have reported in this thread, hardware upgrades have fixed their problems with zoning into Tranquil Sea and Phantom Sea. As the original poster, I had difficulties at first but some technical troubleshooting quickly solved the issue (uninstalling and reinstalling the C++ redistributables). I just helped work through all of the software side possibilities for a guildie with the fatal error-in the end it was the native Hewlett-Packard (HP) driver for the on-board graphics card that was causing the issue. Given the choice between reinstalling Windows 7 and buying a new computer (a new desktop), he chose the latter. Please don't blame SOE for making a better game, the new graphics in the new zone are glorious and should be taken as an opportunity to upgrade your hardware.

TLDR: If your computer does not meet the minimum specs for running the game, the solution is simple!

Have the minimum requirements changed with the new expansion?

Yes because my ivy-bridge i7 + GTX 760 Sli + 16 gigs DDR3 set-up is soooo old and soooo slow.

Probably a software issue, check your video card drivers, DirectX 9.0c, Microsoft .NET, C++ Redistributables, EQ2 installation (delete cache and make sure you have it set to full download). I recommend submitting your specs to SOE with a petition and having their tech support work with you:

DxDiag.txt
- Press and hold the Windows key and tap the R key on your keyboard.
- In the box that pops up type DXDIAG and press Enter on your keyboard.
- Click the "Save all Information" button, located at the bottom of the program window.
- In the "Save As" box click the icon in the top bar.
- Select the desktop and save the file as "dxdiag.txt"

MSinfo.txt
- Press and hold the Windows key and tap the R key on your keyboard again.
- In the box that pops up type MSINFO32 and press Enter on your keyboard.
- Click on the "File" menu and choose "Export..."
- Select the desktop and save the file as "MSInfo.txt"