Blasted Windows SP2 update!!!!

I came to suspect that it is the Windows SP2 update that is responsible for corrupting my Arcanum saves. Did anyone download SP2 already? If yes, did you experience the same problems with Arcanum saves becoming corrupt and the "window to reality" in the upper left corner of the inventory screen becoming an unframed square rather than a framed circle?

 

I don't've SP2, and no intention of getting it, one of my friends did, and she had to send her computer to Microsoft and it took the TWO WEEKS to hack into it, and fix the conflicts that occured. :\

 

I too have started noticing problems since downloading and inatalling SP2. All I have to say is: FUCK YOU MICROSOFT!! :x

 

Yeah, well you need to let Microsoft work the kinks out of it you know. There's a reason why they haven't realeased the version for a single computer yet. The security center is laughable though. Gave me a kick.

 

Ok I have experimented with installing Arcanum to make sure that it was the SP2 causing the trouble. It seems that it IS SP2, after all. Even my old, pirated Russian copy of Arcanum now has its saves corrupted. No more Arcanum for me, it seems

 

Do you have a restore point to revert back before you installed SP2? That may be a solution. Reformatting would also fix, but only as a last resort.

 

I haven't noticed corrupted saves, but after starting a new game for the first time in a while, I've noticed very poor performance. There's a lot of slowdown and clunky animations when there are a number of npcs onscreen, and if I try to scroll the screen when anyone is moving at all there's a lot of slowdown. I've tried disabling my antivirus, defragging the hard drive, compatability mode, and reinstalling the game to fix the problem and none of it worked. It hadn't occurred to me before now, but I'm wondering maybe the SP2 upgrade is the culprit. Has anyone else encountered this? (Yes, I'm patched).

 

Success with SP2

I installed SP2 a week ago, and Arcanum for the first time this week. Everything seems to work. So either the newest SP2 "fixed" the incompatibility, or everyone else is having some other problem (like DirectX9.0c, which I don't have). Obviously I can't speak to loading savegames from before SP2, or slowdowns since is my first time playing. I havn't downloaded the Arcanum patch yet.

 

Actually, a lot of the problems that people are blaming on Window XP SP2 may actually be rightly blamed on nVidia Forceware drivers after Release 50, i.e., versions higher than 53.04. Anything higher than that will cause Arcanum to crash. Something nVidia added in Release 55 and have kept is responsible for the problem. Obviously, this problem should not cause corrupted saves, but if it causes the game to crash in the process of loading a game, it could possibly have that result.

If you have an nVidia card, send an email to their support group demanding that they fix this problem and maybe if enough of us write to them they will do something about it - it has worked on other games. :/ Alternatively, maybe we should all send an email to Troika and ask them to issue a patch to fix the problem. Vivendi/Sierra is obviously not going to bother to do anything about it since they won't even bother to answer emails sent to them. :x

 

Aha! Nvidia! Seems like my old cronies have finally screwed up with their drivers after all.

 

I am curious about this. I have a GeForce 2 MX400 that I bought in late 2001 which I have been happily using with no problems. I am advising a friend who is having graphics problems with Arcanum using his onboard Intel graphics to get himself a cheap GeForce card, but now I am concerned that it will come with new drivers which will cause Arcanum to not work. When did this incompatibility with Arcanum start? Is there a place to get older drivers?

 

You can get all of the older drivers right up to the version 53.04 at the nVidia Windows XO/2000 Drivers Archive site http://www.nvidia.com/object/winxp-2k_archive.html. They will have every driver before the current driver in that archive, so be sure that you scroll down to the correct one.

I wouldn't hesitate to get a good nVidia card, especially one of the older high end nVidia cards that have come way down in price now and are a lot better than the MX series. I personally recommend the GeForce 4 Ti series, especially since they are now affordable to most people where they were totally out of reach for the average person when they were new. Until nVidia puts out an FX model that is finally up to the standards of these cards, I won't even consider one of those new cards.

 

The problem I have found with the better nVidea cards is the power supply requirements. The typical non-gaming computer can't handle them.

 

What size power supply do you have? I build all my own computers and I won't put anything less that a 350 Watt power supply in a system, but I am starting to move to 500 Watt power supplies with the newer cpus because of their higher power demands. If you have anything less than a 350 Watt power supply with a P3-class cpu, hard drive, CD drive, a couple of case cooling fans and a decent graphics card, you are asking for trouble and that's a minimal configuration for a system these days. Even for a P2-class cpu with all those things in your system, you should have a 350 Watt power supply to avoid unpleasant surprises. These cheap companies that put out micro-tower systems with 250 Watt power supplies in them are not doing anyone any favors.

If you have any questions about further details, just ask.

 

What size power supply do you have? I build all my own computers and I won't put anything less that a 350 Watt power supply in a system, but I am starting to move to 500 Watt power supplies with the newer cpus because of their higher power demands. If you have anything less than a 350 Watt power supply with a P3-class cpu, hard drive, CD drive, a couple of case cooling fans and a decent graphics card, you are asking for trouble and that's a minimal configuration for a system these days. Even for a P2-class cpu with all those things in your system, you should have a 350 Watt power supply to avoid unpleasant surprises. These cheap companies that put out micro-tower systems with 250 Watt power supplies in them are not doing anyone any favors.

If you have any questions about further details, just ask.

 

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Exactly the same thing here.Do u know how to back up to SP1 ?