Not your average "No 3D Devices Found" problem..

S

Seventeen

Dalayan Beginner
Greetings! I'm a prior player from EQ live who wanted to relive the old days in a slow-paced free way, and I'm very happy to have found this server and it's site.

Upon installing EQ Platinum and the SoD patcher, everything seemed to be going just fine. Then my computer decided to give me that old error I remeber from back when I first installed the game:

"No 3D devices found"

...what?!

After running dxdiag, I see the following:

Windows Vista Home Premium
DirectX Version: DirectX 11

DirectX Features:

DirectDraw Acceleration Enabled
Direct3D Acceleration Enabled
AGP Texture Acceleration Enabled

So I went online and looked for the problem. Many fixes related to installing DirectX9.0c and such. I go to Microsoft to download DirectX9.0c, and I get a web patcher. Running it gives me the following message:

Installation Complete!
Your system has a newer version of DirectX, so no installation is required.

...with no methods of being able to change installation options.

I download another 'comprehensive' 103MB file (Named directx_feb2010_redist.exe) and install this program, and upon attempting to start EQ with the SoD patcher, I get the same problem.

My install of SoD is on my D:\ (split HDD), so it is not installed on my main drive. I don't think this should be an issue, however. SoD seemed to patch with no issues as I mentioned earlier, so I don't think this is the problem.

At this point I'm completely stumped. I've looked online for a solution, but I've received no help as most people get their issue resolved by simply installing the older DX version, whereas I seem to be unable to do this.

Does anyone have any suggestions? I appreciate the time taken to respond to my plight!
 
What type of graphics card are you using? Is it a stand alone card or integrated in the motherboard?

Have you tried to update the drivers for both the motherboard and the card?
 
My apologies, I knew I forgot some information.

The video card is an NVIDIA GeForce 9500M GS; it is integrated to the mobo (I think! It came with the laptop..so I'd assume it's integrated. If not, I'm unaware of it.)

Laptop is an ASUS Notebook M51Sn series.

The drivers for the video card are up to date; I updated them while attempting to get this problem fixed. However, I didn't think to update the mobo drivers. I'll attempt to do so - however I do not think this is the root of the problem...call it intuition!

Any ideas?
 
That's actually almost the same laptop I have, mine is a M50 but I upgraded it to Win7 - however it was working on Vista Home. It was working with both OS's.

I'll take a look at my DirectX settings when I get home, maybe I can provide some insights or help.

Have you been able to run any other games/programs that require a 3D graphics card?

At what point do you get the error? What was the last screen before the error?
 
I currently can run ESIV Oblivion. This game never had graphics issues outside of it's own software (the game is buggy as shit..but amazing when it works!)

I had WoW installed for about 2+ years, and ran with no problems.

At one point I ran Crysis on the laptop, but that was awhile ago (1.5+ years).

I had BF2142 on the laptop for a long while, and it always ran perfectly. I uninstalled it after losing interest about half a year ago.

Fallout 3 played well on my comp as well.

Neverwinter Nights 2 played on my comp with no issues. (RPG, but is in complete 3D I believe)

Titan Quest was in 3D as well I believe.

None of the above programs had 3D issues as best as I can recall, and all ran pretty well on the comp.


My install goes as follows:
Installed Everquest to a directory (I've done both C: and D:\Everquest). Ran SoD patcher. Patch completes, then the window closes and after a few seconds the error pops up.

I've also disabled the UAC in case this is a problem, but I have no idea why it would cause it.

Anyways, thanks again for your help. I've got a feeling I'll be helping you out sometime in game!
 
Update:

I did notice something I missed previously. On the dxdiag 'display' tab, the following message appeared:

The file nvd3dum.dll,nvwgf2um.dll,nvwgf2um.dll is not digitally signed, which means that it has not been tested by Microsoft's Windows Hardware Quality Labs (WHQL). You may be able to get a WHQL logo'd driver from the hardware manufacturer.

Would this cause the problem? If so, how can I fix it? I recently updated my video drivers, so could this be a problem?
 
I haven't updated my drivers in a while, so I'm DLing the latest driver. I'll see if that gives me problems too...
 
The latest driver 8.17.11.9716 work for me on Win7x64. My driver does check out with the digital signature.

You know, now that I think of it, I remember having problems running SoD in fullscreen mode in Vista (it's the 32 bit Home Premium right? I think that was the version my laptop had installed) - without EQ windows. Have you tried running it with the "Use EQW" checkbox checked? Also, make sure that the affinity is bound to one of the processors.

Let me know if those options help.

I do think it is kind of odd that the driver is not digitally signed.
 
I've run SoD with all manner of various options. With and without EQW, bind affinity 1, etc. No luck.

I went as far as uninstalling the latest drivers and using older ones that did have WHQL certs. No luck there either.

My brother had no issues however on his 2 comps, using some of the same stuff I did (albeit different computers). Very frustrating.


Oh well. What can I do at this point? I've even tried using a 'registry cleaner', in the off chance it's some bad entry (although I don't know much about the registry). No luck there either (and I don't like the idea of touching critical areas I don't understand well..).


Frustrated.
 
Yeah, you could potentially break your system changing things in the registry.

Well, maybe this thread might help, since it appears that this program tricks SoD into thinking it is running a different card http://forum.shardsofdalaya.com/showthread.php?t=17025.

Other than that, I'm not sure what the problem may be. I am giving a dirty look towards Vista, atm - it may be the source of the problem.

Seventeen said:
I did notice something I missed previously. On the dxdiag 'display' tab, the following message appeared:

The file nvd3dum.dll,nvwgf2um.dll,nvwgf2um.dll is not digitally signed, which means that it has not been tested by Microsoft's Windows Hardware Quality Labs (WHQL). You may be able to get a WHQL logo'd driver from the hardware manufacturer.
Click to expand...

This is also questionable. It might be in your best interest to uninstall the video driver and reinstall the fresh one from the Nvidia website.
 
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