Read this first! - Problems & Solutions Collection - No questions, please!

[Joe999]

i've created this thread to collect information about problems and their solutions. please only reply in this thread if you have a problem and a solution of which you think that it might be helpful to other people. if you have questions or want to discuss a specific problem, please create a new thread. also note that this is not the official support hotline, to get the address of the official support please take a look into the manual of your retail game. you can also check out the official activision customer support website

people here on the forum take the time to help you, please respect that and give back as much information about your system as possible by adding it all in a zip file to your post. you can attach files by clicking the "manage attachments" button. here's what we need, especially 1. is is a MUST for every new thread:


1. directx diagnosis file:

just run "dxdiag", save the information and attach it to your forum post. note: on windows xp the dxdiag.exe is in your windows\system32 folder. or simply press the start button, click run and enter the dxdiag command in the upcoming popup.

additional information that is helpful: information about installed firewalls, virus scanners, anti spyware, etc

2. game logfiles:

create a file named autoexec.cfg, write the following into it:

set logtimestamps "1"
set logfile "2"
set logFileName "console_$Y-$M-$D_$h.$m.$s.log"
set developer "1"

and put it into this folder:

C:\Documents and Settings\<Username>\My Documents\id Software\Enemy Territory - QUAKE Wars\base

as a convenience you can also use the attached settings.zip file. simply extract the file to the above-mentioned folder, the zip file contains a prepared autoexec.cfg

this results in a logfile that is created every time you start the game. you might want to delete these files from time to time or just use logFileName "console.log" to overwrite it every time you start the game. you'll find the console logfiles in:

C:\Documents and Settings\<Username>\My Documents\id Software\Enemy Territory - QUAKE Wars\base

in addition to the console_*.log logfiles you'll also find a warnings.txt and a demonware.log in the following directory:

C:\Documents and Settings\<Username>\Local Settings\Application Data\id Software\Enemy Territory - QUAKE Wars\base

the warnings.txt contains warnings and errors, the demonware.log information about the connection. eg if you got troubles with the server browser, that's the file into which you want to look first. note that these files get overwritten with every game start.

in addition to this you can also create a console.log file by dropping down the console
and type condump <filename>

3. your game settings:

drop down console (ctrl+alt+tilde) and type:

dumpcvars

this generates a textfile, the path to it is written in the console. it's created in here:

C:\Documents and Settings\<Username>\My Documents\id Software\Enemy Territory - QUAKE Wars\base

note: tilde is the ~ character; the console key is keyboard language dependent. on eg german keyboards you need to press the ^ key instead of the ~ key, that's the key left to the 1 key

you can also check out the console and cfg file information sticky for more information

4. your config:

drop down the console and type:

writeconfig myconfig.txt

this generates a textfile "myconfig.txt", the path to it is written in the console. it's created in here:

C:\Documents and Settings\<Username>\My Documents\id Software\Enemy Territory - QUAKE Wars\base

5. screenshots:

you can make a screenshot by pressing the F11 key. you'll find the screenshots in the following folder:

C:\Documents and Settings\<Username>\My Documents\id Software\Enemy Territory - QUAKE Wars\base\screenshots

6. demos:

if you want to create a demo, just press the F12 key or drop down the console and type recordNetDemo (use the stopNetDemo command in order to stop it). a white camera symbol will appear on the top right of the screen. you'll find the demos in the following folder:

C:\Documents and Settings\<Username>\My Documents\id Software\Enemy Territory - QUAKE Wars\base\base

also, you can activate demo recording automatically on map start

7. interfering programs on your system:

in case you experience problems like that the game doesn't start at all when you click on it or you think that some of your installed applications & services could influence the game, please also provide the logfiles from this post:

http://community.enemyterritory.com/...4&postcount=51

you most likely got some programs installed that prevents the game from running. so far i've only noticed this to happen when bullguard steelsecurity got installed

8. punkbuster logfiles & settings:

drop down the console (ctrl + alt + tilde) and set the following cvar:

pb_logtofile 1

this will result the following logfile:

C:\Documents and Settings\<Username>\Local Settings\Application Data\id Software\Enemy Territory - QUAKE Wars\pb\pbcl.log

in case you have a problem with punkbuster, please also attach this file with the other logfiles in your topic

before you create a new topic make sure you have patched your retail game to the latest version of the game!

there are a lot of people who are glad to help you, but as the saying goes: help them to help you, and give as much information as possible

Please DO NOT post questions in this thread, we'd like this to be a question+answers thread only. If you have a question about one of the messages in this thread you can PM the author or start a new thread in the tech forums..

[Joe999]

performance is slow on nvidia cards

you should take a look into the nvidia control panel and ensure that performance mode is set to single display performance mode. multi display performance mode can cause fps loss on some systems.

[Joe999]

i get disconnected in server browser

it might appear that the server browser is making too many requests at once and your isp or router or whatever doesn't like that and disconnects you for a short time. in that case try lowering the following cvar:

net_maxQoSRequests
(Controls the maximum number of server info requests that can be sent at once)

default value is 12. try setting it to 6 or lower to see if it has an effect.


and check out what jRAD has to say about this issue later in this thread:

http://community.enemyterritory.com/...9&postcount=33


please also take a closer look at this thread:

http://community.enemyterritory.com/...ead.php?t=8867

where it is clear that there are a bunch of low quality routers out which might cause problems

[grizzlybear]

if punkbuster wont wake up or fails a handshake
quit the game
test or uninstall/reinstall the services with
pbsvc.exe info
restart the game

[Joe999]

i'm getting a BSOD (Blue Screen Of Death)

saying that you have a BSOD is not helpful at all. the cause can be everything, must not even be related to the game. please provide at least the information that is contained in that BSOD screen (see attached screenshot).

you can also try to trace it back yourself and analyze the dump file:

http://www.memecode.com/docs/minidump.php

if you need more information about it, just use google:

http://www.google.at/search?q=bsod

[Joe999]

i'm getting an nv4_disp.dll BSOD

this bsod is nvidia graphics card driver related. it's hard to determine the cause as this can happen in a lot of occasions and in combination with other programs you have installed, however the preferred solution is to use a different (newer) driver.

1. uninstall existing drivers
2. use drivercleaner or driversweeper (free) to remove old settings/files
3. restart windows
4. ignore all messages and repeat step 2 to make sure that everything got removed. after that install the new drivers
5. restart windows

[M1ster_Happy]

I click the desktop icon, the pointer changes to the hour glass but nothing happens

Currently there is 2 different cases of this being solved:

1) If you have Logitech SetPoint running try closing that down, check in task manager it has closed. Click the desktop icon again.

2) If you use Steel Security (by Bullguard, based on version 6 of Bullguard) try uninstalling it. It may be a single setting in the software but I haven't identified anything yet. Click the desktop icon again after reboot.*

(* Remember you are uninstalling your security software!)

[reyalp]

Help I'm stuck at 30 FPS no matter what
You must be playing online for the FPS unlock to work. In the menu or offline play, you will be capped at 30.
edit:
the 1.2 patch unlocks FPS for offline play as well


performance is slow on nvidia cards
This thread: http://community.enemyterritory.com/...ead.php?t=8598 describes the setting in more detail.

[reyalp]

my game randomly crashes/bluescreens/freezes
If you run rivatuner, make sure you are using the most recent version found here. If you use other similar hardware tweaking apps, try disabling them.

[Joe999]

i can't open the screenshots in the screenshots folder

you need a program that can read tga files. a very good and free one is irfanview

another free alternative is www.xnview.com

[vario]

The mouse cursor moves erratically/always in one direction in the menu

ET:QW seems to use not only the mouse but other input sources from Windows. Try to disconnect any input devices like joysticks, steering wheels, gamepads, etc. If this does not help deactivate/deinstall the drivers of additional input devices in the Windows hardware manager. See also mouse problems

[reyalp]

I have trouble aiming down in the titan tank, and/or the view wobbles weirdly when I turn the turret
This happens when you change the default FOV. set g_fov to 90 when driving the titan in first person view.

[Mordenkainen]

With an ATI card, I experience 20 second slowdowns when I spawn where fps drop drastically.

This is present, for some ATI cards, with the Catalyst 7.9 drivers (Hotfix and Final). Reverting to Catalyst 7.7 drivers fixed it for me though please be advised that, officially, the demo requires 7.9 or later.

[jRAD]

Please remember that this is a thread for posting solutions, not asking questions.

[Joe999]

i don't get a server list or can't connect to servers

in the attachment is a server browser which you can try, it requires .net. please note that it works differently compared to the ingame server browser as it gets the master list and then queries only the server that you select, however you can check if you can query the servers at all and hence see if firewall connections work.

note: this is not intended to be working in combination with the game, the program's sole purpose is to test your connection.

[reyalp]

I can't turn turrets in vehicles using the mouse, or freelook in vehicles without turrets
Open your etqwconfig.cfg and look for a like that looks like

seta ""

probably at the end. Delete this line.

[iceScamper]

When everything is messed up, the starting "earth"-screen, the menu and everything else (horizontal about 20px high stripes all over the screen) this solution does the fix:

Install Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 SP1 Redistributable Package (x86) (released in 8/27/2007), comes with catalyst
or directly from Microsoft

[reyalp]

I've set custom context cvars but they are reset to default when I load the game

Put the context cvar settings in your profile directory (under sdnet\<your profile name>\base) instead of base.

[Joe999]

my demo setup file is corrupt

to check if it's really corrupt or if there's something different wrong, please compare the hash values. they should be:

ETQuakeWarsDemoSetup.exe:

MD5: 8AB64300B2735CAF89F28CDCC6347A31
SHA1: 4DD759E27A6AF649B2ECFF3C0809C320E8BAAEA4
CRC32: 85800A20

ETQWLiteServerSetup.exe:

MD5: 15703A4DE9AA3016DF2A623AF954E417
SHA1: 545AFBF605D5C9B65B56DAB80D98CE42AA7F46E6
CRC32: D71E8C4C

those were created with the hashtab shell extension


as an alternative to the automatic installer you can try to install the files manually. just rename the .exe to .zip and extract it into a folder. it contains the following structure:

<DIR>          DirectX
<DIR>          Docs
<DIR>          Setup
         6.129 0x0409.ini
    16.546.304 Enemy Territory - QUAKE Wars(TM) Demo.msi
        41.168 FirewallInstallHelper.dll
        77.672 GameuxInstallHelper.dll
     2.230.793 ISSetup.dll
     1.934.442 PB.cab
         2.153 Setup.ini
     2.584.848 WindowsInstaller-KB893803-x86.exe
     1.708.856 instmsia.exe
     1.822.520 instmsiw.exe
       673.576 pbsvc.exe
       317.376 setup.exe
       594.008 splash.bmp
     2.723.264 vcredist_x86.exe

[Joe999]

i'm getting: "FATAL ERROR: Image '_default' was generated with internal format 0x83f0 but GL returned 0x83f2"

here's a solution:

http://community.enemyterritory.com/...ead.php?t=1987

[reyalp]

the solution to my problem is to "set" something or type a command in the console, how do I do that ?
See here http://community.enemyterritory.com/...ead.php?t=9160

[Joe999]

i get crashes, have trend micro installed, file "tmlsp.dll" is involved

trend micro antivirus seems to be buggy (under vista). update it or better uninstall it (maybe reboot afterwards) and see if it works and if so, use another antivirus software or complain on the trend micro forum

here's how to uninstall it if you have pc-cillin:

http://esupport.trendmicro.com/suppo...3&id=EN-121063

related thread:

http://community.enemyterritory.com/...ead.php?t=8874

[Joe999]

i get: "ERROR: The current video card / driver combination does not support the necessary features: GL_ARB_occlusion_query"

you need to install the latest ATI drivers. also make sure to run drivercleaner or driversweeper to ensure a clean uninstallation of the previous drivers

http://community.enemyterritory.com/...ead.php?t=8245

also check out this thread:

http://community.enemyterritory.com/...ead.php?t=8277

[Joe999]

the game is loading very very slowly

if you have software installed that scans every accessed file, then this might be the cause. try disabling your antivirus software and see if it works better.

here's the reference post:

http://community.enemyterritory.com/...35&postcount=7

[Joe999]

when i start the game in fullscreen, the screen is black and nothing happens

this could be several reasons like e. g. your firewall is querying you whether you want to allow access or not, but you don't see the query window; or it could be that your screen doesn't support the game's default resolution of 800x600.

try starting the game in windowed mode:

create a file called autoexec.cfg in the folder:

C:\Documents and Settings\User Name\My Documents\id Software\Enemy Territory - QUAKE Wars Demo\base

and put the following into it:

seta r_fullscreen "0"

now the game should start in windowed mode and you should see something happening.

here's a reference:

http://community.enemyterritory.com/...8&postcount=16


here's another reference where xfire seems to make problems:

http://community.enemyterritory.com/...ead.php?t=9387