Useful Links
Freeze on Loading
Random MP Freezing Issue
Static Sound
Performance Issues
Cinematics Issues
SP Demo Fix
CD-key Issues
Geforce 6800 Issues
Stuttering Problem
White screen and 'Error: cannot find Background.vtf'
idirect3ddevice9 present
CMeshDX8::Lock Vertex Buffer

quote:

Useful Links
Post a question for the support team
Yet another useful link
Gameplay FAQ

quote:

Originally posted by fubbi:
I was getting a freeze on loading - I got into the prologue and to chapter 1 by turning off DEP.
-------------------
Control Panel
System
Advanced
Performance
Data Execution Prevention
Add mm.exe to the exception list
--------------
Looking forward to others posting other solutions to this nightmare....

quote:

Originally posted by Romain:
Some of you may be facing MP loading freeze randomly, which is particularly frustrating.
We'll release a steam update as soon as possible next week to alleviate that problem.
It comes from the client timing out from the server during loading times.


Before we release a fix for it, here is a few things that we have verified to alleviate that problem.

1) Try reducing to video settings to reduce loading times.

2) Defragment your DM MP steam cache (right click on DMMP in the steam browser, then properties, then local files)

2) Add a Cl_timeout 500 to your 'autoexec.cfg' in your steam directory.



To change your configuration file in Multiplayer:

Navigate to -
[drive]:\Program Files\Steam\SteamApps\[SteamUserName]\dark messiah might and magic multiplayer\cfg\

Inside the \cfg directory, you need to make a file called 'autoexec.cfg'

This file will be executed every time you run the program.

Make sure that the command -
cl_timeout 500
is included in this file.

NOTE - autoexec.cfg is just a textfile which you can edit with notepad, it just has the extension name changed to .cfg from .txt.

If you can't see the file extensions, You may need to go to Tools->Folder Options->View-> and then un-check the box that says 'hide extensions for known file types'.

I hope this helps.

Romain

quote:

Originally posted by DevilsDesciple:
If you get the horribly annoying static sound,
- Quit out of Messiah
- Go to your steam games
- Right click on Messiah and select 'Properties'
- Select the tab "Local Files"
- Click "Verify Integrity of Game Cache..."
It took my comp about 30-40 mins on DSL to verify and download the msising sound files.

Those of you missing Cinematics/getting a black box with a diagonal line through it...
-Follow the same steps as the static sound problem. I hear that works. I havn't done it for myself, yet though.

Those of you getting poor load times. (1 minute isn't very bad)
-Get more ram
-Get a better processor
-Hell, get a whole new computer.

Broken ladder people
-Go to advanced keyboard options.
-Check mark the only box there.
-Press the ~ button (next to "1"...and it's not 2.)
-Type sv_cheats 1
-Then type noclip
-Fly to the top of the ladder.
-Turn off noclip (just type "noclip" again in console)
+DO NOT GO THROUGH WALLS OR EXPLORE. WHO KNOWS WHAT HORRIBLE BUGS YOU MIGHT CAUSE TO YOUR GAME.

If it still says "Unreleased"
- Simply close out of Steam completely, and open it back up.
- Taa-daa.

Lastly.
Please, everyone stop freaking out. Just because you cant beat a game in 1 day doesn't mean the world is over. I'm sure Arkane is coming out with a patch or minifix to wash all your little worries away. This is what happens when you buy a game when it first comes out. There are bugs. The makers just make it playable to an extent, without wasting time before release. They know it isn't perfect. During the time when they officially say it's coming out, and when it actually comes out, they find hundreds of bugs. It's not abnormal at all. Hence the creation of patches.

kthxbye
-FireEatingNinja

quote:

Originally posted by MasterOblivion:
Erm sorry to say but this is more a work around then anything (since these are source errors not just Dark Messiah). By saying that I mean no offence and its good people are trying to fix these errors. Here are some easy solutions to help you try and fix your game (as written by me).

Ok since no body has said this then I'm going to try tell you everything I know that can fix this (since game doesnt launch here til tomorrow).

1 - Drivers
Update all Sound, Graphic and Motherboard drivers. An old driver can sometimes mess with a system.
Ati
Nvidia
Other Drivers

2 - Graphical Software
Make sure you have the latest Direct X, now since I havent got the game yet I'm not too sure if it was bundled.
Direct X

3 - Programs
Close ALL Anti-Virus and background appz. These may include P2P programs, IM's, Norton, and/or Pc Cillen.

4 - Check your computers hardware
Now although I doubt it would be this (with all the peoples game broken) I would still check it. Try running 3D Mark and see how it goes.
3D Mark

I will update this as I think so more solutions. I know with DoD: S the Anti-Vrius one worked for me. Good Luck

BTW have take a look around Dark Messiah Files, lots of stuff there

quote:

Originally posted by DarqScarab:


Putt -dxlevel 90c in the target area of the mm.exe shortcut on your desktop.

1. Right click the short cut on your desktop.
2. Go to the shortcut tab. Look at the Target box.
3. Put -dxlevel 90c at the end.
Should read something like this: "C:\Documents and Settings\Owner\Application Data\Ubisoft\Dark Messiah of Might and Magic\mm.exe" -dxlevel 90c
4. Hit apply, then ok, start up game.
5. Enjoy! Let everyone know if this works for you.

I read all the other posts, noone seemed to be getting it to work. I read the post above, didn't think it would work, but was a try. To my surprise.. boom.. opening sequence worked!! Have not checked with cutscene after tutorial, but will soon.

Hope this helps you.

quote:

Originally posted by RobertN_QA:
"Using RegEdit.
Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Valve/Steam.
Modify language key to “english”."

This is a workaround for those who get the crash after the videos are played. The fix will be integrated in the upcoming patch.

quote:

Originally posted by DraZeL_:
After the American release on Dark Messiah a validating came for all of us. This messed up the Dark Messiah SP demo for many of us. And since im just bored and waiting for the release i really want to get to play the demo at least intil the whole game is finished. So i found out a stupid way to fix is.

I do not take any responsibility if something goes wrong. If you want to give credit that's fine. But for help with other problems please use the Might and Magic Techsupport forum.

First i recommend all to take a BACKUP of all you preloaded files before starting.
1. Open you steam client.
2. Open the "My Games" window.
3. Right click on the name of the demo, select "Properties" .
4. Go to the "Local files" tab.
5. Press the "Backup game files" button and follow the intructions.

Fixing the DEMO(if you have pre-loaded.
1. Follow the guide over to you get to "Local files".
2. Now we will let steampowered check our gamefiles to search for any corup or missing files. Press the button that says; "Vertify integrity of game cache..."
3. After the validating restart steam. Log on an try.

If this don't work try. We must try to delete the game-files and copy them from Dark Messiah Single Player if you have pre-loaded or pre-purchase the game.

1. Open the Properties window.
2. Go the "local files" tab. Then select "Delete local game content..."
3. Make sure you are on the same account that you have purchased or pre-loaded the game on.
4. Open the window "Store" on the steam client.
5. Press the search button in the menu, and search for Dark Messiah in the "game title contains" box.
6. Find Dark Messiah Single Player Demo and press the big button that says "Dark Messiah Singleplayer Demo". And then follow the intructions.

I do not take any responsibility if something goes wrong. If you want to give credit that's fine. But for help with other problems please use the Might and Magic Techsupport forum.

-Tech Support Forum
-FAQ Support
-Bug report forum
-Sound problem fix

quote:

Originally posted by deluXE_865:
Hello all.

I received today the Collector Edition of the game, and installed on my hard disk. The single player mode works just fine, but the multiplayer game won't launch: upon double clicking, Steam launches and then nothing else happens. The same happens if I load the single player game and then switch to multiplayer from the main menu.
Moreover, the cd-key found on the manual is not recognised by Steam as a valid one.

Any help will be greatly appreciated, thanks in advance.


EDIT: People who bought the game on D2D and have problems with their keys need to contact D2D directly on their support site: http://support.direct2drive.com.
Also we are aware of problems with Steam keys and will release an update to this problem ASAP.

quote:

Originally posted by OrrinDK:
Hey all, it seems that the product codes have been written wrong on some of the game manuals according to steam forums.

So if your code ends with "F2PRT", you should write the whole code from right to left("TRP2F"-and so on) instead of left to right.

It worked for me anyways.
Good luck!

quote:

Originally posted by rickyhustle:
Thought I'd post what fixed this game for me and made it playable. I have a 6800GT and was able to play through the intro just fine but was not able to pass the Stonehelm level.

1 - I lowered the texture level to MEDIUM. Even though for my rig the game recemmended high, this change helped dramatically.

2 - I have my page file set to 3GB (1 1/2 times my RAM, as I have 2GB). I increaded my min. and max. page file size to 8GB. Set the min. and max. to the same to keep the file from fragmenting too much. After you change your paging file size, reboot, then defrag.

My game runs EXCELLENT now, and looks damn fine, even with medium textures. I hope this helps even just a few of you.

quote:

Originally posted by Dateranoth:
Specs:
Athlon 64 3400+
2x512 cs2 corsair xms pc3200 memory
geforce 6800 ultra
X-fi XtremeMusic
Game on main Raid 0 with two 10000rpm 36gb Raptors
Paging file on seperate Raid 0 with two 10000rpm 36gb Raptors

I tried pretty much everything listed on this forum including setting my paging file to an extreme 8000megs, using the 84.21 geforce drivers, and updating my amd cpu drivers. On top of I played with multiple settings with these ending up being the best I've found for my setup:

All settings are set to high excep GFX detail which is medium, shadows low, reflections set to simple only, trilinear filtering, no antialiasing, and HDR lighting. Also, one of the biggest changes for me was setting sound to medium quality (previously I had overlooked it).

On another note, the absolute BIGGEST problem came from having HDR and antialiasing on. Apparently the 6800 ultra (and possibly the chipset I think) doesnt fully support the two together, so I get EXTREME choppiness/lag when those are enabled together. However, I CAN, also, using the same settings above, with these alterations (bloom lighting, 2x antialiasing, and 2x anisotropic filtering) get playable gaming (slight stutter, very minor, and mostly only when the game quicksaves or I look at LARGE areas)
So, I have come to the conclusion that my problem stemmed mainly from a combination of HDR, antialiasing, and too high sound quality.
With these tweaks and settings the game is playable for me. Though I believe a patch or two couldn't hurt. I seem to recall having the same initial problems with HL2, where I got the game playable, but they did eventually release patches that made it excellent. I have every faith in Ubi to get it right.
Besides, it makes sense, unlike gaming consoles where each game is built for ONE system computer games have to be playable on thousands of different setups. A price I'm willing to pay for the much much more excellent graphics.

Hope this helps
Josh

P.S.
Tested these on both the Limited Edition (retail) and the steam versions.

quote:

Originally posted by Dateranoth:
Athlon 64 3400+
2x512 cs2 corsair xms pc3200 memory
geforce 6800 GT
X-fi XtremeMusic
Game on main Raid 0 with two 10000rpm 36gb Raptors (optimally defragged)
Paging file ( 2gigs ) on seperate Raid 0 with two 10000rpm 36gb Raptors (optimally defragged)

Updated my amd cpu drivers.
Running NGO NVIDIA Optimized Driver v1.9291
(can be found here http://www.ngohq.com/ )
Tested it on NGOs 84.xx and couldn't really tell a difference. Though I found a considerable framerate improvement over regular nvidia drivers.

Starting with these parameters ( +map_background none -novid ) To remove initial load time and intro vids. ( WILL increase first level load time, but helpful for going in and out changing settings )

Resolution: 1280x1024 60hz vertical sync on

here are some different settings and their Video, note, Video memory consumption.

Everything set to Highest settings except
No AA
Trilinear Filtering
652mb!! total video memory consumption during chapter 1.

All settings are set to high except:
GFX detail (medium)
Shadows (low)
reflections (simple only)
trilinear filtering
2x antialiasing
Bloom Lighting
603mb Seems GFX is only saving us 50mb here and antialiasing is has minimal effect.

All settings are set to high except:
Texture detail (medium)
Model Detail (medium)
GFX detail (medium)
Shadows (low)
reflections (simple only)
trilinear filtering
2x antialiasing
bloom lighting.
300mb video memory consumption .seems with all the textures set to high you add an extra 300mb

Now, to the best I can reason. The game has these video textures mostly preloaded.. So, when its using 600mb of video memory, obviously my 256mb card isnt going to contain it all. Resulting in RAM usage for video memory, and possible (hate to think) possible for some to be paged to disk. And of course, when these things need to be accessed on the fly (aka looking up quickly at a wall exploading) they can't be accessed nearly fast enough resulting in the momentary or longer stutter. I was able to run with pretty much no stuttering on any setting that used only 300mb of video memory.
Now I know this isn't the case for some people as they are running on lowest settings, but I also know that others are running at what their computer "should" or was recommended by default to run. The only help I can offer besides what was listed above is to say that by bringing my video memory usage down to a level at or near my video cards memory size I fixed my stuttering problem. Anyone who would like to try to get it to reasonable levels can check usage by loading a level (namely chapter one since it seems pretty intensive) and opening the console and typing " memory " without the quotes. It will list all the video memory usage, and the heapsize usage ( which on another note seems to be within the size the game defaults 256mb.. so the hl2 tweak of -heapsize 512000 seems unnecessary.
On a final note, I'm not sure why it uses so much memory, especially considering that I couldn't see much of a difference between medium and high texture/model details... however the memory usage difference was quite large. So, a bug is definitely possible.

Hope this is of help to some people.

-Josh

P.S.
I have done extensive testing trying many many many different things to come to these final conclusions so I do hope they help someone. Oh, and it was all tested on the retail version, but I imagine steam would be similar.

quote:

Purchased a copy the other day and installed it....However, when i try to play all i get is a white background image....but i do hear the background music.'

Error message - White screen and 'Error: cannot find Background.vtf' - something similar anyway.

Posted by chaoswolf7

Solution: Run the game through Steam. This error is consistent with people not using steam to run their single player game. This error was *Supposedly* fixed in 1.02, but, so was the game.

quote:

*A* solution seems to be getting it to run using older DX. A post on the steam website shows how this is done. -

http://support.steampowered.com/cgi-bin/steampowered.cf...p_created=1095476857

You are looking for "How do I force a working DirectX level and video mode?" btw.

quote:

Solution-

Search for vidcfg.bin using start>search.
Delete this file and try to play again.
(I *pretty sure* this will work)

I would also like to flag up Fixer_lxxi's post in he following thread, showing that you shouldnt FLIP OUT if anything only happens once:-

http://forums.ubi.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/3921096804/m/2631085625

quote:

Originally posted by Chab_Neruk:
I also have the "idirect3ddevice9 present" bug.
It would be nice if you could post a solution right here on this page. Google doesn't find valuable links either, so please help ;-)