Neverwinter Nights hangs on HP Pavilion dv1000 series notebook

Add Comment | Related Links | TrackBack
Related Content

Neverwinter Nights hangs on HP Pavilion dv1000 series notebook

I have been a fan of Neverwinter Nights (NWN) for a long time. This role-playing computer game is based on Dungeon and Dragons (D&D). It even has an option setting for hardcore D&D rules. But the real beauty of NWN is its game engine; it's a universal engine that can be used with other NWN adventure modules. When yon are all done with the supplied campaign, there are several expansions available. When you are done with the expansions, you can download new ones from the Neverwinter Vault. And if you ever get tired of the thousands of adventures available, you can always create your own adventure using the included Aurora Toolset.

For the past few years, I have been playing NWN just fine. But recently, I purchased a new HP Pavilion DV1227US Entertainment Notebook Computer. This wide-screen notebook has the built-in Intel 82852/82855 GM/GME Graphics Controller. NWN renders its graphics beautifully on this computer. Almost every video feature can be enabled to the maximum setting. The game engine is even able to take advantage of the wide-screen for a larger display area.

However, on this new notebook, NWN hangs after a few minutes of play. The only way to reset it is by turning off the computer and then turning it back on. A few times, I was able to switch to windows. Even then I was only able to see a message that says the graphics driver has stopped responding and I was unable to shutdown the computer, other than turning it off.

I spent some time updating NWN to the latest 1.66 version, but that didn't help. Searching around a bit I found this "Neverwinter Nights game exits to the desktop" problem report on Intel's product support site.

This only happens with a recent patched version of the game (such as 2.62) and certain PV 14.x graphics driver versions. With an unpatched version of the game and/or the 13.x graphics driver versions, the issue does not happen.

I think version 2.62 in the excerpt is a typo. The latest NWN patch is version 1.66. I suspect the report meant patch version 1.62, a popular patch. Apparently the latest version 14.13 driver has a conflict with NWN. Although my symptom is somewhat different than the problem described, I figured it is worthwhile to give this problem report a chance.

For Intel 82830M and 82852/82855 graphics controllers:
Use a PV 13.x (or earlier) version of the Intel graphics driver to correct this issue.

So I download version 13.61 and installed it. It turned out that the solution is correct, my NWN no longer hangs; I have been playing it all night a few nights ago. It is unfortunate that I have to use an older version of the graphics driver to play NWN. There is no telling what bug fixes or new features that I am missing out. Hopefully Intel will fix this problem in the next driver release.

Chieh Cheng
Tue, 5 Jul 2005 09:38:39 -0700

SOS!! i have the EXACT problem, but i cant find the confounded 13.61 driver!!!! its driving me absolutley mad.help people, please, all drivers i get are either 14.xox' or incompatible with xp

rsvp, vite

Laman
Wed, 26 Dec 2007 19:21:46 +0000

Add Comment | Related Links | TrackBack
Related Content

Did your message disappear? Read the Forums FAQ.

Add Comment

Spam Control | * indicates required field

TrackBack

TrackBack only accepted from WebSite-X Suite web sites. Do not submit TrackBacks from other sites.

Send Ping | TrackBack URL | Spam Control

No TrackBacks yet. TrackBack can be used to link this thread to your weblog, or link your weblog to this thread. In addition, TrackBack can be used as a form of remote commenting. Rather than posting the comment directly on this thread, you can posts it on your own weblog. Then have your weblog sends a TrackBack ping to the TrackBack URL, so that your post would show up here.

Messages, files, and images copyright by respective owners.

Fun for Photographers