Crashs to desktop

[Doxy]

The game Echelon crashes to Windows desktop when I attempt to begin playing.
The game seems to be operational in all other respects.
My system meets all game requirements.
All motherboard and video card drivers have been recently updated and DirectX 8.1 is working as it should. Also, the Echelon patch has been installed as well. The info that Bethsoft support has provided me has not resolved this problem. None of my other games have problems just this one, and I have many. If there is an appopriate forum out there for this type of post please tell me. Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

System:
Asus P4S533
Corsair 512mb PC2700
P4 2.0a
Radeon9000Pro(Catalyst 3.0)
Win98se

[Force Flow]

Has it always done this?

Try uninstalling it, the reinstalling it. ;)

[bailey]

I have seen that before, it ended being the settings for the video settings not being correct for that one game

[Doxy]

Hi
Doxy here again

The game has never played except once when I put it into "software" mode. It ran, but looked totally unexceptable.

I have tried uninstalling and reinstalling but that did not fix it.

Any thoughts on different settings that may need to be properly set either in Windows98 or the game itself?

Doxy

[ktkendall]

Yes if it runs in software mode but not hardware then its either your graphics card is not up to the minimum specs, which does not apprear to be the case for you, or as mentioned above the settings need tuned. Is there a place to go into options or settings without having to start the game fully??

[Doxy]

Hi

Ktkendel, thanks for your post.

Yes, there is. "Setup" is an option that is given along with the usual ones "Play" and "exit." Within Setup is Graphics, Sound, and Data Location tabs. That last one is an option to change the path to program files, which I think is not of concern here. Anyway, the Graphics has quite a bit of settings as does the Sound. For instance Graphics has:
Compressed, Uncompressed 16bit, Uncompressed 32bit.
T&L, Hardware, Software.
Resolution: 800X600, etc.
Acceleration: Radeon9000pro or Default.

I have tried a number of combinations of settings already including everything on default. Still not luck.
In the past I have learned that reducing the Sound and/or Graphics Acceleration sliders from within Windows98 can fix a game that will not either play or start. Maybe, this plus tweeking the Game's Graphics options will do it. But, that is a lot of trial and error experimenting.

Also, an Echelon review says that it's buggy and has random crashes to desk top.
http://www.gamefaqs.com/computer/doswin/review/R38826.html

Thanks for your insight into this.
Doxy

[ktkendall]

I think your on the right trac, and your right, sometimes it just takes trial and error to find the right combonation of settings.. What do you have your color settings and resolution set at in Windows??
Who makes that game and is there any tech support available at their website??

[Doxy]

Hi
I leave my desk top resolution at 1024x768 and play at that level or lower. I always leave the color at 16 bit. Hmmmm. Maybe I should try it at 32 bit and see.
The company is called Bethesda and they did not give me any info that I did not know or try already. Bummer.

Doxy