Weakest Link game performs "illegal operations"

[sjaguar13]

My uncle got the Weakest Link game for Christmas, but he can't get it running. He read the troubleshooting thing, but that didn't seem to help much. He has a Voodoo Banshee. The troubleshooting thing said his video and graphics card may need updated. He said he seen a site that has some patch to download to update the card. He has a Gateway computer, if that helps at all. Anyone know why it doesn't work? I don't have a clue, it just comes up Illegal Operation everytime he tries to run it.

[mike breck]

Hi sjaguar13,

It may be that the Banshee drivers need to be updated or the the Banshee is not supported for running this game. The Banshee is an older card now and 3DFX which made the Voodoo cards no longer exists so the driver support is not great.

You can get updated drivers here

http://www.reactorcritical.com/download.shtml

The usual practice is to completely remove the old drivers before installing the new ones. Read this post which explains how to remove old Nvidia drivers. The principle is the same for the Banshee.

http://forum.pcmech.com/showthread.p...threadid=18832

If the new drivers (unfortunately they're not all that new)don't help, then it may be time to upgrade the video card to a Geoforce MX or a Radeon. These newer cards have better driver support.

HTH

[sjaguar13]

The Banshee drivers are:

Banshee Reference Windows 95/98
Banshee Reference Windows NT 4.0-driver
3Dfx OpenGL Miniport 1.47
Banshee Reference Windows 2000-driver
Banshee Control 2.22

What one do I need? I'm guessing it's not the NT or Win2000 drivers, but what about the other three? Also, in the other forum, you said:
Then clean up any leftover files.
Go to Start>Find>Find Files &Folders. Do a search for these files:
In C:\Windows\System: nv*.*
In C:\Windows\Inf: nv*.inf
In C:\Windows\Inf\Other: nv*.inf
Delete the ones you find in those folders. Be careful you just delete the ones with "nv", nothing else.

Reboot. Load DX 8.00, and then reinstall your video drivers.

Would I still search for nv? Would I have to load DX 8.00? I'm not real firmilar with DX (I don't play games at all). Should that already be on the computer? I'm pretty sure it came with the Weakest Link CD, and I would just run the DXDiag.exe file to load it?

Thanks for the help!

[mike breck]

Hi sjaguar13,

Sorry to take so long to get back to you. Christmas holidays.

If you're running Windows 98/ME then go for the

Banshee Reference Windows 95/98
3Dfx OpenGL Miniport 1.47

Banshee Control 2.22 is optional. It depends whether you want a control panel in Display Properties for the Banshee. If you do, then download it. I would say, try the first two and see how you get on. You can always add the control panel later.

Would I still search for nv?

No. Search for 3DFX.

Would I have to load DX 8.00?

Yes. As The Weakest Link is a new game it should have DX 8 or 8.1 on the CD. Just right-click on the CD icon in My Computer and select "explore".

Right-click and "Explore" a folder called DX or DirectX 8 and double-click on the "Set-Up" icon (you will know it is the right one, if you right-click on it and select "Properties" it should be called "Set-Up.exe").

That will install, and update your current version if need be, of DX. DX is required for playing games.

In fact, before you go installing the Banshee Drivers, it might be a good idea to check that it is already installed. Look in My Computer>C:>Program Files and see if there is a folder called "Directx".

It should be there. If it isn't, it may explain your problem. Regardless of whether it is there or not. Install DX 8.

One final note. As the Gateway is a propriety PC, and like most propriety machines, have their own peculiar ways of doing things, it might be a good idea to check the Gateway website to see what they offer in the way of driver support and updates.

You might be able to download the appropriate drivers from them. Perhaps someone who knows about Gateways might like to comment.

HTH