Super Windows XP Crash

[Wiz8Fan]

Ok, this is unlike any other crash I have ever experienced before!

Normally, I get the blue screen of death, or the snarky little dialogue box with the red X in it (usually accompanied by the "Invalid Page Fault" or "Kernel32 Error" descriptions).

But now, the entire computer, hard drives and all, shut down when this error occurs!

It happens when I play a recently released (one year ago) game called "Wizardry 8." Whenever I try to change my preferences for video setup or start the game itself, the whole computer just shuts down, the hard drives click off and I'm booted back to the BIOS screen for a restart!

Now, I read about an XP fix for games that crash in the introductory screen, so I applied all the patches for XP... and it still doesn't work.

The game worked just perfectly on Windows 98, and this problem didn't crop up until I installed XP. I tried running the game right after XP was installed (it crashed) and after re-installing Wizardry 8 (it still crashed).

I also installed the latest nVidia video card drivers for my video card, to see if that would help.

Does anybody know what this could be? I turned off the "Automatically shut down" thing on the Advanced tab in My Computer, and now I get the error message "Invalid_Work_Queue_Item" before the whole computer shuts down.

Any ideas on what I can do to fiddle with my computer to make this game work? As you can tell by my handle, I adore this game... and honestly, I love Win 98 a lot more than XP... and am only using XP because my wireless network card doesn't work on anything lower than 98 SE.

I also have the latest DirectX, not 8.1, if that might be the problem.

Thanks for any and all support!

Chris

[andyms18a]

have you tryed runing the game in compatability moad if you have a desk top short cut to the game right click it select properties and then the compatability tab and select run this program in compatability moad for window 98

[Wiz8Fan]

The compatibility thingamajig worked perfectly! Thank you!

Can I start building the idol to you now, my new God?

Chris

[hobey19]

hey chris, a question for you, my uncle bought that game and he could not get it to work. he met all sys requirements, but it would not get past the intro video

http://forum.pcmech.com/showthread.p...light=wizardry

that is the original thread. i just didn't know if you knew of any fixes for this that could cause this issue. thanks, and welcome to PCMech

craig

[Wiz8Fan]

Ok, try these things:

Run the 3D setup program and set it to minimum requirements, sound, video, etc...

Then, download all the current drivers for your video card.

If it still doesn't work, head on over to www.wizardry8.com and make sure you have the latest patch, v1.2.4, which was released on 12/23.

When it's all updated and ready to go, make sure that CD #3 is in the drive and start it up.

If it's still messed up, there's a list of common problems in the Tech area of the Wizardry 8 page:

http://www.wizardry8.com/support/ind...CommonProblems

There's also a forum and an email address there, though I don't know how helpful the forum is, and the company is out of business right now, so I don't know if they will respond.

If all these things don't work, please e-mail me at roninquinn@NOSPAMhotmail.com (delete NOSPAM) and we can continue from there.

See ya,
Chris

[hobey19]

thanks man, i will check that stuff out and post back. i know he has the update and the newest drivers as well as directx, but maybe something on the tech support can help me. thanks for pointing me in a direction, much appreciated

craig

[andyms18a]

happy to help wiz8fan