Crashes on camp - Freeze when zoning

[Questors]

Green Server
1. The crashing when camping to log or switch characters is very frequent.
What I have done after reading these forums:
Run WinEQ2
Run WinEQ in the various compatibility mode settings
Tried each compatibility mode settings for eqgame.exe
Changed screen resolution and refresh rates
Tried windowed mode and full screen mode
Changed character models
changed various other display settings to the choices available to see if it made a difference.
Tried switching from discrete GPU to iGPU and back. No difference with the crashing. I can't duplicate the freeze ups via settings.

What helped the crashing, yet wrecked the game:
Trying the compatibility modes for eqgame.exe, Windows XP SP2/Windows XP SP3/Windows 7 compatibility; all stop the crashing cold and relatively completely.
BUT! (and there's always a "but")
When closing the game after a play session, when one of these compatibility modes is used, absolutely every single time, the game will not start. An error ranting about an EQ .dll runtime fails to do something. This error persists through reboots. It also actually forced me to remove EQ Titanium twice and reinstall it. Removing the compatibility mode and a reboot didn't set things straight.

2. Now the freeze ups when zoning:
Nothing above has made any difference.
Windows rants about an error in memory, at location whatever (it changes) but the error is specific to EQ not being able to do something, not the memory.
It's a problem about 1/3 of the time, so significant.
Tried more recent, but still older graphics drivers to no avail

Lenovo Legion 7 2560x1600 HDR display
AMD Ryzen 9 6900HX CPU
AMD RX6850M XT GPU 12 GB dGPU / 680M RDNA2 iGPU
2x 16 GB DRR5-4800 (32 GB) Samsung branded
Samsung 980 or 990 Pro (I forget in the moment) 2 TB SSD
Windows 11 Home V. 22H2
Drivers up to date.
Does this even matter? Tech support always wants to know this stuff.

Final note: My son is also playing on an Intel/Nvidia based Windows 10 laptop, He is having the same crashing issues. He has tried the same or similar fixes to no avail.

[lovecheese]

I'm having this issue too.

[Deathrydar]

What zone is it crashing at?

[Questors]

What zone is it crashing at?

The crashing is anywhere I log out.

[Deathrydar]

The crashing is anywhere I log out.

I thought you said you were crashing while zoning. Crashing while logging out is normally fixed by changing the shortcut to run in Windows XP compatibility mode.

[Questors]

I thought you said you were crashing while zoning. Crashing while logging out is normally fixed by changing the shortcut to run in Windows XP compatibility mode.

My PC is freezing up/crashing when zoning sometimes as well. I described this in my initial post.

I also stated that I tried the compatibility modes. While several modes appeared to prevent crashing when logging, other and more serious problems immediately presented themselves. So the "fix" created worse problems.

[mcoy]

There's a routing issue with your ISP. It'll resolve in a few days / weeks on its own.

You haven't troubleshot the commonality between yours and your son's systems. Try connecting one of them to your cell hotspot or a vpn or go to a friend's house (who uses a different ISP).

-Mcoy

[lovecheese]

Will the crashing on camping fix itself?

[mcoy]

Will the crashing on camping fix itself?

Did you set compatibility mode on eqgame.exe to xp sp2 or sp3?

-Mcoy

[lovecheese]

Did you set compatibility mode on eqgame.exe to xp sp2 or sp3?

-Mcoy


I love you Mcoy. Thank you so much! I just camped 5 times in a row to see if it worked and no crashes!!!!

[Questors]

There's a routing issue with your ISP. It'll resolve in a few days / weeks on its own.

You haven't troubleshot the commonality between yours and your son's systems. Try connecting one of them to your cell hotspot or a vpn or go to a friend's house (who uses a different ISP).

-Mcoy

There very well could be a routing issue with the ISP.

I appreciate the thought. Though my son is on a different a completely different ISP. Nothing is shared with regard to connectivity. He has his own Internet connectivity via his wireless provider.

We have done the reset the router and modem thing also. If that even matters.

[mcoy]

If you want to verify, you could have him compare a traceroute to yours and see if you share any hops (other than once you near the p99 region). If you do, try a VPN service temporarily, or wardrive by a mcdonald's or library or something.

-Mcoy

[mcoy]

Some interesting reading, but my guess as to why it's so sensitive (excluding abuse protections ofc):

https://www.pcgamer.com/breaking-the-internet-the-story-of-everquest-the-mmo-that-changed-everything/

-Mcoy

[Questors]

When I use any compatibility mode, the game will not load and I get this error:

Microsoft Visual C++ Runtime Library

Runtime Error!

Program C:\Everquest\P1999\eqgame.exe

This application has requested the Runtime to terminate in an unusual way.
Please contact the application's support team for more information

[mcoy]

When I use any compatibility mode, the game will not load and I get this error:

Microsoft Visual C++ Runtime Library

Runtime Error!

Program C:\Everquest\P1999\eqgame.exe

This application has requested the Runtime to terminate in an unusual way.
Please contact the application's support team for more information

Do you have an ultrawide monitor?

https://www.project1999.com/forums/showthread.php?t=395213

Edit your eqclient.ini and play with your resolution settings...

-Mcoy

[Questors]

Do you have an ultrawide monitor?

https://www.project1999.com/forums/showthread.php?t=395213

Edit your eqclient.ini and play with your resolution settings...

-Mcoy
2560 x 1600, so 16:10 but not ultrawide

I appreciate your assistance. I have several hours of trying fixes, doing fresh installs, installing to different directories, changing settings, compatibility modes, runtime installs, resolution and refresh changes, reboots, more relogs than I care to think about and whatever else I could find on the forums or the web to no avail.

I did each tweak one at a time.

I can't help but wonder if it's a Windows 11 thing that I can't change. On my old laptop running Windows 10, all I had to do was run WinEQ2 and use either XP SP 2 or 3 compatibility mode and all was well.

[mcoy]

If you've got a working install on your other system, copy it over and try it. It will likely crash on launch because of the resolution, so delete (or rename) eqclient.ini and try again.

You're not installing EQ in the default location, right? Move it out of program files...

-Mcoy

[Questors]

If you've got a working install on your other system, copy it over and try it. It will likely crash on launch because of the resolution, so delete (or rename) eqclient.ini and try again.

You're not installing EQ in the default location, right? Move it out of program files...

-Mcoy

Original and subsequent installs were into it's own folder, but not under the default in program files. For grins, I did do a default pathing install and saw not difference, good or bad. The program worked exactly the same way, including minimizing at character select when trying log in. The number problems I have had this go-round coming back to P1999 have been a ridiculous, regardless where I install it or what fix I try.

Fighting a Sand Giant and suddenly the screen minimizes to the upper left hand quadrant of the screen, the the entire screen goes black and minimizes to the completely to the task bar. No keys touched. It's not just when fighting a Sand Giant or a one time thing. That's just an example of the crazy.

This morning, I went to change the font size in the eqclient.ini file. Gone. Missing. MIA It's not even in there. No one else uses my laptop. It's not hacked or compromised. It's been off all night. Go figure. The game still starts and plays, such as it has been.

I am going to fire up my old laptop and copy that .ini file to this machine and see what goes on.

[mcoy]

Original and subsequent installs were into it's own folder, but not under the default in program files. For grins, I did do a default pathing install and saw not difference, good or bad. The program worked exactly the same way, including minimizing at character select when trying log in. The number problems I have had this go-round coming back to P1999 have been a ridiculous, regardless where I install it or what fix I try.

Fighting a Sand Giant and suddenly the screen minimizes to the upper left hand quadrant of the screen, the the entire screen goes black and minimizes to the completely to the task bar. No keys touched. It's not just when fighting a Sand Giant or a one time thing. That's just an example of the crazy.

This morning, I went to change the font size in the eqclient.ini file. Gone. Missing. MIA It's not even in there. No one else uses my laptop. It's not hacked or compromised. It's been off all night. Go figure. The game still starts and plays, such as it has been.

I am going to fire up my old laptop and copy that .ini file to this machine and see what goes on.

For the SG issue that sounds like your resolution isn't quite right so you're "clicking through" to your desktop behind. Remember, EQ is a 4:3 game - don't try and push it to other ratios.

As far as the eqclient.ini - if you have it installed in a protected location (such as program files) and don't run p99 as an admin, it won't be able to write changes (such as to your eqclient.ini file) so they'll instead be redirected into your user's virtual directory under c:\users\yournamehere\appdata.

Additionally, some changes are only "saved" (written) when the client closes correctly. If you crash on every camp attempt it will never record some settings and you have to change them every time.

-Mcoy

[Questors]

For the SG issue that sounds like your resolution isn't quite right so you're "clicking through" to your desktop behind. Remember, EQ is a 4:3 game - don't try and push it to other ratios.

As far as the eqclient.ini - if you have it installed in a protected location (such as program files) and don't run p99 as an admin, it won't be able to write changes (such as to your eqclient.ini file) so they'll instead be redirected into your user's virtual directory under c:\users\yournamehere\appdata.

Additionally, some changes are only "saved" (written) when the client closes correctly. If you crash on every camp attempt it will never record some settings and you have to change them every time.

-Mcoy

Interesting. Thank you. I didn't consider things like these you mention.

The install before this latest was into the default directory. I wanted to see if there would be any difference. It did crash about 25% less. Coincidence? Probably. The previous half dozen uninstalls/reinstalls were to C:\Everquest directly, rather than the default (path)\x86\program files

Until I get to the point of strategic retreat, I will continue to do things and see what happens.

[Questors]

Doing 1600 x 1200. Crashes reduced by about 15%.

No longer crashing while zoning, just when logging out.

Clicking through the UI to the desktop which causes minimizing at character select screen fixed by simply moving the character list slightly to the right before choosing a character.

[mcoy]

Doing 1600 x 1200. Crashes reduced by about 15%.

No longer crashing while zoning, just when logging out.

Clicking through the UI to the desktop which causes minimizing at character select screen fixed by simply moving the character list slightly to the right before choosing a character.

Sounds like you're making progress! If you crash on camp, that should be resolved with setting compatibility on eqgame.exe to xp sp2 or 3.

-Mcoy

[Questors]

Sounds like you're making progress! If you crash on camp, that should be resolved with setting compatibility on eqgame.exe to xp sp2 or 3.

-Mcoy

I wish. All compatibility modes do not work. Crashes when zoning are constant, crash at ever log out and the runtime shutting down incorrectly error that prevents the game from even starting without removing that mode and rebooting are all still a thing.

I guess it's as good as it's going to get.

[mcoy]

Oh, if you crash when zoning *and* camping it may be connection-related. I crash on zoning all the time since moving and being on starlink's deprioritized list, but if I switch to my hotspot (that barely gets 1mbit) I zone just fine.

Tried using a vpn temporarily?

-Mcoy

[Questors]

Oh, if you crash when zoning *and* camping it may be connection-related. I crash on zoning all the time since moving and being on starlink's deprioritized list, but if I switch to my hotspot (that barely gets 1mbit) I zone just fine.

Tried using a vpn temporarily?

-Mcoy

I tried using Proton VPN. I couldn't even connect to the server. Something I am missing perhaps?

[mcoy]

I tried using Proton VPN. I couldn't even connect to the server. Something I am missing perhaps?

Make sure it allows/tunnels port 5998?

-Mcoy

[Questors]

Oh boy, need to resubscribe to Proton VPN service to do that.

Since supposedly no logging, no information Proton willing gave information, they supposedly don't have, to authorities not too long ago, not sure I want to pay them for a lack of privacy and no trust.

Have any recommendations for a trusthworthy VPN service?

[mcoy]

I do not. I don't even use Google One or whatever that I get for "free" with my cell phone.

-Mcoy