Kilrathi Saga Problem

WC4Life

Captain
Hello everybody!

I am new here, but I am not new to Wing Commander. I have been playing the Kilrathi Saga once more in the last few days. Wing Commander and addons work fine.

But when I start Wing Commander 2 it always crashes during the intro and I get a 'ddhelp...' error. I have seen from some earlier post that this problem is not unfamiliar, but unfortunately in the post I found, I found no solution...

I even recall having played through all the games of the Kirathi Saga once. So I assume there is a way to solve this problem. I just cannot recall it anymore. I must admit it's been over 1 year since I played Wing Commander. I hope some of you will recall the problem and tell me how to solve it (again) so I won't have to spend a couple of hours on it.

The computer I use has following specs:

PIII 933 Mhz
512 MB RAM
SB128 Audio PCI
GeForce 2 MX GPU

Windows ME
VIA Hyperion chipset driver
nVidia GPU drivers (older version optimized for GeForce 2)
Windows Media Player 9
No changes to DirectX except the files that are installed by Kilrathi Saga

The error even appear on a clean installation... only Windows and mentioned drivers... and the Kilrathi Saga of course!

Any help appreciated... I am sure it is something that just doesn't come to my mind now...

WC4Life
 
Well I did find that ddhelp refers to display driver. So I suspect the real issue is that you're using a version of DirectX that is higher than the card can support. Or you could try updating the driver to the latest version to see if it has any effect. A google search may assist if the below Microsoft information does not.

When you attempt to play an MPEG file with any movie player, you may receive an error message similar to the following:
DDHELP caused an invalid page fault in module KERNEL32.DLL

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CAUSE
This behavior can occur if your DirectX video driver is damaged or incorrectly installed.

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RESOLUTION
To resolve this issue, follow these steps:
1. Download the current version of DirectX.
2. Right-click the desktop, and then click Properties.
3. Click the Settings tab, and then click Change Display Type or Advanced Properties. Note the name of your display driver.
4. Click Change in the Adapter Type section, and then click Show All Devices.
5. In the Manufacturers box, click Standard Display Types.
6. In the Models box, click Standard Display Adapter (VGA), click OK, and then click Close.
7. Click OK twice.
8. Click Yes if you are prompted to restart your computer.
9. Reinstall DirectX.
 
Thx DaveO!

I have figured out the solution of the problem. Yes it was linked to DirectX, but not as I expected. The main issue why it didn't play was a scratch on the disc, and I have been playing around after I resolved the disc problem. It seems that the DirectX problems occur after WCKSaga installs its DirectX drivers.

I had to strip the installer and remove DirectX installation and all references and now it didn't crash yet. The DirectX installation unfortunately cannot be omitted in an easier way, and it is actually not necessary since any Windows version since 98 has a more up to date driver...

See ya 'round!

WC4Life

P.S.: Been on duty in the Enigma Sector now, so I couldn't reply earlier!
 
Hey, nice to hear everything is working. You are welcome to post into the replay threads for WC2, and I'd certainly like to see more replies. The person behind the whole replay will be trying to catch up in August. I think around that time, we'll be on Wing Commander 3 or possibly Wing Commander 4.
 
Just so everyone knows, I managed to get mine to work on Windows Vista... it will not work unless you open it with Administrator privilages. I installed it onto my computer once, and several system files didn't go through, reinstalled with Admin approval option and it works fine now.
 
I am really surprised to hear it is working on Vista. I must admit I am not a fan of Vista at all. Seriously... I have been working with several computers which had Vista preinstalled by factory... and a Vista system without tweaks is worse than flying a Broadsword against a Darket...

Glad to hear it works for you, I bet you don't have to slow down a lot, Vista already does it for you ;)

Just kidding. Yes, I do know that Broadsword and Darket never run across each other in battle, but in my opinion the Darket is the best Kilrathi light fighter and the Broadsword always reminds me of the "Flying Fortress" B-17.
 
Just kidding. Yes, I do know that Broadsword and Darket never run across each other in battle, but in my opinion the Darket is the best Kilrathi light fighter and the Broadsword always reminds me of the "Flying Fortress" B-17.

In the games, no they don't meet, but IIRC Darkets were among the surviving ships on the ex-KIS Karga, in the novel False Colors, and The Guild's attack on the Karga recovery team did have Broadswords involved, so technically they did "run across each other in battle".

As for the Broadsword, that was kind of the idea, what with the A-17 designation... :)
 
D'oh! The one obvious example, and it totally slips my mind.

I plead not guilty due to insomnia. :p
 
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