Unhandled Exception

[Katheryne]

Cross-posting from EA's forums:

I just bought a new laptop, and I installed SCS on it. Then I installed Update #3. However, the game is completely unplayable. The screen flickers several times, then the game throws the following error:
Unhandled Exception:Invalid Call
Type: class TMill::Common::Exception
File: c:\scsjanuaryupdate\source\engine\dxdevice.cpp
Function: TMill::Engine::CreateDevice
Line: 684

I am running Vista SP1 64-bit, on an Intel Core 2 Duo T5550, with 4GB RAM. Video card is GeForce 8600M GS, 512MB, running Forceware 167.43 (7.15.11.6743).

I didn't see this issue posted anywhere. Is there a fix for this? I would really like to be able to play this game some time.


edited to add my DXDiag.

[Mike Gingerich]

That message indicates the game is not able to create a DirectX device with the requested capabilities. Typically that message means the graphic card doesn't meet the minimum requirements but I think I've seen other people with your card that have been able to run the game. Laptops are unique though. The drivers are often customized by the manufacturer perhaps to reduce power drain and/or to match the screen resolution or frequency.

I would check with your laptop manufacturer for video driver updates.

Also your VideoSettings.xml file may shed some more light on the situation. Some people have had luck manually changing the resolution in VideoSettings.xml or switching it to windowed mode.

[Katheryne]

Update: I uninstalled and reinstalled the game; In doing so, I renamed the SCS folder within my Documents folder. Game started up without a problem. Reinstated my SCS folder in my Documents folder, and got the same problem again. So, I completely removed my SCS folder and reinstated the new one. Best I can figure, the problem arose because of settings in there that were from my old laptop. So now I am able to play again. :)

I am a bit concerned how sluggish the game is on my new system, even with only medium settings. It doesn't have the fluid playability I would expect from a game of this nature (Sims 2: Free Time is silky-smooth even with highest settings) on my system, but - in light of all the technical problems people are having with SCS, I guess I can't complain. I can play, and that's all that matters right now.

[Keith]

Interesting. It must have been the properties of the SCS folder causing the problem or one of the subfolder's properties in the SCS folder. either that or the permissions levels of those original folders. Creating the new folder bypassed the problem.

As for the sluggishness, check your in-game graphics settings and turn off things like shadows and bloom if there are such settings. Smaller in-game screen resolutions like 1024x768, for example, help if you have your game setup for a larger resolution.

SCS seems to use a similar engine to Caesar IV and these sorts of things helped with Caesar IV. I run Caesar IV in a 1024x768 window mode to cut down on the graphics processing load and I can run that game with the shadows turned on. Of course, having a capable video card helps, but even good cards like yours can be overloaded with too much to do.

[SlightlyMadman]

I'm getting a very similar error:

Unhandled Exception: invalid call
Type class TMill::Common::Exception
File: c:\scsfebruaryupdate_lock\source\engine\dxdevice.c pp
Function: TMill::Engine::CreateDevice
Line: 692

I have an NVIDIA GeForce 7950GT, and was running the game just fine a few months ago, unpatched. I just picked it up again and decided to go straight to patch 4 and am now getting this error.

I'll try fiddling with the configuration.

Edit: I figured it out. I'd changed monitors since the last time I ran it. The old one was 1920x1080, and this one is 1920x1200. I fixed the resolution in the xml, and the game will load now. Seems like this should be an easily fixable problem, by adding a few checks to the launch code?

[isis66]

That message indicates the game is not able to create a DirectX device with the requested capabilities. Typically that message means the graphic card doesn't meet the minimum requirements but I think I've seen other people with your card that have been able to run the game. Laptops are unique though. The drivers are often customized by the manufacturer perhaps to reduce power drain and/or to match the screen resolution or frequency.

I would check with your laptop manufacturer for video driver updates.

Also your VideoSettings.xml file may shed some more light on the situation. Some people have had luck manually changing the resolution in VideoSettings.xml or switching it to windowed mode.

I'm having the same problem on my desktop :eek: : error message:

Unhandled Exception:Invalid Call Type: class TMill::Common::Exception
File: c:\scsjanuaryupdate\source\engine\dxdevice.cpp
Function: TMill::Engine::CreateDevice
Line: 599

System meets requirements, have all the latest sound, directx and video drivers, tried reinstalling, removed illegal characters from default system path in installation wizard etc etc etc Have tried changing resolutions in xml file to match, tried windowed mode, please help. $100 nzd and I can't even play it! :(

Here is my dxdiag:
(Did full tests for you to look at in case it helps)[/FON

[Rnett]

You should recheck your drives since some date back to 2002. The game might be a bit much for the video card.

[isis66]

Have updated drivers, my graphics card meets the specs though. I'm just really hoping that when I go and buy a new graphics card it doesn't say the same thing. I have a really funny feeling it will. Does the error message not give you much info? Thanks.

[Rnett]

Try this program to see if there are any hardware issues. It only takes a minute or two.

http://www.systemrequirementslab.com/referrer/ea_uk

[isis66]

Awesome, thanks for that, it was really helpful. My comp passed everywhere except for... Vertex Shader Ver 2.0 is required (I have 1.1), and Pixel Shader Ver 2.0 is required (I have 1.3). Now my only problem is I have no idea what Vertex shader and Pixel shader are Lol. I'm presuming they are graphics card hardware related and all I can do is buy a better card right?

[Keith]

Vertex Shader functions are part of the firmware features of your graphics system or card. If your card doesn't have it there is no way to add it short of buying and installing a new video card that has that feature.

Your NVIDIA GeForce4 Ti 4200 is essentially outdated and you are going to have a lot of problems with newer 3D type games if you keep it.

[isis66]

Ok thanks heaps for all your help, :) I really appreciate your time.