GTA3 and XP...

New computer arrived tonight - O/S is XP as opposed to ME, and I've only had about 3 hours on it so far. Anyway, thought I had things as I wanted them, and desperate to crank up the res and detail levels, I installed GTA3. Installation went fine, game loads without problems, but all menu text is now a solid block of colour. I managed to load an imported game which then froze at the loading screen. Anyone got any solutions, please? Thanks in advance, Rick.

Rick Catton wrote:

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> > New computer arrived tonight - O/S is XP as opposed to ME, and I've only had > about 3 hours on it so far. > > Anyway, thought I had things as I wanted them, and desperate to crank up the > res and detail levels, I installed GTA3. Installation went fine, game loads > without problems, but all menu text is now a solid block of colour. I > managed to load an imported game which then froze at the loading screen. > > Anyone got any solutions, please?

Sorry, no helpful hints here, worked right out of the box on two of my PC's, both run WinXP, I didn't keep it long, but that's another matter :-) Have you tried running it in Compatibility mode ? Right click on the icon you use to start GTA3 with, , choose "properties", that should get you a a window with 3 "tabs", one of which says "compatibility", other than that and the usual suggestion of trying various drivers for your vid card, I really don't have anything useful to add, like I said, mine worked right away, so I really don't think it's a WinXP issue Beers and cheers (uncle) Goy http://www.theuspits.com "A man is only as old as the woman he feels........" --Groucho Marx--

Ran across this somewhere, supposedly from GTA3 "support": ===== Windows XP + NVIDIA based cards (possibly other brands): We have found a possible problem with Windows XP that manifests itself as graphical problems both in the game menu and also during game play. We have traced this problem to be a Windows XP dll driver problem. Technically this problem is solved by the use of a newer version of d3d8.dll than is shipped on CD with Windows XP. (The version on the Windows XP CD that has problems is 5.1.26000.0 versions tested without error include 5.1.2600.15 and 5.1.2600.29) Currently the only way we know to update this dll file is to install the Windows XP Patch: The Computer Cannot Enter Standby or Hibernate If a Direct3D-Based Screen Saver Is Running (Q306676) downloadable from the following Web Site: http://download.microsoft.com/download/whistler/Patch/Q306676/WXP/EN-US/Q306 676_WXP_SP1_x86_ENU.exe (URL may wrap!) ===== The Knowledge Base article (Q306676) cited above may be reviewed at http://support.microsoft.com . First, however, new computers arriving with Windows XP already installed, you may and may not have the latest graphic or sound drivers installed. Check each manufacturer's individual web site (not the computer company's web site) for the latest drivers. If they fix the problem you're fine, if not you can use an XP feature of "Roll Back Driver" in Device Manager. Also, if you're running a Creative Labs sound card, check the hardware acceleration in Control Panel/Sounds and Audio Devices/Speaker settings/Advanced button/Performance tab where you may decrease the acceleration by moving the slider to the left a couple notches. Do one thing at a time and test, until you reach a solution. GTA3 will run straight as installed, and you do not need Compatibility Mode for it. -- Chris H. "Rick Catton" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:ae5u4h$fm6$[email hidden]... > New computer arrived tonight - O/S is XP as opposed to ME, and I've only had > about 3 hours on it so far. > > Anyway, thought I had things as I wanted them, and desperate to crank up the > res and detail levels, I installed GTA3. Installation went fine, game loads > without problems, but all menu text is now a solid block of colour. I > managed to load an imported game which then froze at the loading screen. > > Anyone got any solutions, please? > > Thanks in advance, > > Rick. > > > >

"Rick Catton" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:ae5u4h$fm6$[email hidden]... > New computer arrived tonight - O/S is XP as opposed to ME, and I've onlyhad > about 3 hours on it so far. > > Anyway, thought I had things as I wanted them, and desperate to crank upthe > res and detail levels, I installed GTA3. Installation went fine, gameloads

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> without problems, but all menu text is now a solid block of colour. I > managed to load an imported game which then froze at the loading screen. > > Anyone got any solutions, please? > > Thanks in advance, > > Rick.

New computers typically do not ship with the latest drivers due to WHQL testing requirements and submissions (I used to do that for a living). The first thing you should try is to get the latest drivers. If you have a Nvidia card then get the 26.32 drivers from their website (http://www.nvidia.com/ ) and see if that resolves the issue. I suspect they will, because those drivers fixed a lot of issues in a lot of different games. -- --------------------- Rob Berryhill

> New computers typically do not ship with the latest drivers due to WHQL > testing requirements and submissions (I used to do that for a living).The > first thing you should try is to get the latest drivers. If you have a > Nvidia card then get the 26.32 drivers from their website > (http://www.nvidia.com/ ) and see if that resolves the issue. I suspectthey > will, because those drivers fixed a lot of issues in a lot of different > games. > Thanks, Rob, but I already had 28.32 installed. I've since updated to 29.42 (WHQL approved) with no improvement. I've also right-clicked gta3.exe and set compatibility mode to W98 and disabled visual themes. Still no joy. Any more suggestions, anyone? This is driving me up the wall...! Cheers again, Rick.

That's where it is from. I didn't know the source when I posted it yesterday. 8-) I just find it in my solutions folder. 8-) -- Chris H. "spam free" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]... > On Wed, 12 Jun 2002 17:05:34 -0500, spam free <[email hidden]> wrote: > > >On Tue, 11 Jun 2002 22:38:09 +0000 (UTC), "Rick Catton" <[email hidden]> wrote: > > > >>O/S is XP .. text is now a solid block of colour. I > >>managed to load an imported game which then froze at the loading screen. > > > >Read the readme.txt file. > > > > TROUBLESHOOTING > _________________ > > Windows XP + nVIDIA based cards (possibly other brands): > We have found a possible problem with Windows XP that manifests itself > as graphical problems both in the game menu and also during game play. > > We have traced this problem to be a Windows XP problem. > > Technically this problem is solved by the use of a newer version of > d3d8.dll than is shipped on CD with Windows XP. (The version on the > Windows XP CD that has problems is 5.1.26000.0 - versions tested > without error include 5.1.2600.15 and 5.1.2600.29) > > Currently the only way we know to update this dll file is to install > the Windows XP Patch: > > "The Computer Cannot Enter Standby or Hibernate If a Direct3D-Based > Screen Saver Is Running (Q306676)" downloadable from the following Web Site: > > http://download.microsoft.com/download/whistler/Patch/Q306676/WXP/EN-US/Q306 676_WXP_SP1_x86_ENU.exe. > > This update may in the future be available as part of an official > Windows XP Service Pack, a Windows XP Compatibility Update, > or possibly a DirectX 8.1 update. > >

OK, it's a fair cop. I just came on to post that I should have rtfm myself, or at least the readme which contains the solution - in my defence I did read it when I installed onto WinME, but the XP bits weren't relevant then. As soon as I updated - well you know the rest! All is now running fine again. Thanks all, and I will try not to be such a dullard in future... Rick.