windows7 game crash when click "multiplayer" menu button(half fixed)

granola505

(edit: fixed issue in lower post of mine)

I posted this issue in another section with no responses, so ill try here too. whenever i click the multiplayer button from the main menu, the game hangs and crashes. its 100% of the time. i get the popup ingame that says its detecting network info, but its all blank, and thats where it hangs. i have to force close the game. this is with bg2ee, unmodded in any way. i havent had any issues with bgee besides an occasional video stutter every 10-15 minutes related to opengl issues. did multiplayer across several US states with friends after v1.2 patch. ive started playing a single player game with a bgee imported character without issue. i tried uninstalling the game completely, including erasing my documents folder. i tried again today after the new patch, but its still crashing. im running 64bit win7 on a dell xps laptop L502x, 2nd gen i5, nvidia 540m, 8gig ram. im not running on the integrated graphics, although ive tried using that instead of the video card. also ran through all the compatability modes and disabled antivirus/firewall.

edit: i added the windows crash information. its greek to me, but maybe someone else can help me.

Problem signature:
Problem Event Name: APPCRASH
Application Name: Baldur.exe
Application Version: 0.1.0.0
Application Timestamp: 528e755e
Fault Module Name: Baldur.exe
Fault Module Version: 0.1.0.0
Fault Module Timestamp: 528e755e
Exception Code: c0000005
Exception Offset: 00007e29
OS Version: 6.1.7601.2.1.0.768.3
Locale ID: 1033
Additional Information 1: 0a9e
Additional Information 2: 0a9e372d3b4ad19135b953a78882e789
Additional Information 3: 0a9e
Additional Information 4: 0a9e372d3b4ad19135b953a78882e789

Dee

If it's hanging on network info, that tells me there may be a problem with your network connection.

The first thing I would do is check your internet connection to make sure it's stable; if you've noticed your modem cutting out periodically, even if the connection is otherwise strong, that could be a sign that you need a new modem (I had the same problem until recently).

Also check the router and ethernet cables to make sure that everything is still working correctly.

That's not to say it's for certain a problem with your connection, but since this is the first I've seen of this issue happening, let's start with external variables and work inward.

granola505

ive checked all my connections, updated my wireless router firmware(which was ancient apparently). and still no change. a quick bandwidth test shows 14ms ping 23.9mbps up/7.7mbps down. im in the lucky minority that has cheap fiber optic based internet service. i frequently stream netflix and such, ive got steam pulling a few gb of games right now, but i tried pausing that to no avail. i start the game in a window rather than fullscreen now since in fullscreen i have to ctrl,alt,del and use task manager to get out of the game, but in windowed mode it'll recognize its not responding in a just a second or two. im going to backup my bg2ee settings ini and try adding some of the missing multiplayer settings as they appear in my bgee ini.

granola505

yaaaaaaaay, i fixed it. ok, so i combed through the bgee ini to find the multiplayer settings hoping that a 1 or 2 variable was missing and acting as a zero and screwing it up. i tried this line which i suspected was the setting for tcp/ip or beamdog game
,
'Multiplayer', 'Last Protocol Used', '1'

after i got the code grammar correct so it took effect, the game properly went to the next screen and allower me to type game name and such and get to charecter arbitration page. ill do some more thorough testing on the issue today but this seems to have fixed it. for some reason the bg2ee ini was missing the above string and was crashing when i tried to chose a previous network setting that didnt exist. luckily i had bgee installed and working to pull from its settings file. i know you said ud never heard of this issue before but i think its worth mentioning that the ini file is a great place for people to start tinkering in(if they know what theyre doing anyway)

thanks for your help dee, im a big fan of the work you guys have done for one of my favorite games of all time.

Dee

Glad to hear you got it fixed; and I'll make a note of the change you made for future reference.

granola505

is there a reason that all the variables arent created upon game installation? i noticed a lot of other stuff thats not in my bg2ee ini, thats in the bgee one. maybe a default multiplayer protocol, game name, and player name like "Default game" and "player1". just as a variable place holder. the game seems to generate these setting strings on its own when you make selections and such in the game, i didnt know if maybe there is a downside to having all the basic settings set to a default.

granola505

sorry to spam posts on you, but i have a more localized issue now. as long as the ini setting is set to tcp/ip, the game functions normally. but if i change it ingame, or with the ini, to the beamdog.net setting the crashing comes back. i had to restore my original ini and set it to tcp to fix it again. it almost seems like the "last protocol used" variable is changing meaning. at first i set it to "1" and the game worked since it selected the tcp setting, but when i did the repair process again, i had to set it to "2" to get tcp selected. the game seems to be mixing up the 1&2 values somehow. i tried using the entire ini from bgee in my bg2ee documents folder, and besides having to set the protocol to "2" to select tcp, i get the exact same effect. theres something going on when the game tries to select the beamdog.net option. its not even connecting. just selecting the beamdog option seems to be causing a crash.

Dee

You may want to repair your installation. If you used the stand-alone launcher, there's a button in the bottom-right corner of the window; click on that, then select "Repair Installation" and it will fix any anomalies in your game files.

granola505

i installed from the beamdog client. is there a way i can repair that version without deleting and redownloading the whole game?

TrentOster

If you delete the .beam and .status file for the game (same # as the directory it is in) it will rescan the content.
-Trent

granola505

deleted the 2 files and rescanned game with beamdog client. started game and still have same issue. it defaulted to the tcp connection, so the game didnt crash until i clicked "ok" after selecting the beamdog.net protocol.

granola505

update: i tried running the game in safe mode, thinking maybe with networking disabled it'd perform differently, but the video drivers are a jumbled mess and the game is totally jacked in safe mode.