Compilation: Technical Issues and Possible Solutions!

[Mivo]

This post contains solutions and answers for technical issues and questions that players have reported or asked. If you encounter technical problems or have trouble running A Game of Dwarves at all, please read through this message and see if there is a working fix for you. Please don't hesitate to add alternative solutions or suggestions! (All the credit goes to the players and devs who have posted or contributed to these solutions, especially Zeal's Binary!)


The game doesn't run on Windows XP!

A Game of Dwarves requires Vista or Windows 7 because it uses DirectX 10/11, which XP does not officially support. This is becoming more and more common, and it's important to check the system requirements when buying new games. The real problem is the lack of XP's support for newer DX versions. The devs looked very hard into this situation and tried to find a workaround, testing various approaches, but due to the requirements of the engine, it seems simply impossible to run the game on XP. Binary said, "My conclusion is that the game will never be able to run on Windows XP. I'm sorry guys. It's easier for you to just install Windows 7 or Windows Vista. You can run multiple operation systems on the same machine if you insist to stick to Windows XP."



I am using Vista and the game doesn't start/crashes!

You'll need Service Pack 2 and DirectX 11, which isn't always installed on every Vista system. For details and links, please see the dev post made about the issue, here: http://steamcommunity.com/app/200370/discussions/1/864949483134283141/ In addition, if this does not fix the problem, you may need to download and install the Windows Graphics, Imaging and XPS Library, which you can get directly from Microsoft's site: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=21608



I'm using Windows 7 and I got a black window, followed by a "Fatal Error" message.

In most cases you can fix this by simply restarting your Steam client and trying again. Simple? Yes, but that's not a bad thing! :)



How can I turn on V-Sync? / The graphics on my screen are tearing!

In your user's directory, look for %APPDATA%/Zeal Game Studio\A Game of Dwarves. In here, open the file named user_settings.confg in a plain text editor, e.g. Notepad. Look for the line that says "Locate vsync = null" and change it to "vsync = true" (without the quotation marks). Restart the game and et voila, v-sync is enabled! (2012-10-26 NOTE: V-sync can now be enabled from within the game's options menu, so you no longer need to edit the file manually!)


How can I manually change the game's resolution?

If your desired resolution isn't offered in the in-game settings, you can manually change it. In order to do this, go to %APPDATA%/Zeal Game Studio\A Game of Dwarves and open the file named user_settings.config. Look for the line that says "screen_resolution" and change the current resolution to the resolution you'd like. Please only do this if you know what you're doing. If you blow up your monitor, don't hold me responsible!



The game crashes when I move items!

This only seems to happen in specific cases, especially when moving objects attached to walls. The devs confirmed that this will be fixed in the next patch. (So this applies only to the release version.) If this happens to you, please hang in there for a few days. Most players won't experience this problem.



The game crashes during the intro.

Make sure that you verify the files (see below) and that your system is properly updated. Additionally, you can try the following: Go to %APPDATA%/Zeal Game Studio\A Game of Dwarves and open the file named user_settings.config. Look for the line that says "fullscreen_safe" and change it to "false". Likewise, look for the "fullscreen" setting and also change it to "false". Restart Steam and try again.



The font is way too small and blurry!

This is a known issue and currently being looked into. You can try different resolutions to see (ha!) if there is an improvement.



The game crashes, freezes when I click "play" or behaves otherwise strangely, and none of the above solutions help!

Before making a new thread, please check that the game was downloaded correctly and that none of the files are corrupted. To do this, go to your Steam client and switch to the Library. Right-click on the game's name (on the left), select "Poperties" and switch to the "Local Files" tab. Here, click on "Verify Integrity of Game Cache". Let Steam do its thing and, when it is finished, restart the Steam software and see if the game runs better now.



DirectX or VC++ is reinstalled every time I start AGoD. What can I do?

This doesn't seem to happen for everyone, and it's a problem more related to Steam than A Game of Dwarves, but if you encounter this trouble, here is how to fix it (thanks to Illanair!): Go to your AGoD folder inside your Steam directory (usually in a place such as x:\Program Files\Steam\steamapps\common\A Game of Dwarves) and delete the file named installscript.vdf file. Then delete the folder called _depend in the same location. Restart the Steam software and launch the game. If you accidentally deleted any other files, verify the files as explained in the answer to the question before this one. :)



I still have problems!

If none of the above helps and you've updated your video card drivers and your Vista or Windows 7 is properly updated, go ahead and make a new thread about the issue. Please include the crash log, if available, so that the developers or other players can help you more efficiently. The crash log can be found at C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Roaming\Zeal Game Studio (USERNAME is your account's name -- yes, really!).

[Thorwaldsson]

Mivo, you're a gentleman and a scholar!, thanks for compiling this list!

//Thorwaldsson

[[EXD] Roderick Feld]

Hey Mivo, great idea, minutes ago a ZEAL team member posted a new discussion here on Steam. You may want to add this to your post so that it has less chances to be lost in the hub :

FAQ: Is it possible to run AGOD on Windows XP?
Alright, I have been working on a solution to run A Game of Dwarves on Windows XP for several hours now and the easy part was to get DirectX 10 and 11 to run on it, as needed for A Game of Dwarves to run.

It didn't solve the problem though. Windows XP has a Kernel32.dll version of 5.1 and it doesn't support some multithreaded functions that A Game of Dwarves is in need of. This dll is highly protected and after alot of effort I managed to replace it with version 5.2 from Windows Server 2003 and 6.1 from Vista and/or Windows 7. The OS didn't want to boot up using these verions of kernal32.dll and I guess that is why it's so protected.

My conclusion is that the game will never be able to run on Windows XP. I'm sorry guys. It's easier for you to just install Windows 7 or Windows Vista. You can run multiple operation systems on the same machine if you insist to stick to Windows XP. Cheers everyone!


Message from [ZEAL]Binary 's post !

[Mivo]

Thank you! I changed the bit about XP. Shame that it can't be run. :(

[Lillarpy]

We at Zeal are fully at work on AGoD and in the same time do our best to be active on the Forums(Here and Paradox) and just helping people and listening on feedback takes up most of our forum-time, which means we have not much time over doing posts like this and I can only Thank you Mivo for taking the time for this! I am sure it will help a lot of people and in the same time saving time for us Devs which will be put into the game :)

Sticky'ed!

[Mivo]

Made some edits to reflect the 1.01 patch changes. :)

[Mivo]

Update: Added a solution for those who run into the problem with DirectX and/or VC++ RTLs getting reinstalled every time you start the game (this isn't really a problem with AGoD, but with Steam). Illanair at the Paradox forums provided the solution. Thanks!

[Burton]

ive gone to %appdata% and the zeal folder isnt there?

[Дебилоголовый]

Please repair the input name of the character in the beginning. From Russian windows can enter only numbers. English letters do not work.

[[T.H.]BloodShead]

Hallo liebes Team, Wie kann ich das Spiel starten? Leider bekomme ich nur kurz einmal den Desktop in hässlicher Grafik angezeigt (wie durch eine Lupe) , dann wieder in normal, einige Sounds des Startsystem des Spiels zu hören, aber das war es auch!

Wie kann ich das Game spielen? Ich nutze Windows 10 . Habe einen reinen Gaming-Computer !

Ich bitte um schnelle Informationen und Behebung dieses Problemes! Guten Rutsch in das neue Jahr