Thinking of buying this.. Win7 x64 issues?

[toxic311]

I've read some conflicting information about this game on various forums. Can anyone answer definitifely:

• Does this game run properly on Windows 7 x64? Some people say that it does not.

• Does the latest patch that was just released a couple of days ago apply to the Steam version? Again, some people are saying yes, some no.

• Do you still need to apply the tweaks and workarounds discussed in the sticky threads here if you do have the latest patch?

Thanks!

- 1.21 patch was applied to the Steam version of the game on friday.

- Thanks to this patch, the game should run on newer PCs, including those running under Windows 7 x64. We know a few people reported it wasn't the case, but it seems to be an unlucky, tiny minority (sounds like a hard to spot software/hardware incompatibility).

- You don't need anymore to apply previous patches (already included in v1.21), and I strongly recommend to disable any compatibility mode on the executable. However, some people found that it was necessary to run the game as an administrator to launch it correctly.

This patch brings some changes to the render engine, and playing around with settings such as "Bump mapping" and "Enable rendering fix" may greatly improve performance. Also, it may be worth trying to enable / disable Vsync in your vid card control panel, and set CPU affinity to 1 core. Finally, Creative sound card owners should consider creating a custom profile for Arx in Alchemy.

[necronom]

the patch was a lie as far as i can tell,they addressed the wrong issues and the (idiot button)-the new enable rendering fix button seems to help very little if at all-i have a radeon 5770 vid card and am running vista X64. bought this game years ago and never truely played it all the way through and you still need to quick save like every 2 minutes to keep the game stable.I havent reached the enchanting stage of my character yet but thats the real test because once i could enchant (years ago) the game would crash and give me a fatal memory error-so i'll post again when i reach that point, but if it does the same thing and its unplayable nothing they said they fixed ever was...dont get me wrong i wouldnt have given it another chance if i didnt love the game , but its very trying to play as is always worried about saving and then forgeting and advancing to far to fast and then it crashes sending you back you your last save----very frustrating

Originally Posted by necronom

the patch was a lie as far as i can tell,they addressed the wrong issues and the (idiot button)-the new enable rendering fix button seems to help very little if at all-i have a radeon 5770 vid card and am running vista X64. bought this game years ago and never truely played it all the way through and you still need to quick save like every 2 minutes to keep the game stable.I havent reached the enchanting stage of my character yet but thats the real test because once i could enchant (years ago) the game would crash and give me a fatal memory error-so i'll post again when i reach that point, but if it does the same thing and its unplayable nothing they said they fixed ever was...dont get me wrong i wouldnt have given it another chance if i didnt love the game , but its very trying to play as is always worried about saving and then forgeting and advancing to far to fast and then it crashes sending you back you your last save----very frustrating

I understand your frustration necronom, but we couldn't manage to reproduce this fatal memory crash people have been complaining about for years. We know its in there somewhere, but we don't have a clue where it comes from, and couldn't experience it after trying the game on a dozen different PCs (running either Vista or 7, both 32 and 64 bits).

Oh, and I confirm the "Enable rendering fix" option won't do much for you as it was meant to fix issues with the latest Nvidia GPUs and/or drivers.

[citizenkaine]

I fixed my crash by right clicking the game in the steam interface, selecting properties, and unchecking "Enable Steam community in game". Hopefully this will help some of you.

Thanks a lot for the tip citizenkaine; hope this will help people!

[necronom]

okay i experienced the crashes then i posted my first reply and to be honest i havent crashed since. ive been putting serious time in and am lovin it i would reccomend it but with caution-ive started quick saving every one to three minutes and it seems to keep it running. so my best advice would be to buy the game and give it a go,it is only 5 bucks, and to the other posts the new patch sets the affinity for you and compatability mode doesnt work with the shortcut-and disabling in game friends didnt do a thing either. best bet is to set your quick save key to a handy key that you can use easily and repeatedly and if it gets jumpy(video) then quick save if it lags then quick save

[JBBooks]

Originally Posted by Sarakyel

I understand your frustration necronom, but we couldn't manage to reproduce this fatal memory crash people have been complaining about for years. We know its in there somewhere, but we don't have a clue where it comes from, and couldn't experience it after trying the game on a dozen different PCs (running either Vista or 7, both 32 and 64 bits).

I recently started playing this again, when I saw the patch notice. This is a different machine that my 1st play through. I get the “Fatal Memory Error” crash. It happens it two places that I’ve noticed- the majority of the crashes are invoking speech with a character that invoke a plot-line. Just walking up to some and starting a random conversation does not seem to do it. The other, much less frequent occurrence is at level change.
W7 HP 64bit
Core i5 -750
8gb ram
ATI 5770

Originally Posted by citizenkaine

I fixed my crash by right clicking the game in the steam interface, selecting properties, and unchecking "Enable Steam community in game". Hopefully this will help some of you.

This did not help me.

One other bug I’ve noticed is that it can take several attempts to bring up the inventory of corpses, chests, etc.

[Elric]

I own the GOG release of this game so take that into consideration eh.

I've played Arx for a while now with no problems on a Window 7 64 OS.

I had to make some changes using the in game options (Options menu) but other than that no
complaints.

I have had 2 crashes to desktop out of many, many hours played but, really, even new games have the occasional crash.


This is a very good game and definitely worth your time in spite of the difficulty in drawing rune spells. If they release a patch for that I would be a happy camper indeed.

[Nox]

I am running Vista x64. The game crashes to desktop a lot, but I've just gotten into the habit of saving as if I had OCD. Best was several hours without a crash, worst was like 8 crashes in a row within 30 seconds of getting into the game.

It is probably something simple like with other older games - use MSCONFIG to reduce to 2048 MB RAM and change desktop res to 16 bit, but I'm not irritated enough to start mucking with my system.

I have no other visual problems or fast speed. The spell casting is hard to do on the fly, so I keep 3 combat spells on my quickbar at all times and an Invis potion handy. So far haven't needed a potion, but I do wish I could quick cast more spells, or maybe make them stay on the quick cast bar.

[Taril]

The game runs great for me so far. Win7 64 bit. Loving it.

[Drowning Witch]

amazing game. playing it, you really see how much they made games easier nowadays. wish there were more games like arx

[TBCroco]

I have this game since 2002 http://www.abload.de/img/cimg1619zrkd.jpg, i've just installed it on my Windows 7 Pro 64bit.
Got an Intel core 2 Quad at 3,2 Ghz, 4gb ram and geforce GTX 460.
This game (updatet to 1.21) runs like i had an old 486er DX4 with 100mhz!
In mainmenu about 6fps, ingame when text shows up about 17fps, if no text showing up i got 50 fps, but if i'm presing W to move, i am walking.. i mean RUNNING like the roadrunner from looney toons!

But on my tiny netbook with Windows XP Home 32bit, very slow intel Atom 1,6ghz and nVida ION (geforce 9600GS i guess) and 3gb ram, it runs on the same settings in 1080p absolutley smooth and i can move normal at walking speed.

How i can fix this problem on my PC?
I don't like to play it on my netbook instead of my PC.

EDIT: Now i have applyed the patch from Nuky (THX for the patch!) BUT i had problems with the text in menu, nothing was shown up.
After some testing i've tryed to delete "arx_default.ttf" and copy an other ttf from windows to this folder and name it to "arx_default.ttf" and now it works for me "so far".
I can walk normaly and it's playable, but the mainmenu ist very slow after all, and if text shwos up ingame it drops my fps rapidly, but not as bad as before, so it's still playable.

May this (change of arx_default.ttf) will help some others