MTW Gold Black screen

**fergusandrew** · July 23, 2008, 09:06 AM

Hey, I've recently installed MTW Gold on my laptop, which went perfectly well, but whenever I try to run it everything goes south. I get the grey TW logo and clashing sound effect but after that the screen just goes black and I have to restart the laptop. Now I've searched the forum for solution, and it seems that this issue has appeared before, but they never seemed to get very far (http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...=medieval+gold and http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...=medieval+gold and http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...=medieval+gold)
The main answer seems to be that MTW is just a bit of a prude when it comes to certain hardware, but I'm holding out for another solution, and here's the first chunk of my dxdiag if that helps (and more than happy to post more).

------------------
System Information
------------------
Time of this report: 7/22/2008, 00:25:11
Machine name: LAPTOP
Operating System: Windows XP Home Edition (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 2 (2600.xpsp_sp2_gdr.070227-2254)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: TOSHIBA
System Model: Satellite Pro L100
BIOS: Phoenix NoteBIOS 4.0 Release 6.1
Processor: Intel(R) Celeron(R) M processor 1.50GHz
Memory: 222MB RAM
Page File: 271MB used, 273MB available
Windows Dir: C:\WINDOWS
DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
DxDiag Version: 5.03.2600.2180 32bit Unicode
------------
DxDiag Notes
------------
DirectX Files Tab: No problems found.
Display Tab 1: The file ati2dvag.dll is not digitally signed, which means that it has not been tested by Microsoft's Windows Hardware Quality Labs (WHQL). You may be able to get a WHQL logo'd driver from the hardware manufacturer. DirectDraw test results: All tests were successful. Direct3D 7 test results: All tests were successful. Direct3D 8 test results: All tests were successful. Direct3D 9 test results: All tests were successful.
Sound Tab 1: DirectSound test results: All tests were successful.
Music Tab: DirectMusic test results: All tests were successful.
Input Tab: No problems found.
Network Tab: No problems found. DirectPlay test results: The tests were cancelled before completing.
--------------------
DirectX Debug Levels
--------------------
Direct3D: 0/4 (n/a)
DirectDraw: 0/4 (retail)
DirectInput: 0/5 (n/a)
DirectMusic: 0/5 (n/a)
DirectPlay: 0/9 (retail)
DirectSound: 0/5 (retail)
DirectShow: 0/6 (retail)
---------------
Display Devices
---------------
Card name: Radeon Xpress 200M Series (Omega 3.8.442)
Manufacturer: ATI Technologies Inc. (Omega 3.8.442)
Chip type: ATI Radeon Xpress Series (0x5A62)
DAC type: Internal DAC(400MHz)
Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_5A62&SUBSYS_FF311179&REV_00
Display Memory: 32.0 MB
Current Mode: 1024 x 768 (32 bit) (60Hz)
Monitor: Generic Television
Monitor Max Res: 640,480
Driver Name: ati2dvag.dll
Driver Version: 6.14.0010.6755 (English)
DDI Version: 9 (or higher)
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
Driver Date/Size: 12/5/2007 04:04:08, 269312 bytes
WHQL Logo'd: No
WHQL Date Stamp: None
VDD: n/a
Mini VDD: ati2mtag.sys
Mini VDD Date: 12/5/2007 06:26:40, 2782208 bytes
Device Identifier: {D7B71EE2-1922-11CF-AA68-3BDFA1C2CB35}
Vendor ID: 0x1002
Device ID: 0x5A62
SubSys ID: 0xFF311179
Revision ID: 0x0000
Revision ID: 0x0000
Video Accel: ModeMPEG2_C ModeMPEG2_D
Deinterlace Caps: {6E8329FF-B642-418B-BCF0-BCB6591E255F}: Format(In/Out)=(YUY2,YUY2) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,1) Caps=VideoProcess_YUV2RGB VideoProcess_StretchX VideoProcess_StretchY DeinterlaceTech_PixelAdaptive
{335AA36E-7884-43A4-9C91-7F87FAF3E37E}: Format(In/Out)=(YUY2,YUY2) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,0) Caps=VideoProcess_YUV2RGB VideoProcess_StretchX VideoProcess_StretchY DeinterlaceTech_BOBVerticalStretch
{552C0DAD-CCBC-420B-83C8-74943CF9F1A6}: Format(In/Out)=(NV12,0x3231564e) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,2) Caps=VideoProcess_YUV2RGB VideoProcess_StretchX VideoProcess_StretchY DeinterlaceTech_PixelAdaptive
{6E8329FF-B642-418B-BCF0-BCB6591E255F}: Format(In/Out)=(NV12,0x3231564e) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,1) Caps=VideoProcess_YUV2RGB VideoProcess_StretchX VideoProcess_StretchY DeinterlaceTech_PixelAdaptive
{335AA36E-7884-43A4-9C91-7F87FAF3E37E}: Format(In/Out)=(NV12,0x3231564e) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,0) Caps=VideoProcess_YUV2RGB VideoProcess_StretchX VideoProcess_StretchY DeinterlaceTech_BOBVerticalStretch
{6E8329FF-B642-418B-BCF0-BCB6591E255F}: Format(In/Out)=(YUY2,YUY2) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,1) Caps=VideoProcess_YUV2RGB VideoProcess_StretchX VideoProcess_StretchY DeinterlaceTech_PixelAdaptive
{335AA36E-7884-43A4-9C91-7F87FAF3E37E}: Format(In/Out)=(YUY2,YUY2) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,0) Caps=VideoProcess_YUV2RGB VideoProcess_StretchX VideoProcess_StretchY DeinterlaceTech_BOBVerticalStretch
{552C0DAD-CCBC-420B-83C8-74943CF9F1A6}: Format(In/Out)=(NV12,0x3231564e) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,2) Caps=VideoProcess_YUV2RGB VideoProcess_StretchX VideoProcess_StretchY DeinterlaceTech_PixelAdaptive
{6E8329FF-B642-418B-BCF0-BCB6591E255F}: Format(In/Out)=(NV12,0x3231564e) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,1) Caps=VideoProcess_YUV2RGB VideoProcess_StretchX VideoProcess_StretchY DeinterlaceTech_PixelAdaptive
{335AA36E-7884-43A4-9C91-7F87FAF3E37E}: Format(In/Out)=(NV12,0x3231564e) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,0) Caps=VideoProcess_YUV2RGB VideoProcess_StretchX VideoProcess_StretchY DeinterlaceTech_BOBVerticalStretch
Registry: OK
DDraw Status: Enabled
D3D Status: Enabled
AGP Status: Enabled
DDraw Test Result: All tests were successful.
D3D7 Test Result: All tests were successful.
D3D8 Test Result: All tests were successful.
D3D9 Test Result: All tests were successful.

**Brusilov** · July 23, 2008, 09:54 AM

It was interesting to see this line;

Monitor Max Res: 640,480

The followng is what I use (I am currently playing at my max resolution (1920x1200));

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

**irishron** · July 23, 2008, 10:17 AM

640x480? I haven't seen that since the o l d VGA days.

**Brusilov** · July 23, 2008, 02:12 PM

Originally Posted by irishron

640x480? I haven't seen that since the o l d VGA days.

Yes, the strange thing is that two lines above it shows that the game is being played at 1024 x 768...

Also, the line in between is a bit of a worry; Monitor: Generic Television

**irishron** · July 23, 2008, 06:56 PM

Generic television? On a laptop with onbard graphics chip? On ATI's site the chip looks like it should handle it except for the memory. The dxdiag says 32mb and that's max and if I'm reading the online specs right, it's even shared memory.

**Brusilov** · July 24, 2008, 03:14 AM

I read the following (from the page in the link below) "HyperMemory™ is innovative technology that seamlessly enables the Graphics Processing Unit to use a combination of local and shared system memory with real-time performance at a reduced consumer cost and up to 128MB of memory."

So, does that mean that it can be configured to have more (up to 128MB)?

Technical specs;
http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/...E14631,00.html

**irishron** · July 24, 2008, 03:24 AM

Looks like a good one to me. Did you read the tv output section? maximum supported resolution is 1024x768 via dvd port. Is that where the generic television coming from?

**Brusilov** · July 24, 2008, 03:39 AM

I think the original poster may have some questions to answer. I'm glad I've got a GeForce GO 7900 in my laptop (it's over a year old).

**fergusandrew** · July 25, 2008, 08:43 AM

Well the default resolution is 1024 x 768, so I'm a bit confused about this 640,480 business. As for the TV output stuff, I'm not entirely sure how to answer that.

**fergusandrew** · July 27, 2008, 09:03 AM

Seems as if it had nothing to do with drivers or any of that jazz, I renamed the intro.mpg in the credits\legal folder which stopped the movie loading and now I don't have any problems at all.
Thanks for the help though.

**Brusilov** · July 29, 2008, 06:34 AM

Originally Posted by fergusandrew

Seems as if it had nothing to do with drivers or any of that jazz, I renamed the intro.mpg in the credits\legal folder which stopped the movie loading and now I don't have any problems at all.
Thanks for the help though.

You could always use the '-nm' switch on the shortcut target which achieves the same without the need to rename files.

My understanding is that the movies are played with Windows Media Player - make sure you've got the most recent version.