General game troubleshooting tips!
Here are a few quick fixes that might help!
- Reboot!
- I know, i know. Everyone says this right? In this day and age this shouldn't be an issue. With windows XP (even NT) the Opperating system loads in a different section of the computers memory to any applications you're running so this shouldn't make a difference. However it still can! Not very often however and the sort of issue this would relate to is nasty slowdown or unexpected behavoir in programs you know have run fine before. Usually this is my last resort, however it's worth bearing in mind!
- Re-install!
- Simply put here, something may have happened to the game files. Perhaps another program has removed a settings file or updated a system file with a different version that is not compatible? The only sure-fire way to get this back is to re-install the game.
- Check the settings file for problems!
- This one is a little more technical. The idea being that some games keep a "settings.txt" or similar file that can be easily modified using the windows notepad. Problems here include issues such as incompatible screen resolutions, the value of which you could change from this file.
If you are able to open this then I recommend you be careful since it's possible to do more damage to the game if you don't keep the layout of the file intact!
- Check the opperating system compatibility of the game!
- If you are currently running Windows XP this will be for older games only.
Microsoft have very kindly given us extra functionallity to emulate their older opperating systems for older programs or games. To set this you need to right click on the game link (on the desktop) and select the "compatability" tab (in Vista anyway, not sure where this is on XP now?). You can then select from a dropdown box what version of windows you would like to run the game as.
Failing that there are some more involved game troubleshooting activities you can do to help get the game working below:
Graphics Cards and Drivers - Don't Panic!
Black screens? Wrongly displayed textures? Messed up lighting? Does the game appear to work but just looks wrong?
Quite often most problems like this occur because the drivers for your graphics card are not up to date and it's normally my first port of call when dealing with games that are not working.
(Sometimes it's because you card just isn't supported! Obviously it's a good idea to check this before you buy the game.)
This section deals with finding out what graphics card you currently have and where to find the appropriate drivers for it!
Game troubleshooting guide - graphics card drivers (click here to read)
Windows Updates
Some problems can be caused by windows not being fully up to date. Many games rely upon updates that Microsoft themselves have made.
Here will be a quick guide on making sure all windows updates are installed. This includes installing the latest version of DirectX and how to do a DirectX diagnostic.
Game troubleshooting guide - updating windows (click here to read)
Game Patches
Surprisingly (or not) most games come out with minor, or major bugs that were not caught during quality control.
So sometimes a "patch" is released that upgrades the game to fix the bug or in some cases to introduce new features.
Click here to read the guide on PC game patching that will explain all!
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