Exception_Access_Violation (EB2 wont start at all)

[Fungus Zits]

Downloaded 1.03 from GamersHell and installed. Clicking EB2 desktop icon or ebook2.exe immediately springs an Exception_Access_Violation error. The Launch settings dialogue doesnt even display. Ive tried:

#redownloading & reinstalling
#resetting permissions
#creating a new Admin User account
#changing resolutions (with aspect ratio true and false)
#editing *.cfg to create saved game folders to EB2 install folder (the saved games folders are/were being created in the default folder)
#googling for a common solution

..all with the same no go result. I have never had this error before with any other games or software.

Any suggestions?


•XP SP3 (Admin User)
•Intel Core 2 Quad Q8200
•4GB DDR2 800Mhz
•nVIDIA® GeForce 9800GT 512MB DDR3
•100GB Free HDD Space

[BasiliskWrangler]

- Make sure your OS is up to date.

- Make sure you have the latest video and audio drivers.

- Make sure you have the latest DirectX drivers.

[Fungus Zits]

I never did get this going. Have tried all the obvious things and I seem to be up to date on all aspects: XPsp3 (+ all updates since sp3 release), DX9c, Graphics and all drivers are all good etc. Im puzzled why no one else seems to have this problem with EB2, yet I dont have any other software issues here. Any ideas what I could try or how I can find out whats going on here?

[CrazyBernie]

Are you running OpenAL drivers?

[Fungus Zits]

Thanks for the hint Bernie. Was indeed an audio issue. The sound card is a Creative Sound Blaster Live 5.1 PCI card. With a couple of hiccups Ive reinstalled the newest driver and am now up and running.

Out of curiosity is there a way of disabling Eschalon from calling on the sound mechanics before the game loads, for instance, in the EB2.cfg, can the 'audiodriver=DirectSound' be set to null or something?

Respect to you.

[CrazyBernie]

Yes. You set it to... "Null"... but you weren't even getting to the point where it would have created the .cfg file yet. I'd say it should be Null by default, but I forsee a lot of people complaining that they don't have sound... because they don't take the time to look at the options.

[drewho]

getting the same issue,
what was that about OpenAL drivers?

[vladro]

latest Open AL was installed, but got the same problem.

sound devices:
ATI HDMI Audio
SoundMAX Integrated Digital HD Audio

OS:Win7 with all updates.

[CrazyBernie]

Did you try uninstalling them completely?

[vladro]

Did you try uninstalling them completely?

do you mean previous open al uninstalling? yes, i did. uninstalled it completely using revo unistaller.

[BasiliskWrangler]

Uninstall OpenAL drivers, and do not reinstall them. This problem is caused because there are "loose standards" with OpenAL and some hardware will not initialize properly.

Get rid of all OpenAL, and your game should start fine.

[vladro]

unistalled open al completely, rebooted pc. got the same error when started game.

[CrazyBernie]

Ok... try disabling all audio devices in the device manager... that should bypass the sound detection and set it to Null.

[vladro]

Ok... try disabling all audio devices in the device manager... that should bypass the sound detection and set it to Null.

disabled all audio devices (audio driver became to null) - the same result