CFS3 Crashes to Desktop When Multiplayer Starts

[Buzzboy]

Hey all! CFS3 worked great for me for months of multiplayer mayhem. Then I installed the 3.1 patch.. and now I'm dead!!! :-/ I think multiplayer stopped working after I tried the 3.1 No-CD fix with the 3.1 patch. Now multiplayer crashes to the desktop with freshly installed 3.0 with or without the 3.0 no-cd fix. Also freshly installed 3.1. Could it be DirectX 9.0? Does anyone know how to revert to Direct X 8.0?
Thanks, Rich

[ozzy72]

to the best of my knowledge there is no way to revert to dx8 other than re-installing your OS. Maybe if you can find a copy you could try overwriting dx9, but I wouldn't bet on it, as when M$ released it, it had the big bad no revert warning...

Sorry
Ozzy

[Bogey51]

Hey Buzz,
I don't think it's DX9 that's causing you grief, it's the 3.1 upgrade. I was connecting in MP before the patch using the DX9 beta with no problems at all. Since I installed the patch I can only connect once in a while even if I completely disable my firewall. When I go to multiplayer and try to join a game, the "loading" window pops up and nothing happens until finally the music stops and soon after that I get a screen telling me that CFS3 has caused an error and will be shut down and an error report screen from microsoft pops up. Does this sound familiar at all?

[Buzzboy]

:)Hey Bogey thanks for the reply!
Sounds like you are experiencing a somewhat different multiplayer failure than I am. I crash to the desktop as soon as the program tries to retreive the server list, to show the available games. In other words, I press the multiplayer tab on the left side of my screen and before I have a chance to hit the "log in" button, the whole cfs3 program just closes up like it was never open, no errors or anything! I've uninstalled and reinstalled it over and over and it won't work in 3.0 or 3.1!  >:(Single player works just fine!!!
Thanks to you too Ozzy! I don't want to reinstall WinXP to revert to DX8, so if DX9 is the problem I'll have to wait untill MS puts out another patch to CFS3 or to DX9!! :-/

[Bogey51]

Hey Buzz, what are your system specs, especially amount of ram and what kind of internet connection do you have, ie cable,DSL, 56k?

[corvette]

I tried the reverting back to DX8.xx myself,and the easiest way to do that,(if your running WinXP) is to do the system restore thing back to a day previous to the time you installed DX9. I too have the same multiplayer connect problems with the error window and the send report thing coming up,similar to bogey51, and as he said, if you hunt enuff for a host you can join some games, but the booting back to the desktop sounds to me as a failure of the game to recognize a peripheral in you system, such as video card, sound card, etc. Your going to have to make sure that all your peripheral drivers are able to work with DX9, as well as your motherboard drivers. You can try to find the problem by typing "dxdiag" in the "run" portion of the start menu, it may then tell you what is wrong there

[Buzzboy]

Thanks for the input Guys!
DXDIAG Says:

------------------
System Information
------------------
Time of this report: 3/6/2003, 12:00:12
      Machine name: DELL
  Operating System: Windows XP Home Edition (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 1 (2600.xpsp1.020828-1920)
          Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: Dell Computer Corporation      
      System Model: XPS-Z                          
              BIOS: Default System BIOS
         Processor: Intel Pentium III, ~1.0GHz
            Memory: 384MB RAM
         Page File: 257MB used, 1112MB available
       Windows Dir: C:\WINDOWS
   DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0 (4.09.0000.0900)
DX Setup Parameters: /PackageInstall
    DxDiag Version: 5.03.0000.0900 32bit Unicode

------------
DxDiag Notes
------------
 DirectX Files Tab: No problems found.
     Display Tab 1: No problems found.
       Sound Tab 1: No problems found.
       Sound Tab 2: No problems found.
       Sound Tab 3: No problems found.
         Music Tab: No problems found.
         Input Tab: No problems found.
       Network Tab: The registry information for the DirectPlay application 'Combat Flight Simulator' is missing or damaged.  You should reinstall that application. The registry information for the DirectPlay application 'Combat Flight Simulator 2' is missing or damaged.  You should reinstall that application.
:-/ ???
Note: Both CFS1 and CFS2 have previously been uninstalled. I think I will try reinstalling them to straighten out the registry. I'll let you know if that helps!

[Buzzboy]

OK! I reinstalled CFS1 and CFS2 and that got rid of the errors in DXDIAG!! Then I reinstalled CFS3 and nothing has changed- as soon as I hit "multiplayer" I'm back to my desktop...
Weird, huh? Any More Ideas?? :-/

[Buzzboy]

Update: I loaded the latest NVIDIA Drivers (43.00) No Difference.. Then I reinstalled CFS3 after "Clean Booting" XP- Still no Difference.. any other ideas?
Thanks!!

[Bogey51]

Hey Buzz
Are you running a firewall or connected through a router to a network?

[Buzzboy]

Hi Bogey. I'm using a Linksys BSFR41 Cable router..I haven't suspected it up till now because it worked fine with CFS3. Could a port be involved?
Rich

[Buzzboy]

:o ;D >:( Hey it was the STiNKING CABLE ROUTER!!! After Bogey51 brought up the cable router, I tried putting the computer on the DMZ of the router. This didn't change anything.  ::)Then just  for the hell of it , I decided to upgrade the firmware of my cable router from the 4.22.Z version to 4.22.2. Even though the update concerned nothing remotely related to my problem. Guess What!! CFS3 can now go Multiplayer!!! I think the firmware must have gotten scrambled, because the previous version had worked multiplayer CFS3 for months before the problem arose! Thanks all you guys for the help!! Now, Please go online so I can BLAST YOUR ARSES OUT OF THE SKY LIKE BEFORE!!!!!! [glb]TEXT[/glb][glb]TEXT[/glb]STUFF

[Bogey51]

I thought it might be the problem because I had a similar problem with my router when I first installed it. Glad you got it worked out, maybe I'll see you on line!