Problems running FFXI

Considering the gane has had a resurgance of late and long time players show no signs of leaving you would think someone in the dev team would make the game fully compatible for newer machines

There has been no solution as of yet. No one here has been able to help and i was sick of spending all day and night troubleshooting various thing via google research/forums etc. I just gave up in the end and subbed to a newer MMO that doesnt give me any problems. Since playing that and all the other non mmo on my laptop ive had fun...playing XI just turned into an anger management exercise. If you find a fix let me know. Its sad this is how i end a game ive been playing 15 years tbh.

I have the same error wondering what the solution ended up being

<Data>C:\Program Files (x86)\PlayOnline\SquareEnix\PlayOnlineViewer\pol.exe</Data>

<Data>C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\d3d8.dll</Data>

Ive tried literally everything i can with this now. Checked all c++ runtimes from 2005-2015 and they all appaear to be up to date (i have a x64 and x86 for each year

I guess i could try booting in safe mode but thats something ive never done and im worried something i do could mess up the startup process. Same with the dx files corruption method

Ive not done the speedtest.net thing immediately after a crash but i guess i can try that too. I just performed a test with no games running just using edge...

Ping: 31ms

Download: 36.79 Mbps

Upload: 8.53 Mpbs

• Yes, the new Sign In every time is a nuisance. Used to sign in automatically until the past couple of days.

-  The other games, and your general Windows functions aren't having any problems, so I reckon the

problem must have to do with the game, PlayOnline, or Windower4 (all three in combo ?) .

Their interaction with your internet/network connection could be the issue, but the crash may just show up

in Event Viewer that way because you are on line when the game crashes.

• Can you run the game off line ? Does it still crash ?
• Another troubleshooting option that may be worth trying is to run in Clean Boot. This will help determine

if a Service or Starup program is conflicting with the game.

How to troubleshoot a problem by performing a clean boot in Windows Vista or in Windows 7

• All versions of DirextX are independent of each other. DX12 does not 'contain' any other versions of DX.
• All DX12 signifies in Win10 is the highest level of DX that Win10 can use.  Similarly Win7/8/8.1 showed DX11.

There are only a handful of recent release games that can actually use DX12, and DX12 is irrelevant to FFXI

 (As are DX10/11 - but maybe not DX9 ?  ).

A lot of games have options for DX10/11 effects which can be selected in the games graphics setup,

but the game will run mainly on a specific  DX9 dynamic link library ( .dll file ),  eg- d3dx9_28.dll.

In the past few years some games have been exclusive to DX10 or DX11, but while DX9 is on the way out

the majority of games are still capable of running on DX9.

[ One thing I am not clear on is how games released for DX7/8 are still able to run on DX9. It may just be

these games are DX9 but the game specs state DX7 or higher graphics cards ? 

EDIT: I've been playing around with this.  Some (most?) older games have options OpenGL as well as

DirectX, or 3DFx, so these games may be using OpenGL in the absence of DX8 in Windows

(assuming the game does not install a DX file in the games folder, as some do ) ?

• Note that most games also have an installer for the version of DX the game uses on the games install disk,

but after running the DX8 setup on my MOH-AA disk I see no new files in Windows. ]

• The  d3d8thk.dll  is the only  DX8 file in Windows from Win7 on*,*but the game may install a d3d8.dll

in the games folder.

Judging by the error it may come with PlayOnline, so it may be in the folder this is installed to.

If the d3d8.dll file is corrupt reinstalling  PlayOnline should have fixed the issue though.

• You could also try downloading a d3d8.dll  from  a .dll download site. If you do, be sure to scan the file

with your AV and crosscheck that by scanning with Malwarebytes, as .dll download sites have a somewhat

bad reputation.

If you can find a d3d8.dll file in one of the folders that the game or other two components are installed to,

replace that file with the 'new' one. Otherwise you can pop in into System32 and see if that helps.

You will need to register the file as well.

http://www.wikihow.com/Register-a-DLL

• I would have thought that if FFDXI is still active and has been kept up to date that it would be running

using DX9 by now. The game was released on PC in '04 which was already well into DX9 era.

I can't offer any suggestions regarding issues with FFXI, as I've never had any involvement in this game.

But as I said previously - The game selects which DX file it needs, not Windows.

• Your search shows that you do have all of the DX versions and files, except - d3dx11_42  & 43 (maybe you

missed them when typing the list, but it would not affect this game regardless ).

Two options for updating and reparing DX:

• You seem to have run the DX Web Installer - " no need cuz im up to date."

When using a 'clean' Windows install it's advisable to run the DirectX Web Installer to 'update' DX.

Note that the Web Installer only installs 'missing' files and does not overwrite corrupt files as does the

full DX Redist (June 2010) installer.

Download DirectX End-User Runtime Web Installer from Official Microsoft Download Center

• The DirectX Redist (June 2010) is what you need when there is suspicion of a corrupt DX file.

Download Details - Microsoft Download Center - DirectX Redist (June 2010)

Note - The installer first unpacks files to a location of your choice. You then open the folder

and find the DXSETP.exe  and run that to reinstall DirectX.

Once the reinstall is complete you can delete the folder the files were unpacked to.

• Another reason for DirectX errors is if your graphics accelerator (either Integrated graphics or graphics card)

does not meet the specifications of the game.

• If your graphics processor is overheating there is also a possibility of a DX related error when the game crashes
• Corrupt graphics or audio driver installation can also cause DX errors.
• On the very long shot of ISP speed.

If your ISP is at fault you have to make a complaint to them. You can determine if your speed drops

dramatically when you are play FFXI by checking the speed with  Speedtest.net.

There is a small chance that a game would crash while playing online if the speed dropped suddenly and

dramatically while a lot of activity is happening in the game. Bad lag in the game is more likely than crashing

though. Too high ping is more likely to get you kicked from the game vs the game crashing.

If you test the speed before starting the game, and again immediately after a crash you can get some

idea of if there has been a big drop in speed.

Speedtest.net - The Global Broadband Speed Test