Black and White 2 crashing

Question

Hi, I recently bought Black and white two again after playing it a long time ago, i still have my old box and cd key but i was missing the Cds. I downloaded the game and download the two patches in the correct order (didn't download the fan patch because it seemed incompatible with my specs), i run the game from the Cd directly and run it as an admin in compatibility mode. I also run the command prompt with the 'sc config secdrv start= demand' command and the "sc start secdrv" command(i also ran command prompt as an admin). after doing all this i can play for around 5-10 minutes before it crashes randomly or when i attempt to save i haven't found any patterns in what i'm doing when i crash so i think its just a random thing, I've searched all over the internet and haven't found anything hope someone can help me.

Specs:

Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit OS

Intel Core i5-3570K CPU @ 3.40GHz

8 GB Ram

AMD Radeon HD 7800 series

Intel Hd graphics 4000

134 GB free of 931 GB

Side note- The computer i'm playing on now is a completely different one from my old computer back in 2006, i haven't had any black and white data on this computer before a few days ago, also i've wiped the installation and reinstalled multiple times with new saves. I'm using a original non "cracked" code for the game so i don't think that could be the problem that i've seen with a lot of other forum writers.

Answer 1

• Are you at a point where the game is only crashing when trying to save ? Does it only happen when

trying to quick save, or does it also happen when doing a manual or auto save ?

• Maybe there is a conflict between the downloaded files and using the disk ?

As you are already using 'unofficial' downloaded files, you may as well also use a noCD fix

black-and-white-2 (use the first one in 'Fixes')

• The game was released in '05, so if you need a Compatibility setting at all, use XP sp2.

I would be inclined to not use any Compatibility setting if the game launches though.

• Your machines hardware is probably a bit to new to expect the diagnostics tool in the game to be accurate.
• Having the HD4000 and AMD card both enabled in Device Manager does no harm.

You may need to set the amount of system RAM that is set aside for the HD4000 graphics in BIOS though.

If your motherboard defaults to 64MB, or other low amount, this could cause the type of message

you are seeing - if using the HD4000 at the time. If your motherboard BIOS has an option for 1GB this should

be adequate for any game the HD4000 is capable of running well.

"Is the 8.17.10.1429 the new driver you were speaking about that i can disable somewhere?"

I mentioned disabling your AMD HD7800 series card while running on the Intel HD4000, but if you don't need to

do this for the HD4000 graphics to run, you don't have to. Just shut down, swap the cable and reboot.

• I have no idea which AMD driver download version number that one corresponds with.

It's confusing the way dxdiag reports some insider type number, while we commoners only see the

version number used for the download ( your AMD control panel may also have the download version number somewhere).

• Anyway... The last driver for your HD7800 series card before they came out with the 'Crimson'

(optimised for Win10 ) was version 15.12 .  You may already have a driver of similar vintage ( '14 or '15) which would

work as well as this one anyway.

http://support.amd.com/en-us/download/desktop/previous/detail?os=Windows%207%20-%2064&rev=15.12

These things often come down to very obscure conflicts with a software or setting that

are found only in that one post on some far off forum.

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Answer 2

Right so as of right now I've always had both the AMD graphics card AND the HD4000 card going at the same time, not sure how but under device manager that's what its telling me. Should i disable one or the other and then test the game? I'm not to savvy so i just wanna run this by you before attempting it. Also the only way i can even start the game up is by disabling that new "secdrv.sys" mess so i have been doing that through a command prompt before starting the game up through the CD.

And by the way at the start menu of the game it has a "diagnostics" tab under it everything passes except my system memory which the game says is 256.5 out of a needed 512.0 (not sure if that's true or its just not accessing all the required memory) and it also says FAIL under my OS which i am running in compatibility mode for this game in windows 98 and the game says it require Windows XP/2000 any suggestions? The diagnostics page also has 'Unknown Compatibility' for Display device (AMD), Display driver (8.17.10.1429), and sound driver which has nothing under my system.

Is the 8.17.10.1429 the new driver you were speaking about that i can disable somewhere?

Thanks for your help!

-- Update real quick, i ran the game in compatibility mode this time in Windows 2000 and its now passing the Diagnostics test for the OS although the memory now says its at "1.0" out of 512.0, I've also ran the memory diagnostic test and no problems were found. Oh and i did the HDD clean up which took about two hours and then ran the game for a couple minutes before it crashed when i tried to save.

Answer 3

If you can run off the HD4000 by simply moving the cable to the motherboard outputs (and maybe enabling

the HD4000 via Device Manager, and rebooting) you don't need to disable the AMD card.

We only need to know if the game runs OK on the HD4000 graphics.

If not we can assume the source of the crash is not from the AMD card or drivers.

• Bad RAM or HDD faults can also cause random crashes such as this. Try running tests on both.

"i read that post windows ten had all the issues with the new "security" features put in place. "

This would be the DRM Blocking, which is built into Win10, leaving no option other than to use a noCD fix/hack

to run games that used SafeDisk DRM and the secdrv.sys drive. Apparently some later versions of SafeDisk

don't use the secdrv.sys driver. This can be verified by Opening the disk and looking for a secdrv.sys file.

It this file is on the disk DRM Blocking will raise it's ugly head.

• However, this same malware is being subversively installed to Win7.8.8.1 via Windows Security Update - KB3086255.

At least wtih Win7/8/8.1 you have three options to circumvent DRM Blocking.

Use the commands to disable DRM Blocking, as you have done, or uninstall the 'Security Update'

(and why not. Using the commands makes the 'update' ineffective anyway. That's assuming someone does one

day write a malware that they direct at secdrv.sys ).

Or us a noCD fix, which I reckon is the best option as it circumvents the whole mess, which makes secdrv.sys a non-issue, and gets around any bugs in the DRM as well. 

(If you downloaded the files, I suppose you may already be using a cracked .exe ?  If so the commands to disable

the DRM Blocking would be redundant).

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Answer 4

Hey thanks for the response the crash comes up with an error message sometimes something like "Black and white two has stopped working" with the loading bar and cancel option etc. I have completely uninstalled the game a couple times and started new saves, so i don't believe it is a problem with my save files but i keep multiple files just in case. Ive also kept my old drivers as far as i know from pre-windows 10, i read that post windows ten had all the issues with the new "security" features put in place. Ill run the HD4000 test and the clean up bot test now and respond with the results. And just as a side note i tried to mention everything i tested i obviously forgot to say i've rolled back on saves and reinstalled multiple times with complete wipes.

--So i have now tried the Clean Boot option, this time when i tried to quick save it crashed on me and gave me the same error message after less than five minutes, i kept all unnecessary programs off and did my typical boot up for the game but to no avail. Im assuming that when you said to try the HD4000 test that was it, but i'm not sure if you meant to do more, am i supposed to disabled my AMD graphics card manually or just the drivers. Thanks for the help so far by the way.

Answer 5

• What sort of crash ? Black Screen or Back to Desktop ? BSOD ?
• Probably won't help, but has been known too... If you are using a driver released in the past year,

try using one that came out before Win10 ( pre 'Crimson' ).

I reckon there would be little or no advantage in using a newer driver with this series card anyway.

• If the game runs without crashing on your HD4000 graphics this would help verify if the recent AMD drivers

are behind the crashes.

• You can also eliminate corrupt saves as a source by backing them up and starting a new game and playing long enough to make a  couple of saves.

If the game has multiple saves, roll back two or three saves and see how that save goes.

• There could be a conflict with a Service or a Starup program. You can verify this by running in Clean Boot ...

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

"I've searched all over the internet and haven't found anything"

If you have not already, always list everything you have tried so you can avoid having to read redundant suggestions.

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