Wizard101 Forum

Just wondering because since the last few lots of Wizard101 maintenance I can hardly play and I'm getting a little peeved. I don't know what is wrong at all instead of just freezing on entry I now freeze all the time.

If it keeps up and Codeweavers do not intend to update for it there will be no need for me to spend any more money to keep this updated.

Thanks
Karen

Hi,

...just so you know, Codeweavers cannot update anything to do with
Wizard101 -- all they could do is update the version of wine Crossover
is based on ... however ... I just had a bit of a search on that angle,
and I cannot discern that having a newer version of wine is actually of
any proven benefit... do you know otherwise?...

... actually, lots of folks play this game, and I believe it's reasonable
to presume that if the game (or any of the recent updates) had starting
'stalling' like you describe, you wouldn't be the only person having such
an issue -- it would affect all installations equally (more or less)...

... in fact, if I were to forget about software altogether, the progression
of the issue as you describe it, closely mimics the fault diagnosis of an
overheating computer -- the symptoms are nearly identical...

.. also, this title involves a lot of online/network interaction, and because
of that, any breakdown/problem on the internet between you and the Wizard101
servers, cause the game to behave exactly as you describe things - indeed,
I believe this is why they recently hoisted a server in .au to alleviate such
problems with network connectivity...

... and, of course, it's always possible that recent game updates have somehow
gone onto corrupt your wizard101 installation - it can happen ; the only way
to check that, would be to create a new bottle and install the game again,
from a fresh start -- I'm unsure if you're tried this yet, but you should to
eliminate this possibility...

...anyhow, I'll check this title in OSX during the current beta -- in fact, I
just started installing it, and there's a notice that their server is down ;
this too, can cause the issues you describe...ie; server problems..

Cheers!

Update:

...well, on the 11,2 iMac here with MacOS 10.7.2 w/ HD5670, the
game installed via crosstie and ran correctly, caveat the following
observations ... (I have tinkered with wizard101 in the past, so I
know what the 'old' staging looked like of a few months ago)...;

• during the install process, I encountered a wine error, which I
  think is related to cxhtml engine (or wininet/winhttp..?...), but
  it's benign in as much as one can dismiss the error, and the install
  process continues as per usual...

• on the HD5670 GPU, changing game resolution to the native max display
  size of 1920x1080 results in the top mac menu bar being visible. Going
  back to 1680x1050 gives the highest resolution without pesky mac menu ;)

...other than that, the game performed as well as it always has, with
none of the issues you describe - this was a clean install using CXG
10.1.2 ; in fact, I think the game frontend runs a lot smoother since
they updated things ... and the gameplay is as steady as ever. When you
load another character, there is a flurry of network communication
generated between the game client and whichever server you're connected
to -- if anything goes wrong/slow in that exchange, it will -appear- to
hang the game (I recreated it by pulling out ethernet port ;), but I
think it's just the game software waiting for data, rather than being
indicative of any problem with the software perse...

..so although I cannot offer any solution, I can assure you it does
install & run 'as expected' here, on the software/hardware I mention...

Cheers!

Thanks Don, I am trying anything I can to see what the problem is, I have played using crossover for nearly 12 months with no real problems so maybe it's coincidental that since the update and the recent maintenance I am having such problems. I tried playing last night after their maintenance on Monday night hoping that things would be better but they are actually worse now. I can't even go into a boss fight without freezing.

So last night I uninstalled Crossover games and reinstalled everything hoping it might fix some issues. So far the freeze on entry is still there but I'm not sure about the other freezes, will hopefully know that tonight. Another thing I will try is to hook up via ethernet and see I have been running off WiFi - but have been since I started playing, will give it a go nevertheless.

Not sure what else I can do now though, it happens even when the computer has just been turned on so can't see it being and overheating problem.

Thanks for the help Don I just hope I can get it working again.

...no problem -- I noticed your email address was from .AU and in
such cases it's always handy to have someone in the same locale
to check things just in case a server issue was apparent (that the
rest of the world isn't experiencing) ; it's happened before...

...you're on the right track vis trying to determine the cause ;
try a fresh install of the game, change your networking interface,
all this stuff is spot on the money ... I have another notion you
should try as well ... what if the problem has to do with your
-account- on the server side? Although it's a bit of a pain, I
would try creating another (different) wizard101 online account,
and see if the problem persists in that account login. I had this
happen with a hotmail account (I have a few) but only one of them
(the oldest one) went totally bonkers last year, while the other
accounts behaved normally -- the problem was the old server slot
my old account was stored on/in...

... finally, although what you say is hopeful (about you not
suspecting it to be a heat related problem because the problem
exists from cold-start), don't let that fool you -- I've 30+ years
under my belt with computer hardware, and our sunburnt land is
pretty hard on computers. What can (and does) happen, is that the
thermal transfer compound between (say) the CPU/GPU and their
related heatsinks dries out (or there wasn't enough there to begin
with), and the chips can overheat just in the process of actually
booting the OS -- then you start a game and things get worse. The
thing that can trick you though, is you might not notice this with
other applications.. like browsing the internet, doing email.. that
sort of usage doesn't demand much from the graphics processor, and
you never notice a problem ; even some 'simple' games won't cause
any problem, but the moment you load something like wizard101, the
temperatures go through the roof... and the thermal protection circuits
kick in and your computer starts freezing/stuttering....

..hopefully that's not the case here, and it's simply a software
issue caused by recent game updates -- this can happen anytime with
apps dependent on online content that's constantly updated. Still,
if it works for me here (and apparently for others as well else there
would be a flood of emails about the same issue), it should work for
you as well ... and if it doesn't, we have a cause and/or reason to
yet discover -- keep us posted with the results of what you try next...

...btw, what exact machine do you have there? (specs)...

Cheers!

Hi Don, I have a Macbook Pro will get the specs for you when I get home. Ok now for the update on what I have tried. lol

Last night connected directly to modem still froze on entry and was stuttering I also installed something called "smcfancontrol" from site below just in case it was an overheating problem. The temp was running high as you suggested but I'm still freezing on entry and stuttering a bit. lol Haven't done any dungeons yet to see behaviour hoping to do that tonight.
I also did maintenance on Mac and a cleanup using OnyX. So far not much difference mmmmm
http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/23049/smcfancontrol

Thanks Don I will post my Mac's Specs when I get home from work and try to think of what to try next.

Hi again,

 ...these sort of issues are hard to pin down, especially  

when one is suspicious of some sort of hardware problem. There's
only a few ways you can try to nail down a possible heat buildup
problem (without paying through the nose to have someone look at it ;)

...one way, is with software ... ie; running a different graphics
intensive app, and observing how the machine behaves. Typically
speaking, I point folks to Cube2 as a possible candidate for same...

http://www.codeweavers.com/compatibility/browse/name/?app_id=7375

..yes, I know ... it's about as far removed from wizard101 (in game
genre) as you can get, it's a 350mb download, and it's a first person
shooter ... but ... it's free, and presents a graphics intensive
environment that's sure to warm the hardware up. This game should
run fast and smooth on a macbook pro...

...the other way, involves several handfuls of crushed ice, one of
those disposable plastic supermarket bags, and a bath-towel =) Put
the crushed ice in the plastic bag (to avoid water getting everywhere)
and then wrap same in the towel -- imagine you're making a cold compress
for the floor of your laptop. Most laptops dissipate much of their heat,
via the bottom machine casing (they use it as a heatsink), so what you
do is sit your (running) laptop ontop of your icy creation and drive the
temperature of the bottom case down -- you should see the reaction to
this act, by watching your thermal monitoring software (which is why it's
important to have the machine running & warmed up first) ; on a laptop
in good serviceable condition, you should see a temperature drop in 5 to
10 seconds or so with the machine sitting idle on desktop/screensaver...

..if it takes longer than 30 ~ 40 seconds for any temperature drop to
be observed like this, one immediately suspects a heatsink/cooling problem
with the machine ... but... just aside that for now -- your makeshift
ice pack is only going to last so long, so you have to keep moving. Once
(and if) you observe a temperature drop in empathy to sitting on the ice
pack, let the machine sit there for a few minutes -- you should be able
to observe an around 10degrees C drop overall on system temps ; once this
is so (or near as dammit), fire up wizard101 and see what happens...

..obviously, if the problem goes away doing this, you've found your culprit...

...else... we'll just have to keep digging =)

Cheers!

Hi Don, I posted before a nice long one but the site went down so here is a shortened version. lol And thank you so much for your help it really is appreciated I so love this game but need to be able to quest with friends without all this trouble. anway here is the specs, not sure what you might need so have done a few. I was also wondering if having 3 nearly 4 legend wiz and 2 others coming up would make a difference, they all have houses and stuff I am trying to sell a lot now to see.

Hardware Overview:

Model Name: MacBook Pro
Model Identifier: MacBookPro5,1
Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed: 2.4 GHz
Number Of Processors: 1
Total Number Of Cores: 2
L2 Cache: 3 MB
Memory: 4 GB
Bus Speed: 1.07 GHz
Boot ROM Version: MBP51.007E.B05
SMC Version (system): 1.33f8
Serial Number (system): W89044Q51G0
Hardware UUID: 2908AB06-59CD-57EF-8C15-B627B2F7D616
Sudden Motion Sensor:
State: Enabled

Not sure why it shows to graphics/Displays but here they both are anyway:

NVIDIA GeForce 9400M:

Chipset Model: NVIDIA GeForce 9400M
Type: GPU
Bus: PCI
VRAM (Total): 256 MB
Vendor: NVIDIA (0x10de)
Device ID: 0x0863
Revision ID: 0x00b1
ROM Revision: 3437
gMux Version: 1.7.3
Displays:
Color LCD:
Resolution: 1440 x 900
Pixel Depth: 32-Bit Color (ARGB8888)
Main Display: Yes
Mirror: Off
Online: Yes
Built-In: Yes
Display Connector:
Status: No Display Connected

NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT:

Chipset Model: NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT
Type: GPU
Bus: PCIe
PCIe Lane Width: x16
VRAM (Total): 256 MB
Vendor: NVIDIA (0x10de)
Device ID: 0x0647
Revision ID: 0x00a1
ROM Revision: 3437
gMux Version: 1.7.3
Displays:
Display Connector:
Status: No Display Connected
Display Connector:
Status: No Display Connected

Not sure if this is relevant but here we go: Serial-ATA

NVidia MCP79 AHCI:

Vendor: NVidia
Product: MCP79 AHCI
Link Speed: 3 Gigabit
Negotiated Link Speed: 3 Gigabit
Description: AHCI Version 1.20 Supported

WDC WD3200BJKT-00F4T0:

Capacity: 320.07 GB (320,072,933,376 bytes)
Model: WDC WD3200BJKT-00F4T0
Revision: 11.01A11
Serial Number: WD-WXMY08LA0618
Native Command Queuing: Yes
Queue Depth: 32
Removable Media: No
Detachable Drive: No
BSD Name: disk0
Rotational Rate: 7200
Medium Type: Rotational
Partition Map Type: GPT (GUID Partition Table)
S.M.A.R.T. status: Verified
Volumes:
Capacity: 209.7 MB (209,715,200 bytes)
Writable: Yes
BSD Name: disk0s1
Macintosh HD:
Capacity: 319.73 GB (319,728,959,488 bytes)
Available: 147.02 GB (147,021,479,936 bytes)
Writable: Yes
File System: Journaled HFS+
BSD Name: disk0s2
Mount Point: /

Hope this helps something, I will try the ice this weekend and I logged on to another account I have set up to hold my TCs - still very jerky but so far no freezing on the entry and also thought I should ad that the freezing does come right after about a minute so not totally frozen.

Thanks again Don I don't know what I would do without you.

PS am installing the game you recommended to try and see how it runs.

,,okay... those machines actually have 2 GPU cores .. the 9400 (which
is considered to be the low power/low performance core to maximize
battery life), and the 9600 core which is higher performance, and eats
battery capacity like kids consume sugar in a lolly shop... =)

... heat build up in macbooks has long been an issue of contention ;
hit a search-engine up with 'macbook overheating problem' and you'll
immediately get the picture here...

... anyhow, keep me posted on your progress here after you've done
a bit more testing ...

Cheers!

Will do thanks Don

ive been having the problem since early october :( I hope it gets fixed

What sort of problems have you been having, mine have actually got worse now. I get kicked off constantly if I'm in Mooshu, I have 3 error messages sitting on my desktop at home, will try to upload them when I get home from work.

Well update on running on my Mac, it has gotten to the stage that now I get kicked off quite frequently. I used to have trouble in Mooshu, now I can hardly move in there and quite often will quit on me. and whereas it was only really MS it's now floating land and just porting home. The other day I was in Hele Tower on last boss, never have had a problem with this place but hey guess what? Yep got kicked off.

Must admit I'm getting a little tired of it and I really don't know what else to do. If I was a little more financial I would be buying a PC because this obviously isn't working for me. The more updates W101 do the less I can play.

Thinking of upgrading my Ram but don't know if this will help so not sure if it's a waste of money or not.

thanks
Karen

As of yet we haven't found many issues with Wizard 101 that are Crossover specific - many users of the game who are playing on PC also experience trouble with freezing and crashes that can vary in accordance with how many players are on their server, issues with their internet connection (brief drops or hiccups in connectivity can cause a freeze), or issues with their hardware.

Upgrading your RAM might help, but personally I wouldn't bother (Don might disagree?). I think the problems with MMORPG's like Wizard 101 usually have more to do with connectivity interruptions (which can be anywhere from your ISP to your router to the network card in your computer) and load on the server that you're playing on than your computer running low on memory and needing more RAM.

Jack Phinney wrote:

snip<

Upgrading your RAM might help, but personally I wouldn't bother
(Don might disagree?). I think the problems with MMORPG's like
Wizard 101 usually have more to do with connectivity interruptions
(which can be anywhere from your ISP to your router to the network
card in your computer) and load on the server that you're playing on
than your computer running low on memory and needing more RAM.

...no, I wouldn't disagree perse -- I could entertain the notion that
the longer you play one of these types of games, the more they tend to
require additional resources (diskspace/ram), and if one only had 2gb
or ram, then probably more ram would help. Here however, we already
know the machine has 4gb and so I'd be dismissive, like yourself, that
ram has anything to do with this....

...I did ask for an ice-pack test on the machine ; I don't see that
any result has been posted in that regard, so I'm still stuck in that
mental loop that's already identified possible overheating problems
with the machine itself.... =)

.... you are quite correct though -- if you have connectivity issues,
that will ... very readily ... cause this sort of issue. For all we
know, it could be ISP, ADSL router, anything like this, and these issues
prove to be difficult to pin down....

... I will make this observation however -- the last time Wizard101
really -did- break in CXG, numerous people posted about same ; it's a
popular game and lots of folks using crossover play it...lots...

http://www.codeweavers.com/compatibility/toplists/

...if there was something generally broken or broken overall, I'll guarantee
this forum (and Jack's inbox =) would be flooded with complaints about same,
but that isn't happening -- we have here 2 people out of a probable 62,000+
users having issues, and with 30+ years of computer experience under my belt,
I'll tell you now those odds are screaming localized failure ... be it the
computer, it's NIC, the router it's connected to, the ISP being used ... you
have to try eliminate some of these variables, or you'll get nowhere with
this....

...me, I'd eliminate everything from the NIC up.... ie; go to a friend's house
who has a 'known good' highspeed internet connection (with a different ISP if
possible), and connect via their network setup. If the problem remains the same,
that would more suggest a failure of the computer itself...

Cheers!

Thanks for your help, I'm not actually blaming codeweavers I think we determined that it was that. I'm just at a loss as to what it is seeing as how I have never had this trouble with the game before. I have put it up on a computer stand so free air flows around it, I tried mcfan (I think it is called), it is now permanently connected to router which is fairly new I suppose the next thing to do is take it to a friends place and maybe try that ice pack will have to get some this weekend. After that maybe get my mac looked at.

thanks

...the stories I could tell you (about hardware failures), looks
like 10,000 page 'who done it?' novels, replete with clues and
red-herrings, but there's never a butler around to blame (sign
of the modern times, that =)...

...I should also have said, in light of you reporting that the
problem just keeps getting worse, that this is -exactly- what
one (as a technician) sees in report, when the problem is machine
overheating. Sadly, not everyone acts upon the first signs of these
problems, and they keep using the machine (to it's detriment).
As I usually work on PC's, and, live in a rural area, I am very
used to cooling grills/fans/heatsinks becoming choked with dust
and other airborne debris clogging things up, and the symptoms
are always reported the same by users...ie; "well, it started
running a bit slower about 12months ago, then it started to lock
up after about 15minutes of using it...now when I start it, it
just keeps resetting itself".... 90% of the time, this is a
system cooling issue....

Cheers!