Client.ini keeps resetting and Layout issues

Hi everyone,

I'm relatively new to ISBoxer, but I have it setup the way I want it except for two things:

1. For one of my characters, the .ini file appears to not save or is reset every time I load the game. It works fine for the other two toons. Why do I say this? Because some basic settings (like showing Merc names off, etc.), keep resetting on that toon every time I load. I've tried copying the original .ini into the virtual one - it warned me that it was not in windowed mode and did I want to change it - yes - but same problem. Again, the other two toons work fine. Does someone have some information about the mechanics of how it reads and updates .ini files for each toon and how to look into this further?

2. I always crash out if I load with my team with a Layout assigned. It's a simple, Wizard-created, layout, but if it's showing in the team, I get into the load screen of the first toon and then it just dies (no errors). If I remove the layout it loads up fine, and then I put the layout back in and export it and it's fine and works - I just can't load it and without any errors, it's basically impossible to work out what's wrong. I have tried many different layouts, even loading more than 1, but always the same result.

If there are any files / settings etc. that you need to see in order to help with these issues, please let me know. Neither is a game stopper, although the lack of a persistent .ini file is really annoying because there are so many things that need to be reset each time.

Any help or guidance would be much appreciated.


Cheers,

Creac

[bob]

1. For one of my characters, the .ini file appears to not save or is reset every time I load the game. It works fine for the other two toons. Why do I say this? Because some basic settings (like showing Merc names off, etc.), keep resetting on that toon every time I load. I've tried copying the original .ini into the virtual one - it warned me that it was not in windowed mode and did I want to change it - yes - but same problem. Again, the other two toons work fine. Does someone have some information about the mechanics of how it reads and updates .ini files for each toon and how to look into this further?

Not really. ISBoxer uses some windows features to tell the game that when it wants to read eqclient.ini it should really read eqclient-charnameX.ini. Aside from some simple checking initially for settings that should be different (like display sizes), ISBoxer doesn't write to the file, the game does. Why do your game settings not save to it? Because the GAME is not writing them. If the game is not exiting cleanly, that would be the most probable cause.

2. I always crash out if I load with my team with a Layout assigned. It's a simple, Wizard-created, layout, but if it's showing in the team, I get into the load screen of the first toon and then it just dies (no errors). If I remove the layout it loads up fine, and then I put the layout back in and export it and it's fine and works - I just can't load it and without any errors, it's basically impossible to work out what's wrong. I have tried many different layouts, even loading more than 1, but always the same result.

We will need your profile, and probably a diagnostic.

Thanks for the reply.

1. The game is working - if I load EQ client by itself, any changes work and it doesn't fail to update and it doesn't reset. Something funky going on. Also, the other two toons work within ISBoxer.

2. http://www.privatepaste.com/download/5bb482cda1

Can't do the diagnostic - it crashes before the refresh updates so I can't select it...


Cheers,

Creac

[lax]

Can't do the diagnostic - it crashes before the refresh updates so I can't select it...

Unless ISBoxer Toolkit is crashing, then look at the diagnostic instructions again. They indicate that if the game or launcher is crashing, to run the game or launcher without Inner Space so it stops crashing, so you can get the diagnostics. It was originally designed for people who couldn't run a game at all because the game crashes immediately -- so we're not impressed here if the game is crashing. Please provide the diagnostics

As far as your configuration, the eqclient.ini file virtualization looks fine. The issue with eqclient.ini is not an issue of your ISBoxer configuration as far as I can tell. There's nothing different in your configuration between the different virtual files, other than the names.

Hi,

Thanks for the follow up.

1. There is definitely a disconnect between the .ini being used (and updated or not as the case may be) for one of the toons between ISBoxer and running the game by itself as stand alone or with WinEQ2. Is there anyway to reset where ISBoxer is picking up the .ini from to force it to grab and virtualise the correct one, perhaps? What if I turn off virtualising - what is the impact?

2. Here's the link for the diagnostics as requested: http://www.privatepaste.com/2b50ac8b5d

That is EQ just running natively. Please note, EQ is not crashing except in one very specific scenario: When my team has assigned a window layout (which is 1 full screen on monitor 1 and 2 full res but small windows on monitor 2 as my normal, but in fact with ANY layout assigned). If I load ISBoxer with no layout assigned, it all loads properly. I can then add a layout, export to Inner Space, and everything works. If I load EQ by itself or with WinEQ2 with multiple instances, it all works. So it's only in the one specific case of loading via a team in ISBoxer with a window layout assigned that it crashes during EQ login. The crash is that the window simply disappears and the EQ instance is gone - terminated - kaput, with no errors and it's time related - it's not that it crashes at a particular sequence in the login - if I type faster I get further and if I type nothing to login then it still crashes at the same time point and I think it's related to ISboxer starting the load of the next team member because if I change the value for when to do that, it does change when the crash happens. So, it would appear that the crash is due to something on the ISBoxer side. It is probably something in my setup, rather than a bug with ISboxer, but I need help to determine what's going on, please.

[bob]

1. There is definitely a disconnect between the .ini being used (and updated or not as the case may be) for one of the toons between ISBoxer and running the game by itself as stand alone or with WinEQ2. Is there anyway to reset where ISBoxer is picking up the .ini from to force it to grab and virtualise the correct one, perhaps? What if I turn off virtualising - what is the impact?

It has nothing to do with paths or anything. The game says that it wants to open a file called eqclient.ini, ISBoxer tells it to use eqclient-charname.ini instead. The location has nothing to do with it. There is no disconnect at all. If the game fails to write to the file, then it fails to write. This is not the fault of ISBoxer, but probably something else altogether, such as a silent crash.

2. Here's the link for the diagnostics as requested: http://www.privatepaste.com/2b50ac8b5d

And your problem is probably this.

Code:

Application Compatibility flags under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AppCompatFlags\Layers:
0 C:\Users\Public\Sony Online Entertainment\Installed Games\EverQuest\eqgame.exe: $ IgnoreFreeLibrary<Lavish.dll>

Edit the registry and delete this entry.

It could also be caused by UltraMon which is hooking the game process too, but the AppCompatibility setting is the most likely culprit.
And if that is not it, it could be the Samsung Magician software. That has caused some unexplained behaviour in the past.

Hi Bob,

Thanks for the feedback.

Regarding issue 1, I'm sorry, I'm not being clear.

If I change something in standalone Everquest it writes to the .ini file and it works. The change is persistent at the next loading (for example, whether to have mercenary names showing or not). If I load via ISBoxer, that change is not there and if I make a change in Everquest that is in an ISBoxer session, that works during the session, but on the next load via ISBoxer, it is not there. It is also not evident if I load Everquest natively.

So there IS a disconnect somewhere, somehow. I'm sure it's something to do with how I've set it up rather than a bug, but I need someone to explain to me, please, how I can reset it in ISBoxer to pick up the correct .ini file (the base, EQ one) to create the virtualised file that is being used. I need to understand the process of how and when the virtual version is created and how and when it (if it does) gets updated and so on.

From my mind, when I first run this it needs to grab the native .ini file to create the virtual one and it seems to have done that fine for 2 out of 3 toons. Something went wrong on one of them and now it doesn't work. How do I make it re-grab that native .ini to recreate the virtualised one so that it picks up all the correct settings?

Regarding issue 2, thank you. Is there some background on what's happening here and why this is causing an issue and what are the other implications of removing that registry entry? What is the purpose of it and what is it trying to do (before I delete it, I need to understand any other impact it may have, please).

Thank you for your continuing help - it's much appreciated.


Cheers,

Creac

[lax]

Are the ini files ISBoxer is trying to use read only for some reason? Or it could be denied permission to write to the file for some other reason?

To reset it just delete the eqclient-charname.ini file, without the game running. This will have ISBoxer re-copy it from the main eqclient.ini file

Thanks, Lax.

I've checked, and no read only (and they were updated by native EQ last night whilst raiding, just to confirm).

Appreciate the info on the virtual files - I'll try that now.


Cheers,

Creac

OK - deleting it appears to have solved the problem - it's loading up with the latest changes made from the native EQ session, so all is good. Perhaps somewhere along the way I managed to corrupt the file? Either way, all good now. Thanks for that!

If I can get some confirmation about the registry change, then I can try that, and possibly fix the loading issue On a side note to that, when I load up the FPS rate is showing, even though I have it disabled. It's fine once the game fully loads, but is that any clue as to something that I might not have setup correctly, or is it normal to start with the FPS showing and then disable it as the profile is loaded?