Diamondhead
Landlubber
How I fixed my Intel 82845G/GL chip to run Pirates (but this should work on any Intel chip)..... Steps 6~8 are the meat of the fix but I put in the other steps for those who aren't super well versed in computer fixin'.
1. Downloaded and installed DirectX 9 from their website for free. For those who have missed it everywhere else, DirectX 9 is required to run the game. Still got crashes and freezes every few seconds/minutes especially at random scene changes, etc.
2. Following Intel's support links I ended up downloading the WIN2K XP149.EXE patch from the link at <a href="http://support.intel.com/support/graphics/intel915g/" target="_blank">http://support.intel.com/support/graphics/intel915g/</a> . This may (or may not?) have been vital to help the chip but I saw no improvements in the game.
3. Tried maxing all video settings (as reported in my post above and in the various Pirates! bug fix forums). This seemed to help a little but still got crashes/freezes.
4. Went to back to <a href="http://support.intel.com/support/gr...+845main" target="_blank">http://support.intel.com/support/gr...+845main</a> for directions on how to check my graphics driver version. My driver was version 6.13.10.3119.
5. Went to <a href="http://support.intel.com/support/gr...-009479.htm#845" target="_blank">http://support.intel.com/support/gr...-009479.htm#845</a> and clicked on my "845G Chipset Family" link at the top of the page. The charts listed my specific driver but supplied no fix information. The information at the bottom of the page told me that my chip driver couldn't run anything higher than DirectX 8 (see version "6.13.xx.xxxx" in #4 above). Aha!....no amount of downloading and installing DirectX 9 would make my computer run Pirates!.
6. Went to <a href="http://support.intel.com/support/ch...b/`CS-009236`.htm" target="_blank">http://support.intel.com/support/ch...b/&#...009236`.htm</a> and selected "Desktops". You can select Laptops, etc. from here.
7. From there I clicked on the link for my particular chipset family (e.g. 845) (http://support.intel.com/support/ch...b/`CS-009236`.htm). Chose your own chipset family's link.
8. From the link in step 7, I downloaded the graphics driver, installation utility and the Application Accelerator for my 845GL chipset and installed them from the download files. After my computer finished rebooting from the installs, all my crashes and freezes were eliminated. All my video setting are maxed out (waves slider is still greyed out) with screen resolution at 1024 x ??? on my 3 year old cheap `Wal-Mart` `Hewlett-Packard` computer and the game hasn't given't me the slightest hiccup since.
NOTE: There was a link for the Application Accelerator installation instructions at Step 7's link page. My computer stopped matching up with the stuff in their instructions so I skipped it and everything turned out fine for me. After the upgrades, my chipset went from being an 82845G/GL to an 83845G/GL/GE/PE/GV chip as listed in the my computer's device manager.
Hope these links and info helps someone else or at saves them a little head scratching by pointing them somewhat in the right direction..... <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="
" border="0" alt="smile.gif" />
1. Downloaded and installed DirectX 9 from their website for free. For those who have missed it everywhere else, DirectX 9 is required to run the game. Still got crashes and freezes every few seconds/minutes especially at random scene changes, etc.
2. Following Intel's support links I ended up downloading the WIN2K XP149.EXE patch from the link at <a href="http://support.intel.com/support/graphics/intel915g/" target="_blank">http://support.intel.com/support/graphics/intel915g/</a> . This may (or may not?) have been vital to help the chip but I saw no improvements in the game.
3. Tried maxing all video settings (as reported in my post above and in the various Pirates! bug fix forums). This seemed to help a little but still got crashes/freezes.
4. Went to back to <a href="http://support.intel.com/support/gr...+845main" target="_blank">http://support.intel.com/support/gr...+845main</a> for directions on how to check my graphics driver version. My driver was version 6.13.10.3119.
5. Went to <a href="http://support.intel.com/support/gr...-009479.htm#845" target="_blank">http://support.intel.com/support/gr...-009479.htm#845</a> and clicked on my "845G Chipset Family" link at the top of the page. The charts listed my specific driver but supplied no fix information. The information at the bottom of the page told me that my chip driver couldn't run anything higher than DirectX 8 (see version "6.13.xx.xxxx" in #4 above). Aha!....no amount of downloading and installing DirectX 9 would make my computer run Pirates!.
6. Went to <a href="http://support.intel.com/support/ch...b/`CS-009236`.htm" target="_blank">http://support.intel.com/support/ch...b/&#...009236`.htm</a> and selected "Desktops". You can select Laptops, etc. from here.
7. From there I clicked on the link for my particular chipset family (e.g. 845) (http://support.intel.com/support/ch...b/`CS-009236`.htm). Chose your own chipset family's link.
8. From the link in step 7, I downloaded the graphics driver, installation utility and the Application Accelerator for my 845GL chipset and installed them from the download files. After my computer finished rebooting from the installs, all my crashes and freezes were eliminated. All my video setting are maxed out (waves slider is still greyed out) with screen resolution at 1024 x ??? on my 3 year old cheap `Wal-Mart` `Hewlett-Packard` computer and the game hasn't given't me the slightest hiccup since.
NOTE: There was a link for the Application Accelerator installation instructions at Step 7's link page. My computer stopped matching up with the stuff in their instructions so I skipped it and everything turned out fine for me. After the upgrades, my chipset went from being an 82845G/GL to an 83845G/GL/GE/PE/GV chip as listed in the my computer's device manager.
Hope these links and info helps someone else or at saves them a little head scratching by pointing them somewhat in the right direction..... <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="
" border="0" alt="smile.gif" />