Solutions for Warhammer 40000 : Dawn Of War 2 errors, crashes & graphics/audio problems

Earlier we reported about Warhammer 40000 : Dawn of War 2 being leaked on BitTorrent. This post aims to discuss errors, crashes, graphics issues, sound issues, language issues and various other problems you may encounter with the game. Also included in the article are download links for recommended drivers and software that are required to run DoW 2 (Steam, GFWL 2.0, etc). More solutions and tips to enhance performance will be added as they are discovered.

Note that the first patch for Dawn of War 2 is scheduled to be released  on the same day as the game’s North American street date. This patch will hopefully fix most of the problems with the game. When the patch is released, the article will be updated with a download link.

How to change game settings manually by editing DOW 2 configuration files

Like all previous Relic games, you can manually edit the configuration files in Warhammer 40000 : Dawn of War 2.

1. If you are using Windows Vista browse to : C:\Users\USERNAME\Documents\My Games\Dawn of War 2\Settings folder. If you are using Windows XP browse to:
   \…..\My Documents\My Games\Dawn of War 2\Settings folder.
2. Inside there should be a file named configuration.lua
3. Open this file with a text editor such as notepad. You can change the values in various settings through this file. Once done, save and close it.

Note: If you make any mistakes while editing the configuration.lua file, it could lead to access violation error messages with the game. Proceed at your own risk.

How to unlock ‘Ultra’ quality display settings in DoW 2

If you are using an operating system other than Windows Vista 64-bit, you may find that you cannot select ‘ultra’ graphics setting in game. On the initial release of DOW2, the ‘Ultra’ options can only be set on Windows Vista 64-bit OS. According to release notes of the DOW 2 Patch 1, this will be one of the issues fixed:

Added a "-disable32bitcheck" command line switch to allow 32bit users to run with Ultra textures.

Once you install the patch, start the game with the -disable32bitcheck parameter. How to:

1. Create a desktop shortcut to dow2.exe
2. Right click the newly created shortcut and select properties.
3. Add –disable32bitcheck to the end of filename in target field. Ex- X:\……\dow2.exe -disable32bitcheck

Can’t wait till the patch is released. Is there any other way?

The disable32bitcheck parameter will only be enabled once you install Patch 1. If you cant wait till the patch is released, you can always unlock the ultra setting by editing configuration file manually as stated above (see topic).

Note: Make sure your graphics hardware can handle the ultra setting – otherwise this may lead to access violation errors.

How to play Co-Op in Dawn of War 2

Although you may not notice it, Co-Op play is possible in DOW2. Here is how to play Coop

1. Choose ‘Campaign’ from the main menu.
2. Look under the LIVE option – your Windows Live account name will be there.
3. Click the ‘Invite Friend’ button next to your LIVE name to play Co-Op

How to identify DOW 2 compatibility issues with specific video hardware

Did you know that Dawn of War 2 has a text file which includes details of compatibility issues between the game and specific video cards? This file can be of great help when diagnosing and troubleshooting display issues.

1. Navigate to your game’s installation directory. Browse to ‘Drivers’ folder.

2. There will be two text files inside. These files contain driver specific setting and notes on compatibility issues (note that these files contain notes on NVIDIA hardware only.)

Example:

; gefore  9xHigh(9800):
begin device 0x0604 0x0612
   useHDRRendering 1
   perflevel 3
   ; have problems on this cards with softparticles on any driver build less than this one
    allowSoftParticlesDriverProduct      0x0006
   allowSoftParticlesDriverVersion       0x000E
   allowSoftParticlesDriverSubversion  0x000B
   allowSoftParticlesDriverBuild      0x1F7C
end

Card name and developer notes are highlighted in bold. What it means by ‘driver builds less than this one’ is not known. Desired driver version is probably indicated by the two hexadecimal values below card name. If a similar note is given for your video card, try upgrading to the latest available driver version.

Troubleshooting language issues with Dawn of War 2

Note: This section is a work in progress. Not all language problems with the game are mentioned at this point.

How to change DoW 2 voice and menu language to English

Since some of the game versions released are Multilingual, you may run into scenarios where in game audio and menu text are rendered in languages other than English. If this happens, you can try the following.

1. 1. Create new text document using notepad. Place the following text on the first two lines of the file:
   
   [locale]
   lang=english
   
2. Save the file as locale.ini (Choose Save As—>Set Save AS Type to ‘All Files’ and enter file name as locale.ini)
3. Place the file on the game’s installation directory & run the game.

It should be possible to  select languages tother than English using the same method – edit the lang= line (this will work only if your game version is MULTI and supports the desired language).

Troubleshoot DoW 2 Access violation error messages

There are many access violation error messages reported with the game Ex- dow2.exe caused an Access Violation in module dow2.exe. This can be due to many reasons and pinpointing the source of the problem is not easy. Here are some common stuff you can try to avoid these error messages:

Too much RAM?

On systems with more than 4GB RAM, W40K:DoW2 is known to sometimes give an access violation error. The only known solution is to remove additional RAM slots till the total physical memory of your computer is 4GB or less.

dll files mentioned in error messages?

Some of the access violation error messages include the name of a DLL file. Ex- dow2.exe caused an Access Violation in module ntdll.dll or dow2.exe caused an Access Violation in module DivxDecoder.dll. This dll file name can give important clues on the actual cause of the error. If you get similar error messages, fell free to post the message in the comments section – we’ll to our best to help.

Crashes at game menu or during cut scenes?

One of the common crash to desktop (CTD) errors on DOW 2 seem to occur just after the main menu or during the starting cut scene (or during any other cutscenes). If you encounter similar errors, check if the file names Divxdecoder.dll or divxencoder.dll are included in the error message (check the body of error as well). If so, you may try replacing these files with those included in a previous Relic game such as Company of Heroes or with those obtained from any file repository on the internet. There is no guarantee that this will work - make sure to backup the original files. Note that even if you use custom DLL files, you’ll need to restore the originals if you are to install any update patches.

Forced any settings your hardware could not handle via the game’s configuration file?

As stated above, if you forced any display setting or game setting (through manual config file editing or via command line parameters) that your machine cannot handle (or is incompatible with), this could trigger access violation error messages. Always backup the files before you make any changes and make sure you know what you are doing.

Incompatible hardware? Do you have all required software & drivers?

Access violation errors, crashes to desktop and other errors may be present due to out of date drivers being used or you not having all the required software for the game to run. Check if you video card has any compatibility issues by the method described above. Also make sure you have all the required software mentioned in the ‘Drivers and other Software needed for optimal DOW 2 performance’ section (below).

Recommended drivers for optimal DoW 2 performance

Display, audio and motherboard Drivers

As always, it’s recommended that you upgrade to the latest available driver version for your video card.

NVIDIA

• [Click Here] for ForceWare 182.05 drivers for Windows Vista and XP (32/64-bit) direct download links – These are the latest NVIDIA beta drivers  - includes latest PhysX Engine
• [Click Here] to download ForceWare 181.22 drivers for Windows Vista and XP – There are the latest NVIDIA FINAL drivers available

ATI

• [Click Here] to download ATI Catalyst 9.1 with OpenGL 3.0 for Windows Vista and XP (32/64 bit) – These are the latest ATI Catalyst (final) drivers available.

Motherboard and sound card drivers

• [Click Here] to download 3DP Chip for Windows Vista/XP – This program will automatically detect your hardware (video card, sound card and motherboard) and find available driver updates.

Software required for error free gameplay

There are several software you need to install to obtain optimal game performance (and sometimes in order to simply get it running).

Steam Client

[Click Here] to download the latest version of Valve’s Steam client from official download page

If you are using a pirated (cracked) version of the game, you don’t need to have a steam account to run the game. You however do need to have the latest steam client installed -  leave it running in the background.

Games for Windows LIVE

You can download Games for Windows Live 2.0 Offline/Standalone installer from the links given in this post.

DirectX

It is recommended that you update Microsoft directX to the latest available version (depends on your operating system). If you are using Windows XP, upgrade to DirectX 9.0c November 2008.

If you run across anything new, feel free to share it in the comments section.

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• Pirates crack Warhammer 40000 : Dawn of War 2 Steam protection, Game leaks on BitTorrent

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