Error with windowed mode plus...

Sirulus Delon · Post by **Sirulus Delon** » Mon Mar 02, 2009 8:04 am

I tried submitting this before but got an error... Good Morning. I have been using WinEQ2 for a while now and have grown accustomed to it opening new instances in windowed mode with the WinEQ2 window label which is visible on the border when open and in the toolbar when minimized. After taking a few months from EverQuest due to surgery, I have logged in and from day one (which was February 15th 2009) it has opened in full screen mode. Not only that but it no longer has the WinEQ2 window labeling that I've grown accustomed to. After getting frustrated and being unable to find an answer online I uninstalled the reinstalled the product.

After many many patches I got it up and running at which time I tried it again. Still opens in full windowed mode. Dismayed (and because for some odd reason this issue also causes me to crash with multiple instances active) I went back to using EQ through its regular launcher and tabbing between active instances (full screen). Last night I decided to try one more time and upon patching it said, "Could not output file WinEQ2.txt. It may be in use. Make sure all Lavish Software products are shut down and wait 5 minutes (or reboot) before trying again. Hitting OK will cause the patcher to skip this file, but the software will try to patch it again until it is patched successfully." I have since rebooted 3 times and deleted the old txt file but no joy. It still won't let WinEQ2 load (although it continues to run patching).

There is no Sysinfo.txt file in my WinEQ2 folder and because I cannot start the program (it only patches) I cannot generate one. I would greatly appreciate any help with these issues.

-?ir

Post by **Lax** » Mon Mar 02, 2009 1:11 pm

1. It sounds like WinEQ 2 is not hooking into the game (which is why there's no sysinfo.txt). However, EQPlayNice would still be working. The most common reason for this is other software running on your system. Two specific programs that come to mind are Spyware Doctor, and Norton Endpoint Security. Try shutting down all running programs to see if one is interfering for some reason.

2. If it can't output WinEQ2.txt, it probably has to do with file system permissions (and rebooting a thousand times wont make a difference if it didn't work after 1 reboot

). If you're running Windows Vista or Windows 7 for example, you can try right clicking the WinEQ 2 icon and selecting Run as Administrator. If not, then I don't know why it would say that, but whatever the reason, it can't write the file. Since it's a text file, the odds that it's failing to output because it's "in use" are pretty much none. Either the file is read only, or your windows user otherwise does not have permission to write to the file.

Sirulus Delon · Post by **Sirulus Delon** » Mon Mar 02, 2009 3:23 pm

Thanks for your reply. I am running Windows Xp Professional SP3 and yes I am running Symantec Endpoint. I also usually run Spybot - Search and Destroy at start up, both of which I have disabled. Disabling SE actually fixed my problem of connecting to my wireless network on start up (usually have to disable it first in order to connect) heh but it still will not write to WinEQ2.txt.

*Edit* As I was writing this I right clicked on the WinEQ2 icon and unchecked "Protect my computer and data from unauthorized program activity..." It was able to write the WinEQ2.txt (seems I have to uncheck that every time now too). Still unable to start the game using WinEQ2 (it goes straight to a normal instance of EQ) so no sys info available.

Post by **Lax** » Mon Mar 02, 2009 4:01 pm

Unfortunately it is a configuration issue on your system and other than what I explained, I don't know what else to suggest. This isn't a typical issue

Sirulus Delon · Post by **Sirulus Delon** » Mon Mar 02, 2009 6:52 pm

Thanks for trying to help

. Of note, in case anyone else reads this and can find out the issue; I did not have this problem until I uninstalled my old virus software and installed Symantec. Up until then I was using EQ fine. In fact, I am about 80% certain that I even played it a time or 2 after in installed Symantec (this was right after my surgery Nov 14th 2008) and it functioned normally. The only new things I can think of with my system was the week after the Superbowl where I added SpyBot - Search and Destroy, set up a few autoruns (for spybot and for defrag) and I also downloaded both Mozilla and Sandboxie (both of which do not autostart when I start my computer).

Sirulus Delon · Post by **Sirulus Delon** » Tue Mar 03, 2009 8:39 am

Hey I have a good, working copy on my laptop. It also has Endpoint and Symantec installed. Would copying that copy from my laptop to my desktop be helpful you think? And if it would, am I copying everything or just specific files? Thanks.

Post by **Lax** » Tue Mar 03, 2009 3:50 pm

Copying WinEQ 2 over won't do anything. You can try it if you want, you'd just copy the whole folder. It'd be something else installed on your PC if it's not Symantec Endpoint

Sirulus Delon · Post by **Sirulus Delon** » Thu Mar 05, 2009 2:10 pm

Just thought I'd post you an update in case others may have this issue and since you were kind enough to go out your way to help me; I finally found my Symantec installation disc so I performed an uninstall. What I found is that my WinEQ2 now can 'hook' into the game. What this means I do not know but I am going to try reinstalling symantec and see if there are any tweaks I need to make to prevent this in the future. I did the same type of install on this machine as I did on my laptop and while that worked on the LT it would not here. Will edit this with the results.

Sirulus Delon · Post by **Sirulus Delon** » Thu Mar 05, 2009 3:27 pm

I didn't realize I could not edit. Anyway, no matter what I do, symantec is the culprit. Because of this I am going to have to find a new virus scanner/firewall combo.

Post by **Lax** » Thu Mar 05, 2009 3:32 pm

I believe that Inner Space is not affected by this issue with Endpoint, and that you could alternatively keep using Symantec and use ISBoxer instead (a suite for Inner Space with multi-boxing features superior to that of WinEQ 2), although to use it you must have a Pro subscription.