[X3] A tool to fix your directshow codecs (sound problems and performance)

[MadBoris]

In all honesty i don't know why you were getting a runtime error. It actually wasn't a codec issue, but a dll compatibility issue probably.

[mattius]

Forgot to add that I also ran sfc / scannow! (That may have helped with screwed up DLL's.

[Warstrider]

I am getting a crash to the desktop when I try to launch the game, no error. I've ben reading over all the posts and it looks like I may have a codec problem (or at least its the next thing to rule out. I'm on 1.4). However i'm new to forums... everyone keeps saying the tools is attached to a sticky at the top of the forum but I just can't seem to find the download link. Any help would be appreciated. Also, I see many users generating logs that they are pasting in the forums to give diagnostic information, but I'm afraid I don't understand where they are generating them from. Thanks for the help!

[CBJ]

The link to the download is in the very first post in this thread, about two thirds of the way down. However, I suggest you start by creating a new topic and posting your details, including your system specifications, there. There are quite a few possible reasons why you can have problems, and codecs are only one of them.

[MadBoris]

Also, I see many users generating logs that they are pasting in the forums to give diagnostic information, but I'm afraid I don't understand where they are generating them from. Thanks for the help!

Goto Start, click Run
Type dxdiag, press ok.
Once dxdiag finishes accumulating information press the button "Save All Information..."
This report will give detailed system information.
Then make a "new" thread topic explaining your problem and copy/paste the contents of the text file.

[frymaster]

just want to say "thank you"

tho I've never had a crash, my performance in certain situations (xenon 101 ) was dire. on the off-chance, I used your tool, found the offending piece of garbage (morgan stream switcher, it never worked anyway) and now I get 15 fps instead of 3

thank you very very much

[zeddius]

Just encountered a problem with my speech codecs for X3.

I am running ver.1.4 of the game and everything has been working perfectly up until yesterday. I dont know what I did that changed it, only thing I can think of is that I installed PowerDVD.

After that I got scrabled, only parts of the speech, or no speech at all.
Used the DShow Viewer, and all of a sudden I now have four codecs in the speech block instead of two. Then when I tried to use the manager to alter the merit, but the prefered filter shows as grey (unkown)

Please see blow screen shot of everything.

http://folk.ntnu.no/sondrol/desktop.JPG

Ny inputs would be greatly appriciated.

[MadBoris]

PowerDVD does add problems to the old X3 <1.3 and apparently still to the new.

One thing I heard CBJ say is that reinstalling the patch may help.
Also the latest 1.402 patch that recently came out a couple days ago may have straightened some of this out in allowing software to come in afterwards and still have the ability to monkey with X3's directshow usage.

Let us know the results.

[CBJ]

PowerDVD does add problems to the old X3 <1.3 and apparently still to the new... Also the latest 1.402 patch that recently came out a couple days ago may have straightened some of this out in allowing software to come in afterwards and still have the ability to monkey with X3's directshow usage.

Yes, 1.4.02 should finally lay all this nonsense to rest. The game is no longer using any of the indirect methods and is now naming the codecs required directly. No doubt this is not what Microsoft intended, but at least it seems to work.

Incidentally, zeddius already posted this once here. I suggest for future reference that he/she sticks to posting in one thread to save wasting time.

[MadBoris]

Cool thanks for the update, good to here codec issues will soon be a thing of the past.

Yeah, MS's directshow implementation is flawed in concept, let alone it's execution.
The very lack of user manipulation via an OS GUI is huge in and of itself. It's worse than DLL hell in a sense, because their isn't a "real" solution beyond hoping another application doesn't mess up your directshow filter priorities when it is installed.

Unfortunately when I installed Oblivion I realized it faltered in the same way to my suprise, using strange third party filters(realmediasplitter.ax, etc.), so I had to clean that up as well. Although the overall impact wasn't as pronounced.

The solution is move away from directshow, save yourselves, run away.

[CBJ]

The solution is move away from directshow, save yourselves, run away.

Looks like you came to the same conclusion as us.

[Skeeter]

Just want to know if dshow red bits are still a problem for x3 with the new x3 patch 1.4.02 as es forced codecs to be used now but does this now reflect into dshow tool or does it no longer matter whats displayed in dshow tool as x3 will use right ones regardless now?

Just i thought with patch it would have made dshow same as cheat sheet now.

Ah well let me know, i have screenies to show u if u need to see. Using k-lite codec pack and yes i have nero installed and no wont get rid of it as i need nero.

[ external image ]

[ external image ]

[MadBoris]

Dupe post.

[MadBoris]

Just i thought with patch it would have made dshow same as cheat sheet now.

The patch should not change the way directshow (part of DirectX) works on your computer, which is why you still have all the red. The red shows the third party filters you installed, which by installing them, you agreed to let them intercede and supersede in file playback of those file types.

"Just want to know if dshow red bits are still a problem for x3 with the new x3 patch 1.4.02 as es forced codecs to be used now but does this now reflect into dshow tool or does it no longer matter whats displayed in dshow tool as x3 will use right ones regardless now?"

What the grid shows when you click load graph is a direct reflection of your directshow configuration which shows which codecs/filters will be used by "any" program to play back those specific encoded multimedia file types, when directshow is "automatically" initialized.

To further answer the question...
As to X3 now, the initial graph has no major bearing(unless you have an error message when trying to render the graph). But attaching to X3 still would show possible issues if their are issues. Obviously their should be no third party codecs showing up when attaching to X3 with latest patch, if their are, then there is a problem.

The 3-16-06 update to the initial topic, in red, should also reflect that.

[alejandrox3]

Hi all,

It is indeed a nice tool. Congrats.

I am however pretty thick cause i dont know what to do with the results i got.

I have 2 dlls listed in the DS Viewer and they dont seem to be codecs.

COMDLG32.dll (common dialogs DLL) and MSCTF.dll (MSCTF server DLL).

Cant find them in DS Filter Manager. If they come up as RED then what files should be used by X3 instead?

Thanx in advance for any help

[CBJ]

Start by updating your game to 1.4.02. You only now need this tool if you have already done this and are still having problems. In fact even in this case, the tool is probably now only really useful for telling you whether any of your files are out of date.

[alejandrox3]

i m experiencing the same crashes with v1.0 as with v1.4.02.

Can't play for more than 10 mins. It's either going to crash during Docking, or during Saving, or During Gate passing, or during fighting. It seems to be random.

[CBJ]

Well that does sound like you've got a problem somewhere, but there's no guarantee it is a codec issue. A simpler solution might be to say "yes" during the installation of the 1.4.02 patch when it asks whether to overwrite newer codec versions. This will forcibly install the right codecs, and 1.4.02 will ensure they get used. If you still have problems after that then you can be pretty sure that they lie elsewhere, for example power, memory or HD issues.

[alejandrox3]

Truth is i clicked on NO for the media codecs both times i installed.

I know its not a power issue cause i have 500W psu.
I know its not RAM cause memtest86+ reports no errors.
I know its not HDD because i installed on a single drive second time around (rather than on the initial RAID0 array).

I will procede to reinstall the game with the older media codecs and report on how it goes..

thnx

[CBJ]

I know its not a power issue cause i have 500W psu.

You don't know for sure. Even if your PSU is a good quality one (cheap ones don't give the stated output in sustained use) it could still have an intermittent fault.

I know its not RAM cause memtest86+ reports no errors.

You don't know for sure. There have been numerous accounts here of people finding memory errors that were missed by memtest86.

I know its not HDD because i installed on a single drive second time around (rather than on the initial RAID0 array).

You don't know for sure. When I said HD problems I meant problems accessing the disk rather than an actual disk failure. This can be caused by interference from another piece of software such as a virus or of course your anti-virus software.

Please note: The style of this post isn't meant to be taken too seriously, so don't take offence. It isn't trying to be argumentative, just pointing out that sometimes it isn't as easy as people think to eliminate system issues.