Adventure Forums - View Single Post - Games incompatible with non-SSE2/3 systems (Socket A/Athlon XP)

Hoipolloi · 12-23-2010, 08:54 PM

I recently came across two adventures that wouldn't run on my trusted old rig:

Gray Matter (German with optional English version)
- crash in xaudio2_7.dll - dtp entertainment forum

Dead Mountaineer's Hotel (German: Das Geheimnis des Berghotels)
- crash in render.dll -
(Since a patch version 1.3 apparently fixes Athlon issues in the Russian version, I presume this is the problem in the German version as well, but there's no direct confirmation in German and my Russian isn't that good. The only useful reference to render.dll/Athlon XP I found was in this thread, in the bottom post.)

Both of these games use DirectX version June 2010, I believe. In the case of Gray Matter, I'm sure.

My system:
Athlon XP Barton 3200+ (2200 MHz)
Asus A7N8X-E Deluxe, Socket A, 1 GB RAM
ATI Radeon HD 3650 AGP 8x (AG3650 512MD2)
Windows XP SP3

I'm sure there are still a lot of these systems around, particularly among adventure gamers, because point'n click isn't usually that resource-hungry. The problem isn't hardware performance, but the Athlon XP's inability to understand SSE2 and 3 commands. Kind of like if you talk to me in Russian.

The FPS/RPG community has been "dealing" with these problems since at least 2007. I suppose any sensible shooter fan will have upgraded by now, but there's those of us that play an occasional FPS or Tomb Raider Underworld. I can run Bioshock, Far Cry and even Crysis (on a minimal settings level), but it's not that great a game to warrant upgrading, since I mostly watch movies, do a bit of design work or play adventure games. (Deus Ex 3 will probably be a reason.

)

Unless Microsoft introduces compatibility fixes into the current DirectX9c distro, I won't be playing Gray Matter and probably a lot of good games yet to come that my hardware setup could handle, theoretically.

I haven't come across other games that wouldn't run because of this issue, but if you know of any, post them below, please.

An additional note for Tomb Raider fans:
Tomb Raider Anniversary and Legend occasionally crashed my system because the ATI graphics driver (ati3duag.dll) tried to use SSE2 commands, something that never happened with my older, slower Radeon 9600. The CSA patch (short for Catalyst Socket A Patch) has solved this problem for me, forever, it seems. I successfully patched the driver included in Catalyst 10.7 with csapatch v1.0.1, but use at your own risk, of course.
Here is the VGAforums thread on the issue.

12-23-2010, 08:54 PM	#1
Hoipolloi Member Join Date: Sep 2010 Posts: 95	Games incompatible with non-SSE2/3 systems (Socket A/Athlon XP) I recently came across two adventures that wouldn't run on my trusted old rig: Gray Matter (German with optional English version) - crash in xaudio2_7.dll - dtp entertainment forum Dead Mountaineer's Hotel (German: Das Geheimnis des Berghotels) - crash in render.dll - (Since a patch version 1.3 apparently fixes Athlon issues in the Russian version, I presume this is the problem in the German version as well, but there's no direct confirmation in German and my Russian isn't that good. The only useful reference to render.dll/Athlon XP I found was in this thread, in the bottom post.) Both of these games use DirectX version June 2010, I believe. In the case of Gray Matter, I'm sure. My system: Athlon XP Barton 3200+ (2200 MHz) Asus A7N8X-E Deluxe, Socket A, 1 GB RAM ATI Radeon HD 3650 AGP 8x (AG3650 512MD2) Windows XP SP3 I'm sure there are still a lot of these systems around, particularly among adventure gamers, because point'n click isn't usually that resource-hungry. The problem isn't hardware performance, but the Athlon XP's inability to understand SSE2 and 3 commands. Kind of like if you talk to me in Russian. The FPS/RPG community has been "dealing" with these problems since at least 2007. I suppose any sensible shooter fan will have upgraded by now, but there's those of us that play an occasional FPS or Tomb Raider Underworld. I can run Bioshock, Far Cry and even Crysis (on a minimal settings level), but it's not that great a game to warrant upgrading, since I mostly watch movies, do a bit of design work or play adventure games. (Deus Ex 3 will probably be a reason. ) Unless Microsoft introduces compatibility fixes into the current DirectX9c distro, I won't be playing Gray Matter and probably a lot of good games yet to come that my hardware setup could handle, theoretically. I haven't come across other games that wouldn't run because of this issue, but if you know of any, post them below, please. An additional note for Tomb Raider fans: Tomb Raider Anniversary and Legend occasionally crashed my system because the ATI graphics driver (ati3duag.dll) tried to use SSE2 commands, something that never happened with my older, slower Radeon 9600. The CSA patch (short for Catalyst Socket A Patch) has solved this problem for me, forever, it seems. I successfully patched the driver included in Catalyst 10.7 with csapatch v1.0.1, but use at your own risk, of course. Here is the VGAforums thread on the issue.