What card does he have? Does it meet the specs for the game?

Betty. Go into dxdiag-->display and see what it says for your driver version now. I'm thinking something went wrong when you tried to roll back to your old drivers. You could be running on generic windows video drivers...which is not good, and would account for the problems you're having with your games. I have another method of reverting back to your old drivers if it didn't work correctly.

A 7600GS or 7600GT would be a good upgrade for your computer provided you have an adequate power supply. You need the AGP type, as your FX5200 would not be a 16X PCI-Express type.

Hi Robert - I did as you suggested and the results = DEVICE: NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200; Mfr NVIDIA; Chip Type GeForce FX 5200; DAC type Integrated RAMDAC; Approx. Total Mem. 128.0 MB; Current Display Mode 800 x 600 (16 bit) (60Hz); Monitor LGL1933TR(Analog) DRIVERS: Main nv4_disp.dll; Ver 6.14.0011.6375 (English); Date 10/4/2007 17:14:00; WHQL Logo'd n/a; Mini VDD nv4_mini.sys; VDD n/a; DDI Vers 9 (or higher) DIRECTX Features, DirectDrawAccel ENABLED, Direct3D Acceleration ENABLED, AGP Texture Accel ENABLED. Notes *"No problems found" *To test DirectDraw functionality, click the 'Test DD" button above (did that everything OK) *To test D3D functionality click "Test Direct3D" button above (did that everything OK).
Thank you Robert for trying to help me with this. It would appear that the DxDiag found no problems, yet I WAS playing Wintersun before all this with no trouble, and now I cannot start the game up again = "unable to initialize video mode; Pixel format could not be set" is a strange error message and I don't know how to correct whatever is causing it. The disc is not damaged and the game installed OK on my computer and on hubbys too but strangely enough I get a similar message on his computer when I try to open the game and he has a totally different brand graphics/video card. Computers are difficult to say the least.
Love, Betty Lou

You're still running the new drivers (Ver 6.14.0011.6375 ). Whatever you did when you tried to roll them back did not work. The last 5 digits of your driver version (16375) is what tells you the version it is. The Nvidia.com file I linked you to originally is version 163.75.

Here's how to get you back to the version you were using. Please print these instructions or write them down before you proceed.

1. Click Start-->Control Panel-->Add/Remove Programs

2. Find Nvidia drivers on the list and un-install them. You will be prompted to reboot your computer. Do so.

3. After your computer finishes booting you'll get a new hardware found message. Cancel out of that window.

4. Go to Start-->My Computer-->Local Disk (C:)-->Nvidia-->Win2KXP-->91.31.

5. Open the 91.31 folder and find the "setup" icon. It'll be at the bottom of the page, and it'll be a square shaped icon, bluish-gray in color and it'll have two white triangle thingies on it. Double click on it and follow the prompts.

6. After the drivers are installed, once again you'll be prompted to re-boot. Go ahead and do so. Then after the reboot in dxdiag you should see Version: 6.14.0010.9131



Without knowing his computer specs, I would guess it's because his computer does not meet the game's requirements. When you get this driver thing sorted out, try lowering the refresh rate of your monitor and see if that helps with these games.

***This page*** had a solution for that error message. It's translated from German, so the instructions may not quite match up.

Their FAQ for Wintersun is ***here***.
Essentially you have to change color depth to 32-bit in your system settings.

If that's all they're telling you to do....then let me just give you the simple instructions insteading of you having to read all of that. Just click on the Nvidia icon in your system tray and select color quality-->32bit

Alternatively...right click on your desktop, then choose properties--> settings, and choose 32bit from the color quality drop down menu.

If it doesn't help, then do as i suggested and lower your monitor's refresh rate. Click on the Nvidia icon in your system tray, then choose Screen Refresh Rate.

Thanks to you both for those tips. I printed them out - it is so easy when I use print screen and ctrl V to MWord - and will try everything. Thanks much. will post back here how I do. Gotta slip out to the grocery for a couple of ingredients for my famous spinach balls (Rev. Ginny has hired me to make her 20 dozen! for her Christmas parties). Gotta refresh my memory on just how I did them and make sure they taste good again. So am making a sample batch, maybe can give them to my hairdresser as her gift this year, hate to just buy her candy every time. I'll be back later today.
Love, Betty Lou

Spinach balls?
I must admit I'm curious.

Hi Jenny, yes, spinach balls. I will share the recipe with you in another thread.
Robert - I have 3 sets of numbers in my NVIDIA WIN2KXP and none of them are 91.31 - I do have a 93.71 which is the highest of the three numbers. Is this what I should click on?
My approach to getting to this place is somewhat different than yours. I clicked on Windows Explorer on my taskbar, clicked on "C" drive to open it, found NVIDIA and clicked on it and then the rest is the same. I could not find "my computer" in my START popdown list, it just isn't there. Oh well, there are always more than 2 ways to do stuff on a computer and my way worked just as well for me as yours does for you. I await your reply to my question before I 'install' anything - Have a great evening, my son and d-i-l and 2 granddaughters are coming down tonight for a holiday visit, will probably go home Sunday AM sometime. We are having our big dinner Friday as they will spend tomorrow with her side of the family. I'm off now to share my recipe. I'll check back here when I get a chance to.
Love, Betty Lou

Yes, Betty. I'm sorry, I misread your earlier post. 93.71 is the drivers you were using...not 91.31.



That'll work. It's the same thing.

I have reset my bit to 32. And I can reset my resolution anytime, do it whenever a game calls for me to do so. However I do not understand the instructions for lowering my monitor's refresh rate. I did however follow Robert's instructions for my 'roll back' to the NVIDIA drivers I had before all this. And now my error message when I try to start Wintersun is the one that says 'report to Microsoft'? or 'don't send report' which is different at least from the one about the pixels. Maybe I should try one more time to uninstall Wintersun and re install it? I am not even going to try for CSI HE again. Giving up on it entirely. Chalking it up to a 'bad experience' with my computer and letting it go at that. Am wanting to get this Wintersun running again. I'll be back sometime soon. Thanks you guys
Love, Betty Lou
Woooooohoooooooo! For some reason after all this and uninstalling and reinstalling Wintersun AGAIN, it is now running just fine. Whew is that a relief! To heck with CSI HE, I am done with it. Thanks yuse guys for all your help. Two or a dozen heads ARE better than one!
Happy Thanksgiving to all Love, BL

Glad to hear that finally worked out for you.

I had the same problem as BLBJ, as it seems, have many other people. One suggested fix was to go into the game directory and either rename or move the file named "um.dll". After trying all the other fixes, like turning off the Internet, etc. I finally tried this one. I moved it to My Documents and, lo and behold, the game now works beautifully. Apparently this file is the updater file which connects to the Internet upon the game starting, so removing it lets you go right into the game. Perhaps BLBJ could try this which seems to be harmless and would let her play the game, instead of shelving it!

Thanks for this tip Bristol. I may re-borrow this game and try this and see if I can get it to work for me. I would love to be able to play it, just don't want to mess up everything else in my computer......Merry Christmas sweetie.
Love, Betty Lou

Sorry for 'bumping' this up, updating my results of trying Bristol's 'fix' of removing the um.dll file - borrowed this game from a friend to see if I could make it work which it wouldn't the first times I tried to run it after installing - and it now WORKS just beautifully.....YIPPEE, now I can play this game in the CSI series and I am so HAPPY! Thanks Bristol! You are wonderful
Love, hugs and kisses,Betty Lou

Just to be clear, so we can help other members with this fix should the need arise, moving or renaming the um.dll file fixes the black screen issue when you try to launch CSI-Hard Evidence? Is that correct, Betty?

This thread has gotten so long I just wanted to make sure I'm straight on what fixes what

Bettylou, dont forget to look for my name in the Credits...I am glad you got the game to work...enjoy

You and me both, Robert.

Yes, you are both correct and on the right track. Bristol's 'fix' of removing (deleting) that 'read me only' file from my hard drive (it is of course still on the disc but since the disc does not need to be in the drive drawer it will be OK for the game) fixed my problem with the 'big black screen' and I am happily playing this wonderful game! OK, Cat, I will try to remember to look for you in the credits at the end of the game - WOW, you're famous! So glad to be able to take this easy 'fix' for this one and not have to change lots of settings etc which was messing up other software on my computer - too frustrating to deal with. Thanks again Bristol. What would I do without a Gameboomer to come to my rescue, yet again
Love, Betty Lou