Need some help with GP4

hi,

i got gp4 the day it came out, but unfortunately my pc doesnt quite meet the requirements. however, ive got the gameplay running just fine now with pretty low gfx, and ive managed to edit a few things blah blah.

im having problems with the patch though. i install it or whatever and get the 'GP4_patch v9.6' folder in my gp4 folder. i then go into this and run the setup thing and i get an error msg come up saying unhandled expection etc


any ideas?

i also cant get gp4 master to work, an error msg comes up when i try and install this too

can anyone help?



TAX DODGER

Don't extract the 'GP4_patch v9.6' folder into your gp4 folder. xtract it into a temporary folder and then run setup.

---

REHAB IS FOR QUITTERS

er, i extracted it into 'my documents' and ran it from there but it didnt work.

or is this not what you meant?



TAX DODGER

Completey remove GP4 from your HD (also scan registry for Gp4-related entries).

Reinstall the game, start it once and exit the game again

Extract the patch to a temp folder and run it.

---

REHAB IS FOR QUITTERS

is a temp folder just anything? or do i actually create something especially for it?


sorry bout this



TAX DODGER

create a temp folder anywhere, desktop is good




Racing Is Life. Anything that happens before or after is just waiting
Jesus may be able to heal the sick and bring the dead back to life, but he can't do shît for low fps

er ok i think ive screwed up major here.

rather than properly uninstall gp4 i just searched my pc for all files called 'grand prix 4' and deleted them all. when i put the disk in the i select the 'uninstall/re-install' button, and set up loads, but then i get the same msg that i had when trying to install the patch:

Unhandled Exception
Error Number: 0x800707275
Description: Incompatible version of the RPC Stub

Setup will now terminate


So is gp4 lost forever on my pc?


i would really appreciate any help i can get right now, i am so annoyed



TAX DODGER

Did you read from readme.txt this audio trick to improve game performace:

#############################################
4.2 Reducing CPU hit for audio
------------------------------
Some sound cards and drivers can have a detremental effect on the performance of the game. When you have no hardware acceleration available or selected in the audio menu, windows will be mixing all the sounds for the game in software. This can reduce the speed of the game considerably. You can adjust windows audio system settings in the windows control panel.

*In windows 98/Me look at Control Panel->Multimedia->Advenced Properties->Performance

*In windows 2000/XP look at Control Panel->Sounds and Audio Devices->Speaker Settings) Advanced->Performance.

Here you will find two sliders. The top slider is the amount of hardware acceleration windows will try to use for the sound. The bottom slider is the output quality of the sound.

If you put the top slider to "Full" windows will try to use all the features of your sound card. i.e. hardware acceleration and EAX (if supported). If you put the slider all the way to the left windows will use a very basic way of creating the sound. (On some machines this will not replay the sound correctly in the game). If you are having problems with the sound try adjusting this slider until you find a satisfactory result.

The bottom slider is useful to adjust the sound reproduction quality. If you do not have any hardware acceleration available in the game you can adjust this to use less CPU time at the expense of sound quality. In windows XP the default value for this slider is "Best". This will render the highest interpolated quality sound (at a high CPU hit). Reducing this down to a lower level will help to ease the CPU hit significantly and therefore speed up the game.
#############################################

For me it helped a lot. Befor I changed these settings, my Processor Occupacy was about 200% with low grphics and after 100% with more details. And I can't hear any changes in sounds...

Try if you already haven't

thanks, that sounds good.

id love to try it, but my gp4 is f**ked



TAX DODGER

You said you rather to delete the files yourself but I think it would be better if you uninstall it with the GP4 CD. If you have added anything then remove it yourself.

Be careful Tax Dodger, I got a mate who works at the tax office..



-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Did your birth certificate come with an apology letter from Durex?

The RPC Stub error has nothing to do as such with GP4. It is an Installshield/Microsoft issue. Try going to the official Installshield homepage and search through their knowledge base. I am will to bet that they have a problem description and probably also a fix.

---

It's only after we've lost everything, that we are free to do anything.

Still, if he just deleted his GP4 folder instead of uninstalling it, his registry is probably still full of Gp4 entries.

What OS are you running? Win98, 2000 or XP?

Back up your registry, go to "start -> run" and type "regedit"

Go to "edit -> search" and look for "Grand Prix 4" and delete the keys. look for "Infogrames" and delete Gp4 related entries. beware if you have other inforgrames games installed.

After following Morbid's instructions, reinstall GP4 and do as I told you in my last post.

---

REHAB IS FOR QUITTERS

i have win98, but right now im gonna try and sort the installshield thing out.

i didnt just delete the folders because it was a better way, i just forgot that you can uninstall it with the disk


also, how do i back up my registry? is registry a folder? cos if it is then obviously i know what to do



TAX DODGER

ok i went to the installshield site, went to that kanowledge place and typed in my error number (above) and the link to my problem came up


but due to AOL for some reason the page wont load (this happens to me a lot with AOL. )


i dont suppose anyone could help me out at all, it would be much appreciated. if you could just copy and paste the solution into here or email it to me i would be very thankful



TAX DODGER

Cause

This error is caused by an incompatible version of a DLL that was installed on the system, such as Oleaut32.dll, Olepro32.dll, Asycfilt.dll, Stdole2.tlb. For example, version 3.50 of Oleaut32.dll is installed and used only by Windows XP and so causes this error if it is installed on a machine running any other operating system.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Resolution

Following are three possible resolutions for this error. Choose the appropriate method for your computer.

Microsoft Office 2000 or an Office 2000 Component IS Installed on Your Computer

If you have Microsoft Office or and Office 2000 component installed, install the Office 2000 Service Release 1.

Microsoft Office 2000 or an Office 2000 Component IS NOT Installed on Your Computer

If you do not have Office 2000 or an Office 2000 component installed on your computer, download and install the mcrepair.exe tool. When it prompts you to overwrite Newer files, make sure you click YES for each file.

You Are Using Windows 98 or 95

On Windows 98 and 95, this error may be caused by a bad version of oleaut32.dll. To correct this problem, follow these directions to remove the old file and reinstall it.

Warning: This resolution requires you to modify your System folder. Modifications to the Windows system, if not done correctly, can cause serious problems to your system.

Download to your Desktop, but do not run, the Distributed Component Object Model (DCOM) file appropriate for your system. For more information on DCOM see the Additional Information section.

Windows 98: dcom98.exe
Windows 95: dcom95.exe

Select Start > Shutdown

Select Restart in MS-DOS mode.

At the command prompt c:\WINDOWS, enter the following commands on separate lines as shown. Windows automatically restarts.
CD c:\windows\system
rename oleaut32.dll oleaut32.old
exit

Ignore the error message: "A required .DLL file, C:\windows\system\oleaut32.dll, was not found." This error message appears because the file was renamed in step 4.

Log in as you normally would.

Double-click the file you downloaded to your Desktop in step 1. Click Yes to the dialog that opens. The dcom.exe file installs a New oleaut32.dll file.

After DCOM has been installed, select Start > Restart.
If your computer fails to function properly after following the above instructions, you can restore your original oleaut32.dll file by doing the following:

Select Start > Shutdown.

Select Restart in MS-DOS mode.

At the command prompt c:\WINDOWS, enter the following commands on separate lines as shown. This restores the old oleaut32.dll file.
CD c:\windows\system
rename oleaut32.old oleaut32.dll
exit

Windows automatically restarts. If it does not, select Start > Restart.

thanks for that, i really appreciate it.

do i get that dcom thing from the same site?

im using win98 btw



TAX DODGER

You can get dcom.exe from
[support.installshield.com]

If you want to back up your registry under Win98, go to your windows directory and make copies of "system.dat" and "user.dat".

---

REHAB IS FOR QUITTERS

thanks for all the help so far. im not the greatest computer person in thw world, and im not looking forward to doing all that stuff to solve the problem. but i do want to be able tp play gp4 again and edit it properly, so ill have to give it a go, but like i say, im quite nervous about it. sounds like if i get it wrong my pc is wrecked

also, in my windows folder, i cant find system.dat and user.dat. do i just backup the system folder?



Post Edited (03-20-03 18:03)

TAX DODGER

Be careful Tax Dodger, I got a mate who works at the tax office..




nothing like a challenge :p



TAX DODGER