[1.4.1] GZDoom refuses to run on Windows 7

[ChronoSeth]

Exactly what the title suggests. This only happens with relatively recent versions of GZDoom:

The game tries to run, blacks out the screen for a fraction of a second (as it usually does for me while loading), then suddenly shuts down and shows me the "GZDoom has encountered a fatal error" window.

The same problem occurs with Skulltag versions newer than 97d5.
I have no problems running it on Windows XP.

[Gez]

It's probably not a question of system, but of drivers. Other people have no problems with GZDoom and Windows 7.

[dark-slayer-201]

Right Click GZDoom.exe > Properties > Compatibility
Run under WinXP Compatibility and also check the box that says Disable Desktop Composition.

This should work.

[Gez]

Awww, and you were doing so well these days, not posting stupid stuff...


Sorry, but no. GZDoom does not need to run in WinXP compatibility mode. Otherwise all the people who use GZDoom on a Vista or 7 machine would know about it.

See my post for a likelier explanation of the issue.

[ChronoSeth]

My point was...
GZDoom only crashes on me when I run a recent version. If I download an old version it works perfectly. I don't have any problems running anything else in OpenGL.
As I said, Skulltag's OpenGL mode doesn't work for me when I use a version after 97d5. [okay, maybe not a bug, but I need help]
I find it odd for GZDoom to suddenly require some different hardware. I also have a very decent PC.

Here's the crash report if anybody's interested.

[Graf Zahl]

Same old ATI bug, it looks. Which driver version do you use? Some recent ones were quite broken.

[Gez]

It's not "suddenly". GZDoom's 1.4 branch was that of the last great GL code rewrite. There have been many added features, and especially relevant here is the fact that it queries the driver to know whether certain extensions are available. For some reason, many driver writers think it's clever to have the driver say "yes, I do support that whatever you said" when it's not the case, and then you get a crash as the extension is attempted to be used.

As for Skulltag, the 97c branch used ZDoomGL and the 97d branch used an old version of GZDoom.

Really, it's not GZDoom (it works fine on other machines, including with Windows 7), it's not Windows 7 (it works fine with GZDoom on other machines), so it's either your hardware that's faulty or your drivers that are bad.

Since you have an ATI...

[ChronoSeth]

@Graf:I'm using version 8.702.0.0 of the driver (at least that's what system info is telling me).
@Gez: Using the SVN changed nothing...

[Graf Zahl]

That driver version doesn't tell me much. I'd need the Catalyst version that was installed. However, since using the SVN does not help you should update your graphics driver. Apparently you got one of the problem releases.

[ChronoSeth]

Whatever, I guess I can live a bit longer without OpenGL.

[Aroenai]

Without knowing more or owning an ATI card, google says it's Catalyst 10.2 from February.

ChronoSeth, is it seriously that hard for you to install a newer version? It's not like it's hard to find, and 10.7 looks like the current one.
http://game.amd.com/us-en/drivers_catalyst.aspx

[Graf Zahl]

Indeed. You can complain all you want but that driver version is known to be broken, not just with GZDoom. You can't really blame anybody but yourself if you refuse to upgrade to a fixed version.