DescentBB

New to the community. Have been reading old posts re XP and D3. Haven't seen my problems discussed.
System;
PIII 700
256 mb ram
ATI 7500
SB Audigy 2
XP Home

Problem:
loaded D3, ran patch 1.4 (should this have changed the 'Date Modified' of Descent 3?), when Itry to play
get an Error 'Invalid CDROM'.
After reading here I added some switches in setup,
-useexedir -nointro -playermessages -nomultitexture -deadzone0 0.1 -nopentium3 -launched -framecap 0 -nomusic.
Now the Error is 'Unable to set temporary directory to:"\custom\cashe"
Any thoughts???

Remove the -useexedir, it's not really needed.

and buy the game

NO-CD 1.4 patch. As per my e-mail.

Shouldn't have to uninstall.

I believe you have a new error message now?

Please post details.

Mobius wrote:I believe you have a new error message now?

Please post details.

Just uninstalled everything (1.4 also).
Reinstalled 1.0, downloaded and installed 1.4 patch.
First try to play: Error 'Invalid CDROM', found out
that 98 and XP sees CD drives as a removeble media and that causes D3 to give the Erro.
Added command line switch '-useexedir' (had to do this when I first bought D3 to make it work in 98 ),
new Error 'Unable to set tempoary directory to: "custom/cache". Think this is because those dirs' are 'Read-only'. Tried to change that but XP will not let me??

papag wrote:

Mobius wrote:I believe you have a new error message now?

Please post details.

Just uninstalled everything (1.4 also).
Reinstalled 1.0, downloaded and installed 1.4 patch.
First try to play: Error 'Invalid CDROM', found out
that 98 and XP sees CD drives as a removeble media and that causes D3 to give the Erro.
Added command line switch '-useexedir' (had to do this when I first bought D3 to make it work in 98 ),
new Error 'Unable to set tempoary directory to: "custom/cache". Think this is because those dirs' are 'Read-only'. Tried to change that but XP will not let me??

they are supposed to be ReadOnly IIRC. take off that useexedir switch its not needed. now your CD Drives as Removable Media issue.....thats correct, CD's "ARE" removable media. now comes the issue, why does it keep firing the Invalid CD-ROM Error....id call to the other guys that know D3 alot better than i do.

try specifing the full path for the cache.

but, if you are needed to actually specify the path for the cache, and aren't running a server... you got some serious issues.

Ace, your ignorance is surpassed only by your stupidity. I hear your heart is in the right place, but you need to get a brain before you try to help people. You manage to sound knowledgeable while you talk straight out of your anus, and you could cause someone real problems someday if they follow your so-called 'advice'.

Papa, I have a question for you - Which version of the D3 CD are you using? Are you using the original D3 CD's released in the US with the cardboard/paper CD case Link to ebay auction of US original release for comparison (cd's slide into slits in the cardboard case)? Or do you have the dual jewel version Link to Ebay auction of Dual-Jewel version (paper case with shield orb on front, 2 plastic jewel cases inside with mercenary bundled)? Or a NON-US version?

Once you've verified your CDROM version, and patched correctly (as I assume you have, as the 1.4 patch has installed), are you trying to play from a second CD ROM drive? D3 has a known issue where if you use a CD ROM other than your primary CD ROM, it will return an invalid CDROM error. If so, try removing the -useexedir commandline and switching CD ROM drives and see if that fixes your issue? Try with -useexedir set also if needed and get back to us. We always like to have more targets...err... players...

I'm just suprised that nobody has called this out, given that this is a known issue.

AceCombat wrote: now comes the issue, why does it keep firing the Invalid CD-ROM Error....id call to the other guys that know D3 alot better than i do.

you know i did include this item for just such a reason that indicated i didnt know exactly what i was refering to as to D3

WarAdvocat wrote:Ace, your ignorance is surpassed only by your stupidity. I hear your heart is in the right place, but you need to get a brain before you try to help people. You manage to sound knowledgeable while you talk straight out of your anus, and you could cause someone real problems someday if they follow your so-called 'advice'.

ah yes, I've gotten that. I insalled D3 using the CD-RW drive but when I try running D3 from my DVD drive it either says that I need to insert the D3 disk in (which it is) or that it is invalid.

However, this only happens once. If I click cancel and try running D3 again, the game plays fine. Normally when I use my CD-RW drive to run D3 it starts up the first time with no problems. Mech4 also seems to have this problem as well.

i have a plausable idea as to why D3 gives this error. prior to my jstick breaking, i had this issue aswell, but it only occured after i had placed the CD in a Drive played D3 taken it out, played another game and put it in a different drive and tried to play d3 again. all of this would have occured without a reboot. i belive that main.exe is assuming that the CD from its prior usage is in one particular drive whilst it is not, thus it throws out the "Invalid CD-ROM" error becuase the CD is not in the expected drive.

Well, you could always download Daemon Tools, burn a copy of the D3 CD as an ISO and mount it as a virtual CD. Problem solved.

D3 has a known issue where if you use a CD ROM other than your primary CD ROM, it will return an invalid CDROM error.

I have never seen this, and I have 2 CD-ROM drives (well, a DVD and a CD-RW if you want to get technical =P).

As for the cache thing: I've found that if D3 crashes sometimes (or is shut down improperly), it leaves lock files in your cache folder. Head into your Descent 3 directory, then go into Custom, then Cache. Delete the .lock file (you have to do this first), and then delete everything else. That should allow you to start D3 successfully without specifying a custom cache directory.

The only time I have seen this happen is when someone has a bad BURNED COPY of D3 or Installed it in the master Optical drive and are trying to run it in the Slave optical drive

Yeah I found that if I install from the slave I get no drive errors when I try to run it from either drive on my system. YMMV.

Hopefully PapaG's problems have been fixed. Waiting on an update from him!


Acecombat: The first rule of "helping" is 'first do no harm'. You just blunder about spouting trash that can be actively counterproductive, without qualifying or justifying your statements. When in doubt, be quiet, and I'll stay off your case. When you open your mouth and say stupid things, I'll tell you to STFU. And if you genuinely contribute, I'll even pat you on the back.

WarAdvocat wrote: When you open your mouth and say stupid things, I'll tell you to STFU. And if you genuinely contribute, I'll even pat you on the back.

and you know damn well im gonna fire back a STFU at you.

sooo STFU

AceCombat wrote:

WarAdvocat wrote: When you open your mouth and say stupid things, I'll tell you to STFU. And if you genuinely contribute, I'll even pat you on the back.

and you know damn well im gonna fire back a STFU at you.

sooo STFU

And thats the kind of attitude that gets a person nowhere in life.

You really should start taking your own advice Ace.

it doesnt matter, wha.................you know what screw it, i try to be helpful and nobody.....even if its good advice or items give such a rats ass. so screw it

AceCombat wrote:a rats ***. so screw it

from cat to rat a natural progression

see.... thats the kind of sh!t im talking about

Been out o town a few days.
I am using the original D3 CD's released in the US with the cardboard/paper CD case, have patched with 1.4.
Found out that XP;
sees CDROMs as slaves hence the "Inavllid CDROM",
marks all folders (box is gray and checked) as 'read only (MS says they are not realy, but my D3 didn't know that.)
Down loaded 'NOCD' and the game works pretty good , using only the -nomusic switch.
Running as WIN98.

Unable to find a MS joystick in my county so picked up a Logiteck EXTREME 3D PRO. Very jerky in the game, BIG dead spot. Have gone through all of the LT settings and changed them to different values trying to get it to smooth out Guess I'll pick up a MSstick next time I get to go into a Big city.

I'd suggest to install the Wingman software (4.40) to get rid of the dead zone (you may also want to use the -deadzone0 0.0 and -deadzone1 0.0 D3 commandline switches). Also I'd recommend to soft-limit the X and Y axis to a 80% (I've 70%) range. To autocalibrate the stick exercise all axis to their limits once after hopping into a game.

[Grendel] wrote:I'd suggest to install the Wingman software (4.40) to get rid of the dead zone (you may also want to use the -deadzone0 0.0 and -deadzone1 0.0 D3 commandline switches). Also I'd recommend to soft-limit the X and Y axis to a 80% (I've 70%) range. To autocalibrate the stick exercise all axis to their limits once after hopping into a game.

I have gone all the way down to 25% and back up to 33% where it get jerky. I'll try the switches to see what effect they have. The ver. that came with the stick is 4.3, I'll get that to, thanks.

The "cannot set temp directory to custom/cache" thing came up the last time I lanned with Jazzy JET. I think it's because the folders didn't exist. So I simply created a "Custom" and a "Cache" directory and the problem went away. FYI, I get the "invalid CDROM" thing too. I HAVE to run it off my D:\ drive.

Jagger wrote:The "cannot set temp directory to custom/cache" thing came up the last time I lanned with Jazzy JET. I think it's because the folders didn't exist. So I simply created a "Custom" and a "Cache" directory and the problem went away. FYI, I get the "invalid CDROM" thing too. I HAVE to run it off my D:\ drive.

The folders were there, I even renamed them and created two new ones, didn't work. The NOCD for what ever reason solved all of that.
Grendel,
Got the 4.4, set the -deadzone switches as sugested, helped but still no where as smooth as the MS stick was. When not in the game testing the JS, it is very responsive and smooth, just dose not work in D3 that way.

Well, unfortunately the Extreme 3D and the Freedom 2.4 are well know to develop jitter (I call it jerkyness ) over time. An average F2.4 lasts ~3 months before it starts actng up, the E3D a lot less -- the one I tested so far lasted a week, but I've heard values from 15min - 2 weeks. D3 is very sensitive to this kind of jumping around, no damping whatsoever..

Edit: Just a thought -- did you try to lower the sensetivity in-game ?