And what about my "graphics processor?

Also, what about Jesse? Her problem was the same as mine, it seems.

SyberiaWinx,
A BIOS update won't help you with Still Life 2. And the video card drivers on the Dell site are from 2005, which you already have.

According to the Still Life 2 DVD case, the game needs:


According to your DXDIAG listing you have:


You only have an Intel® 845 Chipset according to ***Intel***.

In other words, according to the specs listed on the DVD case, your Intel chipset does not meet the minimum requirements for Still Life 2. No driver (even if there was a newer one) can give your card capabilities that it lacks.

If you had more RAM, you could try using ***3D-Analyze***, which emulates a 3D card in software. But according to your DXDIAG, you only have and the DVD case for the game lists a minimum of 512 MB of RAM (in addition to the required video RAM, which is 128 MB or more).

According to the specs for the Dell Dimension 2400 listed ***here***, the computer has 3 PCI slots, no AGP slots, and the power supply is only 200 Watts or 250 Watts. So it wouldn't be worth upgrading the computer with a new video card because you'd also need a better power supply and someone to install it, as well as more system RAM.

You should probably consider getting a new computer if you want to play newer games. Nearly all recent adventure games require features like hardware Transform & Lighting and Pixel Shader 2. Current games requre Pixel shader 3.

If you do decide to get a new computer, make sure you get one with an Nvidia or ATI card which is mid range or better and which has its own discrete video RAM. Don't be fooled by salesmen who will tell you that onboard graphics or low end graphics will play all your games. Unless you only play solitaire this will not be true, and they are only trying to get your money.

It's not possible. The whole reason I got this tower was so I could play my games. Every other game has worked fine, except for this one. I'm not having any problem with them.

Jenny's got it - I was looking for the specific DirectX Hardware support for the IGP. Unfortunately it only supports DirectX 9.0 - Not 9.0c.

Here's an easier to read reference to it.

Intel® 82845G Graphics Controller

Note this line: Compatible with DirectX* 9.0, 8.x, and 7.x <-<< You may have issues with any game that requires DX 9.0c

I'm not sure what any of that means, though. What do I need to do? I can't spend any money or take my tower apart.

In a nut shell, you can't play the game because the system doesn't meet the minimum requirements.

And I think that you should realize that you can't expect an older computer with low budget specs to play new games. Sad, but true.

I don't know which games you've played, but if you can't afford to upgrade your computer or get a new one with a better video card and more RAM, you're going to have to be very careful about which games you buy. Just because you can play games like Syberia (2003) and the original Still Life (2005), which have very low system requirements, doesn't mean you can play newer games like Still Life 2 (2009), Adam's Venture (2009), or Gray Matter (2010), which have significantly higher video card requirements.

You may want to start downloading demos of games before you buy -- to make sure they'll work on your computer.

I just don't think that's it. If it were, you'd think that this error message would be a lot more common. But when I search it, only two results come up, both on foreign forums. And at least one also involves trying to launch Still Life 2. And I've never seen this kind of message before either.

Well, there's one sure shot way to find out (Jenny mentioned it earlier). Download and install 3D-Analyze, it emulates Shader Model 3.0 hardware support. The game will run slow and choppy, but it should start.

Here's a list of each model and the hardware support provided. Your IGP is 9.0 (SM 2)

• DirectX 8.1 - Shader Model 1.4
• DirectX 9.0 - Shader Model 2.0
• DirectX 9.0a - Shader Model 2.0a
• DirectX 9.0b - Shader Model 2.0b
• DirectX 9.0c - Shader Model 3.0
• DirectX 10.0 - Shader Model 4.0
• DirectX 10.1 - Shader Model 4.1
• DirectX 11.0 - Shader Model 5.0

Here's a link to the download -

3D-Analyze Download

If I'm not mistaken I've run it on systems with 512Mb, try it and see.

It didn't work, but then again, it's a complicated-looking program with a lot of options. If only I could figure out what's causing this error...

This is actually quite common in older low end computers that do not have the hardware necessary to play new games.

But like I keep saying, this wierd error is not a common thing. If it were just a problem with not meeting the requirements, I'd imagine a lot of people would have gotten errors like this, but it seems they haven't.

It's not a common thing if you've only played 2D or 2.5D games that work with very low end graphics. Until fairly recently that was most Adventure games. Now we're seeing more games that require DirectX 9.0c functionality (Hardware T&L and Shader Model 3.0). Having a video card capable of DirectX 9.0c functionality is not the same thing as installing DirectX 9.0c on your computer.

Still Life 2 was hard to get working even if you DID have the minimum requirements for graphics (which you don't) because you had to edit or replace a configuration file.

Actually the PC I played the game on did meet the minimum requirements, and still failed to start. Unfortunately just after the game was released here in the States, Microids was sold and tech support (including patch releases) came to a standstill.

If you can get to the Options Menu try disabling all of the graphics options, or at the very least adjust them to their lowest settings.

Short of that, you're going to have to upgrade the PC or replace it. As Jenny mentioned earlier, don't rely on what the sales person tells you and avoid Intel graphics processors like the plague.

And unfortunately, that old Dell Dimension 2400 is hardly worth upgrading.

I just get that error message, so changing the options is not an option. I really want to play it.@_@

If you want to play this game , perhaps it would be best to heed what has already been advised ?

Hi, Creeping_Doom and welcome to Gameboomers. Love the name!

Thank you for the welcome , and my name ! I derived the name from watching friends play dungeons & dragons in my younger years . The term "Creeping Doom" , refers to a higher level clerical spell .