[zeroflag]

since I find myself stuck in a loop of "search my old posts", "copy" and "paste" to answer most questions on this forum, I'll just gather the solutions to the most common issues...

Issues:

1. Freezes and crashes
   • Freezes
     • How to avoid driver freezes and crashes
   • Crashes while loading/zoning
     • How to avoid driver freezes and crashes
     • Yes, it is (most likely) the same issue/cause as the freezes.
   • Crashes from Alt+Tab
     • Delete custom UIs and fix default content
     • Delete all settings
     • Run Verify/Repair
     • If the problem persists reinstall the game
   • "Assertion Failed - Out of Memory"
     • Increase Windows' memory limit.
2. Content issues
   • Walking through walls / Falling through the world
     • Run Verify/Repair
     • If the problem persists reinstall the game
   • White walls / missing textures
     • Run Verify/Repair
     • If the problem persists reinstall the game
3. Patcher
   • Patcher doesn't connect
     • Getting the patcher to connect
   • Patcher downloads updates repeatedly/when it shouldn't
     • Run Verify/Repair
   • 14GB Update!
     • Cancel the update!
     • Try to Verify/Repair.
     • Or reinstall the game
     • (this will save you 13GB of those 14GB download)
4. Textures/Chatwindow/etc with Moiré(/squares)
   • Correct your graphics settings
5. Lag spikes
   • Read this
6. DirectX update NEW
   • Read this
7. to be continued...

[zeroflag]

1. Navigate to your Age of Conan folder
   • Vista/XP 32bit default:
     C:\Program Files\Funcom\Age of Conan\
   • Vista/XP 64bit default:
     C:\Program Files (x86)\Funcom\Age of Conan\
2. (Optional) Clean up your RDB folder:
   • Go into the RDB folder in your AoC directory.
   • Delete RDBHashIndex.bin and le.idx
   • Run the Patcher/Updater
3. Run SimpleConfig.exe
   • Verify/Repair
   • do NOT use "Compact Resource Files"
4. If this does not solve your problem, you can try to reinstall the game.

[zeroflag]

navigate to and rename/delete this folder:
(press Win+R, copy&paste these paths, then press OK; if that doesn't work, copy&paste the path into your explorer address bar)
VISTA:

%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Funcom\Conan\Prefs\

XP:

%USERPROFILE%\Local Settings\Application Data\Funcom\Conan

(or, if the above doesn't work, navigate manually to)
VISTA: C:\Users\[user name]\AppData\Local\Funcom\Conan\Prefs\
XP: C:\Documents and Settings\[user name]\Local Settings\Application Data\Funcom\Conan


Advanced: Only do this if you KNOW what you are doing!
If you want to reset the technical settings (the ones most likely to break something) but want to keep your UI, chat and character settings:

1. Navigate to the folders mentioned above.
   • Delete Prefs_2.xml
2. Open the folder with your account-name.
   • Delete Prefs_2.xml
3. Leave any Char1234565 folder unchanged

[zeroflag]

1. Uninstall the game
   VISTA:
   1. Start
   2. Control Panel
   3. If
      • "Control Panel Home": Find "Programs" and click on "Uninstall a program"
      • "Classic View": Find "Programs and Features"
   4. Find "Age of Conan - Hyborian Adventures"
   5. Rightclick -> Uninstall
   XP: (hope this is correct, been a while)
   1. Start
   2. Settings
   3. Control Panel
   4. Add or Remove a Program
   5. Find "Age of Conan - Hyborian Adventures"
   6. Rightclick -> Uninstall
2. Delete all settings
3. Install the game

[zeroflag]

• See this thread
• Also try
  • SimpleConfig.exe
  • Deleting your settings
  • If the problem persists reinstall the game

[zeroflag]

1. Navigate to your Age of Conan folder
   • Vista/XP 32bit default:
     C:\Program Files\Funcom\Age of Conan\
   • Vista/XP 64bit default:
     C:\Program Files (x86)\Funcom\Age of Conan\
2. Run PatcherSetup.exe

If the above does not solve your patcher problem, read this post.

[zeroflag]

NOTE: You might want to clean out your drivers first.

1. Get the latest drivers
   • Nvidia
     • Currently the recommended nvidia driver for AoC are the 178.24 drivers.
       • Download: Vista (64bit)/(32bit) or XP (32bit)
     • If you are experiencing problems with the drivers above, you can try the 177.92 Beta drivers.
       • Download: Vista (64bit)/(32bit) or XP (32bit)
     • Note: Do not install the 178.13 drivers! They are suspected to cause a BlueScreen/BSOD!
     
     
   • ATi
     • If anyone has a recommended/tested version for the ATi drivers, let me know.
     • For now, my recommendation goes to the latest driver from ATi:
       • Download: Vista (64bit)/(32bit) or XP (32bit)
       • Scroll down to Option 2 and select Display Driver.
     • Note: Do not install the "Cataclyst Control Center"! If you have it installed, remove it!
       A lot of people claim it can cause crashes and issues, and we're trying to cure that, aren't we?
2. Disable conflicting settings
   • ATi
     1. Uninstall "Cataclyst Control Center"
        The CCC causes lots of issues and crashes so unless you know exactly what you're doing, get rid of it.
     2. (if you don't like the option above, you're on your own. try the nvidia suggestions below.)
   • Nvidia
     1. Open the "NVIDIA Control Panel" (right click on the desktop or find it in the start menu)
     2. View -> Advanced
     3. "Manage 3D settings"
        • Either click on "Restore" to get the default settings applied
        • or, if you want to do it yourself, choose either the "Global Settings" or create a profile for AoC under "Program Settings"
          1. "Multi-display/mixed-GPU acceleration" => "Single display performance mode" (fixes freezes, crashes and some other issues)
          2. "Antialiasing - Mode" => "Application-controlled" (fixes Moiré)
          3. "Anisotropic filtering" => "Application-controlled" (fixes Moiré)
          4. (optional) Reduce "Maximum pre-rendered frames" to 2 or 1. (can speed up mouse-camera-movement)
          5. (optional) "Texture filtering - Trilinear optimization" => "On" (huge performance boost on certain cards when using "Trilinear" instead of "Anisotropic" filtering in game)

[zeroflag]

1. Navigate to your Age of Conan folder
   • Vista/XP 32bit default:
     C:\Program Files\Funcom\Age of Conan\
   • Vista/XP 64bit default:
     C:\Program Files (x86)\Funcom\Age of Conan\
2. Delete the "cd_image" folder
3. Run "ConanPatcher.exe"

[zeroflag]

• DirectX web installer (requires active internet connection and WGA validation) (recommended)
  • 22kB download for the installer, which will then download another 10-15MB depending on your system.
• DirectX Redist August 2008
  • only use this if you have more than 1 PC to install DX on or if WGA fails, for whatever reason

Note:

• There is no DirectX9 or DirectX10 update, there is only one update for everything.

[zeroflag]

• VISTA
  1. Press Win+R simultaniously (Win being the "Windows Key" on your keyboard)
  2. Enter this command:
     

     bcdedit /set IncreaseUserVA 3072

     The more daring users may try this:
     bcdedit /set IncreaseUserVA 4096
     
     Note, however, that this can cause crashes and lockups if you manage to push towards the limits of your hardware.
     
     
  3. Enable "Run as Administrator"
  4. Press 'Ok'
  5. Reboot
• XP
  1. Click on "Start" then "Run..."
  2. Enter this command:
     

     notepad.exe c:\boot.ini

  3. Click on Ok
  4. In notepad (the text-editor that just opened):
     1. Look for the end of the file where you should find a line that looks like this:
        

        multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP" /fastdetect

     2. at the end of that line add this
        

        /USERVA=3072

     3. so that the line looks like this (must be one line and there must be a space before each /)
        

        multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP" /fastdetect /USERVA=3072

     4. Click on "File" then "Save" (or press Ctrl+S simultaniously)
     5. Close notepad
  5. Reboot

FAQ/Common Myths

• But I only have 2GB of RAM! This won't help me!
  Chances are that it will. Mostly because that 2GB limitation is not just about main memory.
  See the *** below for more details.
• But Taskmanager only shows 1.5GB RAM being used when I get the error!
  See the *** below for more details.
• *** How are those 2GB calculated?
  The 2 Gigabyte limit, or 2048 Megabyte limit, applies to something called "Virtual Memory Space". This Virtual Memory is made up by anything the application uses, and that includes the main memory (RAM) and the memory on the Graphics card (VRAM).
  
  So, for example, if you have 2GB of RAM, and a graphics card with 512MB of VRAM, you actually have 2.5GB in total.
  However, 32bit processes (like AoC) are by default limited to 2GB ("nobody would ever need more" TM @ microsoft) so even though AoC is only using 1.5GB of main-memory, the additional 0.5GB from the graphics card will push you over the limit.
  
  Also, on XP the Taskmanager shows only main RAM, while on Vista the Taskmanager combines both, RAM and VRAM, and shows you the actual Virtual Memory being used.
  _
• Why 4092 on Vista? Why not the 3072 everyone else suggests?
  Because Vista allows us to have a 4092MB (or 4GB) maximum. So why shouldn't we use it?
  
  Using "only" 3072MB (3GB) would make sense in a environment where single processes can actually use that much memory while the physical hardware only provides 4GB. In that case the OS "might" (not even microsoft is sure about that) dead-lock itself.
  
  So, unless you're having issues with the 4096 setting, stick with it. If you do have problems, use 3072 instead.
  _
• Why not 4092 on XP? Why do the Vista people get more?
  Because Vista is a modern OS, and XP is not.