Raiden 3 Steam Crashing Problem

[Structor125]

I recently purchased the Raiden 3 digital edition on Steam and it runs fine until I try to start the game which is when it crashes. I've heard that you need to activate pixel shaders or something else on your GPU but I I'm trying to run it on an Intel G45/G43 express chipset and I have no idea how to turn that on. Has anyone else run into this problem?

[Ed Oscuro]

Run the Intel Driver Update tool:
https://downloadcenter.intel.com/

And then try re-starting the game. Hopefully, this is just a matter of driver support. However, this chipset is one of the old, limited, bad ones, so the features you might need may only be available as really slow software emulation - or not at all, and you can't change that as a user without installing new hardware. But drivers might not be the issue.

What does the crash log actually tell you? Either a log file near the actual program file, or found by following these steps.

Why do you think pixel shaders are the issue? I'd just like to know some source for that to follow up on. From what I found, Raiden III only needs Pixel Shader 2 or 3, or so, and the G43 supports Pixel Shader 4.0, so I don't think that is likely the problem.

[Structor125]

The driver update tool says my drivers are up to date. I used event viewer to look at the crash log but I don't know if any of this stuff is important:
Faulting application name: Raiden3.exe, version: 0.0.0.0, time stamp: 0x55af2020
Faulting module name: Raiden3.exe, version: 0.0.0.0, time stamp: 0x55af2020
Exception code: 0xc0000005
Fault offset: 0x00060518
Faulting process id: 0x884
Faulting application start time: 0x01d0edbbdd822c6c
Faulting application path: C:\Program Files\Steam\steamapps\common\Raiden 3 Digital Edition\Raiden3.exe
Faulting module path: C:\Program Files\Steam\steamapps\common\Raiden 3 Digital Edition\Raiden3.exe
Report Id: 22800da3-59af-11e5-963d-a4badbe419fc

I'd seen another post for this issue that said if you have an Intel integrated chip you had to have "Hardware Transform and Lighting or Pixel Shaders," so I thought that might have been the problem since it was talking about Intel integrated chips. This is that topic: https://steamcommunity.com/app/315670/discussions/0/613937306559674113/?insideModal=

[Ed Oscuro]

You might get better answers asking at the Steam Forums, but I'll try...

Is it only Raiden III you've having problems with? Do you use a lot of other installed / game software on this system without crashes?

The exception code suggests it's an access violation by the program itself, but possibly something is wrong with other computer hardware (like RAM) or the software itself. If you've been using the same Windows installation since you bought the machine in 2008, it might be time to reinstall the operating system and get a fresh start if you can't resolve the problem.

Reviewing the game's recommended settings (should run on 2003 hardware), and the age of the IGP in your system (from 2008), this system should be capable enough to support what Raiden III needs, like hardware transform & lighting as well as the pixel shader standard. In fact, although they had some driver bugs, extremetech was even able to run Crysis on the same integrated graphics that you've got, which is a DirectX 10 game, instead of the classic DirectX 9.0c title that Raiden III is.

[BONKERS]

Sounds like maybe an issue with Intel's GPU drivers.

Do you have a dedicated GPU at all?? It's quite a basic and old port and should run fine

[Structor125]

Raiden 3 is the only game that crashes that I've tried recently, and I play many other games on this pc. Most games run on the chip even if they are too slow to be playable. I did have problems with an older DirectX 8 game and I had to register a file called dx8vb.dll, but thats the only game that I can think of that crashed on my system other than Raiden.
I did try the game on other computers to see if this computer had a problem with software or hardware. A netbook with another Intel integrated graphics chip (945 express mobile) had the exact same problem, but a newer Core i3 laptop ran the game just fine, and it was likely working off its Intel GPU (it has a dedicated GPU but only uses it on stressful tasks). Despite that I still feel justified in blaming the Intel GPU since the netbook and the original desktop both are having the same problem, but I don't think theres much I can do about that other than just getting a graphics card.

[Ed Oscuro]

Yeah, having another early IGP give the same issue does point towards a driver bug (or some other way in which the game doesn't play nice with the hardware). Those chips are old enough at this point that expecting a fix from Intel is not realistic. I don't see any official notification they've discontinued driver support, but the driver page shows no support for Windows 8 or newer, and the last driver release was in 2013.

It's dead, Jim

[Structor125]

Good news! I was able to get an old gt 430 card from my brother and it runs the game. The only problem is that when the game window is set to 2.0x it slows down but it seems fine other than that. Thanks for your assistance with my problem.