Dungeon Siege: "Has Encountered an Error and Needs to Close" Error Message When You Switch from Another Window (321407)

SYMPTOMS

When you start Microsoft Dungeon Siege or try to switch from one window back to Dungeon Siege, you may receive an error message similar to the following:

Dungeon Siege has encountered an error and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience.

When you click click here, you receive details about the error message similar to the following:

Error Signature
AppName: dungeonsiege.exe AppVer: 0.2.3.801 ModName: dungeonsiege.exe
ModVer: 0.2.3.801 Offset: 00272a2f

CAUSE

On Microsoft Windows 2000 and Microsoft Windows XP, this behavior may occur if your video adapter does not successfully switch to and from full-screen Direct 3D mode.

Direct 3D is a hardware accelerator that is required to play Dungeon Siege. When you switch to another window from Dungeon Siege, your video adapter temporarily turns Direct 3D off, and then turns it on again when you switch back to Dungeon Siege. The error message appears if your video adapter cannot turn Direct 3D back on.

On Microsoft Windows 98 and Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition (Me), this behavior may occur if your video adapter driver is incompatible with Dungeon Siege.

RESOLUTION

To resolve this issue, do one of the following:

When you are running Windows 2000 or Windows XP, do not open the Windows Security dialog box, and turn your password-protected screen saver off while Dungeon Siege is open.
When you are running Windows 98 or Windows Me, download the latest driver for your video adapter. Contact your video adapter manufacturer for information about updated drivers.

REFERENCES

Contact the manufacturer of your video hardware for information about how to obtain and install the latest version of the video driver for your video hardware. To see if applicable driver updates are available, visit the following Microsoft Windows Update Web site:

http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com

For information about how to contact P1, click the appropriate article number in the following list to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

65416 Hardware and Software Third-Party Vendor Contact List, A-K

60781 Hardware and Software Third-Party Vendor Contact List, L-P

60782 Hardware and Software Third-Party Vendor Contact List, Q-Z

Microsoft provides third-party contact information to help you find technical support. This contact information may change without notice. Microsoft does not guarantee the accuracy of this third-party contact information. To identify the name and manufacturer of your video hardware, follow these steps:

Click Start, and then click Run.
In the Open box, type dxdiag, and then click OK.
Click the Display tab.
Under Device, look for Name and Manufacturer.
Click Exit.

The third-party products that this article discusses are manufactured by companies that are independent of Microsoft. Microsoft makes no warranty, implied or otherwise, regarding the performance or reliability of these products.