STEAM wants to transfer my nVidia card values from my desktop PC to my ATI 7970 video card notebook
This is a convoluted mess so bear with me as I explain. My problem centers around Metro 2033 which I purchased through STEAM just a few days ago. I got about half way through the game, hit a checkpoint save and exited. Later, when I returned and restarted STEAM to play the game again, the game launched, but when I clicked on "continue" to resume from the saved checkpoint, the game froze and had to be killed through task mgr. Windows 7 simultaneously threw out an error that "Metro 2033 Executable has stopped working...............Windows will close the program and notify you if a solution is available." Now, every time I try to launch the game, I get this same freeze (game crash) and same Windows error message. I have searched online and apparently lots of people have encountered this same problem, but none of the fixes offered have worked for me. So as a work around, I decided to abandon my nVidia based desktop and run the game on my notebook. I copied the Metro 2033 file containing my previous autosave and player files and pasted them into the same location on my notebook hoping I could resume the game where I left off. However, by doing this, when I launch the game through STEAM, the game refuses to load stating, "physXloader.dll is missing from your system." Essentially, the game is looking for the nVidia card from my desktop which is not present because the notebook has an ATI 7970 and does not employ the physXloader. So somehow I transferred the video config when I transferred the Metro 2033 file folder. I have not found a workaround.
I also tried to run Metro 2033 on my other desktop which is also nVidia-based by doing this same file transplant. I get the same freeze (crash) and same result as I got on my original desktop so once again, it appears the file transfer also transplants the exact same problem from system to system.
So where I am right now is looking for one of two things: 1) Anybody got a working solution for my nVidia card systems? or 2) Anybody know how to get the game operational on my ATI 7970 instead of looking for nVidia software? I know I can delete all and reinstall the game on my main desktop, but I would like to leave that as a last resort. Plus, this seems to be a common problem with Metro 2033 and there just may not be a fix. :/
FWIW, my main nVidia desktop is an AMD X4 965 with a GTX 480, my second nVidia desktop is also an AMD X4 965 with a GTX 275, my notebook is an Alienware M17x R4 with an ATI 7970 and Intel i7 3610 QM. All systems run 8 GB of RAM and Windows 7. Thanks for looking!
Comments
You're missing a library the game needs. That's all. I've run into this before.
Go to your Metro 2033 install folder in Steam's ClientApps folder (I'm not at my PC, so I don't recall any of the names exactly). There's a setup folder of some sort, and one of the files in that folder will install the library you need. It may be called physXsomething.
It's in C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\metro 2033\install
Also check your installed programs under the control panel. If PhysX is already installed, uninstall it. I remember having to do this to get the game's version installed correctly.
Nope. I appreciate the thought but that is one of the "fixes" I found online that does not work for me. The path is C:Program Files (x86), Steam, steam apps, common, Metro 2033, install. Through that path is D3D11 Install, Direct X install, PhysXInstall, and vcredist_x86 install. None of these addressed the issue when reinstalled.
Well mertesn is correct, the game is missing the physX dll file.
You HAVE to uninstall the existing PhysX libraries through control panel before you install the new one in order to fix this. At least according to the THQ faq. So try that.
If it doesn't work:
Ignoring what is in the install folder, I'd install this one:
http://www.nvidia.com/object/physx-9.13.1220-driver.html
Remember uninstall existing physx software first.
If that doesn't fix the ATI system I'm not sure what will.
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Regardless of the physX error, that save file seems to be corrupt if it crashes you on multiple systems. Do you have any older saves you can revert to?
Ah, yes. That was the step I forgot...downloading the "correct" version.
Honestly, I just linked the latest version of PhysX as Metro 2033 is not listed with Nvidia as requiring the legacy version of PhysX. It should work fine with the PhysX installer in the directory as you pointed out @mertesn. I think the old one was, perhaps, not uninstalled first.
The full instructions for this exact issue are here:
http://support.thq.com/entries/22593786-Metro-2033-PC-FAQ-Known-Issues
@adarryl note the little details like launching the game outside of steam after repairing PhysX and etc.
Thanks for all the input fellas! First, I had already tried the physXloader.dll fixes in PirateNinja's link. Doing that, I got the game to run on my notebook with the 7970 card but not with my previous autosave only from the game's beginning. The moment I transplanted the autosave from my nVidia desktop, the game froze so it seems that autosave is corrupt. While searching for a downloadable autosave, I learned that you can start the game over as new and load a previously completed level but not the current one where the last autosave was made. I also found a download link for the exact autosave that I need but that link is now dead. I don't have time right now, but I will launch the game on my main desktop and try to load the last level completed just before the apparent autosave bug. Will report back.
Not the ideal solution but a workaround. I ran the game again and as I stated in my last post, I can launch and run a new game on my main PC and choose to load a previously completed level ie. the one just before the one lost in the apparently corrupt savegame so I guess that is what I will have to do. It's frustrating since I lost quite a bit of progress through some difficult gaming moments. My biggest fear right now is that I will progress past this tough spot only for the game to hose me again through another savegame corruption. My other alternative is to run the game from its beginning on my notebook which means playing everything all over again with no reassurance the savegame bug won't bite me again. Lesser of two evils so to speak.
Thanks to mertesn and PirateNinja for trying to bail me out of this one!