Final Fantasy XI Issues - Possibly Driver?

Hi all, having some issues with my M11x R2 and FFXI. Whenever I try to run FFXI, whether through Windower or through the default POL, I'm only getting about 5 ~ 8 FPS, when I should be getting the full 30. I figured this was due to the stupid Optimus switch not turning on my Nvidia GPU, and low and behold, the Nvidia control panel was showing it wasn't active.

When I try running the launchers through the GPU by right-clicking the shortcuts however, after the POL splashscreen, it immediately gives the "Play Online has stopped working" error message. Some steps I've taken to fix the problem:

• Installed ThrottleStop and configured it correctly
• Updated POL to the Windows Vista / 7 version. (I'm running Windows 7)
• Updated my drivers while also deleting any previous registries of older drivers
• Added Windower launcher, POL, and FFXI's shortcut to the Nvidia GPU list
• Ran POL in safe-mode and it worked fine, leading me to believe it was a driver issue
• Also ran POL with the Intel HD graphics and didn't encounter the error

Any and all help is appreciated, I'll be sure to respond as fast as possible to help resolve the issue. Thanks!

 

One issue is you need to install Nvidia PowerMizer Manager and disable Powermizer here For what ever reason the game down clocks to 405 Mhz causing the issue. Also make sure you have atleast 266.35 Drivers or higher. There was actually a issue with Nvidia drivers and FFXI.

Good Luck

 

I went ahead and installed PowerMizer, however, POL still fails to launch when I try to run it with the Nvidia GPU. It launches without it and as I said in my OP, the GPU activity monitor shows no activity when the game itself is launched through POL. Right now, the main problem I want to tackle is simply getting through POL and booting FFXI with my GPU, not the integrated chipset.

 

What installer of Playonline did you use? If you have a original RoZ installer you need to download the updated one for Vista and and up. You can get the updated installer here.

Give that a shot

 

Yeah I've already done that, and I'm pretty sure it replaced the shortcut on my desktop, but I'll look into making sure it's the correct version. If that's not the problem any other ideas? And thank you very much for your contributions already.

 

Hi OP. Recently I got a M14x Laptop with an Nvidia card featuring the Optimus technology and I came across the exact same problem. I cannot get PoL to boot up and usually crashes after 3-5 seconds of booting up, giving me the "stops responding" message. After much research as to why PoL refuses to boot up, I found a thread of people encountering the same issue and unfortunately the only solution for now is to disable the Nvidia card. It seems whenever the laptop switches to the nvidia card it glitches out the viewer and causes it to stop responding. I switched my nvidia card off and it works just fine, however, not with the quality that we expect to play the game with. I really hope Dell updates their driver database as soon as the fix comes up

 

That's what I've heard, and I figured as much. I was just hoping to possibly hear that there was some other workaround... As much as I love this laptop, it has really brought me to strongly dislike Nvidia.

 

Official WHQL NVIDIA 275.33 Display Driver Feedback Thread For NVIDIA Geforce Desktop/Notebook/ION GPUs - NVIDIA Forums - Page 31

It seems the next driver update will include the fix, I just hope it will be soon!

 

Well I have FFXI running on my M11xR2 so I know it is not a Nvidia issue. Lets determine something first. Are you using the latest driver off Dell.com or Nvidia.com?

Edit.. I did not realize there is a issue with newer drivers so get the working one here. Make sure you choose Clean install during the process.

http://www.nvidia.com/object/notebook-win7-winvista-64bit-266.58-whql-driver.html

 

Idlehand, I updated the drivers using the dell.com website. I tried updating through Nvidia.com but when the driver install boots up and checks for compatible hardware it says there is none even when the card is enabled. Any idea why?

 

@Milter since you have a M14x you are going to have to wait till the newest driver update fix since the driver I posted doesn't support your Nvidia card.

 

Going down to the drivers you posted works! Thank you so much! Good luck Milter!