VeryOldGoat wrote:
> On Steam's Tech Support list they suggest installing 3 patches to avoid
> in-game chrases:
>
> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/938194
> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/938979
> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/940105
>
> I have downloaded all 3 but only the first will install, each of the other
> two generate a message (translated from Danish) "The update is not relevant
> for your system" this regardless if I install it in the 32 or 64 B version.
> Needless to say I have used Windows Vista auto update and installed
> everything. Any kind of support would be appreciated, perhaps Valve/Steam
> developers should work closer with Windows to improve this?
>
> Thank you all!
Steam tech support is trying to assist their customers by pointing to
patches that may help. These are all Microsoft patches, which means that
Microsoft recognize tha some problems are with THEIR software. Why on
earth do you think the Steam developers should break their working code
to make it fit Microsoft's broken code?
If MS are telling you that a patch is not appropriate for your system
why are you determined to install it anyway? You seem to have the idea
that Steam should work around MS defects because MS must always be
right, and yet are also arguing that MS are wrong about their own OS by
not letting you install patches that don't match it.
If you are experiencing in game crashes the first place to look are the
drivers for your video card.
Assuming it's an NVidia card Steam will direct you to the NVidia
website, and Microsoft update will probably offer drivers too. Both of
these are a bad idea for one simple reason. You should always uninstall
old versions of video drivers before installing new ones. Sometimes you
can get by with just installing but often you cannot.
Same applies to any other model card you may have, the installer cannot
work on files you are actually using.
So, restart the machine with nothing extra running. Find the Video
drivers (Just video, nothing else) in add/remove programs area and
uninstall them. When you reboot the screen will likely be messed up so
put you recently downloaded new driver package on the desktop where it
is easy to find.
Run the package, it will ask to reboot when it is done. Allow the reboot
and reset your display as you prefer it.
If you recently did this with new drivers but did not uninstall old ones
first this is very likely your problem.