RGL ERROR: Unable to create depth stencil surface width=512 height=512.

[Robin Hood]

So this is what I get very frequently:

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RGL ERROR
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Unable to create depth stencil surface width=512 height=512. Shadowmap quality will be reduced next time you start the game.
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OK 
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Game crashes. I never had these problems before.  I've got 4GB ram and a 7800GTX. I've tried to lower my settings but I still get that problem (512x512 should be minimum anyway). Drivers are up to date.

It's very annoying

 

[Ravensoul]

I have this error also. It's quite frequent.
So far i havent found any specific spot it happens, very random. But it seems it's mostly when loading map, leaving towns, entering battles etc.

I have a P4 2.66GHz, GeForce 6600GT (with updated drivers), 2 Gb RAM. Windows XP Pro SP2

 

[Habemik]

It's currently the only "game stopping" bug I get. It seems to happen to me only in conversations.

Battles / towns / everything else is all fine. It pops up when one of my heroes wants to say "I don't like this other guy in the party" or whilst checking their equipment or viewing / adjusting their stats. It sometimes occurs when a lord wants to thank me for helping in a battle, or pay me for a task and so on.

Basically, I get the conversation window open, except the space in the top left where the person should be, which is blank, followed by the windows "DUNK!" noise of terror (Windows XP Critical Stop.wav) and a window telling me about depth stencil etc. The game is unresponsive, then crashes to desktop when I close the error window.

Any settings changes I've made have not made any difference at all - they may affect the frequency of the crash, but it still definitely happens, whatever the video settings are on.

Also, it's not consistent - if I reload, then the same person pops up to say the same thing, it doesn't crash. I can't deliberately recreate it. It just seems to pop up randomly, like each conversation has a 25% of crashing randomly.

From other people reporting the same thing, it appears to be an Nvidia issue.

Relevant bits :

Pentium D820 2x2.80Ghz
2 GB RAM
PNY Quadro FX 540 (which is technically an Nvidia card)
Win XP Pro SP2

That graphics card is only 128MB, which may be related to the issue.

It was built as a video workstation (which it still does pretty damn well), rather than a gaming machine - but you can't help yourself installing the odd bit here and there...

 

[Jaakko]

I have also this problem. I turned all options down, but it didn't help. It happens quite randomly.
My Nvidia integrated video card might be the reason.
I hope next patch fix this.

 

[Dibhala]

I've tried a small solution posted by someone.
It is about lowering in-game video options to get over 80% performance.
Well, it doesn't fix the problems with this error in 100% but it makes the game to run longer without getting RGL.

Now I'm able to play 1-1.5 hour without RGL. Earlier ... hmm... like max 10-15 mins ?

Pity it occurs almost only on nvidia cards, but in v903 I've never had such error.
afain it is caused by in-game texture errors.

 

[Archonsod]

It's an old problem which has resurfaced in the new version. It used to affect Nvidia cards (usually the low to mid range with 512Mb Vram or less) whenever DX9 shaders were used. Switching to DX7 might stop it happening, but we'll need to wait until the next patch to see it gone completely.

 

[Habemik]

For me at least, DX9 / DX7 / all options turned lowest / all options turned highest makes no difference. As I said previously (but not so clearly mentioning trying DX7), it may affect the frequency of it occurring, but doesn't stop it. It just craps out when it feels like it, with no regard for settings.

 

[Tinan]

Reducing the screen and colour resolution seems to have by far the biggest impact on reducing the frequency of this crash in my experience, rather than reducing any of the other options. Lowering from my desktop res (1440x900@32bit) to 1360x768@16bit allowed me to actually quit the game manually, for once, rather than be quitted by the game, so to speak.

Using nV8500GT.

Just an unconfirmed suggestion. Please don't get mad at me if this doesn't help for you.

 

[Snook]

This error has made the game completely unplayable for me. I'm rather peeved by it... Hopefully it'll be fixed by the next bugfix release, but for now I'll just stop playing. 

1.44 GHz proc, 512 MB RAM, GeForce 5200 FX 32 MB

 

[Richardg]

Error here too. Running in Dx7, Nvidia card, all graphics set to low.

 

[Uther]

OK, seems like i can't play because of it now.

For me it occurs in allmost every decent-sized battle, 90% of the time. I regret now that i joined Vaegirs, since i have to fight in just such battles. I hope the patch corrects it :\

 

[Count Dusseldorf]

It is happening to me too, I have an Nvidia Geforce 7300 GT. Well just have to wait for the next patch. In the meantime, it's .903 for me.

 

[Ravensoul]

I reduced the detail level to quite low, and since i havent got the error. Have had game sessions of 3-4h and still not seen it. I doubt that fixed it for me, but atleast it's alot less frequent now so i can play the game atleast.

 

[sharpshooterbakri]

don't remind me i played so long on the game and i forgot saving then this problem happend and i was out of the game
now i should redo every thing that have happened to me
perhaps i should  make the quality low

 

[Likantropos]

Hmm... I've just installed the "Graphic enhancement" mod for .903 on .950 and the problem seems to be gone. Anyone, thy it to see if it really helps...

 

[Tinan]

Hmm... I've just installed the "Graphic enhancement" mod for .903 on .950 and the problem seems to be gone. Anyone, thy it to see if it really helps...

Not really. Although the game does look prettier  BTW, do you mean the hi-res or the standard version?

 

[Gyoru]

I was having this issue as well with my 8800, but I updated to XP SP3 RTM earlier today and the crashes seem to be less frequent.

 

[bravesirknight]

Saw this issue only once but it's so random... I'm not even using environment shadows.

hmm... solved I think? disable character shadows and it doesn't seem to happen anymore... I hope.

 

[Robin Hood]

I disabled all shadows but I still get the shadow error. It seems like it pops when I'm bartering quite a lot too. And there should be no shadows there.

 

[Nahkis]

Hmm... I've just installed the "Graphic enhancement" mod for .903 on .950 and the problem seems to be gone. Anyone, thy it to see if it really helps...

Are you using DX 7 or 9?