Somatic vision Server has stopped working

[wgcphd]

I am having troubles getting the video's to work. I can use the graphs and the guided relaxations, and even the duel drive. Otherwise I get a message that says "Somatic Vision Server has stopped working" Thoughts?

[Ryan Deluz]

Hi,

I'm sorry you are having trouble getting the environments and mini-games to work. Actually the environments and mini-games are the most graphics intensive part of Alive, even more than Dual Drive. To get these to function properly it is important that you have a recent video card that supports OpenGL.

Older laptops, in particular, often fail to meet this requirement, as they have no dedicated video card, and instead use an Intel embedded video chip, which doesn't technically meet Alive's minimum requirements (although it can often be made to work anyway by updating the drivers). Also, some computers when upgraded from Windows Vista to Windows 7 have problems, if the video card is older and the video card manufacturer did not create new Windows 7 drivers for that video card. USING A DRIVER NOT DESIGNED BY YOUR VIDEO CARD MANUFACTURER, FOR EXAMPLE A MICROSOFT DRIVER FOR AN NVIDIA CARD, WILL OFTEN RESULT IN YOUR VIDEO CARD NOT OPERATING CORRECTLY WHEN PLAYING 3D GAMES, INCLUDING ALIVE.

The best thing to do is to start by updating your video card drivers. Most often problems with video card capabilities can be solved by updating your video card drivers. Otherwise you will need upgrade your video card, or try to run Alive on a different computer.

To update your video drivers either check the manufacturer of your laptop/desktop, and see if new drivers are available for that model/operating system, or go to the video card manufacturer's website. For example if you have an AMD or nVidia card you can go to the AMD / nVidia website and download their latest drivers for your card.

If you want to find out more information about your video card's current capabilities (with its current driver) you can download the GPU Caps Viewer from http://www.somaplay.com/public/GPU_Caps ... v1.9.3.exe to find out your OpenGL version (2.0 or higher required), and additional information about your video card.

Best,

Ryan

[wgcphd]

I am using a desktop computer, and I updated the video drivers to the most recent. I also updated the OpenGl to 3.1. I played one of the video's and it worked. However when I tried to switch to a different video the program shut down giving me the same error. I restarted the program and it's back to it's old tricks. Would trying a different video card work?

[Ryan Deluz]

Yes, upgrading to any recent AMD/ATI/nVidia card will make all of this work. Look for something is $50-$150 range. Anything new by any of these manufacturers will be sufficient. This recommendation will change over time of course, but for now a GeForce 9500 card can be purchased from Amazon for about $50. Make sure you get a card that will fit into the existing, or another available, slot in your computer.

Which video worked for you? Which one didn't?

[wgcphd]

We bought a Radeon HD 5550 with 1gb of ddr memory and installed it. Regrettably we are having the same problem. After updating the driver before, the video i used was the vine. However, that no longer worked when I tried it again. Any more suggestions?

[Ryan Deluz]

At this point it is best if I try to fix the problem via a remote troubleshooting software. Please log in to somaticvision.instanthousecall.com and follow the instructions to connect to a specialist. I am not always available, so feel free to try, and if you don't reach me leave me your e-mail address and we can coordinate a time. Sorry for the difficulties.