Vista, Xfire & the wsock32 error!

fieseler

Vista Guru
I recently installed crysis warhead on my 64bit machine & got the famous wsock32.dll message.After a lot of research, ive discovered a lot of games are suffering from this problem.

On extensive reading, xfire appears to be part of the problem & usually needs to be disabled as an unacceptable workaround. The other part of the problem appears to be related to drm on a 64 bit pc, since 'CmdLineExtInsallerExe.exe' is apparantly related to the drm software, & the error mostly appears on computers running 64 bit vista.

Currently there are 2 workarounds i have discovered:

Note: For this tutorial i am using crysis warhead as an example because this is the only game i have that has this problem. You will have warhead installed in a different directory than mine, or maybe a different game with the same problem.

First, is to dump 4 files into the same folder as the game's .exe. So for crysis warhead, id need to find crysis.exe, which is located in my C:\Program Files (x86)\Games\Crysis WARHEAD\Bin32. Your will obviously be different.

First, find these files in C:\windows\syswow64:
wsock32.dll
winmm.dll
oleacc.dll
msimg32.dll

Now dump the 4 files into the same folder as the game's .exe. So for crysis warhead, id need to find crysis.exe, which is located in my C:\Program Files (x86)\Games\Crysis WARHEAD\Bin32. Your game install directory will obviously be different.

Now in order for this to work, the games shortcuts MUST be edited in the Vista Game explorer. To do this, open up the Game Explorer by opening the start menu, & clicking 'Games'

Now right click the game in question (so again for me, it would be crysis warhead), & go to 'Customize'. For crysis warhead, there are 2 or 3 shortcuts, for launching the game in the different directx modes (9 & 10 obviously).

First, we'll start with the 'Play (Play)' Shortcut, make sure it is highlighted, & click edit.

Notice the 'Start in:' box is blank, this needs to be filled in with the directory where the .exe is located. Highlight ALL the text in the 'Target:' box above it, right click it & select 'Copy', then right click in the 'Start in:' box & select 'Paste'

Now the 'Start in:' box should read "C:\Program Files (x86)\Games\Crysis WARHEAD\Bin32\Crysis.exe" what you need to do is delete the '\Crysis.exe' off the end, but leave the " so it reads

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Games\Crysis WARHEAD\Bin32"

Click 'Apply', then click 'OK'.

Click Close.

Option 2 is to enable UAC http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/48893-user-account-control-uac.html

With uac on, we all know of the irritating messages asking you to continue, however they can be disabled http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/80938-user-account-control-uac-elevate-privilege-level.html

However, after disabling the uac alerts, the security center icon in the system tray will bug you about having it turned off, but that too can be disabled http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/163857-security-center-specific-alert-notification.html

The problem with the first option, is that it will need to be done for every game that has the problem, which can be frustrating if a lot of them do it, which is why the uac option might be better for some people. No idea if uac decreases performance though, someone might need to explain a bit more detail on it.

PS If these instructions arent clear or something, someone can rewrite or repost.
 
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    §ĮŁΣNŦ Д$$Д$$ĮN
    CPU
    Xeon X3360
    Motherboard
    P5W64 WS Pro
    Memory
    Corsair XMS2 8gb @ 5-4-4-12 833mhz
    Graphics Card(s)
    EVGA Geforce GTX470 SC+
    Sound Card
    X-Fi Extreme Gamer Fatlity Edition
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Samsung T200
    Screen Resolution
    1680x1050
    Hard Drives
    WD 1TB RE3
    PSU
    Thermaltake Toughower 750w
    Case
    NZXT Lexa Silver
    Cooling
    Zalman CNPS10x Extreme
    Keyboard
    Razer Lycosa Mirror
    Mouse
    Razer Deathadder 3500dpi
    Internet Speed
    24Mb/s
    Other Info
    My massive wifi antenna is in the post!
Thanks for this, I had the same problem with Crysis Warhead as well.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Custom Built
    CPU
    Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550
    Motherboard
    XFX MB-750I-72P9 NF750i
    Memory
    4096MB Corsair XMS2 PC-5400
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS Nvidia Geforce GTX470
    Sound Card
    ASUS Xonar DX
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dell 24" S2409W & Dell 20" E207WFP
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080 & 1680x1050
    Hard Drives
    750GB Western Digital Caviar Black & 500GB Samsung
    PSU
    750 watt Thermaltake Toughpower
    Case
    Coolermaster Dominator 690 Nvidia Edition
    Cooling
    Zalman CNPS9700-NT Cooler, 6x 120mm Chassis Fans
    Keyboard
    Logitech G11 Keyboard
    Mouse
    Logitech G5 Laser Mouse (2007 edition)
    Internet Speed
    100Mbps
    Other Info
    abit airpace 54mbps wireless PCI-E x1 card
im looking into another fix that seems to have worked for me;

find these files again, in C:\windows\syswow64:
wsock32.dll
winmm.dll
oleacc.dll
msimg32.dll

copy them & paste into C:\program files\xfire or wherever xfire is installed on your pc.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    §ĮŁΣNŦ Д$$Д$$ĮN
    CPU
    Xeon X3360
    Motherboard
    P5W64 WS Pro
    Memory
    Corsair XMS2 8gb @ 5-4-4-12 833mhz
    Graphics Card(s)
    EVGA Geforce GTX470 SC+
    Sound Card
    X-Fi Extreme Gamer Fatlity Edition
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Samsung T200
    Screen Resolution
    1680x1050
    Hard Drives
    WD 1TB RE3
    PSU
    Thermaltake Toughower 750w
    Case
    NZXT Lexa Silver
    Cooling
    Zalman CNPS10x Extreme
    Keyboard
    Razer Lycosa Mirror
    Mouse
    Razer Deathadder 3500dpi
    Internet Speed
    24Mb/s
    Other Info
    My massive wifi antenna is in the post!
when i start my comp i have to click a pop says countinue
to start x fire
any way i can start it once & for all

or wil have to do this all the time ?

I have vista 64 bit laptop
 

My Computer

Or, here is another fix that seems to work (this is not the only game affected, far from it)

edit your system's PATH variable and add at the end

Code:
;c:\windows\sysWOW64

that did it for me!

To access that variable go to START>computer(Right click)>properties
then advanced system properties>environment variables and you probably can figure the rest!

restarting the session should not be necessary.
 

My Computer

System One

  • CPU
    AMD Athlon X2 Dual Core Processor 5000+ 2.60GHz
    Memory
    3GB
    Screen Resolution
    1280x1024
    Hard Drives
    total 2TB
    Cooling
    air
    Keyboard
    cybord keyboard
    Mouse
    cyborg mouse
Or, here is another fix that seems to work (this is not the only game affected, far from it)

edit your system's PATH variable and add at the end
Code:
;c:\windows\sysWOW64
that did it for me!

To access that variable go to START>computer(Right click)>properties
then advanced system properties>environment variables and you probably can figure the rest!

restarting the session should not be necessary.

That worked perfectly, thank you.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    HOME BREW
    CPU
    Core 2 E8500 3.16Ghz @ 4.05Ghz
    Motherboard
    EVGA NVIDIA NFORCE 750i SLI FTW
    Memory
    2x2Gb Patriot PC2-6400 LL
    Graphics Card(s)
    Inno3D GeForce GTX260 216 SP
    Monitor(s) Displays
    ASUS VW222U 22" 2ms Response time
    Screen Resolution
    1680x1050
    Hard Drives
    SATA 150GB
    SATA II 250GB
    USB IDE 300GB Ext.
    PSU
    HYTEC 600W & Thermaltake Toughpower Power Express 650W
    Case
    Thermaltake Armor LCS (Liquid Cooling System)
    Cooling
    Liquid Cooling System
    Keyboard
    Logitech G15 Gaming Keyboard
    Mouse
    Logitech G9 Gaming Mouse
Back
Top