GATO boat problem? Graphic MESS!!!

[Perseus]

Hi,

Got *huge* problems starting up SH4 suddenly. I've switched all graphic settings to 'Medium' and still it takes game a looooooooong time to load, and when I finally get past the 'Please wait...'-screen and "enter" the con, it seems as if the game freezes. Goes into slow motion - incredibly low framerate (if it is that - a 'rate').

And when I say 'suddenly', I mean 'suddenly' cos I didn't have these problems - until I started a new career with a GATO sub...! Had no probs when I was in my Gar, but maaan...

Have been trying for 1.5 hours to get the game started properly. Start, wait, loading screens, enter con - ****. Slam 'ESC' 'ESC' 'ESC', nothing happens, CTRL+ALT+DEL.
INCREDIBLY ANNOYING AND FRUSTRATING!!

Anybody know what I'm doing wrong here? By rights, it can't be my rig:

PIII 3.7Ghz, 2048MB RAM, ATi Radeon X1950 256MB, ASUS P5PL2
(And pls don't tell me that there's something wrong with my hardware as I already said that the game used to run like a charm - until now.)

Will now try to restart game and load the Gar game, see what happens.

[AVGWarhawk]

I ran into this once. I find that making the patrol and just refitting constantly creates long load times. I always attempt to dock between missions. This greatly reduces load times. Another time it started doing this but I really never figured out why as I got bored with my present career and started over. The game returned back to short load times.


Oh yeah, I think you computer is not up to snuff J/K....;) I had to throw that in there for some fun.:D

[Perseus]

Loaded an old save game, in the Gar sub. Worked. Then exited to main menu, loaded GATO save (1st patrol, still in port).

Now it suddenly works! No long load times, no stuttering & spluttering, nothing.

Get the usual: patrol off the Hokkaido coast. Arrive. Patrol, see the same small merchant ship three times in days. Punch up captain's panel. Hokkaido patrol: complete. "Ah good," I say and so want to go to the bridge. I click icon...

***CRASH TO DESKTOP***

This game is s-h-i-t-e. It truly completely absolutely is.


(And yes, I'm running 1.3.)


Going back to SH3 with GWX and returning that SH4 pile of hooey back to the shop.

[Fat Bhoy Tim]

I've honestly had far less problems with SH4 across the board than SH3.

[cdrsubron7]

I've honestly had far less problems with SH4 across the board than SH3.


Same here, I've had much more success running SHIV on my computer than SHIII. Always had a big problem in SHIII with mouse lag when using TC.

[John Channing]

Loaded an old save game, in the Gar sub. Worked. Then exited to main menu, loaded GATO save (1st patrol, still in port).

Now it suddenly works! No long load times, no stuttering & spluttering, nothing.

Get the usual: patrol off the Hokkaido coast. Arrive. Patrol, see the same small merchant ship three times in days. Punch up captain's panel. Hokkaido patrol: complete. "Ah good," I say and so want to go to the bridge. I click icon...

***CRASH TO DESKTOP***

This game is s-h-i-t-e. It truly completely absolutely is.


(And yes, I'm running 1.3.)


Going back to SH3 with GWX and returning that SH4 pile of hooey back to the shop.

Instead you should probably take the P3 processor back, as it is the problem, not the game.

The min. spec processor that you can use is a P4 2.6. You are running it on a full generation older processor.

When you load a campaign you are asking the processor to track thousands of units all over the map so it is going to overheat and crash very quickly.

The game is fine. Your equipment isn't up to the task.

JCC

[mookiemookie]

I've honestly had far less problems with SH4 across the board than SH3.

Same here, I've had much more success running SHIV on my computer than SHIII. Always had a big problem in SHIII with mouse lag when using TC.

I can count on one hand the number of CTD's I've had with SHIV. SH3 on the other hand... :hmm::roll:

[dedknedy]

I'm pretty sure he doesn't have a P3 3.7ghz
As P3's ended production in 2003 and didn't stock clock in at over 1400mhz

As far as P4s go I don't know of any 3.7ghz
I think the Prescott 2M came in at 3.6 and 3.8... but 3.7ghz?

Seems like your over clocking, which might be your problem.

[Perseus]

Perseus <--- stupid

It's a P4processor obviously, not a P3. No idea why I wrote that :S

So now that we've got that cleared, any answers to my problem?

[SteamWake]

Yup the loading times can be a little long at times. My personal record (that Ive timed anyways) was 15 minutes from click of load save till being on bridge.

But... once I reach the bridge it still takes several minutes for the game to 'settle down' during that time the frame rates are erratic from 10 to 12 fps to a sceond or two between frames. But it eventually settles down.

Likewise when switching to the 2d map (for the first time) the drive thrashes about and the game stutters for a few minutes then eventually settles down.

Perhaps a little patience is in order.

SH4 is not a game you can sit down and play for a couple of minutes before dinner.

[Rockin Robbins]

I just had a spat of CTD's after months of solid running. Turned out I had some mod weirdness going on. After I uninstalled, reinstalled and shuffled the mods back in I'm back to rock solid again.

Computers are not only stranger than you imagine, but stranger than you CAN imagine. Same solution as when your computer starts acting flaky: reboot. With software that means uninstall and reinstall. Don't forget to reapply the patch. (voice of experience speaks on that one:oops:)

[pythos]

Persus, don't give up just yet. Remember SH3 was a near disaster at first. Sh4 just has not had the benifit of truly comprehensive patches that actually address glaring problems, without ADDING problems (Periscopes losing animation for one). Sh4 is getting better and better with each mod, and patch, just at a snail's pace compared to SH3.

The Suits are more interested in turning out WWII first person shooters than games that actually are complicated, and make ones mind work.

[SteamWake]

Persus, don't give up just yet. Remember SH3 was a near disaster at first. Sh4 just has not had the benifit of truly comprehensive patches that actually address glaring problems,

I dunno 1.3 did a pretty good job :hmm:

Not that there isnt work left to do but 1.3 turned things around nicely.

[DedEye]

Up until last weekend, I had a P4 3.0 with 2 gigs of RAM and an ATI X800XT PE. It was a good set up (still is, used these components to u/g my second machine, the X800 has a better fill rate than many "modern" cards) but the load times were very long and the frame rates were mediocre with medium settings.

I u/g last weekend and what a difference. I now have a core 2 duo (e6750), 2 gigs of 800mhz RAM and I picked up an nVidia 8800 GTX. The sim now loads in less than 30 seconds, and I don't notice any slow downs with everything max'd out and 1600x1200 resolution. I used to be able to get time compression to 2048 after which it would start to stutter, now I can go over 7000!

If you can afford it, go for the upgrade. I'm now having a much more satisfying experience.

I still play SH3/GWX. Something about U-boats and the Atlantic that really appeals to me. I still don't like micromanaging the crew though.

[SteamWake]

Up until last weekend, I had a P4 3.0 with 2 gigs of RAM and an ATI X800XT PE. It was a good set up (still is, used these components to u/g my second machine, the X800 has a better fill rate than many "modern" cards) but the load times were very long and the frame rates were mediocre with medium settings.

I u/g last weekend and what a difference. I now have a core 2 duo (e6750), 2 gigs of 800mhz RAM and I picked up an nVidia 8800 GTX. The sim now loads in less than 30 seconds, and I don't notice any slow downs with everything max'd out and 1600x1200 resolution. I used to be able to get time compression to 2048 after which it would start to stutter, now I can go over 7000!

If you can afford it, go for the upgrade. I'm now having a much more satisfying experience.

I still play SH3/GWX. Something about U-boats and the Atlantic that really appeals to me. I still don't like micromanaging the crew though.

I dont think a video card... regardless of how 'uber' it might be would effect loading times.

Most likely since its a fresh install on a nice clean (unfragmented) hard drive with a (hopefully) minimum of background tasks running has more to do with it.

Ya know its a shame that the Dev's cant get a little kickback for all the hardware they have 'sold' :|\\

[DedEye]

I dont think a video card... regardless of how 'uber' it might be would effect loading times.

Most likely since its a fresh install on a nice clean (unfragmented) hard drive with a (hopefully) minimum of background tasks running has more to do with it.

Ya know its a shame that the Dev's cant get a little kickback for all the hardware they have 'sold' :|\\

You're right and my apologies for the lack of clarity or if my post was misleading. The vid card will get you FPS. I think the quicker load times are due to the new CPU, board, and SATA II hard drive. I can't believe how cheap hdd's are these days. I cloned my old drive over so no new installs, but I only have McAfee running in the background. I did defrag :yep:

Generally (painting with a wide brush ;) ) sims have caused more of my u/g's than anything else!