Going to have to quit..

[clayp]

Gentelmen I'm going to have to quit playinf SH4..I just cant get it to work right..Iam compleatly baffled and frustrated and am tired of messing around with it for months now. Good luck to you all....:damn:

[Peto]

Well clayp--don't throw it away! I'm sorry to hear you're hanging it up but I can understand how patience runs out sometimes. Maybe in the future when you get a new system it will work out for you!

It'll be new to you then and still will be worth the wait!

See you at sea after you get new Construction!

Salute!!!

Peto

[leovampire]

I got you through a few problems and hurdles maybe I can still help out.

What's going on?!

Dave

[SteamWake]

It is very bizzare and perplexing how some folks have no problems at all while others pull their hair out.

Very sorry ClayP your a good member of the community and sorry for your frustration.

Before you go have you tried disabling your virus protection, firewall, and installing in a unique directory ?

Of course you have.

Shame really its a hellua game.... :oops:

[DeepIron]

Still running your system OC'd...? :hmm:

[clayp]

I got you through a few problems and hurdles maybe I can still help out.

What's going on?!

Dave


Same thing Leo,Plays fine for awhile then starts getting jaggies and then the screen goes green and I can hear the game running in the bacround...


Core 2 Duo X6800 @3.24
Asus Motherboard P5BDELUXEWIFI
OCZ 2Gig 15-5-5-5 memory kit DDR2 OCZ2N1066SR2GK 2 x 2 gig kits
(4 gigs total)
NVIDIA GeForce 8800 Ultra BFGE88768UE
Western Digital 160gig sata II 16mb
Creative X-Fi XtremeGamer SB0730VP
Cooler master CM Stacker 830 Silver
OCZ Gamer extreme PS 1010wat OCZ1010GXSSLI
Samsung Optical (DVD/CDRW)
Windows XP Pro 32bit SP2

[DeepIron]

Can you monitor any of your CPU or GPU temps? Usually video degradation like your describing is an overheating issue...

What video resolution are you playing SH4 at?

[pythos]

Sounds like it is graphics related. I have had the same problem, until I got ROW. I used to have to save every time I went from inside the boat, to outside, cause 9 times out of 10, my screen would freeze, accompanied by a lot of hard drive access, then go black, and a message telling me a problem occured and the program needed to be shut down, which ultimately led to my having to hard boot the computer. After I installed ROW's textures this problem has all but vanished. There is something up with a texture file or many of the original game.

You may be encountering the same thing, and I think it is Nvidia related. Remeber how SH3 jamed invidia machines due to the particle effect not being handled well by these cards and drivers. The same may be with our cards and whatever texture file is causing our misery.

Try ROW's graphics, and tone down the detail for a bit, then bring them up to where things start dropping in frame rates. Also, the Fog, and environmental effects are absolute murder to my framerates, and overall game performance. Turn them off, and see how it goes.

Good luck. If I can stick it out, you should be able to .

[leovampire]

I got you through a few problems and hurdles maybe I can still help out.

What's going on?!

Dave


Same thing Leo,Plays fine for awhile then starts getting jaggies and then the screen goes green and I can hear the game running in the bacround...


Core 2 Duo X6800 @3.24
Asus Motherboard P5BDELUXEWIFI
OCZ 2Gig 15-5-5-5 memory kit DDR2 OCZ2N1066SR2GK 2 x 2 gig kits
(4 gigs total)
NVIDIA GeForce 8800 Ultra BFGE88768UE
Western Digital 160gig sata II 16mb
Creative X-Fi XtremeGamer SB0730VP
Cooler master CM Stacker 830 Silver
OCZ Gamer extreme PS 1010wat OCZ1010GXSSLI
Samsung Optical (DVD/CDRW)
Windows XP Pro 32bit SP2

Everyone thought it was the viedo card or driver's for it something like that.

But let me ask you this. When you FIRST installed SHIV did you then do a reboot?

Now I personaly had problems with my game when I added the FULL 1.3 patch that had all the others rolled into it.

So what I did was uninstall the game again. Rebooted then installed it and rebooted.

I downloaded each of the patches individualy.

Aplied patch #1 then rebooted.

Aplied patch #2 then rebooted.

Aplied patch #3 then rebooted.

Then aplied all the mod's I wanted and fired up the game and have never had a single problem since then. The game has run like a charm ever since I did this. And I did this after patch 1.3 came out and never ever had a single problem with the game since then.

Just make sure before you uninstall the game you save your mod folder or you will lose all of them and have to start from scratch in locating and downloading them again.

[NefariousKoel]

I had the same kind of stuff happening when I didn't install DirectX9 off the DVD and got tearing and some stuttering until I turned on Vsync.


Of course, with an 8800, you're using DX10. Are you using the latest DirectX10?

[maerean_m]

I had the same kind of stuff happening when I didn't install DirectX9 off the DVD and got tearing and some stuttering until I turned on Vsync.

Of course, with an 8800, you're using DX10.

He is not using DirectX 10. SH4 uses DirectX 9 and Vista users should let the Setup install DirectX 9, side by side with the existing DirectX 10 in the operating system.

[THE_MASK]

I had the same kind of stuff happening when I didn't install DirectX9 off the DVD and got tearing and some stuttering until I turned on Vsync.

Of course, with an 8800, you're using DX10.

He is not using DirectX 10. SH4 uses DirectX 9 and Vista users should let the Setup install DirectX 9, side by side with the existing DirectX 10 in the operating system. Is this for all users .

[SubSuck]

Another guy with a good system having problems. Hopefully you can get it to work ok. I almost quit too but I was persistant to figure out why my game kept crashing.

Is your Ultra card overclocked? I never buy overclocked just to make sure that a game doesn't become unstable should it put too much on the card. A card that isn't overclocked reacts better to high loads than a card that is.

[AVGWarhawk]

Clay, sounds like a video card issue to me. Did you get any type of warranty with your new system/card? If you can return it(vid card) for an exchange, give that a go.

[capt_frank]

Another important question is do you play any other games and if so, do you have the same sort of problems with them?

If so, I'd say video card. If not, you've got a conflict somewhere in SHIV.

I've got crackles bad enough to make me spit, BUT ONLY in SHIV. I'm going to give Leo's advice (above) a go and see what happens.

Good Luck!

[minsc_tdp]

I agree, the video card may be overheating, try running ATITool to monitor temps. It works with NV cards. Over 100C is bad. Even if it's not that high, another part on the card could be overheating or unstable and it's not showing itself as an issue with the main temperature. For example, I had similar issues when I forgot to plug in the additional power supply connector to one video card I used to use. :)

[capt_frank]

I had the same kind of stuff happening when I didn't install DirectX9 off the DVD and got tearing and some stuttering until I turned on Vsync.

Of course, with an 8800, you're using DX10.

He is not using DirectX 10. SH4 uses DirectX 9 and Vista users should let the Setup install DirectX 9, side by side with the existing DirectX 10 in the operating system. Is this for all users .

Good question since it appears that the DX 9c that comes on the disc is dated. If I install it from the disc, I run the dxsetup from the MS site to get the current files before firing up. Or visa-versa.

[DeepIron]

[EDIT] Removed my DX9c download link in favor of newer version posted below.

If it isn't an OC or overheating problem, I suggest you get the newest version of DX9c (see Capt Franks link below...) Older DX versions are notorius for creating display problems...:damn: Besides, it can't hurt to know *exactly* which DX version you have installed if you continue troubleshooting...:up:

[capt_frank]

I had the same kind of stuff happening when I didn't install DirectX9 off the DVD and got tearing and some stuttering until I turned on Vsync.

Of course, with an 8800, you're using DX10.

He is not using DirectX 10. SH4 uses DirectX 9 and Vista users should let the Setup install DirectX 9, side by side with the existing DirectX 10 in the operating system. Is this for all users .

Good question since it appears that the DX 9c that comes on the disc is dated. If I install it from the disc, I run the dxsetup from the MS site to get the current files before firing up. Or visa-versa.

Look here for the DX 9c update also:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=2da43d38-db71-4c1b-bc6a-9b6652cd92a3&displaylang=en

[banjo]

I have a 5 yr old Dell 2.8 gig w/2 gig ram and a GF7600GS and the game runs fine. You have a way better rig. Have you tried really low graphic options? And have you tried shutting down all background programs?

Very strange. Almost sounds as if your video card is failing.

[clayp]

Another important question is do you play any other games and if so, do you have the same sort of problems with them?

If so, I'd say video card. If not, you've got a conflict somewhere in SHIV.

I've got crackles bad enough to make me spit, BUT ONLY in SHIV. I'm going to give Leo's advice (above) a go and see what happens.

Good Luck!

I play il2FB,COD2 and COD4 and have no problems..


Deepiron...
Still running your system OC'd...? :hmm:

Yes
__________________



Steamwake
It is very bizzare and perplexing how some folks have no problems at all while others pull their hair out.

Very sorry ClayP your a good member of the community and sorry for your frustration.

Before you go have you tried disabling your virus protection, firewall, and installing in a unique directory ?

Of course you have.

I have everything turned off,no firewall..Whats a "unique directory"?


Deepiron....
Can you monitor any of your CPU or GPU temps? Usually video degradation like your describing is an overheating issue...

What video resolution are you playing SH4 at?


Yes and 1280x960x32


LeoV...Everyone thought it was the viedo card or driver's for it something like that.

But let me ask you this. When you FIRST installed SHIV did you then do a reboot?

Now I personaly had problems with my game when I added the FULL 1.3 patch that had all the others rolled into it.

So what I did was uninstall the game again. Rebooted then installed it and rebooted.

I downloaded each of the patches individualy.

Aplied patch #1 then rebooted.

Aplied patch #2 then rebooted.

Aplied patch #3 then rebooted.

Then aplied all the mod's I wanted and fired up the game and have never had a single problem since then. The game has run like a charm ever since I did this. And I did this after patch 1.3 came out and never ever had a single problem with the game since then.

Just make sure before you uninstall the game you save your mod folder or you will lose all of them and have to start from scratch in locating and downloading them again.
__________________

I was told that I only had to install the 1.3 patch and I did re-boot

[DeepIron]

Just a few basic suggestions based on your previous responses:

1. Cut back the resolution to say, 1024 x 768. Lower screen resolution = less GPU effort.
2. When the game start to get unstable, try and monitor or look at your CPU/GPU temperatures. I'm pretty convinced the issue is one or the other heating up... If you can verify an overtemp problem, you're halfway home.
3. Start from scratch. Uninstall ALL SH4 resources, including the data in your personal directory. If you have a Registry Cleaner like Registry First Aid use it.

BTW, I highy recommend this product, I've been using it for years and it works extremely well at keeping your registry in tip-top shape: http://www.rosecitysoftware.com/reg1aid/

Ok, why mess with the registry? Because every program that gets loaded on a XP computer makes a change in the registry file. Even after removing programs, registry entries can still be left behind, conflicting with newer entries in some cases. Cleaning the registry should be a weekly event for anyone using Windows... And after fixing windows problems for many years as an IT professional, I can tell ya, a "fouled" registry causes LOTS of strange problems...

As your box is OC'd, I wouldn't rule out, and would actually suspect this aspect. Again, experience has taught me that some applications just don't respond well to OC operations. You may have to drop out of "Super Mega Turbo CPU overclocking" to play SH4...

I would think OCing is selectable from either a software program or the BIOS?

Good luck.

[Elder-Pirate]

@clayp,
I did not see and answer from you regarding this statement from one of maerean_m's post in this thread. Have you done this or are you trying to use DirectX 10 as I think is defaulted from your 8800 Ultra.

"users should let the Setup install DirectX 9"

[Torps]

I would not give up just yet. You might be having a number of problems. Having built systems and dealing with this myself, though my situation was a little different heres a few ideas.

Invest in Diskeeper 2008- has killer technology behind it and its been proven to increase Hard Drive performance substantially,(faster then when you bought it)

Registry Mechanic- by PC Tools, cleans up the mess and keeps important settings untouched.

***OPTIONAL BUT COULD HELP ALOT, just make sure you are confident before you do this!***
*Before doing this make sure you can not get your videocard replaced through warranty *

If you have the confidence, go ahead Remove your video card, seperate the fan/heat pipe assembly from the videocard and using rubbing alcohol removing the thermal compound from the bottom of the Fan assembly and from the chip. Make sure you do this carefully not to get anything on the nearby circuitry, once the two surfaces have had the compound remove, and are dry add Arctic Silver 5. Make sure you do not use to much. Artic Silver 5 will lower your video cards temperature 3-12 degrees. I use this stuff on Processors aswell so you can give that a try aswell while your at it.


Uninstall SH4, download patch 1.3 only.

I never installed DX 9drivers from SH4, Microsoft's website has a downloader program that will get you up to date on all DX 9 and DX10, just make sure you watch the download progress and you see both being downloaded and installed.

Download the latest Drivers for Nvidia,DX9 and DX10 however do not install. Uninstall all Nvidia drivers and unplug your internet (will not look for drivers on web).

Reboot install Nvidia drivers, reboot, plug in your internet, install latest dx9, reboot, install latest dx 10 ,reboot.

Uninstall SH4, Reboot,Run Scan Disk, Run Defrag, Reboot,
Install SH4, Reboot, Install patch 1.3, reboot.

Run Defrag

Run SH4 as stock see what happens.

[-Pv-]

ASUS mainboards are real sensitive to memory. You should only use the memory brand and model listed in the ASUS "Tested Memory" list on the ASUS web site for your MB model. I have solved several "mystery" problems on machines this way.
-Pv-

[Fearless]

Ah but could it be that you have too much RAM for the XP operating system? I know that the max recommended RAM for Vista is only 3.5 Gb. Not sure about XP.

[leovampire]

I had the same kind of stuff happening when I didn't install DirectX9 off the DVD and got tearing and some stuttering until I turned on Vsync.

Of course, with an 8800, you're using DX10.

He is not using DirectX 10. SH4 uses DirectX 9 and Vista users should let the Setup install DirectX 9, side by side with the existing DirectX 10 in the operating system.

When I got advanced war fighter I could not make it work for the life of me until UBISOFT got back to me on the problem and said there are things on the install I did not allow to happen because there was stuff in the Direct X install that where important for the game to work and or run.

As soon as I let everything install the game was fixed and working properly.

Do not tell any part of the install no because sometimes there are hidden things in there that are nessasary for the game to work.

[Elder-Pirate]

ASUS mainboards are real sensitive to memory. You should only use the memory brand and model listed in the ASUS "Tested Memory" list on the ASUS web site for your MB model. I have solved several "mystery" problems on machines this way.
-Pv-

AMEN to that for I have an "ASUS" mama board and if not the right memory she will raise hell. :damn:

[CaptainHaplo]

Some good advice here - and I will throw in another 2 cents on troubleshooting this. First off - its safe to rule out Mainboard/cpu/memory issues - because his description says the screen goes green but he can "hear" the game in the background - meaning the game procees is still actively running and responding. If it was a overclocking/cpu overheat issue - the video wouldn't be the only thing affected. Most OC'ers see the rig lock solid OR just go unstable and bsod or bounce. None of this is occuring.

Next thing to rule out is drivers. Since the game loads, and runs without any graphical glitch for a period of time - then craps out - I have to go against it being a driver issue here. If it died to start - or threw an error up - sure I would look at the drivers - but I can't see it here. In addition - this is something no one else is seeing - and if it were drivers - others would experience this.

This leaves hardware - and the description of the symptoms fit here. Everything runs fine - then POOF - it goes to heck in a handbasket. Definitely looks like an overheating issue.

Clayp - sometimes "monitoring" the card heat isnt something you can do - so here is the "old school" way of testing if you have a vidcard issue with heat. Run the game and let it hose on you. Now - without powering down - hit the reset button on the pc and let it reboot - when it does - reopen the game and play again - if the game "dies" within a few minutes (3-5 depending on how long it takes for the box to reboot and reload sh4) - and provided its much quicker than "normal" - you have an overheated card. Also - to insure its NOT only SH4 the application - when it screws up try Alt-tab'ing out - if its the vid card overheated I would expect the game "sounds" to stop but the desktop to NOT display. This is another little confirmation that your issue is vid card related.

One frustrating thing about heat and video card troubleshooting is to remember that as soon as the chip stops drawing - it starts cooling off - whether the machine is running or not - so the reset of the pc also resets the chip - which WILL make the chip start working - and of course the POST screen thru windows load to desktop - and then a game loading to a point where the card has to put forth some "effort" again - is all time the chip is cooling. This is why you cant expect the card to "lock" as soon as the reboot happens.

My money is on a card issue - and while it started at 2 cents - I have thrown out about 2 bucks worth on this one. So - best of luck Clayp - and dont hesitate to give feedback about what you try and what you find.

[DeepIron]

First off - its safe to rule out Mainboard/cpu/memory issues - because his description says the screen goes green but he can "hear" the game in the background - meaning the game procees is still actively running and responding.
Sorry, I disagree with this assumption. Modern sound cards can continue to function independently of the CPU. A sound byte loaded into a sound card output buffer can loop indefinately until the machine is powered down. This doesn't mean with any certainty that the game is still stable and running...

The only way to know if game processes are still active is to open the Task Manager (probably not readable if the display is borked...) or a second party process monitor to trap the error or interruption for analysis after the event.

Clay, do you have DX9 and DX10 both installed?

One frustrating thing about heat and video card troubleshooting is to remember that as soon as the chip stops drawing - it starts cooling off -
Unless it gets into a "thermal runaway" mode and continues to draw power...

[clayp]

I only have DX9 installed...How could there be something wrong with the card when it will play other games for ever?..All drivers are up to date...Someone said something about defragging..I have Perfectdisk from Raxco and defragg at least once a day..I have three different registry cleaners...I have a program that turns off all non needed services and another that turns of all the process's that arnet needed to run..I have another that lts me chooze what programs to start at bootup..I turn everything in the task bar off..

I really love all you guys for trying to help me but I'm frustrated with it and am not going to mess with it for awhile.....:damn:

[leovampire]

I only have DX9 installed...How could there be something wrong with the card when it will play other games for ever?..All drivers are up to date...Someone said something about defragging..I have Perfectdisk from Raxco and defragg at least once a day..I have three different registry cleaners...I have a program that turns off all non needed services and another that turns of all the process's that arnet needed to run..I have another that lts me chooze what programs to start at bootup..I turn everything in the task bar off..

I really love all you guys for trying to help me but I'm frustrated with it and am not going to mess with it for awhile.....:damn:

If you said no to any part of the install there is a chance something the game needed to run right was missed.

[DeepIron]

That's cool Clay... sometimes ya just gotta walk away for awhile... ;)

[-Pv-]

A better way to test for over-heat is run the game with the case opened and see if you get more time before it dies. Stuck loops in the sound card is no sure indication the game is still running without error in the background. If you cannot task switch back to the desktop when the video goes nuts, it's an indication the game is indeed borked behind the scenes. Even if the game is still running as you believe, an over-heated vid card could do what you observe.

What happens when you turn all of SH4's video options down to minimum. Do you get a few more minutes of play?

Just because "other" games run fine doesn't mean SH is directly causing the problem. Your other games may be less intensive. If it's a heat issue you're experiencing, SH4 may indeed be the little extra workload it takes to push your machine over the edge. I have a strong system with lots of cooling. All my fans start to whine as they spool up to handle SH4's extra workload. The only other game which does that on my system is Flight Simulator.

Defragging on a daily basis is over-rated and may cause your HD to wear out prematurely. Once your game files are installed, they keep using the same file space they did when they were 1st copied unless you over-write them with new files. If you are using Windows default cache, you cannot defrag that anyway, not completely, even with programs that claim they do.

Since your fault is time-related, this strongly points to a hardware failure.

ASUS and XP do fine with 4 gigs RAM but it has to be the correct RAM.
-Pv-

[Zantham]

Here is a good way to test your video card whether it is overheating.

You will need the nVidia monitor (or a comparable program) to watch your GPU temperatures.

http://www.nvidia.com/object/sysutility.html

You quite possibly already have this utility. Try going into your Start Menu, All Programs, nVidia Corporation, in there I have an entry called nVidia Monitor. Start this program up.

You should get a window up that should offer you three categories: Performance, Bus speeds, Voltages. We will ignore these, but on the bottom right there is an arrow ->. Click on this and a new window pops up underneath it. It should now have graphs showing your Temperatures. We are primarily interested in the GPU temps here, but all of them are worth monitoring.

Your Geforce 8800 Ultra is a hot card...both in performance and in temps. I have an 8800GTX that is clocked to the same speeds your card is. Idling at your windows desktop my GPU reads at 74*C, it is 23*C in my room. From what I read, an 8800 is safe up to 100*C, possibly higher. Of course if you are hitting 100*C already without doing anything then you have a problem. My card typically does not exceed 90*C.

Now go to this website:

http://www.daionet.gr.jp/~masa/rthdribl/

You can do some reading here, but you will want to download the program rthdribl.exe. The link to download is near the bottom of the page. The program is approximately 20MB.

This handy little utility is a great way to do some stressing on your video card. Once it is downloaded, extract it into a folder. Before we run it, we have a couple steps to do first.

In this new folder you should see a folder called media, and 4 files (readme, rthdribl, and two .ini configuration files. Open rthdribl.ini into notepad.

Now depending on your screen, you want to run this program in a window so you can watch your GPU temps as the program runs. Set the Fullscreen option to No.
Below this, set your WindowModeSize to one setting below your desktop resolution. Foe example, if my screen runs at 1280x1024 on my desktop, I will set the WindowModeSize to 1024 768.

*Note that on your video card, this low of resolutions does very little to stress your card...the 8800's are designed to perform at 1920x1200 and above. Running an 8800 at 1280x1024 is like having a big diesel truck to pull your 2000lb tent trailer....the 8800 is currently limited by the size of your screen and the speed of your CPU (I run ALL my games at 2560x1600, including Call of Duty, Medal of Honor Airborne, Crysis demo, Supreme Commander, Silent Hunter 4, Copany of Heroes, Timeshift....you get the idea.)

Here is what mine looks like:
Fullscreen No
WindowModeSize 1920 1200 <-- yours may be different
FullscreenSize 2560 1600 <-- yours may be different
Model knot.pvi <-- yours may be different
LightEnvMap grace.lem <-- yours may be different
GlareType 1
SoftGlare Yes
Halo Yes
DepthOfField 3
MultiSampleType 3
AutoGlare Yes
AutoMaterial Yes
AutoLightEnvMap Yes

My Model and LightEnvMap may be different from yours, as is my WindowModeSize and FullscreenSize.

Once you have edited your file, then save and close it. You are now ready to run the program. Double click the rthdribl program. Now a window should pop up showing a graphic (probably a bunch of spheres) and you are panning around. Now you want to start watching your GPU temps. If you cant see your GPU temp just click it so it sits above that window. Your GPU should climb in temp fairly quickly then start leveling off. Watch that this does not exceed 100*C. I will state here that you might want to ask your video card manufacturer what the safe temp on your card really is....my personal opinion is 100*C is as hot as I want to go. If your GPU temps hit 100*C you might want to stop that program, at which point your GPU should return to normal temps again.

If your temps remain reasonable, you can click on Options, Multisample. Mine defaults to 4x, but if your temps are ok, try setting it higher, right up to 16x. This will load your video card a lot more, and your framerates may drop. You may want to make sure there are checkmarks beside Fresnel Effect, Fill inside Transparent Model, and Detail Maps.

What you are looking for:

The image ideally should not stutter. Tiny tiny pauses may be evident, but it should not be like a slideshow.
The image should not artifact. Artifacting is when you get odd graphical glitches in random locations, such as odd-shaped color changes that are not part of the picture...I'm sure I could have explained that better somehow.
You may hear the fan on your video card (and maybe your CPU) spool up to help keep the card cooler.
Let this image play for a while, as long as it plays normally. An hour, two, even longer. Definitely longer than a few minutes anyways. Problems with your video card may not become evident until this runs for a while.

I have noted that on my computer when I run this program windowed at 1600x1200, my temps raise to very close to what SH4 runs at at 2560x1600 (a degree apart, SH4 is at max graphical settings). I have also noted that running this program at 1024x768 does not raise my temps near as much as raising it to 1920x1200. Ideally you want this program to run at the same or higher resolution than you run SH4 at.

If this program causes artifacting or other graphical oddities, your computer reboots, BSOD or anything like this, then it is likely you have a problem with your video card. If your computer runs this program normally....then it means nothing! If your temps climb too high it means you have poor airflow or bad GPU fan or otherwise defective card.

Misc notes: on the nVidia monitor, you may or may not see various graphs or readouts depending if you have an nVidia-based motherboard or not. GPU temp will work in any case, for any modern nVidia video card.
CPU temp is relatively accurate, but only reflects tCase temps, measured between your CPU cores at the heatspreader on your CPU. Your core temps will be 10-15*C higher, use Core Temp 0.95.4 to get ACCURATE temps of your CPU cores. Your temps should never exceed 60*C according to nVidia monitor, or 75*C according to Core Temp. These are semi-safe maximums, but does depend on your CPU's tJunctionMax, which is determined by your CPU's TDP (max wattage your CPU achieves). Core Temp does not work on Pentium 4 or Pentium D CPU's. Core Temp measures the digital readout directly from the CPU itself. nVidia monitor reads the temps the same way your BIOS reads them...from a sensor in the CPU that leads to a separate chip on your motherboard that is calibrated specific to that motherboard for that particular CPU... which basically leaves more margin of error. The latest version of Core Temp at this time is 0.95.4 Beta. It is known to have issues on certain Gigabyte boards, and possibly Intel 965 chipsets.

[CaptainHaplo]

ClayP - I totally understand why its frustrating to the point of needing a break. As to your question "how could it be the card" - a reasonable question to be sure. Remember that every game taxes your computer differently. Not every game is going to stress the card - in fact - SH4 happens to be one of the more graphically taxing apps out - even as "old" as it is. Run something like ROW - especially with PPE and fog - and your REALLY stressing the card.

All I can suggest is take the time away from the issue - then come back when your ready. In the meantime - keep visiting so we can get you bit by the bug again! Enjoy!

[Zantham]

Just to add...ClayP shows above he is running Windows XP. There is NO SUCH THING as DirectX 10 for Windows XP. His video card is DirectX 10 compatible, but his operating system is not, and SH4 does not require DX10 at all to run, which is why it runs in Windows XP.
Some new games (Crysis for example) can run in both DX9 and DX10, but in XP it ONLY runs in DX9 mode no matter your video card, or in Vista it runs in DX10 mode, if your hardware is also DX10 compatible (like a GeForce 8xxx video card).

Also agree with CaptainHaplo...Silent Hunter 4 single-handedly burnt out (overheated) TWO Geforce Go 6800 Ultra's in my laptop!!!

[-Pv-]

3DMark and PCMark are another programs to stress test your graphics system far more than typical games can:
http://www.futuremark.com/products/

-Pv-

[longam]

You could DL Nhancer and run in the background. It seems to solve a lot of problems with SH4, Vista and Nvidia. Worked for my video glitch.

I like the way you can control AA and AF when you need it with this program and not effect other settings for other games.

http://www.nhancer.com/

[Zantham]

And another good tool for video card testing is ATITool.

http://www.techpowerup.com/atitool/

This tool is designed for overclocking, and works on nVidia cards as well (even tho its ATI tool). Show 3D View will start the test, and the program also shows your video card temp at the same time. Scan for artifacts doesn't seem to heat up the card quite as much, but cycles between heat generation and artifact scanning.

This tool does not seem to be resolution dependant, and did heat up my card as much as running rthdribl.exe at high resolution with maximum multisampling.

You can use the tool to test, without overclocking your video card.

[clayp]

I only have DX9 installed...How could there be something wrong with the card when it will play other games for ever?..All drivers are up to date...Someone said something about defragging..I have Perfectdisk from Raxco and defragg at least once a day..I have three different registry cleaners...I have a program that turns off all non needed services and another that turns of all the process's that arnet needed to run..I have another that lts me chooze what programs to start at bootup..I turn everything in the task bar off..

I really love all you guys for trying to help me but I'm frustrated with it and am not going to mess with it for awhile.....:damn:

If you said no to any part of the install there is a chance something the game needed to run right was missed.

Leo I did not say no to anything...

[clayp]

I may mess with it this afternoon one last time...

[leovampire]

I may mess with it this afternoon one last time...

I wish you were next door to me I am sure I could have you up and running in short order with no problems and graffics that would blow your mind away. I probably even have a spare video card kicking around that would work and make it better.

[clayp]

I may mess with it this afternoon one last time...

I wish you were next door to me I am sure I could have you up and running in short order with no problems and graffics that would blow your mind away. I probably even have a spare video card kicking around that would work and make it better.


I wish I did also Leo,if nothing else just to pal around...I dont belive there is any better video card made then the one I have...:cool:

[leovampire]

I may mess with it this afternoon one last time...

I wish you were next door to me I am sure I could have you up and running in short order with no problems and graffics that would blow your mind away. I probably even have a spare video card kicking around that would work and make it better.


I wish I did also Leo,if nothing else just to pal around...I dont belive there is any better video card made then the one I have...:cool:

But might be able to help you set it up better seeing I build and repair PC's and I have $1,000 's of dollars worth of programs kicking around to optimize and keep an eye on things and a lot more. Started doing that when I retired.

[Sea Demon]

I may mess with it this afternoon one last time...

I wish you were next door to me I am sure I could have you up and running in short order with no problems and graffics that would blow your mind away. I probably even have a spare video card kicking around that would work and make it better.

I had a video card go bad on me a few months ago. Isn't there a way to test the card itself using internal diagnostics software? Dell had me press the F12 button when booting up to go to an internal diagnostic tool, and that's where we discovered the video card went belly up. I do think that is an MS feature if I'm not mistaken.

[leovampire]

I may mess with it this afternoon one last time...

I wish you were next door to me I am sure I could have you up and running in short order with no problems and graffics that would blow your mind away. I probably even have a spare video card kicking around that would work and make it better.

I had a video card go bad on me a few months ago. Isn't there a way to test the card itself using internal diagnostics software? Dell had me press the F12 button when booting up to go to an internal diagnostic tool, and that's where we discovered the video card went belly up. I do think that is an MS feature if I'm not mistaken.

He can run his other game's without a problem it is just SHIV that is screwing up on him. It could be that the game DVD is bad I have had that happen in the past and had to get them to send me a new game disk. Somthing maybe missing on it when it was made.

[clayp]

My son from Canada has been visiting,he is leaving on Wednesday and I will have more time to mess with it...

[minsc_tdp]

clayp, where do you live? Maybe someone is nearby who wouldn't mind swinging by to take a look. I would do it happily. I'm in Huntington Beach, CA.

[minsc_tdp]

I only have DX9 installed...How could there be something wrong with the card when it will play other games for ever?..All drivers are up to date...Someone said something about defragging..I have Perfectdisk from Raxco and defragg at least once a day..I have three different registry cleaners...I have a program that turns off all non needed services and another that turns of all the process's that arnet needed to run..I have another that lts me chooze what programs to start at bootup..I turn everything in the task bar off..

Even if our advice doesn't help you it might help someone else so here goes anyway.

I've had some issues recently and learned that Anti-Virus software can have an effect by ONLY being installed. The drivers are loaded even when the services and startup stuff are completely disabled. With NVidia 8800s, AVG seems to really mess it up on certain games, though it never affected SH4 for me, who knows. I use AVAST now with no problems. Anything by Symantec being installed could mess things up. Though I still bet on video card issues (maybe not heat, perhaps instability due to something else, power issues, who knows, the only way to tell is to try another video card.)

[SteamWake]

[quote=clayp]who knows, the only way to tell is to try another video card.)

I got an old one Ill send you free. I think its agp though.

[clayp]

Guys I haven't had time to mess with it,I will probably try it again tomorrow..

[clayp]

I need a free or very cheap screenshot program thats easy to use so I cant pass on info when I try the game again..I bought FRAPS and it wont work and they refunded my money,I tried ifranview and I cant make it work...Any ideas?....:oops:

[AVGWarhawk]

Hit Ctrl and the F11 key for free screen shots found in you main SH4 folder.

[longam]

I need a free or very cheap screenshot program thats easy to use so I cant pass on info when I try the game again..I bought FRAPS and it wont work and they refunded my money,I tried ifranview and I cant make it work...Any ideas?....:oops:

Personally I think you have some serious issues with that system that might require a repair from windows, or maybe scan for spyware or viruses.

Spyware scan software DL free version
http://www.lavasoftusa.com/

Online Free Virus Scan
http://housecall.trendmicro.com/

[clayp]

Hit Ctrl and the F11 key for free screen shots found in you main SH4 folder.

Hawk I need to take some out side of the game....

Personally I think you have some serious issues with that system that might require a repair from windows, or maybe scan for spyware or viruses.


I do that everyday and it dosent have any problems with any other games....

[Monica Lewinsky]

Personally I think you have some serious issues with that system that might require a repair from windows, or maybe scan for spyware or viruses.

I concur. What state you live in? If I remeber right you are in Wisconsin? I am 40 miles west of Chicago, IL.

I will drive up there fix it for $nothing$. I work on PCs for a living, so I am no rookie. PM me if you are interested. Next week or two has me swamped working on server problems. So if you can hang in there, the fix might make your Christmas enjoyable playing SH IV bug free!.

I doubt I can get up there before Thanksgiving - sorry :(.

[clayp]

Personally I think you have some serious issues with that system that might require a repair from windows, or maybe scan for spyware or viruses.

I concur. What state you live in? If I remeber right you are in Wisconsin? I am 40 miles west of Chicago, IL.

I will drive up there fix it for $nothing$. I work on PCs for a living, so I am no rookie. PM me if you are interested. Next week or two has me swamped working on server problems. So if you can hang in there, the fix might make your Christmas enjoyable playing SH IV bug free!.

I doubt I can get up there before Thanksgiving - sorry :(.

No problem,I dont live close to you anyway...:damn:

[leovampire]

Personally I think you have some serious issues with that system that might require a repair from windows, or maybe scan for spyware or viruses.

I concur. What state you live in? If I remeber right you are in Wisconsin? I am 40 miles west of Chicago, IL.

I will drive up there fix it for $nothing$. I work on PCs for a living, so I am no rookie. PM me if you are interested. Next week or two has me swamped working on server problems. So if you can hang in there, the fix might make your Christmas enjoyable playing SH IV bug free!.

I doubt I can get up there before Thanksgiving - sorry :(.

No problem,I dont live close to you anyway...:damn:

When I set you up with the fire and oil slik textures for both the TLowRes and the TNormal file's it solved all of the boxy fire effect's is that correct?!

I have 2 new guy's with the problem so I wanted to make sure.

Also if you would like I can try and do for you what I did for Donut. He sent me his phone number and I called him and walked him through the problems he was having to get him up and running.

It is totaly up to you of course.

Dave

[Elder-Pirate]

@clayp,
To capture screens on your desktop ( other than ingame d/l this program called Capture )
It's free. I've been useing it for years. Very easy to work.

http://www.analogx.com/contents/download/system/capture.htm

Here is my desktop as it is at moment captured with "Capture"

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y116/oleman/SH4-1.jpg

We need to see you sinking enemy ships again. :yep:

[clayp]

Personally I think you have some serious issues with that system that might require a repair from windows, or maybe scan for spyware or viruses.

I concur. What state you live in? If I remeber right you are in Wisconsin? I am 40 miles west of Chicago, IL.

I will drive up there fix it for $nothing$. I work on PCs for a living, so I am no rookie. PM me if you are interested. Next week or two has me swamped working on server problems. So if you can hang in there, the fix might make your Christmas enjoyable playing SH IV bug free!.

I doubt I can get up there before Thanksgiving - sorry :(.

No problem,I dont live close to you anyway...:damn:

When I set you up with the fire and oil slik textures for both the TLowRes and the TNormal file's it solved all of the boxy fire effect's is that correct?!

I have 2 new guy's with the problem so I wanted to make sure.

Also if you would like I can try and do for you what I did for Donut. He sent me his phone number and I called him and walked him through the problems he was having to get him up and running.

It is totaly up to you of course.

Dave

Leo those files did indeed fix the flames....

[leovampire]

Now if they say it didn't work I am going to send them your way! :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

Thanks Clayp!

[clayp]

No one knows a screenshot program I can get??????

[capt_frank]

Look at post #60, I just downloaded it myself...

[Hillsy_]

I haven't read all the posts here, but I remember when I had a similiar problem. I remember, I overclocked my graphics card for Far Cry and had texture problems, corrupted graphics, game freezes, black floors, green sky...basically instability. Without overclocking Far Cry it ran fine. Silent Hunter IV is a resource hog. I would cut the resolution down to 1024 x 768 as suggested previously and NOT to overlock your graphics card for this game.

it can't hurt to try it, right?

Hope you get it working.

[clayp]

I haven't read all the posts here, but I remember when I had a similiar problem. I remember, I overclocked my graphics card for Far Cry and had texture problems, corrupted graphics, game freezes, black floors, green sky...basically instability. Without overclocking Far Cry it ran fine. Silent Hunter IV is a resource hog. I would cut the resolution down to 1024 x 768 as suggested previously and NOT to overlock your graphics card for this game.

it can't hurt to try it, right?

Hope you get it working.

Card has never been overclocked...

[clayp]

It may be fixed,I played for an hour and it did not crash..Have to go to the doctor will test more later before I can say it's ok...

http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/518/testag0.png (http://imageshack.us)

[jazman]

So if it's working now, what changed? Don't say, "nothing" because all sys admins know that line. ;)

[Elder-Pirate]

If that "SMART status" is showing what the computer is drawing at that moment ( when pic taken ) then I'd say the GPU1 @ 74c is running way to hot. maybe 40 or 45c would be right because the card really has nothing to do for this screen.

But then again the "SMART status" does say "Healthy" :hmm:

So what did you do to it clayp? Comon, fess up. :stare: :lol:

[leovampire]

But it might help other in the future that are having problems or new one's that come up.

So when you get a chance share your fix to help others that come down the line.

Then you can make your wheel chair happy man hold a wrench and have him fixing something.

[Otto Von Strunf]

Gentelmen I'm going to have to quit playinf SH4..I just cant get it to work right..Iam compleatly baffled and frustrated and am tired of messing around wi th it for months now. Good luck to you all....:damn: deserter, do you thing that submarines all the time worked with no problems??? yeaah just quit sailor that is the best you can do, take the easy way baby, but remember: deserters will be shot, survivers will be shot again ant three times hanged:down:

[clayp]

Ok men I ran it for another hour and it did not crash. I did two things,I turned the AF and AS settings on my video card in the NV control center from 16,16q to 8 and 8. Also I deleted my AVG virus...This seems to have done it,time will tell..I want to thank all of you again...THANK YOU!!!!....:sunny:

[CaptainHaplo]

Glad it seems to be working - but I would keep an eye on those temps - especially if the problem re-occurs! For now - GOOD HUNTING!

[leovampire]

Ok men I ran it for another hour and it did not crash. I did two things,I turned the AF and AS settings on my video card in the NV control center from 16,16q to 8 and 8. Also I deleted my AVG virus...This seems to have done it,time will tell..I want to thank all of you again...THANK YOU!!!!....:sunny:

I hope it continues to work for you!

[Elder-Pirate]

Ok men I ran it for another hour and it did not crash. I did two things,I turned the AF and AS settings on my video card in the NV control center from 16,16q to 8 and 8. Also I deleted my AVG virus...This seems to have done it,time will tell..I want to thank all of you again...THANK YOU!!!!....:sunny:


YOU DELETED YOUR AVG ANTIVIRUS ?? Why in the world would you do a thing like that ?

Unless you are NOT turning off the Internet when you play a single SH4 game. The antivirus ( any antivirus ) when you turn off the Internet and shut off ( temporarily ) everything running in the background that is NOT necessarily to run while you play SH4 ( or any offline game ) will not interfere with the simulation.

Get a program like "enditall" ( there are others like it ) and it will do the turning off of what is not needed in order for the game to run cleaner.

Get "Enditall" here: http://www.ccs.org/Tips/Download/3Download.htm

(Enditall is the second line down on left of page at 393kb, and it is also getting scarce on the web for FREE.)

When you are through playing just reboot and everything that is supposed to be running will be running including AVG or whatever antivirus program installed.

Maybe I misunderstood you but it does sound like you play SH4 while on the Internet. Some people do not know how to shut down the Internet and others think it must be on all the time, others while they are playing a non online game JUST MUST have the email going in the background or playing while reading on subsim. Worst thing in the world to do unless you don't mind having a slow computer game and crashing all the time.

IF you meant that you did really delete your antivirus from your hard drive, you really need to reinstall or guess whats going to happen to your computer while on the Internet. You are bound to download sometime and that's when the NO-NO's sometimes arrive.

Ok rant is over :D I hope SH4 runs a lot smoother for you.

[clayp]

I have another anti virus program,I always have two(I'm not stupid,just dumb) someone posted here that they had a problem similar to mine with AVG..Thank you for careing enough to post tho...:up:

[maerean_m]

As a programmer, I can tell you that it's a very bad idea to have more than one real-time antivirus scanner. They will fight to be the first to read the accessed files and put locks on those files so the application may sometimes be denied access to a file (that would never otherwise happen) and crash. Basically, the game is told by the OS that the file doesn't exist.

The probability for a game to crash because of the multiple antiviruses increases with the number of files installed by the game. Crysis installs 1800 files, SH4 installs 20000 and HL2 installs 40000. The more files are accessed, the more is likely the antiviruses will step on each others toes.

[clayp]

As a programmer, I can tell you that it's a very bad idea to have more than one real-time antivirus scanner. They will fight to be the first to read the accessed files and put locks on those files so the application may sometimes be denied access to a file (that would never otherwise happen) and crash. Basically, the game is told by the OS that the file doesn't exist.

The probability for a game to crash because of the multiple antiviruses increases with the number of files installed by the game. Crysis installs 1800 files, SH4 installs 20000 and HL2 installs 40000. The more files are accessed, the more is likely the antiviruses will step on each others toes.

I only have one running at a time