Game crashes

[Kirk]

Hello all. Just bought the SH4. I wonder if it was a good idea? Loaded up fine. Did the latest patch. Fine so far. Get to the main menu. A mission loads up fine. Here is where it is tricky. I can go to anywhere inside the boat but bridge, main gun, AA gun & periscope. Sonar, radar, radio, plot & management are all fine. Could it be my video card? Or could it be just a setting?

[Lightning61]

Howdy!

system specs would help in diagnosis?

[Kirk]

Opps. Sorry. Running 3Ghz processor, 1g of ram and a x950 video. The kind that is embedded on the motherboard. Something tells me now that it is not going to work with that. Thanks for any ideas.

[Powerthighs]

It should work, just not at super-high settings.

Try turning the resolution down to a low value, turn off AA, and uncheck the graphics boxes. See if that helps. I had some regular crashes early on that have gone away once I reduced the grahical demands on my card.

[maerean_m]

On board video and audio cards are NOT for games.

[McBeck]

Running any mods?

[tomoose]

your 'onboard' stuff is not helping at all, I highly recommend you get a good graphics card. I think you'll get a few replies too telling you that a min of 2Gig RAM is the optimal situation for memory and SHIV.

[Lightning61]

I would get another Gig of ram first, and dedicate as much as the bios will allow to video.
Get latest drivers for on-board sound, and turn sound acceleration down one notch on the slider in windows audio properties.
Be sure to turn off 3d sound in game.
Set a static swap file as large as you can.
Disable all un-necessary processess and services set to run at start-up, including AV and printer software.
Fresh boot and try again while shopping for new vid and sound cards. ;)

[jdkbph]

On the off chance that your immediate goal is to get the game running without spending any money.... :p

Despite the fact that on-board video and sound is not an optimum solution for gaming, it should still run. Your problem is most likely memory. Those on board components use system memory and you're already running pretty close to minimum.

So my suggestion....

Make sure you're running current WHQL video drivers and you have the latest 9c release of DirectX, kill all non-essential background apps and services, turn all the in game graphics settings to minimum, set your in game resolution to no more than 1024x768, and see if it will run then.

JD

[Kirk]

Thanks all for ideas. Right now I have everything on the game to min. I also tried using virtual memory. Still nothing. Think I might have to upgrade the ram on the computer from 1g to 2g and see if that helps at all. Weird. The only places I can not go is the bridge, periscopes, deck gun, aa gun, tbd & also I can't use that "free camera" option. Just have to ride it out. Again thanks for the idea. Oh. If someone can recommend a video card, which one? Thanks.

[Lightning61]

When I saw "x950" video, I mistakenly assumed ATI chipset, which may have been capable off rendering the heavy 3D screens.
I'm sorry to inform you that a real GFX card will be necessary.
Shoot out a price range and recommendations will swamp you! ;)

[Kirk]

OK. Thanks again. I had feeling I might have to get a different video card.

[Powerthighs]

OK. Thanks again. I had feeling I might have to get a different video card.

Check here: http://www.tomshardware.com/2008/02/04/best_cards_february_2008/

[Kirk]

Hi all. Thanks all for the tips and ideas. Still no luck. Think I will need that video card. Just wondering? Does anyone have that NVIDIA 6200? Once again I was just wondering? Thanks.

[capthelm]

best grabing a 8800gts 640mb pci card..

once you upgraded to a high end video card the knock on effect is a powerful power suppy
least 650watts supply...

you missed a chance i just sold a cpu and motherboard on ebay...

may need to upgrade your motherboard as well if youve not got pci bus..

belive me i have a high end system i just manage to run this sim with all the bells and whisitles running as well.