Various Problems - Please Help :(

[icecold]

I myself is a big fan of the SH series... and for a while i enjoyed the glorious pleasures of SH4... untill patch 1.3 came out... and then i have tons of issues... so many that i couldnt play the game untill Ubi released a new patch... and so 6 motnhs later they did and i got it working...

Then behold the release of SH4 UB Addons... I glorious game it must be...

But hey wait... All whole new lot of issues and problems... so many that i once again cant play the game... (BTW Ubi i believe this comes under innadiquate product life/faulty goods under sales acts... feel free to check that one no matter what country your from).

Anyways for the innocent out there, i would appriciate some help...

---

If you know a solution to my problems please please reply. If you can... send a link to the actual solution. All help appriciated.

WINDOWS VISTA 32BIT
INTEL CORE 2 DUO 2.93GH
4GB CORSAIR RAM
NVDIA 8800 GTX GRAPHICS CARD
1TB HARD DISC

BEFORE YOU STATE THE OBVIOUS... EVERYTHING IS UPDATED.


PROBLEMS
----------

1) All my crew above deck have no eyes... yes you heard that right, no eyes. the just have empty sockets and its quite disturbing.

2) All my crew above deck are translucent.

3) When i destroy or attack a vessel/airplane... i get the lovely blue screen of death... if i update my graphics card driver to a beta... i dont get it anymore... instead i get a black screen of nothing and then a complete system freeze.

4) When diving... all my men on deck stay on deck... looks like they are praticing there yoga breathing excersises.

5) Is there someway of getting german sounds/voices?

6) Is there a way of getting better effects?


UBI once again i am disapointed, and before people start posting "it works for me" please goggle all the issues that arrising and realise that the game was not finished before release.

[Rockin Robbins]

It's been a parade of people heaping blame and doom upon Ubi when they couldn't get the game working. No reasonable asking for help. No presumption that the problem can be fixed. No personal responsibility. Just blaming Ubi, because if it's Ubi's fault you have no responsibility to fix the problem!

Unfortunately, in this long train of similar-minded people, every single one of them was brought face to face with the fact that the game was not at fault. They had the problem, either with conflicting hardware, conflicting software settings, mod weirdness, improper installation or deinstallation of mods, or even things never identified. It doesn't matter. We can fix it.

However, you are having so much fun playing the blame game that I am not inclined to begin tackling the issues until the first issue is dealt with: your lack of responsibility for your own machine.

Welcome to SUBSIM! We fix problems here and do not care a rat's patootie whose fault it is. Your move, sir::yep:

[Zantham]

1) All my crew above deck have no eyes... yes you heard that right, no eyes. the just have empty sockets and its quite disturbing.

2) All my crew above deck are translucent.

3) When i destroy or attack a vessel/airplane... i get the lovely blue screen of death... if i update my graphics card driver to a beta... i dont get it anymore... instead i get a black screen of nothing and then a complete system freeze.

4) When diving... all my men on deck stay on deck... looks like they are praticing there yoga breathing excersises.

5) Is there someway of getting german sounds/voices?

6) Is there a way of getting better effects?
1) You're crew doesn't need eyes. You do all their jobs for them in the game. They are just eye candy.

2) This is so it is easier for you to spot ships without having to look around these crewmembers, who have no eyes anyways.

3) Could be a mod conflict, corrupt graphics, bad video card driver install (antivirus interfering?). This is not a known issue and likely specific to your computer.

4) They ARE practicing their yoga exercises. The ability to hold your breath for hours comes in very useful on a submarine. Imagine you are trying to dodge a destroyer and your crew all exhales, filling the sub with more air and your sub pops to the surface.

5) Yes. Check the Mods forum.

6) Yes. Check the mods forum.

[Kapitan_Phillips]

However, you are having so much fun playing the blame game that I am not inclined to begin tackling the issues until the first issue is dealt with: your lack of responsibility for your own machine.

Why then, post?

[icecold]

Ok, lets say its my machine... What shall i do to find the problem? Where shall i look? What suggestions?

[THE_MASK]

I myself is a big fan of the SH series... and for a while i enjoyed the glorious pleasures of SH4... untill patch 1.3 came out... and then i have tons of issues... so many that i couldnt play the game untill Ubi released a new patch... and so 6 motnhs later they did and i got it working...

Then behold the release of SH4 UB Addons... I glorious game it must be...

But hey wait... All whole new lot of issues and problems... so many that i once again cant play the game... (BTW Ubi i believe this comes under innadiquate product life/faulty goods under sales acts... feel free to check that one no matter what country your from).

Anyways for the innocent out there, i would appriciate some help...

---

If you know a solution to my problems please please reply. If you can... send a link to the actual solution. All help appriciated.

WINDOWS VISTA 32BIT
INTEL CORE 2 DUO 2.93GH
4GB CORSAIR RAM
NVDIA 8800 GTX GRAPHICS CARD
1TB HARD DISC

BEFORE YOU STATE THE OBVIOUS... EVERYTHING IS UPDATED.


PROBLEMS
----------

1) All my crew above deck have no eyes... yes you heard that right, no eyes. the just have empty sockets and its quite disturbing.

2) All my crew above deck are translucent.

3) When i destroy or attack a vessel/airplane... i get the lovely blue screen of death... if i update my graphics card driver to a beta... i dont get it anymore... instead i get a black screen of nothing and then a complete system freeze.

4) When diving... all my men on deck stay on deck... looks like they are praticing there yoga breathing excersises.

5) Is there someway of getting german sounds/voices?

6) Is there a way of getting better effects?


UBI once again i am disapointed, and before people start posting "it works for me" please goggle all the issues that arrising and realise that the game was not finished before release.
1/. the devs said they cannot fix it
2/. untick environment effects in options
3/. something wrong with your system/install .
4/. something wrong with your system/install .
5/. download the german voices mod in the mods section .
6/. look thru the mods section .

[Rockin Robbins]

@Kapitan: I post because it is blatantly unfair to make false statements regarding the fault for the OP's game not functioning properly. In fact, it is purposely inflammatory and irresponsible. Throwing a temper tantrum is not a substitute which should be accepted for adult interaction.

When I help someone it is on condition that it happens on constructive terms, where the seeker of help is not throwing blame and "BTW Ubi i believe this comes under innadiquate product life/faulty goods under sales acts..." type comments. There are none so helpless as those who will not be helped. I can see that I am not completely crazy, as other posters have echoed my attitude.

That blame Ubi refrain gets very old and tired when every single person crying that has been left finally admitting that the game is not at fault for their inability to run it. I believe that moderators who defend such posts are not performing their proper function. When they imply that I should not post in opposition to attacks on Ubi which state the game does not run properly, they compound their error.

The only way to stop the blame Ubi song is to refuse to help those who sing it, and to state the reason the help is not provided. Hey, I just answered your question!:up:

Now he has changed the song. He seems now willing to accept that something on his end could be changed to allow SH4 to run. So a constructive answer is appropriate.

@icecold please check out the newly renamed (thanks AVG!) How to reinstall SH4 (http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=133290) thread. It will walk you through making a 100% clean install which will run correctly, provided your machine is up to snuff. Chances are, this will totally fix your problem. Solution provided after much research by Doolittle81, an SH3 stalwart who has made a valuable contribution to the SH4 community.

Icecold, internal conflicts in SH4 configuration files can happen for a thousand reasons, even to those of us who think we have a handle on the process. Any time the game starts acting "squirrely," a technical term for game weirdness (exactly what you describe) this is a very high probability fix. This is just like rebooting your computer. You may never know what was wrong but you will have fixed it, so who cares?:up:

The no eyes for deck crew problem seems to be an 8800 series deal.
Paajtor
03-06-2008, 07:29 PM

I found out, that many fps-issues can be solved, by simply pausing the game, the hit Alt+Tab, stay at desktop for a few secs, and then maximize SH4 again....issue solved.
I also managed to fix the "missing eyes" thing this way.

I'm still researching a fix on that one. No problem with it on my 7900GS or 7600GT cards with Windows XP. Might be a driver issue. Try a fallback to the previous driver.

[icecold]

Ok tried everything you put and still having same problem...

Although i have narrowed the problem down...

I did clean reainstall as directed and played the game on stock graphics settings (thats no adjusted resolution, special effects ect) and it worked fine. Then i put them to how they should/were and it sarted doing it again...

Now this looks awfully familiar to the problem i had on patch 1.3... it didnt go untill they released patch 1.4...

Does this help in diagnosing my problem?

[longam]

I see you run Vista 32 bit also. I can't guaranty your results because our systems are of two different classes, but with Vista I found this to work best.

Uninstall the program and do a backup or system restore point and then run Registry Mechanic. You can DL it here http://www.pctools.com

After a good reboot and defrag install the program under “Documents/YourFolderName".

From here you can install the updates or patches as needed but you’re no longer in the realm of UAC.

This will eliminate any issues with Vista and you can look at drivers or other things from here.

Note: You can save the SH4 folder that has your configuration but you have to delete files in the “Rich Saved Games” and the folders under “SavedGames”. Just copy SH4 to another location then copy it back after the fresh install. **This will delete all saved games**

I hope this helps.

[Rockin Robbins]

I did clean reainstall as directed and played the game on stock graphics settings (thats no adjusted resolution, special effects ect) and it worked fine. Then i put them to how they should/were and it sarted doing it again...

You're going to have to define "it". Transluscent crew is a universal side effect of environmental effects in the game options screen. Uncheck that option and the crew will assume normal opaque behavior. You will also lose fog effects but most don't miss that.

The no-eyes is a combination between the 8800 series card and the cursed Windows Vista thank God I built my computer with Windows XP Media Edition. Best decision I've made in 10 years. Some have temporarily fixed that by alt-tabbing to the desktop and returning. Others figure if they have a crew with no eyes the enemy won't be able to see them and count it a feature.

Screen of death was a conflict, which is gone now with your clean install.

I've seen people claim the men on deck thing is a result of saving underwater. I've seen it myself only occasionally. Frankly, I ignore it if it happens, which isn't too often. I'd try the alt-tab to desktop trick and if that doesn't work, saving on the surface and reloading the game. The only thing I can personally confirm is that the problem comes and goes.

German voices I told you about.

Better effects are a choice of Kriller2's Pacific Environment (new version is ultimate!) and I just had a memory CTD. The other one is in the mods section and well worth your time.

[Skyhawk]

Won't catch me wasting my "breath" on trying to change this type of attitude ever again. There will be no return visits to this thread for me so no need for any moderators to come in here and bother to tell me to "move along".

Two wrongs don't make a right.

Dressing down an already frustrated person doesn't do a thing towards positively promoting the pc subsimming community here at subsim.com or our hobby in general. PERIOD.

The last two statements assume nothing and are absolutely true.:yep:

Is it really that difficult or even wrong (?) to be the bigger person and keep negative thoughts to yourself or just assume the best, rather than the worse, about another person and try to help them anyway?

For the record, I "give up" on this point. Won't ever hear a peep from me on it again, I'll just grimace and "move along" when it happens.:yep:

Geez Louise . . . :roll:

[Rockin Robbins]

All that is necessary for evil to triumph is that good do nothing. Whenever someone starts the "Ubi sucks" song, I will call them on it and refuse to dance until the music stops. It worked and we're making good progress here. How can you possibly say anything against the way I handled the situation? I don't see you helping him! Try researching how to deal with difficult people and you'll find I'm right on target.

Oh, you're not there reading this so I guess I wasted my time!:rotfl:

Any progress icecold?

[icecold]

All the issues except the system crash are semi resolved. They come and go and can be "tweeked". The no eyes one i cant get rid of but i can just pretend i have the crew from event horizon.

The system crash one is boggling. If i turn all settings down to minimum... i dont get a problem... turn them up to how "its ment to be played" (the nvidia and ubi advertisment)... and its just cant handle it. System freezes... sounds locka nd repeat and then a few seconds later, the blue screen of death. System then restarts and i get 2 error reporting boxes come up stating that windows has suffered froma critical error and needs to send information. The second error reporting box comes up and states that nvidia software has suffered from a problem and is sending a error report... It then comes back stating that it has a resolution... Nvidia softare drivers need to be updated... even though they have been updated and all hotfixes installed. I have tried beta drivers and instead of blue screen of death i get black screen of complete fubar and then have to manualy restart system. (i have also dleted all remains of previous drivers and started again but to no avail).

[Wilcke]

All the issues except the system crash are semi resolved. They come and go and can be "tweeked". The no eyes one i cant get rid of but i can just pretend i have the crew from event horizon.

The system crash one is boggling. If i turn all settings down to minimum... i dont get a problem... turn them up to how "its ment to be played" (the nvidia and ubi advertisment)... and its just cant handle it. System freezes... sounds locka nd repeat and then a few seconds later, the blue screen of death. System then restarts and i get 2 error reporting boxes come up stating that windows has suffered froma critical error and needs to send information. The second error reporting box comes up and states that nvidia software has suffered from a problem and is sending a error report... It then comes back stating that it has a resolution... Nvidia softare drivers need to be updated... even though they have been updated and all hotfixes installed. I have tried beta drivers and instead of blue screen of death i get black screen of complete fubar and then have to manualy restart system. (i have also dleted all remains of previous drivers and started again but to no avail).

You have a tough one on your hands that is for sure. Suspect the following aside from the OS and videocard not cooperating.

1.) Power supply not working well or overheating.

2.) GPU overheating.

3.) CPU overheating.

4.) Memory issues...bad memory...bad bus loads. Needs Memcheck done.

As far as installing Nvidia drivers and uninstalling them....did you clean out the remnants of the drivers using any kind of utility like Driver Cleaner in between reboots?

I am on XP Pro, so I have no idea what Vista is doing. But you may want to rule out hardware issues and go from there.

Very frustrating. Good luck!

[Zantham]

Have you installed Vista Service Pack 1?

I believe there is a fix in there for where the video card could potentially take double the video RAM needed, causing a system to crash under certain situations. This is due to a bug in the WDDM in Vista.

http://www.anandtech.com/printarticle.aspx?i=3060

[icecold]

I have downloaded everything from windows update... says there are no available updates.

I recently bought a new powersupply pack due to my old going bust. However it is a higher wattage. Also all my equipment is secured correctly and is regulary cleaned. As for over heating... i have MANY fans... and i have recently made a few holes in my case with grills over the top to increase air flow and prevent dust intake.

I doubt this has anything to do with it... im sure its software related... Biggest disaster to happen to me atm... SH4 is one of my favourate games... and i cant play it :( even though i could once upon a time.

[THE_MASK]

What sound card ?

[icecold]

HDA XPLOSION 7.1

Latest drivers.

----


Ok i have narrowed it down to certain issues...

I can bump up every setting in my nvidia control panel EXCEPT...


* Anistropic filtering. (HAS TO BE LEFT ON APPLICATION CONTROLLED)

* Antialiasing Mode. (HAS TO BE LEFT ON APPLICATION CONTROLLED)


If i touch any of those 2 things... Game crashes... Graphics driver then crashes... Then blue screen of death.


As you can imagine... without those two things... the game looks like an PSX game graphics wise.

[THE_MASK]

Is the graphics card fan working ?

[edjcox]

Try the NHancer program. http://www.nhancer.com/


It's a free download an solved all my issues caused by the Nvidia drivers.

Oh, the game was incomplete and released prematurely. That's why all the patches were released. Some seem to forget the initial period and the big time issues many had. A lot of folks tried to run this on systems that wre inadequate. It is a demanding program.

Let me know if that fixed what appears to be a GPU problem..

:smug:

[dusty]

:x i have exactly the same probs mate exactly!!!!

intel quad core q6600
4gb ram
8800gtx
1000w psu
vista
tried everything giving up for now i play crysis assassins creed gears of war all on full no probs, mid war thru a patrol spot lone ship ha ha me thinks engage fool with deck gun......crash lock up blue death:-? shame cos when it works works awesome

[Rockin Robbins]

Again, CTDs, excepting the infamous "A" key CTD were not ever an issue. This is stranger than that. I agree with Wilcke. This smells like an overheating problem or a problem with not enough power to the graphics card.

I had the identical symptoms with my Asus A8N-32 SLI deluxe board and dual 7600GT SLI configuration. I could jack the graphics settings only so far until my whole machine locked up and went black. I found on a page pretty much all by itself in the middle of irrelevent drivel, that the Asus board had an "EZ Connector" whose well-named function was to have a molex connecter plugged into it to supply SLIed cards that did not have their own auxiliary power connectors. Well hidden on the page was an offhand comment about possible system instability if the EZ connector wasn't used when it was needed. NO DUH!!!!!

I plugged a Molex connector in there, firewalled all the settings to the max and never had another problem until my infamous graphics card follies.

And that's another thing. There is a little known electronics plague affecting motherboards, graphics cards, power supplies and just about everything on Earth that uses electrolytic capacitors. In a case of attempted industrial espionage in the far east, an employee stole the plans for making electrolytic capacitors from his company and sold them to competitors, who became the number one supplier in the world thereby. The only problem is that the formula for the electrolyte was purposely missing a key ingredient: the preservative. The counterfeit caps work fine for between six months and a couple of years and then...
http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa293/RockinRobbins13/Dead%20EVGA%207600GT/100_6178.jpg

That's my EVGA 7600GT card with several exploded caps there. EVGA is one of a handful of the most reputable companies making graphics cards and this has happened to two of these so far. Sometimes, rather than blow the top, the caps leak out the bottom, which is much harder to see. Needless to say, cheaper off-brand cards are even more likely to fail, but victim #1 so far is Dell Computers. Nobody escaped this plague and it continues.

But you can entirely dismiss the idea that the game is somehow defective. It is true that only a couple of games, Crysis and FSX come to mind, put similar loads on your graphics system. That is what state of the art games do and your system is supposed to be able to handle that. Your specs are good (better than mine). So I'm afraid you have to go down the Wilke/Rockin route. If it is defective electronics, the problem will get worse and components failing that way often take other components with them to the grave due to unregulated power in the wrong place.

Ain't computers fun?:nope:

[Wilcke]

:x i have exactly the same probs mate exactly!!!!

intel quad core q6600
4gb ram
8800gtx
1000w psu
vista
tried everything giving up for now i play crysis assassins creed gears of war all on full no probs, mid war thru a patrol spot lone ship ha ha me thinks engage fool with deck gun......crash lock up blue death:-? shame cos when it works works awesome

Have both of you run Nview? To check GPU temps and fan speeds with load? We have to win here there are hundreds of SH4 Happy Hunters out here in the ethers and you two are not going to screw up the stats!:up: As Don would say, "No No No No No No...No No No No No No No No No No No".

Note to self: " I cannot believe the POS BFG 7950 GT OC that I bought on Ebay is running like a demon.....how can this be." Befuddled!

[icecold]

Again, CTDs, excepting the infamous "A" key CTD were not ever an issue. This is stranger than that. I agree with Wilcke. This smells like an overheating problem or a problem with not enough power to the graphics card.

I had the identical symptoms with my Asus A8N-32 SLI deluxe board and dual 7600GT SLI configuration. I could jack the graphics settings only so far until my whole machine locked up and went black. I found on a page pretty much all by itself in the middle of irrelevent drivel, that the Asus board had an "EZ Connector" whose well-named function was to have a molex connecter plugged into it to supply SLIed cards that did not have their own auxiliary power connectors. Well hidden on the page was an offhand comment about possible system instability if the EZ connector wasn't used when it was needed. NO DUH!!!!!

I plugged a Molex connector in there, firewalled all the settings to the max and never had another problem until my infamous graphics card follies.

And that's another thing. There is a little known electronics plague affecting motherboards, graphics cards, power supplies and just about everything on Earth that uses electrolytic capacitors. In a case of attempted industrial espionage in the far east, an employee stole the plans for making electrolytic capacitors from his company and sold them to competitors, who became the number one supplier in the world thereby. The only problem is that the formula for the electrolyte was purposely missing a key ingredient: the preservative. The counterfeit caps work fine for between six months and a couple of years and then...
http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa293/RockinRobbins13/Dead%20EVGA%207600GT/100_6178.jpg

That's my EVGA 7600GT card with several exploded caps there. EVGA is one of a handful of the most reputable companies making graphics cards and this has happened to two of these so far. Sometimes, rather than blow the top, the caps leak out the bottom, which is much harder to see. Needless to say, cheaper off-brand cards are even more likely to fail, but victim #1 so far is Dell Computers. Nobody escaped this plague and it continues.

But you can entirely dismiss the idea that the game is somehow defective. It is true that only a couple of games, Crysis and FSX come to mind, put similar loads on your graphics system. That is what state of the art games do and your system is supposed to be able to handle that. Your specs are good (better than mine). So I'm afraid you have to go down the Wilke/Rockin route. If it is defective electronics, the problem will get worse and components failing that way often take other components with them to the grave due to unregulated power in the wrong place.

Ain't computers fun?:nope:


Well lets rule out defective card... i am running games inlcuding Crysis, Assasins Creed, COD4 without a hitch and very smoothly (although Crysis is a bit jumpy in the later levels but thats unavoidable due to the scale).

I am going to try Ntune and let you know if i see any problems.

[Rockin Robbins]

Well lets rule out defective card... i am running games inlcuding Crysis, Assasins Creed, COD4 without a hitch and very smoothly (although Crysis is a bit jumpy in the later levels but thats unavoidable due to the scale).

I am going to try Ntune and let you know if i see any problems.

Cool! Crysis proves your point as far as I'm concerned. Hope you can narrow it down to the exact setting that causes the crash. nHancer is also well worth a try.

[XLjedi]

I still think the Ubisoft logo looks like a flushing toilet...

But they do publish some good games. ...or hobbies, depending on how you look at it. :hmm:

Just gotta stick with it I s'pose... at least until SH is released on a console.

[Rockin Robbins]

I still think the Ubisoft logo looks like a flushing toilet...

But they do publish some good games. ...or hobbies, depending on how you look at it. :hmm:

Just gotta stick with it I s'pose... at least until SH is released on a console.
On a ........console???? :eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:

SH4 on a console would be like microwaved chicken. Yuck!!!:stare:

You mean it's NOT a flushing toilet?

[XLjedi]

WHAT IS EVERYONE SO DOWN ON THE CONSOLES FOR? http://www.xl-logic.com/emoticon/fight.gif

Shoot we're just a keyboard and mouse support away from having a hardware-unified simulation platform. The next-gen consoles can handle it, just that developers don't want to go there. ...for whatever reason. I dunno, maybe the publishers like having the luxury of pre-releasing bug-ridden software and can easily pawn it off on trying to cater to the multitude of strange hardware/software conflicts.

The hard drive installation, PC link, and internet connectivity are already there for the modders to continue playing. What exactly do people think we'd be missing out on? ...the hardware/software conflict headaches?

I'm all for moving sims to the platforms. If the GT driving games are any indication of what level of detail can be accomodated for simmers (I can't even drive those stupid cars, I have to dumb it all down) we should be anxiously awaiting the arrival of detailed naval and air simulations.

Now see... you made me go and hi-jack the thread. http://www.xl-logic.com/emoticon/smack.gif

[Rockin Robbins]

Soon as that happens it's the end of mods. That is what makes these PC games fascinating for me. I just can't get hepped up about console games. And the console games that are both on console and PC, the PC gamers mostly own the consolers because of their crappy controls. Granted, in a subsim that wouldn't be an issue.

I will not help hijack threads
I will not help hijack threads
I will not help hijack threads:oops:

[XLjedi]

Soon as that happens it's the end of mods.

http://xl-logic.com/emoticon/rtfm.gif Nobody reads my posts...

Why, in spite of my comment that modders could continue to function happily, do you think console simulations are the kiss-o-death to mods?

People are writing and sharing games on the things right now.

It's really all in the hands of the developers and publishers... they could easily write games to install to the console HD's (same as a PC) and people would be able to use their PC's tools (just like they do now) to mod the files and even share their work on forums like this.

[icecold]

PLEASE DO NOT HIJACK THIS THREAD!!!

I WILL DELETE IT, COPY ALL APPROPRIATE INFORMATION AND JUST START AGAIN OTHERWISE ON A NEW THREAD!


Going back to topic....

Ntune shows my card working within levels of me having it brand new. Temp is good and fan is reasonable.

Nhancer dosnt do the job im afraid... Microsoft even personaly gave me some software in an attempt to help personaly... no luck.

Guys please dont stop helping, i will not give up on this game.

[THE_MASK]

Uninstall silent hunter 4 then download ccleaner and run the registry cleaner . Then reinstall silent hunter 4 . See how that goes .

[Wilcke]

Uninstall silent hunter 4 then download ccleaner and run the registry cleaner . Then reinstall silent hunter 4 . See how that goes .

Agreed, last thing to do.

[THE_MASK]

I feel the pain . SH3 ran like a pig on my machine but all other games were fine . In the end i had to toss it out the back door like a frisbee . SH4 has been like a solid rock for me , stable as a rock .

[Wilcke]

Is the OP doing OK did you get your problems sorted? We want to add you guys to the "happy list"!

Happy Hunting:ping:

[icecold]

everything mentioned has been tried ... no luck... so epressed and stressed.. it just wont work :(

[Sailor Steve]

PLEASE DO NOT HIJACK THIS THREAD!!!

I WILL DELETE IT, COPY ALL APPROPRIATE INFORMATION AND JUST START AGAIN OTHERWISE ON A NEW THREAD!
Take thees thread to Cuba!

You make threats, I make threats.

Now, seriously, threads do wander around these parts, and usually wander right back onto the topic. Making threats is pretty much begging for trouble. Lighten up, and you'll find the friendliest, most helpful forum around.

And though I don't have any helpful knowledge, I too hope this gets sorted for you. We all want our community to grow and have fun.

Oh, and in case I missed it before, WELCOME ABOARD!:sunny:

[icecold]

Thank you for your welcome...


And it still does not work. I have noticed that if i run the stock game on full settings... it works fine... Then i update it to 1.5... run it on full settings... and it crashes saying the nvidia driver has stoped working and had to be restarted... then goes to blue screen of death.

[THE_MASK]

Your not trying to apply the addon to patch 1.4 are you ?

[icecold]

No, im doing it over stock... (stock works fine).

[Kapitan_Phillips]

PLEASE DO NOT HIJACK THIS THREAD!!!

I WILL DELETE IT, COPY ALL APPROPRIATE INFORMATION AND JUST START AGAIN OTHERWISE ON A NEW THREAD!


No, you wont.

[icecold]

Anyways back to problem.

Anyone got any further suggestions?

[Karbo]

Icecold, I want you to know you are not the only one. I have the same problem as you. I also have a 8800 GTX card and Vista 32 bit. I have unistalled and reinstalled SH4 and then put on the expansion several times. I have tried many different drivers to no avail. I still think something got broke since the upgrade, before the upgrade I didn't have these problems. I have elected to wait for a patch or Nvidia to put out a good driver. I got tired of fighting it for now. My system specs are AMD Athlon 64 X 2 Dual core 4600+ Vista Home Premium 32 Bit with SP1, 2048MB Ram,8800 GTX video card, Dynex 500 Watt Power supply.

[icecold]

Well thats quite a few people now... So looks like it is fault/bug.

What soundcard are you using and mouse too?

[Wilcke]

Icecold, I want you to know you are not the only one. I have the same problem as you. I also have a 8800 GTX card and Vista 32 bit. I have unistalled and reinstalled SH4 and then put on the expansion several times. I have tried many different drivers to no avail. I still think something got broke since the upgrade, before the upgrade I didn't have these problems. I have elected to wait for a patch or Nvidia to put out a good driver. I got tired of fighting it for now. My system specs are AMD Athlon 64 X 2 Dual core 4600+ Vista Home Premium 32 Bit with SP1, 2048MB Ram,8800 GTX video card, Dynex 500 Watt Power supply.

Wait a minute, I have been seeing a pattern here....Vista + 8800GTX = Broken SH4 1.5. There is still a lot to ponder.

For instance a 500 watt power supply. Please go here and use this calculator to see if you have enough PSU to run an 8800GTX.

http://www.extreme.outervision.com/powercalc.jsp

When I upgraded my Video Card I opted out of the 8800 series due to being mid-cycle in PC building, I just did not want to go out and get a new power supply for a computer that has 6 months left.

Look these things take time and patience, we will continue to plug away. Hope this helps.

Happy hunting!

[Karbo]

Sound Card is on board Realtek, Mouse is a Logitech with infared. I too have been noticing a pattern with Vista and 8800 GTX. I'm sure it will get sorted out in time. My video card recomended a 450 watt power supply I thought that the 500 watt would be sufficient. I could be wrong LOL. I havn't had trouble with the rest of my games/sims since some of the better drivers have come out. I havn't gave up on SH4 just taking a break for a bit and hope this gets sorted out.

[icecold]

Well we can rule out power supply problems...

I have a 800 watt supply and i can run much heavier games without a problem.

[stabiz]

Probably Vista then. If I remember correctly, Vista is not officially supported by SH4.

[Doolittle81]

I have had two months of trying to get SH4 1.5 working correctly with Pacific Environment MOD(s)...PE2 and the latest PE3. I get BSOD no matter what I do, no matter what settings I use for In-Game Graphic Options and/or nHancer settings for my 8800GTX/168MB card. I spent this past Thursday and Friday, approximately SEVEN hours each day in one final massive and methodical testing. NO solution.

Now, here is the ODD part: When I enable W_Clear's "Environment 4.3" MOD(s), SH4 1.5 runs almost perfectly...that is, I occasionally get a BSOD but it is unpredictable and does not occur immediately every time axs it does with PE. Further testing: If I disable "Post Processing" and "Texture HighQuality" in In-Game Options, I seem to be able to run SH4 1.5/W_Clear's EE without ferar of BSOD, even under the most intense action/explosions/etc.

As I have suggested in the Pacific Environment thread, it seems to me that there is something extremely incompatible between SH4 1.5 and the PE Mods, at least for 8800GTX/VISTA owners, but for the life of me I am unable to find it. So, for me, I will use W_Clear's Environment MOD(s) with 1.5, and use Pacific Environment MOD(s) with 1.4 when I want PE eye candy.

Icecold: if you are using the PE MOD(s), or probably also the earlier ROW MODs, with your SH4 1.5, try disabling them...see what happens.

As for overheated graphics card being the problem, I think my experience and testing preclude that. I have an 850 Watt PSU, no overheating... I can also alternately and frequently load "SH4 1.5 with W_Clears MOD" with my "SH4 1.5 with PE Mods" (I have two 1.5 installations, plus one SH4 1.5 installation), and invariably the latter will crash/BSOD immediately when an 'action' occurs, such as the first DD firing a deck gun or, of course, any torpedoe hit explosion. The former, however will work flawlessly (with Post PRocessing and High texture turned OFF). Back and forth between the two, the results never vary. SH4 1.5 with PE=BSOD. SH1.5 with W_Clear's Environ MOD=SH4 runs smooth.

I have to assume that others are out there with 8800GTX cards and are successfully running SH4 1.5 with the Pacific Environment MOD(s)....I can only relate my own experience.

FYI, here's my Rig:

ASUS P5N32-E SLI
Dual core E6700 Cpu
2GB OCZ PC2 8800 (1100Mhz) RAM
BFG 8800GTX w/768MB Graphics card
Audigy2 ZS
4 Seagate 400GB hard drives in a 0+1 RAID array
Plextor PX-800A
Samsung SyncMaster 244T 24" Widescreen LCD Monitor 1920X1200 native resolution
Windows VISTA 32bit

OCZ PSU 850W SLI X-RM
Antec P180 Case (three 120mm fans) plus additional Zalman CNPS9700LED CPU Fan

[Doolittle81]

Probably Vista then. If I remember correctly, Vista is not officially supported by SH4.

That is not correct. The SH4 manual and box both specifically state that SH4 is compatible with Windows XP and VISTA.

[icecold]

It does say that too...

But from what i can see... its not.. either that or its not compatable with 8800GTX... Or even both... But once again... it says that it is...


I think we can safely say... this is a bug that needs a patch or a hotfix from someone.

[stabiz]

My bad, then.

However, there is nothing wrong with PE.

My rig:

Abit AB9 Pro
Core 2 Duo E6600 @ 2,4 ghz
2GB DDR2
8800 GT
Mist 500w PSU
Onboard Realtek sound
XP Pro

I have NEVER had BSOD, and the game havent crashed since the infamous "A" key debacle. Running ROW since the first releases, and currently running PE, without problems.

I still think its Vista.

[Wilcke]

Where shooting blanks here....you are going to need a "Vista Pro" to get into the innards of this problem.

Most of us still run the XP Pro.

Come on Vista guys, give this a shot! Fame and fortune are waiting!

[Jsbl]

Seems like there are a lot of us using vista 32 + 8800 and not being able to play the game.

Hope this gets solved some day. SH4 was an awesome game to play.:down:

[Rockin Robbins]

*looks around furitively for elnaiba*

[badaboom]

You might want to try this from the UBI forum.

http://forums.ubi.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/6421019045/m/1381091756

[icecold]

Thanks bada, But that post is a bit dodgy... as i run my game from the .exe anyways. Plus it dosnt seem to save me from the BSOD.

But if you find anything more please continue to post on this thread.


ALL HELP APPRICIATED, i will not give up on this game...

[icecold]

If anyone is a tech, then mabey here is a lowdown for the possible solution.


PROBLEM
________

SH4 1.5 GETS BSOD WHEN TORPEDO HITS OR AN EXPLOSION TAKES PLACE

---

PROBLEM IS LINKED TO...
_____________________

SH4 1.4+ VERSIONS
+
WINDOWS VISTA 32BIT
+
NVIDIA 8800GTX (ONLY WHEN ANTIALIASING AND/OR ANTISTROPIC FILTERING ARE SET TO ABOVE "APPLICATION CONTROLED"... WHICH MEANS REALY CRAP GRAPHICS IF NOT SET TO NVIDIA MAX SETTINGS)

[Doolittle81]

....

PROBLEM ________
SH4 1.5 GETS BSOD WHEN TORPEDO HITS OR AN EXPLOSION TAKES PLACE

---

PROBLEM IS LINKED TO...

SH4 1.4+ VERSIONS
+
WINDOWS VISTA 32BIT
+
NVIDIA 8800GTX

That is not my experience. For me there has NEVER been a BSOD using SH4 version 1.4........and I have VISTA and 8800GTX.

However, with SH4 1.5, I have BSOD's...always have them with "PE3" enabled. I can avoid BSOD's with SH4 1.5 plus W_Clear's "Environment" MOD but only if I turn OFF In-Game "Post Processing" and "Texture Quality High" Options.

The problem only arose with the release of UBoat Missions (1.5) version. The presence of VISTA and 8800GTX was a constant in the equation. It's definitely an SH4 1.5 issue...efffecting, not caused by, VISTA/8800GTX.

[icecold]

Well i had the problem with 1.4... untill they released a hotfix... so they obviously need to release another hotfix.

[Wilcke]

...so here goes a theory....

The Vista users use a different Nvidia driver for their video cards correct. I just went to guru3d and there is a seperate download section for the Vista users. Could it be that the Nvidia driver is at fault here. Or maybe a little of both, 1.5 plus Vista/Nvidia driver.

So if the above is correct then a HotFix is needed. There was a similar circumstance with another title that is rather "long in the tooth" but this manifested itself with strange rendering issues, not the BSOD type stuff. As the newer versions of Nvidia drivers progress they are more apt not to support older titles and cause issues. In this case the developer stepped in and corrected the issue and that was that. Being that SH4 1.5 UBM is a new release this needs to be addressed from their end.

That is if the theory can be proven. For us XP users, we really cannot help aside from supporting the idea that something needs to be looked at and then a solution needs to be come up with......

Thats all.....

[Doolittle81]

Well I had the problem with 1.4... untill they released a hotfix... so they obviously need to release another hotfix.

What "hotfix"...? Can you provide a link? I've searched but can't find. Do you mean a VISTA hotfix? Or SH4 1.4 'hotfix' (if there is such a thing).

[Rockin Robbins]

Well I'm satisfied you guys have the problem identified. Now if we can get a dev to notice and be interested in the problem we might be on the way to a solution.

[icecold]

Well I had the problem with 1.4... untill they released a hotfix... so they obviously need to release another hotfix.
What "hotfix"...? Can you provide a link? I've searched but can't find. Do you mean a VISTA hotfix? Or SH4 1.4 'hotfix' (if there is such a thing).
Yes it was a vista (but also part designed by nvidia) hotfix. I belive it is now an official part of Service Pack 1... as the hotfix is no longer available.

I have also shown this thread to technical support at UBI.COM.

[Rockin Robbins]

Excellent. If they fix it you will have eliminated trouble for hundreds of people. Good job!:up:

[Skyhawk]

RR,

I choose to say nothing rather than belittle someone, especially innocent bystanders and moderators who do deserve some respect. At the least you could have said what you did with pm's rather than publicly try to embarrass those to whom you were communicating with, including the OP.

Who is to say or prove if your tactic is what got the OP his help or if everyone involved simply chose to be helpful rather than chastising the OP?

Don't believe everything you read on the internet. Not ALL questions are best answered by a google search.

As a former Sergeant in the U.S.M.C. who graduated 2nd in a class of over 200 at NCO school and received 4 meritorious promotions while on active duty I know a little bit about leadership.

Erroneous assumptions only prove ignorance.

My hat is off to all those who chose to help the OP rather than read him the riot act. I stayed away from the thread until the problem was resolved as I had no desire to interfere with the help being given (didn't want to hijack the thread).

For the record RR, I was informed of your original reply to my first post in this thread via a pm from another member here at subsim.com who was either a friend of yours trying to instigate some kind of negative response from me or a previously unknown friend of mine who thought I might want to "defend" myself. Either way, I wasn't going to hijack this thread or respond with some kind of juvenile insult. I won't lower myself.

Now I am done speaking on this tactic of yours for good and will refuse to address it in any way in the future either publicly or via pm. Have more productive things to do with my time.

I think it is safe to assume that my efforts to convince you of the error of your position on this matter will be poorly received, let alone accepted. Please feel free to prove my ignorance. Try letting your actions speak louder than your sermons from the pulpit, you'd be surprised. Unless of course you presume to know everything, and couldn't possibly have anything to learn, from anyone.

The ball is now in your court, your move "sir".

All due respect,

"Skyhawk"

[Kapitan_Phillips]

I strongly advise this confrontation to move to PM. I dont want to have to close this one.

[Deep-Six]

Here is my theory; everything in your syst uses power and will need to take that into account. That does include DVD, all flavors, CD, all flavors, MB, all expansion cards, HDDs, the amount of RAM, etc. I personally burned out a p/s not having enough jiuce to power everything in my syst. With the more up to date rigs, you will need to buy a large enough p/s to run everything.

I forgot to add fans also need juice. :D
This will also include water cooling also.

Your friendly neighborhood pc tech.:D

[Doolittle81]

I strongly advise this confrontation to move to PM. I dont want to have to close this one.

I have absolutely no idea what Skyhawk is complaining about...his post came out of the blue! This thread is VERY valuable and participants has been working a major known problem, possibly narrowing in on an answer or at least an approach to a resolution of the issue.

Please do not close this thread simply because there might be a hijacking attempt by someone with personal rants unrelated to the technical issue being addressed here.

Meanwhile, hopefully someone of authority (Moderatopr/Admin) might be able to draw the SH4 Romanian developers attention to this issue related to SH4 1.5.

Thanks.

[Doolittle81]

Here is my theory; everything in your syst uses power and will need to take that into account. That does include DVD, all flavors, CD, all flavors, MB, all expansion cards, HDDs, the amount of RAM, etc. I personally burned out a p/s not having enough jiuce to power everything in my syst. With the more up to date rigs, you will need to buy a large enough p/s to run everything.

I forgot to add fans also need juice. :D
This will also include water cooling also.

Your friendly neighborhood pc tech.:D

While I agree that excess heat and/or power supply issues can be the cause of many problems, specifically CTD's and BSOD's, I will point out again that I have an 850W PSU and I have no heating problems.....and also that I can switch back and forth between SH4 1.4 and SH4 1.5 (both with PE3), and only the latter results in the immediate BSOD. (...and I have NO CTD's or BSODs with any other applications/games)

[Rockin Robbins]

Thank you Doolittle. I just leave you with the following blast from the past from Skyhawk:


Won't catch me wasting my "breath" on trying to change this type of attitude ever again. There will be no return visits to this thread for me so no need for any moderators to come in here and bother to tell me to "move along".



Folks, judge for yourself who stuck around to help people and who violated his word, letting us know what value to put in his opinion. I don't even have to chime in on that one, do I?

If the problem, isolated to my satisfaction, comes to the attention of the devs and they can find a way to fix it, this thread will make the difference for hundreds of people, determining that they can play SH4 instead of being frustrated by a vista/SH4/8800 series graphics card incompatibility.

I stand by my original opinion that solutions start when we stop trying to blame others and work on the problem. I'll take whatever blame comes my way as the legitimate price of progress. It's a price I'm proud to pay.

[Wilcke]

Here is my theory; everything in your syst uses power and will need to take that into account. That does include DVD, all flavors, CD, all flavors, MB, all expansion cards, HDDs, the amount of RAM, etc. I personally burned out a p/s not having enough jiuce to power everything in my syst. With the more up to date rigs, you will need to buy a large enough p/s to run everything.

I forgot to add fans also need juice. :D
This will also include water cooling also.

Your friendly neighborhood pc tech.:D
While I agree that excess heat and/or power supply issues can be the cause of many problems, specifically CTD's and BSOD's, I will point out again that I have an 850W PSU and I have no heating problems.....and also that I can switch back and forth between SH4 1.4 and SH4 1.5 (both with PE3), and only the latter results in the immediate BSOD. (...and I have NO CTD's or BSODs with any other applications/games)

I think we had ruled out the hardware malfunction issues. I think now at issue is the 8800 series videocards, the Nvidia driver, Vista in how it handles the API graphics and SH4 1.5.

As I posted before not an "unseen" problem with other sims on other platforms. A problem that crops up with new hardware and the software driver and OS. Of course the outcome may not be a BSOD but some other strange rendering or artifact.

Here we have the worst case scenario for folks running Vista+8800+Nvidia+SH4 1.5 = BSOD. Unacceptable in my opinion. I would be screaming also! :nope: If someone can pull a string and have someone look at this...it would be great!

Other than that who needs a drink? I am buying.:up:

[Rockin Robbins]

Arrrrr!:arrgh!: Just let me buy the first one for icecold for hanging in there for the good of everybody. I'll fight with him, for him, or over him any time.:()1:

[Deep-Six]

Ok, here is what I would do to isolate the problem. Look at Vista first, the registry, then the drivers. Then SH4.

I will tell you guys that I dont have Vista handy to give you guys any help. Just suggestions.

[Doolittle81]

Ok, here is what I would do to isolate the problem. Look at Vista first, the registry, then the drivers. Then SH4.

I will tell you guys that I dont have Vista handy to give you guys any help. Just suggestions.

I agree that Isolating the problem is the goal. I only differ with regard to what is logically the First component/parameter to look at...let's call it the primary 'suspect' of 'person of interest' in a criminal investigation. Unfortunately, pretty much everyone in the PC world is quick to blame VISTA for any/all problems experienced by anyone using VISTA, overlooking simpler solutions and tossing aside proven investigatory methodology.

Again:

VISTA + 8800GTX + NVidia Driver of choice + Pacific Environment MOD + SH4 1.4 = Smooth running of SH4

VISTA + 8800GTX + NVidia Driver of choice + Pacific Environment MOD + SH4 1.5 = BSOD

Logically, the parameter which changed was, by definition, SH4 1.5. That is why the Romanian developers are best positioned to compare SH4 1.5 to 1.4 to identify/know what files or engine 'code' was changed. It would seem to me that the developers/programmers could, therefore, very likely isolate the probable cause of the BSODs in a matter of merely a few hours.

[Rockin Robbins]

I wonder if the problem is related to the erratic frame rates I have with both nVidia 7900GS and 7600GT cards with 1.5. I've tried all kinds of things and the problem won't go away. Average frame rates seem a bit higher than 1.4, but they just don't stay steady, momentarily doubling sometimes. It doesn't keep me from playing the game well and isn't aggravating enough for me to unload all the background programs I habitually run. My only lean and mean setup is the Kubuntu installation I'm running now. Unfortunately, it isn't compatible with SH4 at all!:rotfl:

[Wilcke]

I wonder if the problem is related to the erratic frame rates I have with both nVidia 7900GS and 7600GT cards with 1.5. I've tried all kinds of things and the problem won't go away. Average frame rates seem a bit higher than 1.4, but they just don't stay steady, momentarily doubling sometimes. It doesn't keep me from playing the game well and isn't aggravating enough for me to unload all the background programs I habitually run. My only lean and mean setup is the Kubuntu installation I'm running now. Unfortunately, it isn't compatible with SH4 at all!:rotfl:

Running the 7950GT OC here and its smooth. I do run an older driver I think its a 96.xx series. You know one thing that did change in the 1.5 version is the executable in that it calls on SecuRom to authenticate the version/install.

Could this be the culprit somehow...and not the video. I know its running because when I execute 1.5 there is that "SecuRom delay before things fire up". I still have 2 1.4 installs that do not do this they fire lightening quick.

I know grasping at straws....fighting windmills.:damn:

[Doolittle81]

.... You know one thing that did change in the 1.5 version is the executable in that it calls on SecuRom to authenticate the version/install.

Could this be the culprit somehow...and not the video. I know its running because when I execute 1.5 there is that "SecuRom delay before things fire up". I still have 2 1.4 installs that do not do this they fire lightening quick...



My 1.5 installs (two) fire up faster than my 1.4 install.

How can I tell if Securom is doing anything?

[Nisgeis]

I've got a GeForce 880GTX and a spare hard disk. I'm just in the process of installing Windows Vista 32 and then I'll be putting on SH 1.5 to see what happens.

I'd just like to ask, so I'm clear about this, are there two seperate things happening?

Karbo and Icecold seem to be having trouble with Vista32 + 8800GTX + SH 1.5 stock. Doolittle has SH1.5 stock working correctly, but not with PE3? Or do you have stock trouble too Doolittle?

[Nisgeis]

OK, I think I have some hard answers. Icecold, Doolittle and Karbo, sent you all PMs to see what version of the drivers you are running.

The latest version of the drivers do not work, they are listed as betas and give either half black then full black screens, hard locks and other nastiness when running SH4 1.5 on Vista32.

I don't think anyone said what version they are running, but can you please try installing the latest WHQL drivers, specifcally version 169.25. These are stable on my fresh Vista install with SH4 and SH4 with PE3.3

Edit: Sent Dusty and Jsbl PMs too, as they said they were also having trouble.

[Karbo]

Nisgeis,
I am running the 169.25 drivers. I still get the BSOD crash. I was using this when I first installed the U-Boat update. I then have tried various beta drivers and I got the Black screen hard lock up with those, so I went back to the 169.25 drivers.

Thanks

[Nisgeis]

Nisgeis,
I am running the 169.25 drivers. I still get the BSOD crash. I was using this when I first installed the U-Boat update. I then have tried various beta drivers and I got the Black screen hard lock up with those, so I went back to the 169.25 drivers.

Thanks

Does it happen consistently when you start taking damage in the external view, or is it random and only occurs after some period of time? Also, is it stock only, with PE3 or both.

[Karbo]

I'm Running two installs one is with TMO only, Fleet Boats. The other is Uboat with Operation Monsun and PE3. On the TMO it crashes while taking damage no external view but I have the event camera on. I have tried it with the event camera off and external views on, same thing. The Uboat with PE3 it crashes randomly. I will pay more attention to when it crashes when I get some time to do a patrol. I am willing to try any testing to help resolve this issue.

Thanks

[Doolittle81]

I previously had 169.25 and problems, inlcuding the very specific and infamous nklvddmkm driver related error....if you've never heard of the nklvddmkm error, count yourself extremely lucky. (Google nklvddmkm) The nklvddmkm error caused the immediate CTD or BSOD (I can't now recall which) whenever an explosion took place (torpedoe hit)...and possibly also when a DD would fire at me, but i don't recall encountering DD's at that time.

I then moved on to using 174.93. Immediately upon installing those drivers, the nklvddmkm error disappeared, forever it seems as I've not had any specific nklvddmkm error messages appear when I experience BSOD's. However, I do sometimes get a Windows message when I reboot announcing that the improper shutdown was attributable to a generic NVidia problem....of course, Micros$ft and Nvidia have been arguing back and forth since the release of VISTA over whose fault the nklvddmkm error was.

So I use:
174.93 drivers + VISTA32 + 8800GTX + SH4 1.4 or SH4 1.5 with no problems.

174.93 drivers + VISTA32 + 8800GTX + SH4 1.4 + PE3.x with no problems

174.93 drivers + VISTA32 + 8800GTX + SH4 1.5 + PE3.x = BSOD when DD fires or Torp hits (maybe the DD firing indicates a hit on my sub). The BSOD's are not random...they occur with the explosion,etc.

174.93 drivers + VISTA32 + 8800GTX + SH4 1.5 + W_Clear's Environ MOD(s) =no problems encountered yet(if I turn OFF in-game "Post Processing" and "Texture High" Options.


Note: As with Karbo, in all cases the BSODs will occur whether I am in Periscope view or external view...and the DD firing can be at extreme distance from my sub/periscope view, just a small slight flash of a deck gun, and BAM! BSOD! It's not as if the graphics "demand" comprising some huge dramatic torp explosion is overloading my 8800GTX. When I next get the energy to do some more methodical testing, I'll try to see if I get a BSOD if I am internal, looking down at my feet let's say, when a torp hits...or on the NAV Map.

[icecold]

Nisgeis,
I am running the 169.25 drivers. I still get the BSOD crash. I was using this when I first installed the U-Boat update. I then have tried various beta drivers and I got the Black screen hard lock up with those, so I went back to the 169.25 drivers.

Thanks
I too have been running that driver and have tried every other driver.


HOWEVER... i have noticed a possible related scenario.

My SH4 1.5 stock worked fine on same driver when i ONCE got a torpedo hit. I had no BSOD BUT it was just ONE hit and im not sure if it was a fluke. I then installed BSE2... then the troubles were ntoiced when i was hitting a target. I then cleaned the game off and the registry (efficiantly i believe including the mods).

But when i reinstalled the program i noticed the BSOD would happen on the stock and/or mod when installed.

is it possible that the mod was incompatable with my PC? And that there reminants of mod in the registery or a file somewhere?

This is just a possibilty and i cant be sure. It may of actualy happened from the start and have nothing to do with the mod.


Anyways a update from Ubi tech support is that they have tried alot of BASIC troubleshooting, all stuff that i have already tried and to no success... They have now put my help ticket on hold... not sure what that means.

[icecold]

Nisgeis,
I am running the 169.25 drivers. I still get the BSOD crash. I was using this when I first installed the U-Boat update. I then have tried various beta drivers and I got the Black screen hard lock up with those, so I went back to the 169.25 drivers.

Thanks
Does it happen consistently when you start taking damage in the external view, or is it random and only occurs after some period of time? Also, is it stock only, with PE3 or both.

It happens everytime a vessal/craft/plane takes damage in all views.

[Nisgeis]

OK, this is sounding stranger by the minute.

Karbo has trouble with the 1.5 and PE3, but with random crashes,
Icecold has stock 1.5 trouble, when taking damage and Doolittle has a bit of troubole with stock and more with PE3 when taking damage. This is not looking like one problem with PE3... hmmm.

For explosion related crashes, there are two possibilities. There are the particle effects to consider and also the sound effects. I think PE3 has altered sound effects as well, though not sure about that.

For Doolittle, to see if it's the particle explosion effects, there are two files we can remove to bypass the new effects. If you take /data/library/particles.dat and /data/library/materials.dat out of the PE3 mods and then install them, you should get the stock particle effects, but everything else intact. If that doesn't crash, we'll know it was a contributing factor, if it doesn't then it's possibly the sound of the explosion being played that makes it go bang. To test that it should be enough to just uncheck all the sound options. Though as you are only getting the trouble in external views, it's likely they are particle related.

For Icecold can you try turning all the sound off by unchecing all the boxes? If it's a sound issue, that may explain why you are getting crashes on the internal view when you take damage. By the way, what's BSE2?

Karbo, sorry nothing new to try except the above, random crashes are going to be hard to troubleshoot.

[icecold]

OK, this is sounding stranger by the minute.

Karbo has trouble with the 1.5 and PE3, but with random crashes,
Icecold has stock 1.5 trouble, when taking damage and Doolittle has a bit of troubole with stock and more with PE3 when taking damage. This is not looking like one problem with PE3... hmmm.

For explosion related crashes, there are two possibilities. There are the particle effects to consider and also the sound effects. I think PE3 has altered sound effects as well, though not sure about that.

For Doolittle, to see if it's the particle explosion effects, there are two files we can remove to bypass the new effects. If you take /data/library/particles.dat and /data/library/materials.dat out of the PE3 mods and then install them, you should get the stock particle effects, but everything else intact. If that doesn't crash, we'll know it was a contributing factor, if it doesn't then it's possibly the sound of the explosion being played that makes it go bang. To test that it should be enough to just uncheck all the sound options. Though as you are only getting the trouble in external views, it's likely they are particle related.

For Icecold can you try turning all the sound off by unchecing all the boxes? If it's a sound issue, that may explain why you are getting crashes on the internal view when you take damage. By the way, what's BSE2?

Karbo, sorry nothing new to try except the above, random crashes are going to be hard to troubleshoot.

Sorry dont know why i typed that... i ment PE2.

[icecold]

Nvidia have released another driver update... apparently it has fixed the problem...

But im guessing that the people saying this are linked to ubi... as it has not done anything with my issue.

Im thinking about a refund on the game, i am at the end of my teather. :damn:

[Karbo]

If you mean the 175.16 drivers. I have installed them and I still have the same problems.

[Rockin Robbins]

Ouch. That is really discouraging. This is the first time that I know of that a solution has not been found for a situation like this. And I'm discouraged that the devs haven't jumped in here to pick up on a legitimate problem. It's not as everyone else didn't jump in to try and it's not as if you haven't made an above and beyond the call of duty effort either.

[Thermostator]

Hi!

I have read this thread and I also have this strange problem with deckgun and torpedoes. Whenever torpedo explode, my screen starts flicker in colors of a rainbow and soon after that game sometimes crashes. My specs are:

c2d e6600 (OC @ 3000)
GF 8800 GTS (with latest beta drivers)
Vista Home premium x64 (sp1)

I tried to run the game in windowed mode and I noticed that if game resolution is the same as my desktop resolution, SH4(ver. 1.5) does not go in windowed mode. So I lowered game resolution and started windowed mode and ran basic training mission and the problem was solved! I think ppl should try this!

So is there any command to force game to start in windowed mode, even if the gameresolution is same as my desktop resolution? (just to get bigger window)

BTW you have nice forum here! I just decided to join here just to reply to this post.

[Jsbl]

Thanks, Thermostator!:rock:

That did the trick. Windowed mode + one step lower resolution = YEEHAA!

[Thermostator]

Well, it seems that this might be temporary solution for this problem. Now we need to wait for hotfix/patch. Again, is there any way to force game to run in windowed mode (ie. command parameter, cfg -file edit ect.) even if the game resolution is the same as desktop resolution? I think Devs or modders should know this.

[Jsbl]

Well, it seems that this might be temporary solution for this problem. Now we need to wait for hotfix/patch. Again, is there any way to force game to run in windowed mode (ie. command parameter, cfg -file edit ect.) even if the game resolution is the same as desktop resolution? I think Devs or modders should know this.

I'm not a modder, but one temporary solution is to set your resolution in main.cfg (located in \users\SH4\data\cfg) to as close to your native resolution as possible.
The native resolution of my display is 1280 x 1024. Therefore, I set my resolution to 1275 x 1020. The aspect ratio remains the same.

However, if you open the graphic settings in game, you have to reset those values next time you play the game.

And one more thing after all:
WELCOME!

[Doolittle81]

....one temporary solution is to set your resolution in main.cfg (located in \users\SH4\data\cfg) to as close to your native resolution as possible.
The native resolution of my display is 1280 x 1024. Therefore, I set my resolution to 1275 x 1020. The aspect ratio remains the same.
...

I tried that...window at 1888 X1180 for my 1920X1200 monitor. Didn't work...I got instant BSOD when the first DD deck gun fired...
...Using VISTA32 + 8800GTX +SH4 1.5 + PE3

[Thermostator]

But you still got it working in "normal" windowed mode, as I explained?

[Doolittle81]

But you still got it working in "normal" windowed mode, as I explained?

Yes, the game loaded and the quick mission ran. Basically, one can insert any resolution paramters one chooses in the main.cfg file and the game will display accordingly. The 1888X1180 window was just slightly smaller than my monitor's native 1920X1200 res, so along the bottom I could still see the lower Windows Taskbar, which was irritating and distracting. Oddly, for some reason I couldn't 'grab' and move the 'window' down to cover that Taskbar. But, the main point is that ruining SH4 in windows-mode had no effect on the BSOD which occurs with PE + 1.5 + VISTA + 8800 card.

[seawolf34]

You can add me to the list of people that are having problems ruuning sh4+1.5+PE3.3 mod, I',m getting a black screen/lockups/sound looping everytime I get a torpedo hit etc etc & have to hard reset to get pc back up & running.

I spent hours trying different Nvidia forceware drivers with no success, have just un-installed the whole game & put it back on with patch 1.4, PE3.3 & everything is running sweet again :D

I just hope either Ubi or Nvidia get this bug sorted out!

[icecold]

You can all stop looking for a fix... because untill ubi release a patch it will never be compatable with 8800 GTX cards... So might aswell either be realy generous to ubi and be patiant or get a refund.

After lots of basic troubleshooting on there technical support ticket forum, they put my case on hold for over a month as DEVS look into it... and then today i got a reply...

"Response (UK Technical Support) 05/28/2008 11:25

Hello,

As a point of interest does it mention the GeForce 8800 series on the back of your game box? Our copy of the only mentions video cards upto the Nvidia GeForce 7800. It doesn't say that the game is actually compatible with the 8800GTX and it may be the case that your video-card is too powerful.

Regards,
Ubisoft Technical Support. "


Sorry all, but that reply was discusting, not only did they make me wait a month they got cocky at the end and basicaly said "it wont work and i dont care".

[Rockin Robbins]

Obviously their customer disservice department is looking for bonuses. Wonder if the "person" you talked to was from the Phillipines, India or Bali Bali. Or if KFM was their previous caller and they were just already teed off.

Any way you want to cut it, that's discouraging and makes me think a lot less of Ubisoft as a company. I wonder how they justify hostility toward their customers? Probably they think we're just a bunch of damn kids and pirates. Contempt for your customer is a sure way to kill your business. It works every time its tried.

The happiest day in my life (OK, not the happiest:cool:) was the day I went outside my house and disconnected the line to the phone company. 100 years of contempt for us as customers by Bell Telephone and its fragments suddenly vanished to nothing. My phone bill dropped from $75 to $20 and the phone company can find someone else to abuse.

[Jsbl]

"Response (UK Technical Support) 05/28/2008 11:25

Hello,

As a point of interest does it mention the GeForce 8800 series on the back of your game box? Our copy of the only mentions video cards upto the Nvidia GeForce 7800. It doesn't say that the game is actually compatible with the 8800GTX and it may be the case that your video-card is too powerful.

Regards,
Ubisoft Technical Support. "

No, no, no. This is unbelieviable...

[seawolf34]

"Response (UK Technical Support) 05/28/2008 11:25

Hello,

As a point of interest does it mention the GeForce 8800 series on the back of your game box? Our copy of the only mentions video cards upto the Nvidia GeForce 7800. It doesn't say that the game is actually compatible with the 8800GTX and it may be the case that your video-card is too powerful.

Regards,
Ubisoft Technical Support. "

No, no, no. This is unbelieviable...

It's also total rubbish on the part of ubi support, if you can even call it support!

The game plays fine on my 8800gtx as long as I don't try the combination of sh4+uboat addon+pe3.3 mod, that's a deadly combination at the moment :damn:

[Fincuan]

it may be the case that your video-card is too powerful.


ROFL!!! :rotfl:

Would you like to trade the 8800GTX to a pair of Radeon X1950 Pros? I guarantee they won't be too powerful :yep:

[Doolittle81]

"Response (UK Technical Support) 05/28/2008 11:25

...
it may be the case that your video-card is too powerful.

Regards,
Ubisoft Technical Support. "
...

What a condescending and idiotic statement to make! While it fits the pattern of much of UBI customer service, I have to think that it must be a fabrication/spam. After all, how could anyone releasing such a response continue to be employed, in a customer service or customer relations department, by a corporation?

[icecold]

After replying back to them stating that there reply basicaly said 8800GTX is not compatable and that im going to quote them on that everywhere...

I got a more productive reply... and they want to once again check this thread to do some troubleshooting. I also got a "you miss understand" in so many words and they said how they said that due to "other copys of different games" in the past being different and being incompatable with vista. . . frankly sounds like a poor excuse to me.

However lets see what they do now, i will keep you informed of any (if any) progresss.

But i wont lie, im almost at the stage where i dont care anymore as im considering getting a refund on the universal 12 month innificiant product policy under the sales act (Pretty much the same europe wide and in the USA). In other words i send the game to UBI stating it dos not work and they have to give a complete refund within 12 months of purchase (after that i can use another policy under the sales act but the game is not that old yet).

But like i said... lets see what happens.

[Rockin Robbins]

It's disappointing to see Ubi people all worried about fixing blame when they should be thanking you for finding a problem, then getting their code wizards together to straighten out their problems with Vista and the 8800GT graphics card. For better or worse, just about everybody buying a new computer ends up with Vista and the 8800GT is the sweet spot in price/performance.

The name of the game is make the most sales and that is done by fixing the incompatibility no matter if it IS 100% the players' fault and if it is crystal clearly NOT on the compatible list. By making the game play well with the only current operating system and the most popular gaming graphics card they could accomplish that. Let's see if they are smart enough to operate in their own best interest.

[Ronin1975]

:cry: I never thought a graphics carsd could be too powerfull for a game....That should be to hard to correct?

Man, when I bought my PC last year I was thinking about the 8800GTX and Vista, but ended up with 7900GTX and XP (That advice was given by the Salesman)


I'm just happy I followed his advice :yep:

I hope this problem is getting sorted out you all of you.

[Kapitan_Phillips]

Man, they really said that? Jesus. A simple "We dont know yet" would've been less offensive.

By the way, I love your stick figure signature, Ronin :lol:

[seawolf34]

Just to let people know, using the very latest beta driver which you can read about at http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=264100 enables me to use POE3.3 with the 1.5 Uboat addon with no crashes on torpedo hits etc on my 8800GTX :D

It's not quite all good news, I'm getting a few graphic glitches, the fire & oil effects are all blocky looking, now that could be down to some settings on my video card driver, I've yet to try with different options enabled or disabled etc etc.

Still I'm just happy the game isn't crashing anymore.

[zenki]

Obviously their customer disservice department is looking for bonuses. Wonder if the "person" you talked to was from the Phillipines, India or Bali Bali.

I've been a long-time lurker in subsim and also looking for a fix for the 8800 problem when running u-boat missions as it's always doing CTD's. I'm just curious RR why you're wondering if the "person" was from the Philippines, India or Bali Bali? I am from the Philippines and I'm a bit upset by that remark of yours.

[Petur]

I don't know what happend but, when i had been playing for some time...I was going to load but could not. I tried to start a new game and when the loading was done i got this "please wait" and it was there for ever! I looked on Windows Task Manager in Applications if it was running and it was not. I exited the game and tried again several times but nothing worked. I could fix this by re-installing the game, But has this happend to someone else?

[icecold]

Petur i had a similar problem. Try uninstalling the graphics card driver and reinstalling making sure you got the latest official driver.


Meanwhile back to topic... the ticket is still open they state "they are looking into it". Il keep you updated, however if anyone comes up with any ideas please let me know.

[Rockin Robbins]

Obviously their customer disservice department is looking for bonuses. Wonder if the "person" you talked to was from the Phillipines, India or Bali Bali.
I've been a long-time lurker in subsim and also looking for a fix for the 8800 problem when running u-boat missions as it's always doing CTD's. I'm just curious RR why you're wondering if the "person" was from the Philippines, India or Bali Bali? I am from the Philippines and I'm a bit upset by that remark of yours.Simple! Because weasely companies outsource their help and customer disservice lines, (it doesn't matter where, American phone boiler rooms do the same thing), they don't give their "representatives" enough information to help anyone, they don't give them the front-line decision making power to fix anything, and instruct them to say "no" to everything. Often they are paid bonuses based on the number of claims denied and cost of remedies not incurred.

Then people get mad at the people they are talking to: the person working for the customer service company, when the real fault is with the cynical company who purposely built a system to bilk their customers and treat them like dirt.

In their quest to screw their customers they hire the cheapest help they can find, thus the reference to India, the Philippines, or Bali Bali. This is a conscious ploy by companies with contempt for their customers, not ineptitude on the part of the customer service rep, who is only doing what they are told.

Darn right it's important where the customer disservice is coming from. It's evidence of contempt for the customers that pay their wages. These same reps would do a great job if they were permitted to. They are not, because the companies that contract with them have contempt for them too. Any questions? Was I unclear?

[Monica Lewinsky]

Darn right it's important where the customer disservice is coming from. It's evidence of contempt for the customers that pay their wages. These same reps would do a great job if they were permitted to. They are not, because the companies that contract with them have contempt for them too. Any questions? Was I unclear?

Crystal clear, give them hell! :-?

Looking forward to your next training mission video!

[icecold]

SOLUTION FOUND!!!

It appears that the later nvidia drivers have bumped up rendering... which over performs the graphics card driver NVLDDMKM.SYS as soon as there is a explosion... however some of the older drivers do not feature this function.
Newest driver not featuring "improvement software"...

http://www.nvidia.com/object/winvista_x86_163.75.html


This will get your game running fine... but you will have to sacrifice some of the later tweaks in your newer games.


Rest assured that now UBI now know after my painstaking troubleshooting and they are colating with nvidia on making a driver/patch/fix that will counteract this problem.


Please people try this fix and get back to me. I have tested several times and it works for me.

[Rockin Robbins]

Thank you, icecold, for amazing persistence in sticking with this problem until it was fixed. You ignored negativism, you ignored customer disservice, you ignored your own disappointment when several promising solutions didn't work out. This is the most important thread in the history of the SH4 forum, because it will pave the way for the owners of the 8000 series of nVidia cards to enjoy Silent Hunter 4, extending its lifetime for hundreds of people who would have quit without your work.

On behalf of my Kraken crew and myself I present you with a couple of bottles of cheap tequilla. :()1:

[icecold]

CHEERS!

:()1:

U583 - STALKER Sets sail... and i have even picked up some saki too...

http://img261.imageshack.us/img261/9851/cbdfd2d22204edb29d8740blv8.png

[icecold]

***BUMP***

Still waiting on confirmation from others. If there are still issues i will keep looking, however i believe this resolution solves it completely. It has solved mine for sure.

[Doolittle81]

SOLUTION FOUND!!!

.... (http://www.nvidia.com/object/winvista_x86_163.75.html)

http://www.nvidia.com/object/winvista_x86_163.75.html


This will get your game running fine... but you will have to sacrifice some of the later tweaks in your newer games.


What specific Tweaks are you talking about? If I have to sacrifice significant Visual 'tweaks' in order to run PE3 with SH4 1.5, I probably would just as soon stay with W_Clear's EE which almost always works fine with 1.5 (with Post Processing option disabled)

[icecold]

TBH doolitlle, your having a different problem.

I am talking about the stock issue that has over 480 people suffering from it.... which you do not have.

However you problem is similar. So trying it wont harm.

And tweaks like, perfomance improvements and the latest driver features graphic improvements.

[FIREWALL]

All that is necessary for evil to triumph is that good do nothing. Whenever someone starts the "Ubi sucks" song, I will call them on it and refuse to dance until the music stops. It worked and we're making good progress here. How can you possibly say anything against the way I handled the situation? I don't see you helping him! Try researching how to deal with difficult people and you'll find I'm right on target.

Oh, you're not there reading this so I guess I wasted my time!:rotfl:

Any progress icecold?


UBI SUCKS ! :p :rotfl:

[Karbo]

Icecold have you tried these drivers 177.26 beta? I found this here on another forum http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=138038 I have not had a lot of time to test but so far have 3+ hours in game with explosions and taking damage. So far so good. just some more info that might help.

[icecold]

That driver is not designed for 8800 GTX + 32bit vista. Nvidia accidently released it for 8000 series 32 bit, they have now withdrawn it And released it for a more compatable 64 bit plus other chipsets. And i did try it... no luck... in fact i found it very ustable causing most newer games to crash.

[Doolittle81]

That driver is not designed for 8800 GTX + 32bit vista. Nvidia accidently released it for 8000 series 32 bit, they have now withdrawn it And released it for a more compatable 64 bit plus other chipsets. And i did try it... no luck... in fact i found it very ustable causing most newer games to crash.

From a post by me in the 'other' thread about 177.26:


I remain a bit confused. I've read varying accounts of the 177.26 drivers. The Drivers to which you have provided a download link make no mention of a Modified "nv_disp.inf" file. Other download sites, such as the NVision site, explain and specifically provide a modified INF file to be substituted into the Driver's Folder, which apparently makes the Drivers work with the 8000 series cards (and others).
Explanation: http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=9243
Drivers and Mod INF download page: http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=19001

The 177.26 drivers above are stated as being "ASUS-released" drivers and make no comments about the drivers being "Beta" etc....or having been "withdrawn", etc...

[icecold]

Answer to that...

www.nvidia.com (http://www.nvidia.com)

Will not use third party or modded drivers.

[Karbo]

I have been using the driver I posted a link too and I have had no problems so far with 15 + hrs of in game. My other games seem too work fine. I hoped it would help others with the same problem. So I am happy and will continue with what I have until there is something better WHQ certified.

[Doolittle81]

My experience/results with the 177.26 drivers, quoting my other post in the other thread:I have now installed the 177.26 drivers. I ran SH4 1.5 with PE3 enabled, using my standard Test Mission (the NSM demo with stationary ships as targets....this allows four controlled nearly simultaneous explosions). Previously, it had been 100% crashes with the first explosion or DD deck Gun firing at me. Running SH4 1.5 with W_Clear's EE Mod, as I have reported elsewhere in several threads/forums, I previously had 90% success with some drivers but only with Post Processing and/or Envrionmental Effects turned off in In-Game options.

My 177.26 results, with all In-Game options enabled/maxed: I have not had the CTDs/BSODs which have plagued me for months with all other drivers when trying to run 1.5 with Pacific Environment Mod. I've not run a "full" mission yet, or a campaign/career patrol...but so far, it looks like these 177.26 Drivers are the solution!!!!! Keeping fingers crossed for the time being, though.

I have another custom Test mission which has 6+ DD's charging/attacking my sub, with extensive Deck guns firing, plus I get to make some simultaneous Torp hits/explosions. If I get the CTD's/BSODs I'll report back here. Otherwise, Silence from me means continuing success with 177.26 drivers.



FYI...My Rig:
ASUS P5N32-E SLI
Dual core E6700 Cpu
2GB OCZ PC2 8800 (1100Mhz) RAM
BFG 8800GTX w/768MB Graphics card

[Herr_Pete]

i didnt have any problem with any patch:-? mine works perfectly fine.

[Doolittle81]

i didnt have any problem with any patch:-? mine works perfectly fine. The problem was with folks using SH4 1.5, 8800 series graphics cards, Vista, and Pacific Environment MOD. These 177.26 drivers appear to be the solution.

[Karbo]

I agree, I have not had a ctd or problem since installing them.:D

[Kapitan_Phillips]

7 Pages, and I havent had to clench my fists. I'm impressed!


Beers all round! YAARRRR! :arrgh!:

[Alert 1]

I new here and im still using windows XP,9600GT msi video card
Game freezes up when in the outside view,i have the latest drivers.
seems it dont like my video card.
can any one help.
thanks tom
Ps i have sh4 gold edition v1.5