Event Screen Slows Game

[Bent Periscope]

I have a problem with my Event Screen when an airplane attacks.

If I am notified that planes are attacking and I go to my flak position to shot, the screen runs normal. However, when the Event Screen comes up to show the attack from the airplane's point of view, my screen really shows down. Then I move the cursor to try to close the Event Screen, it moves really slow and is nearly impossible to click on the X to close that small screen.

When the screen finally closes, I can move quicker but when the Event Screen comes back on everything slows again.

Currently I'm running SH# Version 1.0 so hopefully it was fixed in a patch. I've recently increased my RAM to 2GB, I have a PCI video card (not Express) since my HP a720n is 5 years old. It is a EVGA GeForce 8400 GS and also says NVIDIA.

Tonight I increased my Power Source to 380W since the video card asked for at least 350W. I was hoping that the power source would do the trick. Actually, before increasing the Power Source, I only had 250W so I could not even move to the Flak screen since the Event Screen would just pop up when I was notified of the Airplanes. All I would do then is just try to dive but it was very slow and I could only hope that the planes would not sink me.

So would do you think. My first though is to just turn off the Event Screen though it works fine all the other times and I would love to keep it. Do I need more power, the upgrade was only $30 and with all other things I've done to my computer, I was hoping that this would be enough.

So has someone else had this problem or know a fix? What do you recommend? Once I get this working fine, I plan to re-install SH3, patch in 1.4b and play for a few weeks before I try adding GWX and possibly SHCom.

Thank you for your help & I'm so happy we have this site to ask questions,

BP

[Pvt. Public]

have you ran a video card test at all?

what brand of power supply did you pick up? im of course assuming you did this yourself since it sounds like you have a fair understanding of computers and built this one yourself.

i dont know with any certainty if it is your power supply still but judging purely based off of how much you paid for the new one im going to say it just might still be that. cheaper power supplies skimp on really important parts on the guts of the setup, this often results in only one of the voltage lines (6?) getting the rated wattage while the other gets less and often unstable wattage. its a cheap marketing trick, often it kills your hardware as well. #1 reason why i will never buy pre built...

if i were in your shoes this is what i would do, upgrade to 1.4 and try it out again, if it still lags go get a video card testing program and see what it spits out. compare that to results posted online using the same program. also upgrade ALL yourhardware drivers to get them up to date. if its still not fixed my guess is one of two things has happened. either you still arent getting adequate power OR the previous power supply has fritzed out your video card (im leaning towards power supply) if you do go get another power supply dont cheap out on it. the difference between a good power supply and a crap flimsy garbage box is the lifetime of your hardware connected to it.

pretty much just rule out every option you can. hope this helps you

[Bent Periscope]

Thanks for the quick info.

This Power Source was a NuPower RX-380K Power Source priced at $30 with a $7 rebate; its from Fry'. I'm going to try out a 500W Power Source to see it that solves the problem.

Also, I just put in the Video Card and the extra RAM about a month ago and was just trying to make sure everything on SH3 works OK before I went to 1.4b since I really don't want to lose the career I have especially if I can't solve the problems at the end of the day.

I really don't know that much about computers and this is a Year 2004 HP a720n. I've already paid $160 for the additional RAM, new Video Card and Power Source. I was able to open the computer and put it all in because in reality it is fairly simple. I guess I will get the updagrades up to $200 with the RAM, Video Card & a better power source. I'm trying to justify the cost other than saying that I can run better versions of SH3.

I will say that my computer is a lot faster and hopefully this will stop me from having to buy a new computer foe at least 2 more years of not longer.

Other than playing this game and going on the internet, I really don't do much else on this computer. I have small kids, the oldest is 8, so they are doing anything high-end, at least not for a few more years.
I guess in the end, $200 is not bad.

Thanks for getting back to me so quick, I try to add the minimum 500W Power Source tomorrow and see how it goes.

Don't tell my wife how much I've spent, especially with Mother's Day right arounf the corner.

BP