Couple newby questions

[Hylander_1314]

I've been messin' about with this sim for about a year now. I have the U.S. dvd 1.4 update, and some of the mods offerred here, and I can't think of the other site right off, but one thing I have noticed, since upgrading to the latest patch, the game locks up, and the computer, after about 3 to 4 minutes automatically reboots.

This occurs whether mods are installed or not.

I've been over all the threads here concerning issues, but even though some are similar, the suggested corrections don't rectify the situation.

Now, through my own observations, the game seems to have a hi-end video stutter. It cruises nicely between 25, to 30 fps, but there are constant bursts every few seconds, as high as 100 fps, from the bridge, and the map screen pulses at over 120 fps, and will flash as high as 190 fps.

I thought, that maybe the lockup, and auto-reboot, were caused by sound issues, so I tried a SoundBlaster Audigy2, and Audigy2 SE, and have now settled on an Audigy 4. Everything has the latest driver updates, and the issue still exists.

In the past, the same issue has caused problems with Rowan's Battle of Britain, and I'm beginning to wonder if this may be a similar issue, and how it was corrected, was by creating an fps limiter, that would allow each person to set a cap on the games frame rate. Also, the same thing happens with MS's CFS3. But you can again cap the frame rate, which stops the CTDs, and stuttering.

I don't know if this might help or not, but it's just a thought.

System specs:

MSI mobo

AMD Athlon64 2800+

ATI Radeon 9550 agp 8x

Sound Blaster Audigy4

1.5 gigs of ram 2.5 clocks

Samsung DVD rom CD R/WR

Samsung DVD R/WR

550 watt power supply

2 Western Digital 120 gig hard drives, older tech, not the SATA type.

6 cooling fans, system temp averages between 80 and 100 degree fahrenheit.

home built rig.

Any suggestions welcome!

Thanks in advance for any ideas!

[slow_n_ez]

I have built many computers and ran into similiar type of problem as you describe..... first place to look might be the CPU .... Its probaly a good one but you might have too much.. or not enough .. thermal paste on it .. try removing heat sink.. clean cpu surface with rubbing alcahol ( fingernail polish remover works great too ) ... make sure its all off... then put just a tiny drop of new thermal paste in middle of cpu chip and reset the heatsink .... then load a high resource demanding game such as SH 3 and see if it'll stay on .... if not... then its something else .... I doubt it would be the graphic card unless you randomly are getting corrupted video like horizonal or vertical or spinning boxes of just colored pixels ......

[Hylander_1314]

Done that already. Thanks though all the same! :up:

See, it's always when the fps peaks that the lockup occurs. Which really sucks when you're attacking a convoy, and have one or two ships falling behind.

Forgot to add my OS,

XP Home Service pack 2

[Gizzmoe]

Welcome aboard!

Try and lower or even disable the sound hardware acceleration, it can be the cause of many problems. Start/Run/dxdiag, Sound tab.

[VonHelsching]

Check the M/B capacitors (the little colored barrels with a cross on the top). If you see some fluid coming out (or dried up fluid), this is the problem. If this is the case, you don't have much life left on your M/B.

[slow_n_ez]

Speaking of the MB ... make sure both the on board video and sounds are disabled as I see you have cards for both....

For a process of elemination ( I know its a hassle ) .... remove the video card and try with onboard graphics ..... same with sound card... you have plently of ram to run onboard for the test anyways ......

How old is the motherboard ? Some of the older ones have crappy chips on them I found out the hard way .....

Windows XP home / SP2 should not be a problem but I don't know... I use winxp pro with sp1 .... so maybe someone with the same OS you have can give some input there .....

[Hylander_1314]

Yes, tried standard, basic, and emulation only, not to much avail though. Also when there is a large video load, (looking at a large convoy) sounds and or music, will stutter. Especially with rougher seas. It will alieviate somewhat when the AA, and anistropic filtering, and mipmap levels are set to the lowest levels along with all the other video details. These settings are done in the ATI control panel on the desktop. The game seems to have some built-in detail levels of it's own, as setting the game resolution in the config file to higher levels like 1280 x 1024, produces a more pleasing visual with better fps, than raising the AA levels and whatnot.

Too, I was wondering if there would be a way to get more control over the sound quality ingame other than the basic volume levels, and music on/off. Things like being able to control the EAX level, stereo, and surround sound choices. It just seems limited as to what we can tweak for performance, and smoother running of the game.

I have checked the components on the mobo, even with my multi meter, to make sure there weren't any voltage issues like cold solder joints, or breaks in curcuit board, as even a hairline fracture in a joint or runner will cause irratic voltage flow from point A to point B, and so on. Also, none of the individual components are heating up abnormally, and I've also checked the vid card, and sound card to be sure. All the components are running low voltage rates like they should. Even checked the power supply components, (what a pain getting the cover off) and reinstalling it.

I guess, if I had any suggestions for a patch, it would include finer individual control over the areas of video and sound, for smoother gameplay.

Still this is a great game! I love the visuals, and the strategy, the heart pounding feeling of being chased by escorts for up to 10 hours, and trying to avoid them.

[Miss Behavin]

Check the M/B capacitors (the little colored barrels with a cross on the top). If you see some fluid coming out (or dried up fluid), this is the problem. If this is the case, you don't have much life left on your M/B.

Another thing regarding the capacitors is to look for 'rounded' tops. The guy who does my computer repairs for me pointed this out to me on a fried card.

He said that is an indicator they've gone or are going bad.

Good luck!

Miss Behavin'

[slow_n_ez]

hummmm ... I think this going to point to the graphic card after all.....

What is the monitor refresh rate set at ? I use to have mine set at 85 Hz but got crashes .. had to lower it to 75 Hz and no more crashes ...... One thing you might try .... uninstall your catalyst control center and graphic drivers and reinstall them .... I found if I mess with my settings in the catalyst control too much alot of my programs like video editors will lock up .......... Note : I have a Radeon X-700 pro / 256 mb card and if I try to install updated catalyst and drivers my game crashed too... I use the drivers that came on my cd and all seems fine now for about 6 months ......

As for the sounds ... yea .. kinda limited there for in game tweaking ... One thing I learned is to open a grahic equalizer and play a mp3 and set the equalizer to how you like your sounds... seems to carry on into any game for me ..... there are also sound mods a few folks here have made like Joe's " Torpedo and Deckgun Speed of Sound Explosions delay " plus Diesel exterior sounds , ect. .... I personally have the music turned off but listen to my own mp3's on the really long boring patrols ..

[Hylander_1314]

Checked the refresh rate, and it was at 85 mhz, so I lowered it to 75 mhz. So maybe that'll help with the lockups. My flight sims seem to like the higher refresh, but that could be it.

As far as the ability to have a little more individual control over vid and audio settings, is just a personal preference. I just like being able to set stereo, or surround sound levels myself. Likewise for AA, filtering, mipmaps, and what-not.

Thanks again mates! :up: