Hardware\Grey Wolves Supermod question

[NipplesTheCat]

I had been playing SHIII for a few weeks now on my system and its been a great game, but I wanted more after reading this forum. I installed the GW Supermod after a few days of download anticipation. Now when I leave my office to start the mission the game crashes. It acts as if its going to work but right as the screen goes black and I should find myself in the control room of my boat I crash to desktop or get a "SHIII has encountered a problem and needs to close" message. Does the GW Supermod have trouble running on 512MB of RAM?

P4 2.0Ghz
512mb PC2100
ATI X1300

[AVGWarhawk]

Originally Posted by NipplesTheCat

I had been playing SHIII for a few weeks now on my system and its been a great game, but I wanted more after reading this forum. I installed the GW Supermod after a few days of download anticipation. Now when I leave my office to start the mission the game crashes. It acts as if its going to work but right as the screen goes black and I should find myself in the control room of my boat I crash to desktop or get a "SHIII has encountered a problem and needs to close" message. Does the GW Supermod have trouble running on 512MB of RAM?

P4 2.0Ghz
512mb PC2100
ATI X1300

It should not have trouble. Maybe some rough spots like in port. The ATI card, what is the MB on it? Also, all the background programs shut off? When you installed the GW mod did you omit the textured sea floor? Also, in options reduce your particle density some until it runs.

[NipplesTheCat]

No I turned the sea floor thing on. Maybe Ill try turning that off. Im am itching to play the mod. It sounds like it would make the game exactly what im looking for. Right now im considering buying some more RAM. Ill try anything. Its a 256MB card btw.

[melnibonian]

I would turn the sea floor off. I am playing GW with 512MB of RAM with a 128MB graphics card and I never had any problems. The game runs fine but it gets a bit 'choppy' in ports or in places where there are loads of graphics. I guess by turning the sea floor off you should be OK.

It is a brilliant game and I'm sure you'll spend ages with it.

[danlisa]

Sounds as if you have corrupted files.

Ok, here goes...

1)Uninstall SH3 completely (includes SH3 folder in My documents + Program files + Registry entries (if your happy doing that))
2)Reinstall SH3
3)Patch to 1.4b
4)Run SH3 once (just to make sure it works + to create SH3 in My documents folder)
5)Install GW using auto-installer (as suggested no sea floor textures)
6)Enjoy GW

Your system should have no problems running GW however it will be choppy around ports and maybe convoys. SH3 is a RAM + CPU Hog.

Edit - also, you can remove the friendly minefields. These will cause FPS drops.

[eolian]

Originally Posted by melnibonian

I would turn the sea floor off. I am playing GW with 512MB of RAM with a 128MB graphics card and I never had any problems. The game runs fine but it gets a bit 'choppy' in ports or in places where there are loads of graphics.

I am currently running SH3 W/GW 1.1a with this exact same set up "ATI 128 card & kingston 512MB RAM" and only around the ports do i notice a slow down. With 1gig of good RAM the ports are smooth as well with the sea floor graphics off. I do have a P4 2.8 processor i suppose that helps some.

[AVGWarhawk]

Originally Posted by danlisa

Sounds as if you have corrupted files.

Ok, here goes...

1)Uninstall SH3 completely (includes SH3 folder in My documents + Program files + Registry entries (if your happy doing that))
2)Reinstall SH3
3)Patch to 1.4b
4)Run SH3 once (just to make sure it works + to create SH3 in My documents folder)
5)Install GW using auto-installer (as suggested no sea floor textures)
6)Enjoy GW

Your system should have no problems running GW however it will be choppy around ports and maybe convoys. SH3 is a RAM + CPU Hog.

Edit - also, you can remove the friendly minefields. These will cause FPS drops.

Follow this to the letter. I agree with danlisa on this. After second thought if all files are in good order it should at least load. Danlisa step 1 is crucial to success. Remove every trace that SH3 was on your hard drive. It sucks but it is the only way!

[NipplesTheCat]

Well reinstalling everything multiple times all I can get it to do is work for several minutes before crashing. Any other thoughts? I cant think of any reason why gw would be doing that. Oh well maybe someday....

[kiwi_2005]

512mb is not enough for GW in my opinion. 1gig or higher.

[ecm747x]

What other games do you play on your system? If you have redownloaded the mod, not using the original download and have patched the SH3 to 1.4b then installed Gw in that folder with no other mods in it, it shouold work fine.
Did you try playing it with Just SH3 loaded? And if it worked fine, you should redownload the mod. Not use the one you downloaded first. Make sure all files of Sh3 are removed. Then reinstall everything with the newly downloaded Gw Mod file. If you have done this, I would see about downloading the more current drivers for you Video card. Also make sure your Mother board drivers are up to date.

if you are still having problems. I would get a program that checks your ram. mem test is a good free ware one that will work. It almost sounds like a hardware issue at this point if you have done all of the above with the software.
Is the game just crashing to desktop or is your computer re-booting? If it is rebooting, also check your CPU and video card temps. This could be giving you a problem.
I am just giving you ideas to check. Like I said if you have ruled out the software, it could be a hardware issue. Especially if it is rebooting on you and not just a crash to desktop. This is one thing I would like to know to better help you t/s this problem.

[NipplesTheCat]

Well, sometimes it crashes to desktop and other times it just reboots itself. Im not concerned with the rebooting bc my video card requires a 300w ps and I only have a 250w. The computer has been known to restart every now and then while playing newer games such as morrowind oblivion but its not nearly as common as it is when I try to play SHIII with the GW mod. I can play oblivion for hours and not get a reboot. In the few weeks that I played vanilla SHIII it may have restarted on me once, but it def was not an issue. Now with the mod installed I get crashes to the desktop before I can even get out of harbor. It doesnt seem to reboot any more than it did but as far as overall stability.... I redownloaded the mod from another FTP and im going to try a reinstall and see if thats stable and if it is ill try the redownloaded mod on top of it.

[bigboywooly]

May well be your PSU as you think
I had a similar problem where my comp would reboot itself so I doubled the size of my power supply
Not done it since then

Its one thing easily overlooked - people upgrade the video card but forget the extra strain on the power supply

I did :rotfl:

[Respenus]

RAM!!!

That is your only problem. SH3 is a memory hog. It will take 1GB RAW RAM to run a supermoded SH3. 512Mb and you're out of the picture. It was enough for vanilla, but not for modded!

[Kpt. Lehmann]

"Recommended specs" on the SH3 box cover should read "Mandatory Specs" STOCK SH3 only runs so-so using recommended specs.

I've described this more in detail on the "GWX News" thread. It would be informative if you reviewed it.

In short though... even without GW or GWX... 1gig of RAM should be a required spec to run SH3 stock.

[stabiz]

Nah ... this sounds like psu trouble. Rebooting is not a RAM disease. CTD, on the other hand ...

I would seriously try to upgrade all parts, if I were you. You dont have to shell out alot of money to get this game (and many others) running just fine.