Author Topic: Freezing lock-up problem (Read 442 times)

Krusty · « **on:** November 02, 2005, 03:01:44 PM »

I mentioned before that I had a problem with my comp freezing up for no reason. Kermit suggested I go to DXDiag and turn down the acceleration on my sound card. That seemed to help, but only a little. I'm still getting unknown lockups, so I did a search and found this:

http://www.hitechcreations.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=57633&highlight=Geforce+4400

[EDIT: I was looking for best drivers on a Ge4 4400 when I found that]

That's EXACTLY what is happening to me. The screen just stops at whatever it was last displaying, and the sound loops for a couple of minutes, then stops, and it just sits there like that forever.

Now, people are mentioning DX. I have 9.0c. No errors. No conflicts reported. No nothing! My graphics drivers are 66.99 and I'm going to drop that to 45.23, test that out, and if that doesn't jive go to 56.72, both of which I've heard are best for the Ge4 4400Ti that I have. I don' t think it's a video issue, however. I think it MIGHT be a network issue.

The thread I posted hinted at some thing and I began to wonder: Could this be a networking issue? I only ever freeze up when using AH online (NOT offline, I just flew an hour and a half offline, no problems, went online and froze in 5 minutes), and when using P2P clients, or right after using P2P clients. I used the Event ID 4226 patch for P2P (quick copy and paste: "EventID 4226: TCP/IP has reached the security limit imposed on the number of concurrent TCP connect attempts", the patch boosts it from 10 to 50)

I'm no network expert. When I was setting up my router somebody suggested I plug directly into my router, and not into the switch which is plugged into the router, to avoid IP colissions.

Could it be some problem with DX and AH, and P2P use? I really am open to suggestions but would like to figure this sucker out. If there was some problem with the way the networking was being done, then AH would lock up online and not offline (which is the case) and might be related to incoming connection attempts when using P2P (or shortly after using P2P).

When I don't use P2P clients for a long time I only will ever freeze up in online AH games. When I do I might freeze up outside AH. More so while the client is running than after it's been shut down.

These are the common links to the freezeups: AH online and P2P: both of which involve network traffic, which is why I ask about it.

Skuzzy · « **Reply #1 on:** November 02, 2005, 03:09:54 PM »

Krusty,..you MUST USE the 61.77 drivers. MUST.

For that card you also should set he maximum texture size to 256 or less.

How much RAM in that computer? If you have less than 512MB, then you should disable skins, altogether.

Krusty · « **Reply #2 on:** November 02, 2005, 03:13:33 PM »

Skuzzy: Thanks for the tip. I was doing a search on the forums for the best 4400TI drivers and didn't see any mention of 61.77.

I've got a 128MB 3d card and 512MB DDR ram on a P4 2.66GHz system.

I would probably run at 512 textures if I weren't working on skins (and previewing them requires 1024 textures). The odd part is that offline I don't see any major problems. Online (when I don't freeze) I get an occasional stutter but it's short. My main reason for running high res tex is because it takes so long to go back to smaller rest (10-15 minutes of rebuilding a cache)

Skuzzy · « **Reply #3 on:** November 02, 2005, 03:26:58 PM »

Well, if you insist on running online with textures that large, there is not much that can be done.

The reason it happens online is due to the sheer volume of textures from other planes you encounter, which leads you into a resource issue.

Krusty · « **Reply #4 on:** November 02, 2005, 03:30:21 PM »

Skuzzy, I'm flying HTH for the moment. But in HTH rooms there is a max of 8 players. It's not as if I'm seeing 100+ at a time. Is there any way to speed up switching from 1024 to lesser textures? Can I let it rebuild the cache, rename that directory, and then rebuilt it at 1024, and just rename/swap the directories depending on what I want to use? Is that even possible the way AH works?

Skuzzy · « **Reply #5 on:** November 02, 2005, 03:34:02 PM »

They only have to be rebuilt once. Once built for 256, you can switch between 1024 and 256 without them being rebuilt. That was done several versions back.

Krusty · « **Reply #6 on:** November 02, 2005, 03:35:09 PM »

It seems any time I ever go back and forth it always rebuilds them. I just never wanted to test it because it takes so bloody long to do it

I'll give it a shot and see after I install 61.77 drivers

Skuzzy · « **Reply #7 on:** November 02, 2005, 03:51:33 PM »

The only time they should rebuild is after a patch/update.

Krusty · « **Reply #8 on:** November 03, 2005, 12:05:29 AM »

Put tex at 256 (after rebuilding that it lets me toggle back and forth quickly) but it still froze in under 15 minutes of online play.

EDIT: Make that 2 reboots in a row it's done that just now

EDIT 2: On a whim I disabled the two new optimization checkboxes... I was able to go for a half hour (about 2x normal) without any problems -- and then it was connection related disconnection, not locking up. I'll see if I can isolate WHICH of these bad vicious check boxes is causing all these problems.

Krusty · « **Reply #9 on:** November 03, 2005, 01:46:56 PM »

I did some more testing... Object optimization alone does nothing. Terrain optimization alone does nothing. Both together seem to do bad things to me. I don't know why or how, as I have no idea how they're coded.

Skuzzy, if you could only pick 1 of the two, which would you say helps system performance more? Terrain or Object?

Skuzzy · « **Reply #10 on:** November 03, 2005, 02:11:45 PM »

Terrain.

JTs · « **Reply #11 on:** November 03, 2005, 04:21:56 PM »

win xp use 61.77,

me or 98 use 61.76.