Here it is, my general video problem solution guide:
1. On VIA chipsets MAKE sure you update your AGP driver. Go to
www.viahardware.com and then download and install the newest AGP driver. Don't bother with the other 3 drivers. There are 2 modes to install in: turbo and normal. Normal mode basically limits you to AGP 1x. If you pick this you should probably be 100% stable, but performance will suffer. The better option is to install in turbo mode. If you experience lockups, limit Agp speed to 2x. You usually can do this in the bios.
2. You NEED a 300W power supply, and a good one at that, if you plan on running a Geforce series card. You also need to be sure that your system is not overheating. AH can put a heavy load on a system and temperatures must be kept under control to prevent a lockup. Make sure you have proper ventilation for your system. You may be able to isolate heat related problems by running the system with the case off and a fan blowing into the case. If the lockups cease you have found your problem, add some fans.
3. IMO if you are using DX7a under Windows 9x (95, 98, ME), then going to DX 8 or 8a is likely to create more problems than it fixes. If you have Win 2000, then Dx 8a is the best. (DX 8 WILL break RW, you will have to set it to WAV recording to get it to work again.)
4. Update your sound and video card drivers to the newest OFFICIAL versions if you are having problems. If you find one that works, why update it??? My experiences are that the 6.31 driver works well for DX7 systems and that DX 8 will cause the tearing. If you have Dx 8, then try the 7.5x versions or the newest 11.01s if you are daring. (New detonators are usually at
www.reactorcritical.com ) Before trying the detonators I would recommend using the newest driver from your video card maker. Often times the video card maker will spend the extra time to support extra features like TV out etc.
4. Check to make sure interupts aren't being shared between your video card, sound card, and modem. Also, never put a sound card in the PCI slot below your AGP slot for your video card. 99.9% of MBs will share the IRQ between these 2 slots. This WILL result in problems.
5. Stuttering problems on Voodoo cards are almost always related to the connection icon on the taskbar for modem users. Try removing it: my computer-> dialup networking -> connections menu -> settings -> uncheck the "show icon when connected ... "
I've found that ATI cards and even some Nvidia cards also benefit from this.
6. ATI video card users: Except for the Radeon drivers, almost ALL ATI driver revisions in the last 6 months have been full of bugs. I would avoid buying ATI video cards with the exception of the Radeon, which is OK IMO. Nearly all ATI video card users will get text tearing problems in the chat buffer. This is something to be aware of.
(I've personally found driver revision .6063 to be the best for Rage 128 series cards. You will have text buffer tearing, but no textures missing. Performance is also the best of the series.)
7. Make sure windows is up to date. Go to
www.windowsupdate.com .
8. Voodoo 3 and below cards CAN NOT do 32 bit color. They will lockup if you try. Delete the video.cfg file in the Aces High settings directory and pick 16 bit the next time you start AH.
9. TNT2 cards work best with detonator 2 series drivers. The newer drivers will work, but most find them slower for AH. Diamond V770 users will find Diamond's own 4.01 and 4.02 drivers to be the best.
10. Try running a standard scandisk.
11. Check to see if there are newer BIOS revisions for you MB that were supposed to fix AGP or Soundcard issues. I would do this last, since the risk of messing up your system is greatest if a bios flash fails.
12. Run a virus scan. One particular new virus called W32.hybris.gen is very common and will mess AH up badly. You also need to make sure your virus scanner is up to date.
13. Make sure video bios cacheing or video bios shadowing is disabled. This can be found in the bios.
14. VIA Users only, and last on your list of things to try. In the bios there is what is known as "AGP driving value." Often times you can make your AGP card more stable by adjusting this to the proper value. It is important to note that picking the wrong value WILL result in your video card not working. To fix the problem you will have to insert a PCI video card to get back into the bios to fix the problem. Because of this, contact your video card manufacturer to find out what the proper driving value is for your card.
15. Asus a7v and Abit kt7 users: Sometimes lockups on GF series video cards are due to the I/O voltage input to the video card being at 3.54 volts instead of 3.3 volts. The MB manufacturer defaults to 3.5 volts because it normally increases performance and overclocking stability. Unforunately some of the cheaper GF 2 Mx cards in particular have had problems running at 3.5 volts. There is a usually a jumper to select this voltage on the MB.
16. Try reinstalling AH using the full version. (Duh.
) I'd also make sure you delete the video.cfg file from the settings directory, since the uninstall generally leaves the settings folder behind.
17. If you still have problems, try posting full system specs and IRQ assignments and a detailed description of the problem. There will likely be someone here who can spot your problem.
Hopefully this list will help some of you.
Edit: Here's my optimal performance post from a couple weeks ago.
I was just talking with a former squaddie last night, trying to help him get his system to run faster. We ended up gaining him about 5 - 8 fps in about 5 minutes worth of work. It reminded me that there are a number of settings in Windows that everybody should know about to get top performance from their systems.
DISCLAIMER: If you mess your system up, it isn't my fault. Most of these settings are 100% safe, but I'll tell you which ones are not so safe.
1. Typical role setting. This one is 100% safe, and everyone with Win95(b and c versions only), win98, 98se, and ME ( <- eek ) should look into. Go to start -> settings -> control panel -> system -> performance tab -> file system button -> change typical role from "desktop computer" to "network server." This WILL gain you FPS in AH. Basically it takes Windows out of Winstupid mode when it comes to RAM use and Hard drive swap files. Anybody with over 64 megs of RAM should have this set to "network server."
2. Next would be verifying that Ultra DMA (Ultra ATA) is enabled. If it isn't, and your hard drive supports it, your system is performing about 20% slower than it should be. This setting applies to win95b, c, win98, 98se and ME. Anybody who has a hard drive capable of UDMA or UATA, which would be basically all drives made in the last 3 to 4 years, should have this turned on.
Go here: start -> settings -> control panel -> system -> device manager tab -> find the "disk drives" item and click the "+" sign. You should now see a listing for your floppy drive and hard drive. If this setting is present, you will see something like "Generic IDE drive, type 47" or something similar. Click the name to make it turn blue, then click the properties button at the bottom of the screen. Now click the settings tab on the window that should have popped up. If you see a little check box that says "DMA" and it ISN'T checked, check it and restart. This will GREATLY improve HD performance.
(Kind of off topic, but if you have a CD burner that is always giving you trouble with buffer underruns, try this: Find the "CD-Drives" listing, click +, find your regular CD rom drive, properties, settings, turn DMA on for it as well. You may find that your burner works perfectly now. )
3. This setting is for people who are using a KT133 chipset board for Athlon Tbird processors: (Asus A7v, Abit Kt7, MSI Master, etc.) Note: This setting requires you to go into the bios, please be careful not to mess anything up in here. The Kt133 chipset supports PC 133 ram, unfortunately by default it will run the RAM at 100 Mhz. If you have PC 133 ram, go into the bios and find the memory speed settings. (Probably under "advanced" ) Set it to PC133 and save and exit. This will improve system performance by at least 10% overall.
4. This one applies to anyone who has downloaded RW lately. You may have also inadvertantly installed a little piece of spyware known as "Gator." Here's how to check: On the desktop, press Cntl-Alt-Delete 1 time . On the box that pops up, see if there is something called fsg. If there is, you have gator. You can remove it from the control panel -> add/remove programs -> look for gator.
5. MS office users: You may have a horrible program called fast find on your computer. You should disable it to gain performance. To do so, right click start button -> pick explore -> find startup folder -> remove fastfind if it is present. You can always restore it from the recycle bin (that is if you don't empty it )
6. Last item: Monitor refresh rate. Many people don't know it, but your refresh rate determines the maximum framerate possible in AH and in most games. By increasing the refresh rate you can increase your framerate, AND make your monitor easier on your eyes.
DISCLAIMER: You need to KNOW what refresh rates are supported by your monitor before changing these settings. It is possible, though unlikely, that you may damage your monitor if it tries to use a refresh rate it doesn't support.
Here's how to change it (if you video card and monitor allow it): right click an empty spot on the desktop -> pick properties -> settings tab -> advanced button -> adapter tab -> There is a box that says refresh rate. You will likely see it set to "optimal." Optimal for windows is NOT optimal for most users. (It is about 55 to 65 Hz.) You should click the arrow and set this to the maximum setting your monitor will allow. (Note: You may only have adapter default and optimal available to you, if so this setting will not work for you. ) For those luckly enough to have more choices, like 60Hz, 72 Hz, 75 Hz, 85 Hz, set this to the maximum that your monitor allows at the resolution you are running at. If it doesn't work, windows will restore the original setting. Unfortunately some really cheap monitors *could* be damaged by increasing refresh rate, so please only attempt this if you know your monitor supports that refresh rate. Most good 17" monitors will support 75 or 85 Hz at 1024x768 res. Most good 19" will support 75 Hz and 85 Hz at 1280 res.
7. Disable junk that starts up with your system that you don't want or need. You can turn off many of them before playing AH by right clicking their icon located by the clock. (I.e. Turning off the virus scanner to gain a frame or two in AH.) Not many people know that you can permanately turn them off as well. First, check and see if a setting exists to disable the program loading on startup in the program itself. If not, you can still turn them off. Here's how: start -> run -> type "msconfig" -> click the startup tab. You can now uncheck programs you don't want to load on start up. (NOTE: DO NOT UNCHECK systray, explorer, or rnaapp.)
Hopefully this will gain more than a few people a serious performance boost to their systems.
------------------
bloom25
-MAW-
(Formerly of the)
THUNDERBIRDS
[This message has been edited by bloom25 (edited 04-10-2001).]
[This message has been edited by bloom25 (edited 04-11-2001).]
