I've been having some warping issues...

[Fianna]

Does it make a difference if the spikes are above or below the red line?

[TwinBoom]

Does it make a difference if the spikes are above or below the red line?

lag is lag did u update to service pack 3 by chance? Heard lots of bad things about it. I think skuzzy even got a system hosed by it

[Fianna]

After further investigation...

When I'm in the tower, my variance is perfectly flat. When I start flying, however, it starts bouncing all over the place. Does this mean anything?

[Denholm]

Yes. As stated before, your processor is being taken away from the game.

Most likely, when you're in the tower, your processor doesn't have to work as hard to process the game data and therefore working on the background processes isn't as difficult and doesn't really take it away from the game. However, when you're flying, the processor has to perform multiple functions to track others, to track you, your flying ammunition, your movement, and the physics involved in all of this. Obviously all this work is more difficult to process and therefore makes the occasional move to take care of background processes more noticeable.

[Fianna]

Yes. As stated before, your processor is being taken away from the game.

Most likely, when you're in the tower, your processor doesn't have to work as hard to process the game data and therefore working on the background processes isn't as difficult and doesn't really take it away from the game. However, when you're flying, the processor has to perform multiple functions to track others, to track you, your flying ammunition, your movement, and the physics involved in all of this. Obviously all this work is more difficult to process and therefore makes the occasional move to take care of background processes more noticeable.

My old computer (bought in 2004) ran AH fine. The computer I have now, bought about 6 months ago, has problems. This doesn't make sense to me. Does the game really strain my dual processors so much that they can't run it?

Also, why does this effect other people? If my comp is the one that has the problem, why do I warp for other people?


edit: sorry if this post comes off as confrontational... I'm not trying to be. I'm very frustrated with this issue. I've done everything I've been told to do and the only progress I've made is not warping while I'm in the tower.

[Delirium]

I had the same problem with my old computer, the only thing that fixed it was changing out the CPU. I tried everything from reinstalling the OS or swapping out the HD and ram all without success.

Fianna, my background in computers is limited and I would not take my advice without some skepticism, but that net status is exactly what I saw and couldn't alleviate the problem no matter what I did.

[Skuzzy]

It is a laptop.  Newer laptops, in order to conserve power have the CPU's and the video chips shut down parts of the circuits which can cause this.  Shutting down any and all power management, and not running off the battery should help this.

It is also running Vista, if I recall.  Vista in of itself will aggravate the situation.  You must shut down "Ready Boost" and "Super Fetch".

It also has a very poor sound chip (Sigmatel) which has absolutely no sound hardware acceleration support and very poor DirectX drivers.  This will cause local stutters and there is probably not anything that can be done about it.

All the above could be causing the issues.  You warp for everyone else because your computer cannot keep up with timely updates to the network packets.  Generally speaking, this is usually a network issue, but you have a grand connection to the game servers now that you got away from Comcast.

Newer is not neccessarily better.  OEM's are always finding cheaper ways to build computers, and it usually comes at the expense of the hardware surrounding the CPU.

Allow me to give you some insight.  Llama and I spent about 6 to 8 hours on a laptop brought to the last Con before we finally got it to run the game smoothly.  Today's laptops are a pain to get them to run a game like this.  There is no easy answer.

[Denholm]

...Allow me to give you some insight.  Llama and I spent about 6 to 8 hours on a laptop brought to the last Con before we finally got it to run the game smoothly.  Today's laptops are a pain to get them to run a game like this.  There is no easy answer.

Wow! Whoever it was that owns that laptop got a great deal.

[Fianna]

I took out the battery, turned off superfetch and ready boost, and i'm still warping all over the place.


Is there a way to disable/uninstall the sound chip? If I do that, and I don't warp, I'll have isolated the issue. If I do warp, then I know that the sound chip isn't to blame.

[Nilsen]

Could it be a firewall, AV software issue? I used to have problems like yours with Norton. Did a clean install without it and went with AVG free and the problem went away. Now i dont use any anti virus at all on this "old" lappy but that i dont recomend to everyone.

If it is a soundcard issue then you could try getting a USB soundcard. Im not talking about the creative/logitech 5.1 types that takes alot of resources but one designed for audiophiles..... here you have a few that are excellent but without the sticker shock you get from brand "audiophile" external cards: http://www.hotaudio.com/zen-cart/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=70&zenid=c32cb9945b272ce143bc75bad99a9804


When you plug them in they bypass all other audio drivers and gives you outstanding STEREO sound... so no surround.

[Skuzzy]

Did you disable all power management?  How many background processes are running on that machine?

[Denholm]

Fiana, if you uninstall the sound drivers you won't be able to play the game. The game requires a sound device in order to work properly. Uninstalling the sound drivers would be the same as deactivating the sound card/chip.

[Fianna]

Did you disable all power management?  How many background processes are running on that machine?

I've taken out the battery and set the power plan to high performance. As far as I know, this is disabling power management. If I need to do something else, let me know what it is.


37 processes are running in the background, down from 90-something. Still no difference.

[Denholm]

Power management can be accessed by right-clicking the desktop, going to properties, clicking on the tab labeled, "Screen Saver," then clicking on the button named, "Power." Make sure all options are set to, "Never."

[Kermit de frog]

try reinstallling the game into a NEW folder.
then run the game from that location.