Alt S (screen save/screen shot) issue.

[2Slow]

When I use alt s for a screen save the game locks up and then I loose signal to monitor.  Alt F4 does nothing and repeated ctrl alt delete's don't work either.  I have to push the power button to shutdown and restart.

Any ideas?

[Skuzzy]

Need to see a DXDIAG output.  This is usually a video card driver issue.

The other thing it could be is you have too many files in the Aces High installation folder.

[2Slow]

Need to see a DXDIAG output.  This is usually a video card driver issue.

The other thing it could be is you have too many files in the Aces High installation folder.

Thx.  Will post one soon.  I know I have the latest driver for my ATI Radeon HD 2600.

Current report exceeds posting limits.  Which portion do you require?

[2Slow]

I have checked with ATI(AMD) and my driver is current.  I turned VPU recover off (as a test) and when I tried a screen shot the screen froze, sound stayed active, and then the PC rebooted.  With VPU recover on I will get a loss of signal on the monitor and have to manualy restart the system.

I was running 1024 max texture with the hires pack installed.  I am considering a fresh install, no hirest, and 512 max texture.  What do you think?

Below is some of the Dxdiag:
System Information
------------------
Time of this report: 1/4/2010, 08:45:42
       Machine name: JOEY
   Operating System: Windows XP Home Edition (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 3 (2600.xpsp_sp3_gdr.090804-1435)
           Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: n/a
       System Model: Product Name
               BIOS: )Phoenix - Award WorkstationBIOS v6.00PG
          Processor: Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 2.80GHz
             Memory: 2048MB RAM
          Page File: 870MB used, 3073MB available
        Windows Dir: C:\WINDOWS
    DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
     DxDiag Version: 5.03.2600.5512 32bit Unicode

------------
DxDiag Notes
------------
  DirectX Files Tab: No problems found.
      Display Tab 1: The file ati2dvag.dll is not digitally signed, which means that it has not been tested by Microsoft's Windows Hardware Quality Labs (WHQL).  You may be able to get a WHQL logo'd driver from the hardware manufacturer.
        Sound Tab 1: The file ALCXWDM.SYS is not digitally signed, which means that it has not been tested by Microsoft's Windows Hardware Quality Labs (WHQL).  You may be able to get a WHQL logo'd driver from the hardware manufacturer.
          Music Tab: No problems found.
          Input Tab: No problems found.
        Network Tab: No problems found.

--------------------
DirectX Debug Levels
--------------------
Direct3D:    0/4 (n/a)
DirectDraw:  0/4 (retail)
DirectInput: 0/5 (n/a)
DirectMusic: 0/5 (n/a)
DirectPlay:  0/9 (retail)
DirectSound: 0/5 (retail)
DirectShow:  0/6 (retail)

---------------
Display Devices
---------------
        Card name: ATI Radeon HD 2600 Series
     Manufacturer: ATI Technologies Inc.
        Chip type: ATI Radeon Graphics Processor AGP (0x9587)
         DAC type: Internal DAC(400MHz)
       Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_9587&SUBSYS_00281545&REV_00
   Display Memory: 512.0 MB
     Current Mode: 1280 x 1024 (32 bit) (75Hz)
          Monitor: Plug and Play Monitor
  Monitor Max Res: 1600,1200
      Driver Name: ati2dvag.dll
   Driver Version: 6.14.0010.6983 (English)
      DDI Version: 9 (or higher)
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
 Driver Date/Size: 7/14/2009 19:27:52, 336896 bytes
      WHQL Logo'd: No
  WHQL Date Stamp: None
              VDD: n/a
         Mini VDD: ati2mtag.sys
    Mini VDD Date: 7/14/2009 21:20:10, 4407808 bytes
Device Identifier: {D7B71EE2-D6C7-11CF-B26D-2220A1C2CB35}
        Vendor ID: 0x1002
        Device ID: 0x9587
        SubSys ID: 0x00281545
      Revision ID: 0x0000
      Revision ID: 0x0000
      Video Accel: ModeMPEG2_C ModeMPEG2_D ModeWMV8_A ModeWMV9_A
 Deinterlace Caps: {335AA36E-7884-43A4-9C91-7F87FAF3E37E}: Format(In/Out)=(YUY2,YUY2) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,0) Caps=VideoProcess_YUV2RGB VideoProcess_StretchX VideoProcess_StretchY DeinterlaceTech_BOBVerticalSt retch
                   {335AA36E-7884-43A4-9C91-7F87FAF3E37E}: Format(In/Out)=(NV12,0x3231564e) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,0) Caps=VideoProcess_YUV2RGB VideoProcess_StretchX VideoProcess_StretchY DeinterlaceTech_BOBVerticalSt retch
         Registry: OK
     DDraw Status: Enabled
       D3D Status: Enabled
       AGP Status: Enabled
DDraw Test Result: Not run
 D3D7 Test Result: Not run
 D3D8 Test Result: Not run
 D3D9 Test Result: Not run

[Skuzzy]

Make sure the "Detailed Terrain" option is NOT checked in Options->Graphic Details->Advanced and set the "Maximum Texture Size" in the games "Video Settings" to 256.  See what that does.

Did you check to see if there are too many files in the game installation folder?

[2Slow]

Make sure the "Detailed Terrain" option is NOT checked in Options->Graphic Details->Advanced and set the "Maximum Texture Size" in the games "Video Settings" to 256.  See what that does.

Did you check to see if there are too many files in the game installation folder?

I have had success with a fresh install using the default location.  I moved jstick and other settings (sounds, squads, etc) over to the new location and everything works fine there (knock on wood {ouch!}].  I have checked the old location, c:\programs\htc\ahII and all seems well as far as file count goes.

I will use your suggested settings and see if it makes a difference there.

[2Slow]

Your suggestions made no difference it the program behavior.  What ever is porked there is beyond me.  I shall uninstall and deleted the old location and continue on with the fresh new install.

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

[Skuzzy]

Hmm.  Odd.

[2Slow]

Hmm.  Odd.

Indeed!  Your settings, with old install, did improve on-line game experience.  Off-line was garbage.  Cnt=60 plus with no progress detectable.  Even with the new install, off-line has graphics issues.  It does not like the new strat city and the Cnt #'s bounce around a lot.

Screen shot had stopped crashing game and system.

I have encountered an issue with Trojan.FakeAV and I'm in the process of hunting it down and killing it.  Several kills have been reported and I am now sweeping the entire system.

[Skuzzy]

Ohhhhh, possible viral incursion?  All bets are off then.

[2Slow]

Ohhhhh, possible viral incursion?  All bets are off then.

System is now clean.  The same chips are still on the table.  On-line, the strat city displays correctly. Off-line is stays as a big white area with a Very slow resolution process.  It is so slow that I have yet to see it display properly.  Texture is set at 256.  I am not using the hires pack.

VidMem 512.0M Used 122.4M Cnt= 80. Frame Rate 56.

Any ideas?

[Skuzzy]

Shutdown everything and get to a clean desktop.  Bring up the Windows Task Manager.

In the Windows Task Manager (Ctrl-Alt-Del), select the "Processes" tab, then take a look at the lower left hand corner where the total process count is listed. In a normal Windows XP system, it is between 19 and 21. Most OEM systems have around 45 to 65 processes, which is just way too many.

Next, take a look at the CPU percentage used. In a normal Windows XP system, the CPU usage should bounce, like a heartbeat, between 0 and 1 or 2%. You will need to watch this for a minute of two. My guess is, you are seeing it bounce upwards to 4 or 5 percent. Which is far too high and will impeded the game performance significantly.

Unfortunately, there are no standards when it comes to what needs to run with Windows XP. OEM's complicate things by using their own custom version of Windows XP, so I cannot make a recommendation as to what can be safely shutdown or how to go about doing it.

[2Slow]

Shutdown everything and get to a clean desktop.  Bring up the Windows Task Manager.

In the Windows Task Manager (Ctrl-Alt-Del), select the "Processes" tab, then take a look at the lower left hand corner where the total process count is listed. In a normal Windows XP system, it is between 19 and 21. Most OEM systems have around 45 to 65 processes, which is just way too many.

Next, take a look at the CPU percentage used. In a normal Windows XP system, the CPU usage should bounce, like a heartbeat, between 0 and 1 or 2%. You will need to watch this for a minute of two. My guess is, you are seeing it bounce upwards to 4 or 5 percent. Which is far too high and will impeded the game performance significantly.

Unfortunately, there are no standards when it comes to what needs to run with Windows XP. OEM's complicate things by using their own custom version of Windows XP, so I cannot make a recommendation as to what can be safely shutdown or how to go about doing it.

I will work with this.  You have a good point on CPU utilization.  Thanks.

[WMLute]

Memory: 2048MB RAM
Page File: 870MB used, 3073MB available

That is a lot of stuff running.

Your system has 2 gigs or ram and @ 1/2 a gig of "stuff" running that doesn't need to be.

Skuzzy is indeed wise.

[2Slow]

WTFG Skuzzy!  You pointed me in the right direction.  Using taskmgr and WinTasks I observed that Zclient (ZoneAlarm Pro version 9) kept jumping in with utilization spikes.  Prior to the very last update, this had not been an issue for me.

I suspect that Zclient was scanning/cyberhandling AH texture files and the process.  Thus slowing things down.

Setting ZoneAlarm to "game mode" seems to have cured the issue.

I set textures to 256 and reduced my screen resolution to 1024 by 768 in the new install.  Now the strat city displays properly.  This setting also worked with the old install.  Keeping the 256 texture I can set resolution to 1280 by 1024.  In the new install I will see a minor texture resolution on occasion.  The old install experiences more frequent texture issues at the higher resolution.  So I will go with the new install.

I think my machine is on the verge of Aces High extinction.  Now it is a matter of convincing the family CFO, SWMBO, that I deserve a new duo or quad IBM processor system.