Issue 1: Exit Crash not fixed.
Both htsim8r.exe dated 6/25/2010 and htsim8r3.exe consistently crash upon clicking "Quit" in the tower from offline play to return to the game selection screen (1st clipboard, containing Online Arena's, Offline Practice, etc.) - except when I use the following procedure before exiting the offline arena:
select Options,Preferences,Game Sounds
change Either "Speakers" or "Speaker Layout"
It doesn't matter WHAT I change, what I have it set to upon entry or what I have it set to upon exit, as long as I hear that momentary "break" in sound while it reconfigures the sound when I make one or more changes, I can exit the arena back to the Game Selection Screen without the crash. If I make any change that doesn't cause that momentary break in the sound of the circling aircraft and ack, it will crash upon exit.
Entering and exiting an online arena is not similarly affected - I can enter and exit an online arena without the game crashing without performing the "cause a sound reinitialization" process described.
Tigger - you mention what sounds like it could be the same issue. Were you working offline?
(Haven't had a chance to fly online, but no anomalies have been noted in the sounds while flying offline)
Issue 2: GUI change of country does not work (discovered while jumping in out of the DA testing issue 1) - selecting another radio button does not deselect the current radio button, nor is there any effect when pressing OK after clicking another radio button - except when you have clicked the radio button for Bishop while either Rook or Knight. When you do not change countries after clicking OK no "Country changed to" text is shown from the Host. Using the . command to change to either Knight or Rook works normally.
P.S. Per Skuzzy's observation, I installed an updated sound card driver retrieved from the Asus site, and the pertinent section of my DXDiag now looks like this:
-------------
Sound Devices
-------------
Description: Speakers (SoundMAX Integrated Digital HD Audio)
Default Sound Playback: Yes
Default Voice Playback: Yes
Hardware ID: HDAUDIO\FUNC_01&VEN_11D4&DEV_989B&SUBSYS_10438334&REV_1003
Manufacturer ID: 1
Product ID: 100
Type: WDM
Driver Name: ADIHdAud.sys
Driver Version: 6.10.0002.6600 (English)
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
WHQL Logo'd: n/a
Date and Size: 6/27/2010 21:13:26, 478208 bytes
Other Files:
Driver Provider: AnalogDevices
HW Accel Level: Basic
Cap Flags: 0x0
Min/Max Sample Rate: 0, 0
Static/Strm HW Mix Bufs: 0, 0
Static/Strm HW 3D Bufs: 0, 0
HW Memory: 0
Voice Management: No
EAX(tm) 2.0 Listen/Src: No, No
I3DL2(tm) Listen/Src: No, No
Sensaura(tm) ZoomFX(tm): No
Description: SPDIF Interface (SoundMAX Integrated Digital HD Audio)
Default Sound Playback: No
Default Voice Playback: No
Hardware ID: HDAUDIO\FUNC_01&VEN_11D4&DEV_989B&SUBSYS_10438334&REV_1003
Manufacturer ID: 1
Product ID: 100
Type: WDM
Driver Name: ADIHdAud.sys
Driver Version: 6.10.0002.6600 (English)
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
WHQL Logo'd: n/a
Date and Size: 6/27/2010 21:13:26, 478208 bytes
Other Files:
Driver Provider: AnalogDevices
HW Accel Level: Basic
Cap Flags: 0x0
Min/Max Sample Rate: 0, 0
Static/Strm HW Mix Bufs: 0, 0
Static/Strm HW 3D Bufs: 0, 0
HW Memory: 0
Voice Management: No
EAX(tm) 2.0 Listen/Src: No, No
I3DL2(tm) Listen/Src: No, No
Sensaura(tm) ZoomFX(tm): No
Description: Digital Output (SoundMAX Integrated Digital HD Audio)
Default Sound Playback: No
Default Voice Playback: No
Hardware ID: HDAUDIO\FUNC_01&VEN_11D4&DEV_989B&SUBSYS_10438334&REV_1003
Manufacturer ID: 1
Product ID: 100
Type: WDM
Driver Name: ADIHdAud.sys
Driver Version: 6.10.0002.6600 (English)
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
WHQL Logo'd: n/a
Date and Size: 6/27/2010 21:13:26, 478208 bytes
Other Files:
Driver Provider: AnalogDevices
HW Accel Level: Basic
Cap Flags: 0x0
Min/Max Sample Rate: 0, 0
Static/Strm HW Mix Bufs: 0, 0
Static/Strm HW 3D Bufs: 0, 0
HW Memory: 0
Voice Management: No
EAX(tm) 2.0 Listen/Src: No, No
I3DL2(tm) Listen/Src: No, No
Sensaura(tm) ZoomFX(tm): No
---------------------
Sound Capture Devices
---------------------
Description: Microphone (SoundMAX Integrated Digital HD Audio)
Default Sound Capture: Yes
Default Voice Capture: Yes
Driver Name: ADIHdAud.sys
Driver Version: 6.10.0002.6600 (English)
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
Date and Size: 6/27/2010 21:13:26, 478208 bytes
Cap Flags: 0x0
Format Flags: 0x0
Description: Line In (SoundMAX Integrated Digital HD Audio)
Default Sound Capture: No
Default Voice Capture: No
Driver Name: ADIHdAud.sys
Driver Version: 6.10.0002.6600 (English)
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
Date and Size: 6/27/2010 21:13:26, 478208 bytes
Cap Flags: 0x0
Format Flags: 0x0