Win 2000 and AH

[bloom25]

I just installed Win 2k in a dual boot configuration tonight.  I just installed AH and found, much to my delight, that my framerates are the same, if not higher, than in win98!!!

I do have a small problem though, I get blue flashes when firing my guns.  I know why, but I don't know how to fix it.    The reason is that WIn 2k installed EVERYTHING on IRQ #9.  Do any of you know how assign IRQs in win2k?



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bloom25
-MAW-
(Formerly of the)
THUNDERBIRDS

[MrSiD]

Umm.. sounds weird. My installation of w2k divided the irq's quite nicely, only conflict being with usb port and the ethernet card. Didn't seem to cause probs tho.

I'll try to dig up something  

[Heater]

Bloom,
I hope this helps, Here goes
In Windows 2000, some or all of the devices on your ACPI motherboard may be
listed on the Resources tab in Device Manager as using the same IRQ (IRQ 9). You
cannot change the IRQ setting because the setting is unavailable. This occurs
because Windows 2000 takes advantage of the ACPI features of the motherboard,
including advanced PCI sharing. IRQ 9 is used by the PCI bus for IRQ steering.
This feature lets you add more devices without generating IRQ conflicts.
 
Note that Windows 2000 does not have the ability to rebalance resources as does
Microsoft Windows 98. Once PCI resources are set, they generally cannot be
changed. If you change to an invalid IRQ setting or I/O range for the bus that a
device is on, Windows 2000 cannot rebalance the resource it assigned to that bus
to compensate. Windows 2000 does not have this ability because of the more
complex hardware schemas it is designed to support. Windows 98 does not have to
support IOAPICs, multiple root PCI buses, multiple-processor systems, and so on.
Rebalancing becomes risky when you are dealing with these hardware schemas, and
will not be implemented in Windows 2000 except for very specific scenarios.
However, PCI devices are required to be able to share IRQs. The ability to share
IRQs should not prevent any hardware from working in general.
 
The Plug and Play operating system settings in the computer's BIOS should not
affect how Windows 2000 handles the hardware in general. However, Microsoft
recommends that you set this setting to "No" or "Disabled" in the computer's
BIOS. For information about viewing or modifying your computer's BIOS settings,
consult your computer's documentation or manufacturer.
 
Manually assigning IRQs to PCI slots as a troubleshooting method may work on a
non-ACPI system, but these settings are ignored by Plug and Play in Windows 2000
if ACPI support is enabled. If you need to manually assign IRQ addresses to a
device on an ACPI motherboard, disable ACPI in the computer's BIOS before
installing Windows 2000.
 


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!!! Heater !!!
 

 
Shit Happens All The Time

Programming today is a race between software engineers striving to build bigger and better idiot-proof programs, and the Universe trying to produce bigger and better idiots. So far, the Universe is winning.

[This message has been edited by Heater (edited 05-03-2001).]

[Lephturn]

Heater has all the details.  

The long and short of it is, the only way to fix it is to blow away Win2k, disable ACPI, and re-install 2k.

Some mainboards may not have the option to disable ACPI in the shipping BIOS, although knowing your a hardware hacker, I bet you have the latest BIOS anyway which should have the option.  

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Sean "Lephturn" Conrad - Aces High Chief Trainer

A proud member of the mighty Flying Pigs
http://www.flyingpigs.com

Check out Lephturn's Aerodrome for AH articles and training info!

[bloom25]

Ok, I fixed the problem, but not by reinstalling.  I've discovered a few things about ACPI.  First, the devices aren't really sharing IRQ 9 or 11.  They are basically "virtual" irqs.  ACPI uses some form of dynamic IRQ steering.  The benefits are unlimited numbers of devices.  The problem is the drivers must properly support ACPI.  Those that can have "WDM" certification.

I was able to fix the flickering problem by downloading BRAND new SB Live drivers released a week ago.  I then downloaded the very newest win2k detonator 12.10 drivers.

Comparing Win2k to 98 framerates I'd say I lost about 5 - 10 fps.  On the plus side, image quality is actually better.

I'm next going to look into setting AH to run at high cpu priority vs normal priority.  This should get me some of those fps back.

I haven't yet tried it online, I'm rebuilding my sounds and views right now.  I'm just hoping my stupid Realtek ethernet card doesn't mess everything up.  If it does, I'll just pick up another card, they are cheap.



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bloom25
-MAW-
(Formerly of the)
THUNDERBIRDS

[bloom25]

Ok, I played AH with it last night.  Works perfectly for the most part.  I have a couple problems though, neither should be a big deal:

A.  I can't talk on RW, I can hear though.  I did uncheck the "high cpu priority", so I'll try that first.

B.  AH runs at 75 Hz refresh and my desktop at 85 Hz.  If I alt tab out into win 2k and then go back into AH, all the textures get corrupted.  I'm thinking that changing my desktop to 75 Hz, or somehow getting AH at 85 Hz will fix the problem.  (It may be a bug with the detonator 12.10s though... )

Problem B keeps me from alt tabbing out to see what the problem A is caused by.  It also keeps me from setting AH to run at "high priority" rather than normal, because everything is corrupted when I get back into the game.



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bloom25
-MAW-
(Formerly of the)
THUNDERBIRDS

[bloom25]

Ok, the story continues.    Now I changed my desktop refresh rate to 75 Hz.  This fixed the Problem B listed above, no more textures are corrupted when alt tabbing back and forth.

I was also (I think) able to find the RW problem.   When I copied files from my settings directory the transmit key got changed from f12 to t.  I switched this back to f12 and this problem should be solved.

Since I can now alt tab out of AH I also experimented with changing the CPU priority of AH from normal to high.  This gave me at least 5 fps more.  (It also made WIN2k take a longer to respond after alt tabbing out.)  Do any of you know how to permanently set a priority for a program.  (Setting a flag somewhere?)

I also discovered that the newer Creative SB Live drivers somehow are creating 3d effects for AH sounds.  Explosion sounds are much different depending on where you are relative to them.  It's sounds kind of odd, but not too bad.

So far I've liked win2k over 98 enough I haven't booted 98 in 2 days.  



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bloom25
-MAW-
(Formerly of the)
THUNDERBIRDS

[Sancho]

 

Originally posted by bloom25:
Ok, the story continues.    Now I changed my desktop refresh rate to 75 Hz.  This fixed the Problem B listed above, no more textures are corrupted when alt tabbing back and forth.

That wierd texture corruption seems to be a problem with the latest, bleeding edge detonator drivers.  I use 5.22 and have no texture corruption after alt tab in Win2k.

To start AH at high priority, try:
start /high c:\[path_to_aceshigh]\aceshigh.exe