Aces High Bulletin Board
Help and Support Forums => Technical Support => Topic started by: Scherf on April 30, 2009, 11:46:57 PM
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Well, I killed off some processes, which was good, logged on, same old same old.
(http://www.users.bigpond.com/MSN/mhuxtable/ahwtf4.jpg)
I get this constantly, non-stop.
I did check out the system requirements though - every time I start AH my CPU usage goes to 100%. Does it need that much memory or have I screwed up somewhere? Maybe it's writing to the hard drive the things it can't keep in memory?
(The 100% bits below are where I had AH running. Switched it off and CPU useage dropped down, started it up, back up we went)
(http://www.users.bigpond.com/MSN/mhuxtable/ahwtf2.jpg)
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What are your computer specs? They seem to be fairly old and limited. You have a single core CPU and only 512mb of RAM. I noticed u dropped about 20 processes, which is good. Try and aim for the 30's. Skuzzy recommends low 20's, but for every day use computers, may be a little much (or less that is).
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I try to keep my processes between 20 - 25. On this system that keeps me pretty lean and clean.
Looks like your computer is going full out to run AH at all.
To really be sure you have a solid internet connect and its not your computer, you'd have to get and run ping plotter or Visual route. Basically software that sends packets to an address (can get main arena ip # from details in arena select screen) It keeps sending and receiving packets and builds up a graph showing what hops, what the ping and packet loss is for each hop.
There should be free trial versions of both out there, they both do basically the same thing.
Both should save to an output file that you can post in skuzzys internet connectivity forum.
And it will tell you if the problem is on your end, or some backbone or hop that you have no control over.
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Aces High II should be using 100% of the CPU. DirectX is configured by Microsoft to do that. You should be worried if Aces High II is using less than 98% of the CPU.
Take a look in the "Processes" list to see how CPU percentage it shows "aceshigh.exe" is using. It should be above 98%.
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OK Skuzz, sorry for the mis-posting on the other part of the board.
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My only guess is this...
It's your Internet Connection, do you run on dial-up, cable, dsl, or satellite?
The last one is going to do exactly what I'm seeing in the SS's, high ping with a lot of ups and downs.
If you run on a land-line of some sort do you run a firewall?
It may be a virus or something thats bogging down your internet.
One of the easiest ways of testing to see if it's ping is to open CMD and type in this "ping www.hitechcreations.com" without the quotation marks. Anything over 300ms is going to give you "warping" issues. If your ping seems alright the next thing I would do is invest in a new firewall such as ESET's or Comodo to block any sort of incoming attacks or outgoing that may be bogging down your connection. If neither of the above work I'm not quite sure, it may be hardware then.
Comodo's Website http://personalfirewall.comodo.com/
ESET's Website http://www.eset.com/
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Thanks for the suggestion. Will run ping plotter and post here. It's just terribly strange and frustrating - I can't identify any pattern of events here that consistently influences the sawtooth one way or the other.
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I have the same problem, but I don't have really any problem in the MA, more the DA and the SEA. I think it has to do with the ram of your system. I'm running 1GB of Ram, which I don't think is enough. I would put at lease 2 GB of ram in your system, and see if that reduces any of the warping.
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Got the same symptoms on a core 2 duo CPU, but its a known issue. I may have found a workaround tho.
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Got the same symptoms on a core 2 duo CPU, but its a known issue. I may have found a workaround tho.
What is it?
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I have the same problem with a dual core AMD processor running Vista. I've cut every background process that is safe and still get warping. I just fly with it and listen to everyone whine.
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RPM, you installed AH to a folder outside, "Program Files" right? For instance: C:\Games\HTC\Aces High II\
I can agree with Bosco on the RAM. A lot of the terrains in the SEA use custom objects which require more resources to display them. The majority of the time, the resources required to display these custom objects are either your video card memory or your system memory (RAM).
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Denholm - should AH be in the programs folder, or a separate (eg "Games") folder?
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RPM, you installed AH to a folder outside, "Program Files" right? For instance: C:\Games\HTC\Aces High II\
I can agree with Bosco on the RAM. A lot of the terrains in the SEA use custom objects which require more resources to display them. The majority of the time, the resources required to display these custom objects are either your video card memory or your system memory (RAM).
Yep. I've followed all the Vista and AMD workarounds.
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Skuzzy, correct me if i'm wrong but...
Didn't you tell me once that a saw tooth Net Status like in the OP means something (program) is firing off in the background?
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Yes, typically when the Variance is bouncing about, it is due to the CPU being takena way from running the game to do other things.
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Denholm - should AH be in the programs folder, or a separate (eg "Games") folder?
Yes, it will help the game to run smoother.
RPM...
Are you using a laptop to fly?
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He's told me that. I've shut down every non-essential background program Vista will allow.
Only change was I couldn't connect my PDA to sync, so I had to set that back to automatic.
So now I just fly and warp and listen to everyone call me a cheater and liar. Trust me, if I was cheating my score would look much better than it does.
No laptop. New desktop.
Machine name: IBUYPOWER
Operating System: Windows Vista™ Home Premium (6.0, Build 6001) Service Pack 1 (6001.longhorn_rtm.080118-1840)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: System manufacturer
System Model: System Product Name
BIOS: Phoenix - AwardBIOS v6.00PG
Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 5000+ (2 CPUs), ~2.6GHz
Memory: 2046MB RAM
Page File: 792MB used, 3545MB available
Windows Dir: C:\Windows
DirectX Version: DirectX 10
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
DxDiag Version: 6.00.6001.18000 32bit Unicode
Card name: NVIDIA GeForce 8400 GS
Manufacturer: NVIDIA
Chip type: GeForce 8400 GS
DAC type: Integrated RAMDAC
Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0422&SUBSYS_23091682&REV_A1
Display Memory: 1011 MB
Dedicated Memory: 243 MB
Shared Memory: 767 MB
Current Mode: 1024 x 768 (32 bit) (60Hz)
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2 megs of ram is barely enough to run Vista, and that video card is a low end card. How many processes have you got your machine down to? What graphic settings are you using in game?
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Did you notice the display memeory is over 1GB? That is half of your available system RAM, which leaves just enough room for Vista to run. Any application is going to swap.
You have to love NVidia's newer drivers for stealing that much RAM away for use with a video card that cannot handle more than 256MB.
There has to be a way to change how much system RAM it steals away.
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Yes. I think you might want to stick to 256 textures and probably reduce the resolution a bit. The #400 series from NVIDIA have never been too great. As people have already suggested, adding some more RAM might help you out some more.
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I tweaked the video settings a bit and it has helped the warping quite a bit. But it's still there. I couldn't find a way to adjust the RAM settings. This computer is much faster and has a lot more rescources than the old Dell I had. It had a GeForce FX5200 and ran the game great. Vista is the only downside to this one.
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It does not have that much in the way of resources. Vista needs 1GB of RAM. Your video card is soaking up 1GB of the 2GB of RAM your computer has, so your computer only really has 1GB of RAM which is fine if all you want to do is run Vista.
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Which is why I say Vista is the downside of this machine. Trust me, if I had an XP option I'd be a happy camper.
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While Vista has its own set of issues, the big problem here is that stupid NVidia driver soaking up over 1GB of system RAM from you computer for a video card which can barely hanlde 256MB.
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When I'm running the game it shows memory and amount used. The amount used is usually a fraction of amount available. Is it actually using all that RAM it shows as available?
BTW, I've got 4G of RAM on the way.
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Are you sure you have shut down "ReadyBoost" and "SuperFetch". If the video driver is reducing the amount of free RAM by over 1GB, then yes, you would only have a small percentage of RAM available to run anything as Vista needs around 1GB itself.
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Yep, ReadyBoost and SuperFetch are both off. RAM should be here later today. I'll install it tonight and see what happens.
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Running 4G of RAM now. Nothing has changed. Still getting warps.
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How's the in-game 'Variance' line in the net status look?
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Aces High II should be using 100% of the CPU. DirectX is configured by Microsoft to do that. You should be worried if Aces High II is using less than 98% of the CPU.
Take a look in the "Processes" list to see how CPU percentage it shows "aceshigh.exe" is using. It should be above 98%.
confused on this CPU usage. Here is what mine has with Aces High running.CPU usage varies from 7 to 50%, memory is 31% and processes running 49. Its even less if I have Alacrity on. In the process list it is using from 00 to 02.
(side question, how can I get a larger picture of my task manager. I just did a screen print but is too small.)
(http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj310/dmanuhone/alcrityoff4.jpg)
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Confused on this CPU usage. Here is what mine has with Aces High running. CPU usage varies from 7 to 50%, memory is 31% and process running 49. Its even less if I have Alacrity on. In the process list AH is using from 00 to 02.
{side question How can I get a larger picture of my screen.)
(http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj310/dmanuhone/alcrityoff4.jpg)
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It looks like a bad EKG.
(http://img507.imageshack.us/img507/7011/ahss9.png)
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It does not have that much in the way of resources. Vista needs 1GB of RAM. Your video card is soaking up 1GB of the 2GB of RAM your computer has, so your computer only really has 1GB of RAM which is fine if all you want to do is run Vista.
Wow, one more reason why I am holding out with my XP Pro for as long as I can.
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rpm, something in your computer is soaking up CPU cycles badly. You sure it is not overheating? That is just a thought as it looks like the Variance decays in that screenshot.
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I'm sending you an email of what Vista is running in the background. Maybe you can spot something I'm missing.
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Looks like I didn't overlook anything. I'll try a new video card and see what that does. Have a Radeon 4770 on the way. It was rated very high by Tom's Hardware.
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I installed a new Radeon 4770 video card today and all the warping stopped. Seems it had absolutely nothing to do with AMD dual core processor, Vista or background services hitting the CPU.
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It could have been a driver issue. NVIDIA has always had trouble making drivers for Vista.
Glad it's working for you.
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This is what I'm getting, it's only getting worse and worse as I continue to play. I'm running XP though:
(http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh198/mniezelski/ahss11.jpg)
(http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh198/mniezelski/ahss10-1.jpg)
and when I'm not doing anything, here's how it looks:
(http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh198/mniezelski/ahss12.jpg)
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This is what I'm getting, it's only getting worse and worse as I continue to play. I'm running XP though:
(http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh198/mniezelski/ahss11.jpg)
(http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh198/mniezelski/ahss10-1.jpg)
and when I'm not doing anything, here's how it looks:
(http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh198/mniezelski/ahss12.jpg)
whats your hardware ?
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I sat with Karaya for about an hour trying to get it all straight. Seems that my Vid card is terrible, and I don't have enough RAM(1G) to support AH. I'm going to get a vid card on Tuesday along with 2X2GB of Ram. That should do it.