Technical Help. Game Freezes

Pokinsmot247 · Post by **Pokinsmot247** » Thu Jul 18, 2002 5:18 am

mobo k7t266 pro2
amd athlon 1.33 ghz
256 ddr sdram
32mb sdr adi radeon
sb live 5.1
32x cd
40gb wd hd
pretty sure i have all the current updates/drivers for my system

problem is game plays fine for around 5-20 mins then i experience a massive slow down immediately followed by the game freezing. any suggestions would be appreciated

fable · Post by **fable** » Thu Jul 18, 2002 5:24 am

You have the latest video drivers?

Crosswind · Post by **Crosswind** » Thu Jul 18, 2002 5:51 am

I'd say get a better video card or more ram, it could just be overloading your system, though I freely confess to knowing nothing.

-Cross

HighLordDave · Post by **HighLordDave** » Thu Jul 18, 2002 6:08 am

You might also make sure that you have the latest patch for the game (v.1.20 with 1.21 coming out soon) as well as the latest drivers for your video card.

What ATI chipset does your video card use? Is it the Rage Fury chipset or Radeon? As our friend fable suggests, you should probably make sure you have the latest drivers. I have a Rage Fury Pro card with 32 MB of SDRAM and I have to put the video settings on either "Fast" or "Low" in order to avoid lots of "warping" and delays. If I set it the video to "High" the game crashes.

You should have enough system memory to run the game without any problems, so it sounds like you might have a problem related to your video card.

Welcome to GameBanshee, by the way.

Pokinsmot247 · Post by **Pokinsmot247** » Thu Jul 18, 2002 6:34 am

im certain its a radeon 32mb sdr. i do have the latest catalyst drivers from the ati website. im wondering if my card is actually opengl1.2 compliant, since thats what nwn was written for.
but im a dumbarse, tell me if im wrong

HighLordDave · Post by **HighLordDave** » Thu Jul 18, 2002 6:47 am

All of the Radeons should support OpenGL; their earlier Rage Fury cards do.

Do you have the latest version of DirectX (8.1, I believe)?

EDIT 1-
Is this your video card? If it is, ATI claims it fully supports both DirectX and OpenGL. Check your drivers and adjust your video settings to "Fast" or "Low".

EDIT 2-
You might also want to reduce the game resolution to the 800x600 setting.

Pokinsmot247 · Post by **Pokinsmot247** » Thu Jul 18, 2002 6:59 am

probably shouldve mentioned im running
winxp home edition. as far as i know dx 8.1 is already part of xp

HighLordDave · Post by **HighLordDave** » Thu Jul 18, 2002 7:04 am

Originally posted by Pokinsmot247
probably shouldve mentioned im running
winxp home edition. as far as i know dx 8.1 is already part of xp

Aha; have you checked with Bioware to see if there are any known issues with Windows XP? I've heard that XP Home is buggy and has some compatibility issues, so you may want to see if there are any known issues with XP & NWN and XP & your video card in addition to problems just with NWN. I run Windows 98SE and have had no crashes or other issues (yet; knock on wood).

See my edited post above, too.

Mathurin · Post by **Mathurin** » Thu Jul 18, 2002 7:52 am

I run XP Home edition and have had no problems so far.

Phantom Lord · Post by **Phantom Lord** » Thu Jul 18, 2002 10:47 am

I've encountered the freeze bug several times before updating from 1.14 to 1.19. My card is a prophet 4500 (Kyro 2 chip). After the update I haven't encoutered the bug so far.

Jodmos · Post by **Jodmos** » Thu Jul 18, 2002 11:33 am

I have the same system except the videocard and had the same troubles.
If you hear the last played sound over and over when it freezes its the soundcard that causes the proplem.
Make sure to select the SB 5.1 in the NWN audio options and disable eax support, your game should run fine then, at least mine did

Pokinsmot247 · Post by **Pokinsmot247** » Thu Jul 18, 2002 1:39 pm

eax was disabled. should hardware sound be disabled as well?

Commoner · Post by **Commoner** » Fri Jul 19, 2002 9:02 am

Solution I used... (LONG)

Before you begin make sure you have

1. Latest graphic driver
2. Latest sound driver
3. Latest NWN patch
4. Try changing graphic settings to 16 compatible and 'Fast'. Additionally, disable your sound and try running.
5. Some computers actually run better if you set your memory package at non-compatible 16mb, 32mb, or even 64mb.
6. Few computers actually run better if you UNDERCLOCK your graphic card. This sounds dumb but it actually works in some cases.

IMO, most important part of all this is identifying which device is not compatible with NWN software. Once you identify which one is not functioning correctly, youre on your own. Either get software enhancements(drivers, performance patch, etc.) or replace it. I would recommend replacing it though...

If it still doesnt work, there IS an alternative solution. But i should warn you prior to the instructions: i tried it once, it screwed up my computer. i tried it again, and it worked. But before it worked i had to format my computer and reisntall windows. *THIS SOLUTION IS NOT WITHOUT A DRAWBACK*, but it doesnt directly affect the performance of the system. Try this:

1. Run MSINFO32 from start -> run
2. Go to Hardware Resources
3. Check IRQs to see if there is any conflicts
4. You may have a problem in IRQ number 9
5. If so, go to device manager
6. Look under the category of 'Computer'
7. Reinstall whatever you have as 'Standard PC'
8. Reboot and see if it works
9. If there is another conflict, try settling your IRQ settings

NOTE: some devices naturally share IRQs

Im not sure if it will work, since my problem was stuttering and teleporting... as i said, the solution is a bit extreme and in some cases it will screw your computer a lot. It wont hurt till you get to step 6. see what problems you have and replace the device.

Nomer · Post by **Nomer** » Fri Jul 19, 2002 10:23 am

Also you might want to check and see if you have any programs running in the back ground. Anti-virus and what not. Also check to see what is turned on at start up. I found that quicktime gave me some problems, so I made sure that it wouldn't come on when I booted up my computer.

Pokinsmot247 · Post by **Pokinsmot247** » Fri Jul 19, 2002 11:32 am

problem fixed. i had to uninstall the newest 6094 radeon catalyst drivers and use the previous driver. 6071 non catalyst. hope this helps anyone else using a radeon.