When it's not the game, it must be...

[Avatar]

Interesting.  Not BZ2 per se, but something to think about...

I'm home sick today, bored out of my mind, so I try the HALO for Windows demo.

Now, I'm a tech geek, pretty computer savvy, and pretty sure my system is up to the task of any current game.

So when the HALO demo bombs bigtime I figure it's something in THEIR game that's wrong.  Then I try the Far Cry demo.  Same thing.  Boom!  Bigtime crash, exception gathering, etc..  Hmm, maybe it's not "Them", maybe it's "Me"...

SO, off to Invidia, grab the 56.64 drivers which were a bit newer than mine (not by much, though) and toss them in.   Scandisk, Defrag, check my DX install.  Everything looks good.  

BLAM!  Halo dies again.  Far Cry starts but dies instantly when I move.



SO, I fire up MSI Live Update.  (I have MSI mainboard and vid card)  New version of Live Update, reboot, new VIA mainboard drivers, reboot, new VGA card bios, reboot...

HALO is very nice.     I love the main weapon I used, the WartHog.  Seriously, you almost never have to get out of the thing and nothing short of a nuke seems to hurt it (beyond flipping it over).  It kills anything it touches and goes anywhere...  sweet.

Anyway, a lesson here.  It's not always the game.  No matter how up-to-date or high tech you think your system is there's always something...  Today's games require tomorrow's drivers...  VGA drivers are not the whole picture, there's also your AGP driver, etc. in the mix when gaming.

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[Knight]

Avtar,
I have an MSI mainboard too but unlike you i'm not savvy.
 I'd appreciate it if you could be more specific about the proceedure of each update you did.  

 Also on a related note: this is a question i have been trying to get answered everywhere but failed so far.
 I have a geforce4 4600  but my dvd playback is crap. I understood that graphics cards use hardware to power the dvd playback but there is no option or way to confirm this so how the hell do i check if the player is utilizing the graphics cards hardware to assist the dvd playback.
 

 better answwer this quick before they nix it off the board.

 Knight.

[Avatar]

MSI makes it easy with their program "Live Update".  I had an Asus Motherboard that had a similar utility.

What MSI Live Update does is look over your system, detect what you have, and then connect to their server to update your drivers.  "Live Update" came with your motherboard on the "drivers" CD, or can be downloaded here:

http://www.msi.com.tw/program/support/download/dld/spt_dld_file_record.php?folder=4&kind=1&name=LiveUpdate.exe

When you run Live Update you're given some choices.  I'd caution against doing a Motherboard or Video Card Bios update without need, and if you do update either Bios follow their instructions to the letter.  Turn off antivirus, firewalls, other programs, etc..  A disruption while updating the Bios of anything can cause hardware failure.  (yes, some motherboards have a dual-bios system, but for many a disrupted bios flash can mean it's toast).

As for nuking this post I feel it's relevant in that drivers can cause many performance problems, from Aving the game to causing the rendering 'pulse' I saw before upgrading my sound card a while back...  Before people complain about 1.3 they should at least make sure they're up to snuff on their drivers...

-Av-

[Patriarch]

My machine recently took a dump and I'd like to get a VIA KT600 motherboard so that my installation of Windows XP doesn't complain too much about new hardware (my old system was a KT266A - I updated its BIOS and it froze - even as a Dual BIOS system.  It failed to recover.  Security indeed).

I'd like to get the MSI KT6 Delta board but the dang thing isn't available anywhere.  It only just came out last year!  I did buy a KT6 LSRV last week but my power supply didn't have the right cord on it (gee, thanks tech guys!) and the IDE ports are WAY at the bottom, making my cables interfere with the peripheral cards.  So, I returned it.  What I did like about it was the diagnostic LED option to troubleshoot booting problems.  I'd really like to get the MSI Delta.  And that LiveUpdate program makes it sound all the nicer.

In the meantime, I'm browsing on my laptop...

[aougli]

I'm using an MSI KT4V-L mobo; works fine.  

There seem to be two approaches to drivers: make sure you have the latest release, or don't change anything unles you have to.  These days I prefer option 2.      

btw, Far Cry only just runs, but even with my Radeon 8500dv 64mb, it's really pretty.  Nice and lush.  

[Bull Dog]

I have Halo for the PC.  It's a blast.  The level in the demo is called the Silent Cartographer.  And yes the WarHogs are a blast.  BUT you haven driven the human tank yet.  It will blast just about anything living thing to kingdom-come.  It's disavantage is it's big and slow.

Sheesh I'd better stop or I'll reveal the incidous plot the the game.

Hope this isn't considered a blurb for the game.  Because BZII is still better although they are two different types of games.

Bull Dog

[Gummo.nz]

Just a warning about the single player of Halo.  I found it the most repetitive game I have ever played.  Including pong.  I did really like it at first.  Thought it looked and felt good, but eventually gave up on it.  I believe it's the only FPS that I have played for over 10 minutes and not stuck with until I've completed.

By the way, the WartHog was my favourite part of the game by far.  And yes, I did use a tank.

I have not tried the multi-player at all.  Probably Warthogs gallore.  

[Slaor]

MP is where Halo shines, just make sure you crank up the broadband.

[Avatar]

There seem to be two approaches to drivers: make sure you have the latest release, or don't change anything unles you have to.  These days I prefer option 2.      

Exactly so.  Many people are lured by the reports of higher frame rates with each successive round of video card drivers, but don't keep up with the other important drivers for their motherboard.  IDE driver, USB driver, AGP driver, all are important for the best performance.

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[Knight]

That's all very well but what about my graphics card/dvd hardware assist question?

  Ok can someone leave the specifics of each IDE, USB, AGP driver update proceedure. (in noobish for those of us that dont speak techish).

 Thanks,
Knight.

[aougli]

If you're using XP:

Control Panel -> System -> Hardware -> Device Manager


Take a look at CD/DVD drives, IDE controllers and System devices to find out what you have, and then visit their website and follow the instructions at the website.  Also read hardware forums to see if anyone has the same problems as you; they are also likely to be better at answering queries.  Eg., http://forum.msi.com.tw/index.php?sid=; http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/index.php?s=  I don't have an NVidia card so I don't know about them.  Part of the problem is likely to be identifying its source, before you can move on to fixing it.

It might not be particularly helpful to say it, but sooner or later you might find that you have little choice but to acquire some technical knowledge; in the course of fixing your problem, you will acquire some anyway.

Create a System Restore point before changing anything.

[Avatar]

That's all very well but what about my graphics card/dvd hardware assist question?

  Ok can someone leave the specifics of each IDE, USB, AGP driver update proceedure. (in noobish for those of us that dont speak techish).

 Thanks,
Knight.

No idea about the DVD...  it used to be that you'd look for a vid card that had DVD support, but nowadays it all seems good to me.  

The specifics of each update vary depending on the motherboard.  MSI makes it easy with a single utility, but a visit to your motherboard manufacturer's website will turn up all necessary drivers.  Once the drivers are unpacked into directories on your system you can do as aougli says, although there's often an included installer with many driver packages.

The big ones influencing graphics are the Vid Card drivers and the AGP port drivers.  IDE and USB will affect how rapidly you get info into/out of your system from drives and controllers.  BIOS updates will usually fix bugs or add features such as larger HD support.  Again, I caution against doing BIOS upgrades unless there's some driving need as there's always some risk involved.

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[Patriarch]

I finally picked up an Asus A7V600 board.

Windows XP got confused by the new hardware so I allowed XP to do a repair install.  What a miracle, it kept all my installations.  Ready to rock!

[Avatar]

Ah....um....ouch....

You could still be in for trouble....further down the road.

In 98 and earlier you could tell Windows to redetect all of the hardware and you'd have no troubles.  (Either through the Device Manager or by deleting the ENUM key in the Registry)  

NT, 2K and XP are all very touchy about the mainboard, not at all like 98.  This is because of the HAL NT-based Windows installs use for hardware enumeration.  Doing a repair install does work but keep an eye on things over the next few months.  You may find system instability increasing, which is something that happens when you don't do a clean install.

This is exactly what happened to one system I built.  The Asus MB developed (or had from the beginning) a very minor problem when shutting down and the person I built the system for insisted it be replaced.  The problem was that I couldn't get the exact same MB, but instead had to get the next generation of it.  After a repair reinstall everything seemed fine, but the whole thing "ate itself" over the next three months.  I finally ended up wiping it and going with a fresh install and it's been ticking away for almost a year now.  

Just a word of caution...

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;315341

[Patriarch]

Ok, I'll keep an eye on it.  Thanks.

At least if something happens I'll know why.

At the very worst I'll have to waste a few hours reinstalling everything.  I burned all the necessary patches and drivers to CD so that I don't have to download them again.  I just hate having to set up all my development and office packages again.  Yech!