dsmith

I'm still getting crashes with Unreal Tournament on my PC.

I've got the latest Via Drivers (x.29). Using AGP 4x (Side Band disabled,Fast Writes Enabled). The Graphics cards is an Elsa GTS2 32 MB. I'm using the latest ELSA drivers which are essentially the Nvidia detonaters 7.58. and DirectX7. Both the card and M/B bios are up to date accoridng to the various websites.

I have previously tried various ELSA drivers and NVidia 6.50 drivbers with no difference except in the frequency of crashes. AGP2 vs 4 doesn't seem to make a difference nor did disabling fats writes. Though I don't think I've tried all the options on all the driver versions.

I don't seem to have a a problem in other games (C/S etc.)

When it crashes it just hangs with sound constantly repeating the last half second or so.

Any suggestions ?/ I've read some stories that DirectX8 is Cr*p and others that it works much better with the Detonater 7.x drivers

Dean
Abit KT7ARaid (ATA100) with ELsa Gladiac GTS2 32 Mb DDR + AThlon 950. (No Overclocking....)

JohnS

iTrader: (1)

Which driver are you using in UT itself ?

I had the same problems trying to use the Glide (Open GL) option, but found that Direct3D gave better results, and no more crashes.

Ozark

check out

robski

Dean,

I had to change a driver value (think its the AGP driving value?) for mine in the BIOS. I used the link Ozark has provided below, it sorted my probs. I wouldnt bother about AGP4x or sideband, I doubt you will gain more than 1 fps or so at 1024 res or similar, I didnt.

The other option is temp, have you some external case fans? An athlon and a geforce 2 do between them generate a lot of heat.

My processor was about 60deg C the other day, due to the system heating to about 30 deg C, this is too hot! and I was getting graphics card lockups (was made worse by overclocking). To get the overclocking stability I did this with one case side off, and it was 100% stable. After about 30 mins with the side back on, it became unstable.
So to check if its heat related, run your PC with the case off for a while.

I will be adding a cardcooler to my system, which blows air over your cards, used to use one of these previously and it dramatically increased the overclockability of a graphics card in an undercooled case.

robski

dsmith

Thanks Guys

I hadn't found the FAQ before. A small amount of light reading I think. With regards to cooling, I did have some concern with the Temp of my CPU originally (peaking at over > 60deg). I now have a bigger fan on it - out of a 3Com switch actually which keeps it below about 48.

The system temp doesn't report as being too high. I have 1 case fan and of course the GTS has its own fan. I'm I still had the problems with UT even wehen I've had the case off for various bits.

I'll try the AGP driving value (some suggestions in the FAQ) and if that fails try the case open again.

WHat about DirectX 8 - Anyone using it ?

[This message has been edited by dsmith (edited 29 March 2001).]

DominicA

I had the same problem, went through all the usuals then purchased a new-better fan for the Geforce, same problem, turns out it was my RAM - said 133 on the chips, ran at 133 in all games with no problems except UT, changed BIOS to run RAM at 100 and never had another problem....

DominicA

never had any probs with DX8 or latest detonators.....

robski

DX8 is slow, not buggy.

Saying that DX8a is supposed to be a lot better.

Id stick with DX7 and Nvidia drivers that are designed for DX7. The latest drivers are for DX8 and are slower (unless you run DX8) than the ones aimed for DX7.

I will post the link to every version of the detonators when I can remember what is is, doh!

Dean, check your system temp, its probably not the core of your geforce thats overheating, but the ram. This is running pretty fast, and is susceptable to overheating. You can put heatsinks on your RAM (extreme I know), or I strongly recommend the card cooler. Remember, heat will degrade silicon based products over their lifetime. Maybe today your geforce is happy, but if its cooler, it will he happier for longer

robski

Lee

Athlon / VIA / AGP4x just doesn't work. I've built 4 systems now using different boards (abit, asus) and different nvidia boards (creative, prophet)

in your bios change the system from Optimal to Normal if its asus/abit. This reduces AGP to 2X.

Don't worry about the performance difference. Its worth about 7fps.

I run 1280x1024 full 32bit colour and detail on mine at AGP2x and get 40-90fps.

AlexM

Try this site for all recent Nvidia drivers:

dsmith

If i'm changing driver versions do I need to be trying to delete all the old files ?.Currently I use the update driver button buried in device manager (win98)

Thinks to try then...

1) AGP 2x on current drivers
2) Different AGP driving value
3) DirectX8
4) Case off
5) Nvidia 10x drivers.....

I'm 99% sure I've tried 1 but its relatiely straight forward to try again.

Hmm I think i'll ghost it before I try 3.

Unfortunately it can take up to an hour in UT before it crashes (Crashed twice last night in 2 and a bit hours ?). So whose up for 5/6 Hours of UT tonight to test my PC ??

I'm not worried about sacrificing a bit of power for reliability.... (no ecu chips in my impreza )

Dean

DazV

Unreal's engine has been totally useless with non Voodoo graphics cards.

I remeber playing Deus Ex on my PIII-800, 256MB, GeForce DDR, etc.. and it was crawling during the 'Liverty Island' sections.

Apparently there's been a boat load of D3D patches for Unreal. In the words of Soccer AM, ITS A DISGRACE.