Excuse me for bumping in here. But I think the reason for x-fi's crackling and such is because the drivers for it were built using directsound to get to the kernel (been a while sense I read it, theres a link floating around somewhere on the creative site that explains better). Because vista has an entirely difrent architecture it adds a few more steps when going from directsound to kernel, so it de-syncs, which is where the artifcats come in. From what I read at the site, they recommend developers using OpenAL to fix this(it can bypass directx related things). It sounds like they've given up hope until they can find a better solution then to push out something that works. I'm no computer engineer or something, so I'm not 100% on the details here, but I think if you dig around Creative's site a little you'll find the article that explains the whole thing.
I managed to play empires on my Vista-Laptop @ 10fps Only crashed the first time just before the map itself is visible. I didn't get a crash log though. But meh It worked the second time I tried to get on the server. Oh and the laptop is a Compaq Presario V6500 Notebook PC. well more specifically the V6580ED version
BF2/BF2142 crackling has been around...as long as BF2/2142 has been around - its an OpenAL issue. Any other crackling is due to PCI latency issues. CL would blame motherboards for not adhereing to standards - and while this is PARTIALLY true, CL designed their hardware for best case scenario. I have no drop in audio quality in Vista, but BF2/2142 still makes noise. If I manually patch up OpenAL I can make it work though...other people do have X-Fi problems in Vista that are documented. Oddly, I have been exempt from those problems...instead EMP crashes.
I'm a bit confused as to what fixed it. A few things could have: RC20 might have. There has also been a MSFT patch for Vista fixing up memory management issues: http://thehotfixshare.net/board/index.php?automodule=downloads&showfile=2840 ATM, you can only get the patch by contacting MSFT (will be included within a windows update soon enough, will be in SP1 for sure)...or using google and looking for it. :-p. I think the MSFT patch did it, but maybe Krenzo made some source code changes in Empires? True test will be firing up Insmod or other source SDK base mods. Thanks for the help/support guys. I'll advise as i test other mods, I hope the problem never resurfaces.
Update: The link I had originally for the patch went poof, and MS has decided to make this patch public: For 32 bit For 64 bit Again, if people need the fixed EXE, PM me - I know my fixed EXE has helped at least one person. Oh, and a belated reply: Yep, patch did it for me.
Installed Vista this tuesday, installed empires yesterday. Yesterday it crashed randomly, rough approximation would be every 10 - 15 minutes. Haven't played much (obviously), but it did crash about 4 times. Well actually that's not true. All it really did was freeze. I had to go back to windows to shut it down there. Today it was different. I installed that 32bit patch RA showed us. Since then it does behave strangly. I've had empires: - crash during mapchanges (so far without exceptions) - do something weird when connecting for the first time. I could hear the game, but i was on my desktop. If i used alt-tab (with aero), the picture shown with empires was my desktop with an edge on it. - crash during a map change, but for once with a very simple error message: ____________ Engine error (title of the window) ____________ Out of memory (the message, no more no less) (OK button). ____________ EDIT: When i had that 'out of memory' message i decided to increase the virtual memory. Vista used 20xx (forget the exact amount), but they recommended 3069. So i changed it to 3069. I've been able to play canyon (last few minutes) - district - money (only a few seconds before map change) - escort- isle (first few minutes) without crashing once! It seems as a much too simple fix, but considering i used to crashed EVERY time on mapchange + some extra random crashes it does at least seem to have helped. Afterall i have played more then an hour (almost 2 i think), divided over 5 maps now. Maybe other people could test it to see if it works? I'll be testing some more myself. I really hope this works. Oh yeah, for the people who don't know about virtual ram and want to test this. I think virtual memory is used as if it were ram (as in ddr2 ram). The only difference is that virtual ram is actually a part of your hard disc, and is only used when software needs more than the amount of ram you have installed. The main problem with virtual memory is that it is A LOT slower (because it's on the hdd). Where can you change the amount of virtual ram? - I usually right click on 'my computer' => properties (note that my windows is a dutch version, so i'm trying to guess how it would be called in an english version ) - In properties click on 'advanced settings' (left side) - go to the tab 'advanced' - Here you'll have 3 parts, the top part should handle visual effects, memory usage, etc => click on settings (or whatever it's called in english) - go to the tab 'advanced' - the bottom part should be about virtual memory => click on 'change' (again, it could be called settings, or something else) - fill in the amount of virtual memory yourself (1.5 times the amount of ram you have installed on your mainboard - i use the same amount for both fields) For example i have 2 GB ram, so i typed in 3069 or something like that. Vista will show their recommendation at the bottom of that page. EDIT2: I crashed again. I'm buying a switch so my old pc has access to the internet as well, so i can play source games on that one.
Silk....did you read this thread? The answers are contained within. The out of memory can easily be caused by the VRAM problem, that the post right above yours has links to a patch that addresses this problem. If that does not work, I can link you to my fixed EXE for the large addx aware stuff. System specs help.
Yeah i read everything, and i installed that patch, but after instaling it empires just acted even more strange. About that fixed EXE. I must admit i don't really understand what you are talking about. I don't even know what addx means. What exe did you fix, and what did it change? Specs: CPU: Core 2 duo E6750 VGA: 8800 GTS RAM: 2 GB DDR2 Vista: Home Premium 32 bit version
The fixed EXE enables programs to use over 2 GB of address (addx = address) space - it makes the program large address aware. I detailed this earlier as well. Check your PMs.
Do want ! :D I'd love to have a copy of this rampantandroid and if others are find this useful i'll post it on my website where the RCs are mirrored (i'll PM you with my email address)
Haven't crashed so far, then again i thought i had found a solution last time after playing a few hours without crashing, so it's too soon to say for sure if it works.
As you have found out, I've got it on my own site, though I've not made the link public yet. @Silk - you haven't crashed yet? Awesome! What changes did you make?
Running it fine on vista here. I have some difficulty joining servers sometimes, but that's just something I associate with source, I get it on GMod sometimes too, it gets stuck at the 'sending client data' phase.
Again, its very system dependant. This MAY seem counterintuitive, but BETTER gaming systems with better videocards will have the problem, not lesser systems. So if you have a cheaper videocard, you don't see this issue.
My computer is a couple of years old but it was top of the line when I bought it, it runs a pair of 7800GTs, which are a little dated now. I did just experience a crash loading emp_money, I noticed someone else mention this, is it a known issue with the map?
This is probably a question you're sick of but where would I find the crash dump? Wait nevermind, I found a thread about it. I don't have one. I'll be sure to send one next time I crash.
And that's why you don't crash from memory issues. THey are 256 MB each - and windows sees a total of 256 MB of VRAM - MUCH different from an 8800 GTS with 649 MB of VRAM.
