Hello This is my first post here since I recently registered here. Originaly I registered because I was in need of help with this freezing problem. I recently solved it by moving from Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit to Windows 7 Ultimate 64 RC 7100. But still I would like to do further reaserches on the nature of the problem, meaning whats causing it. Before I found the solution on my own I tried seeking help in lots of differant places: http://vip.asus.com/forum/view.aspx...&board_id=3&model=A7Sn&page=1&SLanguage=en-us - ASUS (manufacturer of my gear) http://forums.epicgames.com/showthread.php?t=691391 - Epic http://www.3dfxzone.it/enboard/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=12877 - 3dfxzone.it (really oldschool community wich I was part long time ago) http://forums.laptopvideo2go.com/to...real Tournament 3__fromsearch__1&#entry118134 - Laptopvideo2go I also tried tons of suggestions to fix the problem, tried modded drivers - nothing fixed the problem backthen. Im currently usind 186.31 forceware (hard to say if they are desktop or laptop since they've been brought to me by windows update). But latest laptop nVIDIA drivers are 186.03. Anyway for the sake of others I dont want to just rest while its solved for me, thats why I want to go to the source of the problem and help to eliminate it for everybody that is still having it. I recieved a report in one of my topics that there was a laptop user like myself that noted that ram usage goes up untill game freezes. At this point of my reaserches this is most beliveable theory after excluding overheating wich aint possible since other games doesent freeze my lap. If anybody encountered similar problems with Unreal Tournament 3, please share and discuss your experiences here.
well i would say its OS and your laptop and rather weak gpu in it.. plus slow disk, i checked other treads and saw you had problems with Fallout3 too, there are some tweaks for the game like background caching etc..that could fix the freezes, also some patches had problems with the game that could make those freezes.. Yes win7 is allot more optimized and cpu/mem friendly than vista thats why you saw improvements.. Btw did u try winxp? Because vista tends to be a memory hog sometimes and maybe you ran out of it and it started to use pagefile..maybe same in win7 since it has roots from vista? And last but not least UT3 really likes quads and a "good" gpu if you had 9600mgt in it it would be allot better, but ye you can't do anything about that.. I would give win xp a try with 186.18 drivers. edit just saw, there aren't such drivers at nvidia, for xp there is 185.85whql, vista 186.03, win 7 same 186.03. http://www.nvidia.com/Download/Find.aspx?lang=en-us just select your gpu and operating system and you're good to go lol.
Dont know what are you talking about Fallout 3 and what threads you checked as this is my first one but I never had any problems with Fallout 3 My point is if it was overheating problem as some people suggested it would freeze too. Win7 is not the same as Vista cuz if it would be the same it wouldnt solve UT3 freezing problem. Im satisfied with my laptop as it is and belive me it aint weak as your reading skills. 186.31 drivers cant be found officialy at nVIDIA since theyve been brought to me by Windows Update as I said. I will provide a screenshot for those that dont belive over here: (hope I will be excused for polish version, but as you can see the numbers it wont be hard to figure everything out) I was suprised too, but when I used Driver Agent or some Microsoft Tool called Beta Advisor or something like that it said that it will have better driver for me and it didnt lied. While playing UT Im not getting my frame rate below 60 in most critical moments and normaly it doesent fall below 89 fps. (the screenshot from sys req labs analysis was made back when I was using vista and they indicate that I will have a great experience with my laptop and it was not wrong) But this topic is not about my gameplay satisfaction. Its about getting to the core of the problem and finding a solution for others that still havent fixed the problem for themselves. Sure it will run better on quads with better gfx cards, but hey in case you didnt read the minimum and required reqs it fits both minimal and recomanded for me so sit back with your advices son, im fine. I want to see people here that are having problem with the game and describing it not somebody that wanna be a smartass
ok... since im a smartass, whats with all the links you posted above ?? espceilly the one from asus forum, isn't that you?? anyway doesn't matter since you already fixed that issue. win7 is the same as vista excpet few better optimizations, say what you want about it.. I wouldn't say it because of overheating since these gpus are made to work fine in laptops, no matter the heat. Could be some issue in vista and certain laptop configurations since it has that powersaving feature..maybe win7 has better; i didnt try it yet. And what about winXP did you try UT3 there too? Just to see if its lag free too.
Is there a chance you cpu "downclocks" due to overheating.. Got an Acer Aspire 5520g here, I know it's an AMD but anyways.. it's heating up preety much, and when it comes to 70° or so (don't remember) it lowers the multiplier by itself too cool down.. even flash games become unplayable then.. Dunno how this works, but it may be your problem aswell..
I had the same problem with the game freezing after about 10 minutes of play and solved it by changing one of the sound options in the game as my sound card did'nt support it.
Windows XP is total garbage. It maybe light, but it wont handle most of the things in modern laptop. Interesting theory. The downclock theory probobly applies to graphic card only. Since shader clocks are much lower due to power saving feature wich can be turned off in both ac and battery modes by a small program called powermizer. I have tried that, but its the wrong trail. The most probable trail is about RAM usage and how Windows use it or rather its inferior RAM managing. Im familiar with that. Its called OpenAL (sound acceleration). Never had problem with that whenever it was on or off, but Im familiar that some other people have problems with it. Most visible sign is when you cant operate trough the menus or even start a game as it freezes in the menus. This one is easy.
I'm curious to know whether you have made the UTEngine.ini tweaks or not. Back in the day, these settings fixed the majority of crash problems: [Engine.ISVHacks] UseMinimalNVIDIADriverShaderOptimization=True bInitializeShadersOnDemand=True DisableATITextureFilterOptimizationChecks=True PumpWindowMessagesWhenRenderThreadStalled=True [SystemSettings] OnlyStreamInTextures=True Most of your links were driver suggestions. Maybe the .ini tweaks are worth a try!
Trust my my fellow Unreal gamer that backthen when I was searching for a solution for myself I tried everything not only from drivers but everything everywhere including tweaks/optimizations etc. Nothing suggested officialy by epic nor epic forum users claiming they found a "cure" to the freezing problem didnt solved the problem. This settings doesent make any differance I tried them ages ago. Its clear to me that Windows Vista is a piece of **** and the cause of it was inferior RAM managment not RAM frequency. But that was my case. I aint that low on ram. Having 3 gigs of 4 gigs that are possible to install. Friends of my been telling me that when I ever wanna run a game on Vista I should count into reqs additional 1 gig of ram and this is an irony. They were right. As for somebody claiming that Vista and 7 are same I will tell this: Win7 is what Vista was supoused to be, but it aint. Conclusion is that they are not the same apart from similar looks. Im not a fanboy of MS and I never will, but got to hand them- their system is awesome and its in late beta stages/after beta when it is proven to be so great. I just hope they wont mess up final version. Im not saying that even Win7 is perfect (I had 2 or 3 bluescreens and complete system freezings during web browsing), but hey nobody and nothing is perfect. Dont know if you people noticed but everyone whines about new Windows systems when they are fresh to the market. Just go back to the times when WinXP was realessed - people were whining and throwing **** about that system too. Even Win2000 wasnt flawless. Nothing is and nothing will ever be as long is created by human.
No I'm talking about CPU downclocking, didn't notice any gpu downclocking, but worth a look thou.. What's your ram usage btw?
My Nvidia cards all the way from my 8800 Ultra from PNY, to my GTX 285 from MSI to my GTX 280 from EVGA...all freeze and cause Nvidia display driver to stop responding no matter what I do. I Sold my one EVGA GTX 280 I had for SLI, and got my HD 4870 X2, no problems with UT3 since. I'm not bashing, I'm just sharing my personal experience. Also I've tried every driver up to 190.38 WHQL, and get the same thing. I'm not sure what to think, UT3 just doesn't seem to like Nvidia for w/e reason. I know for a fact there is nothing wrong with the cards, I'm pretty sure it's the game, as the GTX 285 plays other games fine. I can't blame the Nvidia drivers (I don't think so at least). It's hard to say.
