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UT2004 choppy with 8600?

post #1 of 9
11/6/04 at 4:29pm
Thread Starter 
Hi,

I just got my 8600 a few days ago, and am having trouble getting Unreal Tournamnet 2004 working properly.

I can't get it to run decently in the game...its VERY choppy, especially when getting in/out of vehicles.

I'm pretty sure its some kind of setting or something, because Far Cry runs like a dream.

I thought at first it was something I didn't do right when I reformatted the drive and installed WinXP from scratch. But, I made a Ghost backup image of the untouched HD just as it came from Dell, and when I put that back on (with all the Dell bloat), it STILL ran choppy and slow.

It runs fine on my desktop machine with a lowly 512mb RAM and 128mb Geforce 5600pro 128mb.

My 8600's specs are:

1.6Ghz PM
512mb (soon to be 1G)
ATI 9600 Pro Turbo 128mb
60gb HD
WinXP Pro SP2 Slipstreamed
Newest Omega Drivers for video card
All other drivers from Dell CD
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post #2 of 9
11/7/04 at 4:27am
Try disabling preload skins in the settings. Many people are were having the same problems. Read through this thread...

http://www.ataricommunity.com/forums...hreadid=359698
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post #3 of 9
11/7/04 at 7:02pm
Thread Starter 
I think something else is going on...specific to my 8600. While I did check out those posts, that didn't quite fix my problem.

I would start UT2004 and it would just sit there with the loading screen (still in Windows) for upwards of 15 MINUTES! I finally got tired of it and stopped it via Taskmanager (Yes, I have an actual retail copy of the game, no copies).

I then stopped every task via Taskmanager except the WinXP ones (save ALG.exe and Spoolsv.exe) and except the two ati ones. Now, its loads in seconds and framerates are amazing with NO hitches.

I now have to sit down and stop and check each task running in Windows to see what the problem is.

The only things I have running are:

ATI Omega Drivers
Dell quickstart and all Dell drivers (modem, LAN, touchpad, etc) off CD
ZoneAlarm Pro (which I have on the desktop as well)
Kapersky AV (also on the desktop)

Something here is messing with UT...I also have some CD/DVD burning software installed, and I'll check to see it isn't some problem with copywrite progs interfering.
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post #4 of 9
11/7/04 at 7:06pm
EDIT: you alreadt tried that.
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post #5 of 9
11/7/04 at 7:09pm
For some reason, ZoneAlarm has been causing me all kinds of problems on my 8600. Several times today my laptop has hung for four-five minutes. I haven't figured out the cause of the problem yet, but I'm leaning towards some conflict between ZoneAlarm and my Intel 2200 wireless card. I know that isn't too likely, but everything else is configured just like my desktop where ZoneAlarm works fine.

As you work through each process to see which is causing your problems, I'd recommend starting with ZoneAlarm.
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post #6 of 9
11/7/04 at 8:31pm
Thread Starter 
OK, I found it...it was Kapersky! I went through everything one at a time, rebooting each time.

Its Kapersky AV. For me, at least, ZoneAlarm Pro seems to be working well (I don't have the Intel Wireless, I have the Dell A, B, G card).

Man, quiting Kapersky and running UT, it REALLY flies! No hiccups at all and it really looks great.

OK, thats one minor problem taken care of, several more to go...whats with the sound card? It cuts power after 15 secs after the last sound and you can hear an audible "pop" from the speakers.
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post #7 of 9
11/8/04 at 10:58am
Could you tell me what setting you have UT 2004 set on? Res and all that stuff. My 8600 is configured the same as yours, and UT is in the mail right now. thanks.
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post #8 of 9
11/8/04 at 8:31pm
I was going to suggest your AV. I have an issue with my FProt anti-virus preventing Evil Genius from loading.

Glad you got it working. Doesn't UT2004 look perty on the wide screen on max settings????
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post #9 of 9
11/11/04 at 1:16am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gtbuck
Could you tell me what setting you have UT 2004 set on? Res and all that stuff. My 8600 is configured the same as yours, and UT is in the mail right now. thanks.

OK, I originally had it at 1024x768, because thats what I keep EVERYTHING at, even my desktop 19" monitor. All apps, games, etc.

But, just for a lark, I loaded it at max (1600 x 1050) and it ran fine!. I might turn it back down to 1024x768 and turn on AA, because there were some jagged edges, but nothing I'm not used to.

BTW, what is it with AV software and games? Guess they think we have better things to do (yeah, right, with WOW in open beta...)
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