Slow Computer - Recommendations and help?

from Sins Forums
I'm running an older laptop (relative to computer terms), which is below minimum specs. At one point, I was able to run the game, but it, for no reason I know of, stopped working after I had copied a mod into the SoaSE mods folder. Deleting the mod, reinstalling the game (including clearing out the local settings -> application data -> ironclad games), nothing fixed it. It seems to me like the hardware isn't keeping up, but I'm not sure. I have the game installed on my other computer, which it runs fine, leading me to believe the cd has no corruption. I've gone into the settings area, and turned off the intro movies, changed video settings to the minimum, turned off all the effects, etc - with no change.

For what actually happens - I start the game up, the screen goes black, and on the 1.0 patch - absolutely nothing happened. Screen was black. I found out with ctrl-alt-del that the mouse cursor would appear, and that it affected what the desktop currently would be - I was able to end the process of sins, or right click on the task bar, by approximating where it was I needed to click. Ending it closed it out, and brought me out of the black screen and to the desktop. On the 1.05 patch, the same thing happened, except it included a mini-dump. Now, on the beta patch - I got farther. I ended up getting the sins cursor to replace the default windows one, and then having the mini-dump occur - however - the game closes due to an error, so the black screen doesn't stay up for me.

I have sent off the mini-dump files from the first 1.05 patch version - that was where I got the advice to get the beta, as it includes an engine update to assist lower end systems. I also went from custom modded graphics drivers made for gaming, to the newest stock drivers, in hopes that would assist. Nothing here, however.

So, I'm going to be sending off my latest mini-dump files, and as much info as I can - however, I wanted to put it out so I could get community input and advice. I'm running on a laptop, mind - so no computer upgrades - and a new laptop is out of reach for the moment. I can use my desktop, but it's rare and infrequent that I can, so I don't play more than a half hour, maybe an hour, a week.

System Specs - relevant sections of a dxdiag.

General:
Operating System: Windows XP Home Edition (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 2 (2600.xpsp_sp2_gdr.070227-2254)
System Manufacturer: TOSHIBA
System Model: Satellite A105
Processor: Intel(R) Celeron(R) M processor 1.70GHz
Memory: 446MB RAM
Page File: 366MB used, 3279MB available
DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)

Display:
Card name: ATI RADEON XPRESS 200M Series <-- The information isn't fully listed, but this is an integrated card with 64mb of memory.
Driver Version: 6.14.0010.6833 (English)
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
Driver Date: 7/3/2008 22:23:45

Sound:
Description: Realtek HD Audio output
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
Date: 8/6/2008 17:12:10

Disk:
Free Space: 19.7 GB
Total Space: 95.1 GB
File System: NTFS

In addition, my entire HD is fully defragged under diskkeeper, and defrags again every night, to keep a clean fast hard drive. I also have my registry cleared and defragged, and memory optimized as much as possible, combined with my large paging file.

Any advice would be helpful :)

And as noted earlier - the game HAS been proved to work on the computer.  So, if this is something unrelated to the power of my computer, help would most definitely be appreciated.  I would still take any advice on making the game run smoother, however.
technical
4,088 views 9 replies
Reply #1 from Sins Forums Top
I'm gonna go ahead and say that that system is a bit below the specs...

Maybe updating Windows might do something, but I doubt it.
Reply #2 from Sins Forums Top

I've posted the following to several threads now....something to try.


Sometimes uninstalling the video driver completely helps in clearing out "old" driver data.

something to try:

1. go to "add/remove programs" and uninstall your video driver.

2. go to "device manager" and actually uninstall your video card.

3. reboot the machine, wait for it to "detect" your video card, then re-install the latest ATI drivers. Then reboot again.


Something else. I help out in several flight-sim communities as well and one issue that has been plaquing these communities is intro-movie-crashes (ie. the gamer never gets to see the main game title screen)

One culprit has been a certain video codec called DDFshow which can either be installed by itself or along with other codecs from a codec pack (ie. like the DivX codec-packs etc.) Once this codec is removed, everything works as it should.

Check into it and post back.

thanks,

the Monk

End of quote


Give those suggestions a shot and let me know if you need further assistance. :)

thanks,

the Monk
Offworld Trading Company
Reply #3 from Sins Forums Top
Kitkun - I know from experience it worked, so I'm not quite sure why it isn't now. It ran fine then, except it'd lag the first time I went to any menu - likely from storing the data in the paging file, as the RAM was fully used. After I visited every menu, however, and waited a few seconds on each, the game ran smoothly as long as I didn't play with 10 comps and max fleets :p

Monk, got the drivers fully reinstalled via uninstalling the old ones. 'Twas a pain to actually remove my modded drivers, actually - I had to uninstall quite a bit, only to find out the new drivers couldn't install without a certain patch that allows it to read I have the correct graphics card for those drivers :P But yes, I'm experienced with drivers and got through all that.

Thanks for the suggestions though ^^ Any more could help :p

On looking around - WWW Link this is describing pretty much the exact same problem, though the black screen covers my whole screen - that's almost certainly only from a difference in resolution, though.

From seeing this, I'm wondering if my specs aren't the problem here - though they might contribute a bit.
Reply #4 from Sins Forums Top

Well I have tested SINS (especially beta 1.1) on one of my older notebooks with the following specs: (it runs well but I have to put most graphical options on low)

Centrino 1.6GHz
2GB RAM
128MB ATI X300
Vista 32bit

Is there any way you could beef up your RAM to 1GB? (I know you said "no upgrades" in your OP...but :))
Reply #5 from Sins Forums Top
Nah, laptop isn't an upgradeable version without modding the whole thing, and that'd cost enough that I might as well get a new one - in either case, I don't have the funds available - I need $7k by next summer for summer camps.
Reply #6 from Sins Forums Top
Not to nitpick but I am an HP notebook technician and well your product specs that you have listed don't match up with any of the Toshiba specs for that model either. I went ahead and looked since you had listed such a bogus ram amount. "Memory: 446MB RAM" Doesn't exist in the notebook world. (or the desktop one for that matter) So something is up with that system if it "truthfully" matches the specs you listed. By the way, every major notebook manufacture for the last 10 years has upgradeable ram slots. You might not want to spend the money, but the notebook itself can easily support a ram set upgrade.

If I am correct this is your computer.

http://reviews.cnet.com/laptops/toshiba-satellite-a105-s2001/4507-3121_7-31833555.html?tag=mncol;psum

which came with 512 ram (if its showing lower your ram is starting to become faulty) and can support up to 2gigs. Its a typical notebook with two dimm slots that can each support a 1gig stick of mobile memory at 533mhz. The ram upgrade would run you about 80 dollars and quite frankly is drastically needed in that notebook.
Reply #7 from Sins Forums Top
I'm pretty sure that ATI card is sharing the system RAM, so it appears to have less than what the hardware actually is for.
Reply #8 from Sins Forums Top
I'm pretty sure that ATI card is sharing the system RAM, so it appears to have less than what the hardware actually is for.
End of quote


That ^^

And I didn't know there was slots available on it - however, I don't have any funds that I can spare for extra RAM. I've balanced out a plan for my money.. and I don't have much leeway, even for $80 :/

If it's truly going to be needed, I might rework it - but I'd prefer to avoid that. If I can have it running, then that's enough for me - I can handle the lag.

Besides, the paging file supports it quite a bit. And I know the game runs.

Btw: That laptop isn't exactly the same - I have a larger HD, but it is fairly similar.

I'm specifically considering that link I posted up above - exact same problem really, and this has happened to several people.
Reply #9 from Sins Forums Top
I'm pretty sure that ATI card is sharing the system RAM, so it appears to have less than what the hardware actually is for.
End of quote


Duh I should know that, I am getting too used to working in the new division where I trouble shoot notebooks that actually have mobile video cards with dedicated vram. Well not always I still get some general notebook stuff transferred over by mistake but blah can't believe I slipped on that one.