Hey, I do a lot of c++ graphics programming and recently I got a new computer - within the last two weeks. It used to be that on my old computer some games would just stall for moments at a time - although the interval between the stalling seemed consistant. Within the past two weeks I haden't experienced this problem at all on the new computer (using CounterStrike:Source to test) but then, as of today, CounterStrike:Source started to jump the same way which the old computer did. Is there any reason for this? I mean could it have been something I mis-coded? I do make sure to free up all allocated memory in my programs and use code to clean up links to the opengl and directx apis when needed. Even assuming I didn't clean up all my code, is there something I could be doing which could be causing the momentary jumps? It seems to me more like a hardware problem but I'm unsure. In anycase, on my old computer I had a nVidia Geforce 2 MX/MX400 -32mb- series. On the new computer I use a nVidia Geforce 7300 LE -256mb. Also, could sound have anything to do with it? I installed Stronghold Crusader today on the new computer and it crashed mid-way while playing a voice sound - it had done similar things to this before in the older computer. I think that CounterStrike:Source, on the new computer, jumps as soon as loud noises are about to be played (ie gun fire etc), which kinda' puts me in some trouble if I'm about to shoot somebody and suddenly everything slows down. Any suggestions as to what's causing this or how to fix it? Much Appreciated, Mike

Make sure you have all the drivers/patches for your hardware.
Make sure it is all updated.

Find out about known problems with any of the hardware you have (ie some Nforce4 boards have known
network problems, some Intel integrated sound cards are known not to fully support the features they
say they do)
And consider that some games, even with all the patch and driver updates will still need special
treatment when run on a multi-core machine.


Try turning down the setting from max. My integrated sound card doesnt work well with a game set
to anything more than 16ch.


Check your codex. Some codec packs interfer with games. Ie. I unknowingly screwed up FEAR's sound
cauze of a codex pack I installed. Some sierra games use a video codex for the movies that can be
screwed up aswell.

Thanks. I'll take a few looks into the drivers for the cards.

Although, since it did just start yestarday, and this is a very new computer, I can only assume that it was something that Stronghold Crusader did - "Some sierra games use a video codex for the movies that can be screwed up aswell" - It's that kinda' information on the front of a game box that would be helpful.

Is it a split-second pause roughly every 2-3 seconds?

If so, try chaing Direct3D to run in release mode rather than debug mode.

Quote: Original post by PlayfulPuppy
Is it a split-second pause roughly every 2-3 seconds?

If so, try chaing Direct3D to run in release mode rather than debug mode.

That used to be the case in the old computer. In the new one it appears that it does that split-second pause just moments before a sound is played. I don't really know how to change from the debug version to retail version - I thought I had set up the new computer only with the retail versions.

Looking at dxdiag, there is one file, d3dx8d.dll, which is a debug version. Can I change it to retail?

Edit:
KulSeran, do you know which codecs should I remove?

[Edited by - jafe on February 14, 2007 7:52:20 AM]

Ok, just now I was attacked by the "blue bios screen of death". I was working away and listening to music (in WMP) and it poped up - the sound that had been loaded into the sound card buffer started looping. For a computer this new to have the bios error screen pop up, it scares me. Does anybody have any ideas why this happened? Also, the error message was something to do with the usb ports - I didn't read it exactly - just scanned it. The only things attached to usb were my modem and scanner.

I had a similar problem when I first got WarCraft III. I'm not sure If I needed a new video card, or I needed new drivers. Your problem is probably drivers.

But I haven't had the blue screen of death in nigh-on a decade, so I don't know what your problem could be. Maybe a virus? Did you forget to put some protection on your computer right away?

I leave this to those wiser than I.

- theStormWeaver

Quote: Original post by theStormWeaver
I had a similar problem when I first got WarCraft III. I'm not sure If I needed a new video card, or I needed new drivers. Your problem is probably drivers.

But I haven't had the blue screen of death in nigh-on a decade, so I don't know what your problem could be. Maybe a virus? Did you forget to put some protection on your computer right away?

I leave this to those wiser than I.

- theStormWeaver

Did you get it fixed? If so, how? Also, the computer came with anti-virus software: 90 subscription to McAfee - and it hasen't been 90 days yet.

Hey, for anybody else that has ever or is having this problem. I think the problem lay in XP itself. I was looking over the update details for the xp patches and one of them caught my eye - don't ask me to quote which one though. It said that there had been a fault in XP's dealing with sound and that I needed to update it with such-and-such a patch (windows automatic updater) inorder to stop XP from corrupting the memory everytime sounds were played. I got the update earlier today - while I should have noticed it earlier I just never looked. So far computer's seems to be normal and not stalling. :)

From what I gather it could be a conflict between the sound card and the graphics card drivers. One thing you can try, is moving your PCI sound card to another PCI slot, if you have one. Uninstall drivers, change the slot, and then reinstall.

Could also be a conflict between your drivers and your devstudio platform sdk, or the directx sdk, but it's unlikely. Maybe a bad install.

All else fails, re-install. Also, if you have a PCI card, check if the onboard sound (realtek AC97 usually) is disabled.