Vista, an 8800, and a lot of pain.

[CameronMcDonald 146]

Hello all, I'm posting this here because I'm about to rip my head off in frustration. I'm running Armed Assault on:

Intel C2D 6600 @ 3.5GHz

ASUS EN8800GTX @ 630/975MHz

Creative SoundBlaster Audigy 2Zs

ASUS P5W DH Deluxe

2GB Corsair RAM @ 667MHz

Vista Ultimate

Western Digital 36GB 10,000RPM Raptor w. 16MB cache

Western Digital 150GB 10,000RPM Gaming Edition Raptor w. 16MB cache.

Now, this is all well and good, I have no problems, except that I'd like to be able to have texture quality above normal. Everything else is set on very high and runs like a charm, albeit with texture quality on normal.

The second I put texture quality on high or very high, I get the dreaded and much-despised "cannot create system memory surface" error. The maxmem=512 command is no help at all, and I've tried to solve the issue with version 1.5 and the latest beta. Also, I've rolled back through 3 separate beta and WHQL driver releases for the card from Guru3D, and searched the forums. No luck.

Is anyone else getting this evil problem, or is there any other solution I might try to circumvent this evil problem that I can attempt? Thanks for reading.  

[CameronMcDonald 146]

OK, I just discovered a thread 8 pages long concerning this specific problem - I'll take a look there. Exactly how I missed it with the forum search function, I'll never know. Admins, please lock this thread, I apologise for wasting everyone's time here.

[-DirTyDeeDs--Ziggy- 0]

I found your story heart wrenching

I suggest you use XP!

ArmA + 8800 + Vista = many stories of bad experiences.

[guerilla -MCY- 0]

have you tried the latest 32 bit Nvidia 8800 BETA driver ?

http://downloads.guru3d.com/download.php?det=1611

[CameronMcDonald 146]

You mean the 101.70s? Yeah, I gave them a whirl, and I'm still getting the same issue. I check ASUS support and Guru3D almost every day in the so far vain hope that a new, all-conquering driver will come out. Thanks anyway, mate - did they work for you?

Miffed is too weak a word, I mean, I have what's currently the most powerful graphics card on the planet, a processor running around 600MHz faster than the X6800, decent RAM, a 750W PSU and my favourite game keeps crashing. <Sigh>

[sickboy 13]

Heya Camm8! Nice to read you once more

You bstrd   you squashed 100mhz more out of ur CPU's...   wait until my "Poor-FSB-Mobo" gets replaced  

Try disabling Anti Aliasing when you turn up the texture details. Also, maxmem=512 is very poor, lets try 1024 of coarse

You forgot a few things btw:

"Most Powerfull Video Card on the Planet" ... With worst driver support and loads of Issues atm

"Vista", which is known to be an Ass with Games in general, and ArmA for sure

[CameronMcDonald 146]

Nice to see you too, sickboy. I actually got my 6600 up to 3.7GHz with my cooling, but throttled back to 3.5 as it didn't effect my benchmarking all that much, and I'd like to have my chip for another couple of years.

I agree about the 8800's problems, but usually I find I can fix these things, being decent with computers. Insurmountable problems irritate me, and these constant crashes make texture-testing and mission making nigh on a suicidal experience.

I read in the main Vista thread that the maxmem fix was an XP workaround only. I'll fiddle with my settings, I don't think AA is all that important anyway. Thanks for your help, bud.

[sickboy 13]

Nice one

If you want to boot up ArmA for Editing and alt-tab a shitload... try running it in windowed mode... Either by using arma launcher and configure it for windowed mode or add to arma shortcut:

-x=1600 -y=1200 -window

Change x/y to any window size you like.

[Tracer Gun Kata 0]

Until the gold edition of Nvidia Vista Drivers are out I use the follow settings in game which were from another user on the BIS forums. Runs stable, looks good, plays solidly @ 85fps in all areas.

8800 destruction tested 768MB VRAM (1600x1024,)

Single Player/Multiplayer best look + FPS

Viewrange: 1200-1800

Terrain Detail: low*

Object Detail: very high

Texture Detail: low*

Shading Detail: very high

Post Process: LOW*

Anisotrophic: very high

Shadow Detail: OFF or VERYHIGH

Antialiasing: NORMAL

Blood: High

[-DirTyDeeDs--Ziggy- 0]

You have a computer built for gaming, WHY ARE YOU USING VISTA?

LOL, my computer is a 2001 Dell Dimension on XP, and my game runs like crap, can anyone help me?

[CameronMcDonald 146]

Sounds like a plan, maestros, I will give it a go.

Btw, here is a happy screenshot of what I get if my settings are too high, ie, an imminent "cannot create system texture" crash is about to occur.

I name it, Playdough Assault. Poor, I know.

Ziggy - because I'm one of those annoying "must-be-up-to-date-with-everything" blokes. I couldn't go back to XP now, anyway - Armed Assault is my only game that isn't working well. Games like Oblivion even seem more stable under Vista, despite the shoddy drivers.

Tracer Gun Kata - mate, you've earned yourself a potential beer - those settings are insofar rock solid. Not a single crash or Playdough yet, although I've only played for 20 minutes. I'll keep you posted.

[-DirTyDeeDs--Ziggy- 0]

HAHAHAHA ask a silly question, get a silly answer!

good luck with that!

Try Evolution coop! That should make you smile again.

[dirtylarrygb 0]

Sounds like a plan, maestros, I will give it a go.

Btw, here is a happy screenshot of what I get if my settings are too high, ie, an imminent "cannot create system texture" crash is about to occur.

I name it, Playdough Assault. Poor, I know.

Ziggy - because I'm one of those annoying "must-be-up-to-date-with-everything" blokes. I couldn't go back to XP now, anyway - Armed Assault is my only game that isn't working well. Games like Oblivion even seem more stable under Vista, despite the shoddy drivers.

Tracer Gun Kata - mate, you've earned yourself a potential beer - those settings are insofar rock solid. Not a single crash or Playdough yet, although I've only played for 20 minutes. I'll keep you posted.

Turn down texture to normal, even with beta arma, run texture filter high not v high.

LOD seems to not play up then, occasional you might see your PC play catch up when you die and things suddenly come into focus but they dont seem to stick.

I'm starting to wonder if this problem is WORSE for either dual core users or Intel DUO.

I'm not getting the bug any more, I updated Bios for mobo and GPU. Got rid of ntune and nvidia memory controller. made sure i had lastest XIFI drivers, don't use hardware for sound. Run 3dguru beta 8800 drivers.

Its gone 4 days not, no LOD issues or performance loss. Also game seems to work better in 32 HDr.

Have maxmem set to 1024, using xp sp2.