BIS - Please fix the game!

[Kubicide 0]

BIS - this game worked fine until after 1.08. Now I get constant CTD at random. Yes, it could be the Evolution missions since they are so popular but I doubt it as this happens with other missions.

Specs:

6600 Intel Dual Core

Intel BX2 mainboard

4 GB ram (<<< is this an issue? - I notice the /3GB switch cause ArmA to lock when used)

Creative Xfi

8800 GTX (162.18 currently)

This game worked absolutely fine; solid; until around 1.05 then I started to experience CTD's. Nothing has changed on this gaimg machine.

Really becoming a frustrating thing as I used to have a good time when I bought the game - now it sux.

Yes, I've tried all the recommendations and fixes listed in the forums. Some work for awhile then teh CTD will reappear. No AV is running; I'm not a nube at PC's; other apps are stable as a rock. It is just this game and only this game that has changed since the 1.08 patch and beyond. I can go back and load the older version and have a stable game. It is definately seomthing related to the 1.08 and memory errors.

Please don't say it is Nvidia's fault as their drivers are working with other sims and games. Doubt it is an 8800 issue as IT WORKED BEFORE 1.08 just fine...

[Raz0rx 0]

Yo dude, i got the same mobo and cpu and sound card as you, but with only 2gb of 800mhz ram and an X1950XTX... i'll play around with ArmA (as i just re-bought it in English, finally) later when i get home, and install and patch it up to 1.08.

See if i get crashes too... if not, i'd say it could be a prob with your ram, or OS?

What OS are you using, anyway?

[-Puma- 2]

try with maxmem=2048 or 1024

[Barry the baldy 0]

I would remove 1 stick of RAM since 4GB isn't going to do anything 3GB won't.

Also having all 4 RAM slots full can actually be detrimental to performance. Ideally you want a 1GB stick on each Bus line.

So you have your 4 RAM slots.

| | | |

This is how you'll get best performance:

| = No Ram in slot

+ = Ram in slot

+ | + |

That way you have 1GB transferring on each Bus line simultaneously and is the most efficient way to setup your RAM. Any more will actually take away from your performance in gaming. If you want 3GB which in my experience is the most you want to have installed then have it:

+ + +|

To take it a little further the way it works is you have your 4 RAM slots:

|     |      |     |

They transfer down only 2 BUS lines so they need to be divided.

RAM SLOTS-  |   |          |   |

BUS LINES-    \  /           \   /

                    |              |

So having them all filled up will cause a single bus line to try and transfer from 2 sticks of RAM instead of just the one. Hence the decrease in performance if you have 4 sticks of RAM cramming information down only 2 bus lines. Much better to have 2 Sticks smoothly streaming info down 2 bus lines.

[-Puma- 2]

I would remove 1 stick of RAM since 4GB isn't going to do anything 3GB won't.

Also having all 4 RAM slots full can actually be detrimental to performance. Ideally you want a 1GB stick on each Bus line.

So you have your 4 RAM slots.

| | | |

This is how you'll get best performance:

| = No Ram in slot

+ = Ram in slot

+ | + |

That way you have 1GB transferring on each Bus line simultaneously and is the most efficient way to setup your RAM. Any more will actually take away from your performance in gaming. If you want 3GB which in my experience is the most you want to have installed then have it:

+ + +|

To take it a little further the way it works is you have your 4 RAM slots:

| | | |

They transfer down only 2 BUS lines so they need to be divided.

RAM SLOTS- | | | |

BUS LINES- \ / \ /

| |

So having them all filled up will cause a single bus line to try and transfer from 2 sticks of RAM instead of just the one. Hence the decrease in performance if you have 4 sticks of RAM cramming information down only 2 bus lines. Much better to have 2 Sticks smoothly streaming info down 2 bus lines.

but with only 3 sticks he wont be able to use dual channel...

I think 4 sticks would be ideal since the ram now runs in dual channel. 3 sticks and the RAM is on single channel.

like this:

l l---> channel A

=dual channel

l l---> channel B

opppose to:

l --->channel A

=single channel

l l---> channel B

[Barry the baldy 0]

True, but at least with 3 sticks he still gets 1 GB of uninterrupted data being streamed from the RAM.

Its commonly known all over the hardware industry that its not a good thing to max out your RAM slots.

I personally would never run more than 2GB of RAM at any one time but I'm assuming that with 4GBs laying aorund he won't just discard 2GB and have it collect dust until we get MBs with 4 Bus lines that we can all afford to have installed.

[Mr_Tea 0]

I think you use Vista on that rig, so how about using ArmA on an supported OS, before you ask BIS to fix the game?

Besides that, Arma works for me in version 1.08 and Vista, but because of the better performance i get with Win2K, i don`t play games with Vista atm.

[Kubicide 0]

Thanks for the replies.

Note I'm using XP Pro and not Vista. And I use the 4GB for my other apps (well, 3.x something...! ) just fine. So I can't simply pull sticks to play then reinsert for others - but this isn't the problem. ArmA worked just fine with 4Gig until 1.08 and the beta patch before that. This is the issue; something changed in these updates as 1.05 and earlier was solid. I've reinstalled as well as used the -maxmem=xxxx.

The CTD error is typically the popular "memory surface 8xx7xxx ...".

Other items I forgot to mention was TeamSpeak is usually running; TrackIR USB is connected but not used; am using USB keyboard and mouse. That's it. Only 24 services in the background - no AV or other apps.

Interesting to note that when I use the /3GB in the boot.ini ArmA hangs at "wait a minute...". All my other apps including mainly flight sims work fine when this is used. Just tried experimenting with this switch in 1.08 so I don't know how the earlier builds will respond.

Suspect there mey also be some relationship to the server / mission as it seems the frequency of CTD's is higher on some servers more than others (?). Have also been in Evolution matches where 3 to 5 of us have had CTD'd all at once when assaulting Cayo or some other town - we were close to each other prior to the CTD. Odd...

[Mr_Tea 0]

XP Pro 64 bit Edition?

If yes, the 64 bit hardware drivers are well known for there instability.

[Kubicide 0]

XP Pro 32 bit...

[menos 0]

I experience random CTDs too. I installed ArmA when the 1.08 patch was already out and patched directly to the latest version. Since the beginning I had CTDs with ArmA - and with ArmA only. I have experienced no problems whatsoever with any other application on this machine. Other games that were/ are installed and running fine are Quake 4, GTR2, netKar Pro, Falcon 4 AF, gunship!, and several OpenGL CAx software.

I use WinXP Pro SP2 patched and fixed to 07/2007 , latest drivers and Bios versions for all installed components.

Intel Pentium D805 @ 3.2 GHz,

2GB MDT DDRII 667 (2 x 1GB)

Asrock coredual-VSTA mainboard

Gainward GF 7800GS Bliss 512MB (G71 20/7) 500/700 MHz

I have done anything, I could imagine and anything, this and other boards and websites propose to troubleshoot the annoying instability of ArmA. Everytime, you get the feeling, a new tweak could have some effect (you get some hope after about 10 minutes of playing without CTDs), there you are again.

It´s almost impossible to improve yourself in this game, impossible to nearly enjoy this game, when all the time this fear of an CTD sits in your neck.

Wouldn´t I payed money for this application, I would have trashed it already - if it not was the best you could get in this genre. After calming down after CTDs there is always the need of trying it again.

Too bad,

menos

[Mr_Tea 0]

It seems that i`m one of the happy ones, for them ArmA works great.

Thank`s god that i stayed on Win2K Prof. instead using WinXP, for the coming games i already have Vista.

Arma works for me without using -maxmem, with "only" 1GB of RAM in dual-channel mode, AthlonXP3200+ (Barton), GeForce 7600GS 512MB, Audigy2 and Win2K Professional.

No BSOD, CTD`s or strange texture errors.

Keep all drivers up to date, the BIOS too (very important), use official drivers for best stability.

[Punisher5555 0]

Same here Mr_Tea. I have a similar setup only with 2GB of RAM and dual 3.4Ghz Xeons. I think it is the 7600 GS 512Mb card we are using. I run everything on High. My ArmA runs silky smooth. No CTD's or texture problems.

My rig (HP xw8200):

Dual 3.4Ghz Xeons.

2Gb RAM dual channel

Four 70Gb 10,000 RPM Ultra-SCSI in RAID 10

evga 7600GS 512Mb PCIe (no fan version)

WinXP SP2 (always up to date with latest certified drivers,etc..)

[Kubicide 0]

Troubleshooting Update:

Been able to prolong the CTD by playing around with the Nvidia control panel settings. Using the "Quality - Performance" setting set to performance delayed the CTD. Was originally set to "Application controlled". The reduced image quality using performance mainly came with reduced AF and mip mapping becoming very blurring. Textures do look 'better' with higher contrast and no more stutter when running in trees/thick forests. Hmmmm...

Things tried so far:

- no TeamSpeak; CTD remains

- used older Nvidia drivers back to original 96.85 (?); CTD remains

- updated August 2007 Directx with known PAE bug fix; CTD remains

- updated OpenAL to latest; CTD remains

Note GPU temp during load (at time of CTD) was below 75C or "in the green" using the Nvidia app. CPU and mainboard temps are always low in a very well cooled case.

Pulled 2 Gig and will test with reduced memory tonight.

(Wish BIS would comment on if they have confirmed there is an issue with the 8800 - if they have then I'd simply give up and buy another video card!)

[Rexxenexx 0]

Hey Kube!,

I have a totally different comp than you and I get CTD's for the first time starting when I installed 1.08 Update so I don't think its a hardware issue. My comp is a P4 3.0GHz/2GB RAM/Gf 6800 Ultra. To me it just looks like a typical memory leak, might be related to video card drivers. Sometimes (rarely) I get the low LOD/low FPS/vertex pointing to origin bug, but usually it will freeze for like 3 secs then CTD, AKA Auto-Close . I never had a CTD w/ 1.05 btw.

[Kubicide 0]

Hey Rexx - (sort of) glad to see you have a different h/w setup but having the same trouble! It's starting to get really annoying...

Do you have an Xfi sound card?

I'm going to try the reduced (2 gig from 4) memory tonight then try turning DEP / PAE off in XP. Also going to delete the ArmA cache files again and play with the EAX and h/w audio settings. Really want to try and isolate any hardware issue!

[Rexxenexx 0]

I have an old Audigy 2.

Is your CTD regular? I have it only once in a while and it tends to happen on laggy servers.

[binkster 0]

CTD are not from the actual ram its from the VIDEO RAM. Its been said time and time again, if you have more than 512mb VRAM you run into this problem. SHIFT MINUS FLUSH durring game solves this issue for now.

This is caused from your ram filling to capacity and giving you an error plus lod erros.

HOLD down LEFT SHIFT MINUS(numpad) type the word FLUSH durring game. you will see activated on top left screen. This dumps Vram.

[Kubicide 0]

Thanks Binkster. Note the 8800 was fine until 1.08 then the game became unstable. I've tried the FLUSH command but have still had a CTD shortly afterwards (and, really, does BIS expect people to setup a clock to remind us to do this over and over while trying to enjoy the game?).

Rexxe - the CTD's are real random but the pre-CTD pause or stutter seems to be more noticeable when playing on laggy servers.

[Misfit Leader 1]

I've got lots of CTD because of overclocked hardware (CPU).

Others game were running fine, but ArmA not.. it's not related to heat but well i decide to reduce my overclock and all CTD disappeared.

[Kubicide 0]

Another update:

Had time to complete some limited testing tonight.

Tested:

- 2 gig only; CTD remains

- Xfi h/w acceleration switched to off; no CTD for 1.5 hours

Holding at this point with the audio h/w accel set to off since there was no CTD.

[NetWalker 0]

Another update:

Had time to complete some limited testing tonight.

Tested:

- 2 gig only; CTD remains

- Xfi h/w acceleration switched to off; no CTD for 1.5 hours

Holding at this point with the audio h/w accel set to off since there was no CTD.

Hummm...

I have a X-Fi platinum on my rig and get CTD everytime I play after 20-30 minutes. I use the GAMER profile on the X-Fi panel. Where do I switch this audio h/w accel off?

My actual rig is:

A64 X2 4200+

2 GB RAM

GeForce 7950 GT 512MB

SB X-Fi Platinum

Win Xp Pro 32 bit.

I tried all kind of other suggestions (disabling virtual memory, update all drivers and directX, etc.) Still the CTD remains...

[Kubicide 0]

It's an ArmA setting in the audio section. There is one for EAX and another for h/w acceleration.

Having both selected would cause a crash when I played the demo back in January.

[NetWalker 0]

It's an ArmA setting in the audio section. There is one for EAX and another for h/w acceleration.

Having both selected would cause a crash when I played the demo back in January.

Ok, thanks for the tip. I will try that and let you know what happens on me!

Regards!

[binkster 0]

Its vram, bis added like a default settings for textures, I think this was supposed to be for people with more than 512mb of vram, Not sure though. Anyways like i said before Im sure it will be fixed even if its driver issue or arma issue. Bis is good with patches, look at ofp. They stopped patching at 1.96.