Vista Troubleshooting Thread: The one and only

[sickboy 13]

Thread Purpose

To inform members of problems and their resolutions for playing ArmA on the Vista 32-bit and 64-bit operating system.

This thread should also be the one and only thread to discuss playing ArmA on Vista, mostly about Stability, Performance and Connectivity Issues.

Sticky and lock of old Troubleshooting threads have been requested to Placebo.

Information Resources

Unofficial ArmA on Vista Troubleshooting BIKI Page (will be updated and contains links to old forum discussion threads)

Edited April 10, 2009 by W0lle
Fixed import glitches

[Placebo 29]

Thanks to Sickboy for all his help with Vista issues.

This will be the official Vista support thread, if you have a Vista related problem please first check the linked wiki, if your problem is not resolved in that then please feel free to post in this thread and hopefully other Vista users will be able to help you out

[sickboy 13]

New Creative X-Fi Vista Drivers out 2_15_0004, ssaid to fix the 4GB Memory Large "GRSHHHHSHSHSHHSHSH" sound coming out of speakers, aswell as the "Process has Locked Pages" Bluescreen that was present in .0003 release:

Fixes:

• Resolves an issue for Windows Vista 64-bit systems with 4 GB RAM
  
• Resolves loud speaker noise when restarting your computer
  
• Resolves an issue that causes OpenAL games not to respond
  

Edited April 10, 2009 by W0lle

[Lepardi 0]

Any idea when are the WHQL ones coming out? Will they come out for XP too?

[Evishion 0]

New Creative X-Fi Vista Drivers out 2_15_0004, ssaid to fix the 4GB Memory Large "GRSHHHHSHSHSHHSHSH" sound coming out of speakers, aswell as the "Process has Locked Pages" Bluescreen that was present in .0003 release:

Quote[/b] ]Fixes:

Resolves an issue for Windows Vista 64-bit systems with 4 GB RAM

Resolves loud speaker noise when restarting your computer

Resolves an issue that causes OpenAL games not to respond

oh finally.. installing pleas please please

EDIT: meh, still wont start properly..

[sickboy 13]

oh finally.. installing pleas please please

EDIT: meh, still wont start properly..

It only fixes the things mentioned. Im not sure what you mean with "Still doesn't start properly". If you mean you have 4GB and can't run ArmA, you can use the method on the wiki to start ArmA Properly on Vista +4GB.

[MR Weasel 0]

thanks for the help and sorry i could not find the vista thread befor

[ianwr85 0]

I need some help running arma on vista 32bit with 4gb ram, 8800 ultra video, intel q6850 quadcore processor 3.0ghz.  creative x-fi professional series sound card.

I have tried the things on the wiki page but still get dark grey screen that is only about 3 inches tall. cant read anything.  any help is appriciated.

[CameronMcDonald 146]

4GB RAM = no-no. Either physically remove 1GB, or use bootmgr to load with only 3GB.

Oh, wait. You say you've tried the things on the wiki page. Does that include physically removing 1 GB?

[ianwr85 0]

no i was just reading through the page again im going to remove 1g and see what happens. tks

[mrakos2005 4]

I don't know if I'm covering old ground here but...the black load screen issue with Vista 64bit / 4 gb RAM - The ONLY way I can get the game to run is by dropping back my nvidia driver to version 1.54. I tried all afternoon with various "fixes" (including -maxmem=256), removing sticks of RAM etc etc. If anybody else is still struggling with this one - just use the older nvidia driver - it works! PLEASE let's turn the heat on nvidia to produce a fix!!!

Quad core G0 stepping CPU 2.4Ghz (no o/c)

8800GTX 768MB

4GB ballistix RAM

Vista ultimate 64 bit

[sickboy 13]

@Lord_Mrkos:

When reverting back to 15x.xx series drivers, you will loose the hotfix that fixes the double amount of virtual memory assigned. The methods described in the wiki should give you the best results; using latest drivers and only removing 1GB of RAM through Vista Boot Manager. Which you can easily put back for other games if you have to.

I have not come across a situation that wasn't "resolved" by using the methods in the wiki.

[ManDay 0]

So, as wished by placebo. I'll just say it here:

If you move your "mydocs" DONT put it under "root" such as C:\ or G:\. INSTEAD put it one level below. Such as C:\MyDocs or G:\MyDocs

[CzingerX 0]

Use WINRAR to extract the patch. Using a zip file did not work for me. I have Vista too. Good luck.

[Odie3 0]

I have been playing around with EasyBCD and the Vista removememory command to create multi boots with different memory configurations.

I have found [with my setup] I only have to remove 640 MB of my 4GB System memory, which is the extact amount of memory of my EVGA 8800 GTS card.

So it seems there is some interaction between System memory and Video Card Memory.

[=ACU=Tech 0]

Hi guys,

thought I'd jump in a share my experience, as I finally managed to get ArmA to run really great in Vista x64. My specs are listed in my sig. ArmA:QG runs fine on both configs. Of course I need to disable 1gb of RAM on Config1, using bootmgr (start/run/msconfig/boot/advanced options/Maximum memory: 3072mb). I don't know if it's because of new audio & video drivers, or the fact that I just installed Queen's Gambit, or a combination of all these. I don't have to use the "-maxmem=512" parameter anymore, either because of new nvidia drivers, or because of this update from Microsoft. This update was required when installing Crysis...

But the most interresting thing is using Vista's ReadyBoost. Although I didn't run any real benchmarks yet, I can clearly notice a great improvement in the game's performance. I now got pretty much all settings maxed out, running @1920x1200. The game is fluid as never before. I am using a dedicated 2Gb Corsair Data Traveller USB2.0 stick. You might want to give that a try...

Feedback would be nice too

Regards,

[Perchpole 0]

Hi, All -

I'm running Vista x32 with 4GB and I always encounter the "Black Loading Screen". I became so cheesed-off with the issue that I ignored Arm A for months - until QG was released. I hoped this would address the problem - but still no luck.

I can't believe that we're still being told to edit our boot settings in order to enjoy the game! It's nuts. Other game developers have encountered similar issues (with Vista 4GB systems) but they've tackled the problem head-on and developed a resolution. For example...

The latest version of "Settlers" had a similar problem - not any more...

The latest version of "Pro Evolution Soccer" had a similar problem - not any more...

In both instances the developers fixed the problem.

How come Bohemia won't fix Arm A?

Perchpole

[Seitan 8]

Usually when you update your PC. You would think that game will work better.

Like add 2Gb's (4Gb total) of RAM.

New gfx card (8800GT) and Vista64bit.

Heh but not in ArmA. In ArmA-land you get CTD's and fog. Also you need to gimp down your pc to get game running 4Gb ---> 3Gb RAM.

...and yes i know this all before. But it's still amazing. It isn't like Vista came out yesterday. There has been plenty of time to make somekind of hotfix for the problems. 1.09 patch better fix all these problems.

[Mr_Tea 0]

Vista not an supported OS of ArmA, you`ll see that while looking at the Box, segment System Requirement it says: Windows 2000/XP.

Vista itself still has many strange problems, that may be fixed with SP1.

Use an supported OS and ArmA will work, at least most likely.

[Seitan 8]

Vista not an supported OS of ArmA, you`ll see that while looking at the Box, segment System Requirement it says: Windows 2000/XP.

Vista itself still has many strange problems, that may be fixed with SP1.

Use an supported OS and ArmA will work, at least most likely.

Smartass

And i don't have the box. Also said in my post that i knew these problems already. Just amazes me that there is no rational fix for these problems as ArmA was released one year ago.

There are plenty of other games too which are made before Vista and still they work in it. That doesn't look good in BIS's resume.

Even so i keep playing ArmA with the bis.wiki fixes.

[Odie3 0]

Vista not an supported OS of ArmA, you`ll see that while looking at the Box, segment System Requirement it says: Windows 2000/XP.

Vista itself still has many strange problems, that may be fixed with SP1.

Use an supported OS and ArmA will work, at least most likely.

Ya right, my box (Atari US Version) does not say what OS or hardware is supported at all. So in my case I should be able to load it on any PC with any Hardware I chose. Say from Win95 to Vista 64bit, cause all it says is "PC DVD Online".

Perhaps I have a case to force Vista 64bit Support via legal means.

[Halochief89 0]

Yea same problems with me but the one thing thats different that I see no one has (everyone has 8800 GTS) the strange thing is sometimes it stays black and doesnt go to main menu other times its in the main menu but everything except for the sky and water is black and laggy (which is what everyone is seeing) and another where the island water sky are alright but the soldiers are all coated in Oil so to speak. If 1.09 fixes this or a new solution arises please notify me. I've even tried getting XP dual boot on my computer but the open boot system on my computer wont show XP install boot program when if awakes.

[stompy 0]

Just installed Vista Ultimate 32 bit, added another 2 gig ram (4 total) updated Vista and installed the Sp1 RC. Installed Arma and no probs at all. Using Forceware 169.25 drivers.

[CameronMcDonald 146]

Hmm. Perhaps I should once again add my fourth XMS2 stick back in. Will report back after.

[boNg 0]

Well looks like the patch has done SFA for the 4 gig of ram problem