Vista Troubleshooting Thread: The one and only

[Alont 0]

Hey guys, I am having some problems with ArmA. Every so often my game freezes up, and the buttons in the menus and map editor are very unresponsive. It takes me a good 4 or 5 clicks for them to actually work.

My system specs:

Intel Q6600

Asus Striker Extreme

Nvidia 8800 GTX

Corsair 4GB ram

Two 150 GB HDD in raid 0 (the operating system and ArmA are installed in those)

One 320 GB HDD.

I have Vista home premium 32 bit version.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[kridian 33]

Slow-loading LODs and Textures with the -maxmem switch after about 45 minutes of gaming.

Is there a solution?

Using 1280.

Alont, I haven't a clue as to what could be causing that bro. I would disable your Windows Firewall and any Virus software and see what that does.

[Emryse 2]

All,

I've not had too many issues with ArmA - but I just got Vista 32-bit Ultimate. Haven't had issues with the OS until I tried to get ArmA to work.

I have the Atari PC-DVD version of the game. I installed in the following order:

1.) The original DVD version.

2.) The 1.8 patch.

3.) The 1.14 patch.

4.) The Queen's Gambit expansion.

When I get in the game, I am experiencing the following issues:

1.) The main menu is completely jacked up - slow, sluggish, and the buttons are very unresponsive. I have to re-scroll my mouse over the buttons multiple times to get the button to "register" as active before being able to click it. The frame rates are horrible, and then the background scenery is not working. IN fact, it looks like I'm just under water???

2.) Once I actually get into the game, it's not too bad, but the frame rates aren't great.

3.) My game crashed about 25-30 minutes after playing - I was playing Evo online multiplayer.

My system specs:

Intel Core 2 Duo 2.67 Ghz

4 gigs DDR2 mem

EVGA 8800GTX x2 in SLI

Vista Ultimate 32-bit

ASUS P5N32-SLI motherboard

Soundblaster SE

Plenty of hard drive space, my OS installed on C: and my game installed on D:

My biggest questions are:

1.) What is the correct order and which versions of the patches for install of the game, QG, and up to 1.14?

2.) What is the optimal settings / etc. for tweaking Vista and /or my target line of the QG exe to run the game best?

3.) How can I get the ArmA menus working appropriately again?

ANY and all good insight or info would be greatly appreciated!!!

[stlkd 0]

So my friends got Arma off steam and is having some problems.

everytime you try to start it up you get a message saying. "ArmA has stopped working"

Hes currently running vista. Not sure exactly what the specs are.

Tried downloading the 1.14 patch but it says the cd key is not found. Also installed the directx9 thing, but still no luck.

If all else fails can he get the money back?

[andersson 285]

@Emryse. I dont have vista, I use XP (thinking of converting, thats why Im here). So far my arma experience tells me its not much up to the hardware, its mostly the gfx-drivers. I have big difference in what gfx-driver I use. It can differ from buggy shitty game to a dream. F.ex I tried the latest nvidia drivers last week and the game went s**t.

I would say that you have to try different drivers for your gfx-card. Remember to uninstall the drivers properly. Its also a good idea to make a 'recovery point' so you can roll back if it goes bad.

[mrcheetos 0]

I've looked on the wiki about the black loading screen related to vista..

The problem is that I don't have a 64-bit install, and I don't have 4 gigs of ram.

my specs:

Vista SP1

Nvidia GeForce GTX260 DirectX10. Latest Drivers as of Sept 9th, 2008.

Intel C2D 6600 1.8ghz (Yeah, I know..)

3GB RAM

I get a black loading screen, and black textures on my game. I can't see any of the text relating to the buttons on the main menu.

[Barely-injured 0]

Hi, I recently switched to a new system with vista 64 and while I am not experiencing any of those really big show stoppers that are mentioned in this thread i am having a strange problem.

It seems that vista have some problems with the keyboard I have which renders some keys in arma unusable. For example the " = " button does not work in arma even though i typed it normally now when i go to arma controls and try to assign it to something it registers as " previous track " which i assume is what F11 is supposed to do on the keyboard. same thing with the " ~ " key which registers as " Kanji " whatever that is ? even worse are buttons F6 through F12 which dont work at all in arma and i have no idea what are they registering as.

I am using a multi-lingual PS/2 keyboard but i made sure that language settings are set to english US and i even switched back to my old normal keyboard just to make sure it is not keyboard related. Also all those buttons mentioned seem to work normally in notepad or in a browser but not in arma, although I am having somewhat similar problems in Falcon 4 AF.

I thought it is a vista keyboard driver problem but the buttons for " update driver " and  " roll back old driver " are both grayed out and i cant press them  

Any ideas on where should i be looking ?

[SWAT_BigBear 0]

It's gotta be driver related, or the options within your by-lingual keyboard setup.

Go to Control panel, open keyboard, then select the Hardware tab then properties.

See if you can uninstall it, or Update the driver/s.

Mine shows a Microsoft driver from 6/21/2006.

File Version 6.0.300016386 (vista_rtm.061101-2205)

This came from the original Vista 64 Ultimate full install from Feb/07.

I'm using an older Logitech, and all keys work properly.

[Mountain 0]

Hi, I recently switched to a new system with vista 64 and while

It seems that vista have some problems with the keyboard I have which renders some keys in arma unusable. For example the " = " button does not work in arma even though i typed it normally now when i go to arma controls and try to assign it to something it registers as " previous track " which i assume is what F11 is supposed to do on the keyboard. same thing with the " ~ " key which registers as " Kanji " whatever that is ? even worse are buttons F6 through F12 which dont work at all in arma and i have no idea what are they registering as.

I'm on a new Vista x64 system as well and I'm using a wireless comfort keyboard 1.0a with the same problem.

I have the following drivers listed in device manager under keyboards:

Microsoft eHome MCIR 109 Keyboard

Microsoft eHome MCIR Keyboard

Microsoft eHome Remote Control Keyboard

PS/2 Keyboard

I've never had any multi-lingual settings activated nor does my kb have any characters other then english on the keys, yet I have the same experience as you.

[MigLancer 0]

Aviafan,

adding to the shortcut is specific. I want to confirm yours looks similar to this,

"C:\Program Files\Bohemia Interactive\ArmA\arma.exe" -maxmem=512

notice it starts after the last quotation with a space 1st.

Your pc should run ArmA easily...... starting from scratch might help with a reinstall ArmA.

I am having exactly the same problem. My spec is:

Intel Quad Core 6600, 4Gb RAM, 2xGeForce 8800 GTX in SLI config, VISTA 64.

The game is unpatched, from a British DVD (no add-on yet).

I tried the fix suggested, but it is still the same. Is there really a way to play the game in 64 bit? I am losing confidence...

[SWAT_BigBear 0]

64 bit? No.

It will run as a 32bit app, along with other programs you may have. Open task manager/processes. Anything that 64bit systems must run in 32, will show a *32 besides it's exe name.

Have you tried patching up to 1.14? Starting at 1.11, I was able to use all 4gig of my memory again. Weird part was nvidia drivers improved over time, ArmA 1.08 and 16*.** drivers allowed 4gig.....but no SLI. It was a Nvidia/Vista64 issue).

Then SLI worked with 17*.**drivers. and ArmA 1.08 but guess what didn't work? I had to disable 2 gig memory or I got a blackened menu in ArmA..

It was alot of trial & errors but it's working great for me now. I still use 175.19 Asus drivers due to some key features with the video card apps. i.e SmartDoctor.

Edit, I have not had to use -maxmem=512 since ArmA 1.14 came out.

[MigLancer 0]

I apologise - I understand the confusion now. I don't want to run the game in 65 bit mode, I just want to run it on my 64 bit system...

[Mr_Tea 0]

I am having exactly the same problem. My spec is:

Intel Quad Core 6600, 4Gb RAM, 2xGeForce 8800 GTX in SLI config, VISTA 64.

The game is unpatched, from a British DVD (no add-on yet).

I tried the fix suggested, but it is still the same. Is there really a way to play the game in 64 bit? I am losing confidence...

Why the hell don`t you try to patch ArmA to 1.14 and see what happens than? There is no point to run ArmA without the latest patch.

[MigLancer 0]

OK - I patched the game. Same problem. Even updated to Queen's Gambit. Same problem.

Removed the game and re-installed it... Same problem.

Are there any chances they will release a patch? Shame - I liked OFP and hoped this would fill the gap. It's not that I don't have the computing power...

[SWAT_BigBear 0]

MigLancer, Have you installed Vista SP1?

If not, there has been tons of KB article fixes released over the past 1.5 years. The SP includes them. I had to install every KB fix as they were released, and still new ones coming out. I let my Vista auto update.

btw, does ArmA play using only 2 gig memory?

Your situation bugs me.

[suma 8]

OK - I patched the game. Same problem. Even updated to Queen's Gambit. Same problem.

Removed the game and re-installed it... Same problem.

I understand the issue is annoying and the patching process can be confusing, however from your post I did not understand if you have installed 1.14 patch (http://community.bistudio.com/wiki/ArmA_Update_1.14) - this patch is not included in the Queens Gambit, which is only 1.08.

The 1.14 solved this issue with nVidia cards, therefore the ArmA should work with 64b OS in this version for you. If it does not, I would be very interested to get in touch with you to learn what could be wrong.

[MigLancer 0]

Thank you Suma, I d/l the latest patch and now am able to play the game. Not often that I get help form the people who built the game... You guys are cool!

[SWAT_BigBear 0]

Have you tried patching up to 1.14? Starting at 1.11, I was able to use all 4gig of my memory again.

OK - I patched the game. Same problem.

Language barrier?

I'm pleased your Vista64 is playing Arma as it should be.

[MigLancer 0]

Thanks BigBear - doth posts were there when I checked - I should have thank you as well. Sorry.

[Fansadox 0]

Hi all,

I have some issues with Arma 1.14 + Queens Gambit atm. Checked the forum but i found no real solution for the next,

My game sometimes runs fine for hours and sometimes i get bluescreens in a short time.

Arma first freezes and then after 3 seconds i get a bluescreen with the message : NVLDDMKM

I googled nvlddmkm and it seems to be a driver problem but i tried the following drivers,

Nvidia vista 64 GTX280

177.35

177.39Beta

177.41

177.92Beta

178.13

ATM im running the latest whql 178.13 ones

With all the above drivers i still have the bluescreens.

I have tried the game on vista64bit normal and in XP compatibility mode.

My system specs :

Intel duo E6800 3ghz

Asus Striker Extreme motherboard

8gig ram Kingston DDR2

EVGA GTX280

Creative Xfi-XtremeGamer

Vista 64bit ultimate

thanks for the help in advance

[SWAT_BigBear 0]

Are you using a driver cleaner/sweeper program to insure the old video drivers have been cleaned out?

Also, have you tried without the Creative Xfi-XtremeGamer, try with the onboard temporarily.

Have you installed Vista SP1?

BSOD's are a thing of the past for me, thanks to the 17*.** drivers.

[Fansadox 0]

Are you using a driver cleaner/sweeper program to insure the old video drivers have been cleaned out? Yes i use drivercleaner

Also, have you tried without the Creative Xfi-XtremeGamer, try with the onboard temporarily. No i havent, but after reading i tried and it didnt fix the issue.

Have you installed Vista SP1? Yes +all updates after that.

I think im out of options, anyways i hope ARMA2 has better support for Vista64 cause ive it doesnt im leaving it on the shelf.

[Shashman 0]

So there's me all happy after having built my new system, thinking "Woo! ArmA running perfectly, here I come!" but no... I just get a black screen when I launch it. I've read through the first 10 or so pages of this thread, but nothing's helped.

I've incrementally updated the game, 1.04->1.05->1.08->1.14.

All my system drivers are up to date (I only built the system this week).

This is my system:

Intel E8600

ASUS P5Q Pro

OCZ PC-2 8500 Reaper 4GB DDR2 1066

Gainward 4870X2

Samsung Spinpoint F1 750GB

Now to anyone reading that, that's a very decent setup. Apparently not for ArmA though

Most people here have nvidia graphics, whereas us ATi users seem to be the minority, and as such, there's not much help

[SWAT_BigBear 0]

I believe Suma has stated somewhere...the ONLY fix for the large memory ATI cards, was to run ArmA in windowed mode.

Does that not work for you?

[Shashman 0]

No I haven't tried that actually, I'll go do it now

Edit: Ummm... How do I set it to windowed mode?  

I have the option to run it in 'Normal Window', 'Minimized' or 'Maximized'

EDIT2: OK found it, just add <table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td>Code Sample </td></tr><tr><td id="CODE">-window -x=1920 -y=1200

on the end of the shortcut target line (replace x and y values with desired resolution)

It launched, and it worked, but i must say that I'm not very impressed. I was expecting to be able to run it with all details on maximum settings (I can play FSX and Crysis on max detail settings @ 1920*1200 resolution), but it got pretty choppy when I looked around and when i focused on vegetation. I turned off the post processing effects and that seemed to fix the FPS lag, but then after about 2 minutes of playing, the game froze and I wasn't able to exit or do anything, forcing a system reboot, which I don't like one bit