WiNC

Well after having a lot of issues (most of them being the delay in game play) I was getting (even after fixing the memory) I finally tried a new unoffical driver for the SBLive! This driver called the "KX driver" basically is a replacement for the SBLive!/Audigy drivers which are pretty much designed more for music creators then game players (being a music creator I like them lots (lol)) Anyway - though these drivers don't yet support 3dAudio in games after installing them all games I was having pausing on - and problems with have stopped being problems. No more EAX, but I never used that anyway (don't like it in most cases). Anyway - you can try them to see if they fix your issues - they are on www.kxproject.com. I am not using the A2D codec drivers that they are suggesting you download - but that might be becase I installed SBLive drivers first and then the KXdrivers overtop. Again give them a try - there shouldn't be any harm in doing so. The most important benefit I have noticed is that with Nascar 2002 - after crashing with the SBLive drivers active the computer will almost freeze for a moment while the processor is overtaxed with the SBLive sounds. This doesn't happen with the KX driver... a vast improvement. WiNC

Well surprise surprise - there is new drivers out for SBLive - not offical and don't really use EAX.. they are called the KX - and if you are not interested in multispeaker surround sound EAX stuff then these might help. I installed them - and funny enough - the jumping has stopped in Resist... Hopefully the new SBLive drivers which are coming out soon (one hopes) will fix the problem - but changing drivers with a totally different set (they are unoffical makes mainly for musicians then anything) seems to have helped a lot. WiNC

Yeah Hont I have already done that... I have even turned the games down to 640x480x16bit and the same problem is happening. Funny thing is - I have tried it on a computer with a Geforce 4 MX 460 also and the same thing is happening so I know it isn't a graphic card issue. It is a damn pitty also because I get to the stage where I have to destory the first tanks (not saying where ) and the system just becomes a massive slow heap. I'm not using any no-cd cracks (so I'm hoping it isn't the famed and "useful" FADE protection - but it shouldn't be since they are all originals)... I don't want to go out and buy the Gold edition especially since I'm not that intered in Red Hammer - but if anyone thinks that would slove the problem I will go do that (but will NOT be happy). WiNC

ALDEGA No ACPI is a good thing if it is implemented correctly in the motherboard, Software, and hardware devices. I'm not going to get into a debate with someone who doesn't even seem to know that ACPI is dependant on those things! Now WindowsXP has improved ACPI ten fold since Windows 2000 - and until SP3 comes out Windows2000 still has flaws in its ACPI design (hopefully SP3 will fix some of the holes). However with most cases unless you have a good knowledge of the motherboard, and the motherboard has been design correctly - even WindowsXP and ACPI (when you have a SBLIVE) is a bad thing. It is most apparant when you write music (which I do). Latency is a big problem with ACPI turned on with those cards... instead of 2.33ms you usually end up with about 10ms. Now this also can translate to games - especially in CPU usage when a game is very active. What usually happens if you get chopping or cutting of sound. Usually it means that the sound isn't being played fast enough - and it chops, or dies in memory when overtaken by another sound. Now - again - it isn't a issue with all motherboards. If your computer likes ACPI - then use it - however if you have certain chipsets, or you get problems - if you can reinstall windows and can turn it off in your bios - that would be one of the first things I test (after driver updates of course). And what is in a name is bullshit - again I know a lot more about this then what is written in some spec that you might have or might not have read. You haven't as of yet supplied any evidence that you really understand the principles behind ACPI or how they can affect computer game/operations. placebo There are ways to get it changed without causing too many issues - and you don't have to reinstall (most of the times) - however chaing the basic backbone of how Windows operates the drivers and the system isn't a easy step - and honestly it should be something done from a reinstall. The easiest way to do it is to turn it off in bios - however the new standard states that motherboard companies should NOT include a ACPI toggle switch in their bios for end-users. Thus the only way to do it then is to hope the F6 method works (thus overriding Windows dectection of a ACPI enabled bios) or you can change the Computer Device after install (though this can cause problems - and microsoft does state it isn't the recommended method - but I know from experience it works 90% of the time). BoonieRat Happy to hear that it is helping And yes - the SBLive is one of the big problems. The problem is that Creative Labs have never really established the correct ACPI controls in their driver. On top of that their PCI mastering is very poorily designed causing even more errors ontop of other errors. I'm so surprised that SBLive has lasted as long as it has - however it doesn't seem to have issues with every motherboard/OS on the market. I have personally found that upgrading to WindowsXP has dealt with a lot of the issues I had in Windows98SE/ME - but still it needs fixing. Hopefully the new drivers being released very soon will help fix most of the issues. Regards WiNC

KDog - you would know if you have mutlimonitor - you would have more then one computer screen on your desk I doubt it is multimonitor if you don't use it ... (and it sounds like you don't) I would suggest you supply us with some information like what devices your computer uses (ie, video card, sound card, etc) and also what drivers you are using. Regards WiNC

Are you by any chance using a 1) Multimonitor layout (ie more then one screen) 2) Have anything open in the background? I have noticed that if you have multimonitor active while playing OpF it can sometimes cause the screen to go strange and show the "close" button at the top of the screen. If you have some IE webpages open also it will sometimes take over the top of the screen and cause the same thing. I find the safest way to play OpF is to turn off Dual monitors - and also minimize (or better yet close) any programs that are not related to system or game play. If none of this apply - sorry WiNC

Aldega: Yeah that is where you can find all the specifications and information like that - though it doesn't include any "deflamatory" comments about hardware that does not support the standard (and certainly nothing about Windows98SE) Though they do state in the FAQ that "Static routing is not supported under Windows 98" - though I believe there is another document somewhere around that also states that Windows ME doesn't support this correctly either. Ultimately the ACPI webpage is there for designers and programmers who need to use the ACPI standards. However for games - the only thing I can suggest is that you go with examples of other gamers... look around for ACPI and unstablity (especially using Google). You will find a number of cases where turning ACPI off in Windows 98/ME OS platforms has improved system stablity 10 fold. WiNC

Read the first post on this thread it has my article in it - and no with Windows 98/SE ACPI wasn't really implemented correctly (well not really at all). ACPI with Windows 98SE can cause many problems and not just with SBLive. I have noticed through tests that ACPI in Windows 98SE can cause Video issues with Nvidia cards, and especially Radean cards. Certain Network cards will start to fault, USB will usually drop off etc etc etc. So no - with Windows 98SE I would suggest leaving ACPI off. As I would with WindowsME - because no matter what Microsoft or anyone say - Windows ME is basically Windows98SE with a slighty improved architeceure. However ACPI is still not 100% in that. Windows 2000 and Windows XP have good ACPI (though only have SP1 with Windows 2000)... If you have a SBLive and are using Windows 2000 however, I would still suggest removing ACPI. However in WindowsXP I have found that removing ACPI can cause slow downs in the OS (feels like your system has gone to sleep and taking a while to wake up)... Personally I again would suggest that if you can afford it - move away from the SBLive and move to something else. Audigy isn't anywhere near as bad - however still Creative have issues with their PCI Bus Management (which is extremely higher than other cards). This usually means that in games which need to use a lot of sounds at once - you will find that will decrease your FPS more than the graphic card. Example of this is Nascar 2002 - with a SBLive your FPS will decrease to almost 5-10FPS when you have a crash. However with something like a Hercules Sound Card, the fps only decrease by 1 or 2. SBLive was great in its time - however it is now dated (and dated badly at that)... And as games have improved demand of system hardware, SBlive drivers, and the SBLive hardware hasn't been able to keep up. Though as I am doing - it is still possible to "work around" the hardware limitations. Hope that helps... WiNC

Have just managed to get my version sent to me (okay I couldn't wait for it to be released in New Zealand ) and have been mostly impressed. Love the storyline folks - and especially love the music in this one. However I have a problem (tested on three computers now). Through out the game I get a lot of jumping. Usually when riding the motorbike, though it happens with cars etc also. I believed it was a memory issue, so since I already have 768 megs, I upp'd my swapdisk to over 1gig - still no luck. I then tried different Nvidia drivers - still no luck. The jumpiness appears even if I am using it at 640x480 x 32 (however decreases - but doesn't disappear when using x16bit) When I use the Preference program and use Autodectect the settings are coming out as 1024x768x32 and everything is gettting turned up really high. However my graphic card is only a Geforce 2 MX 400 (64megs). I update Eur version from 1.0 to 1.2 - then installed Resist. (since this forum states that Resist will update over any version). However I have tried using all the updates, and no updates before putting on Resist. I use no add-ons (never really finished the first Campaign yet ) I have the following system: AMD 1ghz FIC AN11 (KT266A motherboard) 256megs x 3 SBLive (I know - I want to replace this - but BI keeps releasing addons and I keep running out of money ) Nvidia Geforce 2 MX 400 (64megs) However remember that I have also used it on three other systems and a laptop, with the same issues. Does Resist need Red Hammer? Does Resist need a video card higher then a Geforce 2 MX 400 (64megs) - I know it isn't a fast card now, but Operation Flashpoint original worked fine. Do I need to pray to the computer gods and hope they grant me a boon? Hope anyone can help WiNC

Strange where my article turns up sometimes. ALDEGA is correct to blame creative labs - their drivers for the SBLive have never really supported the ACPI standard arcutecture. The reason for this is mainly because ACPI standards were not enforced until after Windows 2000 came out (where Microsoft managed to get "something" right for a change).. The latest SBLive drivers are an improvement over the original - though I personally would suggest that when you have some money remove the SBLive from your computer and replace it with something else - I have two SBLives and I'm trying very hard to save money to replace them - problem is - evil companies like BI keep releasing much needed (and wanted ) addons to this game!! *laugh* If you do not want to remove your SBLive - and you can't get a new motherboard - I would suggest looking at the rest of the tweaks on my article and try some of them. A lot of them can help. We have a FIC AZ11E (KT133A chipset - 688b Southbridge) motherboard which is working almost 95% of the time - sometimes it will drop, but nothing like it used to.. I'm more then willing to offer any other help if you need it... WiNC