<div class="IPBDescription">Frequent Freezing and crashing</div> Recently with 3.0f i keep having it randomly freeze and crash. with the 3.0b ive never had that problem.
We're going to need <b>WAY</b> more information before there is anything that can be done to help you. I'm moving this to tech support so other users can ask questions and try to help you figure out what is causing it (starting with your system specs, if it happens on particular maps/servers, and if you have any custom models or sounds installed would be a good start). I'm moving this over to tech support, if it turns out this is due to a bug we'll move it back here.
Do you have a soundblaster sound card and a VIA chipset by any chance?
I used to freeze constantly and crash in NS, either when opening the console or just randomly in-game. I must have had formatted 10 times without any positive result. Then I heard there were some important conflicts between soundblaster cards and VIA chipsets, so I replaced my motherboard. I still use my soundblaster sound card today and I no longer have any crash issue of any kind.
Now if you have those 2 items in your PC, I would recommend uninstalling your sound drivers so you get no sound and try to play and see if it still freezes.
Veritas, before posting anything in Tech support, you need to have a few things under your belt before starting. Follow my list, and you can't really go wrong (I work as a PC engineer, and this is the kind of thing we need to know...)
1. Do you know the <b>EXACT</b> details of your system. Don't go into too much detail, like who made the IDE cable, but details on your hardware, like motherboard (Brand/Model), CPU (Brand/Model), How much RAM you have, Graphics Card (Make/Model/Driver version), any other possible conflicting PCI-Ex/PCI/ISA devices. If you don't know the details, go to<a href='http://www.lavalys.com' target='_blank'>Lavalys.com</a>, and download Everest Home Edition. Everest is Freeware, and will tell you everthing about your PC. 2. Have you updated <b>all</b> the drivers on your PC, not just the graphics drivers. If you post up the exact make and model, then I should be able to post you a link to the correct download areas. If you're not sure about the specifics, then email me (address in profile) an Everest Report, then I'll tell you everything that the report tells me.
Update all your drivers, and make sure you post your system specs on your post, then I will try my best to help you, as I'm sure the others will.
*Lightning Edit*
Menes, just saying that VIA chipsets conflict with Creative Soundblaster audio cards isn't a valid point. If you said something like, the VIAKM400Pro chipset conflicts with the SoundBlaster Live! 1024, then it would be valid. Hardware conflicts tend to be very precise, and mostly never just due to 2 components, and will only happen on certain batches of components, Like Intel P4A 2.6GHz conflicting with the Intel 845PE chipset. That only affected 5 batches of processors and chipsets.
Re: Via Chipsets, I can clarify: the 686B southbridge had PCI issues. But that most likely isn't the problem. <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile-fix.gif' /><!--endemo-->
I have had freezes with 3.0F on this machine, where I received no freezes in previous beta releases. There are actually two related issues, which I will explain.
The first is just the freeze. Most often when exiting the game, sometimes when something else steals focus and I try to return, NS freezes. Usually, I can get the task manager open and kill the process. Not to say it happens all the time when exiting - it is pretty rare, and has happened maybe five times (I generally play a few games each night). Other than exiting and stealing focus, I haven't noticed anything else that has caused NS to just crash.
The second isn't quite a freeze, but rather a display freeze where when something steals focus / I change focus from one application and return to NS, graphics do not update. Happened with Cat 5.2's and 5.3's, and never happened in 3.0b5. The game will continue, and controls work (voicecomm, etc), but the display is "stuck" on the last thing I saw. When being a commander, this evidently isn't helpful <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile-fix.gif' /><!--endemo--> This has happened probably three times, although by comparison to the above, switching out to another process definately isn't as common. Again, it never happened in any previous STEAMed version - the last time I saw issues like this was the last 2.0 release.
AMD Mobile Barton 2200+ @ 2.4ghz A7N8X Deluxe r2.0 (nForce2 Ultra 400) 512mb OCS PC3200 Sync ATi Radeon 9800 Pro @ XT
I too get frequent lockups in the new version on NS.
Specs: XP2000+ 512mb ram, radeon 9700, widescreen res (1680x1050) All most recent drivers installed. Only other notable thing is no ie installed on this pc.
It happens 100% of the time when I logon to the [FX] server on ns_lost. It's also happend randomly on other maps (e.g. ns_hera) even after I've managed to get a round in.
When it crashes the sound loops for a couple of cycles then the screen fades and drops back to desktop.
I have no problems with any other steam games or mods.
Comments
I used to freeze constantly and crash in NS, either when opening the console or just randomly in-game. I must have had formatted 10 times without any positive result. Then I heard there were some important conflicts between soundblaster cards and VIA chipsets, so I replaced my motherboard. I still use my soundblaster sound card today and I no longer have any crash issue of any kind.
Now if you have those 2 items in your PC, I would recommend uninstalling your sound drivers so you get no sound and try to play and see if it still freezes.
1. Do you know the <b>EXACT</b> details of your system. Don't go into too much detail, like who made the IDE cable, but details on your hardware, like motherboard (Brand/Model), CPU (Brand/Model), How much RAM you have, Graphics Card (Make/Model/Driver version), any other possible conflicting PCI-Ex/PCI/ISA devices.
If you don't know the details, go to<a href='http://www.lavalys.com' target='_blank'>Lavalys.com</a>, and download Everest Home Edition. Everest is Freeware, and will tell you everthing about your PC.
2. Have you updated <b>all</b> the drivers on your PC, not just the graphics drivers. If you post up the exact make and model, then I should be able to post you a link to the correct download areas. If you're not sure about the specifics, then email me (address in profile) an Everest Report, then I'll tell you everything that the report tells me.
Update all your drivers, and make sure you post your system specs on your post, then I will try my best to help you, as I'm sure the others will.
*Lightning Edit*
Menes, just saying that VIA chipsets conflict with Creative Soundblaster audio cards isn't a valid point. If you said something like, the VIAKM400Pro chipset conflicts with the SoundBlaster Live! 1024, then it would be valid. Hardware conflicts tend to be very precise, and mostly never just due to 2 components, and will only happen on certain batches of components, Like Intel P4A 2.6GHz conflicting with the Intel 845PE chipset. That only affected 5 batches of processors and chipsets.
I have had freezes with 3.0F on this machine, where I received no freezes in previous beta releases. There are actually two related issues, which I will explain.
The first is just the freeze. Most often when exiting the game, sometimes when something else steals focus and I try to return, NS freezes. Usually, I can get the task manager open and kill the process. Not to say it happens all the time when exiting - it is pretty rare, and has happened maybe five times (I generally play a few games each night). Other than exiting and stealing focus, I haven't noticed anything else that has caused NS to just crash.
The second isn't quite a freeze, but rather a display freeze where when something steals focus / I change focus from one application and return to NS, graphics do not update. Happened with Cat 5.2's and 5.3's, and never happened in 3.0b5. The game will continue, and controls work (voicecomm, etc), but the display is "stuck" on the last thing I saw. When being a commander, this evidently isn't helpful <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile-fix.gif' /><!--endemo--> This has happened probably three times, although by comparison to the above, switching out to another process definately isn't as common. Again, it never happened in any previous STEAMed version - the last time I saw issues like this was the last 2.0 release.
AMD Mobile Barton 2200+ @ 2.4ghz
A7N8X Deluxe r2.0 (nForce2 Ultra 400)
512mb OCS PC3200 Sync
ATi Radeon 9800 Pro @ XT
Specs: XP2000+ 512mb ram, radeon 9700, widescreen res (1680x1050) All most recent drivers installed. Only other notable thing is no ie installed on this pc.
It happens 100% of the time when I logon to the [FX] server on ns_lost. It's also happend randomly on other maps (e.g. ns_hera) even after I've managed to get a round in.
When it crashes the sound loops for a couple of cycles then the screen fades and drops back to desktop.
I have no problems with any other steam games or mods.