Spontanous reboot

[ZephyrZodiac]

I've definitely noticed that one - when you first go to the Dreamer house, Darleen doesn't show up till friday night, after which, she becomes a regular visitor!  Darren wet himself the first time he saw her!

[DrBeast]

Second question: how much tweaking should one do with the refresh rate for the game? It is defaulted on my computer at 60 but I have my computer refresh rate set at 75 and it runs just fine at that setting.

Depends on your monitor type. If you have a CRT (the good old box-type screens), you'll want a refresh rate of at least 75Hz. Anything below that number and you'll notice your screen flickering. TFT/LCD screens (the crappy new slim thingies) are impervious to that effect.

[ZephyrZodiac]

Hey, I have one of those and I love it - it doesn't give me migraine!  Plus I can move it without dropping it!

[KellyQ]

I have a 17 inch LCD screen that I adore with the refresh rate set at 75 but the game is set at 60. Basically I just wondered if the settings should "match" and if that would make any difference is how well the game runs? (Anything to make the game run a little quicker would be great. )

[Hegelian]

I have a 17 inch LCD screen that I adore with the refresh rate set at 75 but the game is set at 60. Basically I just wondered if the settings should "match" and if that would make any difference is how well the game runs? (Anything to make the game run a little quicker would be great. )

LCD displays don't refresh. The pixels remain in their current state until changed by the display controller. There is no advantage to setting the "refresh" rate higher than the default, which is usually 60 Hz. I don't know if you can actually damage the display by forcing a higher rate, but there's no reason to take the risk.

Mine's always been at 60 in game, I think I tried it higher but it didn't help any.

Hey, I have one of those and I love it - it doesn't give me migraine!  Plus I can move it without dropping it!

If in the past you were using a CRT set to a refresh rate of 60 Hz, it's no surprise it gave you headaches. 75 Hz is the minimum for an apparently flicker-free display; 85 Hz is better. Above 85 Hz, you start running into issues of reduced image sharpness.

Of course, some people are more susceptable to display flicker than are others. In extreme cases, a CRT set to a too-low refresh rate can trigger seizures in some folks.

[Hegelian]

There are other less standard stuff like replacing fans, applying thermal paste to the CPU, and installing heatsinks.

Keep in mind that the role of thermal paste is to fill in the tiny airspaces between the surfaces of the CPU heat spreader and the heat sink. Ideally, these two surfaces are perfectly smooth, but the reality is that there are irregularities in both surfaces that create air pockets which can reduce the amount of heat transfer/dissipation. Thermal paste does not increase heat transfer; it actually reduces it. Hence, the idea is to use the least amount of paste possible and still fill in those tiny air spaces. Too much thermal paste will cause the CPU (or GPU) to run hotter rather than cooler.

[Hegelian]

Well, before I installed the new drivers, my directX was working fine, after I'd installed them I went to play the game - and the game told me they it wasn't there!  In fact, I think there were files there, thousands of them, but obviously not the important ones that the game could use, so I just got rid of everything that was left and installed the most up to date version from Windows.  My Hard Drive had about 3 more GBs of space afterwards.

This all sounds rather bizarre, but I'm thinking perhaps the driver installation installed an older version of DX over the current one, or at least some older DX files (although I think DX has a check that prevents this.); and on further consideration, I remember that most driver installation packages don't include DX, although many games do. In any case, it is my understanding that once installed, DX cannot be uninstalled:

DirectX 9.0 is a system component and cannot be uninstalled. If there is a problem with the DirectX installation, it can normally be resolved by shutting down all running applications and reinstalling. As mentioned previously, DirectX 9.0 is fully backward-compatible with titles written for previous versions of DirectX. If you are having other problems after installing DirectX 9.0, these can often be resolved by installing updated drivers for your display card, audio card, or input device.
http://www.microsoft.com/Windows/directx/productinfo/faq/default.mspx

It seems more likely that for whatever reason the DirectX files for that particular graphics board or driver set were not correctly installed.

BTW, it is almost always a bad idea to directly delete program files in general and system files in particular instead of using the Add or Remove Programs utility (in Control Panel).

[KellyQ]

I have a 17 inch LCD screen that I adore with the refresh rate set at 75 but the game is set at 60. Basically I just wondered if the settings should "match" and if that would make any difference is how well the game runs? (Anything to make the game run a little quicker would be great. )

LCD displays don't refresh. The pixels remain in their current state until changed by the display controller. There is no advantage to setting the "refresh" rate higher than the default, which is usually 60 Hz. I don't know if you can actually damage the display by forcing a higher rate, but there's no reason to take the risk.

Oh okay. I had tinkered around with the nVidia settings after installing the new drivers and it had a "refresh" rate option, so I set it to the highest rate (and okay, I openly admit not knowing what I'm doing).

[Hegelian]

I have 1 gb of RAM, AMD Athlon 2.0 processor and nVidea GeForce 5200 video card. I'd give more specs but I'm at work and can't remember the rest.

Well, the FX 5200 graphics board is a low-power budget part that, comparatively, doesn't draw much power. It doesn't require its own power connector, and most versions don't even have a fan on the heat sink. Frankly, in the nVidia line, this is about as far down the performance ladder you can go and still have hardware support for DX 9.

You don't say what the model designation of the CPU is:  is 2.0 the clock speed or the model number? This makes a difference, because the model numbers of AMD processors are substantially higher than their actual clock speed (hence the "+" at the end of the model number, indicating performance comparable to an Intel processor running at that clock speed). Is it a plain Athlon? An Althon XP? Athlon 64? This is significant, because if its an older model, the power supply probably isn't the issue unless it is grossly underpowered (i.e., 250W), unusually cheap (it only delivers 50% of its rated power at normal operating temperatures), or is failing. OTOH, if you have an Athlon XP running at a clock speed of 2.0 GHz, then you might have a 2600+ or 2800+, which could present a challenge to a cheap or low-power power supply. If 2.0 is the clock speed, you probably don't have an Athlon 64, since the clock speeds for those processors are 1.8 GHz, 2.2 GHz, or 2.4 GHz.

True, but what she has sounds similar to mine.  I think the biggest problem is having too small a paging file.

To be honest, I don't see how this is possible. With 1 GB RAM, a Paging File set to 100 MB initial and 800 MB max should be plenty; most PCs ship with Paging Files that are much too large (i.e., 50% of free drive space). In any case, I've never heard of a case of a too-small Paging File causing a spontaneous reboot. This doesn't mean it can't happen, of course, but it seems highly unlikely, unless all the hard-drive activity is overstressing an inadequate or failing power supply.

As others have mentioned, the 8-series nVidia drivers have been causing a lot of problems with TS2, especially with OFB.

[Hegelian]

Oh okay. I had tinkered around with the nVidia settings after installing the new drivers and it had a "refresh" rate option, so I set it to the highest rate (and okay, I openly admit not knowing what I'm doing).

For whatever reason, Windows requires a refresh-rate setting, even for monitors that don't refresh.   

[akatonbo]

Say, Hegelian, what do you make of the problem I've been having here?

http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php?topic=4536.0

It's the intermittent part that's really driving me buggy (it's better than having it be totally broken, but it makes it mighty hard to figure out what's going on).

[KellyQ]

Oh okay. I had tinkered around with the nVidia settings after installing the new drivers and it had a "refresh" rate option, so I set it to the highest rate (and okay, I openly admit not knowing what I'm doing).

For whatever reason, Windows requires a refresh-rate setting, even for monitors that don't refresh.   

Maybe that's part of why even though I understand a fair amount about computers there are so many things that make me go, "WTF?"
Btw, maybe EA employees Microsoft's castoff programmers and that's why we have some of the brillant "not a bug, it's a feature" issues.

[ZephyrZodiac]

Quote from: ZephyrZodiac on June 06, 2006, 10:21:36 AM
Mine's always been at 60 in game, I think I tried it higher but it didn't help any.
Quote from: ZephyrZodiac on Today at 04:13:17 AM
Hey, I have one of those and I love it - it doesn't give me migraine!  Plus I can move it without dropping it!

If in the past you were using a CRT set to a refresh rate of 60 Hz, it's no surprise it gave you headaches. 75 Hz is the minimum for an apparently flicker-free display; 85 Hz is better. Above 85 Hz, you start running into issues of reduced image sharpness.

Of course, some people are more susceptable to display flicker than are others. In extreme cases, a CRT set to a too-low refresh rate can trigger seizures in some folks.

I scarcely played TS2 with the old monitor, as I had a hard drive crash which involved a complete rebuild and upgrade, and I included the LCD monitor at the same time.  Which is why I would never have known anything about refresh rates in general, but left anything like that to the friend who builds my computers for me to sort out.  I don't even remember having the option to set the refresh rate when I was playing Sims 1.  I did play around with it when I first got Sims2, before the crash, but probably didn't choose the right setting as I didn't stop getting migraines until I got the new monitor (still get them, but not that I can directly link to being on the PC, and far less frequent.)

And as to the DirectX, the folder was enormous, and seemed to have copies of itself all over the place, probably caused by the Windows automatic downloads, as it wasn't me, and yes, I did remove them all with the uninstall option in control panel, and then downloaded the latest version, and since everything has been working fine for at least a month since I did that, maybe longer, I wouldn't think I'd done anything terrible!

[Hegelian]

Say, Hegelian, what do you make of the problem I've been having here?

http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php?topic=4536.0

Hard to say, really. It could just be a case of buggy software.   

[RainbowTigress]

One of the first things I have to do when installing Windows or new graphics drivers or anything that resets the refresh rate on the monitor is to raise it to at least 75 Hz.  I can't stand 60 Hz, it really does make my head hurt.  When I worked in a call center for AT&T a few years ago, some of the monitors flickered really bad, at least to me.  I tried to find a way to adjust it, but of course, they had the PCs locked down tight.  I'm not sure how they did it, but when you logged into the PC, you couldn't access anything except the programs we used to do our job.  They had a custom toolbar type thingy that had buttons for the programs and a configuration menu, but it was very, very basic.  Nothing in there to let you change the refresh rate, and only very basic mouse configuration, like to change to a left-hand mouse or change the double-click speed.  I can understand why because the tech guys didn't want to have to fix the PCs all the time after people screwed them up.  But when I tried to explain the problem, no one seemed to understand what I was talking about.  So I tried to live with it or move to a different PC when possible. 

That's what bugged me.  I'd try to explain a problem I was having with the PC and they'd look at me like I was talking Greek.  I could fix a lot of stuff myself if I had the access to do it because I knew from fixing stuff on my own computer.  They didn't even want us to plug a mouse back in that had come unplugged.  Unlike most people, though, I knew what I was doing.  And when you plugged the mouse back in, it was so draggy, and the only way there seemed to be to fix it was to reboot the PC.  But they didn't want us to reboot the PCs.  They said that you could adjust the speed of the mouse in the control bar, but as I said, you could control the double-click speed, but that was useless.  It frustrated me that they didn't even know how the things were configured.  People would pull on the mice all the time until the mouse came loose.   So what I did if that happened to me and I couldn't stand how slow the mouse was (and I'm on the phone trying to help customers, you know!) I'd reboot the machine and if anyone asked me, I was going to tell them, gee, I don't know, it just rebooted all by itself.    Sorry for going off topic, but I just had to vent a little there.  The nice thing about working for yourself is that you get to have total control over how your PCs operate. 

[ZephyrZodiac]

Something tells me that all those tech guys were - GUYS!  Since you are just a little, feeble-brained WOMAN, obviously, you couldn't know half as much as THEY KNOW!  (I'm venting now!)

[RainbowTigress]

Yes, they were guys, mostly older ones.  There were some women supervisors, but any technical stuff was referred to the tech guys, though, so they weren't really much help either.  I remember one time calling the supervisor desk and saying that my screen was flickering pretty bad, and one of the women came over and looked at it, and she said she couldn't see anything wrong with it.     At the time, I had just gotten contacts, so I thought maybe that had something to do with it.   We always sat at different computers, and no one else who had sat there seemed to have a problem, so it must have just been me.    Now I know better.

[Hegelian]

They didn't even want us to plug a mouse back in that had come unplugged.  Unlike most people, though, I knew what I was doing.  And when you plugged the mouse back in, it was so draggy, and the only way there seemed to be to fix it was to reboot the PC.

In fairness, you can fry your motherboard if you plug in a PS/2 mouse without powering down the system. Of course, this is not a problem with USB devices, and perhaps not with serial mice, either (although I'm not recommending you try!).   

[ZephyrZodiac]

Well, what do you do then if the mouse has come loose and you're not ALLOWED to power down your system!

And years ago, I had a similar experience.  when I was teaching back in the early days of computers in schools, our head asked us to apply for any courses we wanted to go on.  The normal procedure if you went on a course was that other staff would cover for you.  I applied for a computer course (I'd worked in offices and was a competent typist before I went in for teaching, so computers and theri applications in education were of interest to me.)  The head reluctantly allowed me to go on this course, one afternoon a week, and although my lessons were covered by other members of staff, in my case I had to "return the favour" and take lessons for them!  Then, when he decided to create an IT post, he appointed a MAN who typed with one finger and half a thumb - and had never been on any kind of IT course at all!

[RainbowTigress]

They didn't even want us to plug a mouse back in that had come unplugged.  Unlike most people, though, I knew what I was doing.  And when you plugged the mouse back in, it was so draggy, and the only way there seemed to be to fix it was to reboot the PC.

In fairness, you can fry your motherboard if you plug in a PS/2 mouse without powering down the system. Of course, this is not a problem with USB devices, and perhaps not with serial mice, either (although I'm not recommending you try!).   

Well, if it was MY PC, I would have powered it off first.  I could understand if they wanted to come upstairs and power down the PC themselves and plug in the mouse.  But after witnessing them several times crawl under the desk and plug in the mouse WITHOUT powering down the PC, it made me upset that I had to sit and wait for them to do what I could have done myself!  But someone did point out that if anything went wrong, at least it would be on them and not us.  I think they said that if something happened because someone did something and messed up the PC, it would be on them.  I can understand that, but it doesn't make it any less annoying!

[Horanda]

  Or, you,ve been working with computers since the days of the Commodore 64, you've trained kids who have turned into IT professionals, and they won't even look at you for a job involving computers because you're over 40 (50!)

[RainbowTigress]

Well, what do you do then if the mouse has come loose and you're not ALLOWED to power down your system!

And years ago, I had a similar experience.  when I was teaching back in the early days of computers in schools, our head asked us to apply for any courses we wanted to go on.  The normal procedure if you went on a course was that other staff would cover for you.  I applied for a computer course (I'd worked in offices and was a competent typist before I went in for teaching, so computers and theri applications in education were of interest to me.)  The head reluctantly allowed me to go on this course, one afternoon a week, and although my lessons were covered by other members of staff, in my case I had to "return the favour" and take lessons for them!  Then, when he decided to create an IT post, he appointed a MAN who typed with one finger and half a thumb - and had never been on any kind of IT course at all!

That's awful.  Wish there was something you could have done about it, but I assume there was no recourse?

[ZephyrZodiac]

Well, in those days, the late 70's, early 80's, people were very reluctant to believe that kind of thing went on.  In the school I was in, every man who had been thre for more than a year or so was on a senior (head of department) post, the only woman in that position had it from before the school was formed when the town changed it's school system structure, and since she would have had to be paid at that level, he had really to employ her in that capacity, and the only other woman in a senior position was the senior mistress, which since it was a mixed 9-13 middle school, he had no choice but to have!  But since those two women were in senior positions, to an outsider it would have looked as though he was being fair!  But it was in his day to day attitude towards the female staff that he was worst, and in days when jobs were scarce, and schools were having to lose staff, everyone just kept their heads down!

[ElviraGoth]

Or, you,ve been working with computers since the days of the Commodore 64, you've trained kids who have turned into IT professionals, and they won't even look at you for a job involving computers because you're over 40 (50!)

Like me, since the TI-99/4A, programmer, used C64's and have been on IBM clones for 20 years, Macs at work for 14 years, but can't even be allowed to update Norton on our internet Mac at work.  Have to leave that to the Vice President who doesn't know a Mac from... oh, well. 

He came in the other day and moved the mouse on the internet Mac so the desktop showed up, and started to walk out.  I asked him if there was a problem, and he said that Norton was updated the week before and wanted to make sure the computer was working.

Sure, move the mouse, see the desktop.  Everything's just fine.  Except that e-mail isn't working and the internet hook-up is sporadic.

[RainbowTigress]

ROFL.  Well, yeah.  Everyone knows that if there was a problem, the desktop wouldn't have shown up, there would have been a huge sign saying THE COMPUTER IS SCREWED UP! or something.