Slowdown and crashes

[PeaCake]

I'm wondering if the crashes might be related to sound cards..
Only way to confirm or debunk what i think is by all those with crashes, post if you have onboard sound or a dedicated sound card.

My reasoning for this is because, there was a game, which i cant remember the name of, that also had a similar crashing problem, and it was because of sound cards. only those with dedicated cards had the crashing problem. Might be completely unrelated, but, maybe worth looking at?

I have an onboard & I'm suffering the transition crashes.

[VNV_Nightmare]

I'm wondering if the crashes might be related to sound cards..
Only way to confirm or debunk what i think is by all those with crashes, post if you have onboard sound or a dedicated sound card.

My reasoning for this is because, there was a game, which i cant remember the name of, that also had a similar crashing problem, and it was because of sound cards. only those with dedicated cards had the crashing problem. Might be completely unrelated, but, maybe worth looking at?

I have an onboard & I'm suffering the transition crashes.

I have also onboard sound, but I haven't got any crashes ingame when I disable the sound.

So I think the same way. Maybe it's really a problem withe the sound. Additionally I play the game on my notebook.

[Narmy]

I'm wondering if the crashes might be related to sound cards..
Only way to confirm or debunk what i think is by all those with crashes, post if you have onboard sound or a dedicated sound card.

My reasoning for this is because, there was a game, which i cant remember the name of, that also had a similar crashing problem, and it was because of sound cards. only those with dedicated cards had the crashing problem. Might be completely unrelated, but, maybe worth looking at?

I have a dedicated sound card and I get the crashes.

[VNV_Nightmare]

I'm wondering if the crashes might be related to sound cards..
Only way to confirm or debunk what i think is by all those with crashes, post if you have onboard sound or a dedicated sound card.

My reasoning for this is because, there was a game, which i cant remember the name of, that also had a similar crashing problem, and it was because of sound cards. only those with dedicated cards had the crashing problem. Might be completely unrelated, but, maybe worth looking at?

I have a dedicated sound card and I get the crashes.

Did you have the music enabled? When yes then disable the music at the settings on the start and test the game. Maybe the game is then more stable.

[Ultimate Chicken]

Pays to list the brand of your sound cards, guys. If you don't know what your sound card is, and its an onboard, and you don't want to open up your PC, 3 things you can do:
1. Your device manager, sound settings or driver set should list it.
2. If you're using a custom, non-manufacturer driver set, or your driver set hides the sound card details from you, use PC Wizard, from the same guys that gave us CPU-Z.
3. If you STILL can't find your sound card name from these programs, at least you have your mobo name. Google that. (yes, google. sorry). One of the results should have specs from your mobo, and this should list the sound card. (Make sure you have the right mobo tho!).

Both of mine (XP desktop, 7 ION Netbook) here are onboard Realteks. There are only random 5-second pauses on the netbook, but otherwise I have no outright CTDs on my end.

Other things you can do:
1. The game launches into a settings menu, right? If you really want to see if sound is the problem, there's a checkbox on the bottom left, that says Disable Sound. Try using that, and if it still crashes, it isn't your sound card's problem anymore.  Other possible causes might require more research on everyone's end...

2. If your sound card implements special effects like EAX and tru-surround (most pro sound cards do), try turning these features off, and see if you still crash. I find most manufacturers won't guarantee these effects present and stable in all games, just the popular ones...

[Narmy]

Did you have the music enabled? When yes then disable the music at the settings on the start and test the game. Maybe the game is then more stable.

I disabled the sound in the game settings, and I also disabled my sound card in the Windows settings, but the game crashed faster than ever before.

[Ultimate Chicken]

Right, million dollar question. Do you run a hybrid graphics setup? Is the word "Optimus" familiar to you? (Common in Laptops)

If so, try to force FS to run on your Intel IGP, not your Nvidia. Don't worry, the game's made in an age where today's Intel HD ought to be able to deal with it... and Nvidia hybrid tech once had a notorious compatibility issue with the Steam platform.

(PS: I'm not too familiar with mobile AMDs/Radeons and their graphics schemes, so if you run that setup, you're on your own... )

[Naryoril]

Right, million dollar question. Do you run a hybrid graphics setup? Is the word "Optimus" familiar to you? (Common in Laptops)

If so, try to force FS to run on your Intel IGP, not your Nvidia. Don't worry, the game's made in an age where today's Intel HD ought to be able to deal with it... and Nvidia hybrid tech once had a notorious compatibility issue with the Steam platform.

(PS: I'm not too familiar with mobile AMDs/Radeons and their graphics schemes, so if you run that setup, you're on your own... )

i'm not playing on a notebook and the game crashes. and i don't havy any issue with any other steam game.

[Atomizer_Zero]

Disabling the sound (which evidently only disables the music) didn't prevent the crash. Unfortunately, that doesn't help decide if its the audio that causes the crash or not, considering that sound effects still play (i'm betting it's the transition sound effect that causes it).

My Sound card is a Creative SB X-FI. The drivers are the latest drivers compatible with Windows 7. I don't have any issues with any other game, period.

I think the biggest problem about this crash is its unpredictability. I'm going to attempt to count how many transitions/doors i can do before the crash.

EDIT: I did 9 total transitions. 3 were doors and 6 were areas. I don't know if this will help or anything, but the only way to work this out is to test it, right?

[doubletaco]

There seems to be a decent mix of onboard/dedicated sound cards to rule out (or at least make it that much less likely) them being the cause of the transition crashes.

Has anyone played around with processor affinity and seen if that helps?

[Naryoril]

is there any progress on the crash issue? is there any hope we can actually play the game we bought?

[Desworks]

Standard menu slowdown issues here. Running dual monitors, so that's likely the cause of it but disabling and re-enabling my second display every time I want to play is a major hassle, so I hope you guys can manage to find a fix for this. And on the off chance that it'll help you do just that, have a DxDiag:

http://pastebin.com/0Y44QQBa

Slowdown issues aside, nice job with the localisation as always.

[Ultimate Chicken]

Well I must admit I'm at a loss =.=; I can't seem to dupe any crash bugs on any of my ends. The only thing left is that I don't have a 64-bit operating system.

The desktop running an AM2 3600+ w/9500GT runs this in all conditions flawlessly, so I'll exclude that from now on.

The Netbook, tho, stops randomly pausing as soon as I force FS to run on the Intel IGP rather than use the Nvidia ION in any form.

[Atomizer_Zero]

The only thing left is that I don't have a 64-bit operating system.

In case you aren't aware, its not just a 64 bit problem. I'm running on a 32 bit system and I get the crash.

[Naryoril]

Btw is anyone with the crash not on Windows 7? Is anyone on XP?