KOTOR 2 on PC is out!

White Haven · Post by **White Haven** » 2005-02-11 10:03pm

Eh, problems that intermittent are an ironclad bitch. Say, can you swap cards with your friend to test? They're the EXACT same thing, so if you swap and it goes away, blam, you had a bad card.

Post by **Vympel** » 2005-02-11 10:08pm

That's a good idea, I might try that!

Arrow · Post by **Arrow** » 2005-02-11 10:11pm

At a lower res, the video doesn't have to do as much work, so that could support the idea that power is the problem. If you have namebrand machine, you should be able to look up the specs for your system to find what powersupply you have. Otherwise your going to have to crack open your case and try to find the spec sticker on the powersupply itself.

Also, it could be you have a crappy AGP voltage regulator on your motherboard. If the 6600GT doesn't draw direct from the powersupply (my 6800GT does, and I know the ultra does, but I don't remember if the 6600 does), then this could also be the problem.

Based my experience with my old 9700 Pro, power problems are the cause of random crashes (in that case, 9700 Pro's voltage regulator was the problem, and it affected a number of cards).

White Haven · Post by **White Haven** » 2005-02-11 10:19pm

6600-series do not, and FUCK name-brands, they give more trouble than a good homebrew most of the time.

Arrow · Post by **Arrow** » 2005-02-11 10:39pm

White Haven wrote:and FUCK name-brands, they give more trouble than a good homebrew most of the time.

No argument there!

Post by **Vympel** » 2005-02-12 12:02am

Well, I just came back from playing KOTOR 2 for a considerable time on 1024x768. The only reason I stopped? It crashed eventually. 1280x1024, very bloody soon. 1280x960- not so bloody soon. 1024x768- ages. Bloody thing. Is that consistent with a power supply problem?

I forgot that my brother's computer has the same video card as me and my friend (we all bought them together) so I think I'll swap mine with his and see what happens- when I can be bothered (I hate cracking open my computer to do anything).

Arrow · Post by **Arrow** » 2005-02-12 07:28am

Do you remember what the scene was when it crashed at 1024x768? I'm wondering if its a transient power problem, where your graphics card needs more power NOW than powersupply can put out - this happens when additional circuitry is activated. Now, other way to test it out, is to underclock your card and see how long you can run it at 12x10.

And when you swap out your and your brother's cards, write down the information from the sticker on your powersupply. I'd like to know what it says.

Post by **Vympel** » 2005-02-12 08:13am

My brother was being a shit about letting me swap it, so it'll have to wait, probably till tommorow.

Still, I've made fair progress on KOTOR 2 by playing it for a bout 45-50mins at a time, quitting, then immediately starting up again (on 1024x768).

The place where it crashed on 1024x768 was the map screen, hardly graphically intensive at all.

Zac Naloen · Post by **Zac Naloen** » 2005-02-12 09:03am

This game runs so smoothly on my pc (unlike KOTOR) yet im running it on a higher graphics setting. i think im in love...

Post by **Vympel** » 2005-02-12 09:52am

My game also runs flawlessly on the higher settings- but for the crashing.

CorSec · Post by **CorSec** » 2005-02-12 05:28pm

Vympel wrote:Is that consistent with a power supply problem?

A couple of months ago I purchased a 6600GT. A week later my hard drive crapped out on me (unrelated to the card). After replacing the hard drive, I was having a similar issue as you. After much driver swapping and what-not I discovered that I didn't plug the card into the power supply. Suffice it to say, yes, it's possible that power could be a culprit.

Post by **Vympel** » 2005-02-12 10:24pm

The card can work without being plugged into the power supply? (just checked, mine is plugged in ...

)

Just looked at my computer's power supply:

It's one of these Link

Still haven't tried swapping out my cards.

Arrow · Post by **Arrow** » 2005-02-13 07:50am

180 WATTS!?! No wonder you're crashing - your system components are probably fighting for power. You'll need a least a 300 W (and if you're using a later model P4 or Althon with later model RAM, you might want to go over 400 W).

Post by **Vympel** » 2005-02-13 08:44am

It might be worth a shot to get a new powerpack, but isn't it a bit strange that my friend (who has the same powerpack- our PC's are largely identical except he has a bigger hard-drive, more RAM, and a Volcano fan) doesn't experience this, if it's a power issue?

Apart from the 6600GT, my PC isn't very new- I got it in July 2002, it's an AMD Athlon XP 2100+ (1.3ghz- though it's supposed to be 1.7ghz, my shitty fan can't keep it cool enough in summer, damn AMD, going back to Intel when I get my new PC) and 512MB RAM.

Come July this year, I'm getting an all new PC, for sure.

Post by **Mr Bean** » 2005-02-13 09:45am

180? Holy cripes man! You like 200 watts to short! No wonder your experancing random crashs, once your Video card starts cooking it can't get the juice it needs to do its work

http://www.xoxide.com/24pincoposu.html, pick one about fourty to ninety bucks(Thats only if you want a pretty one) A Decent 400 Watt power supply can be had on the cheap were once they cost easily 200$ they now cost around 40$

Zac Naloen · Post by **Zac Naloen** » 2005-02-13 12:41pm

Okay, im getting a game crash myself now. everytime i complete the swoop race on talos my game crashes (at the loading screen) and i can't progress further... and i kinda need that money!

Anyone else getting this problem?

YT300000 · Post by **YT300000** » 2005-02-13 01:12pm

Where on the computer can I find how much wattage my power supply has?

YT300000 · Post by **YT300000** » 2005-02-13 01:20pm

Holy Shit!! My power and chassis fans don't spin!

I there any way I can fix this short of getting new components?

Vendetta · Post by **Vendetta** » 2005-02-13 01:22pm

Not really, especially with the PSU fan.

PSUs have very high internal voltages, and you shouldn't prod them.

On the upside, good PSUs aren't a very expensive component.

White Haven · Post by **White Haven** » 2005-02-13 03:26pm

*shakes head* Jebus. I never understand people, system buildings or homebuilders or wahtever, who go with cheapass power supplies. I wouldn't say he needs a 400, not for something as dinky as a 66, but someting 350-ish at least.

Post by **Mr Bean** » 2005-02-13 04:15pm

White Haven wrote:*shakes head* Jebus. I never understand people, system buildings or homebuilders or wahtever, who go with cheapass power supplies. I wouldn't say he needs a 400, not for something as dinky as a 66, but someting 350-ish at least.

Build with expansion in mind like HD the diffrence between a quality 350 and a quality 400 is a few dollers

Post by **Vympel** » 2005-02-13 06:34pm

White Haven wrote:*shakes head* Jebus. I never understand people, system buildings or homebuilders or wahtever, who go with cheapass power supplies. I wouldn't say he needs a 400, not for something as dinky as a 66, but someting 350-ish at least.

Is that in reference to me?

*ephiphany*

There are two possibilities now: I just rang my friend and told him about our dinky power supply- he was surprised, he thought it was more (unlike him not to check, but very like me). So, either he has a better power supply and we're just not aware of it (the power supplies our mutual PC-selling friend sold us are supposed to be identical), or, his PC for some reason has enough power available so his system doesn't shit itself on KOTOR/KOTOR2/Battlefront.

This may be because one of his two disc drives isn't powered in (he usually leaves his DVD-ROM unplugged and just uses the other one)- but on the other hand he has two hard drives where I only have one, partitioned.

White Haven · Post by **White Haven** » 2005-02-13 06:59pm

Hehe. Sorry Bean, reflex from trying to get numbskull customers to actually BUY computers. Mine's got a 430. As for that...PSUs are cheap, Vympel, and even if that's not what's causing the specific problem, having such an underpowered system WILL cause trouble down the road, so it's not wasted money if it doesn't fix your current problem. HEC kicks ass, though, at least he didn't get you a cheap shit brand, just a low wattage PSU.

Post by **Vympel** » 2005-02-13 08:33pm

White Haven wrote:Hehe. Sorry Bean, reflex from trying to get numbskull customers to actually BUY computers. Mine's got a 430. As for that...PSUs are cheap, Vympel, and even if that's not what's causing the specific problem, having such an underpowered system WILL cause trouble down the road, so it's not wasted money if it doesn't fix your current problem. HEC kicks ass, though, at least he didn't get you a cheap shit brand, just a low wattage PSU.

I just talked to him (the guy who built the PC for me), he said it was a 300W PSU.

http://www.pchardware.co.il/docs/pd828216250.htm

Now, I know dick about these things, is the "combined power = 180W" what's important or this:

HEC (Heroichi) 300AR-T Power Supply
300W - TUV/UL/CE Certificated

So it's a 300W PSU. Either way, he has also said it may be a bit low considering my new graphics card, so he's coming over tommorow with a new PSU (either 450W or 500W) to see if that fixes it. If it does, I'll buy it.

Arrow · Post by **Arrow** » 2005-02-13 09:04pm

Vympel wrote: Now, I know dick about these things, is the "combined power = 180W" what's important or this:

HEC (Heroichi) 300AR-T Power Supply
300W - TUV/UL/CE Certificated

A lot of manufactures/retailors like to play games with their numbers. That combined power output number describes the power that is actually going into your system and powering your components. That 300W number is probably its draw from the wall outlet, which makes your PSU 60% efficient (Enermax PSUs, on the other hand, is 80-85% efficient). Another thing to keep in mind is that those numbers are for your peak draw. Your average draw is going to be the RMS (root mean square) of your peak (you learn interesting things when you work with electrical engineers), meaning your system is really only getting 127.26W (180 * 0.707). And its a safe bet that half of that power is going to your processor.

So, if we look at my system, we get: 480W PSU, 80% efficient = 384W peak to PC. Average supply is 271W. Aren't numbers wonderful... And that's running at 6800GT OC, a P4 2.8 800FSB, 1GB Ram, 2 HDs, CD-RW, DVD-ROM, sound card, motherboard, five fans and a floppy in a pair tree.

Zac Naloen wrote:
PostPosted: Sun Feb 13, 2005 12:41 pm Post subject:
Okay, im getting a game crash myself now. everytime i complete the swoop race on talos my game crashes (at the loading screen) and i can't progress further... and i kinda need that money!

Anyone else getting this problem?

I don't swoop race, but given the description, I'd say its a bug. Random crap-outs are generally power/hardware, while repeatable crashes are bugs.