Ut2003 & G400

[hans2]

The demo worked fine, as did the full version for the first day I had it. Now, it crashes the system after less than a minute of playing. The UT2003 forum is full of crash reports (no more than any game forum), but there doesn't seem to be any solution. Has anyone had a problem?

I've tried a bunch of things. Turned down all the graphics settings, switched to software audio, dropped my aggressive memory settings, dropped the AGP aperture size, checked system temps, chkdsk'ed & defragged. Tried the no cd crack. I've got to check if its just the current level I'm on (Plunge) as it seems to be particularly system intensive, moreso than the previous ones.

If anyone could give me a hand, I'd appreciate it. I had planned a nice night of staying inside & geeking out, down the tubes.

[K6-III]

Has the ambient room temp gone up....perhaps your cpu isn't liking it....

[hans2]

Its cooler today than it was yesterday, ambient-wise. CPU temp is 56 right now. Alarm at 65.

I put every setting on lowest & 800x600 res, and tried a different map....worked fine for quite awhile, through a few new maps. It did crash again though, at another new map.

I've got a Tbird 1333 & my g400's a MAX, so I should be able to handle the game on low settings. Heck, I know I can since I did all afternoon Friday!

[Chrono_Wanderer]

Actually i m playing UT2k3 with max quality settings , shadows etc @ 800x600x32bpp on my G550. Works fine, no lag that i m really aware of. Even @ 133/166MHz is still acceptible. What bothers me, however, is this wired blending and texturing that does not appear on my R8500. Could be the lack of hardware T&L, but seems like a texturing problem more than a feature problem.

[hans2]

I've been reading this thread in the support forum for the game. Tried a bunch of the suggestions. It seems that some of the more intense levels cause the crash. I.e. Plunge.

I run my CPU at 100% quite a bit, since it also functions as my TV. I had task manager open during one gaming session, and memory usage was less than 300 MB. I have two CAS2 256 MB chips & one CAS3 128 module. I run all at cas3 just in case. In regular Windows usage, I can max out all the memory & page file all the way up to 1600 MB without crashing. (DiVX Playa developed a nasty leak)

I was remarking how well the game seems to be coded. Running 1280x1024 res @ 32bpp in some levels, on a 3 year old G400M. I don't know if that's a testament more to the card or the game! Until this problem, the game was the least buggy of most of the games I've played in the past couple years.

[Goc]

I don't know if that's a testament more to the card or the game!

It's the card...

[duke_srg]

The game hangs at G450 too... But it also not playable neither with crappy 16-bit textures, nore with 32-bit textures.

[Reckless]

Originally posted by hans2
Running 1280x1024 res @ 32bpp in some levels, on a 3 year old G400M. I don't know if that's a testament more to the card or the game! Until this problem, the game was the least buggy of most of the games I've played in the past couple years.

What exactly do you class as running OK, it might be able to show you a static screenshot that looks great but it'll be giving you aroun 10FPS I'd guess...

[hans2]

Originally posted by Reckless
What exactly do you class as running OK, it might be able to show you a static screenshot that looks great but it'll be giving you aroun 10FPS I'd guess...

It was playable. I'd guess 20-30 FPS. Occasional glitches, but not terrible. Levels vary quite a bit. I have to drop all the settings to play Plunge.

[Reckless]

If you're guessing 20-30FPS then I reckon you may just have a very good imagination drop down the console and enter stat fps and this will show you the 'real' values.

I run a P3 1Ghz with 512MB CAS2 RAM and a G400Max. I've only got the demo and in-game it gives me at 640x480 all detail on low from 15FPS-30FPS. I also ran the supplied benchmark tool and my results were:
800 by 600
Flyby 18.24
Botmatch 14.72

640 by 480
Flyby 28.74
Botmatch 16.55

Basically I think it's a waste of time. To spend £600 (probably) on an upgrade to play what is essentially a fairly generic FPS is not for me. I loved UT as it succeeded in being different (for its time).

I did get the chance to run it on a system I built for a friend (XP1800, 256MB, GF4/4200-128). I didn't run the benchmark but will all detail on high and 1280*1024 the in-game FPS counter never dropped below 30 (outdoor level) and was quite a bit higher most the time. It sure looked nice but it still didn't have the pull I'd be looking for in order to part with the cash

[hans2]

I've run the FPS counter before, and seen 30+ FPS on lower settings. I just happen to have my PC's benchmark results saved on this laptop.

dm-antalus
4.677533 / 15.797764 / 42.668739 fps
Score = 15.806252

br-anubis
4.110175 / 14.475936 / 53.817215 fps
Score = 14.477308

dm-asbestos
5.379842 / 14.794076 / 45.714245 fps
Score = 14.802695

ctf-citadel
2.241295 / 12.636838 / 60.138969 fps
Score = 12.644147

dm-antalus
3.995232 / 17.416039 / 245.105606 fps
Score = 17.417919

dm-asbestos
7.291490 / 23.722624 / 62.394375 fps
Score = 23.737783

ctf-citadel
3.127386 / 18.635317 / 123.870026 fps
Score = 18.654434

dm-antalus
5.760896 / 17.081518 / 38.895622 fps
Score = 17.092920

I think that was done at 1024 resolution @ 16 bit.

So replace 20-30 FPS with "playable with some stuttering."

[hondas2k]

I have a G400Max and played the demo with no problems. I bought UT2003 today and played through the first 5 levels of the single player just fine and exited the game. I went back later and clicked on instant action and it locked up. I rebooted, tried again, and it locked up again. I can go back and pick up where I left off in the single player game but cannot get instant action to ever work.

Hope the new patch I heard about fixes this. I will be upgrading to a new video card soon but would like to be able to play the game the way it should be until then.

KW

[hondas2k]

Well, I ran the game again last night and today and it started locking up during the first team deathmatch game in single player mode. So now I can't get any further in that mode nor can I even get into Instant Action.

This is really a pain because it does not really make sense to me that I was able to play some of the single player levels with no problems.

Guess I will be upgrading my video card sooner than I thought. The G400 Max served me well for quite awhile, but it is time to move on.

Kirk

[hans2]

I had to reinstall my OS for another reason, and now UT2003 works fine. No crashes, I got past the Plunge level, and I'm two levels from beating the game.

[hondas2k]

Which OS are you using? I am using Windows XP Home but will be upgrading to XP Pro soon so maybe that will help, that or a new video card anyway.

KW