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Make sure you have fully upgraded the operating system and put the latest drivers for the Audio and Video cards in.
Renamed the AVI folder and set color depth to 16 BIT.
Renamed the AVI folder and set color depth to 16 BIT.
I've of course tried that already. I believe the reason why this happens, is because my CPU, or maybe Video card can't handle the amount of .bmp files...
Ya If it is only Paradox games you have trouble with, I really can't help anymore, I am out of ideas, If it happened in opther games or Apps, I would have some more ideas, but the fact you only have trouble with These games, I don't know. Sorry.
Yeah it's only in paradox games, so it's proberly the Game engine my computer doesn't like. I think it's because of the amount of files which uses all the CPU resources. Well I'm not sure because normally a window pops up, to tell thats there's no resources left. Well it's ok, I'll be able to play HoI in about 6 months, so I guess its back to CS 
Well, with the lockup error, you really cannot tell which games will or will not trigger it. It's highly timing dependant. That said, Paradox games, by their very nature, generate a quite intensive data traffic between your main system (CPU + chipset + memory) and the AGP video board, especially if it's an older type AGP board with a limited amount (read: less than 64 MB) of video RAM. That dramatically increases the probability of actually being hit with a lockup error.Jackcolt said:Yeah it's only in paradox games, so it's proberly the Game engine my computer doesn't like. I think it's because of the amount of files which uses all the CPU resources. Well I'm not sure because normally a window pops up, to tell thats there's no resources left. Well it's ok, I'll be able to play HoI in about 6 months, so I guess its back to CS
When I was having the lockups myself over a year ago, I didn't have any trouble with Paradox games. For me, it was games like Age if Methology, Civilisation 3, Never Winter Nights and Soldier of Forture II that would lockup contstantly.
Jan Peter
So many different options for components is good for pricing, but bad for potentcial conflicts, always a trade off.
Yeah It's actually hard to pick something up without it having a conflict with something. Jpd after reading you reply it leads me to this conclusion, the minimum requirements are to low?
Not really, no.
However, if you do own an older AGP board with less than something like 64 MB VRAM, you force the system to offload portions of the bitmaps used by the game (stored as textures most likely) into main RAM. This is per AGP design, actually. The original idea of AGP was precisely to offload big bitmaps (aka textures) into main memory, so the video boards didn't need to be equiped with large amounts of very expensive (well, in those early days anyway) video RAM chips.
And that is where the troubles begin. Now you have two independant processors (your main CPU and your video processor) fighting over access to your main RAM. If all play nicely by the rules as laid down by Intel in the specifications, there is no problem. However, not all AGP drivers (especially those from VIA) and video drivers play nicely by those rules. Some cut corners to squeeze out a few extra points in the 3D Mark reference test, to show off more favourably against the competition. And sometimes bugs are present in those drivers.
If you had installed an even older non AGP video board (like a good old fashioned PCI video board with an S3 Trio or Virge chipset) you most likely wouldn't have had any problems at all.
Note that installing a state of the art Ati Radeon or NVidia GeForce isn't an automatic solution either. Those cards need a LOT of amps in order to operate properly. Mainboards and power supplies of older systems usually cannot handle this properly, and you end up with either another unstable system (this time due tu power fluctuations), or burning out the power regulators of your mainboard, or the power supply itself.
Jan Peter
However, if you do own an older AGP board with less than something like 64 MB VRAM, you force the system to offload portions of the bitmaps used by the game (stored as textures most likely) into main RAM. This is per AGP design, actually. The original idea of AGP was precisely to offload big bitmaps (aka textures) into main memory, so the video boards didn't need to be equiped with large amounts of very expensive (well, in those early days anyway) video RAM chips.
And that is where the troubles begin. Now you have two independant processors (your main CPU and your video processor) fighting over access to your main RAM. If all play nicely by the rules as laid down by Intel in the specifications, there is no problem. However, not all AGP drivers (especially those from VIA) and video drivers play nicely by those rules. Some cut corners to squeeze out a few extra points in the 3D Mark reference test, to show off more favourably against the competition. And sometimes bugs are present in those drivers.
If you had installed an even older non AGP video board (like a good old fashioned PCI video board with an S3 Trio or Virge chipset) you most likely wouldn't have had any problems at all.
Note that installing a state of the art Ati Radeon or NVidia GeForce isn't an automatic solution either. Those cards need a LOT of amps in order to operate properly. Mainboards and power supplies of older systems usually cannot handle this properly, and you end up with either another unstable system (this time due tu power fluctuations), or burning out the power regulators of your mainboard, or the power supply itself.
Jan Peter
When building my sytem even in the early days when 200 or 220 were the standard, I still insisted on a 300watt power supply. The minimum now I would say.
If you intend to build a system today with a high speed Athlon or Pentium 4, 512 MB of DDR(2) RAM or more, a big HDD and a top notch Radeon or GeForce, then a 300W won't even come close. You need at least a 460W of an A-brand (like Enermax) or even higher.
The processor alone will dissipate anywhere between 80 and 110W, and the same goes for your video chip. Thats around 200W for only two chips. Then there's the north bridge of the chipset (you don't think that big cooling block is just for looks, do you), something like 50W for the RAM chips, 40-50W for the HDD drive (even more when it's spinning up, that's why server PC's are spinning HDD's up one at a time), and I haven't even touched additional stuff like sound boards, CD or DVD drives, burners, etc.
And keep in mind that not all the W's coming into the PSU will come out usefull either. Even with a top brand, you still loose something like 10-20% to heat dissipation.
I'll leave the final calculations to yourselfs, but if you can add ....
Jan Peter
The processor alone will dissipate anywhere between 80 and 110W, and the same goes for your video chip. Thats around 200W for only two chips. Then there's the north bridge of the chipset (you don't think that big cooling block is just for looks, do you
), something like 50W for the RAM chips, 40-50W for the HDD drive (even more when it's spinning up, that's why server PC's are spinning HDD's up one at a time), and I haven't even touched additional stuff like sound boards, CD or DVD drives, burners, etc.And keep in mind that not all the W's coming into the PSU will come out usefull either. Even with a top brand, you still loose something like 10-20% to heat dissipation.
I'll leave the final calculations to yourselfs, but if you can add ....
Jan Peter
Based on test results from Toms Hardware site (published today, apr 5, 2004), you are obviously not using the latest and fastest ATI Radeon card.
As you can see, I was a wee bit low with my power consumption estimates.
Jan Peter
The video board alone would have consumed 2/3 of the total output from your PSU
As you can see, I was a wee bit low with my power consumption estimates.
Jan Peter
No, I do have a Radeon but it is 7K series not 9K
I guess I just don't credit it though.
I never see even top of the line systems sold with greater than 300 watt PS.
It certainly is not standard.
I guess I just don't credit it though.
I never see even top of the line systems sold with greater than 300 watt PS.
It certainly is not standard.
Well, it just might.
After all, the new patch has new (AI) code inside it, that obviously consumes a different amount of CPU cycles. That alone might change the overall timing characteristics of your entire system, and maybe just enough to mask away the problem. Give it a try.
Jan Peter
After all, the new patch has new (AI) code inside it, that obviously consumes a different amount of CPU cycles. That alone might change the overall timing characteristics of your entire system, and maybe just enough to mask away the problem. Give it a try.
Jan Peter
Well I surpose I'll try it then, I'll tell you the results when i try...Castellon said:As jpd says, you never know till you try.