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Black screen???? - 2/14/2005 10:31:57 PM   
Alby


Posts: 4855
Joined: 4/29/2000
From: Greenwood, Indiana
Status: offline 		noticed something that I havnt experienced before
my game now sometimes goes to a black screen.
levaing mouse trails.... meaning the map shows under where the mouse pointer has gone.
it goes back to normal, but quite annoying.
anyone else experience this??
and have any remedies?

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RE: Black screen???? - 2/15/2005 2:31:19 AM   
minefield


Posts: 289
Joined: 3/25/2004
From: North Carolina, USA
Status: offline 		This is a very common bug. You should find tons of stuff if you perform a search.

The most popular theory is that background applications change the data on the video card when they try to update programs in the background. Since SP:WaW uses older technology / coding, it doesn't expect or handle the Windows environment well. Sometimes even the palette on the video card will get changed and when you alt - tab back in the game will be in psychedelic colors.

There is no fix. Try closing all background problems that you can. You might want to experiment with different video drivers.

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Post #: 2
RE: Black screen???? - 2/15/2005 3:59:29 AM   
Alby


Posts: 4855
Joined: 4/29/2000
From: Greenwood, Indiana
Status: offline 		thanks
this just started, I think has something to do with the latest drivers I downloaded


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Post #: 3
RE: Black screen???? - 2/15/2005 4:15:25 AM   
Goblin


Posts: 5547
Joined: 3/29/2002
From: Erie,Pa. USA
Status: offline 		Windows Update drivers gave me problems on a few games. Try drivers from the cards manufacturer. If you did, then try Windows Update. I have had it work in that direction also.


Goblin

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http://www.spwaw.com/phpBB2/index.php

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Post #: 4
RE: Black screen???? - 2/15/2005 5:00:09 AM   
RBWhite


Posts: 1484
Joined: 8/28/2004
From: Somerdale, New Jersey, USA
Status: offline 		Alby

Are you dial up or cable?

Also is your memmory only 512 mb.?

I use Comcast Cable. Comcast uses a security manager that uses an enormous amount of system resources and so does SPWAW.

If you have such a security manager running try shutting it down when you play SPWAW.

My security manager uses 50,000K of memmory when considered idle.

I had the same blackout problem until I discovered what was causing it. My system resources were maxing out with both programs running

Rick White

< Message edited by RBWhite -- 2/15/2005 12:11:34 PM >

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Post #: 5
RE: Black screen???? - 2/15/2005 3:44:25 PM   
DzrtFox

 

Posts: 24
Joined: 5/25/2004
Status: offline 		I get the same thing from time to time. A reboot fixes the problem every time. I don't know if that's the most efficient solution, but it works for me...

Out of curiosity, what video card are the people having the problem using? I use a GeForce 4 Ti4200 with the latest NVidia drivers...

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Post #: 6
RE: Black screen???? - 2/15/2005 4:33:44 PM   
Alby


Posts: 4855
Joined: 4/29/2000
From: Greenwood, Indiana
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: RBWhite

Alby

Are you dial up or cable?

Also is your memmory only 512 mb.?

I use Comcast Cable. Comcast uses a security manager that uses an enormous amount of system resources and so does SPWAW.

If you have such a security manager running try shutting it down when you play SPWAW.

My security manager uses 50,000K of memmory when considered idle.

I had the same blackout problem until I discovered what was causing it. My system resources were maxing out with both programs running

Rick White

Cable
which memory do you refer...total pysical memory?
Im not a computer guru here LOL

< Message edited by Alby -- 2/15/2005 9:36:49 AM >

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Post #: 7
RE: Black screen???? - 2/15/2005 4:59:15 PM   
Goblin


Posts: 5547
Joined: 3/29/2002
From: Erie,Pa. USA
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: DzrtFox

I get the same thing from time to time. A reboot fixes the problem every time. I don't know if that's the most efficient solution, but it works for me...

Out of curiosity, what video card are the people having the problem using? I use a GeForce 4 Ti4200 with the latest NVidia drivers...


5200FX Ultra. I am not sure it is card related for the most part. I thinks its a resource issue.

Goblin

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Post #: 8
RE: Black screen???? - 2/15/2005 5:34:24 PM   
RBWhite


Posts: 1484
Joined: 8/28/2004
From: Somerdale, New Jersey, USA
Status: offline 		Alby

Yes, Total physical memory.

As you can see I had a bit of a problem spelling "memmory" this morning, twice.

< Message edited by RBWhite -- 2/15/2005 4:03:59 PM >

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Post #: 9
RE: Black screen???? - 2/15/2005 6:35:03 PM   
Alby


Posts: 4855
Joined: 4/29/2000
From: Greenwood, Indiana
Status: offline 		total physical memory is 256 MB

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Post #: 10
RE: Black screen???? - 2/15/2005 6:44:41 PM   
RBWhite


Posts: 1484
Joined: 8/28/2004
From: Somerdale, New Jersey, USA
Status: offline 		DzrtFox

I found that it's not a video card or driver problem at all.

It's SPWAW is an old game platform kicked up.

My problem is, I have somewhat of a current ASUS motherboard with a somewhat current Intel chipset. Alot of the people who have the blackout problem have a simular system configuration or very close. Old game new machine. It's the way the new system allocates system resources, and SPWAW uses alot of system resources. I also think Pentium 4 Hyperthreading technology may cause a problem too.

So you have to be really conscious of all the programs running in the background and how much memory their using.

I discovered shutting down my security manager for my cable modem before playing SPWAW 8.30 I no longer had the blackout problem, BUT my Pentium 4 processor ran very HOT. (If you don't feel safe shutting down the security manager, also turn off the modem while playing.)

I went from 512 to 1 gig of memory and still have a few small problems

Thats the best I can do in explainning what I found.

Rick White

< Message edited by RBWhite -- 2/15/2005 4:50:30 PM >

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Post #: 11
RE: Black screen???? - 2/15/2005 9:21:55 PM   
minefield


Posts: 289
Joined: 3/25/2004
From: North Carolina, USA
Status: offline 		We agree in that the main problem is SP:WaW's old code. The reason why we mention all the hardware stuff is because some people can run the game with no problems and others can't. The game is very fickle and sometimes just changing a driver here and there can make it work a lot better.

It's not that the game uses a lot of resources, it tries to use all resources. While I haven't been able to see the code, I know a lot of old DOS games were written with the assumption they would be the only program running. They have infinite loops and other routines that are now replaced with newer techniques in Windows-based games. If you have XP, you can ctrl-alt-del (other methods in other OS's) and see that the game is using 100% of your CPU.

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Post #: 12
RE: Black screen???? - 2/16/2005 12:41:29 AM   
RBWhite


Posts: 1484
Joined: 8/28/2004
From: Somerdale, New Jersey, USA
Status: offline 		minefield

I've seen CPU spikes up to 100%. Mostly fluctuating between around 85 to 92% or so.

I have seen my processor temperature 135 +++, when playing SPWAW and I have a oversized cooling fan & box fans.

You just can't play all day

Still a great game

Rick White

(in reply to minefield)
Post #: 13
RE: Black screen???? - 2/16/2005 3:44:03 PM   
minefield


Posts: 289
Joined: 3/25/2004
From: North Carolina, USA
Status: offline 		135 (Fahrenheit right?) is pretty high. They say (depending on your CPU) that they can handle more (temperature before it fails), but most experts say you want to aim for below 50 Celsius.
If you've had your computer a long time, it might be time to reset your CPU with new thermal compound as it degrades over time. I did this and reduced my temp by about 20 degrees Celsius.

Short of that, I would recommend that you use WinThrottle. This will use the power management settings in the southbridge chip to force your CPU to consume less power. Just be sure to set it back when you are done playing. I have found this program reduces the temperature. I see you already know how to monitor your CPU temp, but for those who don't, I recommend Motherboard Monitor.
Winthrottle (site seems down right now....)
http://www.oldskool.org/pc/throttle
MBM:
http://mbm.livewiredev.com/

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Post #: 14
RE: Black screen???? - 2/17/2005 12:59:52 AM   
RBWhite


Posts: 1484
Joined: 8/28/2004
From: Somerdale, New Jersey, USA
Status: offline 		minefield

That 135 deg. +++ is only when SPWAW is running.

I already have motherboard, CPU & fan monitoring installed

I pull complete maintenance on my machines every quarter and get rid of all those dust bunnies.

< Message edited by RBWhite -- 2/16/2005 11:08:00 PM >

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Post #: 15
RE: Black screen???? - 2/21/2005 8:34:26 PM   
proberts


Posts: 14
Joined: 2/8/2004
From: liverpool uk
Status: offline 		i have totally eradicated this problem which has troubled me for a long time by turning off background running programs in my case this was spyware guard(great program) but there are others
spwaw is a memory hog and seems to use everything

best of luck
phil

(in reply to RBWhite)
Post #: 16
RE: Black screen???? - 2/22/2005 1:02:10 AM   
Alby


Posts: 4855
Joined: 4/29/2000
From: Greenwood, Indiana
Status: offline 		well I went to a restore point back before I loaded some drivers for graphics and It solved the problem

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Post #: 17
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