Why not? He's got the cash.
by AC - permalink
I've got problems here. I'm getting more and more graphics glitches and crashes in more and more games. In just the last few weeks I've had issues with Far Cry, Half-Life 2 Episode 1, GTA Vice City, MoH Pacific Assault, and even Half-Life 1. I've eliminated the overheating issue that gave me some problems in GTA San Andreas and all I'm left with is video drivers and/or software. To solve that, I've tried the last three sets of ATi Radeon drivers with their corresponding CCC's (Catalyst Control Centers) but nothing is working. In fact things are getting worse. I've only had this PC since January, and that's just not enough time for WinXP to become so corrupted that a reinstall is necessary. Especially considering how well I look after my PC. I mean, this isn't fucking Windows 98 we're talking about.
But nonetheless I've started backing up installers and config files to my secondary hard drive. I could install WinXP Pro, or use my PC's factory restore disc, and I'd prefer that because it came with WinXP MCE. I don't want to go through all that shit, but I can't think of anything else to try. I've got games that ran flawlessly for months (like Far Cry and HL2) that are suddenly acting like pre-alphas. Tonight I even reverted to the drivers and software that came with my vidcard, but no, crash after crash.
What's interesting about all this, to me anyway, is that Doom 3 has been one game I've had no problems with whatsoever. In fact, I can't remember it ever crashing or having any issue of any kind. Quake IV, yes, at one point some intense lighting in one map created a weird but inconsequential anomaly, but Doom 3, in its unpatched retail form has been rock solid. That's bleeding edge tech, but you'd never know it. I installed the 1.3 patch just for the hell of it, and again, no problem.
But these other games... Far Cry, for instance. The only problem I've ever had was a weird issue where certain shadows were rainbow-colored when cast onto complex geometry that was also casting a shadow. That went away with a driver update. But then the entire game was suddenly being drawn with the colors inverted. That happened twice, then stopped for no reason I could discover. Now the game is crashing almost immediately after a level finishes loading. Again, I have no goddamn idea why. HL2 Episode 1 is doing the same thing, but I'm convinced it's because of one of those mandatory patches Valve pushed on me via Steam. Which one I don't know, because there are so damn many.
The only troubleshooting step left that I can think of is one I just can't afford: yank out my ATi vidcard and try one from NVIDIA. I have a deep, dark, depressing feeling that I could spend hours reinstalling Windows to end up with exactly the same problems I'm having now. But that's probably a better option that spending three hundred wing-wangs on a brand new NVIDIA card and still not getting any improvement.
Shit. Does anyone have an Xbox 360 they'd like to sell me?
by AC - permalink
I've got problems here. I'm getting more and more graphics glitches and crashes in more and more games. In just the last few weeks I've had issues with Far Cry, Half-Life 2 Episode 1, GTA Vice City, MoH Pacific Assault, and even Half-Life 1. I've eliminated the overheating issue that gave me some problems in GTA San Andreas and all I'm left with is video drivers and/or software. To solve that, I've tried the last three sets of ATi Radeon drivers with their corresponding CCC's (Catalyst Control Centers) but nothing is working. In fact things are getting worse. I've only had this PC since January, and that's just not enough time for WinXP to become so corrupted that a reinstall is necessary. Especially considering how well I look after my PC. I mean, this isn't fucking Windows 98 we're talking about.
But nonetheless I've started backing up installers and config files to my secondary hard drive. I could install WinXP Pro, or use my PC's factory restore disc, and I'd prefer that because it came with WinXP MCE. I don't want to go through all that shit, but I can't think of anything else to try. I've got games that ran flawlessly for months (like Far Cry and HL2) that are suddenly acting like pre-alphas. Tonight I even reverted to the drivers and software that came with my vidcard, but no, crash after crash.
What's interesting about all this, to me anyway, is that Doom 3 has been one game I've had no problems with whatsoever. In fact, I can't remember it ever crashing or having any issue of any kind. Quake IV, yes, at one point some intense lighting in one map created a weird but inconsequential anomaly, but Doom 3, in its unpatched retail form has been rock solid. That's bleeding edge tech, but you'd never know it. I installed the 1.3 patch just for the hell of it, and again, no problem.
But these other games... Far Cry, for instance. The only problem I've ever had was a weird issue where certain shadows were rainbow-colored when cast onto complex geometry that was also casting a shadow. That went away with a driver update. But then the entire game was suddenly being drawn with the colors inverted. That happened twice, then stopped for no reason I could discover. Now the game is crashing almost immediately after a level finishes loading. Again, I have no goddamn idea why. HL2 Episode 1 is doing the same thing, but I'm convinced it's because of one of those mandatory patches Valve pushed on me via Steam. Which one I don't know, because there are so damn many.
The only troubleshooting step left that I can think of is one I just can't afford: yank out my ATi vidcard and try one from NVIDIA. I have a deep, dark, depressing feeling that I could spend hours reinstalling Windows to end up with exactly the same problems I'm having now. But that's probably a better option that spending three hundred wing-wangs on a brand new NVIDIA card and still not getting any improvement.
Shit. Does anyone have an Xbox 360 they'd like to sell me?
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