1.3.1 BETA patch to address freeze and audio issues

[apricotslice]

However, given that i have at least the recommended specs found at the back cover of the dvd case, even at the lowest graphic details .... the game runs at rediculously low framerates, even at the starting screen of the game (mouse moves with a delay/hysterisis).

Nova turrets dont work.
Computer freighters do not buy from my factories.
My HUB (Solar plant+Crystal factory) does not produce either crystals or cells although it is full of the needed resources. Also, in such kind of HUBs dont offer the option of setting a selling price for intermediate products.
Regards.

The first bit, I'm afraid is typical of space combat oriented games. Always has been. The recommended spec is really the miminum acceptable play spec. Sad but true.

Turent problem has a script fix.

Why your hub isnt producing anything is another issue. If you would like to pm me for an email address, you can send me a save game and I'll have a look at it for you if you want.

[paloukakos]

Well, if that is the case then the really sad (but true?) thing is that developers intentionally do not print the real recommended specifications in order to increase the potential number of customers.
But i really do not want to believe the perversions of my kinky mind...

[apricotslice]

I'm not so sure its the developers who write the specs.

Everything on the box is commisioned by the Distribution company.

And I seriously doubt anyone who makes decisions in the distribution companies ever plays what they sell. Nor cares if the minimum config plays the game well or only just.

If it was the developers fault, then far more of the games would not suffer from this sort of problem.

[apricotslice]

Here is a small list of some more bugs that i have noticed in my games:
Computer freighters do not buy from my factories.
My HUB (Solar plant+Crystal factory) does not produce either crystals or cells although it is full of the needed resources. Also, in such kind of HUBs dont offer the option of setting a selling price for intermediate products.
Regards.

Hi Devs and testers, I've looked at a save game and its not a tech problem.

[Web Goblin]

After installing the 1.3.1 beta patch I now have many small freezes during the game. These last for around 0.5 seconds.
Left the game running overnight and to my surprise it did not freeze up as it normally does.
The only other problem I have seen so far is that sometimes when docked in a station some of the menues do not have there names on them until they are highlighted. The name appears as soon as the menu is selected.
I have also noticed some other small improvements such as the keyboard and menu commands work faster and better.
I think egosoft are eventually heading in the correct direction with this. I might actually start playing the game again this improvement continues.

[apricotslice]

Interesting development :

I needed to reinstall 1.3.1 beta today to look at someones save game for them.

After this, I uninstalled it again back to 1.3.

I've just spent hours playing the game. Lots of that was in sector in my home sector.

No ships lost to asteroids or collisions with hub. No bouncing my own ship off asteroids for the hell of it. It worked like it was supposed to.

Conclusion Hypothesis :

Uninstalling 1.3.1 beta the first time removed something that is stuffing up the auto-pilot. Re-installing 1.3.1 beta put in place what the fix is supposed to do. Uninstalling it again, did not remove the fix.

So it appears as if there is something in 1.3, that 1.3.1 removes when removed that is the real problem, and that the fix will not work until whatever it is, is removed.

Anyone care to try this double install and see how their auto-pilots behave after ?

Edit : Afterthought.
The other thing I did today was in response to something said somewhere here. I went into the display in control panel, and the nvidia setup, and turned off all the major things in there, except one which was set to performance. I dont know what any of it means, but the game certainly played a lot better. I didnt notice any difference, except my new Elephant was jerky leaving a station in an otherwise no problems sector.

[ynnek888]

I'm too "scared" to runt his beta patch..

but I hope the official one comes out soon.. the motionless ka'ak clusters are kinda spooking me out.. I got a bunch now floating around the place... Heh, i need to go out and bllow em up before the next patch then hehe

[Skeletal]

Played a bit more with the new beta patch and got two freezes, but read on…

Entered a sector and had a sound loop of: “Entering sector (silence)” three times but nothing else happened. As this was taking place there was a massive amount of disc activity. Eventually the disc drive clamed down and the message finished: “Entering sector, Ceo’s Doubt”. Then the game carried on properly i.e. the “freeze” unfroze. (This is bound to be related to loading of new data for the next sector, but I’ve never heard this effect before the beta patch).

The next freeze I had was the “leaving a space station freeze”. This is where you click “close all menus” to leave the station and you just roll downwards and hang in space. Keyboard, mouse and joystick did nothing. It was hard to say if I was getting the sound loop because no music was playing, it was just “space noise” which sounds the same all the time anyway. Oh dear, game broken then? No! I was about to give up when one of my frantic clicking on everything suddenly brought up the sector menu. More clicking later and more and more things started to spring to life. Eventually everything returned to normal! (This time I did not notice any disc activity).

In the past, the leaving the space station freeze has been terminal; this time the freeze unfroze!

Thus, it seems to me that Ego has accepted there are many causes to freezes and has put a “freeze re-starter” into the code. This may be why, sometimes, the game now seems slightly more jerky. There have been many occasions where the game has stopped or slowed right down, then jumped into life again. In the past, I bet some of these would have been a freeze.

Can Ego confirm this??

Also, I am not turning all my other process off for these tests (I even leave the virus checker and Zone Alarm working), and as we know for a fact, these sometimes caused the game to freeze, so I now have a greater probability of a freeze. It would thus seem sensible to still turn off other processes etc, as you will reduce the number of times the game “jerks” as it unfreezes…if you see what I mean.

Anyone else seen such clear re-starts?

Skeletal

[eldyranx3]

Strange how X2 and X3 taxes my system that badly, while Far Cry, Doom 3, ect, doesnt. I remember when we used to be able to run 286's off a single lump of coal. Regardless, I just ordered a Hercules 450 watt PS, and will be installing it sometime next week. Thanks for everyone who gave their thoughtful input. I hope it helps others. Tootles!

450 watt PS installed, no voltage issues detected. Uninstalled X3, clean Install of X3 1.0 -> 1.3 -> 1.3.1. No codec issues detected. Game boots fine, however, under 1.3.1, my first save is about 700 MB. Can someone give me a heads up if they see the same thing with 1.3.1 and their save file sizes?

If Im not the only one (I didnt turn on script logging, or installed any 3rd party scripts), can CBJ or someone from EGOSOFT confirm this is a feature of the BETA patch to help devoplers debug a save file?

Otherwise I'll start seeing if the CTD's and resets occur with the more powerful 450 watt PS. Hope this helps others with the same issue ...

Well I guess my post was either deleted or moved to a different threat. So I will repost.

Results - New PS has no effect on CTD's or Reboots. I played for 15 minutes, went to Elena's Fortune, and attacked three Pirate Falcons with a burst of BPAC's. Blue screen, reboot. Reload. Try again. Reboot after AHPET's grazed my nose cone.

I think the reason why my last post was deleted / moved, is because I stated that I have spent $425 US in game and upgrades to play X3. EGOSOFT, take this as a compliment, cause I dont think I would do that for a different developer. Im working hard to try to give you feedback, and help you make a better game. So please dont move / delete this post.

Anyone else offer a suggestion? Comment? Smart Remark? Im not at my wits end, cause X2 runs great [occasional reboot, only other game that does it ], and I know once we get this CTD problem fixed, X3 will be even better than X2.

Keep up the good work EGOSOFT!

Althon 2800+ running at 2.2 Ghz
Clean install of Windows XP Home Edition SP2
NVIDIA Geforce 6200 256 MB AGP– Driver Version 81.98
Sound Blaster Live! 24 bit Gold Edition – Driver Version 5.12.1.512
1 GB Generic Memory.
450 Watt PS upgraded from 250 Watt PS
Nforce2 Motherboard – Driver Package Version 5.10
Onboard Sound Disabled, Nvidia Sound Drivers removed.
X3 Info – Clean Install from X3 1.0 to 1.3 to 1.3.1. No third party mods, or scripts installed.
Game – Changed to Easy Difficulty / with Plot Enabled for Testing

Madboris's DShow Viewer reports all AV Codecs MS Default, the only possible red problem detected was a unimodem wave driver, which I promptly removed from my computer, as well as the actual modem itself.

Dxdiag info Available on Request.

[Skeletal]

eldyranx3, you may have had this suggestion already (it’s hard to keep track of all the posts!), but I note that in your spec you say 1G “Generic memory”. I personally would only use top spec memory. Also, are all the settings correct? It would also be worth running memtest (several times) to make sure all is well.

Could you borrow a new pair of memory?

Skeletal

[ynnek888]

Overclocking throws everything out of the window.. General rule is, if you are overclocking, first thing you need to do is to stop all overclocking, and set everything back to the nominal specs.. Then try to recreate the problem.. (and hope no damage has been done on the hw itself)

[CBJ]

Well I guess my post was either deleted or moved to a different threat. So I will repost.

No, please don't. It was moved for a reason. It is now here. In future if you cannot find one of your posts, please click on your name in the user list and then on "Find all posts by...".

[CBJ]

Thus, it seems to me that Ego has accepted there are many causes to freezes and has put a “freeze re-starter” into the code. This may be why, sometimes, the game now seems slightly more jerky. There have been many occasions where the game has stopped or slowed right down, then jumped into life again. In the past, I bet some of these would have been a freeze.

Can Ego confirm this??

No. Specific causes of freezes have been addressed.

[eldyranx3]

Well I guess my post was either deleted or moved to a different threat. So I will repost.

No, please don't. It was moved for a reason. It is now here. In future if you cannot find one of your posts, please click on your name in the user list and then on "Find all posts by...".

Thanks CBJ. I'll remember to look next time.

[KarlHemmings]

5 days and 17 hours of game play. Still going. I have mapped as much of the Universe as I can; Grand Exchange is a no go area - khaak and xennon. I have placed a total of 5 factories - much more than any other game. Getting close to being

Two things
1. Property Screen - sorry earlier information was wrong - it is still messed up.
I have built a factory in Queens Space. I have my Disco in Kingdom End. I am in The Hole. I have set the option "show if homebase assigned" to "no". There are extra "lines" in the ships menu.

2. You do not need to buy a Trade Command MKII to sell goods from your factory.

[chrisallen76]

Posted earlier in the thread about having a minor slow down problem in some sectors.

Just uninstalled the patch and started a new 1.3 gae and couldn't beleive the difference. the BETA patch certainly dropped my framerate considerably, but did fix the UT fuel problem and the PSG lag problem!

[Skeletal]

Skeletal wrote:
Thus, it seems to me that Ego has accepted there are many causes to freezes and has put a “freeze re-starter” into the code. This may be why, sometimes, the game now seems slightly more jerky. There have been many occasions where the game has stopped or slowed right down, then jumped into life again. In the past, I bet some of these would have been a freeze.

Can Ego confirm this??

No. Specific causes of freezes have been addressed.

Oh! Thanks for the info CBJ. On the occasions of freeze/recover that I have witnessed, it really does look like it’s frozen, then got going again, hence my thoughts. But I guess you guys ought to know what you’ve done!!

Things are looking promising for many of us now.

Skeletal

[Abanon]

Reasons for installing patch

Usage of video and audio codecs optimized to fix various problems

Trade Command Software MK3 energy supply

Black screen when leaving a sector

Jump drive after buying Kha'ak specifications

Motionless Kha'ak clusters

Shockwave Generator and Mass Driver weapons have been optimized to reduce their impact on game performance

All these issues appear to have been resolved, thank you

However

I had a problem during install at the upgrade to Media Player Ver 10 (I already have this) when no matter what option I chose the insstal hung and required manual closing. This does not appear to have affected gameplay in any way except that I no longer have any voice communications from anyone at any time. To me this is not a gamestopping issue but others may find this to be a problem

Thank you again for the continued support you sre giving this game and I look forward to the non-beta patch


Edit

After about 8 or 9 game starts sound issue ( no voice in game ) has corrected itself, I have used a new codec for a video I wanted to play and this appears to have resolved this issue. No idea why this did not install the codec during 1.31b install but it is sorted now

[mrkdhrvy]

Continuing my journey through the game with the beta patch, I've noticed this (which some are issues many other people are having as well):
The beta patch did wonders to solving my freezing issues in the game, but other things started to become more of a problem such as:
1. the constant "mini-freezes" experienced mostly when combat
2. the docking computer not allowing you to dock when there are plenty of spaces available in a station. most of the time, you have to re-target the station and then try to dock again.
3. collision detection is still a bit flawed, but problems seem to arise in sectors with many small asteroids. my m5s that deliver produce to stations can't seem to make their way through HN while I'm there.
4. CTDs occur when loading some saved games, usually after I've been playing for more than 3 or 4 hours at a time.

Hope this helps.

My specs:
AMD XP 3200
ASUS SLI Deluxe mobo
Sound Blaster Audigy
1 Gb RAM
XFX GForce 6600 GT x2 SLI
80 Gb HDD x2 RAID 0

[KarlHemmings]

5 days and 17 hours of game play. Still going. I have mapped as much of the Universe as I can; Grand Exchange is a no go area - khaak and xennon. I have placed a total of 5 factories - much more than any other game. Getting close to being

Two things
1. Property Screen - sorry earlier information was wrong - it is still messed up.
I have built a factory in Queens Space. I have my Disco in Kingdom End. I am in The Hole. I have set the option "show if homebase assigned" to "no". There are extra "lines" in the ships menu.

2. You do not need to buy a Trade Command MKII to sell goods from your factory.

6 days 3 hours and no freeze. Apart from CTD when Teladi M6 in visual range - no problems.
To quote a Scottish advert - Loving It.
> Did I mention the M6 CTD when Teladi M6 in VISUAL range = not just in sector I have a number in sector - just that when in VISUAL range CTD - it will depend on which sector what rangs this is....

By the way thank you

EDIT
I captured a Buzzard last night and as it had 2 AHEPT decided to keep it. I was in PTNI Headquarters and after fixing the hull asked the ship to dock in Ceos Doubt. Whilst it was crossing the sector to the south of Ceos Doubt, I was watching from PTNI HQ using the universe mode "," the ship disapeared. It was gone from my property screen and no message to my log. Re-loaded and tried several times to move the ship - each time it just disapeared - not crashing into something in sector or getting attacked, no messages to my log. I ended up selling it and saving over that save game.