SMAC, AMD processor and graphics card

Viriato · February 17, 2001, 12:14

I recently upgraded my PC to an AMD K6-2 450 MHz processor. Later I bough a new graphics card: a Diamond card based on the Savage 4 chip.
This is when the problems started. About 1 out of 3 times the game freezes when I execute it. I'm using Windows 98 SE.
Can anybody give me some information regarding this subject?
And does anyone have information on how SMAC behaves with the Windows Me operating system?

Travathian · February 17, 2001, 14:15

Its likely not windows, I can't believe I said that.

More often it will be your video card, especially if its a piece of crap Diamond. I have a Viper770 using the TNT2 chipset, so I went to Nvidia's website and downloaded the driver from them and said the hell with Diamond and their crappy driver.

If I were you I'd do the same, get the video drivers from the chipset maker. Now keep in mind they wont have all the bells and whistles that Diamond includes with their driver, but then again it wont have the bells and whistles to screw up either.

Viriato · February 17, 2001, 18:38

Thanks Travathian.
Mine is a Stealth S540. I downloaded the latest drivers but I did it from the diamond site. I'll take your advice and try the S3 drivers.
About Windows Me did you ever used it?
[This message has been edited by Viriato (edited February 17, 2001).]

Travathian · February 17, 2001, 23:16

WindowsME = Windows 98SE = Windows 98 = Windows 95

They are all fundamentally the same, just more and more bug fixes in newer versions, no real change to the basic code.

I've a PIII 400 Win 95 and 98SE, and a K6-3 400 Win98SE and both run SMAX fine, that's why I'd say its your video card.

Viriato · February 18, 2001, 15:36

I already installed the S3 drivers. Now let's wait for the results.
I asked about the Windows Me because I read that it solved many of the W98 problems and it was a much mpre stable OS. But I also read here in the forums that SMAC crashes even more in it.
I was thinking of installing it (Windows Me) but now I'm not so sure about it.

Myronides · February 19, 2001, 07:43

I used to play SMAX in a computer with the AMD K6-2 prossesor at 300 MHz, 96 MB RAM but only a 2 MB video ram grafics card and Windows ME with no problem. I 'm currently using (temporarely) a celeron/windows ME system, no problems either.

Kinjiru · February 19, 2001, 14:23

Somebody posted a while back that they fixed a similar problem simply by always loading from the Start menu instead of their desktop icon. I have no idea why that should work, but it might be worth a shot.

I just ordered a new comp - AMD Athlon 1.2 GHz, with Windows ME and a GeForce2 card. I am just hoping and praying that all my games work with ME!

mark13 · February 19, 2001, 14:30

If anyone wants a 'slowest PC' contest

I have a p200 without a graphics card, and SMAC runs fine. A little slow at times, but otherwise it runs like a dream.

Viriato · February 19, 2001, 19:14

Before the upgrade I had a P133 with 32 Mb RAM and a 2 Mb ATI video card. I never had any problem apart from the terran.exe crash (once or twice).
After the upgrade things seem to be getting worse every day. I'l have to format my HD and install everything back one of these days

.

SMAC has freezed again after I changed the drivers. Although the frequency of the freezes seems to have decreased the problem remains

.

Kinjiru: Most of the times the game freezes when I choose 'classic' to play SMAC (instead of SMACX). Other times is when I press 'enter' to bypass the introduction. I'll give it a shot though.
[This message has been edited by Viriato (edited February 19, 2001).]

Lefty Scaevola · February 19, 2001, 19:35

quote:

Originally posted by Viriato on 02-19-2001 06:14 PM

Kinjiru: Most of the times the game freezes when I choose 'classic' to play SMAC (instead of SMACX). Other times is when I press 'enter' to bypass the introduction. I'll give it a shot though.

I had these happen before installing th 2.0 patch.

stuntman19 · February 19, 2001, 20:57

I put regular smac on my lil bro's AMD K5-75mhz with 32 mb ram and a sound rage 32 card and it's never crashed. It has 2 drives totalling about 600 MB so no room to try and add smacx. I would venture to say smacx has more probs with compatibility\specs than original smac.

JAMiAM · February 20, 2001, 00:41

Viriato,

Did you get a driver/utility disk with the new motherboard? You may have registry conflicts if you just swapped the hard drive from the old rig. A formatting and fresh install might be your best bet, if driver updates (video, sound, & M/B) don't do the trick. Good luck.

Viriato · February 20, 2001, 18:17

Lefty:

I never considered that an issue because I'm not playing SMACX, but plain SMAC. However I'm willing to test everything so I'll get the 2.0 patch.

Jam:

Yes I have a utility disk that came with the motheboard but I never used it. To be honest I never payed too much attention to it. I presume it contains drivers but I thought they were not necessary. Do you think they're important? And when should I install them, before or after installing windows?
Yes I think a format and fresh install is the best bet. I'm starting to get used to it anyway

.
[This message has been edited by Viriato (edited February 20, 2001).]

JAMiAM · February 20, 2001, 22:33

Install the M/B drivers and utilities after Windows is installed. Check the M/B manufacturers website for updated drivers/utilities. They may not yet support Windows ME.

Don't feel alone. I've been having a devil of a time with my home rig the last few weeks. BSODs several times a day. Downloaded directX 8.0 around Christmas time, and the beta drivers for my old Voodoo3 2000 AGP card worked okay with it. But, not content to leave well enough alone, I picked up a ATI Radeon All-In-Wonder card, thinking that it might help on American McGee's Alice. Since then, I have had a hard time keeping the system stable. ATI has some beta drivers for directX 8.0 on Win9x/ME, but they haven't helped much. Tonight, I found dX 8.0a, which I downloaded and installed. So far, so good.

Viriato · February 23, 2001, 20:42

I installed patch 2.0 and the crack from 'megagames' (my SMACX CD is a copy) and the result was an error message '...fatal error'

. I can't get SMACX to work and that's the last time I tried. In fact this may be the cause of my problems.
I guess I'll take the coming holliday to formatting my HD.