Serious BSOD problem with UT 99

[a nameless entity]

This never used to happen in the old days. I've installed/uninstalled this game at least four times now on this PC. During the first two installs and on my first PC I never got BSOD's during game play, that I can recall.

It happened a few times in the last install or two, but not like it is now. I'm clueless as to why it has been happening so often lately.

At first it was only happening on MH-Skaarj Tower F. I've BSOD'd on that map at least 6 times. Once during a past install at the room in the last tower that opens the door to the elevator in the basement that takes you to the endpoint, and then there again just as I entered the door to that room during this latest install. Twice I have gotten the BSODs while fighting the mobs underneath the bridge/walkway that take you into the final building too.

And twice I have had a BSOD while taking the lifts up the tower in the second last area that take you to the lift on the roof that goes to the building that will contain the teleporter back to the start area.

There's one other map where I got a BSOD but I don't remember what it was. MinderBinder has reported that the map MH-CandyBackInTime will crash his PC.

Tonight I got a BSOD on a map where it's never happened before. It's the one called MH dU ImperialBase. This was a nasty surprise, because I've played that map through several times before with nary a problem.

So I'm starting to wonder if it's a problem with other software running in the background, or if it's a problem unique to Fuzzball's server. I have not had a BSOD anywhere else, but then I spend over 95% of my time playing on his server, so that may be why I've only seen it on his server so far.

Does anyone have any suggestions on what I could try to do to resolve this issue?

[medor]

What is your UT config ?
Do you use s3tc or aaa ?

[a nameless entity]

I'm using D3D. I'm on XP SP3, so there aren't any more updates to do.
The game is pretty much as it comes off of the cd, except for the patch and I've turned coronas off.

I looked through the various .ini files for the line where I can make precaching false, but didn't find it.

According to something I read in another thread ATI video cards do not like OpenGL, so I haven't switched to that. It caused the game to go super dark back when I did try it, which forced me to increase the gamma for UT 99, and then lower it again after play.
That's a pain, and is another reason why I stayed with D3D this time.

Edit: I crashed the game a short time after writing this post. This time it was the video that messed up so bad that it locked the game up solidly. -All I did was hit F5 to do teamview after getting killed. And splat, the game locked up and the screen was all messed up. Too bad I couldn't take a screenshot to show what happened.

The game also locked up so bad that I couldn't minimize UT and had to force a reboot of my PC.

Edit #2: I just played Skaarj Tower F on HOH. I got to the final area, and my PC BSOD'd on the land bridge from the first building to the last. So it seems it's the map that is causing some sort of problem that is so bad that the game not only crashes, but it takes down my PC too with some sort of illegal activity that causes a physical memory dump BSOD to protect my system from damage.

So we know it's the map(s), and not the server.
Now what could it be? A video or audio problem? Hmmmm.....

On another note, I have noticed during the last 2 or 3 installs that the game is very slow to completely shut down after quitting. My PC's performance is glacial until the game -which is still running in the background- finally shuts itself down completely. This can take quite a few minutes. Often I will just hit Ctrl-Alt-Del so that I can force a shutdown immediately after quitting the game.
I'd like to hear a few thoughts on why that happens too. It's weird that "quitting" the game only gets rid of the UT desktop, and that it takes a few minutes more for UnrealTournament.exe to actually stop running.

[Hermskii]

OpenGL stops the game instantly when you use it. Say the word and I'll log in and get you all set up.

[medor]

You d3d
The game is very slow to completely shut down after quitting.

This come from settings d3d by default come with UT ... so go to d3d9 or edit your d3d with this settings http://unrealtournament.99.free.fr/utfi ... Config.rar

[a nameless entity]

Thanks Herm, and thanks Medor.

(Edited:)
Okay Herm, I went back to this good ol' page and downloaded the very latest opengl.dll file, version 36.

Really, one shouldn't go changing things on his PC when it's late at night, and he's tired from an all afternoon ride out in the wind. But that's never stopped me before, so I put in the new .dll v.36 and ........ wow, the darkness problem I had in the past is gone! Nice!! And yay, the textures in OpenGL are still way prettier than D3D.
The game also quit immediately after a quick test run at CG and Fuzzball's.

Now if I've also gotten rid of the BSOD problem, then it's full speed ahead!
(although I still can't find the line in whichever .ini file it is that will let me make precaching FALSE)


But speaking of this D3D9, will it run on Windows XP SP3 (fully updated to end of life settings)?

I would also like to know how that "optimized" UT-V3 is working for people, and IF it will work on my old XP computer.

[medor]

I would also like to know how that "optimized" UT-V3 is working for people, and IF it will work on my old XP computer.

It work on all windows computer.
The greatest interest to use it is it works directly with no patch for the great majority of configuration.
I did it because a new basic player who can not play immediately after the installation will put it in his trash without breaking is head to patch it.

UT-V3 start directly under opengl for a better affinity PC configuration.
His opengl is opengl35 for limit bugs due to opengl36

But I will not detail all on it it's just 15 years of settings experience.
It has exceeded 10,000 downloads since long and is updated regularly.

[Hook]

Interesting - I may use this one as a player install and see how it works.

[medor]

Interesting - I may use this one as a player install and see how it works.

not hesitated to criticize this can makes evolve the future update

[Hook]

Does UTV3 have all that is needed?

[Dr.Flay]

Most Graphics cards were DirectX 9 for many years.
Type "dxdiag" in the RUN box or a CMD window.
When the Diagnostics tool opens go to the "Display" tab and look over at the right side.
Where it says "DDI Version: ??" is the native directX capability of the graphics chip.

dxdiag.png

Generally use D3D9 if you don't have an nVidia, and OpenGL if you do.
The replacement renderers are built from the same code-base so can be set with matching options, even though they start with different settings.

Smirftsch has continued in the same way so every new release gets done for both.
OpenGL & D3D for Unreal & UnrealTournament forum
http://www.oldunreal.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?board=2

I find it easier to configure the ini file through UTs own GUI.
Type "preferences" in the UT console to open the advanced prefs window.
Everything is tidy and easier to find.
The 2 sections to look in are the "Display" and "Renderers"

Preferences.png

Using any of the branches also refreshes the ini and removes any obsolete settings, and add any new ones (this tends to happen between updated renderers).

Medors UT3 is a pre-pack of selected updates and addons based around the UT demo (patched with the 436 NoDelta update).
It does not come with the complete maps and is aimed at online users.
Note: It has been the source for arguments with people over the status of some of the official content, but as you don't get the full UT, I don't have a problem with it (other than the horrible custom kill messages).

[Nelsona]

This last so called UT-v3 seems well tuned comparing with that old manure from 2 years ago with null empty menus, indeed now is better, however I'll get rid of those messages because I simply found them annoying. If nobody went in troubles for this "tweaked one" then maybe I'll use it as long as it is called "free". So let's play.

Note:
BTW UT'99 is not OFF-TOPIC

[medor]

(other than the horrible custom kill messages).

^^

You can edit it or replace with the original botpack.int http://unrealtournament.99.free.fr/foru ... f=10&t=501

[Dr.Flay]

I've been thinking about the lag in shutting down.
It could be that it is using a lot of virtual RAM and possibly the swapfile/pagefile is fragmented.
Does it lag if you close UT without playing a game ?

I would check a few common speed issues.
Just read what follows before trying anything. You should not need to do all this, but I will cover all the different things I can think of with options.

Fragmented Pagefile/Swapfile
1) I keep mine on a different drive or partition than Windows so it is less of a hog and easier to manage.
Keeping your drive defragged regularly will help to avoid the virtual RAM becoming slow.
Some defag tools can defrag the Swapfile and MFT (disk index) during boot time.
Defraggler has a menu option, and AusLogics has a section called "Offline defragmentation"
http://www.piriform.com/defraggler/builds
http://www.auslogics.com/en/software/disk-defrag/

2) You can also change the Swapfile size to 2MB and reboot, then set the min and max sizes to the same size you are prepared to allow, then reboot again.
As long as the partition has enough free space in 1 chunk, it will create a new Swapfile in 1 piece.
You can have multiple Swapfiles on any fast partitions you have mounted.
http://computermemoryupgrade.mysuperpc. ... size.shtml

Physical Disk speed
1) If you have not installed the motherboard chipset drivers then Windows may be relying on the basic compatibility driver.
Without the full driver from the chipset maker "DMA Busmastering" may not be available, and so all disk accesses will slow the PC.
PC Wizard will find your chipset info if you do not know
http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/pc-wizard.html
This info will also be on the support page for your motherboard or PC, though the drivers they have may be older than you can find at the chip creators site.

2) If you have had any crashes during writing data Windows will sometimes downgrade the speed of the hard drive by dropping the DMA mode to the next lower setting.
If you have enough crashes or read errors (this includes reading scratched CDs) it can drop out of DMA mode into PIO mode.
PIO mode uses the CPU for all disk access (Windows Safe Mode uses PIO).
If Windows has dropped out of DMA mode it may not re-enable in the Device Manager.
Often you need to remove the drive from the Device Manager and reboot so Windows re-detects it.
https://www.ifixit.com/Wiki/Enabling_DMA_Mode_Transfers
http://winhlp.com/node/10


Some CD/DVD tools have the ability to reset the DMA.
ImgBurn has an option in the tools menu. This is what I use.
http://www.imgburn.com/index.php?act=download
NOTE: The installer uses "OpenCandy" so to avoid being offered extra crap, disconnect from the net while using the installer (this works for most shovelware installers).

if the drive is getting old then it can be that some of the blocks are becoming hard/slow to read.
Use a SMART tool to run a full scan of your drive.
https://vivaldi.net/blogs/entry/s-m-a-r-t-tools
Tools like http://hddscan.com can run several types of test so you can view any delays onscreen.
If you can handle using DOS then "MHDD" can show and fix delays.
http://hddguru.com/software/2005.10.02-MHDD/

The disk blocks can be refreshed with certain drive tools, but they usually need exclusive access (eg..
http://www.puransoftware.com/DiskFresh.html
http://www.dposoft.net/hdd.html
https://www.grc.com/spinrite.htm


For XP I use a couple of tools to monitor RAM usage
Uptimer is an old Win9x tool that puts a modular strip across the top of the desktop
http://www.merijn.nu/programs.php#uptimer4
You can get it to show the RAM and pagefile usage.

I have also used Cacheman since Win95. This has up to 5 tray icons that can show various info.
I usually just have it show 1 icon with the amount of free RAM.
It can be used to optimise Windows registry settings with handy tick-boxes, or profiles.
http://www.outertech.com/en/how-to-make ... ter-faster
http://www.outertech.com/en/why-is-my-computer-so-slow
I have a genuine demo key for v7 that works for 1 month. You can use this to access the full optimisation profiles. After it expires you have to configure it manually.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-AaAv ... sp=sharing

[medor]

I've been thinking about the lag in shutting down.
It could be that it is using a lot of virtual RAM and possibly the swapfile/pagefile is fragmented.
Does it lag if you close UT without playing a game ?

No it's solve you can play D3D without lag in shutting down.
But it is without interest because the game is set directly under D3D9.
Almost all computers are ready D3D9 (if the graphic card is nvidia you can select opengl but now for UT D3D9 work for all).