Fresh install, freezes at onset of combat

posted on April 4th, 2009, 8:43 am

Oh well, I should have expected this. I just downloaded the latest and greatest mod, patch, and media file and tried to run the game. First time I went with the default graphics settings (800X600-32bit) well I changed to 32-bit. It froze up as soon as she says "enemy engaged." Hit the restart button-system completely frozen- and tried again this time with default all the way (800X600-16bit graphics settings). It lasted a little longer this time. I engaged a small Dominian fleet but as soon as the action got more involved ooppss...frozen again. It doesn't look like this mod is going to work for me. I am disappointed as it looks great and sounds great but alas...lock ups each time graphics amp up during combat. Here is my set up if anyone cares:
AMD Athlon XP 3400+
ATI Radeon X1600 Pro (512 MB AGP)
2 GB Corsair XMS PC3200
Gigabyte MB K8NS Pro
WIN XP service pack 3
DX 9.0c

I know it's an old setup but it's all I got right now. If someone can shed light upon my problem I would be greatful. Otherwise, I am going to have to revert to the original game. 

posted on April 4th, 2009, 11:03 am

i have heard of a similar issue. yours may actually be the same. you could try to play in window mode and see if that improves your situation. i have no other solution than this workaround for you (if the workaround works for you )

posted on April 5th, 2009, 5:17 am

I gave windowed mode a shot and it froze up faster than regular mode. Besides that, it was so hard to see! Kinda defeats the purpose of new graphics and ships if you can't see them. I was hoping somone might have some insight as to what I might try to get it to work. Is it my hardware? Should I try different graphic settings BEFORE I even start up the game? It seems that the mod has worked for thousands of others but won't for me. Story of my life. Oh well I was looking forward to it and the little bit I was able to experience looked great! Guess I'll go back to the regular version for now until I get tired of it again. 

posted on April 5th, 2009, 5:28 am

Oh, I just thought of something. I installed off an existing armada2 game that I had played already. would doing a clean install from CD and then installing the mod work better? Also, what about the media pack? Could that maybe have an adverse affect?

posted on April 5th, 2009, 8:47 am

Well no change so far. I'm thinking it's an overheating CPU at this point rather than the mod. I'm going to acquire some Arctic Silver thermal paste 2morrow and see if that will draw down the temps significantly. I have no paste on the thing right now..I ran out and doubted the significance of it's effectiveness but not now! I installed and TRIED to run Age of Empires (Mythology) and that freezes up rather quickly also. Celsius temps when I get back into bios are about 60c so I suspect they run around 70-80+ at full load. Sheesh! WHo would have thought this old Athlon 3400+ would cause so much heat! But apparently it does so...off to Fry's 2morrow. I'll report the results later.

posted on April 5th, 2009, 12:33 pm

ok then.
on a side note..it doesn't matter if you install fleet operations with the cd or providing the installer with an existing installation path. just don't install fleet operations in an existing armada directory.

posted on April 7th, 2009, 6:59 am

After 2 days of limited use my pc seems to be fully functional again. The arctic silver seems to have done the trick (CPU overheating). I have already been massacred by the Jem Hadar (sp?) and Borg... Apologies for implying the mod was at fault I should have completed my rebuild b4 running anything. 
Nice job on this! My only gripe is how dark it is. Difficult to see at times.

posted on April 7th, 2009, 7:12 am

doesn't matter
you can modify the gamma slider in the graphics settings if it is too dark