NR2002 momentary framerate drop

Just wondering if anyone else has seen their good framerate slow to a crawl during a race. For example, last night I was online with the graphics options turned up pretty high and maintaining 30-35 fps. All of a sudden, the framerate drops to a single digit slideshow and I can't control the car. I tried it again after dropping to 1024x768x32 getting 65 fps. After about 20 laps, slideshow again and 10-13fps. It only lasts for a few seconds. I don't have anything running in the background except Game Commander. I just upgraded my video card but it happened on my old card as well. It happens online or offline. It doesn't happen to any other games, including N4. Again, just wondering if anyone else has seen this and/or has any suggestions. My next steps are: 1) unload game commander. 2) Upgrade drivers. 3) Try opengl Thanks in advance, Mike Z One year old trouble free system: AMD Athlon T-bird 1100 Abit KT7A-Raid Motherboard 512 MB Memory Xtasy Geforce 3 Ti200 (23.11 drivers) Soundblaster Live SMC Ethernet card for cable modem

Two possibilities come to mind -- It sounds to me that your system may be writing to disk during these episodes. 1. Are you using Windows XP? If so, alhtough you stated that you have almost nothing running in the background, are you sure that you have disabled the system recovery feature (or whatever it's called)? and/or, 2. Are you allowing Windows to control the size of your swap file? If so, change the setting to a fixed size swap file. I also have 512 Megs of Ram on my system. I set my swap file size to 1024 Megs (1 Gig). I belive that it should ideally be 3 times your Ram, but I didn't want to set aside that much space. To do this, right-click on My Computer; Click on Properties; Click on Virtual Memory and change the settings so the minimum value is the same as the maximum value. I'm no expert on this, but these things might help..... Bert Mike Z wrote:

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> Just wondering if anyone else has seen their good framerate slow to a > crawl during a race. > > For example, last night I was online with the graphics options turned > up pretty high and maintaining 30-35 fps. All of a sudden, the > framerate drops to a single digit slideshow and I can't control the > car. I tried it again after dropping to 1024x768x32 getting 65 fps. > After about 20 laps, slideshow again and 10-13fps. It only lasts for > a few seconds. > > I don't have anything running in the background except Game Commander. > I just upgraded my video card but it happened on my old card as well. > It happens online or offline. > It doesn't happen to any other games, including N4. > > Again, just wondering if anyone else has seen this and/or has any > suggestions. > > My next steps are: 1) unload game commander. 2) Upgrade drivers. 3) > Try opengl > > Thanks in advance, > > Mike Z > > One year old trouble free system: > AMD Athlon T-bird 1100 > Abit KT7A-Raid Motherboard > 512 MB Memory > Xtasy Geforce 3 Ti200 (23.11 drivers) > Soundblaster Live > SMC Ethernet card for cable modem

Two possibilities come to mind -- It sounds to me that your system may be writing to disk during these episodes. 1. Are you using Windows XP? If so, alhtough you stated that you have almost nothing running in the background, are you sure that you have disabled the system recovery feature (or whatever it's called)? and/or, 2. Are you allowing Windows to control the size of your swap file? If so, change the setting to a fixed size swap file. I also have 512 Megs of Ram on my system. I set my swap file size to 1024 Megs (1 Gig). I belive that it should ideally be 3 times your Ram, but I didn't want to set aside that much space. To do this, right-click on My Computer; Click on Properties; Click on Virtual Memory and change the settings so the minimum value is the same as the maximum value. I'm no expert on this, but these things might help..... Bert

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> Just wondering if anyone else has seen their good framerate slow to a > crawl during a race. > For example, last night I was online with the graphics options turned > up pretty high and maintaining 30-35 fps. All of a sudden, the > framerate drops to a single digit slideshow and I can't control the > car. I tried it again after dropping to 1024x768x32 getting 65 fps. > After about 20 laps, slideshow again and 10-13fps. It only lasts for > a few seconds. > I don't have anything running in the background except Game Commander. > I just upgraded my video card but it happened on my old card as well. > It happens online or offline. > It doesn't happen to any other games, including N4. > Again, just wondering if anyone else has seen this and/or has any > suggestions. > My next steps are: 1) unload game commander. 2) Upgrade drivers. 3) > Try opengl > Thanks in advance, > Mike Z > One year old trouble free system: > AMD Athlon T-bird 1100 > Abit KT7A-Raid Motherboard > 512 MB Memory > Xtasy Geforce 3 Ti200 (23.11 drivers) > Soundblaster Live > SMC Ethernet card for cable modem

I'm running ME, not XP, but I'll check on the system restore feature. Now that you mention it, I may have left it enabled. I do have a fixed swap file size, almost the same as yours. I have switched to OpenGL and the problem went away, although I do acknowledge that there's still an underlying problem somewhere. Maybe drivers - I've since heard that the 23.11 drivers could have issues. Thanks for your suggestions, Bert. By the way, my post took six days to show up. I thought it was lost. Stupid Roadrunner. On Mon, 25 Feb 2002 22:10:13 GMT, BRH <"bertrh<no-spam>"@attbi.com> wrotd:

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>Two possibilities come to mind -- > >It sounds to me that your system may be writing to disk during these >episodes. > >1. Are you using Windows XP? If so, alhtough you stated that you have >almost nothing running in the background, are you sure that you have >disabled the system recovery feature (or whatever it's called)? and/or, > >2. Are you allowing Windows to control the size of your swap file? If >so, change the setting to a fixed size swap file. I also have 512 Megs of >Ram on my system. I set my swap file size to 1024 Megs (1 Gig). I belive >that it should ideally be 3 times your Ram, but I didn't want to set aside >that much space. To do this, right-click on My Computer; Click on >Properties; Click on Virtual Memory and change the settings so the minimum >value is the same as the maximum value. > >I'm no expert on this, but these things might help..... > >Bert > > > > > >Mike Z wrote: > >> Just wondering if anyone else has seen their good framerate slow to a >> crawl during a race. >> >> For example, last night I was online with the graphics options turned >> up pretty high and maintaining 30-35 fps. All of a sudden, the >> framerate drops to a single digit slideshow and I can't control the >> car. I tried it again after dropping to 1024x768x32 getting 65 fps. >> After about 20 laps, slideshow again and 10-13fps. It only lasts for >> a few seconds. >> >> I don't have anything running in the background except Game Commander. >> I just upgraded my video card but it happened on my old card as well. >> It happens online or offline. >> It doesn't happen to any other games, including N4. >> >> Again, just wondering if anyone else has seen this and/or has any >> suggestions. >> >> My next steps are: 1) unload game commander. 2) Upgrade drivers. 3) >> Try opengl >> >> Thanks in advance, >> >> Mike Z >> >> One year old trouble free system: >> AMD Athlon T-bird 1100 >> Abit KT7A-Raid Motherboard >> 512 MB Memory >> Xtasy Geforce 3 Ti200 (23.11 drivers) >> Soundblaster Live >> SMC Ethernet card for cable modem