Thu Oct 30, 2003 9:53 pm
FIX!!! For intermittent mouse / game lag + sounds problems
First of all, system specs:
Win2K SP4
P4 2.4C @ 2.4 GHz
512MB DDR800 SDRAM
ABit IS-7 (i865) MB w/integrated RealTek AC97 Audio / 3COM LAN
ABit Siluro GeForce4 Ti 4200 OTES 64MB (stock speed)
WD1000JB 100 GB 7200 rpm HDD (pri.)
WD800JB 80 GB 7220 rpm HDD (sec.)
So with that said, my PC _should_ run Freelancer properly. Of course, like so many of you, I had the unfortunate experience that it _didn't_. My problems were common - Partial to total loss of some game sounds (annoying but workable), and, much worse, the problem of lag. To give an example: The game would stop responding just for a moment, every second or two; if I were to move the mouse continuously across a menu screen, it would "sticK" every second or so. In flight, the same effect was very noticeable especially when I tried to do a hard turn - Again, everything would stop for just an instant, every second or two, thus making everything laggy and really unplayable.
Now, as for the sound fix, ElectricBrain and the ReadMe file are indeed correct - In order to get back full sound, all you need to do is remove every trace of l3codecp.acm from your hard disk and your registry, and reinstall the MS version of the Fraunhofer IIS MP3 codec, as included on the Freelancer CD. So far so good, I did that and got sound back.
Second step, fixing the lag - Well, I spent hours looking through forums and on the net, and if someone posted a fix, I didn't see it (and we all know how effectively MS supports their games, so...) So then I started playing around. Clearly in my case it wasn't an ATI video driver issue, but anyway I tried NVidia's 4x.xx and 5x.xx drivers, to no avail. I saw someone mention that with NVidia cards it might be a matter of adjusting how many frames ahead the card is allowed to render, having applied the CoolBits tweak that exposes some advanced controls in the Display control panel, or that maybe it was related to VSync (i.e. syncing frame-rate with vertical refresh). Tried that - No good. I saw people talking about virus scanners and background programs maybe being an issue, so I killed every single application and process not absolutely necessary for Win2K to run, and disabled a bunch of services. No good. Then I went into the Display control panel, on a whim, and dropped the video acceleration as low as it would go while still allowing me to run Freelancer (if you put it to either of the two lowest settings, it doesn't even think you have a 3D card
). _Still_ no good. I ran SysInternals' Registry and File monitors in the background while running Freelancer, to see if it was repeatedly attempting to access a certain file or registry key and having difficulties in doing so. STILL no good.
So finally, I thought to myself, hmmm, sound hardware seems to cause more problems with this game than anything else. What happens if I drop the SOUND acceleration level? Well, folks, THAT is what finally fixed it. I went to the Sounds and Multimedia control panel, then to the Audio tab, and then to the Advanced Properties of my playback device, then to Performance, and I dropped the audio acceleration level to rock-bottom. And it WORKED!!!
I played around with this a bit more, and found that the right level for me (NOT to be confused with the right level for YOU - This may be hardware dependent) was to drop it to one notch below the "Recommended" level, i.e. position 2 of 4, if 4 is the maximum level of acceleration and 1 is the minimum.
After that, smooth sailing. The mouse pointer is still a little slow in the main menu, but all lagging is gone and from the first fix I have full sound as well. I hope this solves this problem for others as well - What a pain!!
PS - As it turns out, my system has a nasty habit of resetting the audio acceleration level to maximum (position 4 of 4) after every reboot, meaning that it may be necessary for you to reset this every time you start up your machine, before you play Freelancer, in order to avoid the problem manifesting itself again.
PPS - You can also adjust theaudio acceleration level by running DXDiag (Start-->Run-->dxdiag), clickong on the Sound tab, and changing the slider position there - This may be easier for folks.
PPPS - Since this experience, I've found that this tactic can solve similar lagging problems in other games as well! Chrome, for instance, a new FPS, also displayed this lagging problem for me, but dropping sound acceleration to the minimum level fixed it.
Good luck!
Arc Light
Edited by - Arc Light on 02-11-2003 22:37:21
Edited by - Arc Light on 03-11-2003 03:10:12
Edited by - Arc Light on 11-11-2003 06:02:41
Win2K SP4
P4 2.4C @ 2.4 GHz
512MB DDR800 SDRAM
ABit IS-7 (i865) MB w/integrated RealTek AC97 Audio / 3COM LAN
ABit Siluro GeForce4 Ti 4200 OTES 64MB (stock speed)
WD1000JB 100 GB 7200 rpm HDD (pri.)
WD800JB 80 GB 7220 rpm HDD (sec.)
So with that said, my PC _should_ run Freelancer properly. Of course, like so many of you, I had the unfortunate experience that it _didn't_. My problems were common - Partial to total loss of some game sounds (annoying but workable), and, much worse, the problem of lag. To give an example: The game would stop responding just for a moment, every second or two; if I were to move the mouse continuously across a menu screen, it would "sticK" every second or so. In flight, the same effect was very noticeable especially when I tried to do a hard turn - Again, everything would stop for just an instant, every second or two, thus making everything laggy and really unplayable.
Now, as for the sound fix, ElectricBrain and the ReadMe file are indeed correct - In order to get back full sound, all you need to do is remove every trace of l3codecp.acm from your hard disk and your registry, and reinstall the MS version of the Fraunhofer IIS MP3 codec, as included on the Freelancer CD. So far so good, I did that and got sound back.
Second step, fixing the lag - Well, I spent hours looking through forums and on the net, and if someone posted a fix, I didn't see it (and we all know how effectively MS supports their games, so...) So then I started playing around. Clearly in my case it wasn't an ATI video driver issue, but anyway I tried NVidia's 4x.xx and 5x.xx drivers, to no avail. I saw someone mention that with NVidia cards it might be a matter of adjusting how many frames ahead the card is allowed to render, having applied the CoolBits tweak that exposes some advanced controls in the Display control panel, or that maybe it was related to VSync (i.e. syncing frame-rate with vertical refresh). Tried that - No good. I saw people talking about virus scanners and background programs maybe being an issue, so I killed every single application and process not absolutely necessary for Win2K to run, and disabled a bunch of services. No good. Then I went into the Display control panel, on a whim, and dropped the video acceleration as low as it would go while still allowing me to run Freelancer (if you put it to either of the two lowest settings, it doesn't even think you have a 3D card
). _Still_ no good. I ran SysInternals' Registry and File monitors in the background while running Freelancer, to see if it was repeatedly attempting to access a certain file or registry key and having difficulties in doing so. STILL no good.
So finally, I thought to myself, hmmm, sound hardware seems to cause more problems with this game than anything else. What happens if I drop the SOUND acceleration level? Well, folks, THAT is what finally fixed it. I went to the Sounds and Multimedia control panel, then to the Audio tab, and then to the Advanced Properties of my playback device, then to Performance, and I dropped the audio acceleration level to rock-bottom. And it WORKED!!!
I played around with this a bit more, and found that the right level for me (NOT to be confused with the right level for YOU - This may be hardware dependent) was to drop it to one notch below the "Recommended" level, i.e. position 2 of 4, if 4 is the maximum level of acceleration and 1 is the minimum.
After that, smooth sailing. The mouse pointer is still a little slow in the main menu, but all lagging is gone and from the first fix I have full sound as well. I hope this solves this problem for others as well - What a pain!!
PS - As it turns out, my system has a nasty habit of resetting the audio acceleration level to maximum (position 4 of 4) after every reboot, meaning that it may be necessary for you to reset this every time you start up your machine, before you play Freelancer, in order to avoid the problem manifesting itself again.
PPS - You can also adjust theaudio acceleration level by running DXDiag (Start-->Run-->dxdiag), clickong on the Sound tab, and changing the slider position there - This may be easier for folks.
PPPS - Since this experience, I've found that this tactic can solve similar lagging problems in other games as well! Chrome, for instance, a new FPS, also displayed this lagging problem for me, but dropping sound acceleration to the minimum level fixed it.
Good luck!
Arc Light
Edited by - Arc Light on 02-11-2003 22:37:21
Edited by - Arc Light on 03-11-2003 03:10:12
Edited by - Arc Light on 11-11-2003 06:02:41