Hmmm hard to say, is it the demo? maybe try to redownload it. Reinstall directx 9? it could be lotsa things. Do you get an error after unfreezing the game?

It is the demo. I have installed dx9 numerous times. I have downloaded the demo 5 times so far. I do not get an error. The game freezes my entire computer ... only option is the reset switch.
I've updated and rolled back drivers for ever.

Ok ... so ...
This is what I've figured out.

My soundcard is the problem of this. A SoundBlaster Live 5.1 Digital.
If I disable it, the game works just fine.

Quite frightening that the support for this sound card is that useless.
I hope they decide to fix it .... and soon!

I want to warn anyone having issues with this, that unless there is a patch immeidately, this is going to continue.

I got my hands on a, uh hm, copy, of v1.00. And it has the same issues as the demo. Sometimes it plays for several hours, others it wants to crash in 5 minutes. (I don't the actual release copy tomorrow is going to help, I just pray they have a patch up quickly if there's anything they (or CL/S can patch)

The more I've played, the more baffled I've become, but I do think it has something to do with loading of sounds or the like. Quite of few of the crashes I've experienced were at bases talking to vendors, while others are in battle or trying to dock with a ringway.

I'm using XP without SP1 installed, SB Audigy2 Platinum, GF4 TI4400,AMD XP 2100, 512 DDR ram, VIA KT333 based mobo from ECS. I have 2 HD's, so my main OS in on the first one, and I installed a totally clean XP, patched except for SP1 at this point, and just the base drivers for the Audigy. No other programs in this one: no Anti virus, nothing. Crashes either way. Only thing I haven't tried here is going to win2k again

Quite a few of the crashes I've had have been while bringing up menus, which include a graphical and auditory component, but others are during battle, when it's just lots of sounds. I have noticed a few times of late that my system "almost" hangs as I enter a ringway, it's like either the frames drops to 1 fps, or my system freezes for 1 second then keeps going.

I do have a builtin audio chip, and prior to installing the Audigy2 card, I can't recall any issues with sound. Since, I've tried Hitman2 and SOF2 (came with the card), and Hitman didn't have killer problems, but SOF2, MOHAA, and NFS:HP2 have all had issues with crashing. NFS:HP2 has been the most stable. And now FL is having issues. I hate to say this, but I don't think this is a FL issue. I think this is a creative labs issue if anything, as the live series has had issues from it's first introduction. Something doesn't add up. Tonight, I'll uninstall the Audigy2, and remove the card from my system so it can't impact the builtin sound card. See if this helps solve the problems with the crashing.

Please, anyone else who is having strange behavior with the demo or other copy they have, please post any observations you have on when/why your's crashes. The game is very good, and lots of fun except for these very untimely crashes, usually at a point when I've just completed some long cargo run and I'm selling the loot, and it crashes before I take off again so the autosave is at the previous base

Will try to update this tonight/tomorrow letting everyone know if the removal of the Audigy fixes the issues.


regards,

RogueOne

I've just installed a SB PCI 128 sound card instead of my SB Live! 5.1 Digital, and for now it seems to be working out great.
No static and no crashes. But let's see if the new found stability persist.

I'll update this post, when I've done some more testing.
But for now I advice ppl to replace their SB Live! cards with other sound cards if possible.

moZn out ...

<edited>

Well ... there went my theory ... out the window.
The game crashed while visiting the Equipment Dealer on Pittsburg Planet after mission #2.

Guess I'll have to wait for a fix, before I buy this game .... what a shame

Edited by - moZn on 03-03-2003 21:46:25

I was talking to someone here at work, and his home machine has an Audigy, in which he had been experiencing the static sound, or missing sounds issues. He hasn't been having crash issues.

So I'd say that rules out this being a totally SB card related problem. I'm wondering if it's some common patch we all have to our version of Windows, or something in the nVidia drivers, etc. I've tried to most recent beta drivers and the current Official drivers from nVidia.

I've only run WinXP so far, so something else I can do is try my wife's computer. I think I have her running 2k. I also may just blow out my OS, as I've had concerns for a while that I have some corrupted drivers hanging around from all the demo software I've tried since loading it last.

Has anyone else who's having this problem tried a clean OS install? I know I've seen that fix things like this before


regards,

RogueOne

I'll throw a monkey wrench in... FL is crashing on me repeatedly like you guys are experiencing, but only in combat. Usually heavy combat. And I have a Turtle Beach Santa Cruz. (DOH! )

I actually had FEWER problems with games in general when I had an SBLive (the original one), to muddy the waters even more.

Since FL crashes, and no other games do for me, I have to assume there is a bug in FL somewhere casuing these crashes. I have no idea if it's a sound problem something else.

I've tried the game on a totally clean WinXP, and it seemed to work fine for the first mission or so. I have no idea whether the problem was there but didn't surface or not.

Actually I'm starting to suspect DirectX 9 for being the bad guy here. I've started experiencing more crashes in other games than usually since I installed DX9.
And I've heard from several of my friends that DX9 is a load of cr*p.

Can anyone confirm that DX9 is causing problems?

Think I fixed my issue.

There's another thread here about crashing, and Cleve mentioned in there he needed to upgrade his powersupply. That made me recall an issue I'd had several years back that a new case or PS corrected.

So on the way home tonight I stopped at the evil Best Buy and picked up an Antec Lanboy case (since I go to about 6 lan parties a year, it's nice to have a "light" case with a carrying strap), which has a 350w PS. My old case only had a 300w.

Cleve also mentioned something about how he noticed needing about 35A on the 5v rail, and I noticed my old PS was only 30, where the new one from Antec is 35A.

So, to end this party, I just played for 2.5 hours without a glitch. I think last night I would have had 2 to 4 crashes/lock ups. Maybe, prior to adding the SB Audigy2 to my system, I had enough juice to not stress the video card to the point it just couldn't function, but now since I've added the A2, I've been having lockup after lockup due to the extra juice the A2 needs over a builtin mobo sound chip.

I'm leaving the game up while I go to bed. If it's still up in the morning, I now I've found my issue. If not, either I have something still goofy, or the system tried to go to sleep


regards,

RogueOne

I am having the same problem.Fl started crashing when I tractored anything in during or after heavy battle.Then I noticed that the sound was going funny on cut scenes/speech etc.then I just sold a load of cargo and it crashed.Now it wont let me load a saved game without crashing.
I have similar spacs to you lot
pentium 4 1.7
geforce 4 t4600i
soundblaster 5.1
and a 300w power supply
I would be very intersted to find an answer to this as I am getting very frustrated and keep chewing on my cloven hooves.


Lord Satan has spoken
Let the sin begin

Rougeone, has the power supply helped at all?

I ahve been experiancing exactly the same problems.
I too have a SB live 1024, Geforce 4 ti4200 and a Via266 chipset.

I have also notices how the framerate seems to drop at jump gates, and stutters whenever it seems to be loading lots of data.

Often this is the first sign the game is about to crash.

Also, it crashes a lot in demo's. I was on one of the Britania planets, reading the news, and it constantly crashes when I tried to click on a new news item.

Same for purchasing things, and all of these actions are certainly driggers for sounds.

And in game it would often crash, often during power up to cruise.
I am certainly beginning to suspect my SB live card..

I doubt its a power issue for me, a bought a 450 watt power suply about 6 months ago.

I have also had similar crashes or framerate loss. When I first installed all the textures seemed to be missing, then after a restart it worked! Until that is I went to the bar then it locked up. After restart made it into bar then locked when talking to bar tender. It continued to do this at any plot point. But then the next day it worked fine for hours. Played it last night and it had a slow frame rate but didn't crash. Never had any problems with sound, this should make things more confusing.

Athlon XP 2000
SB Audigy 2
GF MX480 x8
512 DDR333
KT400 mobo
Windows XP

Buckle up and hold on to your mud[!

The readme file of the retail/gold version has some information on these issues.

If you "um acquired" the game, then yer on your own. Buy retail and we'll talk.

Rob "Stinger" Lordier
Moderator/Comp Tech Lancers Reactor
Creator Privateer FAQ Competition doesn't create character, it REVEALS it!

I have also experienced this.

System components

Athlon XP 1700
768 Pc 2100 DDR
Radeon 8500
Audigy Sound Card
Via Chipset

The lockups are very random, sometimes it was fine for 2 hours and sometimes it locked up after 5 mins. I also noticed when you were landing and taking off. They One thing I did notice was that my brother has a system with almost the same configuration as mine except a Radeon 9700 instead of my 8500. His system HAS NOT locked up at all. As you probably know the 9700 supports hardware direct X 9. The rest of the video cards do not. This may be a direct X 9 software issue. I hope they fix this problem before the release or I am not going to be happy. Anyone else having this issue with a 9700?