[ohiojones]

OK so i had FS2 back in the day and it was AWESOME. but for some reason when i install it on my newer computer now it keeps freezing up. it'll play through the intro movie, and then it'll lock up on the pilot selection screen. next time i started it, i made it to the menu where you're on the ship. I've restarted the game several dozen times and it always freezes up about 30 seconds to a minute after i load the game. once i made it as far as starting a mission, but then it froze on me again. system specs are below, please help ANYONE. i really don't think specs are an issue b/c this game used to run fine on a P3 with 128MB and a diamond stealth card. maybe the game's getting confused with dual core?

ASUS A8N SLI Deluxe
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+
2GB kingston ram
320GB Maxtor SATA II HD
Gigabyte 6600GT 128MB

[Herra Tohtori]

Have you tried compatibility modes?

Are you trying to use retail or SCP version (FS2_Open)?

If the former, I suggest you download the new SCP build (version 3.6.9) and launcher and try to run the game with that.

If the latter, are you running in Direct3D or OpenGL? OpenGL is in this case the correct alternative.

Also, you might be onto something with the dual processor thingy... I can vaguely remember that it has been causing problems for some people. Perhaps you should set the application to only use one processor. It's a Set affinity option in Windows' Task Manager, or something like that.

[Huggybaby]

Welcome ohiojones!

Your system is similar to mine...and Herra Tohtori beat me to this

Are you using the plain retail install of FS2?
Have you tried setting compatibility mode for Windows 98/ME?
Have you installed OpenAL?

I have an affinity/priority download around here somewhere, I don't think you need it though.

<edit> http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php/topic,40490.msg825654.html#msg825654

<edit>Here it is:
http://huggybaby.fs2downloads.com/FreeSpace%20CPU%20Priority%20and%20Affinity.zip

[ohiojones]

i am running the retail install version. i checked it on my wifes laptop which is running xp and it runs just fine actually, so i don't think its a problem with compatibility with xp but i'll try 98 compatibility anyway. also i don't really know how to switch to openAL or openGL so could you maybe leave more specific directions for a noob? thanks for caring!

[Huggybaby]

OpenAL is just a sound driver thing, it's like OpenGL is to video. Run this:
http://huggybaby.fs2downloads.com/OpenAL1.1forWindows.rar

[ohiojones]

EUREKA! PrioAff actually solved the problem. i guess there IS some kind of issue with AMD dual core systems.  my wife's laptop has a core 2 duo and runs it fine with no modifications, but maybe thats just b/c intel doesn't actually mean anything they advertise... "64bit support? uh...sure... yeah the P4 can do that.... it's called uh... EM64T, yeah...." lol thanks for the help. i'm off to kill some shivans!!

[Huggybaby]

Excellent!

BTW, have you applied the AMD Dual core fix and the Microsoft patch?
http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=983781

[Herra Tohtori]

Good thing you got it to work.

And obviously, as you have previously only enjoyed the retail game (which is excellent on its own right of course), I suggest you try the SCP version and graphics enhancements too. You'll find the latest SCP build (v3.6.9) from this thread and similarly the latest semi-official graphics files (MediaVP 3.6.8 Zeta) from this thread.

If you want any further advice, just ask, someone is going to answer.

EDIT: Almost forgot...

[Turey]

You can also get everything you need to play FreeSpace Open from the Installer in my sig.