Author Topic: FreeSpace games and GeForce 7300 GT (games lagging)  (Read 7295 times)

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Offline Axel Wers

  • 26
  • I remember Descent: FreeSpace as a new game.
    • FreeSpace
FreeSpace games and GeForce 7300 GT (games lagging)
Hello,

one month ago I purchased graphic card GeForce 7300 GT. Lot of games are running fine without any problems, except these two: Conflict FreeSpace and FreeSpace 2.

When I run FreeSpace 2 everything is OK until more ships arrive and battle begin. Then game is lagging and runnig slow. Conflict FreeSpace is going better but after few minutes game freezes (graphic freezes, sound is running).

My PC:

Power: 350 W
MB: Asus A7N8X
Processor: AMD Barton XP 2500+
RAM: 1 GB
Graphic card: nVidia GeForce 7300 GT 256 MB
Graphic Drivers:
- Version: 174.93
- Date: April 2008
DirectX: 9.0c
OS: Win XP SP3 Pro

When I used to the old GeForce4 64 MB these two games were running fine.

I posted similar topic on nVidia forums. I got some help but problem still persists although I installed newest drivers recommended for my card.


Please help me fix this issues because life without FreeSpace is a crap. Thanks in advance.

 

Offline FUBAR-BDHR

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Re: FreeSpace games and GeForce 7300 GT (games lagging)
First thing that pops out is the 350 watt power supply.  Is that even enough to power the video card? 
No-one ever listens to Zathras. Quite mad, they say. It is good that Zathras does not mind. He's even grown to like it. Oh yes. -Zathras

 

Offline Axel Wers

  • 26
  • I remember Descent: FreeSpace as a new game.
    • FreeSpace
Re: FreeSpace games and GeForce 7300 GT (games lagging)
I affraid that my power supply is really poor for my video card  :blah:

 

Offline Mars

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Re: FreeSpace games and GeForce 7300 GT (games lagging)
7300?

The card might be your problem.

Your CPU is also kinda slow,

I know FS was slow for me when I had a AMD 3200+ CPU and a XFX 7600 GT

You could get a much better computer for $450 these days.

 

Offline Herra Tohtori

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Re: FreeSpace games and GeForce 7300 GT (games lagging)
-Are you running retail games? They are pretty old, and your GPU is pretty new. I wouldn't be surprised if some driver issues were making the games lag with the new graphics card even though it worked on older card.

-If you insist on playing the retail games, check what sound driver you have selected from FreeSpace 2 Launcher. If you have it on Aureon 3D sound or something like that, try the other options (don't remember which options they are, possibly DirectSound) - when I first got FS2, that option made the game lag like hell indeed.

-If you want to enjoy FS2 to the fullest and beyond, download FS2_Open and FreeSpace Port. This will enable you to, first of all, play the game, fully utilizing newer hardware, enable higher resolutions, play the original Conflict:FreeSpace the Great War with FS2_Open engine, many mods that don't work with retail, and if you want you can download all kinds of graphical upgrades for the FS2 and Great War campaigns (though your PC will likely choke on at least some of them). Also, you will get whiter teeth.

Basically, what you need is the following:

-FSOpen Launcher, which will let you select the fs2_open executable instead of the retail FS2.exe;
-FS2_Open build - these are the latest official release builds, 3.6.9, which is rather stable and good starting point for you I would say.

Simply copy the launcher and the executables into your FreeSpace2 directory, then open the Launcher, hit "Browse" on the upper part of the window and select "fs2_open_3_6_9.exe" from the list. Other files in the rar file are a debug build (which you should only use when solving problems) and FRED2_Open normal and debug builds, which you should use if you're designing missions.

Then navigate to Video tab of the Launcher, set the resolution and bit depth and then run the game.


Other option is to use the online installer, which downloads a crapload of cool stuff onto your PC, including the aforementioned graphical goodies, but you might want to first try playing with FS2_Open and retail FS2 media, just to find out if you can get things working that way (and to save time). If that works OK, then you can easily run the fsoinstaller in the directory if you want to see if your PC can handle the MediaVP's. And of course you can use it to get FSPort, which like said is basically a port of original FreeSpace onto a form that can be played with FS2 and FS2_Open engine.


Power supply might be a problem, then again I have a 400W PSU and it seems to manage the power demand of my 8800 GT (and AMD Athlon X2 4800+ and three HD's and an USB sound card) with no problems... things aren't always as simple as looking at the nominal power output of the power supply.

You might want to also check that your card isn't overheating and throttling itself down (which causes graphics to slow down, of course); if the card has passive cooling, makes sure the case is well ventilated, if the card has active cooling make sure that the fan and cooler aren't clogged with dust... and makes sure the case ventilation is OK, although you would likely have noticed overheating related issues affecting other things as well if that was the case.
« Last Edit: September 07, 2008, 04:21:51 pm by Herra Tohtori »
There are three things that last forever: Abort, Retry, Fail - and the greatest of these is Fail.

 

Offline Getter Robo G

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Re: FreeSpace games and GeForce 7300 GT (games lagging)
No offense but I was running retail on my P2 400 with a (wohoo) 32mb ATI vid card and 756?MB of PC100 memory! I didn't start upgrading till like 2003ish... So all you upgrade guys might not remember the old days, fs1/2 vanilla ran quite adequately...

   :D

Ok, I admit using the subspace missiles might have slowed things down a hair...
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Offline S-99

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Re: FreeSpace games and GeForce 7300 GT (games lagging)
2 problems here. For a geforce 7 series card you need to get better than a 350W, get like a 450W instead. 350W doesn't do good at all for geforce 7's. Your next problem is that you were just dumb enough to buy a 7300gt.YES!!!!! You totally wanted to buy a low end really crappy card :yes: :yes: :yes: :yes: :yes: :yes: :yes: :yes: :yes:

Check benchmarks and reviews before you buy.
Every pilot's goal is to rise up in the ranks and go beyond their purpose to a place of command on a very big ship. Like the colossus; to baseball bat everyone.

SMBFD

I won't use google for you.

An0n sucks my Jesus ring.

 

Offline Herra Tohtori

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Re: FreeSpace games and GeForce 7300 GT (games lagging)
2 problems here. For a geforce 7 series card you need to get better than a 350W, get like a 450W instead. 350W doesn't do good at all for geforce 7's. Your next problem is that you were just dumb enough to buy a 7300gt.YES!!!!! You totally wanted to buy a low end really crappy card :yes: :yes: :yes: :yes: :yes: :yes: :yes: :yes: :yes:

Check benchmarks and reviews before you buy.

Let me elaborate my earlier statements.

I have a 400W PSU and I'm having no difficulties with a 8800GT on my system. That card comes with a "minimum system requirement" of 425W PSU with combined 12V current rating of 28A or more, but that recommendation is based on power requirements with an Intel Core2 Extreme X6800 processor, so that doesn't tell the whole story either.

Numbers don't always tell everything. If the power supply can keep up sufficient amount of amperes on the most important voltage lines, it could very well be sufficient for a card like 7300 GT, which isn't really intended for heavy graphics and likely therefore has lower power requirements than, for example, a 7600 GT. Another thing is to find out whether the power output is sustained or peak power - cheap PSU's are marketed with their peak power output, while quality PSU's usually use sustained power output in their markings.

I'm not saying that lack of power can't be the problem here, I'm saying that it's possible that the problem lies elsewhere, and since it's the retail games we're talking about I'm pretty sure they wouldn't even stress the GPU (or the PC as a whole) very much over idle power levels. It's likely an incompatibility issue between an old game and new hardware and drivers. Besides, power issues aren't typically showing themselves as slowdowns but rather system instability, crashes and shutdowns... as far as I know.

Granted, it's usually better to have surplus power than not enough; you never know what USB contraptions and extra HD's and stuff you'll be attaching to the PC by the end of day. However important power ratings may be, though the quality of the PSU is eually important.

Of course, unlimited power would be ideal.



 :p
There are three things that last forever: Abort, Retry, Fail - and the greatest of these is Fail.

 

Offline S-99

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Re: FreeSpace games and GeForce 7300 GT (games lagging)
In my manual for my old 7600gt it said 350W minimum. So i got a 350W psu. The system couldn't stay active for more than 8 hour periods. Also my old system would shut down a lot sooner if i was gaming. 350W psu's is just not enough power for todays 3d accelerators. I had to upgrade to a 450W psu before the psu overheating symptom disappeared. Both power supply's i used were coolmaxes. My old 350W was still useful, so i put it in my friends system who had a much lower powered radeon 9200 with a p4 1.8ghz, his system works fine. The 350W did not like my 7600gt and athlon 3200+ combination though (couldn't supply enough power).

That's why i recommend getting a 450W at least. I upgraded to a 450W because i didn't know how much wattage i needed and figured at least 50 more watts wouldn't get me out of the forest. So that's why i bought a 450W instead of a 400W.

Yeah herra i probably would've gotten away just fine with a 400W instead, but i didn't want to chance it.

After that the 7300gt..oh yucky. The performance on the 7300 class was so bad i would've rather stuck with my radeon 9800 which had ever increasing memory artifact problems in all games. Normally i like to stick with startech or asus psu's, but coolmax was all that i could find to buy in fairbanks. Coolmax is good durable and dependable, what i really liked about it was the short protection and selectable fan speeds they have. They have a fixed minimum less noise fan setting, a max noisy fan settings, and my favorite, the automatic variable fan speed setting. The variable was nice because if you were doing something like games, the fan will pick up speed in the psu to keep it cool, but if your doing normal desktop stuff, the psu fan gets really quiet since it doesn't need to provide so much cooling to the psu since the system isn't demanding as much power as compared with playing half life 2 or something.
Every pilot's goal is to rise up in the ranks and go beyond their purpose to a place of command on a very big ship. Like the colossus; to baseball bat everyone.

SMBFD

I won't use google for you.

An0n sucks my Jesus ring.

 

Offline Ghostavo

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Re: FreeSpace games and GeForce 7300 GT (games lagging)
No offense but I was running retail on my P2 400 with a (wohoo) 32mb ATI vid card and 756?MB of PC100 memory! I didn't start upgrading till like 2003ish... So all you upgrade guys might not remember the old days, fs1/2 vanilla ran quite adequately...

   :D

Ok, I admit using the subspace missiles might have slowed things down a hair...

Retail at max details with:
Pentium 2 266MHz
128MB RAM
Matrox G200 (or was it G400?)

 :p
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Offline S-99

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Re: FreeSpace games and GeForce 7300 GT (games lagging)
I played fs2 back in the day with celeron 366, 12gb hdd, 64mb ram, and a voodoo 3 3000. I loved playing the game in glide.
Every pilot's goal is to rise up in the ranks and go beyond their purpose to a place of command on a very big ship. Like the colossus; to baseball bat everyone.

SMBFD

I won't use google for you.

An0n sucks my Jesus ring.

 

Offline Colonol Dekker

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Re: FreeSpace games and GeForce 7300 GT (games lagging)
Awww  snap. That is nearly identical to my old FreeSpace 1 /Half-life rig.
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Offline General Battuta

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Re: FreeSpace games and GeForce 7300 GT (games lagging)
Get FS2Open. See if it helps.

 

Offline S-99

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Re: FreeSpace games and GeForce 7300 GT (games lagging)
Awww  snap. That is nearly identical to my old FreeSpace 1 /Half-life rig.
*Pc spec hi-5!

 :yes:
Every pilot's goal is to rise up in the ranks and go beyond their purpose to a place of command on a very big ship. Like the colossus; to baseball bat everyone.

SMBFD

I won't use google for you.

An0n sucks my Jesus ring.

 

Offline Getter Robo G

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Re: FreeSpace games and GeForce 7300 GT (games lagging)
Impressive indeed...

But do you have screenshots (of say) 350 asteroids you got done hand placing over 10 hours for a mission, but messed up and they ALL turned into enemy fighters and created an unintentional  BOE dogfight?

Granted it was unplayable but I didn't BSOD, I manually ended it (mainly cause like 4 fps sucks)...

(note - while looking for said pic, I just turned on my main external drive and it's not detected, powering off and on several times detects nothing although the computer beeps when plugging and unplugging the USB cord...I think I just lost my main archive of pics,,, and some tools...)

Well, unless I posted them somewhere online in the past I guess those recorded moments are gone...)


I guess it's a good thing I backed up my SHIPS archive to my internal D drive... (I would say over 5k ship folders easy...)

still sucks though...

Edit (ah good news I had it backedup, stumbled on it lookign fro Aldo's tuff...)

Enjoy!


[attachment deleted by ninja]
« Last Edit: September 11, 2008, 08:59:42 am by Getter Robo G »
"Don't think of it as being out-numbered, think of it as having a WIDE target selection!"

"I am the one and ONLY Star Dragon..."
Proof for the noobs:  Member Search

[I'm Just an idea guy, NOT: a modeler, texturer, or coder... Word of advice, "Watch out for the ducks!"]

Robotech II - Continuing...
FS2 Trek - Snails move faster than me...
Star Blazers: Journey to Iscandar...
FS GUNDAM - The Myth lives on... :)

 

Offline Axel Wers

  • 26
  • I remember Descent: FreeSpace as a new game.
    • FreeSpace
Re: FreeSpace games and GeForce 7300 GT (games lagging)
Thanks for all posts. They are usefull.



Basically, what you need is the following:

-FSOpen Launcher, which will let you select the fs2_open executable instead of the retail FS2.exe;
-FS2_Open build - these are the latest official release builds, 3.6.9, which is rather stable and good starting point for you I would say.

Simply copy the launcher and the executables into your FreeSpace2 directory, then open the Launcher, hit "Browse" on the upper part of the window and select "fs2_open_3_6_9.exe" from the list.

There is something REALLY wrong. I did what you wrote but I got error message: FreeSpace Launcher has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience.  :blah:




Your next problem is that you were just dumb enough to buy a 7300gt.YES!!!!! You totally wanted to buy a low end really crappy card :yes: :yes: :yes: :yes: :yes: :yes: :yes: :yes: :yes:
So 7300 GT is useless for FreeSpace 2 game?



OK what video card is really good and generally recommended for FS2 (or FS2_Open) game?

 

Offline Jeff Vader

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Re: FreeSpace games and GeForce 7300 GT (games lagging)
So 7300 GT is useless for FreeSpace 2 game?
Most surely not. It runs just fine on a Radeon 9600. With 512 RAM. It's just that, as it was said, your PSU might be unable to supply enough juice for that 7300GT.

There is something REALLY wrong. I did what you wrote but I got error message: FreeSpace Launcher has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience.  :blah:
To be sure: you have the Launcher and the FSO executables in your \freespace\ folder, right? Because they should be there. Also, you need to install OpenAL (link in my signature). Not having it shouldn't cause that particular error, but it still is needed for FSO to run.
23:40 < achillion > EveningTea: ass
23:40 < achillion > wait no
23:40 < achillion > evilbagel: ass
23:40 < EveningTea > ?
23:40 < achillion > 2-letter tab complete failure

14:08 < achillion > there's too much talk of butts and dongs in here
14:08 < achillion > the level of discourse has really plummeted
14:08 < achillion > Let's talk about politics instead
14:08 <@The_E > butts and dongs are part of #hard-light's brand now
14:08 <@The_E > well
14:08 <@The_E > EvilBagel's brand, at least

01:06 < T-Rog > welp
01:07 < T-Rog > I've got to take some very strong antibiotics
01:07 < achillion > penis infection?
01:08 < T-Rog > Chlamydia
01:08 < achillion > O.o
01:09 < achillion > well
01:09 < achillion > I guess that happens
01:09 < T-Rog > at least it's curable
01:09 < achillion > yeah
01:10 < T-Rog > I take it you weren't actually expecting it to be a penis infection
01:10 < achillion > I was not

14:04 < achillion > Sometimes the way to simplify is to just have a habit and not think about it too much
14:05 < achillion > until stuff explodes
14:05 < achillion > then you start thinking about it

22:16 < T-Rog > I don't know how my gf would feel about Jewish conspiracy porn

15:41 <-INFO > EveningTea [[email protected]] has joined #hard-light
15:47 < EvilBagel> butt
15:51 < Achillion> yes
15:53 <-INFO > EveningTea [[email protected]] has quit [Quit: http://www.mibbit.com ajax IRC Client]

18:53 < Achillion> Dicks are fun

21:41 < MatthTheGeek> you can't spell assassin without two asses

20:05 < sigtau> i'm mining titcoins from now on

00:31 < oldlaptop> Drunken antisocial educated freezing hicks with good Internet == Finland stereotype

11:46 <-INFO > Kobrar [[email protected]] has joined #hard-light
11:50 < achtung> Surely you've heard of DVDA
11:50 < achtung> Double Vaginal Double ANal
11:51 < Kobrar> ...
11:51 <-INFO > Kobrar [[email protected]] has left #hard-light []

 

Offline Herra Tohtori

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Re: FreeSpace games and GeForce 7300 GT (games lagging)
There is something REALLY wrong. I did what you wrote but I got error message: FreeSpace Launcher has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience.  :blah:

To be sure, you are running Launcher.exe and not Freespace2.exe?

If yes, delete launcher6.ini from your FS2 directory, and re-run Launcher.exe. Can't think of anything else right now... :nervous:


Quote
So 7300 GT is useless for FreeSpace 2 game?

OK what video card is really good and generally recommended for FS2 (or FS2_Open) game?

What Lobo said. Make sure your PSU can support the hardware; the GPU itself can definitely run the game graphics (though the most memory-intensive stuff will definitely give less than 60 FPS sustained...) but it's now a question of whether your PC can run the GPU. In a nutshell.
There are three things that last forever: Abort, Retry, Fail - and the greatest of these is Fail.

 

Offline Axel Wers

  • 26
  • I remember Descent: FreeSpace as a new game.
    • FreeSpace
Re: FreeSpace games and GeForce 7300 GT (games lagging)
Yes, those files are in my FreeSpace 2 directory and I am running Launcher.exe :)

I can open fs2.exe too without problems, but fs2_open_3_6_9.exe I can't. I get error window.

OK I'll install OpenAL when I downlaod it (I am trying but now I can't get that file, site is out of reach (?))

 

Offline Jeff Vader

  • The Back of the Hero!
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  • Bwahaha
Re: FreeSpace games and GeForce 7300 GT (games lagging)
but fs2_open_3_6_9.exe I can't. I get error window.
You have to run Launcher.exe at least once before you can run the FSO executable itself.

OK I'll install OpenAL when I downlaod it (I am trying but now I can't get that file, site is out of reach (?))
Strange. Works on my end. But here's an alternative link.
23:40 < achillion > EveningTea: ass
23:40 < achillion > wait no
23:40 < achillion > evilbagel: ass
23:40 < EveningTea > ?
23:40 < achillion > 2-letter tab complete failure

14:08 < achillion > there's too much talk of butts and dongs in here
14:08 < achillion > the level of discourse has really plummeted
14:08 < achillion > Let's talk about politics instead
14:08 <@The_E > butts and dongs are part of #hard-light's brand now
14:08 <@The_E > well
14:08 <@The_E > EvilBagel's brand, at least

01:06 < T-Rog > welp
01:07 < T-Rog > I've got to take some very strong antibiotics
01:07 < achillion > penis infection?
01:08 < T-Rog > Chlamydia
01:08 < achillion > O.o
01:09 < achillion > well
01:09 < achillion > I guess that happens
01:09 < T-Rog > at least it's curable
01:09 < achillion > yeah
01:10 < T-Rog > I take it you weren't actually expecting it to be a penis infection
01:10 < achillion > I was not

14:04 < achillion > Sometimes the way to simplify is to just have a habit and not think about it too much
14:05 < achillion > until stuff explodes
14:05 < achillion > then you start thinking about it

22:16 < T-Rog > I don't know how my gf would feel about Jewish conspiracy porn

15:41 <-INFO > EveningTea [[email protected]] has joined #hard-light
15:47 < EvilBagel> butt
15:51 < Achillion> yes
15:53 <-INFO > EveningTea [[email protected]] has quit [Quit: http://www.mibbit.com ajax IRC Client]

18:53 < Achillion> Dicks are fun

21:41 < MatthTheGeek> you can't spell assassin without two asses

20:05 < sigtau> i'm mining titcoins from now on

00:31 < oldlaptop> Drunken antisocial educated freezing hicks with good Internet == Finland stereotype

11:46 <-INFO > Kobrar [[email protected]] has joined #hard-light
11:50 < achtung> Surely you've heard of DVDA
11:50 < achtung> Double Vaginal Double ANal
11:51 < Kobrar> ...
11:51 <-INFO > Kobrar [[email protected]] has left #hard-light []