Horrible lag.

[Sinnie]

Hey,

I'm experiencing horrible lag in defcon where it takes a good 3 seconds of the cursor to respond, however this is only present when I load the tutorial (and I assume any game) but it is fine on the menu screens (just about).

My system is:

Windows Vista
Intel centrino duo 2 ghz (I think, everest is coming up as unknown and I just have a funky intel sticker on my laptop)
1 Gb RAM
ATI Mobility Radeon X1600

I have downloaded what I think is the latest driver for the graphics card but to no avail.

I read elsewhere that apparently ATI haven't released a driver that makes the graphics card compatible with vista's openGL or some such. Is this still the case, in which case I can't play defcon or is there some other solution?

Sorry, I'm not very tech minded so am not sure if I've given enough info.

Thanks in advance.

[frenchfrog]

Try disabling graphic effects and turn down the resolution?

Care to post a dxdiag?

1)'Start' windows button
2)'Run ...' or the search bar in Vista
3)Type 'dxdiag.exe' in the 'Open' textbox and press the 'Ok' button
4)Once the 'dxdiag.exe' dialog is up, click the 'Save All Information ...' button.
5)Choose a destination for the file (ie: your desktop) and a name for the file (ie: 'dxdiag_info.txt')
6)Post the content of the file here.

[Sinnie]

I turned most of the options down and it doesn't make much difference, and I can't see it making any difference if I turned them all down. The lag is so bad it is unplayable, which I should point out is not present in any other game, I can play Half Life 2 without much trouble.

I opened dxdiag.exe and it firstly returns this error:

dxdiag.exe - entry point not found.

The procedure entry point PowerReadACValue could not be located in the dynamic link library POWRPROF.dll.

It still loads up and returns the same error again then immediatley:

Error: Problem getting extra sound info, result code = 0x80004005 (generic failure)

Then:

Error: Problem getting network info, result code = 0x80040154 (Class not registered)


I then click 'save all information' and the first time it returned the same errors (some might have been different) then the blue bar filled up. I clicked the button again and it didn't return the errors. If I click it now, nothing happens.

It didn't ask me where I want to save the information, so I am not sure if it has done anything, and if it has, where it saved.

Also, a point I forgot to mention.. XP is also loaded onto this machine, only used to play older games.

P.S. clicking help in dxdiag causes it to crash (YAY Microsoft.)

[bert_the_turtle]

I'm not an expert, but dxdiag throwing up on the good carpet is not a sign for a healthy system I'd reinstall (completely remove if possible, reboot, install) the drivers for graphics, sound and network just to be sure.

[frenchfrog]

Something is definitively wrong with your system. You may want to check on google for POWRPROF.dll

[Sinnie]

This is odd. The laptop is new (As of last September) and has been used for uni work and the odd game. I haven't downloaded anything that could change anything integral. Could the errors be due to the XP being dual booted onto the laptop?

Also, is the missing dll file likely to be the cause of the lag?

Would it possible for someone to contact me more directly either over msn or email (h_i_s_s@hotmail.com) to give me more step by step instructions to solve that issue, or just post here if it's relatively simple, because I'm loathe to go around deleting and installing drivers when I haven't a clue what I'm doing especially as this laptop holds a lot of work.

Are a lot of other people playing defcon on vista, meaning that it's just my laptop? Or is it my graphics card because I did read that ATI have neglected vista in terms of drivers.

The help is much appreciated.

[bert_the_turtle]

A non-working dxdiag would be a case for a support call at your laptop's manufacturer. They may even have a solution ready on their website already.

About the ATI vs Vista vs OpenGL thing: ATI was a bit slow to provide fully working OpenGL on Vista, yes. By now (and by the time you bought your laptop), they managed to do so. However, it is very likely that the drivers Microsoft supplies (via Windows Update or other means) do have OpenGL support completely disabled; that appears to be the case for NVidia's drivers, anyway. So if you got your latest drivers (you did also INSTALL them, right?) from anywhere else than ATI, they may have been crippled in this way. Always get your essential drivers directly from the manufacturer of the hardware

[Sinnie]

It works!

Apparently I installed the wrong driver.

Went to the ATI site and plugged in my card make and said I was on vista... but apparently I either picked the wrong one or whatever. Ended up checking the HP website (laptop manufacturer) about the dxdiag stuff and found they had a different driver listed, installed that and voila!

Thanks for help guys.

Now I just have to stop getting my ass kicked.... any drivers for that? =]

Also, actually.... I can't type properly in game, '4' and '.' appear frequently instead of letters.. any ideas?

[bert_the_turtle]

No, no clue about that. We've had the odd report of a Ubuntu user where the '4' key somehow didn't work in game, perhaps you're getting sent his keystrokes?

[Ace Rimmer]

Probably just need to hit the "alt" key to fix it, especially if you are moving in and out of the defcon screen to do other things.