PR under Windows Vista

[[R-DEV]Cheeseman]

This thread is dedicated to those of you having issues running Project Reality under Windows Vista operating system.

Now a lot of players over the years have experienced sluggish performance and memory errors while loading in a new map under Windows Vista. For this reason I will provide a brief description of the issues and various different solutions for it.

Common PR performance problems and possible solutions under Windows Vista

Stutter: low frames per second and sluggish performance (commonly cited by players as “lag” which is an incorrect term, as lag is related to network issues causing high ping during play time)

Description to the possible cause of the problem: This could be related to insufficient hardware in comparison to the specified hardware requirements. Although a lot of players have also encountered this unbearable stutter with more than capable machines running Windows Vista. This is due to a Vista feature called “SuperFetch” which is a dynamic memory management component. Basically SuperFetch understands which applications you use most, and preloads these applications into memory, so your system is more responsive.” So while gaming this leads to Vista "recognizing a ton of memory being freed while loading into the game and starts filling the leftover free memory on a low-priority background disk thread" which causes sluggish performance while playing a memory intensive map in PR.

Solutions:

• Although 2GB of RAM is recommended to run PR under Windows Vista it is best to have 3GB+ of RAM for smooth performance.
  
• Another quick and affective fix for this problem is to set textures to medium only under PR graphical options. (This has also commonly fixed the crash into a new map dilemma)

Memory error: PR crashing during a map change with "memory .dll error” message.

Description to the possible cause of the problem: This is due to memory allocation problem with Windows Vista. Sometimes while loading a new map in PR the engine can use up to 4GB of memory in an instant; this leads to a crash, because that amount of memory isn’t accessible to the game under Vista.

Solutions:

• As mentioned above, setting textures to medium has commonly fixed this problem.
• Hers another fix for this problem for both Windows Vista 32 and 64bit operating systems (Although not recommended, because of MD5 check mismatch, so make sure to backup a copy of BF2.exe before performing this fix):

Originally Posted by R.J.Travis

(You'll need to be an Administrator)
First, you'll need to grab and install Visual Studio C++ Express from Microsoft.
It's free so don't worry.
Once installed, you'll need to update it, also make sure u have latest game
patch installed.

Backup the bf2.exe file, just in case.

Now, click
Start ->Visual C++ 2005 Express Edition ->Visual Studio Tools ->Visual Studio 2005 Command Prompt
(dont left click on VS 2005 command prompt though, right click on it and then click "Run as Administrator"
**If you dont run it as Administrator the fix will not work**

Then, once the black Command Prompt box is open, navigate to your battlefield 2 directory.
If you don't know how to navigate in DOS, follow this:

In Vista 32: cd c:\Program Files\ ENTER **or** In Vista 64: cd c:\Program Files (x86)\ ENTER

then usually it's "cd EA GAMES" ENTER

then "cd Battlefield 2" ENTER

NOW WRITE THIS

editbin.exe /LARGEADDRESSAWARE BF2.exe hit ENTER

It should then come up with a "Microsoft copyright or trademark" type thingy, this means it was successful.
Type "exit" and hit ENTER, and it's fixed!

64 bit Vista users can now restart and play, 32 bit Vista users follow the next step...

In a command prompt and once again **Run your command prompt "As Administrator"**

Type this command:
BCDEDIT /set increaseuserva 2900 ENTER
Now exit out of that box, restart and you're done!

Deploy crash: Crash after fully loading and deploying into a new map.

Description to the possible cause of the problem: This is a common issue with PR v0.8 while running the game with any resolution lower than 1024x756.

Solutions:

• Run PR with a resolution higher than 800x600
• Follow this guide:
  http://www.realitymod.com/forum/f27-...map-fixed.html

Other tips(Battlefield 2 and gaming in general):

• On Windows Vista, while gaming change your Windows theme from Windows Aero to Windows Classic and make sure to exit Sidebar as it takes up system resources.
  
• For most online games under Vista you’ll need to right-click the shortcut, go to properties/Compatibility tab, and under “Privilege Level” checkmark “Run this program as an Administrator”.

UPDATE:

R.J.Travis has brought to my attention an important detail regarding the fix:

If you perform the fix under a computer equipped with an ATi graphics card, make sure to un-install the C++ program and its additions files after running the fix.

[RobCoxxy]

"Deploy crash: Crash after fully loading and deploying into a new map.

Description to the possible cause of the problem: This is a common issue with PR v0.8 while running the game with any resolution lower than 1024x756."

Errr. That's not the problem! It just f*cks up on Vista! I didn't have any problems with 0.75.

While loading maps, the map image doesn't show, then it crashes just as client verification checks out. That's it. It's weird.

[LordRave]

Hi guys,

i'm new and had a problem.

(Sorry my english is not good, because i'm german!)

When I'm joining a Server (All the same which server I select) i get kicked.

But not from PunkBuster, but simply in such a way. T
hen regular news which is stands on my screen: "Your connection with the server became discontinuously."

I have already tried everything.


Firmware Update for my Modem/Router.
Firewall disabled.
PBSetup
Reinstall of PR
Closing all Autostarts.
Update Graphic Driver.
Update Ethernet-Controller Driver.

I'm using Windows Vista Home Premium 32 Bit.

My ingame Resolution is 1280x1024 @ 70HZ.

I had a Intel Dual Core 2,13 GHz

2GB Ram. 667 MHz (4x512 MB)

Graphiccard is nVidia Ge-Force 7900GS with 256 MB.

BF2 is Original, i don't use hacks/Cheats/Trainers or something else.

NOW GUYS I HOPE THAT YOU COULD HELP ME!

Your

Daniel
alias
LordRaveUnited

[[R-DEV]Cheeseman]

Your problem could possibly be due to network problems and not Windows Vista in general. Does this problem occur with any other multiplayer game? I'll look into this and see if I can find you a solution.

[LordRave]

Originally Posted by [R-DEV]Cheeseman

Does this problem occur with any other multiplayer game?

Hi,

firstly thank you for your quick answer.

Funny is, that BF2 is runnig without any problems, and the error does not appear in BF2. Every server i join is fully functional.

A network problem? I hope not. But how should that be?

I played a lot of games in the Internet, there was never such a problem.

It appears only in PR.

Greetings
by
Daniel

[LordRave]

Here I had a few pictures of my settings and errors.

Problems.


After joing server ca. 3 seconds later...



After kicking / loosing connection




Settings.

Game-settings:



Graphic-settings:



Sound-settings



I hope these informations could help us to find a reason for that problem.

Greetings
by
LordRave

[[R-DEV]Cheeseman]

Sorry I haven't been able to find a solution to your problem yet, but I've been busy with Architectural stuff lately, but I'll look into this further by this Friday.

One thing I can suggest that could potentially fix your problem is to manually update PunkBuster:
http://www.punkbuster.com/index.php?...upport-bf2.php

[space]

Originally Posted by [R-DEV]Cheeseman

Sorry I haven't been able to find a solution to your problem yet, but I've been busy with Architectural stuff lately, but I'll look into this further by this Friday.

One thing I can suggest that could potentially fix your problem is to manually update PunkBuster:
PunkBuster Online Countermeasures

The manual updater doesn't work, and it hasn't for a few weeks now - I used to do it quite often, but now the updater says that the file is not on their server.
Personally PR runs fine on my Vista Ultimate 32, but if people are having serious problems you could consider installing xp as a dual boot on your vista machine - this site will be useful :

How to dual boot Vista and XP (with Vista installed first) -- the step-by-step guide with screenshots

Remember youll need room on your harddrive for two OS's two lots of all your drivers and two installs of bf2 and PR - it takes a few hours, but its worth it for the extra speed and stability.

PS Rather than turn off aero completely just hightlight the "disable desktop composition" on the PR.exe shortcut properties. This will just disable aero when you play PR, and will also free up quite alot of RAM. If youre willing to risk it you can also turn off vista UAC completely so that you dont have to run everything as administrator.

Lordrave - check all your firewalls ( nvidea tries to sneak an extra one on your comp ) I had a similar problem and it was the firewall - some firewalls say they are turned off when they are not - its better to add pb ( both files ), bf2 and PR to the exceptions list ( if they're already on the list, remove them and then re-add them )

[LordRave]

Hey Guys,

i had disabled the Vista Graphic overlay at the Desktop, now it looks like win 98 and now it works a bit better.

But on Server above 40 player i had no chance to join.

Then the message appears "Connection Problems" already the Same but now i could play a bit.

I hope that the next Version could fix this problem, i wish so.

My problem is reading long english typed messages, there some word's i can't understand but i'm getting trained by the way of reading. (Hope now this sentence don't make u laugh )

But Guys, I thank you so much for helping me trouble shooting. =)

[SoBlowed420]

Hey guy's,

I keep getting kicked back to my desk top after I have entered a
server and played a wile. I have a brand new Dell XPS 630i. It
have a core2 quad 8gig's, dual Nvidea 9800gt's and vista 32bit.
Any sugestion's would be very helpfull. Thanx.