Bug/issue with RTW

**wynofthetim** · June 06, 2008, 08:54 AM

For a long while i have left RTW and thus RS uninstalled as i something started going wrong with my machine everytime i played it. It would last about 15-20 mins before the sound would stop working (and this effect continued out of game, and sound could only be restored by a restart), and then after aprx an hour's play the the computer would completely seize up and i would have to turn it off by the button...

I originally assume that something about RS had stopped working with my machine, but after many reinstallations of every part of RTW and RS i decided that enough was enough and gave up on the game working on my computer anymore.
Recently however i have repulled out the wonder of RTW and vanilla suffers the same issues on my PC. I run RTW from the__ edition and have norton 2008 on an xp home system.

any ideas? i fear it is a virus but nothig seems to be able to pick it up if it is, or fix it. and if it is a RTW related virus how is it surviving the uninstallations and then reinstallations?

**century x** · June 06, 2008, 09:11 AM

Reformat your computer. Plus I believe this belongs in the technicial forum.

**HMonk** · June 06, 2008, 04:20 PM

ReFormat is sound advice.

**Brusilov** · June 07, 2008, 02:42 AM

Originally Posted by HMonk

ReFormat is sound advice.

Sound advice but extreme. With Windows XP I've never had to reformat the drive. It used to be a fairly regular thing (every six months or so) when using Windows 98.

I've not changed the way that I use PCs - I still install and uninstall games every now and then.

**aja5191** · June 06, 2008, 11:13 AM

Moved there

**Brusilov** · June 06, 2008, 11:33 AM

If it was a virus then Norton would pick it up during a scan.

Make sure all your drivers are up-to-date.

Have a read of the following post: http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showp...98&postcount=1

You can also use a product like Advanced Windows Care Personal to maintain your PC. I use it to keep the services running in the background down to a minimum.

http://www.iobit.com/advancedwindowscareper.html

Also post details of the PC spec that you use (CPU, memory & graphics).

**wynofthetim** · June 07, 2008, 04:19 AM

Thank you everyone
I came to assume it wasn't a virus due to norton finding nothing, but thanks for the second opinion.
And reformatting is something that would be very costly for me. My windows for installing is wrapped up in red tape so getting it back for a re installation could be difficult..

If people are really interested then my specs are:
AMD Athlon(tm) XP 2800+ 2.08Ghz
512mb RAM
RADEON 9250
Sound Blaster live! 24-bit
120GB hard drive

I know that i need to upgrade my RAM, and that my computer isnt high end, but it used to run RS and RTW perfectly... alas, this was a long time ago

I am now going with Brusilov's advise and trying to see if another update on all drivers helps, and also i am downloading that "Advanced Windows Care Personal" item

**dvk901** · June 07, 2008, 05:21 PM

Several things strike me right off the bat....you are using a Radeon ATI video card, and for some reason, RTW has always had trouble with ATI video cards...regardless of the mod. Also, Windows updates have a nasty habit of screwing up previously working settings in the registry...especially when it concerns Directx and video drivers.

Next, Norton anti-virus, Symantec products are the biggest piece of crap ever written by man...invasive, resource hog, trouble causing software that I wouldn't even let in my house...let alone on a PC I own. If you have the option to do so, download AVG 8.0 antivirus...even if you have to pay for it (there is a free version)...uninstall Norton AV, break the CD and throw it in the nearest sewer. You will notice an INCREDIBLE increase in peformance for ANY game you play after that.

Finally, make sure you always have the latest and greatest Directx (for XP it is 9.0c) and video drivers for your card. Uninstall old ones first, then install the new ones after a restart.....and defrag your hard drive. Surprizingly, a heavily fragmented drive can cause serious issues with any kind of software.

**wynofthetim** · June 08, 2008, 03:43 AM

Thanks again
But, er, am i wrong in thinking that you REALLY dont want to uninstall drivers? i thought if you uninstall a driver then a piece of hardware will stop responding?

**Squid** · June 08, 2008, 06:22 AM

Only until you reboot, and install the new driver.

**Brusilov** · June 10, 2008, 07:22 AM

Some drivers will allow you to install over them, however, the safest way is to uninstall the driver and then install the new one over it.

I used ATI cards forever (1996 onwards) until I upgraded to a laptop with a nVidia GeForce GO 7900 GS card in October 2006 and then a desktop with a nVidia GeForce 8800 GTX card in March 2007.

ATI release a new version of the software every month. On one occasion the latest driver did screw everything up but apart from that I had no problem. ATI was bought out by AMD (?) a while ago so I don't know if that has affected the support they gave.