Troubleshooting FAQ

[ShadowMoses]

Originally from here:
http://www.deep-shadows.com/fullnews.phtml?id=278

Index

1. Introduction
2. Minimal System Requirements

3.1. General Troubles
3.2. Troubles with the Particular Configurations
3.3. Gameplay Troubles

4.Performance Troubles

5. System Stability Testing
5.1. Processor, Memory and Motherboard Stability Testing
5.2. Video Stability Testing
5.3. Hard Disk Stability Testing

6. Patches
6.1. Incomplete list of corrections in the Patch 1.


1.Introduction

If you have some troubles you should install the latest motherboard, video and
sound card. The latest drivers can be downloaded from the sites of the developers:

NVidia (video, motherboards) www.nvidia.com

ATI (video) www.ati.com

Creative (Sound Blaster Live, Audigy, CMIxxx) www.soundblaster.com

VIA (motherboards) www.viaarena.com

Intel (motherboards) www.intel.com

SiS (motherboards) www.sis.com

Besides, you should install the DirectX9.0c (installed with the game) and
Windows Media Player 9.0 or later (installed with the game).


2. Minimal System Requirements

- 2 GHz Processor;

- 512M Memory;

- Video card with the DirectX9-compatible drivers (GeForce3, GeForce
Ti4200-4800, GeForce FX any, GeForce 6 any, ATI Radeon 8500, ATI Radeon
9xxx-series, ATI Xxxx-series;

- Not supported: GeForce256 and lower, GeForce 2, GeForce 4 MX, GeForce
400/420/440 MX, XGI cards, Matrox cards, SiS cards, S3 cards;

- 5 GB free space on your disk;

- CDROM or DVD;

- sound card;

- Windows 98*, Windows ME*, Windows 2000, Windows XP.

*Due to the bad implementation of the multitasking in Windows 98 and Windows ME,
the smoothness of the game may be not acceptable


3. Known Troubles

Some of the known troubles were shot in the patch which will soon be available
for downloading at www.deep-shadows.com


3.1.General Troubles


Corrupted geometry or textures, computer hanging, message "Your video card is
not supported", though it is claimed as supported.

Possible factor: old video card drivers.
Solution: install the latest video card drivers.

Possible factor: old motherboard drivers.
Solution: install the latest motherboard drivers.

The game is frequently ending with an error, computer halts orreloaded .

Possible factor: incompatibility of the parts, overheating, the system is
unstable with overtasking.
Solution: insure the system stability (see the System Stability Testing).

Very low FPS (less than 1 frame per second) in complicated scenes; at the same
time the FPS rate is high when the camera is directed to the ground*.

Possible factor: old video card or motherboard drivers (AGP controller).
Solution: install the latest video card and motherboard drivers.

Possible factor: AGP Aperture size â BIOS is too small.
Solution: set the AGP Aperture size â BIOS as a half to the size of the RAM.

* Two-times FPS range (for example 25-50 FPS) according to the scene complexity
is normal. We describe the very low FPS rate.

The introduction AVI movie is not playing.

Possible factor: Windows Media Player 9.0 or later is not installed.
Solution: install the Windows Media Player 9.0 or later. The installation can be
found in the Windows Media Player 9.0 Rus directory on your DVD or CD 4.

Possible factor: the installed codec pack is conflicting with the Windows Media
Video 9.0 and VMR-9 player.
Solution: uninstall the conflicting codec pack.

The loading starts, reaching the 100% and then the 'black screen' appears
(variant: during the 'black screen' the sound from the movie is playing)

Possible factor: Windows Media Player 9.0 or later is not installed.
Solution: install the Windows Media Player 9.0 or later. The installation can be
found in the Windows Media Player 9.0 Rus directory on your DVD or CD4.

Possible factor: the installed codec pack is conflicting with the Windows Media
Video 9.0 and VMR-9 player.
Solution: uninstall the conflicting codec pack.

If it is useless,

Solution: disable the intro movies. Open game.ini file in the WordPad from the
game directory, and replace the line DISABLEAVIPLAYER=0 with DISABLEAVIPLAYER=1
in the "[Game]" section.

No sound/the sound is played incorrectly.

Possible factor:
1) bug in sound card drivers/not full compatibility with the DirectSound/no full
compatibility of the sound card and motherboard.
Solution: disable the sound acceleration:
1) Start -> Execute -> Type "dxdiag" [enter]
2) Go to the "Sound" directory
3) Move the slider "Level of acceleration" into extreme left position.

Some of the sounds are not played.

Possible factor: the sound card is operating in 4/5/6 or 7 channels mode though
only two speakers or headphones installed.
Solution: uninstall turn the sound card into the 2 channels mode.
For Sound Blaster: Start->Settings->Control Panel->AudioHQ->Speaker, turn to "2
speakers"
For other sound cards: turn into two channels using the program shipped with the
card drivers.

3.3.Troubles with the Particular Configurations

The game is not running in 1028x768 mode with full-screen aliasing on
GF4 Ti4200.

Possible factor: bug in video drivers version 71.89.
Solution: install the video drivers version 66.93.

* in drivers version higher than 71.89 this bug may be corrected.

While launching the game with motherboard KT400 ñ and video card Radeon
9500/9600/9800 corrupted textures appear.

Possible factor: bug in the video drivers version up to 5.5.
Solution: ATI is promising to correct this bug in the future.

While changing video mode, switching the application (Alt+Tab) or switching into
the window mode using the Alt+Enter bug may exist with the video cards Radeon
with the drivers Catalyst 5.4 for Windows 2000.

Possible factor: bug in the drivers version 5.4 for Windows 2000.
Solution: install the Catalyst 5.5 drivers

Self-reloading with motherboard ABIT NF7 (sound codec ALC 650).

Factor: bug in the motherboard drivers/sound codec.
Solution1: install the motherboard drivers version 6.2.1.1.001 or higher and the
codec version R1.10 or higher.
Solution2: turn off the sound acceleration (see " No sound/the sound is played
incorrectly").

3.4. Gameplay Troubles

Sometimes the machine gun is not shooting but produces a 'click'.

Factor: It's not a bug. The weapon has the 'wearing' parameter. The more it is
worn out the more the misfires it will give. The weapon you pick from the
enemies is usually completely worn out. You can buy new weapons at the arms
dealer's.
Solution: buy a new machine gun at the arms dealer's

Car is missing !

Factor: a bug in the game - the stolen cars are missing if you come 200 meters
from them. Cars bought at the cars dealer's are not missing.

The parked cars run out of the gas!

Factor: the engine of the vehicle wasn't cut off. After you stop you should kill
the engine using the 'Kill the engine' button ('Z' by default).
Solution: kill the engine when you park the vehicle.

The engine is not starting.

Factor: the gas is ended. If the gas indicator shows zero, the vehicle cannot be
used anymore.
Solution: Fuel your vehicle at the gas stations.

4.Performance optimization

The game requires much RAM, that is why it is recommended to close other
applications including the anti-virus monitors - they can harm the loading of
the game resources from the disk. .

As far as the game is loading the game world at the background, make sure your
hard disk is running in the ULTRA DMA mode: Start->Settings->Control
Panel->System->Devices->Dispatcher->IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers - make sure is the
hard disk is using the ULTRA DMA mode.

In order that the video card could process more textures, the AGP Aperture size
parameter in BIOS shall be set as the half of the size to the RAM.

Make sure that the disk where the game is installed has at least 400 MB free space.

Make sure that the disk with the buffer file (C:\ as a rule), contains at least
1GB free space.

For low-performance system the following setting should be used:

For systems with small RAM (<1GB):

Options->Video-> Graphics ->Êà÷åñòâî Textures Quality: Normal;
Options -> Video ->Effects->Lighting: Vertex;
Options -> Video -> Graphics ->Static loading distance: 200m.

For systems with low-level video cards (GF FX5200, Radeon 9200 and lower):

Options->Video->Resoluion: 800x600x16;
Options -> Video ->Fullscreen aliasing: No;
Options -> Video ->Graphics->Textures filtration: Bilinear;
Options -> Video -> Graphics ->Textures quality: Extreme left position;
Options -> Video -> Graphics ->Grass density: Extreme left position;
Options -> Video -> Graphics ->Grass radius: Extreme left position;
Options -> Video -> Graphics ->Vegetation details: Extreme left position;
Options -> Video -> Graphics ->Characters detalization: Extreme left position;
Options -> Video ->GFX Effects->Lighting: Vertex;
Options -> Video ->GFX Effects ->Dynamic Shadows: No;
Options -> Video ->GFX Effects ->Headlights/light: Disable;
Options -> Video ->GFX Effects ->Water reflections: No;
Options -> Video ->GFX Effects ->Aftereffects: Disable;
Options -> Video ->GFX Effects ->Static loading distance: 200m

[ShadowMoses]

5. Testing of system stability

The facts when the computer works normally for hours with average or low duty
(for example, working with the MS Office or Internet Explorer, viewing movies),
but it works unstable when several systems are loaded or the system is working
with its highest performance (playing the computer games).
To test the stability of your system you may use several simple tests.


5.1.Processor, Memory and Motherboard Testing

There are many programs for testing the stability of the processor, RAM and
motherboard ( http://www.benchmarkhq.ru/english.html?/be_cpu.html), we can
recommend you to use the S&M http://www.testmem.nm.ru/snm.htm. The testing
allows to find out one of the most frequent troubles - overheating with full
processing.

5.2.Video Card Stability Testing

The most reliable and known product for testing the video cards is the 3DMark
2005* www.futuremark.com .
While you are watching the demo there must be no corrupted textures on the
screen and no corrupted geometry.

* for the GeForce 4 and lower use the 3DMark 2003.


5.3.Hard Disk Stability Testing

To test the stability of the hard disk you can use simple archivation of a large
file (the bigger - the better, for example, a movie of 700 MB using the WinRar
http://www.rarlabs.com) in fast compression mode and test the archive for the
errors. This test allows to locate the errors of the hard disk operating in the
ULTRA DMA mode.

If the problem exists apply to the seller of your computer.


6. Patches

Boiling Point - is a huge game with many possibilities. Unfortunately, despite
the long testing of all aspects of the game, some problems may still appear.
Deep Shadows is constantly working on the correction of the found bugs. Please,
inform about your bugs in our official forum at www.deep-shadows.com , or write
e-mail to support@deep-shadows.com
Latest patches will soon be available at official site: www.deep-shadows.com


6.1. Incomplete list of corrections in the Patch 1.

- cars are missing if you go away more than 200 m;
- during the long-time play the sound of the engine is missing;
- corrections in the missions:
- mission "Equal exchange" - it is not disappearing while following the
particular gameplay.
- mission "Go through the old Indian tunnel" - it is not disappearing while
following the particular gameplay.
- mission "Heart Drama-3" - after it is completed the girl and the guy do not
appear in the town.
- mission "Big Explosion territory" - the pointer shows the correct location
- mission "Three bullets in the belly" - the object of the murder is now
respowning if you leave the square
- mission "Suicide" - now disappears if the NPC is jumping off from the bridge
- the character on the river side cannot be searched while he's still alive.

[tenebra_uk]

Just in case you've missed it, there's a fresh patch and troubleshooting hints Here (http://www.uk.atari.com/index.php?pg=game_detail&productID=172)

[NAM]

i did a list of all hints posted on these boards , that seemed to help people with their different problems :


1) try this: Go into Game.ini file
http://combat-folk.ru/bb/uploads/post-81-1121196036.jpg
find 'DISABLEAVIPLAYER=0' and change 0 to 1 then save. This disables intro movie and solves many problems with dropping to desktop!

2) The game is not running in 1028x768 mode with full-screen aliasing on
GF4 Ti4200.
Possible factor: bug in video drivers version 71.89.
Solution: install the video drivers version 66.93.

3) there are lots of different things you can disable in game.ini !!! so make sure to read as many threads as possible, guess some editing of game.ini will run the game , more threads to find at technical board on www.boiling-point.net

4) BIOS doesnt support SSE instructions.
My advises are:
a) use software which will enable SSE support.
You can use wcpu31a.
You can download wcpu3a from this webpage.
http://www.chrinet.com/jboard/?p=de...oom&id=5&page=2
b) or try install new BIOS

5) you need 512mb ram to run the game i think

6)Try ending any processes that you don't need running... i think there is a conflict with a Rage3D thing... do you have that?
however i read often about people that finally got it working with ending processes , but careful some processes are needed to run XP , XP will restart if you end those

7) install patch 1.1

8) 2. Go to 'Run' enter dxdiag, go to sound tab, then 'hardware sound acceleration level' set it to no acceleration, exit then.

9) there is a troubleshooting guide released by atari on this page, click on the patch link, not sure if its any help

10) continue asking specific questions

11) put game away and wait for patch 2.0 which maybe releases next week already


and read my Boiling Point review , nice screenshots over there hehe
http://www.uk.atari.com/third_party...6718#post276718


hope it works soon with you
http://img340.imageshack.us/img340/1327/backscreen169qr.jpg

[Snipah]

Hi I have just installed Boiling Point and it jumps about a bit.

My System:

CPU: AMD Athlon Thorobred 1.86ghz
RAM: 512mb
Graphics: Geforce 4 Ti4200 AGP 4x 64mb
XP PRO SP1

What can I Do to help it run better?

[UK_John2005]

Hi I have just installed Boiling Point and it jumps about a bit.

My System:

CPU: AMD Athlon Thorobred 1.86ghz
RAM: 512mb
Graphics: Geforce 4 Ti4200 AGP 4x 64mb
XP PRO SP1

What can I Do to help it run better?

Hi I have just installed Boiling Point and it jumps about a bit.

My System:

CPU: AMD Athlon Thorobred 1.86ghz
RAM: 512mb
Graphics: Geforce 4 Ti4200 AGP 4x 64mb
XP PRO SP1

What can I Do to help it run better?

Quote from FAQ above:

For low-performance system the following setting should be used:

For systems with small RAM (<1GB):

Options->Video-> Graphics -> Textures Quality: Normal;
Options -> Video ->Effects->Lighting: Vertex;
Options -> Video -> Graphics ->Static loading distance: 200m.

For systems with low-level video cards (GF FX5200, Radeon 9200 and lower):

Options->Video->Resoluion: 800x600x16;
Options -> Video ->Fullscreen aliasing: No;
Options -> Video ->Graphics->Textures filtration: Bilinear;
Options -> Video -> Graphics ->Textures quality: Extreme left position;
Options -> Video -> Graphics ->Grass density: Extreme left position;
Options -> Video -> Graphics ->Grass radius: Extreme left position;
Options -> Video -> Graphics ->Vegetation details: Extreme left position;
Options -> Video -> Graphics ->Characters detalization: Extreme left position;
Options -> Video ->GFX Effects->Lighting: Vertex;
Options -> Video ->GFX Effects ->Dynamic Shadows: No;
Options -> Video ->GFX Effects ->Headlights/light: Disable;
Options -> Video ->GFX Effects ->Water reflections: No;
Options -> Video ->GFX Effects ->Aftereffects: Disable;
Options -> Video ->GFX Effects ->Static loading distance: 200m

As you have a NVidia card try using "Ntweaker" (available from Guru 3D website). It's a program that lets you choose from nvidia driver "mods" that improve performance, graphics and/or optimizes them. It has about 20 diferent mods to choose from. Also reinstall DirectX 9.0c to make sure it's installed properly. Update to the 2.0 patch as it has some optimization in it, make sure your windows media player 9 is installed ok, or get Media Player 10 preferably. Download Indeo 5.11 graphics drivers as they can sometimes help.

I have an AMD 2400 (2ghz) PC with 512MB RAM and a FX5200 256mb video card. This puts me in the low end machine as shown above from the FAQ, but I am able to run the game fine at these settings:

Options->Video-> Graphics -> Textures Quality: Normal;
Options -> Video ->Effects-> Lighting: Regular
Options -> Video -> Graphics ->Static loading distance: 500m.
Options->Video->Resoluion: 1024x768 32bit
Options -> Video ->Fullscreen aliasing: Yes, 1
Options -> Video ->Graphics->Textures filtration: Trilinear
Options -> Video -> Graphics ->Textures quality: third from left position;
Options -> Video -> Graphics ->Grass density: Third from left position;
Options -> Video -> Graphics ->Grass radius: Third from left position;
Options -> Video -> Graphics ->Vegetation details: Third from left position;
Options -> Video -> Graphics ->Characters detalization: 50% position;
Options -> Video ->GFX Effects->Lighting: Normal
Options -> Video ->GFX Effects ->Dynamic Shadows: Yes
Options -> Video ->GFX Effects ->Headlights/light: Enable
Options -> Video ->GFX Effects ->Water reflections: Yes
Options -> Video ->GFX Effects ->Aftereffects: Disable;
Options -> Video ->GFX Effects ->Static loading distance: 500m

As my machine is at the minimum "low end" and I can get this with the 71.66 drivers using an ntweaker mod. I would expect you could get what they quote in the Troubleshooting FAQ above on your PC.

Also recommend you stop all running tasks/programs you can. Your anti-virus and firewall especially (assuming your not online!). Open your task manager and if you see printer drivers listed and programs you DEFINITELY know it's safe to end, end those processes.

I end all the running programs I can when running high end games like BP, and that would include on my PC (deep breath!), Zone Alarm, AVir Anti-Virus, spyguard, cacheman, modem diagnostics, spybot SD resident, Lexmark update, supplies and print tasks, soundcard help and update tasks and finally, Teatimer, another spyware protector. (After playing just logoff/on to get everything "back"!)

The first time I played BP it was choppy, but after upgrading the nvidia drivers, using the ntweaker and the other things listed above I am getting good smooth game speed. If I can get that at 1024x768 32 bit, you should be okay at 800x600 16 bit and the other recommended setting in the FAQ.

Good luck!

[ShambleS_Him_Self]

You can say what you like to this post of mine but this is 100% true..

Just ignore the min specs of this game..

you need MIN 1.5GB of ram to play this game with any kind of sucsess/

I was playing it on a 3ghz dual core system with 1.75gb sd ram, and an ati x800xl (was prety jerky)

then i upgraded my board.
got a leadtek 8600 over clocked card.
over clocked my cpu to 3.7ghz with water cooling.
and 1gb of ram

Game crashed every few mins..

So i watched my evest on my second monitor..

and my ram went.
800mb free.
300mb free
24mb free
game crashed.

Reason being.
It has a huge memory leak

So i stuck in a nother 512mb.
(i.5gb total)

And then it left me with 300mb free (for a while)
And every 10 mins or so i use max mem to clear out the leaked memory so i have it free again..

Game runs sweet enough aslong as i have the memory free.
So remember.
1.5gb min or you will just get frustrated with it.

if you try to play it with less than 1.5gb of ram you will run out of ram amost instantly. and the game will lock up your pc..

So if you guys want to play this game with any degree of sucssess You really need 1.5gb of ram. (speed isnt so importaint. its the ammount becous this game isnt verry well programmed)

Good game though provided you enjoy driving back and forth to do the same basic missions over n over which dont really challange you..

Hope they bring out his "multiplayer patch they been telling us about for so long"

But really. I doubt they will bother, Just a ploy to get more to buy id say..

I mean they havent even fixed all the voice errors.
:nono:

P.S

Your FAQ dont fix much people.
and the settings dont need to be like that at all. only the vertex lighting one..
the game has a memory leak simple as that.

i tried it your way. didnt help.
but the extra ram fixed the game perfectly..
You should keep an eye on your system resources when trying to fix a problem..
Dont just asume its gfx cos its jerky.
It was jerky cos the game wasnot freeing up ram to re use.
The more ram u have the less u will notice.
If you go back and look at all the ppl who have had probs, i guarantee they al had less than 1.5gb of ram