F.E.A.R. game crashing on my high end pc...HLP PLZ!

[dukesman]

I shouldn't have any trouble running this game as I have way over the minimum power the game requires. Every so often...inthe middle of a firefight, the game will crash and exit to the desktop. I've tried finding the newest drivers for my graphics card as suggested by srtest.com, but i cannot find them on the ATI site. Can someone please help me get updated correctly?

here are my PC specs from srtest.com:

CPU: Have: 2 processors running - Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.00GHz

RAM: 1023.5 MB

OS: Windows XP Home Edition Service Pack 2 (Build 2600)

Video Card: RADEON 9600 SERIES (ATI RADEON 9600 Series AGP (0x4150))
Minimum attributes of your Video CardVideo RAM: Required - 64 MB , You have - 256.0 MBVideo Card 3D Acceleration: Required - Yes , You have - YesVideo HW Transform & Lighting: Required - Yes , You have - YesVertex Shader Ver.: Required - 1.0 , You have - 2.0Pixel Shader Ver.: Required - 1.3 , You have - 2.0Video Card Driver Version (DirectX)Your driver version number is: 6.14.10.6599
FYI: Make sure you have the latest driver for your video card. Click 'Free Driver Update' and we'll direct you to your video card manufacturer.DirectX VersionMinimum: 9.0cYou Have: 9.0c

Sound CardMinimum: YesYou Have: Vinyl AC'97 Codec Combo Driver (WDM)

Sound Card Driver VersionYour driver version number is: 6.14.1.4070
FYI: Your sound card driver version is provided for your information, but it is not part of this analysis. But proper sound card driver versions are important to the proper operation of your product.

Free Disk SpaceMinimum: 5.0 GB with additional space for swap file and game savesYou Have: 30.5 GB

CDMinimum: 4X speed CD-ROM or DVD-ROM (DVD-ROM for Director's Cut)You Have: AOPEN DUW1608/ARR

PASS, but the Speed could NOT be analyzed.

[Rainbow32]

The Catalyst 6.2 is the latest driver. ATI Display Driver version 8.221.

[dukesman]

I've got that downloaded but the problem persists....is there anything I should set up/alter in the new ATI catalyst control center window that comes with that download?

Thanks!

[Rainbow32]

Try adjusting the hardware acceleration of your card and see if you get any results.

[dukesman]

I'm guessing by that you mean lower the graphics qualities in favor of faster performance in the advanced settings of the catalyst control center?

[smurfy]

Just been troubleshooting FEAR for someone else and the biggest problem seems to be with on-board sound hardware. FEAR's sys requirements do state a pretty standard sounding sound requirement but seems that if it's on-board, forget about it.
"16-bit DirectX(R) 9.0 compliant sound card with support for EAX(TM) 2.0"

You can try tunring off sound hardware acceleration to actually get the game to run but you'll be missing half the experience. Invest in a real soundcard.

[dukesman]

INvesting in a new sound card might not be financially viable for me right now. Sorry I would have got back to you sooner, but I was unable to get back to the game until tonight...

I have to newest driver according to an above post for my video card...is there any way I can tell what kind of sound card (so I can check and make sure I have the latest drivers) I have short of digging out my computer parts receipt/list?

Where do I alter the sound performance on F.E.A.R.? Thanks - any more help you can give would be appreciated.

[dukesman]

I found my parts list...just in case I use Creative Labs Speakers with
Realtek ALC655 6-channel Sound...

Hope that helps. Should I update a driver for this? Is there one?

[smurfy]

"Vinyl AC'97 Codec Combo Driver (WDM)"

This is your on-board sound chip - unfortunately there are many different varieties of this type of sound chip and we don't have enough information to tell you which one you need.

If you use Everest Home Edition it will tell you the make and model of the motherboard and we can take a look for an updated driver for that paticular sound chip.

As far as Acceleration settings, Open the "Sounds and Audio Devices" node in the Windows Control Panel.
Select Audio tab.
Click the Advanced button under sound playback.
Select Performance tab
Move the sliders down.

[dukesman]

Smurfy,

Thank you for this. When I get back to my PC later today...I will try the Everest program out and post my findings here. Thanks for your continued help...I will get back to you soon as I can.

[dukesman]

OK, here you go:

--------[ EVEREST Home Edition (c) 2003-2005 Lavalys, Inc. ]------------------------------------------------------------

Version EVEREST v2.20.405
Homepage http://www.lavalys.com/
Report Type Report Wizard
Computer COREYCOMPUTER
Generator Corey
Operating System Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition 5.1.2600 (WinXP Retail)
Date 2006-03-09
Time 12:17


--------[ Summary ]-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Computer:
Operating System Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
OS Service Pack Service Pack 2
DirectX 4.09.00.0904 (DirectX 9.0c)
Computer Name COREYCOMPUTER
User Name Corey

Motherboard:
CPU Type Intel Pentium 4, 3000 MHz (15 x 200)
Motherboard Name MSI PX8 Neo-V (MS-7043) (5 PCI, 1 AGP, 2 DDR DIMM, Audio, LAN)
Motherboard Chipset VIA Apollo P4X533
System Memory 1024 MB (PC3200 DDR SDRAM)
BIOS Type AMI (10/22/04)
Communication Port Communications Port (COM1)
Communication Port ECP Printer Port (LPT1)

Display:
Video Adapter RADEON 9600 SERIES - Secondary (256 MB)
Video Adapter RADEON 9600 SERIES (256 MB)
3D Accelerator ATI Radeon 9600 (RV350)
Monitor Plug and Play Monitor [NoDB] (1124AJA103962)

Multimedia:
Audio Adapter VIA AC'97 Enhanced Audio Controller

Storage:
IDE Controller VIA Bus Master IDE Controller
SCSI/RAID Controller VIA SATA RAID Controller
Floppy Drive Floppy disk drive
Disk Drive WDC WD80 0JD-22JNA0 SCSI Disk Device (74 GB)
Optical Drive AOPEN DUW1608/ARR (DVD+R9:2.4x, DVD+RW:16x/4x, DVD-RW:8x/4x, DVD-ROM:16x, CD:48x/32x/48x DVD+RW/DVD-RW)
Optical Drive LITE-ON DVD SOHD-167T (16x/48x DVD-ROM)
SMART Hard Disks Status OK

Partitions:
C: (NTFS) 76308 MB (29873 MB free)

Input:
Keyboard Standard 101/102-Key or Microsoft Natural PS/2 Keyboard
Mouse PS/2 Compatible Mouse

Network:
Network Adapter VIA Networking Velocity Family Giga-bit Ethernet Adapter (192.168.1.100)

Peripherals:
Printer HP DeskJet 895Cse
USB1 Controller VIA VT83C572 PCI-USB Controller
USB1 Controller VIA VT83C572 PCI-USB Controller
USB1 Controller VIA VT83C572 PCI-USB Controller
USB1 Controller VIA VT83C572 PCI-USB Controller
USB2 Controller VIA USB 2.0 Enhanced Host Controller
USB Device USB Cable Modem


--------[ DMI ]---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[dukesman]

Any update on the problems I am having? Lowering the levels on the sound control panel on the pc isn't working either. Still crashing.

Are there any other tests I should run for you?

Please help. This sucks having this much trouble.

[dukesman]

I was unable to post my entire Everest report (can anyone help me do that?)

This looks like the name for my sound chip set from the report that I skimmed through: VIA AC'97 Enhanced Audio Controller

Does that help any? Like I said, I have the whole report, just don't know how to post it all here...

[smurfy]

Hi there, sorry, some of us live on the other side of the planet and work for a living (or at least pretend to).
The Everest parts you posted had the info I needed.

Updated Sound drivers are right here.

But to be frank, I'm sure that sound chip does not support EAX2.0 and therefore fails to meet the min sys reqs for F.E.A.R. so you will probably struggle to get decent performance out of the game when it can't find hardware to reproduce the sounds it needs.

You could try...
FEAR Advanced Config Application
C:\Program Files\Sierra\FEAR\Config.exe
Options tab
Disable Sound: Removes all sound from the game. Use this setting to isolate whether your sound card is the source of a problem. If you tick this option and can run FEAR with reduced problems, your sound settings, sound drivers or sound hardware are one source of the problem.

Disable Music: For a slight boost in available memory and performance, click this option to remove all FEAR music.

Disable Sound Filters: Sound Filtering effects will be disabled if ticked, meaning EAX reverberation effects. This can help reduce audio glitches such as crackling on cards with EAX 2.0 support, but will reduce audio special effects.

Disable Hardware Sound: Once again used to isolate whether your sound card is a problem by forcing Software Sound support only in FEAR. This can improve performance as well but reduces audio quality noticeably.
(Info abridged from Tweakguides.com)

[dukesman]

Smurfy, thanks for the updates and i apologize for coming across as pushy, wasn't my intention at all...

Anyway, just to be sure, on that driver link that you sent, I want to download the one entitled "VIA Smart5.1CH Sound Drivers" correct? That seems to be the only sound driver on there, but since there is so much there, I wanted to be sure.

Also, when I get back to it, I will also try the FEAR auto config stuff that you suggested if the new driver does not work. As always, thank you for your tremendous help.