Bamboo

Ill join

Canjoin with number of toons:

Kinor' Fire/kin corr
Raist'lin Fire/rad corr
Optimus Chill Sonic/cold corr
Lauden Dp/Dark corr

and my main badger Memnoch' Fire/shield brute

What are your in-game globals? @Raist'lin

What characters do you have on freedom?

fire/rad corruptor
ss/fire brute
fire/kin corruptor
stone/wp brute
elec/stone brute
ss/dark brute
mind/energy dom
ice/elec dom
ice/storm corruptor
em/wp stalker
fire/shield brute
bane soldier
fortunata
ice/psy dom
sonic/cold corruptor
earth/ice dom
bs/regen scrapper
ice/em blaster
ill/rad troller
fire/shield scrapper
fire/fire dom
fire/mm blaster
The last two are only in their 30s

Are you willing to respec into a pvp build? yes but most of them that are pvp toons already have one.

Are you willing to roll a new character if needed? Yes

Briefly describe your pvp experience. I have been pvping off and on since i started playing the game almost 4 years ago. Started playing the game mainly to pvp with friends who were already playing game. I pvp in both the zones and in the arena, however the arena pvp i do is mostly with friends who all they do is pvp in arena.

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Uninstall drivers, Driver Sweeper all the video card ones out, install drivers again. That should fix it.

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ok, uninstalled everything and reinstalled it all. No problems so far and I left the computer on all day to see what would happen. It would appear that it is fixed as of right now. Thanks for the help.

Ok, sorry to bother you all again, but now there is a new problem that has only occurred since I put the new PSU in.

If I leave the computer for any length of time and I am logged into the game, I get a message saying the nv4 display driver has encountered an error..... etc..... and I am forced to restart the comp. This has happened maybe a half dozen times in the last week or so. Does this mean there is a problem with the driver? or something else?

I had the 186.18, but then was advised to go back to the 185.85. Should I go back to the 186 or could it be something else?

Yeah, I think it's gonna be okay. However, last night I was getting the occasional flashing of lights on the screen, but no where near the intensity that it was before I switched the PSU. I can actually play the game now without getting pissed off in five minutes.

As long as it remains playable until I get my new system, I'm good.

Just want to say thanks to everyone who responded and helped me figure this out. Much appreciated.

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Sound's like a floppy power connector if it's at the end of a cable with 4-pin Molex (IDE hard/optical drive) power connectors.

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Yeah, based upon the pictures in the link it is a floppy power connector. It seems everything is okay without it plugged in.

I have the two plugs into the motherboard, harddrive, vid card, and cd drive. Think that should be it, right? I plugged plugs into all the spots that had them before.

I played the game for about an hour without any sign of the problems I've been experiencing recently so thats a good sign, right?

First, Let me say thank you for all the help guys. It is appreciated.

Ok, I put all of the cables in the spots they are supposed to be plugged in to, but I have many cables that are not being used. Is this normal?

Also, at the end of the plug that connected to the harddrive and vid card, there is a small, skinny plug that I thought was plugged in, but when I went to plug the new one in I found that there was no spot for it. Could it have just been stuck between something that made me think it was plugged in?

Also, is there anywhere that I can check to see the difference in the power supply or is it one of those things that you can't see the difference in numbers somewhere?

Gonna go see if the game works now.

Ok, Gonna give it a try.

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Which two plugs?
If the large plug has 24 pins, and the motherboard only has 20, you're still ok, but I'm concerned about the second plug.

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Yeah the large one has 24 pins but in one of the holes there is a pin missing and its right in the center of the holes. Don't know if thats supposed to be like that. And yes, the motherboard only has 20.

The second plug is also in the motherboard. It is kind of situated in the middle of the motherboard, but it is towards the back of the tower. It only has 4 and the new plug has 6 pins. Its not labeled or anything so all I can do is describe the location to you. The holes are in the shape of a 2X2 square while the new plug is a 2X3 rectangle if that makes sense to you.

What do I do since there are more pins on the new plug than the old plug if its still ok?

Well, the PSU came today in the mail and.... Houston, we have a problem. When I got it, I promptly began to open up the tower and install it, but then I realized that 2 of the plugs that attach to the motherboard did not fit as they were too big for the slots that were in the motherboard. So I went from being as excited as a little kid on christmas morning with lots of presents to open to as depressed as the kid who realizes he only has coal in his stocking.

So am I correct in assuming that the PSU is too powerful for my motherboard? And that I should just try to ride it out till I can get my new system up and running in a couple months?

Looking at improving your performance via other methods... from the top you can:
Reduce Physics quality to minimum
Particles to minimum
Particle fill way down
Ansitropic filtering to off
Texture LOD to crisp
Water, Bloom & Depth of field off (this will have a dramatic effect)
Shader Detail to Low (I don't notice a lot of difference between low & high visually, but it will improve your performance)
World & Character texture to low (large impact on visual quality)
Entity detail level to minimum
Shadows off (another biggie)
Suppression of Extra Player FX - ON
Suppression of FX When Camera Close - ON

If all that buys you acceptable performance then don't worry about dropping your 3D resolution... from your original post I'm assuming you have a flat panel monitor? If so changing from the "native" resolution will have a fairly major impact on image quality.

Once you've gotten the performance to a playable level (this is fairly subjective so you'll have to make your own decision) then you can start increasing settings until you find your best balance of performance/quality. One thing I've found is that I really dislike having World Detail below Medium... you won't be able to read billboards and such very well. Particles can reduce significantly without major impact... it decreases the visual impact of powers and effects.

There should be enough horsepower in that 6800 vid card to pull off decent framerates without completely gutting the quality... you will need to tone things down considerably however.

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I lowered just about everything to the minimum that I could and still be able to stand the quality and the most fps I could get was 17. However, playing at 10-14 for the little while that I could before I was overwhelmed with the flashing green colors, was much better than I've been used to in the last few months so it was pretty enjoyable for that little while.

Yes, I do have a flat panel monitor.

Predictably, the fps dropped during missions with a full team to anywhere between 3-9 depending on the battle and team makeup. (MMs, number of enemies, etc.) However, like i said was much more playable than it had been recentlly.

The PSU can't get here fast enough and once I get my new system built, I can upgrade the vid card too. Being able to move around in game like I used to made the game much more enjoyable again even though I don't have the performance that I'm sure many of the players currently playing have. Can't complain too much though because i know many players may have it worse than I currently do.

Again, Thanks for the help. And I will let you know what happens once I put the new PSU in.

I've been messing around with all the graphics options, but can't seem to get it higher than 14. It fluctuates between 10-14 for the most part. After I get the new PSU, should it get better? Or will i need to replace the vid card to improve it to where it needs to be?

BTW, ive been testing it while in the Cap AE building which is prolly the most populated place in villains these days.

Ahhhh... in-game menu. That makes much more sense. Gonna try it out while i wait for PSU to get here. Thanks again for great information and instruction. Appreciate it.

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Option menu, GFX tab. be sure 'advanced GFX options' is turned ON- you'll get a whole series of new options further down the menu.

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Which options menu? usually i just right-click the icon in the system tray.

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Anti-aliasing: None
Anisotropic Filtering: 4x
Texture LOD Bias: Smooth
Water Effects: High Quality
Bloom: 1.000 (turned on)
Depth of Field Enabled: Yes
Desaturation Effects (Sepia) Enabled: Yes
Shader Detail: High

World Texture Level: Very High
Character Texture Level: Very High
World Detail Level (Vis_Scale): 1.000
Entity Detail Level: 1.000
Shadows Enabled: Yes

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For one thing, the water & bloom effects are real performance hogs, I turn them off on my machine and I'm running an 8800GTX. Turning those off is worth almost 20fps increase on my system. Shader detail can also be turned way down... I have a hard time telling the difference in the image quality but it's easy to see in framerates.

Shadows are another large performance hog...

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Yeah, while I was reading some other threads looking for some help for my problems, I saw some people mention those things, but I couldn't figure how to change alot of those settings. Since that first post i think i may have changed the water bloom, but couldn't tell you for sure because I can't figure out where it is again. If you could help me out with that, it would be great

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If it was me and I was looking at a new machine in a couple of months anyway I'd probably buy a new PSU and see if that solved the problems while saving the money you'd spend on a vid card for your new machine. If you still have problems after replacing the PSU then I'd think about a vid card. I like to give a problem the chance to be a cheap fix before I throw more money at it.

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My thoughts exactly! For now just gonna get the PSU that Gamma recommended because money is gonna be tight for the summer and like you said its better to see if it can be a cheap fix before throwing more money at it.

I will let you guys know what happens once I put the new PSU in. Thanks again for your time and advice. It is truly appreciated.

You don't need a top of the line PSU, unless you intend to build your next system, in which case you could migrate it from the HP.

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Actually, I plan on having my brother-in-law build my next system for me. Although he doesnt know it yet. However, he is in Korea on business till the end of August and I have no way of getting in contact with him.

Since I plan to do that, what PSU would you then recommend for me? Again, I don't need the absolute best just don't want something that just gets by. (sorry to keep asking so much of you, but it is very much appreciated)

In the meantime, the information you have given me is great. I will definitely upgrade to the power supply you have suggested because it is affordable and will address the problems that I am currently having. And I can install it myself which is always a plus thanks to the manual you posted as well.

I have no allegiance to nVidia, so the vid card you suggested looks good to me because like you said it is less expensive and more powerful than the nVidia card you mentioned.

Just want to clarify everything to make sure I know what is going on now.

Based upon your last post, I just need to replace the PSU to resume playing without all the lag and flashing lights. So for approximately $140 give or take for sales tax, shipping and mai-in rebates, I can having a pretty decent working system for now at least until i build my next system?

I would like to thank you and everyone who has responded to this thread and has helped me figure this out. It is very much appreciated.

Dont worry Call_Me_Awesome, your input was just as valuable as Gamma_Guardian's. It is all appreciated.

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Nothing unusual about that CPU usage, especially since you were checking it while the game was running.

You could try downloading and installing these

These should be compatible with your system.
How do I know that? Magic.

If you open up your case, there should be a sticker on the side of your power supply.
The vast majority of store-bought PCs will have a barely adequate PSU, but let's confirm what exactly the limitations of the system are.
Once we know how much power is available in your rig, it's a pretty simple matter to check at various manufacturer's websites on the recommended power usages of any particular videocard

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Ok I downloaded and installed the chipset drivers you provided in the link. Gonna go in-game to see if it makes a difference.

Also, i checked the power supply and it says continuous DC power output will not exceed 250W. Hope this is what you needed.

How much would it cost (approximate) to upgrade the power supply to perhaps not the best one out there for me, but to one that would be more respectable?

Are there limitations to which power supply I can buy based upon my computer?

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Well, that's where my questions were leading, and I'm afraid the answers aren't very good.
The default PSU on your system is fairly anemic, which along with the budget requirements, rules out a fairly large spectrum of upgrades.

Edited to add: You recently replaced your HDD? Did you remember to re-install your chipset drivers along with your OS?

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I'm not sure and since i'm not sure, then I probably did not install the chipset drivers. But how do I do that? I did re-install the OS with disks that i got from HP probably almost 2 years ago now.

Also, how do I check to see if the power supply is strong enough for this card and if it will be strong enough for a new one? This is the first time I have had these kind of problems since getting the 6800 3 years ago.

Also, I don't know how relevant this is, but while in game i pulled up the task manager using ctrl+alt+del and under the performance tab the CPU Usage hovers between 93%-100%. I don't know if it always did this because I never checked it before now.

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This system has the default power supply?

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Yes, everything is the original except for the harddrive which i just replaced less than a week ago.

And I will look around newegg.com, but the problem is I don't know which graphics card will give me the best performance with my system while taking into consideration how much I can spend on it.

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What is your budget for a replacement?

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I would like to get one for under one hundred dollars, but can spend up to one hundred if i need to.

I downloaded the 185.85 drivers and at first i thought it made a difference because for like the first 30 minutes there were no flashing green lights and the loading times were even shorter than they have been.

However, after the first 30 minutes the flashing green lights came back in full force. Even causing the drivers that I downloaded to completely crash on me.

Lets say that it is my vid card, what kind of card would be best for my system?

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I tried to download the 185.85 driver, but says it is not compatible with my operating system since i do not have Vista.

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Download the XP version in that case, as I recall Nvidia has drivers for Windows 2000/XP and for Vista (both 32 and 64 bit)

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Ok Thanks.. I just downloaded the XP version. Will see if it makes a difference once the servers come back up.

I tried to download the 185.85 driver, but says it is not compatible with my operating system since i do not have Vista.

Thank you Texas Justice. I will try to install that one now and see if it makes a difference at all.