Live Known Issues - April 29th, 2010

I've found after logging off, and relogging on, while getting all my toons thier annvisery badges that I'd keep getting the 'you are still logged on' message.
Not a big deal, but odd as the 30 sec count down would run through fine going back to login screen.

Servers up and market working! Very annoying that it was down for several days, but I'm thrilled that the server maintenance period was so short. In other words:

To whoever decided to push through i17 despite reported bugs (casting a suspicious eye at marketing): A good slap on the wrist
To whoever was working on the server maintenance: A promotion and pay raise is in order!

I have a Dell 9400 that is acting almost the same way (except it was before I17 and the system totally locks, thermal shut down) it runs everything else fine but dies on CoX. The system uses a Nvidia Gforce Go 7900. I spent some time looking into the problem, and it turns out there is an issue with the video card/system.

Not sure if that really helps you out Doc, but it is possible to have the situation you describe where everything appears fine, then the system crashes when running the game.

I'd look into the possibility of the graphics card being wonky. I imagine the testing done by the techs didn't include substituting hardware (which is really what needs to happen to correctly pin down what's going on). Until you can get back to a "known good" configuration (which would be a similar system that can run CoX without problems) I'm afraid you're in for some frustration (which I can totally understand and sympathize with).

If your system is still under warranty it might be worth trying to get an on-site tech out that has replacement parts for: Memory, Graphics, NIC, CPU etc... or you might have to send it in. The problem is though, they'll be looking for the system bogging during normal operations rather than while running CoX (which it probably won't). You'll really have to push the point to get them to dig further.

Best of luck, let us know how it turns out.

while you are compelled to say it you obviously dont feel the same compulsion to learn to spell it or is the l33tsp34k supposed to add gravity to your statement?

well, he subsequently blames Ultra mode for the crash and while I'm learning to read perhaps you should learn to pay attention, especially to the bits you link to where it is said:

"4. As to what happen running in Safe Mode as you directed?, I made it up to just over 20 minutes instead of 15 before shutdown so Obviously Ultra Mode is having an Effect in Safe Mode Also and there is No way to make Ultra Mode "Optional" and return to the Normal game play as advertised would still be available since Before I17 I ran my laptop 48 hours straight during double xp weekends without overheating or shutting down.
"

so my suggestions which you seem to take offense to not only resolve his question about how to return to pre Ultra Mode but would also etiher fix the problem (if electing to enable ultra mode is whats causing it - even in safemode as the OP suggests) or prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that it is not UM in itself that is causign the issue with his equipment.

I personally dont think its a problem with ultra mode, it may be a problem with how his laptop handles ultra mode but thats a different story (and if he reverts everything, including the choice to enable UM we can rule UM out if it happens again).

you assume that safemode turns off all UM settings but does it actually disable all UM options? Are there any legacy references to UM code? Does the UM option enable some memory reference that was not referenced before? From experience, if you're tearign your hair out over a problem, forget whats assumed and start from scratch. Just ebcause a piece of software is "supposed" to do X doesnt mean its not also doign Y at the same time.

and yet, he is insistent that it is UM that is causing the issue.

For what its worth, I dont think it is but unless he can see that for himself, then no-one is going to be able to help him get to the root of the issue.


read back over his posts: UM broke my laptop, response, no it didnt, his reply techies have checked it and they say there is nothing wrong ==> it must be UM. Easy test, roll back and dont elect to use UM. Its the only part of i17 that could possibly cause overheating, or a change in th ememory addressing used which could be hitting a faulty block in the ram or it could even be an irrecoverable block on the hard drive that is causign a reboot after 3 attempts (that I am aware of) - hence I asked if there was a BSOD message as we dont have enough information as is to diagnose properly. Event log entries in the minutes before the crash/restart? Is there a thermal warning?

In regards to claiming "safe mode" is a work around for turning off UM. It ultimately isn't. By that I mean, if you enter the game in Safe Mode in hopes of once being in Safe Mode you will be able to bump your graphics back up using the "Advance Settings" only, then as soon as you make adjustments in the "Advance Settings" the client recognizes you had once accepted UM and therefore it activates the "Ultra Mode" panel/settings again. Even though you technically were only sliding the "Advance Setting" sliders, it moves the UM sliders as well. Items like "Shadows" are directly linked apparently now to UM. If you try and only boost your shadow settings in the "Advance Settings" panel, you will also see the slider for the shadow settings move in the "Ultra Mode" panel. This is my fundamental complaint with UM as it seems to not really be optional imo. I mean, if it was you should in theory be able to disable it and still use the old "Advance Settings." Now items like the "Shadows" I have to disable all together because even the "Stencil" setting activates UM. I notice anomalies like structures or effects like smoke (from smoke stacks) flicker as I approach them from a distance with any shadow settings enabled since UM came out with the live version of i17. The pre-i17
Shader Quality settings set to "High" never caused this type of flickering. I am fortunate enough to be able to run UM on max settings, but occlusion makes things look fuzzy/blurry/dark-dingy to me and the shader setting max (while it doesn't tend to flicker max'd out) it does seem to seriously lower my frame rate which is even worse to me then the flickering. So my current work around is to run with all the advance settings max'd, no shadows, and all of the other UM settings off/disabled.

As for rolling back to avoid using UM altogether, is there a way of doing that just within the CoX client itself?

good stuff. I learned something new! Thank you!

As an update if this helps, Yes got this laptop for Travel.................and play the game as I do.

Took the Minimum Requirements with me as I checkout laptops out, this one beat them, that was four years ago, played fine the last four years no matter where in the world I was.

And No, I get no pop ups saying anything about UM or no UM or whatever else that bods thing was posted a few post back, nothing pops up.

As to the starting in safe mode and then I changing anything, No, I change nothing.

I've tried in normal loading the game to have Disabled and when that was not working clicking Enable and putting everything to the minimum or Off if there was a choice.

So you could say I get the same problem with:
Enabled and set to minimum or off.
Disabled.
Safe mode.
The only diff is I get about an extra 5 minutes in safe mode.