New Issue Forces Me To Quit - Serious Performance Issues

Well, I guess I'm just shooting this out there to see if there's anything that can be done to improve the performance of City Of Heroes on my machine because otherwise, I'm going to have to quit.

Issue 17 is essentially ****** my machine now. I play off of an Acer Aspire 5735Z. Now while this was never the best for playing the game, I could always play with near "recommended" settings prior to this last issue. Now I am forced to play on minimum settings and I'm still getting horrible frame rates. It is likely that I'm going to have to quit the game.

It retrospect, I'm very glad I was waiting to buy Going Rogue when it comes out as I wanted to level up some old characters before then, and it was a blessing in disguise as I'm willing to wager with the new graphics codes and smoother polygon count in Going Rogue I will not be able to run it.

I cannot buy a new computer as I'm a student/musician and in reality, I do not have the money for a brand spanking new, kick *** machine. Gaming issues aside, I have a perfectly good laptop and there is no way I can rationalize spending a thousand dollars on a new machine. City Of Heroes is the only video game I've been playing in the past 6 or 7 years, literally. I am not a gamer otherwise, but I love this game and I've played off and on for 3 years now. I will be an 18 month veteran next month (if I can still manage to play).

So with my Acer Aspire 5735Z in mind, is there anything that I could possibly do to improve my graphics performance? I'm not opposed to upgrading the RAM or other components, and if I could, a video card, but I know I cannot upgrade the video card on my laptop and that more RAM is about the only upgrade I can make. I am computer savvy enough to know that a RAM upgrade would only make for a marginal improvement anyway. Is there anything that I'm not aware of to boost the performance or should I just finally bid farewell to this game and cash in my chips?

Please download and run CoH Helper and paste the output into a new post in this thread.

This will give us specific information about your computer and your in-game settings.

That should give us enough information to begin trying to offer suggestions to improve your performance.

These are the settings I've always run in with pretty good performance. I am now down to an extremely sluggish frame rate. This is gathered from when I was in Cap Au Diable.

---System information gathered by CoH Helper version 0.2.0.2---

DxDiag gathered at May 8, 2010 13:04 (-04:00)
Operating System: Windows Vista™ Home Premium (6.0, Build 6001) Service Pack 1 (6001.vistasp1_gdr.080425-1930)
System Manufacturer: Acer
System Model: Aspire 5735
BIOS: Ver 1.00PARTTBL
Central Processor: Intel(R) Pentium(R) Dual CPU T3200 @ 2.00GHz (2 CPUs), ~2.0GHz
Memory: 1976MB
.Net Memory Report: 1320MB out of 1976MB available
Page File: 2166MB (2026MB currently in use)
C Drive: (WDC WD1600BEVT-22ZCT0 ATA Device) 33790MB out of 71316MB (47%) free
D Drive: (WDC WD1600BEVT-22ZCT0 ATA Device) 56330MB out of 71307MB (78%) free
E Drive: (HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GT10N ATA Device) zero-size drive
Windows directory location: C:\Windows
DirectX: DirectX 10
DirectX Diag version: 6.00.6001.18000 (32-bit version)

Display Notes: No problems found.
Sound Notes: No problems found.
Input Notes: No problems found.

Monitor: Generic PnP Monitor
Monitor's Max Resolution: (blank)
Video Device Name: Mobile Intel(R) 4 Series Express Chipset Family
Manufacturer / Chip: Intel Corporation / Mobile Intel(R) 4 Series Express Chipset Family
Video Memory: 795 MB
Driver Version: 7.15.0010.1527
Driver Date: 7/11/2008 2:17:00 PM
Driver Language: English

Sound Device Description: Speakers (Realtek High Definition Audio)
Driver File: RTKVHDA.sys
Driver Version: 6.00.0001.5643
Driver Date: 6/13/2008 9:10:08 PM


WMI Information
Motherboard Manufacturer: Acer
Motherboard Model: (empty)
Motherboard Product: CathedralPeak
Motherboard Version: Rev
BIOS Manufacturer: Phoenix Technologies LTD
BIOS Name: Ver 1.00PARTTBL
BIOS Version: ACRSYS - 6040000
BIOS Release: 20080827000000.000000+000


Registry Information for Current User
Resolution: 1366x2147483647
3D Resolution: 1366x2147483647 (Not using renderscale)
Full Screen: No
Maximized: No
Screen Position: Unknown, Unknown
Refresh Rate: UnknownHz
Vertical Sync Enabled: No


Physics Quality: Unknown (2147483647)
Maximum Particles: 50000
Max Particle Fill? 10.000
Physics Card Enabled: No


Anti-aliasing: Unknown (2147483647)
Anisotropic Filtering: Unknown (2147483647)
Texture LOD Bias: Unknown (2147483647)
Water Effects: Unknown (2147483647)
Bloom: 1.000 (turned off)
Depth of Field Enabled: No
Desaturation Effects (Sepia) Enabled: No
Shader Detail: Unknown (2147483647)


World Texture Level: Unknown (2147483647)
Character Texture Level: Unknown (2147483647)
World Detail Level (Vis_Scale): 0.842
Entity Detail Level: 2.000
Shadows Enabled: No
Shadow Mode: Unknown (2147483647)
Shadow Map Shader: Unknown (2147483647)
Environmental Reflections: Unknonwn (2147483647)
Advanced Occlusion Settings: No
Ambient Occlusion: Off
Occlusion Strength: Unknonwn (2147483647)
Blur: Unknonwn (2147483647)
Ambient Resolution: Unknonwn (2147483647)


Gamma Correction: 1.000
Geometry Buffers (VBOs) Enabled: No
Suppression of FX When Camera Close Enabled: No
Close Suppression Range: 3.000
Show Advertisements: Yes

Audio Mode: Performance
3D Audio: No
FX Sound Volume: 1.000
Music Sound Volume: 0.600

Show Advanced Graphics Options: No
Overall Graphics Quality: 0.000
Reverse Mouse Buttons: No
Save Login Username: Yes
Transfer Rate: Unknown bytes/second
Current Game Version: 1800.201003300904.15T4rf
Installation Directory: C:\Program Files\City of Heroes

Mod files in the Data directory
No modifications found

Thanks for your help, I do appreciate it.

First off, update Windows to Service Pack 2. Install any and all security updates from Windows Update. You can get the Standalone Installer from Microsoft on this page if you are having trouble using Windows Update for some reason.

Second, your video drivers are nearly 2 years old. I'd start with the Intel Driver Update Utility to have it check for the most current drivers. The Acer site still lists the driver you have as the newest driver, which isn't unusual for OEM's. There isn't any money in it for them to package updated drivers for older computers so they don't, whether it hampers their customers or not.

I'm pretty sure that I know which drivers it will recommend, but if the drivers won't install due to tweaks Acer did to keep you from installing drivers other than those they post (many OEM's do this, not just Acer) you can find some information on this page on the Intel site.

After updating to SP2 and updating the graphics drivers, post a new CoH Helper output. Make sure that you right-click on CoH Helper and select Run As Administrator to run it. I think that may be why there are so many Unknown entries in your current report.

Oh my freaking lord. It worked! I'm even running on higher settings than before! How did you know this was the case? Was Vista minus the service packs really that bad? I'm in Cap running around with better settings and it's waaaaaay smoother than before even Issue 17.

I even now have way more Ultra Mode settings! It is running so much smoother and at way higher detail and options than I ever was able to run it!

What's the deal? And thank you so much, Tex, for your help!'

LOL. I keep editing this every minute because it is such a dramatic improvement. I have never been able to play City Of Heroes at a decent frame rate and have it look so good. It brings a whole new light on playing the game. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

P.S. It makes so much sense though. My sister has the same exact laptop, but it more into computers, I wouldn't doubt she did everything you told me to do. I never understood how she was able to play Aion on decent settings and I couldn't play City Of Heroes on the same computer and have it look anywhere nearly as good. My computer's even running cooler with the updates. And I just landed in Grandville for the real test. Looking at the Arachnos tower would bring my system to a crawl, now I only experience a little frame catching. Wow! I even see reflections! I'm freaking out! Whooooooooooooooooooooooooo hoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

Can you please take a look at mine Texas Justice.

---System information gathered by CoH Helper version 0.2.0.2---

DxDiag gathered at May 8, 2010 14:54 (-04:00)
Operating System: Windows XP Professional (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 3 (2600.xpsp_sp3_gdr.100216-1514)
System Manufacturer: Compaq Presario 061
System Model: EL445AA-ABA SR1750NX NA650
BIOS: Phoenix - AwardBIOS v6.00PG
Central Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) 64 Processor 3500+, MMX, 3DNow, ~2.2GHz
Memory: 1022MB
.Net Memory Report: 538MB out of 1022MB available
Page File: 1760MB (699MB currently in use)
C Drive: (WDC WD5000AACS-00ZUB0) 440343MB out of 469634MB (93%) free
D Drive: (WDC WD5000AACS-00ZUB0) 488MB out of 7280MB (6%) free
E Drive: (TSSTcorp CD/DVDW TS-H552L) zero-size drive
Windows directory location: C:\WINDOWS
DirectX: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
DirectX Diag version: 5.03.2600.5512 (32-bit version)

Display Notes: No problems found.
Sound Notes: No problems found.
Input Notes: No problems found.

Monitor: Plug and Play Monitor
Monitor's Max Resolution: 1600,1200
Video Device Name: Radeon X1600/X1650 Series
Manufacturer / Chip: ATI Technologies Inc. / ATI Radeon Graphics Processor (0x71C2)
Video Memory: 512.0 MB
Driver Version: 6.14.0010.6925
Driver Date: 01/01/0001 12:00:00 AM
Driver Language: English

Sound Device Description: Realtek AC97 Audio
Driver File: ALCXWDM.SYS
Driver Version: 5.10.0000.5910
Driver Date: 01/01/0001 12:00:00 AM


WMI Information
Motherboard Manufacturer: ASUSTek Computer INC.
Motherboard Model: (empty)
Motherboard Product: Amberine M
Motherboard Version: 1.03
BIOS Manufacturer: Phoenix Technologies, LTD
BIOS Name: Phoenix - AwardBIOS v6.00PG
BIOS Version: HP-CPC - 42302e31
BIOS Release: 20070125000000.000000+000


Registry Information for Current User
Resolution: 1024x768
3D Resolution: 1024x768 (Not using renderscale)
Full Screen: Yes
Maximized: No
Screen Position: 0, 0
Refresh Rate: 60Hz
Vertical Sync Enabled: Yes


Physics Quality: None
Maximum Particles: 50000
Max Particle Fill? 10.000
Physics Card Enabled: No


Anti-aliasing: Off
Anisotropic Filtering: 4x
Texture LOD Bias: Smooth
Water Effects: None
Bloom: 1.000 (turned off)
Depth of Field Enabled: No
Desaturation Effects (Sepia) Enabled: No
Shader Detail: Unknown (4)


World Texture Level: Medium
Character Texture Level: Very High
World Detail Level (Vis_Scale): 0.800
Entity Detail Level: 1.000
Shadows Enabled: Yes
Shadow Mode: Disabled
Shadow Map Shader: Unknown (0)
Environmental Reflections: Disabled
Advanced Occlusion Settings: No
Ambient Occlusion: Off
Occlusion Strength: Off
Blur: Bilateral
Ambient Resolution: Performance


Gamma Correction: 1.000
Geometry Buffers (VBOs) Enabled: Yes
Suppression of FX When Camera Close Enabled: No
Close Suppression Range: 3.000
Show Advertisements: Yes

Audio Mode: Performance
3D Audio: No
FX Sound Volume: 1.000
Music Sound Volume: 0.600

Show Advanced Graphics Options: No
Overall Graphics Quality: 0.250
Reverse Mouse Buttons: No
Save Login Username: Yes
Transfer Rate: 117044 bytes/second
Current Game Version: 1800.201003300904.15T4r
Installation Directory: C:\Program Files\City of Heroes

Mod files in the Data directory
No modifications found

Well there looks to be something wrong with your sound and video drivers. I'd suggest updating as well. Uninstall what you have, run driver sweeper, and then install the latest available for your hardware. That tends to clear up a lot of issues.

Thanks Back Blast, but I am a bit of a dunce when it comes to PCs. How do I go about uninstalling the drivers, and then reinstalling? I also had the most up to date version of the ATI graphics card. It's an older one.

Just though I'd post mine to see if there's something wrong... Shader quality is greyed out still after the 'intel shader fix'. Game perfectly playable, world has some weird shadows after this patch but looking better than i17 launch, only toons/npcs/enemies look very plain compared to i16, maybe because of shader being greyed out (for example now 'tights' and 'tights sleek' look almost the same). My Intel drivers are up to date according to the intel utility detector:

(the mod files listed is Corva's icon pack that worked fine since I installed it in i16 - well they're only different power icons anyway, and the '.Net Memory Report: 850MB out of 2016MB available' is because I'm running a lot of things right now which I don't run when I play). Thanks for any help


---System information gathered by CoH Helper version 0.2.0.2---

DxDiag gathered at maio 9, 2010 01:15 (-03:00)
Operating System: Windows XP Professional (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 3 (2600.xpsp_sp3_gdr.100216-1514)
System Manufacturer: Apple Computer, Inc.
System Model: Macmini1,1
BIOS: Default System BIOS
Central Processor: Genuine Intel(R) CPU T2300 @ 1.66GHz (2 CPUs)
Memory: 2016MB
.Net Memory Report: 850MB out of 2016MB available
Page File: 2560MB (1348MB currently in use)
C Drive: (SAMSUNG HM160HI) 12028MB out of 36715MB (32%) free
E Drive: (SAMSUNG HM160HI) 51944MB out of 115584MB (44%) free
D Drive: (MATSHITA CD-RW CW-8124) zero-size drive
Windows directory location: C:\WINDOWS
DirectX: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
DirectX Diag version: 5.03.2600.5512 (32-bit version)

Display Notes: No problems found.
Sound Notes: No problems found.
Input Notes: No problems found.

Monitor: SyncMaster 2232BW plus,SyncMaster Magic CX2232GW Plus(Digital)
Monitor's Max Resolution: 1680,1050
Video Device Name: Mobile Intel(R) 945 Express Chipset Family
Manufacturer / Chip: Intel Corporation / Intel(R) GMA 950
Video Memory: 224.0 MB
Driver Version: 6.14.0010.4926
Driver Date: 1/1/0001 00:00:00
Driver Language: English

Sound Device Description: SigmaTel Audio
Driver File: sthda.sys
Driver Version: 5.10.5185.0000
Driver Date: 10/8/2007 20:59:30


WMI Information
Motherboard Manufacturer: Apple Computer, Inc.
Motherboard Model: (empty)
Motherboard Product: Mac-F4208EC8
Motherboard Version: PVT
BIOS Manufacturer: Apple Computer, Inc.
BIOS Name: Default System BIOS
BIOS Version: APPLE - 55
BIOS Release: 20061012000000.000000+000


Registry Information for Current User
Resolution: 1680x990
3D Resolution: 1680x990 (Not using renderscale)
Full Screen: No
Maximized: Yes
Screen Position: 344, 186
Refresh Rate: 60Hz
Vertical Sync Enabled: No


Physics Quality: Medium
Maximum Particles: 19248
Max Particle Fill? 10,000
Physics Card Enabled: No


Anti-aliasing: Off
Anisotropic Filtering: 2x
Texture LOD Bias: Smooth
Water Effects: None
Bloom: 1,000 (turned off)
Depth of Field Enabled: No
Desaturation Effects (Sepia) Enabled: No
Shader Detail: Unknown (4)


World Texture Level: Medium
Character Texture Level: Very High
World Detail Level (Vis_Scale): 0,845
Entity Detail Level: 1,000
Shadows Enabled: Yes
Shadow Mode: Disabled
Shadow Map Shader: Unknown (0)
Environmental Reflections: Disabled
Advanced Occlusion Settings: No
Ambient Occlusion: Off
Occlusion Strength: Off
Blur: Bilateral
Ambient Resolution: Performance


Gamma Correction: 1,000
Geometry Buffers (VBOs) Enabled: No
Suppression of FX When Camera Close Enabled: Yes
Close Suppression Range: 3,000
Show Advertisements: Yes

Audio Mode: Compatiblity
3D Audio: No
FX Sound Volume: 0,221
Music Sound Volume: 0,204

Show Advanced Graphics Options: Yes
Overall Graphics Quality: 0,500
Reverse Mouse Buttons: No
Save Login Username: Yes
Transfer Rate: 72258 bytes/second
Current Game Version: 1800.201003300904.15T4r
Installation Directory: C:\Program Files\City of Heroes

Mod files in the Data directory
.\fonts has 2 files
.\texture_library\GUI\Icons\Pet_Command has 9 files
.\texture_library\GUI\Icons\Powers has 1244 files
.\texture_library\GUI\Icons\Powers\ALTERNATE-1 has 20 files
.\texture_library\GUI\Icons\Powers\ALTERNATE-2 has 8 files
.\texture_library\GUI\Icons\Powers_mod has 1218 files
.\texture_library\GUI\Icons\Powers_original has 136 files
.\texture_library\MAPS\city has 1 file
.\texture_library\MAPS\Safeguard has 9 files
.\texture_library\MAPS\sewers has 44 files
.\texture_library\MAPS\static has 34 files
.\texture_library\V_MAPS\Outdoor_Missions has 9 files
.\texture_library\V_MAPS\Static has 16 files

Well, your video driver has the same funky date as thgebull, and looks like a corrupted driver installation. Also, your sound driver is nearly 3 years old, which could be part of the problem.

Have you tried the "uninstall, clean, and reinstall newest" routine that Texas Justice recommended to Invisobill? It's worth a shot.

Thank you Finduilas. Unistalled the Intel driver, I could tell it uninstalled correctly because when I restarted my desktop was all blurry and I got the 'found new hardware - VGA adaptor' or something like that in windows. Downloaded the latest driver from intel again (same version), restarted, CoH Helper shows the same weird date , which I saw in various CoH Helper logs for other Intel card users who also had the most recent drivers for their model/system (for example an user of an Intel 965 with win vista - diff card, diff system).

Shader options still greyed out, game running the same as before I uninstalled/reinstalled.

I'm having a lil trouble finding driver for my sound card. I found 'Gateway Sigmatel Audio', 'Intel Q45 Sigmatel Audio', not sure which one I should use since control panel says my device is called 'sigmatel audio' only. Sounds are normal as always were in the game tho if that matters.

Thanks for helping!

Monitor: SyncMaster 2232BW plus,SyncMaster Magic CX2232GW Plus(Digital)
Monitor's Max Resolution: 1680,1050
Video Device Name: Mobile Intel(R) 945 Express Chipset Family
Manufacturer / Chip: Intel Corporation / Intel(R) GMA 950
Video Memory: 224.0 MB
Driver Version: 6.14.0010.4926
Driver Date: 1/1/0001 00:00:00
Driver Language: English

EDIT: Ran Uniblue driver scanner 2010 and it only showed one outdated driver for wireless, which I don't even use in this computer... Maybe my sound card driver is up to date?

Just FYI, CoH Helper gives my video card drivers the same funky date, and I can assure you that they're tip top. There's no need to immediately suspect foul play.

Thanks Back_Blast. Did the whole intel routine again but the date is always the same. Since most players I know with Intel 945/965s still have their shader greyed out like the patch was supposed to fix, I won't pay for the drivercleaner, just wait for a possible patch.

And yeah, even on mac forums I saw people asking about sigmatel audio drivers for macs and I didn't find any definitive answer. I'll look into that later, thanks for taking your time to google it and try to find a fix for me

I'm having more of a performance issue with the mouse cursor blinking and disappearing altogether. All drivers are up to date as well as windows updates.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I was able to run CoX fine on my laptop prior to I17

---System information gathered by CoH Helper version 0.2.0.2---

DxDiag gathered at May 10, 2010 16:56 (-04:00)
Operating System: Windows XP Professional (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 3 (2600.xpsp_sp3_gdr.100216-1514)
System Manufacturer: Hewlett-Packard
System Model: HP Compaq tc4200 (EK743AW)
BIOS: KBC Version 38.59
Central Processor: Intel(R) Pentium(R) M processor 2.00GHz
Memory: 2040MB
.Net Memory Report: 1123MB out of 2039MB available
Page File: 2148MB (736MB currently in use)
C Drive: (FUJITSU MHV2060AH) 2245MB out of 27227MB (8%) free
D Drive: (FUJITSU MHV2060AH) 834MB out of 30003MB (2%) free
E Drive: (Generic DVD-ROM SCSI CdRom Device) zero-size drive
Windows directory location: C:\WINDOWS
DirectX: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
DirectX Diag version: 5.03.2600.5512 (32-bit version)

Display Notes: No problems found.
Sound Notes: No problems found.
Input Notes: No problems found.

Monitor: Plug and Play Monitor
Monitor's Max Resolution: 1600,1200
Video Device Name: Mobile Intel(R) 915GM/GMS,910GML Express Chipset Family
Manufacturer / Chip: Intel Corporation / Intel(R) 915GM/GMS,910GML Express Chipset
Video Memory: 128.0 MB
Driver Version: 6.14.0010.4764
Driver Date: 1/13/2007 10:33:00 AM
Driver Language: English

Sound Device Description: SoundMAX Digital Audio
Driver File: smwdm.sys
Driver Version: 5.12.0001.5410
Driver Date: 7/8/2005 2:14:00 PM


WMI Information
Motherboard Manufacturer: Hewlett-Packard
Motherboard Model: (empty)
Motherboard Product: 0938
Motherboard Version: KBC Version 38.59
BIOS Manufacturer: Hewlett-Packard
BIOS Name: KBC Version 38.59
BIOS Version: HP - 30100720
BIOS Release: 20071030000000.000000+000


Registry Information for Current User
Resolution: 800x600
3D Resolution: 800x600 (Not using renderscale)
Full Screen: Yes
Maximized: No
Screen Position: 0, 0
Refresh Rate: 60Hz
Vertical Sync Enabled: No


Physics Quality: None
Maximum Particles: 100
Max Particle Fill? 10.000
Physics Card Enabled: No


Anti-aliasing: Off
Anisotropic Filtering: None
Texture LOD Bias: Crisp
Water Effects: None
Bloom: 1.000 (turned off)
Depth of Field Enabled: No
Desaturation Effects (Sepia) Enabled: No
Shader Detail: Unknown (4)


World Texture Level: Low
Character Texture Level: Medium
World Detail Level (Vis_Scale): 0.500
Entity Detail Level: 0.300
Shadows Enabled: Yes
Shadow Mode: Disabled
Shadow Map Shader: Unknown (0)
Environmental Reflections: Disabled
Advanced Occlusion Settings: No
Ambient Occlusion: Off
Occlusion Strength: Off
Blur: Bilateral
Ambient Resolution: Performance


Gamma Correction: 1.000
Geometry Buffers (VBOs) Enabled: No
Suppression of FX When Camera Close Enabled: Yes
Close Suppression Range: 3.000
Show Advertisements: Yes

Audio Mode: Compatiblity
3D Audio: No
FX Sound Volume: 0.209
Music Sound Volume: 0.116

Show Advanced Graphics Options: No
Overall Graphics Quality: 0.000
Reverse Mouse Buttons: No
Save Login Username: Yes
Transfer Rate: 169141 bytes/second
Current Game Version: 1800.201003300904.15T4r
Installation Directory: D:\Program Files\City of Heroes

Mod files in the Data directory
No modifications found

Donoman99, check this thread: http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=219502 for info on updating video drivers. Get yours updated and see if that helps.

Not sure if the driver info would be shown like that because of this, but make sure you're running the Helper as an Administrator (rt-click - run as admin).

Also, in general for this issue, you'll want to upgrade to the latest drivers available. The older ones are not cutting it any more. I think most of the links are upthread for anyone that needs to do this. Just be sure, after you DL the new ones (don't install yet!), to uninstall the old ones, run driver sweeper, and install the new drivers after that.

It's Windows XP. No need to right-click and Run as Administrator for CoH Helper. That's for Vista and Windows 7 only.

Also, you have CoH installed to the D: drive, and that drive has only 2% Free Space and only 8% Free Space on the C: drive. Windows is going to have problems with that little free space on the drives. You serioiusly need to clear space on those drives. I recommend not running any drive under 20% Free Space. Windows gets really wonky when it sees too low of a % of Free Space and can do some unusual things.

Thanks for the feedback. The drivers are up to date; I ran the Intel Driver Update utility, and there was in fact an update for the integrated driver, however it did not make a difference. I had done this before I posted.

As for the free space on the drives; this has never been as issue in the past. The drives have been at these capacities for years and has never been a problem playing the game. It's more of a graphical problem, that replicates even in safe mode. The mouse blinks and doesn't want to stay solid so I can see where it is.

I can't play the game this way. It's unfortunate, as I travel a lot and like to play the game on the road. Guess I may just have to stick to playing at home.

I'm going to double check that other intel link that was posted and see if I can find any help.

Thanks again.

Can you check mine too I can't play the game at all w/o big lag spikes that keep hitting me every min and last for about 3min over and over (damn issue 17! )

---System information gathered by CoH Helper version 0.2.0.2---

DxDiag gathered at May 11, 2010 00:56 (-07:00)
Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium 32-bit (6.1, Build 7600) (7600.win7_gdr.100226-1909)
System Manufacturer: Micro-Star International
System Model: GX620
BIOS: GX620, BIOS Version: A1651IMS Ver1.0L
Central Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU P8400 @ 2.26GHz (2 CPUs), ~2.3GHz
Memory: 4096MB
.Net Memory Report: 2211MB out of 3071MB available
Page File: 5251MB (889MB currently in use)
C Drive: (WDC WD3200BEKT-22F3T0) 40633MB out of 84999MB (47%) free
D Drive: (WDC WD3200BEKT-22F3T0) 169967MB out of 212241MB (80%) free
E Drive: (Optiarc DVD RW AD-7560S) zero-size drive
Windows directory location: C:\Windows
DirectX: DirectX 11
DirectX Diag version: 6.01.7600.16385 (32-bit version)

Display Notes: No problems found.
Sound Notes: No problems found.
Input Notes: No problems found.

Monitor:
Monitor's Max Resolution: (blank)
Video Device Name: NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT
Manufacturer / Chip: NVIDIA / GeForce 9600M GT
Video Memory: 1777 MB
Driver Version: 8.17.11.9716
Driver Date: 3/16/2010 5:01:53 PM
Driver Language: English

Sound Device Description: Speakers (Realtek High Definition Audio)
Driver File: RTKVHDA.sys
Driver Version: 6.00.0001.6101
Driver Date: 4/30/2010 4:59:12 PM


WMI Information
Motherboard Manufacturer: MSI
Motherboard Model: (empty)
Motherboard Product: MS-1651
Motherboard Version: Ver 1.000
BIOS Manufacturer: American Megatrends Inc.
BIOS Name: GX620, BIOS Version: A1651IMS Ver1.0L
BIOS Version: MSI_NB - 20081110
BIOS Release: 20081110000000.000000+000


Registry Information for Current User
Resolution: 1280x800
3D Resolution: 1280x800 (Not using renderscale)
Full Screen: Yes
Maximized: No
Screen Position: 0, 0
Refresh Rate: 60Hz
Vertical Sync Enabled: Yes


Physics Quality: Medium
Maximum Particles: 50000
Max Particle Fill? 10.000
Physics Card Enabled: No


Anti-aliasing: 4x
Anisotropic Filtering: 4x
Texture LOD Bias: Smooth
Water Effects: Medium 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
Shadow Mode: Stencil shadows
Shadow Map Shader: Unknown (0)
Environmental Reflections: Disabled
Advanced Occlusion Settings: No
Ambient Occlusion: Off
Occlusion Strength: Off
Blur: Bilateral
Ambient Resolution: Performance


Gamma Correction: 1.000
Geometry Buffers (VBOs) Enabled: Yes
Suppression of FX When Camera Close Enabled: Yes
Close Suppression Range: 3.000
Show Advertisements: Yes

Audio Mode: Performance
3D Audio: No
FX Sound Volume: 0.023
Music Sound Volume: 0.023

Show Advanced Graphics Options: No
Overall Graphics Quality: 0.500
Reverse Mouse Buttons: No
Save Login Username: Yes
Transfer Rate: 837895 bytes/second
Current Game Version: 1800.201003300904.15T4r
Installation Directory: C:\Program Files\City of Heroes

Mod files in the Data directory
.\texture_library\GUI\Icons\Powers has 236 files
.\texture_library\MAPS\city has 1 file
.\texture_library\MAPS\Midnight_Squad has 1 file
.\texture_library\MAPS\Safeguard has 9 files
.\texture_library\MAPS\sewers has 44 files
.\texture_library\MAPS\static has 32 files
.\texture_library\V_MAPS\Outdoor_Missions has 9 files
.\texture_library\V_MAPS\Static has 16 files

System specs and drivers look ok. Try turning your graphics down and see if that makes any impact. You could also try running in safe mode and see what happens there too. When the updater gets to the TOS bit where you have to 'Agree', look for the little check box that says safe mode and click it. That will drop your graphics to minimum. If it's graphics-related, that should make the problem go away and you can slowly up your settings. If you still have issues, the problem may lie elsewhere. You might also get us a HijackThis report so we can see what else you're running. http://free.antivirus.com/hijackthis/