System Spec
OS: Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit
RAM: 4GB (not fully utilized of course)
Video Card: ATI Radeon 3870x2
Video Driver: Catalyst 8.6
Additionally: ATI Tool to override fan speed, stock speed
The main problem is when I play FFH0.32g, after starting the game and a few turns, the screen will freeze, locked up for a while, unfreeze, and then freeze again after a while.
Looking at the Event Viewer, the error is:
There're a lot of theories on the web about this problem, which can also happen to NVidia cards, but no conclusion about what's the source of the problem and how to fix it.
But here's some interesting observations.
When I first built this machine, I found the same problem with FFH0.31. I changed my settings from 1600x1200 to 1024x768, and the problem disappeared. That looks like the card was under stress, right?
But at the same time I could play other 3D games: Oblivion, The Witcher, Portal, Heroes of Might and Magic V, Dark Messiah of Might and Magic without problem at high resolutions.
Now a few days ago I updated to FFH0.32g. At resolution 1024x768, the problem appeared again. I tested it repeatedly, and found the restarting problem always occurs within a few turns of a new game.
Then with the same setting, I tried to play BtS vanilla. Strangely I could play for 100 turns and there was no video driver restart.
So I stopped to think it's a problem with the hardware - the card works fine with other 3D-heavy games. It's a problem in software, either in ATI Catalyst or in FFH0.32.
I have thought about getting a new card - a NVidia card this time. But since NVidia cards might have the video driver restart problem as well, I'm not too sure if that'd solve my problem.
So my questions are:
1) Any one on Vista having the same problem? Look into your Event Viewer, under System and look for a warning on Display (Source column).
2) If you have fixed this problem on your system, could you tell me how you did it?
OS: Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit
RAM: 4GB (not fully utilized of course)
Video Card: ATI Radeon 3870x2
Video Driver: Catalyst 8.6
Additionally: ATI Tool to override fan speed, stock speed
The main problem is when I play FFH0.32g, after starting the game and a few turns, the screen will freeze, locked up for a while, unfreeze, and then freeze again after a while.
Looking at the Event Viewer, the error is:
This video driver restart is a new protective mechanism in Windows Vista - in Windows XP you'd have a blue screen of death or a complete lock up instead. This protective measure will kick in when the video driver software stopped responding to the OS for any reason.
There're a lot of theories on the web about this problem, which can also happen to NVidia cards, but no conclusion about what's the source of the problem and how to fix it.
But here's some interesting observations.
When I first built this machine, I found the same problem with FFH0.31. I changed my settings from 1600x1200 to 1024x768, and the problem disappeared. That looks like the card was under stress, right?
But at the same time I could play other 3D games: Oblivion, The Witcher, Portal, Heroes of Might and Magic V, Dark Messiah of Might and Magic without problem at high resolutions.
Now a few days ago I updated to FFH0.32g. At resolution 1024x768, the problem appeared again. I tested it repeatedly, and found the restarting problem always occurs within a few turns of a new game.
Then with the same setting, I tried to play BtS vanilla. Strangely I could play for 100 turns and there was no video driver restart.
So I stopped to think it's a problem with the hardware - the card works fine with other 3D-heavy games. It's a problem in software, either in ATI Catalyst or in FFH0.32.
I have thought about getting a new card - a NVidia card this time. But since NVidia cards might have the video driver restart problem as well, I'm not too sure if that'd solve my problem.
So my questions are:
1) Any one on Vista having the same problem? Look into your Event Viewer, under System and look for a warning on Display (Source column).
2) If you have fixed this problem on your system, could you tell me how you did it?
