Caiman graphics and freezing

AsterXiphos · Post by **AsterXiphos** » Tue, 15. Nov 05, 08:28

I have two unrelated problems, one involving the caiman and one involving the already reported freezing/sound looping. I'm playing in plot mode (though I stopped following it after mission 1) on an:
Athlon XP 2000
1.5 gig RAM
ATI Radeon 9600SE 128MB

Everything runs smooth, I've had very few problems with low fps. I also have all recent updates installed.

The first problem is that there seems to be some kind of glitch when looking at a caiman from the top. The top seems to disappear and shows lines running down the length of the ship. I think it's happened only recently.

Secondly, I've had very many problems with the game freezing. It's happened twice in Ore Belt (in the same spot, reloaded and repeated the error), twice in Split Fire (apparently random), and twice in Brennan's Triumph (same spot, crashed, repeated error). At first it seems like a quick halt as though the system's busy, and the sound keeps looping over and over. I've been tempted to try and wait it out, but never had the patience. I've usually just been frustrated with losing all that time. One time there was voice in the loop, but it's the only time it's been there. There was no voice near any of the other freezes. I've tried the codec stuff and disabling EAX, but nothing's helped yet. This is really driving me crazy - I want to get in the game, not save every 15 minutes . . .

AsterXiphos · Post by **AsterXiphos** » Wed, 16. Nov 05, 09:32

any help?

taronas · Post by **taronas** » Wed, 16. Nov 05, 12:00

AsterXiphos wrote:any help?

You're not alone. Watch this space for the freezing issue
http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=100591

scotoman · Post by **scotoman** » Wed, 16. Nov 05, 13:44

I couldn't fix my audio problems by installing/uninstalling codecs so I used the free program dbpoweramp to re-encode all the mp3s, to the same bit-rate as before, and all my audio problems were fixed.

I had to do the same for X2 when the music would cause you to crash when entering a new system because of trying to play a badly encoded mp3.

AsterXiphos · Post by **AsterXiphos** » Wed, 16. Nov 05, 21:57

Interesting idea, and one I haven't heard before . . . what is the "same bit-rate as before. . . ?" Nothing I've read in any of the other threads has worked for me.

I don't know if this is at all related, but in Split Fire and Brennans Triumph (both sectors where I've had most of the problems) other freighters are having problems docking with stations. They just keep circling it, and more and more keep piling up around it. In Brennans Triumph there are around seven, while in Split Fire I counted exactly twenty-two freighters just dancing around one station! I was tempted to toss a SQUASH mine in the middle of 'em, but didn't want to hurt my rep ranks. Funny thing is - I haven't experienced any slowdown with the extra ships.

I don't know, could this be related to my crash? Or is it similar to my freighters circling dropped crates (I assumed because of a poor turning radius)?

scotoman · Post by **scotoman** » Thu, 17. Nov 05, 00:10

I think the mp3s in X3 are 56Kbps bit-rate (can't check as I've got the game running on my other computer). All you have to do is convert the mp3s to exactly what they were before. Maybe Egosoft use a strange or custom mp3 encoder but my computer has never liked it.

You can tell dbpoweramp to convert all the mp3s in the music folder and you can select the quality/bit-rate. It can save the mp3s with the same name overwriting the original files.

After I did that I no longer had any problems. It's not as radical as it sounds and is quite easy.

If you back up X3's mp3s to another folder before you start you've got nothing to lose.

X3 runs lovely and no CTDs.

AsterXiphos · Post by **AsterXiphos** » Thu, 17. Nov 05, 01:29

Sounds good . . . but I want to make sure I understand this. You're saying convert the mp3 files to 56kbps bit rate? When you say to convert them to exactly the bit rate they were before, is 56k that rate?

scotoman · Post by **scotoman** » Thu, 17. Nov 05, 01:42

Apparently they are at different bit-rates and that may be part of the problem. I don't think it matters what bit-rate you choose as long as they are all encoded the same.

If you keep a back-up of the mp3s you can do it as many times and at as many bit-rates as you like.

Windows can tell you the bit-rate if you look at the properties of the mp3s. Then you can choose what bit-rate to encode them at. I chose 56Kbps. Means I probably lost some quality on the higher quality/bit-rate mp3s but maybe they load faster

I certainly haven't noticed a difference in the music quality.

There's another thread on this page about the game freezing, 4 pages long, and some frustrated people tried re-encoding and now they're very happy. For one person it didn't work so it's not a cure all but as it costs you nothing you may as well give it a go

Let me know if you do and if it helps.

AsterXiphos · Post by **AsterXiphos** » Thu, 17. Nov 05, 01:44

Yer gonna be my hero if this works . . .

I may even name a Centaur after ya . . .

AsterXiphos · Post by **AsterXiphos** » Thu, 17. Nov 05, 11:32

Well, that's it . . . I pulled into Paranid Prime after about three hours of smooth running, and it froze up - for just long enough for me to lose faith in this whole conversion deal . . . and then *poof* it was back to running again! Ran for another few hours just fine, no crashes or freezes.

Somebody get this man a medal!

And congrats on the christening of the new centaur, "Scotoman's Freeze!"

scotoman · Post by **scotoman** » Thu, 17. Nov 05, 11:37

Excellent news

I've just started a thread titled 'Re-encoding could solve all...', so if you wouldn't mind posting in there to let other people know it works

I hope Scotoman's Freeze kicks some butt