1.3.1 BETA patch to address freeze and audio issues

[lynx20056]

Heya,

well...I installed the brand new shiney beta patch and initially, everything seemed fine at first, I noticed an overall increase in speed, general optimizations in certain sectors that were notorious for crashing etc before. But after 2 hours of continuous roaming, i ran headfirst into a dreaded 'loop sound' system crash, and the pc had to reboot. Joy! Back to square one. lol my heart sank!

Things just keep getting wierder and wierder with this game. To me it seems like there could prehaps be a memory leak or something? Its just that everything ticks along like clockwork until you reach that boundary (could vary from system to system) and then bang, theres no way past it without periodic screen locks or system crashes. I can't even get a few mins into my current game save now without a crash, and we're not talking a monsterously complicated area of the system here. Bizare to say the least. Anyways, i just wish things would work with this title, its so amazingly beautiful and its a real shame to see so many people including myself experiencing crash after crash after crash (did i say crash?)just getting from A to B.
Granted, it must be a tedious and maddening process for Egosoft trying to scour the galaxy for a glitch in the works, but considering the fact that this game is simply stunning to look at and play (when its actually running), it almost seems like a crime that its so badly flawed.

Anyways, im pretty optimistic and i generally do beleive theres something that can be done. Heres hoping the next patch will correct these crashing issues!

[CBJ]

Could people who are still getting freeze problems with the 1.3.1 BETA please check whether they are running any third party scripts before reporting this as a problem with the patch. These are the most likely cause of any remaining freezes.

[ynnek888]

well, here's the tricky part.. are you sure the freezing and such is not a hardware issue such as overheating? with the 1.3 patch, only time I've had Crash to desktop was occasionally reloading a game.. I'm about to just test out the 13.1 beta just to see how it goes.

[nyogen]

I really doubt the sound loop is anywhere related to the sound hardware. As far as I could figure out this thing happens when multiple events are swapped to the pagefile.

My swap file gets as large as 2,5 Gbytes after playing X3 for several hours. If during the writing/reading to the pagefile any inconsistencies occur then u get the sound loop as the precessor is most likely in a missed prediction cache situation and trying to flush/rebuffer. If your hardware is not top notch u will most likely experience the sound loop followed soon by a CTD.

In 90 % of the times, in my case, sound loops end after a few secs and I can resume playing. But I really doubt this would be the same should I run a slower hardware configuration. Mine is only an assumption, as I really don't have the instruments to test whether this is really the case or not. My assumption (continued) is that there are no coded triggers that should activate and hold until all relevant data has been cached/processed.

My guess is also that this was done on purpose in order to increase performance. In Farcry or other memory intensive games, whenever there was a need to page a larger amount of data, a small disk would appear in the uppermost right corner signaling prefetching/fetching of data, event that caused the game to pause. If X3 is not coded to pause while fetching data and if there are some threads that are active and continuously posting new data that can explain why the disk goes berserk and loops and CTD appear.

Does it make sense ?

[Stebradley]

In some sectors the music was not working properly which forced me to turn it off.
I am pleased to say that this patch has resolved this music audio problem.
Thanks
Ste

[Julius_Sneezer]

Where do you buy the tug lazer to move stations?

Is there anyways to disable a complex hub to then move your stations?

Why not have an auto placement function for complexes, my plumbing placement is the ugliest I've ever seen?


We should have an X3 : The Reunion Ugliest Complex Award!

[ShoC]

I had 2 games of x2, one being a trader.
Never Crashed one never ever,
2nd game i played trader/fighter and this crashed about 6hours into the game,
slowly getting worse and worse. eventually to the second it loadsa it crashes within i a split second,

So im under the suspicion its something to do within the actual game thats runing
not hardware related but something initated in the game.

[giskard]

About those freezes.

Due to X3s requirements, medium to large empires do slow the game down quite a bit. My own game has seen frame rates drop considerably as my empire has grown.

Tip to improve performance.

Texture quality = drop this down 1.
Shader Quality = This is almost free if you have a modern GFX card, you should be able to leave it on high.

Autoquality = off (helps if you have 1 gig of ram or less i found)
Glow = off

AA = off
AF = minor impact, x2 should be ok.

Giskard

[techno-mole]

I installed the beta patch and didnt really notice any great improvements, appart from the mass driver and psg problems getting better, but i still had problems in sectors with loads of asteroids, i have since installed a new power supply for my system, ive gone from a 300 watt to a 500 watt, and what a difference its made, the sectors that have alot of roids in are alot better now, still not as smooth as normal, but getting there, although the frame rate does drop when you get into fights in those sectors, so maybe that needs to be sorted, so my advice to people is to check their power supplies and get a higher wattage if needed, made a difference to my system, and playing x3.
the other small thing ive noticed is that some of my freighters are un docking for no reason ? they have no orders to do anything, but every now and then ill be doing some station management and the freighters are undocking, then some will dock, but others will just sit there, ? strange, and its only the idle ones doing it.

[Sasheem]

I am running NO third party scripts. I am trying to run the game as is out of the box with the Beta patch. Still can't get past the opening dialog between Julian and Ban. Hard lock up every time.

Sasheem

[XenonBuster]

I am running NO third party scripts. I am trying to run the game as is out of the box with the Beta patch. Still can't get past the opening dialog between Julian and Ban. Hard lock up every time.

Sasheem

you need to be patched to 1.3 before you can put 1.3.1 beta patch in

[Sasheem]

I am running NO third party scripts. I am trying to run the game as is out of the box with the Beta patch. Still can't get past the opening dialog between Julian and Ban. Hard lock up every time.

Sasheem

you need to be patched to 1.3 before you can put 1.3.1 beta patch in

I know. Guess I should have been more clear on that.

Sasheem

[BaronDeKalb]

3 weeks in 0 crashes.

7 or 8 fabs.
3 ut's.

90% of Galaxy mapped and sat.

much improved performance overall.

[Bryce777]

Just bought the game today, patched to 1.3 and CTD on cut scenes. Patch no help here.

[apricotslice]

Just bought the game today, patched to 1.3 and CTD on cut scenes. Patch no help here.

Patched to 1.3 ?

You need to patch to 1.3.1beta. Try that and see if it makes a difference.

[Slayersyd]

Been using this patch for nearly 3 weeks now. No freezes still. Had one CTD. Using one script only, and thats to upgrade LT's to 125 shields.
Main problem I have is my ships seem to be piloted by lemmings. If I'm docked on a station, leave the pc for several hours, I sometines come back to find my freighters in that sector have been flying to 'roids and gates.
All my weapons seem ok, just the usual lag with busy systems with loadsa ships or slideshow with'roids. Looking forward to a performance patch, nudge nudge wink wink.
Having mentioned Lemmings, getting the urge to play the 'ol classic again

[apricotslice]

Been using this patch for nearly 3 weeks now. No freezes still. Had one CTD. Using one script only, and thats to upgrade LT's to 125 shields.
Main problem I have is my ships seem to be piloted by lemmings. If I'm docked on a station, leave the pc for several hours, I sometines come back to find my freighters in that sector have been flying to 'roids and gates.
All my weapons seem ok, just the usual lag with busy systems with loadsa ships or slideshow with'roids. Looking forward to a performance patch, nudge nudge wink wink.
Having mentioned Lemmings, getting the urge to play the 'ol classic again

Uninstall the patch. Then reinstall it. The lemmings get windows to look out, but they still need glasses.

[Slayersyd]

Lol, cheers apricotslice

[apricotslice]

I gotta say, its an improvement, but not a complete fix.

There is something in 1.3 thats removed by the uninstall, that is most of the real problem. Something I fluked finding helping someone else.

[Danshep]

I installed the patch which means hoorah, finally, I can play without seizing up or having to use the joystick to control my ship in some sectors where the mouse is on a go slow. HOWEVER!!! Now I find I have to lead any Mammoth I hire actually to the shipyard otherwise it goes to the trading station. It wont dock on my instructions. That also applies to the two ships I have following me. As soon as I dock at any shipyard they lose me and go wandering. If I tell them to dock they go to the trading station.
AMD 55FX, 2gb memory, Audigy 4, Nvidia 7800GT, Epox 939 board

Still, at least I can play again!!