Dark Messiah issue..

Archangel

VIP Member
Well... first i just ignored it, but now it does start to bug me..
When i play dark messiah, i can do so with all the settings almost maxed out (only the AA and AF kind of stuff isnt fully maxed) and get between 30 and 90 fps (average is about 50~60), so basicly it just runs great.
except, occasionallt the game freezes, the sound goes into a loop (repeats about every 0,5 seconds). It stay's like that for about 3~6 seconds and then continues again. this does happen randomg in game (occasionally) but it happens always after it just loaded, or when i press a putton in the main menu (wich has a 3d animation in the background like Halflife 2).


the funny thing tough.. I can run CS:S, Halflife 2 and Episode 1 maxed out without any trouble. (and that would be the same engine as far as i know)

so.. anyone any suggestion? because its reallly getting annoying. :(
 

Archangel

VIP Member
Do you have all the patches and updates?

newest NVidia driver: Nope, i went a bit back so I could overclock my cards.. with the newest ones my cards dont pass the test.. even if i lower the clocks below stock.. :confused:
as for Game updates.. stupid that I havn't thought of that yet. :x good idea. I'll try to find an update for it when im back at home (i gues I have 1.0 indeed)

By the way nice avatar :)

well, thank you :eek:
 

Cromewell

Administrator
Staff member
You can also try adding -heapsize 524288 to the shortcut (524288 can be replaced with what ever you want for how much RAM in KB you want to allocate to it, the game defualts to 256MB which is no where near enough). I think your problem is because of the way the source engine tries to load textures and such while you are playing so adding more RAM to how much it can use should help. The patches probably help too.
 

Archangel

VIP Member
the game only uses 256 Mb RAM? (sorry, cant check that, because crtl + alt + del, Alt+tab or whatever doesnt work, I cant get the game minimized.)
but, the shortcut would look like:
"D:/Program Files/Dark Messiah/DM.exe" -heapsize 524288 ?
and.. how much RAM should I add like that? (Ill try patches first when I'm home, then ill try this.
 

Cromewell

Administrator
Staff member
It's set for a 256MB heap, it uses more than 256MB of RAM for general usage.

You can add as much as you want, but I'd max it out at half your total RAM (only set it as high as you need for it to be smooth), turning down the texture quality should help as well.

You can remove the animated menus and stuff as well if you want. Your short cut target was correct, I've added the no background animation in the menu option:
"D:/Program Files/Dark Messiah/DM.exe" -heapsize 524288 +map_background none
 

Cromewell

Administrator
Staff member
It's an old HL2 issue. I don't have the game yet, I've been looking at it but some recent purchases (saturday morning I spent a bit too much money :p) have set back the aquisition schedule :p
 

Archangel

VIP Member
well.. I gues i cant do more than just try.. its just bloody annoying, and it makes the game feel choppy.
 

Blue

<b>VIP Member</b>
Have you tried running the game after taming your clocks? Just a thought.

Edit:

Also, I'd consider putting the clock speeds back to factory (just as a starting point). If the problem persists then update those video drivers. If the problem goes away, well then you know it is a video driver issue. Of course drivers and game patches are always the first things to look into when such problems arise. This will at least help rule out the drivers and overclocks.

Oh and do not forget, sound drivers can cause strange stuttering issues in games also, make sure those are updated.
 
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Geoff

VIP Member
I have the game and run into the same problems. You cant have the settings on Very High, or else it will crash since there are some sort of bugs and it will freeze up after playing for a certain period of time.
 

tweaker

VIP Member
@ Arch

With your system I'd set the heap to ~786432 at the most, preferably a little lower though. Oh and yes definitely get rid of that stupid menu.

It's an old HL2 issue.

Heh tell me about it, IIRC HL2 had a default -heap of 64000!
 
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Geoff

VIP Member
The problem arch is having is only from Dark Messiah. It is a known bug and its why it doesnt happen in any other Source based game.

So I say again, do not set the quality to very high, leave it at high.
 

Archangel

VIP Member
the 1.02 patch seems to have changed quite a few things, for example, you I want to put it on very high detailed textures, it now warns me that 2Gb of ram and a 512Mb grafic's card is reccomended.. :( I havnt tried playing with that setting yet, but with the setting on high, it runs ok. (it runs like before.. still does that hanging occasionally, it just has become a shorter time that the screen is frozen.

the funny thing tough.. I've never had a problem like this with HL2, HL2 episode 1 or CS:S
 

Blue

<b>VIP Member</b>
I remember Half Life 2 having a bad stuttering issue when it was first released. You would think they have fixed that by now at the engine level.
 
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