Help with Semi-old comp

HuntresPrime - Lost City
HuntresPrime - Lost City Posts: 298 Arc User
edited April 2009 in Support Desk
First of all i have poor grammar. 2nd.
i have read through the stickies and still have not been able to drawup an answer to my problem.

Backround: im running PWI on a Dell dimension 2350 that has had a ram and HD upgrade. thats about it.
my internet connection speed is DSL: 1.5mb (1.1~1.2) via AT&T/yahoo
my internet runs great for me (watch movies and what not no lag or frame skipping).. ok now.. on to

THE PROBLEM:

as of late(past week or so) every time i go into a town or an area with low population~ high pop. such as wellspring(low) west arch(high) pwi starts to freeze. lagg and frame skip. this is worse when people are having duels or during a wraith attack.

i have ran Ccleaner , A squared (anti spy) and avg. nothing on there. i even have Zone alarm for added protection. so i dont know if its my computer or the game 100%.

i live on the west coast (CA) thus i play on Lost City server

this is the info on my computer specks.

pwi-sys.jpg

Edit: any help would be greatful. thank you
Post edited by HuntresPrime - Lost City on

Comments

  • HuntresPrime - Lost City
    HuntresPrime - Lost City Posts: 298 Arc User
    edited April 2009
    bump for help pls b:shocked b:cry
  • Ihazacute - Sanctuary
    Ihazacute - Sanctuary Posts: 435 Arc User
    edited April 2009
    Well, first thing i notice is your RAM is a bit low. As a matter of fact, it's exactly the RAM I had before I upgraded to 2 gig...enormous difference for about 30 bucks. Incidently, I'm running with 1.8 and XP.

    Do you suspect malware? You mention a few good programs. I like CCleaner (make sure you aren't wiping the good stuff though, it has some dangerous options). I dont know A2.

    Zonealarm is actually more prone to causing lag than it is preventing it. And it's a B to get rid of.

    Personal advice and usually my first move if lag spikes: call your ISP. See if they are upgrading anything. See if they've changed anything. Most will watch your connection for 24 hours if you complain and they will see if you are losing packets or if your signal is operating outside normal parameters.
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  • darthpanda16
    darthpanda16 Posts: 9,471 Arc User
    edited April 2009
    please do not bump threads.

    We're busy with the servers. Will try to answer LATEr or tomorrow.
    Do you need help learning about patching the game, installing it, changing antivirus/firewall settings, changing network settings, learn how to use a computer, keeping your PC maintained and more?
    Visit our BRAND NEW Knowledge Base & Support Website! - Tech Support Flowchart - Panda Caught on Camera
  • Ultra_Fetus - Dreamweaver
    Ultra_Fetus - Dreamweaver Posts: 1 Arc User
    edited April 2009
    I copied this from the system requirements portion of the support.perfectworld.com page...
    For Windows 2000/XP

    512MB RAM (1GB or more recommended)

    1.5 GHz CPU or later (Pent. 4 equivalent or greater)

    For multi-core CPUs, you may need to adjust the Affinity to run the game on one CPU.

    Graphics card or chipset must support Pixel and Vertex Shaders 1.4 or later (hardware acceleration recommended), have 64MB of RAM or more

    Direct X 9.0c or later

    For XP, have Service Pack 2 installed

    For 2000, have Service Pack 4 installed

    6.3GB or hard drive space during installation

    3.0GBs after installation and extracted files are deleted.
    My graphics card excluded, your system is actually much better off than mine (see below.)
    specs.jpg
    I'm not 100% certain but I don't think your integrated Intel graphics supports Pixel/Vertex Shaders 1.4 or later and that might be where the problem lies. :(
  • darthpanda16
    darthpanda16 Posts: 9,471 Arc User
    edited April 2009
    You can send us a ticket to Tech Support here: http://support.perfectworld.com/ticketing

    after reading this: http://pwi-forum.perfectworld.com/showpost.php?p=2005612&postcount=33

    We'll take a look at your system and see what is going on hopefully, ok? b:pleased
    Do you need help learning about patching the game, installing it, changing antivirus/firewall settings, changing network settings, learn how to use a computer, keeping your PC maintained and more?
    Visit our BRAND NEW Knowledge Base & Support Website! - Tech Support Flowchart - Panda Caught on Camera
  • Kindyr - Sanctuary
    Kindyr - Sanctuary Posts: 6 Arc User
    edited April 2009
    First off your first your CPU 1.8 is kinda low, im sure changing is not an options so adding atleast 2gb of ram. Like someone said ram is dirt cheap now. I recomend newegg.com or just take youe old to bestbuy.(prob best idea if you dont know alot about computers). Once that is done the next step is to buy atleast a entry lvl graphics card. that is prob most of your prob. Ur stats show a intigrated intel graphics controller(57mb). that means its 57mb shared with your 1g of ram. If your only using this pc for normal things and playing PWI then i suggest that you buy a graphics card from walmart. they only carry one kind and its usually <$50. It will work wonders for browsing the internet or playing PWI or watching video on the web. But If you ever buy a game like wow or something like that the walmart graphics card wont work. youll need to go to best buy and find one about $100.Also of you use XP you need atleast 2Gb of ram. If you or anyone else have Vista you need no less than 4Gb. I hope this helps, if u follow the recomendations you should have no trouble with PWI on your PC. I have a dell with 2gb ram, a 2.4ghz p4 processor and a entry lvl 128mb G-force graphics card i bought from walmart, i am also unfortunately on dial up. I have yet to lag even in ehterblade during busy times. The only time i curse my dial up in connection with this game is during patches lol. well let me know if it helps or not.
  • amyreth
    amyreth Posts: 2 Arc User
    edited April 2009
    HuntresPrime - Lost City wrote: »
    First of all i have poor grammar. 2nd.
    i have read through the stickies and still have not been able to drawup an answer to my problem.

    Backround: im running PWI on a Dell dimension 2350 that has had a ram and HD upgrade. thats about it.
    my internet connection speed is DSL: 1.5mb (1.1~1.2) via AT&T/yahoo
    my internet runs great for me (watch movies and what not no lag or frame skipping).. ok now.. on to

    THE PROBLEM:

    as of late(past week or so) every time i go into a town or an area with low population~ high pop. such as wellspring(low) west arch(high) pwi starts to freeze. lagg and frame skip. this is worse when people are having duels or during a wraith attack.

    i have ran Ccleaner , A squared (anti spy) and avg. nothing on there. i even have Zone alarm for added protection. so i dont know if its my computer or the game 100%.

    i live on the west coast (CA) thus i play on Lost City server

    this is the info on my computer specks.

    pwi-sys.jpg

    Edit: any help would be greatful. thank you

    Well, first off, the graphics card is very underpowered for this type of game. Rendering Video and basic internet graphics is no where close to as intense as the computational power needed to run a game. I would suspect that internet lag isn't an actual issue. It seems that you may not have enough resources available to process the game.
    This *MIGHT* help.
    First off, check your task manager under the processes tab while the game is running. See what is taking up the most memory. Figure out what that program is and do a bit of research to see if you can run your system without it. Right clicking on anything in here and ending the process will usually get it out. However, sometimes it can cause system instability and your system will reboot. Thus the reason to find out exactly what it is. Secondly, you might try increasing the priority of the elementclient.exe process to above normal, or higher. Keep in mind that this could crash the system, or cause other programs to behave erratically or slowly.
    In the end, adding in a better graphics card is probably the best solution, but with a pre-manufactured system this is easier said then done.
    you could also run msconfig and disable startup items to see if you can free up more system resources. In some cases, there is a setting in the bios where you can allocate more system memory to the integrated graphics card. Only documentation for your computer can tell you how to do this if it's possible.
    Hope this helps.
  • darthpanda16
    darthpanda16 Posts: 9,471 Arc User
    edited April 2009
    Your video chipset is NOT supported to run this game, sorry.

    Doesn't handle enough 3d functions, doesn't have ANY pixel or vertex shader support.
    Do you need help learning about patching the game, installing it, changing antivirus/firewall settings, changing network settings, learn how to use a computer, keeping your PC maintained and more?
    Visit our BRAND NEW Knowledge Base & Support Website! - Tech Support Flowchart - Panda Caught on Camera
  • HuntresPrime - Lost City
    HuntresPrime - Lost City Posts: 298 Arc User
    edited April 2009
    darthpanda16 wrote: »
    Your video chipset is NOT supported to run this game, sorry.

    Doesn't handle enough 3d functions, doesn't have ANY pixel or vertex shader support.
    (sorry i was on a 3 day trip)....

    any way. is there any way i could fix this with out costing me an arm and a leg?
    right now my financial situation is very very very... did i mention VERY poor.
    i can bearly afford the lux of an internet. no tv =(....

    so. can this be fixed with any soft ware? or am i S O L?

    i was told in the past that my graphics card is integrated into the motherboard. but it can be bypassed with another via pci. this this true?
  • darthpanda16
    darthpanda16 Posts: 9,471 Arc User
    edited April 2009
    We can give you better advice if...

    You can send us a ticket to Tech Support here: http://support.perfectworld.com/ticketing

    after reading this: http://pwi-forum.perfectworld.com/showpost.php?p=2005612&postcount=33

    We'll take a look at your system and see what is going on hopefully, ok? b:pleased

    It is easier to get your system info from you, and put a link to this thread in your email subject line please.
    Do you need help learning about patching the game, installing it, changing antivirus/firewall settings, changing network settings, learn how to use a computer, keeping your PC maintained and more?
    Visit our BRAND NEW Knowledge Base & Support Website! - Tech Support Flowchart - Panda Caught on Camera
  • Kindyr - Sanctuary
    Kindyr - Sanctuary Posts: 6 Arc User
    edited April 2009
    In regards to your question, yes you can over ride the intergrated graphics with by buying a graphics card and placing it in a PCI slot, in my last thread i eluded to going to walmart. They prob are the cheapest and the one they sell will work. Its not that bad expensive, u dont really have to upgrade your ram if you put a entry lvl graphics card with its own ram. atleast 128mb.


    www.walmart.com
    MSI 256MB PCI-E nVidiaNX8400GS Graphics Card

    $37.88
    Offers HDMI functionality to provide access to premium digital content
    Model#: NX8400GS-TD256
    $37.88
    Availability:
    Online

    Not Sold In Stores
  • HuntresPrime - Lost City
    HuntresPrime - Lost City Posts: 298 Arc User
    edited April 2009
    Kindyr - Sanctuary wrote: »
    In regards to your question, yes you can over ride the intergrated graphics with by buying a graphics card and placing it in a PCI slot, in my last thread i eluded to going to walmart. They prob are the cheapest and the one they sell will work. Its not that bad expensive, u dont really have to upgrade your ram if you put a entry lvl graphics card with its own ram. atleast 128mb.


    www.walmart.com
    MSI 256MB PCI-E nVidiaNX8400GS Graphics Card

    $37.88
    Offers HDMI functionality to provide access to premium digital content
    Model#: NX8400GS-TD256
    $37.88
    Availability:
    Online

    Not Sold In Stores

    so... say that i dont eat for 2 weeks so i can afford to spend 40$ on my computer.... how would one go about over riding their pre existing intergated card with a card in the pci slot.. and how do i know my computer will even run it... also would i have to update my video and audio card?
    i only hae 2 pci slots. and 1024mb ram max. i heard you cant more then double your computers existing ram. (mine is 2X 512mb ram).
  • Amyreth - Harshlands
    Amyreth - Harshlands Posts: 11 Arc User
    edited April 2009
    HuntresPrime - Lost City wrote: »
    (sorry i was on a 3 day trip)....

    any way. is there any way i could fix this with out costing me an arm and a leg?
    right now my financial situation is very very very... did i mention VERY poor.
    i can bearly afford the lux of an internet. no tv =(....

    so. can this be fixed with any soft ware? or am i S O L?

    i was told in the past that my graphics card is integrated into the motherboard. but it can be bypassed with another via pci. this this true?

    It depends on the manufacturer of the system. In some cases onboard graphics cards can be bypassed. The trick is finding a decent replacement video card at a decent price. PCI graphics cards are becoming harder to find. I would honestly recommend that you start putting some money away when you can and purchasing a new generic system. You can find just the basic system for around 300 dollars US. The lowest price graphics card that I could find was around 25.00US. Unfortunately it was PCI-express, which is the newest interface and I would bet your motherboard doesn't have a pci-express slot.
    So basically I would say your SOL. You *MIGHT* be able to find an older graphics card on e-bay or maybe at a local store that sells used computers. Just make sure you get one with the correct interface. There are three.. AGP, PCI and PCI-Express or PCI-E The only other solution would be if the game had a way to use OpenGL instead of direct X.
    Good luck.
  • Amyreth - Harshlands
    Amyreth - Harshlands Posts: 11 Arc User
    edited April 2009
    Kindyr - Sanctuary wrote: »
    In regards to your question, yes you can over ride the intergrated graphics with by buying a graphics card and placing it in a PCI slot, in my last thread i eluded to going to walmart. They prob are the cheapest and the one they sell will work. Its not that bad expensive, u dont really have to upgrade your ram if you put a entry lvl graphics card with its own ram. atleast 128mb.


    www.walmart.com
    MSI 256MB PCI-E nVidiaNX8400GS Graphics Card

    $37.88
    Offers HDMI functionality to provide access to premium digital content
    Model#: NX8400GS-TD256
    $37.88
    Availability:
    Online

    Not Sold In Stores

    This is a PCI-Express video card and wont work in a pci slot. That's what it means with PCI-E. Also, not all motherboards will automatically switch to use a graphics card when one is inserted. So it may have to be adjusted in the system BIOS.
  • HuntresPrime - Lost City
    HuntresPrime - Lost City Posts: 298 Arc User
    edited April 2009
    well my computer was bought NEW via dell back in early 2000. i only have PCI. not pci-e or
    agp. any clues on what Type of graphics card i should be looking for?
  • HuntresPrime - Lost City
    HuntresPrime - Lost City Posts: 298 Arc User
    edited April 2009
    TO darthpanda>the first ticket i sent in i got a reply stating that the link for this thread diddnt work. (i realized it was too big) i also go a survay for it.
    so after filling out that survay. i sent another one posting the link in the message box with the subject 2nd attemp. oddly i got a nother email for a survay to my 2nd ticket but i never recieved an email with a responce to my 2nd ticket...
    a little help here?
  • darthpanda16
    darthpanda16 Posts: 9,471 Arc User
    edited April 2009
    Did you send it to Tech Support? or Customer Support?

    Make sure it went to Tech Support, and put ATTN Darthpanda16 in it.

    Then in the body text of the email put the info about your issue.
    Do you need help learning about patching the game, installing it, changing antivirus/firewall settings, changing network settings, learn how to use a computer, keeping your PC maintained and more?
    Visit our BRAND NEW Knowledge Base & Support Website! - Tech Support Flowchart - Panda Caught on Camera
  • HuntresPrime - Lost City
    HuntresPrime - Lost City Posts: 298 Arc User
    edited April 2009
    darthpanda16 wrote: »
    Did you send it to Tech Support? or Customer Support?

    Make sure it went to Tech Support, and put ATTN Darthpanda16 in it.

    Then in the body text of the email put the info about your issue.

    *scrolls down* ahhhh now i see you the tech support option

    *facepalm*b:surrender
  • HuntresPrime - Lost City
    HuntresPrime - Lost City Posts: 298 Arc User
    edited April 2009
    also. i just rememberd. i dont think i put anything in the body of the message besided the link to the thread =(. if you need me to send you another ticket. let me know xD
  • HuntresPrime - Lost City
    HuntresPrime - Lost City Posts: 298 Arc User
    edited April 2009
    darth? did you see my last 2 posts?
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