BF2: One problem solved, another remains

[[AK]Hylander]

Well I determined that my crashing problem with my PC was due to the latest ATI Catalyst Drivers. I "thought" it was heat related by the way it was acting. Anywhere from 5 - 15 minutes in everything on my screen would just halt, the screen would go black, and my monitor would lose all signal from the PC. Then I'd have to hard reboot. I haven't been gaming much, but I had not had any problems with sim racing or my minor Civ IV playing time. So the only thing that had changed on my system was I remember I updated to the Catalyst 6.5 drivers. So I went and downloaded the latest, 6.6 and the problem still remained. So whiped everything of ATI off my machine and reloaded with the latest Omega drivers and the ATI Multimedia Center software and haven't had any problems since. I played a little Saturday afternoon with Bribo and although we had a minor issues with finding the proper server - my machine did not crash or lock up during gameplay. The server finally puked.... but that has nothing to do with my PC.

However, before I solved this problem I did place an order at Newegg.com for a Zalman VF700-CU 2 Ball VGA Cooler:



And I also ordered a new router - A D-Link DGL-4300 Wireless Gaming Router:




The problem I have not resolved is the in game server browser. I cannot get it to fully load at all. After like 5 - 8 minutes it only lists maybe 140 - 500 servers, Max. It usually just hangs around 180 - 250. One time I did get 1,400 or so.

Both the above items are out for delivery, so I should have them today. I want to try and get the new D-Link up and see how that works. I haven't been overly happy with the Zoom DSL Modem/Router I picked up a couple of months ago as the management is confusing and not as robust as my previous Zyxel that died. I did get a replacement modem from COVAD from Broadxent and I plan on hooking that up in Bridge mode into the D-Link. The D-Link is a Gigabit router with advanced rules for port forwarding, etc.
D-Link DGL-4300

[[AK]Bribo]

My issue is frequent "There is a problem with your connection." messages. Sometimes these clear and other times I am bounced off the server and must log back in. Frequently, I am also bounced off of Ventrilo at the same time.

Now, I know this sounds like a network or Internet problem but Joe my son is downstairs on his PC and is not having the same issues. We are on the same machine.

Two theories:

1. Maybe it is the on-board network card and I need to update the drivers. Not sure if this is the case though because I can play WoW all night and not have problems with Vent or WoW disconnecting. Worth a try though.

2. I am using on-board mobo sound and not an external sound card and the sound from the game and Vent is causing some sort of CPU/network overload. I saw something to this effect on the Ventrilo forums. I may pick up a sound card soon and install it to test this theory.

[[AK]Hylander]

Bribo,

Selection #2 sounds more like the feasible problem on a blind guess. Perhaps the sound card is causing alot of load on your CPU which could be effecting the packets received by the game from your connection.

[[AK]Bribo]

That's what I'm thinking as well. I have an old sound card in a PC I'm not using (SB Live I think). I might throw it in and see if it fixes the problem.

[[AK]Nuts]

The server browser has always been jacked. I use QTracker to help find servers now and am pleased with the quality (speed) of the boxes that I connect to after finding them via that tool. BF2 Server Browser would report a server as a 110 ping, and I would actually get 30 - 40. Other times, it was the opposite. With QTracker, I can find servers that I ping at 20 or less.

Getting server kicked can be a couple of reasons:

1. Patch 1.3 caused server crashes due to a couple of possibilities:
a. Corrupt user patch impacting the server with the user joins
b. BF2CC (server admin) causing a crash
c. Patch 1.3 server code has errors

2. High Ping
3. Network connectivity

BF2 is a resource hog and has poorly written net code. I kill all other applications and services when playing BF2. I actually wrote a little batch job to kill every possible service I have running (Anti-Virus, spooler, Windows Time, everything). Now, patch 1.4 is expected to address the server crashes, the rest are up to you.

I enjoy this game and feel bad when ever any of you report difficulty playing it as I'm the one flying the BF2 flag. Let me know if there's anything I can do to help. I'm a member of a number of different communities and can probably find the answers for you.

[[AK]Nuts]

That's what I'm thinking as well. I have an old sound card in a PC I'm not using (SB Live I think). I might throw it in and see if it fixes the problem.

Keep Sound at 'hardware' and not 'software'... this my help.

[[AK]Hylander]

Well the new router solved the server list problem. I joined and it immediately downloaded all 3,000+ servers in just a minute or two.

The ethernet problem does not look like it's getting resolved. After some research the basic consensus is the 3com gigabit on the ASUS P4P800 Deluxe is "garbage" with nothing but headaches. So I'm going to just live with it for now until I pick up a PCI Gigabit card when I'm out one of these days. Maybe this weekend so I can install it when I'm adding the heatsink/fans to my ATI AIW card.

I'm up for some BF2/SF tomorrow night most likely. I "have" to spend the day in Trenton, NJ tomorrow for the Trenton Thunder baseball game for work - so If I don't get fried or drop from heat exhaustion... I should be around tomorrow night.