Lag, Mishaps, and Crashes.. on a decent computer??!!

[Latiel]

 ...

Alright..before I begin to say anything...I will give you my computer's specifications..

HP Pavilion a1253w

Athlon 64 3400+ @ 2.2ghz
1.5 GB PC3200 RAM
Sound Blaster Audigy sound card
ATI Radeon XPRESS 200 Integrated graphics
Windows XP: Media Center Edition
Internet running at 256kbps DSL.

If any more information is needed...ask...

Now, on to the problems.

First, sound issues galore.  When first booting the game...the very first loading screen has pretty scratchy sound...staticy...just not very clear...

When logging into my character, sound also becomes quite shoddy and scratchy.  In-game, the sound stays somewhat normal, but ocassionaly, sound mishaps do occur....Loading screens and screens appearing before entering the real game.. are the main sources of sound mishaps and muddling..

Second, Lag!!!  Literally every 5 steps or so, the game will stutter and pause.  This happens without fail...with or without reboot.  I have hardly any other services running on my computer, and I keep it defraged daily.  Are my specs not up to par??? What the heck is going on? It should NOT be lagging this frequently..im sure...

Third, when exiting the game...I usually always get this error message....


"Something unexpected happened in Planeshift: Crystal Blue
Details:EXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATION at 00418B5C
Would you like to Save a diagnostic file? (Yes or no)..

Clicking yes...gives you this screen..

Saved dump file to 'D:\PlaneShift Crystal Blue\PlaneShift_Version_Apr 13 2006_Addr00418B5C.dmp.'
Please consult the Planeshift Forums for more details.  (Im doing that right now.  )
If you have concerns about privacy, see http://watson.microsoft.com/dw/1033/dcp.asp

Then it gives you a prompt to push "OK" and it leaves...also leaving ME...clueless.

This looks like a great great game...but it simply runs like crap on my computer, to put it bluntly.  I'd REALLY appreciate some help here..

Thank you all for your time.

 

[ThomPhoenix]

The crash on shutdown is standard, nothing to worry about.
The "lag" is probably graphical lag because of your integrated graphics card, you can fix it by tuning down the graphics in the setup tool and setting adaptive distance in-game. Of course you could just buy a proper graphics card, they're not that expensive if you buy a medium one. Also make sure you always have the latest drivers from www.ati.com

[DaveG]

The sound crackling was a buffer underrun bug in CS' Windows sound renderer, and is fixed for the next release.  The lag is because you don't actually have a "decent computer".  Anything with "XPRESS" in the name isn't the best thing out there, sadly.  You can try messing with adaptive distance in the in-game camera options and the quality options in the setup.  The exit crash is... inconsequential, and just never gets fixed. 

[Latiel]

Lol Dave...jeez.  Lay off a tad.    Its pretty darn good besides the graphics..come on.

 

Alright...I'll try messing with the options and stuff...though I doubt it will do anything.

Would a Radeon X550 dedicated graphics card be good?? 128mb of RAM on it?? PCI Express x16???

Just a thought..because I can get that real cheap...and easily at that.

[Xordan]

Anything dedicated is better than integrated. Integrated cards won't do you good for games. I'd recommend a geforce 6600 or 6800 myself.

[Latiel]

Can't.  I only have a 300 wat power supply...and those cards require a minimum of 350.

Thats an impossible option..I know so..because I've tried installing a Geforce 7300..

Failed.

At least...I THINK they require 350.....

[neko kyouran]

http://www.antec.com/us/