Very nice performance, then consistent nasty stuttering.

[KebabThief]

Hi, I hope someone here can help, as I'm on the verge of throwing the PC out of the window. We have two PCs and the higher spec one is the one that my girlfriend uses and is suffering from this problem. AMD 3700+ 2 Gig DDR2 RAM 200Gb SATA HDD Radeon X800 Gfx Card PCI-E The game runs really well on pretty much any sensible setting then every minute or so, it lags up terribly, to about 1 fps.  Turning the settings down doesn't seem to make any difference. It doesn't seem to have any pattern with what is visible on the screen, e.g. casting, lights, water. I can rule out that it is a connection problem as I am not having the same problem on my PC (AMD 2600+, 1Gb RAM, Geforce 6800 GT AGP). No other games seems to be affected, only EQ2. I've found something running on there that shouldn't be (svhost32.exe) and have had it cleaned up, but the problem still remains. Both PCs are running Windows Media Centre Edition 2005 SP2. Rather than just post a load of dxdiag info from the start, I thought I'd wait and see if anyone had any suggestions.  Help would be massively appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[Pravius]

I would post that info so we can get a better idea of which driver and version you are using.  Honestly Your system seems to be able to handle it with no issue so I am not sure 100% why it is going that....  but if you post the DX info and MSinfo it may lead to a solution.

[KebabThief]

OK here goes.  Nothing happens when I type msinfo in the run command.  Do I get it elsewhere? I have posted the dxdiag info on <a href="http://www.wldesign.co.uk/tillydxdiag.txt " target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://www.wldesign.co.uk/tillydxdiag.txt </a> to avoid making it a huge thread.  (for some reason there are some symbols that get entered after the address, they need to be deleted from the URL to see it.  must be my forum noobness) I'd also like to point out that when the problem first came about, the pc was running catalyst 7.1, then I upgraded it to 7.2 (recommended) and when the problem was still there, I upgraded it to 7.5 (latest).  THe problem is the same with all versions. Thanks <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

[Pravius]

msinfo32.exe is the command.  Just a thought but do you have antialiasing set to application controlled on that video card? Also what is  the  Anisotropic setting set to? <span style="font-size: x-small"> Also svchost.exe is a system process belonging to the Microsoft Windows Operating System which handles processes executed from DLLs. This program is important for the stable and secure running of your computer and should not be terminated. </span>

[Pravius]

Just re read your post and saw it was svhost32.exe and that is a virus .... my bad!

[KebabThief]

Both are set to application controlled. On another note, this only started happening a few days after LU35, can't remember installing anything around the time it started happening. Thanks for taking your time to look at it - much appreciated <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

[KebabThief]

the svhost32.exe has been removed now though.  Cleaned it with PrevX2. Starting to consider a reload, but really don't want to resort to that.

[KebabThief]

MSInfo is posted at <a href="http://www.wldesign.co.uk/tillymsinfo.txt" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://www.wldesign.co.uk/tillymsinfo.txt</a>

[batsu3]

<p>I noticed you listed your video card as an X800....</p><p>An X800 is going to have a reeeaally hard time processing graphics for this game unless you leave everything at minimum or off. The rest of your system can handle this game easily, but if you are trying to push it all through an X800, it's kind of like trying to drink a milkshake with a straw....you can do it, but it takes a lot of sucking... By the description of your lag I would say that it is because of the video card. It can keep up with demand for a bit (about a minute), but then it has to purge, swap out and re-process the new info. It just can't keep up. Your CPU and RAM (DDR2, nice) are plenty for running the game.</p><p>You can get something decent, like an X1650Pro 256MB, for about $80 at <a href="http://www.newegg.com/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">www.newegg.com</a>  It's not the top of the line, but it is cheap and can handle EQ2 without a problem. You system could handle and make good use of a much better card (as long as you have the proper power supply), but I recommended the X1650Pro because I have one and know that it was very easy to install, and does not need extra power. I run EQ2 on max or near max settings with no graphical stuttering on a dial-up connection. I am only limited by my 1 GB of Ram, not my card. </p><p>I definitely suggest shopping for a video card upgrade. You have a PCI-e slot so you have plenty of decent cards to choose from, both ATI and nVidia, depending on your personal preference. Check out that newegg site and find one you like. I would not go below 256MB if I were you, as pretty much everything coming out these days will require at least 256MB on your video card, if not more.</p><p>Hope this helps.</p>

[Jal]

My x800 ran the game fine at a decent quality and it wasnt even the PCI-E version, unless you have your settings too high for it then it should handle it fine as long as the CPU is up to scratch (mine was paired with a P4 2.8HT).  Id check all your game settings for things like shadows and particle distance and water settings then make sure the driver settings are correct and its not forcing high AA or AF.

[KebabThief]

Thanks very much for the input, guys <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> To be perfectly honest, she's been playing on balanced settings with this card for over a year and it is only recently (just after LU35) that the problems started cropping up. It hasn't affected the PC that I'm using, and I'm on a lower spec with a 6800 AGP card.

[Malkosha]

<p>Troubleshooting 101 ...</p><p>If her system worked before and she doesn't have problems until she udates the EQ2 client, then I would have to say its the EQ2 client. BTW, would she happen to be playing in Neriak or DLW when this happens? Something about the patch has either changed the performance requirements or perhaps there is a problem with the pacth somewhere. It could also be that the pacth exposed some holes in your system that you never knew about, but thats a big reach.</p><p>Its all too easy to blame the hardware at home when there isn't a baseline to judge from. In this case however, EQ2 was running great. If you haven't touched anything on the machine and your having problems after an update then it becomes pretty easy to guess the cause.</p><p>Before you redo the machine, buy video cards or make any other changes, you may want to read some more on these boards and see if you recoginze yourself in any of these posts.</p><p>Just an idea ....</p>

[Calinostro]

Sounds to me like some process is stealing CPU time. You might want to try the following: Run EQ II in windowed mode and have the task manager open in parallel (sorted by CPU utilization; highest first). When the lag occurs, there should be a process popping up to top. Try to catch it, I used to have such kind of problem with a helper application which tried to access a server periodically and drained the CPU completely when doing so.

[KebabThief]

<cite>Calinostro wrote:</cite><blockquote>Sounds to me like some process is stealing CPU time. You might want to try the following: Run EQ II in windowed mode and have the task manager open in parallel (sorted by CPU utilization; highest first). When the lag occurs, there should be a process popping up to top. Try to catch it, I used to have such kind of problem with a helper application which tried to access a server periodically and drained the CPU completely when doing so.</blockquote>That is most likely what it was.  I lost patience with it in the end and reloaded the machine - I really just wanted to eliminate the possibility of it being a hardware problem from my mind.  Now that the system has been reloaded, it's working fine.

[TSR-GlennM]

It seems that you have resolved the issue.  In case the issue is still there please post the status of your issue.