Windows task manager breakthrough!

[Kastalis]

Hello everyone!

I just did some tests with windows task manager (ctrl+alt+delete) and Bioshock. I put bioshock into a window and put task manager to one side of my screen and BS to the other. I found (on my computer) that when i load a level and the Commit charge went to (and over) 980M/2459M the CPU usage would start spazzing out from going to 50%'s to 70-80 and one time i even saw 100% CPU usage and bioshock would go "not responding" and soon after, crash.

Im not a computer genious so if anyone out there is, could you tell me what this means?

Cheers

[Kastalis]

Oh yea, and i forgot to ask how to make my Commit charge heigher (right now its 2459M)

[Kastalis]

Any ideas on what could be happening?

[WmplyNig]

Well, I tried this as well and my commit charge was 763M/4001M - The commit charge is the total available RAM - Physical + Page File, so increasing your virtual memory would increase the commit charge.

It still didn't stop Bioshock crashing with HDS turned on.... and it gave no new ideas for a fix either.

[Newbiezilla]

When you get your PC to do something, it has to process it. My PC is terrible so I have problems with winamp and firefox at the one time.

Anyway, back on BioShock and your system. Go to Start -> Run -> dxdiag.

It sounds like your processer and possibly RAM or virtual memory may be the source of the problem if the CPU usage doesn't level off relatively quickly.

[Kastalis]

Nvidia GeForce 760 GT 256 MB
1022 MB DDR2 RAM
3.4 GHz Dual core
Direct X V. 9

[Tech Dan]

Please could you post the full details as it appears under the system and display tab for the dxdiag information as requested earlier and we will try our best to help.

[Kastalis]

Oh, sorry, here it is:

http://img341.imageshack.us/img341/7603/cooljc6.png

AND...

http://img341.imageshack.us/img341/1810/cool2lx3.png

[Target]

Your video drivers look miles out of date for the 7600GT - the ones i have on my home pc are the 94.71 (i think, i am at uni and dont have it with me). The date is for september though, so i dont know whats going on there.

I dont know if that has anything to do with the troubles you are having, but if those are 63.71 drivers, i'd suggest updating them to the most recent versions.

[Short n' Squatty]

The system you have appears to be similar to mine but I have two 8600 gt and 4 gigs of memory. Haven't looked at my commit charge while Bio's running.
I guess someone should ask what type of power supply do you have, it may not make any diff. tho.
Someone correct me if I'm wrong; I remember seeing something about the 7600 compatibility.?.

[BS_Modify]

7600GT works just fine.

[Tech JT]

The drivers Kastalis has 163.71 should be ok ,but you can try the 163.75 drivers (http://www.nzone.com/object/nzone_downloads_rel70betadriver.html) . Can you confirm what level you are loading when the game crashes.

[Target]

Oh 163.71 - my mistake!! I havent checked for new drivers in a while, so i made a big mistake there!!!

[Kastalis]

The drivers Kastalis has 163.71 should be ok ,but you can try the 163.75 drivers (http://www.nzone.com/object/nzone_downloads_rel70betadriver.html) . Can you confirm what level you are loading when the game crashes.

Yep, sometimes im just loading a saved game and it crashes and sometimes if im lucky enough to get in it crashes on the load to medical pavilion.

Cheers ill try the drivers now

[Kastalis]

Ok, im pretty sure it didnt work. I got to the load to medical pavilion but stupid Xfire had to "encounter a problem with bioshock" and made it close.

Then i loaded it up again but i didnt get into the game because while it was loading 'welcome to rapture' it had a bioshock.exe has encountered an error and needs to close... thing so yea.

And when i got in the first time there was no sound, but i had sound before i installed that BETA driver you gave me, would that help you help me?

[Tech John]

Just to confirm, have you increased the Virtual memory?

[Greggy_D]

A new Directx 9.0c just came out yesterday. Don't forget to update that also:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=2da43d38-db71-4c1b-bc6a-9b6652cd92a3&displaylang=en

[Kastalis]

Just to confirm, have you increased the Virtual memory?

Nup, dont think i have... How do i do that?

[Kastalis]

WOW THANKS! i loaded past medical labs, but like i said before, the sound doesnt work. Ive collected some data on this issue. It says atlas is continiously talking to me on the radio but when i hack into a turret or something the hacking music (if you can call it music) comes on. Im thinking that it has something to do with the game thinking atlas is still talking so it blocks out all other sound. Any fixes?

[Greggy_D]

Newest sound drivers for your sound card or onboard motherboard sound?

Also newest chipset drivers for your motherboard?

[Tech John]

WOW THANKS! i loaded past medical labs, but like i said before, the sound doesnt work. Ive collected some data on this issue. It says atlas is continiously talking to me on the radio but when i hack into a turret or something the hacking music (if you can call it music) comes on. Im thinking that it has something to do with the game thinking atlas is still talking so it blocks out all other sound. Any fixes?

As gregy_d said make sure yuo have the latest sound drivers for your sound chipset.

[Greggy_D]

A new Directx 9.0c just came out yesterday. Don't forget to update that also:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=2da43d38-db71-4c1b-bc6a-9b6652cd92a3&displaylang=en

Edit to add.....Vista users can run this also and it will update their DirectX.

[Tech John]

Thanks for the input greggy

[Kastalis]

Newest sound drivers for your sound card or onboard motherboard sound?

Also newest chipset drivers for your motherboard?

I had sound before... so it couldnt be that... could it?

[Tech John]

I had sound before... so it couldnt be that... could it?

It could be if the driver is an old one parts of it may have become corrupt. It's certainly worth a try.

[Greggy_D]

Agreed. For good measure, update:

1. Your motherboard drivers
2. Your sound drivers
3. Your video drivers
4. After that, run the DirectX update again just to be safe.

[Kastalis]

I went looking for my motherboard and sound drivers but i couldnt them... and i updated my video drivers

[Tech John]

They should be available on the motherboard manufacturers website.

[Kastalis]

Ok, i found an update for my motherboard BIOS but its a .bin file and i dont have a programme to open it. And the only 2 audio updates from the asus website were for vista or one from 2003 and my comp was built after 2003

[Tech John]

Do you know what sound chipset you are using?

[Kastalis]

umm.... well lets just say if that button didnt turn my computer on im stuffed when it comes to tech work. so, no i dont, i dont even know what a chipset is. :p

[PRANZER]

CHIPSET IS A SET OF CHIPS ON YOUR MOTHER BOARD>>>WAKOKOKOKOKOKO

Okies!!

[Kastalis]

CHIPSET IS A SET OF CHIPS ON YOUR MOTHER BOARD>>>WAKOKOKOKOKOKO

Okies!!

haha.. ookkkaayyyy i still dont get it

[PRANZER]

I thinks it is Edible.... like CHIPS AHOY---------- woahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

anyways... im just making my self comfortable on this forums.... because of my frustration.... on this game...:) :D

[PRANZER]

Actually you can see your chipset without opening up you computer buy download CPUZ.... you can download this at www.filehippo.com

Good Luck

[PRANZER]

Here is the direct download http://www.filehippo.com/download_cpuz/

and it is for free... no "buying" stuff

[Kastalis]

It says

Chipset

[Kastalis]

oops, soz no edit....

It says


http://img138.imageshack.us/img138/3651/cool3mz8.png

And just to let you know i do not understand a single letter of that

[PRANZER]

about the chipset since it is on asus tek you can download the updated driver for this one on there website!!

[Kastalis]

about the chipset since it is on asus tek you can download the updated driver for this one on there website!!

and what driver do i get cause i dont know which one cause theres millions:confused:

[PRANZER]

This is the link fr your mother board driver.... make sure you choose you OS correct.. and download each of the driver your want to install..

http://support.asus.com/download/download.aspx?SLanguage=en-us
Good Luck...:)

[Kastalis]

This is the link fr your mother board driver.... make sure you choose you OS correct.. and download each of the driver your want to install..

http://support.asus.com/download/download.aspx?SLanguage=en-us
Good Luck...:)

Thanks, but like i said before, i already downloaded it i just cant install it because its a .bin file (just like a word document is a .doc file) and i dont have the correct programme to install it.

[Greggy_D]

Ok....here we go:

Sound Drivers (for motherboard based sound):
http://dlsvr03.asus.com/pub/ASUS/misc/audio/ad1986/AD1986A_32bit_V510014151.zip

Motherboard Drivers:
http://dlsvr03.asus.com/pub/ASUS/misc/utils/VIA/VIA_HyperionPro_V510A.zip


That other file you have is a Motherboard BIOS file. Don't worry about that right now.

[Kastalis]

Ok, thanks im downloading them now. But what i still dont get is why sometimes i can get in but sometimes i cant. It cant have anything to do with drivers, just that my computer isnt good enough like i said in my first post of this thread. Nevver the less, you know alot more than me (i hope) so ill just go along with what you say.

[Kastalis]

ok, the drivers didnt work :( any other ideas?

[Greggy_D]

Sorry.....I'm tapped out. Hopefully the official tech support can help you.

[shiva7663]

I dont know if that has anything to do with the troubles you are having, but if those are 63.71 drivers, i'd suggest updating them to the most recent versions.
That's 163.71, which is the most recent WHQL-signed version of the driver; the most recent beta is 169.01.

[Kastalis]

That's 163.71, which is the most recent WHQL-signed version of the driver; the most recent beta is 169.01.

Oh, ok thanks.

[Valatar]

Buy more memory. 'Commit change' is the total memory available to your system, which includes both physical memory and the pagefile. Your computer's running out of physical memory and having to rely on the pagefile, which means tons of hard drive writes which then immediately kills your performance. You'll notice that the magic number is right at one gigabyte, which I'm imagining is the amount of RAM in your computer. Increase the RAM, remove the problem.

[Kastalis]

Buy more memory. 'Commit change' is the total memory available to your system, which includes both physical memory and the pagefile. Your computer's running out of physical memory and having to rely on the pagefile, which means tons of hard drive writes which then immediately kills your performance. You'll notice that the magic number is right at one gigabyte, which I'm imagining is the amount of RAM in your computer. Increase the RAM, remove the problem.

Yea but the min ram is 1 gig? ok i might get an extra 1 or maby 2 gigs this weekend, ill let you know how that panns out.

[Kastalis]

Sorry, the minemum REQUIRED ram is 1 gig.

[Kastalis]

ok i got an extra gig of ram and it seems to work now! Thanks to everyone who posted here. But what i still dont get is why didnt it work even though i had the minimum required ram? also ill try it on high detail shaders to see if that works :p

[Kastalis]

hah, well what do ya know!! high detail shaders doesnt crash my game :D