Sound Blaster

[Ichigo]

Alright, I have a new X-Fi XtremeMusic which I've bought recently (though I now regret it slightlty).

First problem. Battlefield had unplayable framerates at the "Ultra High" settings. Had to use software to get playable framerates. Before the X-fi installation, game was perfectly smooth at the same video settings. Other games seemed okay.

Reinstalled both X-Fi drivers from the CD as WELL as Battlefield 2. Surprise. Battlefield 2 now refuses to launch. UNLESS I go to Device Manager and disable the X-fi, in which case it runs fine, but obviously disables sound capabilities. Other games still seem okay, fron what I can tell.

How do I get Battlefield 2 to at least LAUNCH with the X-fi enabled? This is extremely frustrating for a $160CDN sound card.

Specs:

ASUS K8VSE DELUXE
AMD Athlon 64 3200+ (Newcastle)
1024MB of DDR400 RAM.
ATI X800XL.

[trodas]

I somehow bet that these problems are because (of course, buggy BF2 is the main culprit...) certain X-Fi models has the X-RAM and certain does not and BF2 simply assume the X-RAM is always presend and therefore the samples aren't cached at all (it is not expected they will be read more that once, and certainly not during the game run!) and therefore there is serious speed penalty.

Or these problems experiencing also users with X-RAM X-Fi cards?

[Ichigo]

First, please read my topic more carefully. BF2 refuses to even LOAD anymore.

And also, if you take a look at the currently 200+ post topic, I do remember some people with fatalities getting the same problems.

As well, even if I don't use Ultra, as long as I enable Hardware or X-Fi, framerates are horrible.

[Nomikal]

All X-Fi cards have X-ram just in different amounts...the XtremeMusic has 2mb's of it and the other high-range cards have 64mb I believe.

[Mr_DJ]

Well, don't know if this is of any use, but here goes!

I am one of thoose who had the problem with the BF2 patches won't install correct, so I needed to do it manually. However, I learned I HAD to run the windows installation of the patch(eventhough it fails)once, or I wasn't allowed to launch the game(it would just return to the desktop before starting playback of the movies). Apparently some registry values are written, when you do the windows install, that is needed. I didn't try if I could still start the game with my soundcard disabled, so don't know for sure if your dealing with the same problem. 

However, if you DID a manual installation of the v1.03 patch, and didn't try running the bf2 patch directly, this could very well be the issue you are having.

Let us know, if this was usefull info!

Message Edited by Mr_DJ on 10-24-2005 10:26 AM

[Ichigo]

What constitutes a "manual" installation? I just downloaded the 1.03 patch from somewhere and ran it. 1st time it failed, but second time it ran fine. Then came the X-Fi problems...

[Mr_DJ]

Do you know why it failed the first time? and are you 100% positive it did it correctly the second time?

Concearning the manual installation.

If you run the patch directly, the windows installation will startup and a couple of temporary folders(that will be deleted when the installation quits)will be created, containing the files needed to be installed.

If the you can't install the patch normally, you have the option to manually copy the files from the temporary folder to a new folder and run the patch installation via the commando prompt by using the patch.exe file.

This is how you do it:

Run the patch normally and stop(not quit) after choosing language. Now, minimize the installation window and go look for the patch temp folder. This should be located in your "...documents and setting\profile name\local settings\temp" folder. If there is a lot of subfolders in your temp folder, delete them before starting the patch installtaion(or just delete them now, and restart the patch installation). The files you need are located in a folder with a long cryptic name with lots of numbers(exampel: {26241F5A-E7B0-47D5-B548-24AB63AE301A} ). In this folder there should be a subfolder containing 12 files, 2 of them named patch.exe and BF2CDKeyCheck.exe.

Now, copy these files to a new folder for exampel to C:\bf2patch.

Now, quit the windows patch installation you had minimize in the background.

Start the commando prompt by using windows "run" and type cmd.

Change to the bf2patch folder by typing "cd\path to folder"(exampel cd\bf2patch) and remember to be on the correct harddisk drive(you swith by typing driveletter followed by a colon, exampel type "c:" to switch to the C drive).

Start the patch installation by typin patch.exe "path to where bf2 is installed"(patch.exe "c:\program files\ea games\Battlefield 2") remember the " here.

Now you should be able to play bf2

Those who could't complete the patch installation normally at all(you could after second try), also needs to run the BF2CDKeyCheck.exe file once or they will get a "cdkey is invalid" error message when trying to join a server.

Ask if you have problems following the guide!

Cheers!

Message Edited by Mr_DJ on 10-24-2005 11:23 AM

[Ichigo]

I still can't run it. I'm sure this is a sound card issue because as SOON as I disable the X-Fi in Device Manager, BF2 works without sound.

[heyface]

where the hell do you see every x fi card has x ram?? thats wrong

[Mr_DJ]

Ichigo,

then try uninstalling the drivers again, and this time use the drivers available from Creative's download section. Have seen some people reporting succes with BF2 using thoose drivers instead...so it might be worth a shot.

heyface,

as I understand it, Fatality and Elite has 32MB, the rest has 2MB of X-RAM.