Game too bugy to be playable

[Commander666]

I think your comment might apply to me too. Yes, I think you are right... I now been picking up other non-game issues with this laptop - even though it was a good one when I got it less than a couple years ago. I think the problem is the climate here - even though I got an accessory fan under it. But with never shutting down AoD (that's a true addict!) and the hot weather, the poor little laptop is just over heating. Time for the doctor to visit. Thanks, will try that "burn" test too.

 

[bosman]

Sometimes, it's a matter of large amount of garbages on some people's computers. I had some problems with them Too many cases to be written here, but i would advise some cleanup too. Naturally, checking memory is a good idea and You should do it anyway.

 

[Commander666]

My computer will be happy to learn that, bosman.

 

[Tomnoddy]

We're having a freakishly cold snap in the UK, and this old building has negligible insulation and an ineffective heating system. The thermometer on my desk says 8.5 degrees centigrade, right now. Obviously my PCs love this environment.

Commander666, If you haven't done so yet, I suggest blowing your laptop's heatsink clean with compressed air. You can buy cans of compressed air but where I work we have an industrial air compressor with air lines running all over the building. Maybe like you'd find in a motor garage or something. I usually have to hose myself down after doing a laptop. I take a cocktail of antihistamines every day but my allergies are still out of control. I forgot what it's like to breathe through your nose.

Ideally, do this every 6 months so the dust doesn't get a chance to build up to solid clumps. Once that happens it's no longer possible to remove just by blowing, you need to disassemble. Some models of laptop this is easy to do, others not.

Some, like the Dell 1545 range, you can just take the bottom door off to expose the gap between the fan and heatsink. Scrape off that layer of matted dust/carpet fibres and you've got a pretend moustache to impress your friends. Some of the Toshiba range, you just have to get the keyboard up and you can see the fan underneath.

Get a program like CoreTemp to see what you're maxing out at before and after cleaning.

 

[Denniss]

Please be careful with compressed air, you should lock cooling fans or their motor may be damaged from the high-speed air stream.

 

[bosman]

I used vacuum with excellent result, just do it carefully.

 

[Commander666]

Thanks guys. I know all this but would never touch it myself. Now, if it were a 64 Chevy (or a Stihl chain saw) I'd strip it down to the piston rings, re-bore it, reassemble and finish with a new paint job before I gave you back your change.

But computers and me have an understanding.... they know I don't understand them, I don't care cause I own them - and as long as they work and I don't mess with them....then we get along just fine.

Of course, computers have always gotten the upper hand in this duel of "slave ownership versus modern cooperativeness" and forced the master to peak out of his cave enough to learn some things computers like... and demand. But they are so ridiculous that they start imagining I might ever want to get "personal" with them - like taking their temperature when they start complaining about the regular work load I expect.

Hence, I do have a list of capable young chaps who call themselves PC Doctors and other things (but don't have a clue how to fix a flat on their motorbike) that always enjoy visiting me because usually the visits end up including lunch, dinner.... and occasionally breakfast.

I have a HP Pavilion which has some of the most advanced systems to counter heat. However, I admit, it's time to "open her up" and get out what we'll find. I have never liked how all the PC Doctors when they do this always delight in showing me every smudge of "goo" they find - especially when they detect cigarette tar. It's like going to the dentist and her saying, 'You've been using toothpicks again, haven't you!"

But the point is, AoD v1.08 indeed is extremely stable - as I said soon after it came out and I learned how to install it. That was back in the truly "dark ages" of my AoD time.... back when this beautiful little laptop was still truly beautiful. But, like me, she's starting to wrinkle a bit... and needs a dashing young doctor to spend a day with her. Fortunately, this being the Philippines, a 4-hour session in my home only costs about $25 US - a bargain compared to me lifting off the keyboard or prying open the bottom cover.

"Honey, where's my crow bar?"

 

[Tomnoddy]

The pattern seems to be that when I click on a detailed view of the battle - showing all the combat modifiers etc - the game crashes. If I just look at the list of active combats with the tug of war between the bars, the game seems ok.

 

[Denniss]

The pattern seems to be that when I click on a detailed view of the battle - showing all the combat modifiers etc - the game crashes. If I just look at the list of active combats with the tug of war between the bars, the game seems ok.

game version, checksum and ingame-language used?

 

[Tomnoddy]

English 1.08 SUBR
Windows 8

Seems it might not like my motherboard sound card. Plugged in a USB headset and the crashes gone away - well, it crashed after 10 hours, but that's just a reminder I should go to bed

 

[Lennartos]

Hence, I do have a list of capable young chaps who call themselves PC Doctors and other things (but don't have a clue how to fix a flat on their motorbike) that always enjoy visiting me because usually the visits end up including lunch, dinner.... and occasionally breakfast.

As long as these are the "friend"ly kind of doc's it should be ok.. I would never trust the self proclaimed quacks working in stores :huh:
Getting my hards dirty in the depth of the big tower, fiddling around with the blood vessels of electricity fills me with delight :happy:

 

[Commander666]

Yah, I understand. For me its the whine of a chainsaw when I filed the rakers perfectly. Most people think chainsaws have teeth (or cutters) and don't know that is only half the story. What the teeth cut depends totally on the raker file down - and when the combo of sharp teeth matched to rakers is perfect - it is incredible.

But yes, the PC Docs over here are quite a different breed than what you probably got in stores where you are. Well, the whole Filipino society is a different breed in that regards. They work with me. Heck, most everything I learned about PCs comes from somebody that once fixed something for me. Its a sort of "nice" relationship. And I wasn't joking that sometimes they stay over for breakfast. Doubt that happens with technical experts in the First World anymore. But here all can be most unusual - I suppose "exotic" is the phrase.

 

[Tomnoddy]

I can think of two reasons for that. One, at first world wages, a pc support technician's employers will be pressuring them to end that helpline call/field visit ASAP, do the bare minimum and get out, every second counts. Soon as you hit your target they lower it some more. There will be a performance league table and the technicians who spend most time with each customer will be spending most time with their boss explaining why they should be allowed to come to work tomorrow.

Second, a lot of first time support techs are enthusiasts, enjoy helping people, and love talking to customers about their "hobby". After three months on a helpdesk, they see what the profession is really about and most go scurrying back to their old non-tech jobs, swearing "never again".

Of course, being first-world has some advantages. Most knowledge is self taught, some picked up on the job, very little comes from formal training programs and certainly not from your employer. My first world wages allowed me to acquire the hardware to mess around at home in my own time and experiment, and take this knowledge in to work. Also, in the first world, people throw away perfectly good kit because it's suffered a minor breakdown or it's "last year's model".

How does an Indian IT tech teach himself if his wages aren't enough to buy PC components and salvageable pcs are not simply thrown in the trash in his neighbourhood?

 

[Commander666]

They stay overnight at my place, enjoy my wive's great cooking, drink me out of all my beer and swear on the Bible that I should throw away that old tower PC. Works every time. I'm a sucker for people with a great smile!