LinuxQuestions.org - UT2004: strange problem

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UT2004: strange "freeze" problem

I installed UT2004 demo 3334 (.run version, 275MB dowloaded).
It works, I can play online, good FPS... But there is a problem...

Some info:
Suse 9.2, ATI 8500LE (official driver), Creative Audigy and 2x256MB DDR400 on ABIT NF7-S v2.0 (nForce 2).

Problem:
start UT2004. Perfect! Low ping, high fps. But after a few minutes (4-5)... a strange freeze... I cannot move, I hear only scattered sounds... But only for 8-10 seconds... then I can play again...
Obviously, 4-5 minutes, and freeze again... and so on (if I play a lot, these freezes occurs more frequently).

Someone can help me? I know that my description is very generic.. but I don't understand what it could be... I have not idea...
I hope in someone that already heard about this problem...

Btw, I would undestand if the patch 3355 is a patch for the demo version or not... and, in the case, how can I install it? In the .tar.bz I found only a list of folders with some files... I copied these files in the correspondent folders in the UT2004'directory, overwriting if necessary, but after that, UT2004 didn't run...
Replacing old files, ut2004 works again...

Thanks in advance

Zodar

Hi.

What kernel version are you running?

Dave

d'oh... sorry I forgot :D

2.4.8 (default SUSE 9.2 with all official security upgrades via Yast2).
I compiled 2.4.10 too, and set it as a choice in grub, but I never tested UT2004 on it (my 2.4.10 is not so stable, because of too many "N" :D ...)

Zodar

Hmmm.

I had a suspicion you were using a 2.6.10 kernel (the one with the kswapd problem), but you're not, so that's not it. You've got plenty of RAM too.

Try killing crond and atd and see if that makes a difference (there could be background processes kicking in while you're playing).

I actually think it's the ATI driver, though.

Dave

"cond" or "atd"...?
I don't see any process with this name (I used ksysguard as root, showing "All Processes").
Only a "cron" or "arstd"... I don't know what they are...

Anyway, I heard HD's noise during this freeze... Could it be something about swap settings?
How could I verify it?

---EDIT---
mmm.... Searching for "kswapd + problem + ut2004" I found this:
http://www.rage3d.com/board/showthre...6&page=5&pp=30
I'm not very happy... :|
---/EDIT---

Zodar
P.S. I noticed I forgot to specify CPU: AMD athlon XP 2500+@3200+

Could you post the output from 'ps -A'?

I have the same problem with my nvidia 5900XT and my radeon 9600pro. It's a flaw in either the game or the patch. OR it could be the net code. I know what you are talking about, you will be playing for a bit and all the sudden stuff just almost stops and everything spins up. After a couple seconds, the game starts to go as normal. Glad to hear i'm not the only one. But i still don't have a solution. However, i just wanted to stress that the video card has nothing to do with it ( it might, i just mean the nvidia/ati issue because it happens to me on both).

Interesting.

I'm playing the retail version (fully patched up), and it plays fine for hours on end (GeForce 5200 128, Athlon 2500+).

There were problems with crashing (complete freeze which wouldn't clear), but that seems to have gone in the last patch.

Dave

I changed the
"UT2004.ini"
in
~/.ut2004demo/System

Search the line "MaxTextureUnits=8"
and change in
"MaxTextureUnits=4"

Problem not fixed, but freezees seems less long...

ilikejam, here the output:

Code:

sergio@linux:~> ps -A

  PID TTY          TIME CMD

    1 ?        00:00:01 init

    2 ?        00:00:00 ksoftirqd/0

    3 ?        00:00:00 events/0

    4 ?        00:00:00 khelper

    5 ?        00:00:00 netlink/0

    6 ?        00:00:00 kacpid

  31 ?        00:00:00 kblockd/0

  41 ?        00:00:00 pdflush

  42 ?        00:00:00 pdflush

  44 ?        00:00:00 aio/0

  43 ?        00:00:00 kswapd0

  627 ?        00:00:00 kseriod

 1526 ?        00:00:00 ata/0

 1528 ?        00:00:00 scsi_eh_0

 1529 ?        00:00:00 scsi_eh_1

 1711 ?        00:00:00 reiserfs/0

 2377 ?        00:00:00 khubd

 2423 ?        00:00:00 udevd

 2902 ?        00:00:00 khpsbpkt

 2927 ?        00:00:00 knodemgrd_0

 2951 ?        00:00:00 knodemgrd_1

 3018 ?        00:00:00 hwscand

 3989 ?        00:00:00 hwscand/.ut2004demo/System

 4651 ?        00:00:00 smpppd-ifcfg

 4673 ?        00:00:00 pppd

 4719 ?        00:00:00 syslogd

 4722 ?        00:00:00 klogd

 5216 ?        00:00:00 resmgrd

 5218 ?        00:00:00 portmap

 5329 ?        00:00:00 smpppd

 5515 ?        00:00:00 sshd

 5654 ?        00:00:00 acpid

 5670 ?        00:00:00 powersaved

 5740 ?        00:00:00 cupsd

 5798 ?        00:00:00 xinetd

 5803 ?        00:00:00 kdm

 5828 ?        00:00:05 X

 5844 ?        00:00:00 nscd

 5862 ?        00:00:00 kdm

 5974 ?        00:00:00 master

 5982 ?        00:00:00 pickup

 5983 ?        00:00:00 qmgr

 6071 ?        00:00:00 cron

 6472 tty1    00:00:00 mingetty

 6473 tty2    00:00:00 mingetty

 6474 tty3    00:00:00 mingetty

 6475 tty4    00:00:00 mingetty

 6476 tty5    00:00:00 mingetty

 6477 tty6    00:00:00 mingetty

 6495 ?        00:00:00 kde

 6996 ?        00:00:00 kdeinit

 7001 ?        00:00:00 kdeinit

 7022 ?        00:00:00 artsd

 7024 ?        00:00:00 kdeinit

 7026 ?        00:00:00 kdeinit

 7029 ?        00:00:00 kdeinit

 7036 ?        00:00:00 kwrapper

 7038 ?        00:00:00 kdeinit

 7039 ?        00:00:00 kdeinit

 7042 ?        00:00:00 kdeinit

 7043 ?        00:00:00 kdeinit

 7045 ?        00:00:00 kdeinit

 7046 ?        00:00:00 kdeinit

 7049 ?        00:00:00 kdeinit

 7050 ?        00:00:00 kdeinit

 7051 ?        00:00:01 kdeinit

 7054 ?        00:00:00 kdeinit

 7056 ?        00:00:00 knetload

 7057 ?        00:00:00 kdeinit

 7108 ?        00:00:00 gconfd-2

 7116 ?        00:00:00 firefox

 7127 ?        00:00:00 run-mozilla.sh

 7132 ?        00:00:02 firefox-bin

 7167 ?        00:00:00 kdeinit

 7168 pts/1    00:00:00 bash

 7176 pts/1    00:00:00 ps

sergio@linux:~>

Zodar

That seems like a lot of kdeinit's (it's been a while since I used KDE, so I could well be wrong), but other than that, everything looks OK. I've never come accross hwscand, though.

You might want to try killing artsd before you play, see if that makes any difference. If I had my way, artsd would be taken out and shot at the next possible opportunity.

Dave

I tried to kill artsd...

It's no easy to understand.... Surely the MaxTextureUnit set to 4 was a great help, but perhaps killing artsd is another step forward.
Freezees come again, but (it seems) less frequently and shorter... Tnx.
On Rage3D discussion area, more guys say that it's due to ati driver... But here there is Phorem with the same problem and a nVidia... :scratch:
I don'n know... anyway, with this tricks, UT2004 is quite playable. Tnx again :)

(During a freezee an enemy stole my Goliath :tisk: it's NOT good :D )

Zodar

Bear in mind, you are running the free demo, which isn't having patches released for it. If you can, I'd get the retail version and patch it up. You might have some joy trying a 2.6 kernel too...

Dave

After more minutes, long freezee come again... I'm not sure, but it could be dued to a netcode problem... or something like it.
I noticed that a moment before freezee, there is a sort of lag... And sometimes, when freezee vanishes, I am in a sort of limb, when other players are statics, my weapons don't fire (I hear the fire's noise, but I cannot see the "bullet")... I must disconnect and reconnect....

I'm confused... But the hope in a miraculous patch will never die...

Zodar

Ya, that happens to all of us i think. I would guess, for that problem that it is the server or your net connection.

Oh. I hadn't realised that this was during network play.

Maybe a change of ISP is in order?