RogueSqdn

Just wanted to point out that I had tremendous problems getting FC to run, but I was rational, calm, asked for help, and got it. And now FC is running just fine. Sure, I was upset... but if I came out ranting and raving, cussing up a storm, do you think I would've gotten help? Probably not much if at all. That kind of behavior will just make folks not want to help you.

Sounds interesting. Does it require the end user to build a mission themselves? (Which is why I never got into Storm that much)

And I'm getting good at pimping CH stuff on other forums. :D Over at Frugal's I convinced two people today to buy CH setups. ;) EDIT: Ruggbutt, check your PM. I also added you to my ICQ (Trillian) list, but am waiting authorization.

See the F-15C on the dock? That's it. ;) The little toolbar on the lower right is called "DeskTool," by MetaProducts, I think. Each button pops up a menu that is customizable. You can put shortcuts there on each menu in whatever order you want, and they don't get reordered in alphabetical order. The dock also has an email checker. The "G" let me click on it, type in a search, hit enter, and then it does a Google search for the term (so does the blue spotlight in the top right corner). The magnifying glass on the dock is for a Google image search. Dock's also got a calendar that doubles as a shortcut to Mozilla Sunbird, and a weather checker. Avedesk handles the My Computer and Recycle Bin icons, as well as the iPod-looking mini player (that uses iTunes' scripting interface to display what's playing, plus control pause/play/next/previous. The cd cover below the iPod shows the current album art. FlyakiteOSX is a program that will modify Windows defaults for skins, cursors, sounds, icons, and screensavers (and more)... and basically makes WinXP look like OSX without using up any system resources. Lastly, in the my computer window, I found a FinderBar program that replaces the "Folders" view in explorer and makes it come up by default. I can still switch to the common tasks pane if wanted. Plus a little program named bxNewFolder puts a little icon on the explorer toolbar that creates a new folder in the current folder you're browsing. I think that about covers it. I DID have to modify the iPod desklet extensively to get it the way I want it, but that's about it. I found the majority of this stuff at http://www.aqua-soft.org. It's tough, it's addictive, but oh boy, does it look good. :D

I'm so happy right now I wanted to share a screenshot... of my Windows desktop. Yes, it's Windows. ;) With FlyakiteOSX 2.0, Objectdock Plus, and AveDesk 1.2. Resized from 1600x1200 to 1024x768. Trillian contact list blurred out for their privacy. ;)

Well, now that the problem is solved, I'd like to publicly thank those that have helped me figure it out. Ovfatman, I was at a loss and was going to wait and see about a cd, without your tip. Thank you. Thanks also go to those at ED who helped: Dmut, Chizh, Tishin, Wags, Shepski, and Han. Also a big thank you to Lev Boiarsky and Kirill Lazarev at Starforce for their support (and in helping determine that it wasn't a copy protection issue). Now I can finally relax. :D

My problem's been fixed... apparently the Aces Mega Codecs pack was in conflict.

HOLY..... THAT DID IT! THAT DID IT! I had the Ace Mega Codecs Pack installed... mainly because it had a codec that made the Falcon4 videos work again. But after removing it and rebooting, I get to the main menu in about 10 seconds, instead of the previous time of well over an hour! Thanks for the tip! :D

Bump. After some major (unrelated) hard drive problems that I now have sorted out, I should be able to give this another shot soon. Sorry for being incommunicado lately... but I nearly lost my entire music collection, documents, and downloads. Thankfully I managed to save everything. :cool:

Bump. I got an email from Eagle, and if they don't get the response I sent them, just want to let them know here that I will try what they asked to do, tomorrow.

Don't get an FX-53 or 55. Socket 940 is being abandoned this year and won't have new CPUs. If you go AMD, get a socket 939 CPU.

Captain Solo, your email is on the way. ;) WhiskeyRomeo, I think I've heard of that prog before but have not tried it. I'll give it a shot though. I'm off work for Thursday through Sunday, so I'd like to get this figured out before or during that time. :)

Doing what you suggested dropped me down to 24 processes, but it didn't make a difference. :( I had about 6 or 7 instances of svchost running. Since a clean Windows didn't fix it, I'm thinking that there's something that Starforce doesn't like. ::shrug:: I've tried unplugging my DVD burner and tried turning off my router in case there was a net communications problem. I suppose I could try another Windows install and a new download of FC... but I'll probably end up using another activation if I do that, and I only have one left. Which begs the question, "When is the announcement happening?" I'll hold off on another install until hearing something from the devs. After some of this talk of CPU hogs... should I leave Systemworks out of my next Windows install and just keep Internet Security? As for Object Desktop... the only thing I use is ObjectDock Plus... which is essentially a bar docked at the top of my screen that holds an email checker, google icon, and an XML weather checker. It uses 3316K of RAM. Looking in my processes.. I see at least five that have something to do with my printer. I'll probably try and see if I can use an included Windows driver instead of installing the HP software next time.

I'll give that a try, Dmut. I've got to hit the sack, though, I have an early day tomorrow. I'll let you know as soon as I have time to sort through it (will probably be sometime around noon on the US east coast).

70 processes and CPU usage at 16%. Keep in mind that a clean Windows install didn't fix this. ;) I think a lot of these are added by Norton.

It's two 512 sticks and two 256 sticks.

Yes. I had previously flown and installed 1.0, 1.01, and 1.02 with no problems.

I sent off the requested email. EDIT: I tried to guess your address too, but guessed wrong. ;)

BIOS updated, still not working.

Thanks for that Dmut, Shep. Shep had suggested I email team@lockon.ru... are you saying I should hold off on that since you've told them? (I'll hold off in the meantime). Left if running while I went out to mow the lawn.... still hasn't loaded yet. :( As for the Catalyst drivers, after I realized 5.4 was out I upgraded, but it didn't help. I suppose it wouldn't hurt to try older drivers. Looking in DXDIAG, my BIOS is dated 12/12/03, so I'll try and find an update for that as well. I have a DXDIAG text file saved, but it's too big to post at once. I'll email that to team@lockon.ru if necessary.

384MB used, 3050 MB available. I'm using 1.5GB of PC2700 RAM. I tried the Lockon.bat earlier and it didn't do any good.

Kinda funny when you remember that it was once the Beatles who claimed to be bigger than Jesus. ;)

Just woke up.. tried it. No task was using more than 10% other than System Idle, while was beween 80 and 97. First I tried unplugging the network cable and then running the game. No dice, still had delays. Then I changed the desktop resolution to 1024x768 32 bit and set the game running while I went for my shower. It was still loading when I got back. That was about 10 minutes. EDIT: Gotta go to work now... I'll be back later today (just letting you know, since with the time zone differences there might be confusion).

Well I've redone Windows twice today and it didn't help. Gonna go back to my Norton Ghost backup that I did before I got into all this.