D17S

I get to live the fantasy a bit here, so here goes . . . MB: Here’s a suggestion about a MB. Stick with Asus. The A8N-SLI. Asus may not always be better in some obtuse way or another, but it’s always a stable, quality board that will O/C as well as any other . . . and it won’t give you grief. IMO, the only reason anyone buys anything other than Asus is because it’s cheaper. http://usa.asus.com/products/mb/socket939/a8nsli-p/overview.htm CPU: Here’s your processor. AMD FX57. It’s the fastest . . .and the bestest. The new duel cores are not supported by LOMAC and run at slower clocks. . . the Intel duelies run at much slower clocks. http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/ProductInformation/0,,30_118_9485_9488,00.html RAM: Here’s a suggestion about ram. Get the fastest you can get. This is the Corsair PC2-6200 (DDR2-800). It is the fastest right now. http://www.motherboards.org/reviews/hardware/1538_1.html Why. . . . .? Here’s a review of the #2 speed ram modules now. You are going to be overclocking, right? You want to turn up the CPU and the ram together, but CPUs O/C much better than ram modules. If you ‘run em up’ together, you will hit the ram’s top speed long before the CPU hits its max RPM. The solution is to either turn down the ram speed (to keep that slower ram below redline) or buy very fast ram that can keep up. http://www.tomshardware.com/motherboard/20050718/ GRAPHICS: I’m thinking that second 7800 (for SLI) might not hurt. I’m seeing that LOMAC will run in SLI mode. This system is going to be the fastest around. That FX57 will easily go to 3ghz and that will put it on par with the Intel 5ghz processor . . .that doesn’t exist outside of a lab. POWER SUPPLY Here’s a suggestion about a power supply. Whatever you do, don’t scrimp on this. Problems that might start up because of an over-taxed PS are just weird. It’ll make you crazy. Reboots, fragged graphics, lockups. UGH! The extra $50 you might spend (over a lower powered uint) will be the best spent bucks in you rig. Get a brand name and stay at or above 600 watts. Don’t even mess with it. http://www.enermax.com.tw/products_page.php?Tid=1&gon=261&Gid=18&Gid2=45 CPU cooler Here’s a review of some Heat Pipe type CPU coolers. There’s no real need for water cooling any more. It’ll only get you a bit more and you're at risk of a flood! These pipes are great. There was a guy over at LOMAC/UBI that was building one on a budget. It looked like his 3000+ (@1.8) was going to be able to O/C to 2.8 with a heat pipe CPU cooler. That’s where your FX57 starts! With the right cooling, where can yours go? http://www.extrememhz.com/hyper6-p1.shtml CASE: Speaking of the right cooling, how about a suggestion for a case for all this . . . http://www.target.com/gp/detail.html/ref=br_1_3/601-9132189-6738549?%5Fencoding=UTF8&frombrowse=1&asin=B0009EXXYW Actually, I’ve considered this. The defrost cycle might end up being a problem though?! Good luck . . . and welcome back . . .and BTW, many thanks.

LOMAC, with all the sliders to the right and 30+ FPS always? I don't think the hardware exists yet, but we can sure take a shot. Let's see . . .

If you are after the fastest load times available, see this matrix: http://www.storagereview.com/articles/200401/20040126WD740GD_2.html SCSI is still the fastest but only because it has the fastest RPM at 15K . . .and u need a separate controller card. Program "time-to-load" speed is 95% about the drive's RPM. (access times are all going to be very close regardless of the drive.) Go for the Western Digital Raptor. It's plain ol' SATA and doesn't require anything special, except a modern MB that supports SATA. it has a 5 year warranty. I would say don't worry about your RAM. It's rated and running fine at DDR400. The only advantage the more expensive DDR400 ram would have is it would run at slightly faster timings, but you would never see the difference outside of a lab. Ram that was actually rated faster (like PC3700 and up) will only be helpful if you are overclocking. Get the Raptor and use it as your boot drive and load your favorite games on it. Use the other 200gig as general storage. (Videos. pictures and less used programs) That Raptor will make your box feel like a brand new Hot Rodd. It makes a big, very noticeable difference.

First bump your memory voltage up to 2.7. While you are there in the bios, relax your memory timings to 3-7-6-6 (or as high a # as they will go). Disable any "Turbo" game mode that may be in the Bios. For instance, the Intel 865 chip set had a way to emulate the 875 chips. Turn that off. I’m an Intel guy (until my next system, that is!) so I don’t know much about the AMD stuff. If no luck there, get Mother Board Monitor (google/free) and record a voltage log while you are running the game. That extra gig of memory may have drug you down "one volt under the line." Is this a duel channel board? Are the new sticks matched? Loaded any new codecs lately? LOMAC can be real finicky about which codecs it will allow on “its” machine. Just a thought. That FX55 is a terrible thing to waste!

It sure can be frustrating. and it looks like we lost yet another player. Daw- gawn-it! BTW all, it's NOT your systems. LOMAC is real finicky about what is in its box. It can co-exist with your configuration, but if it doesn't like something, it will throw a tantrum . . . from weird video problems, to just abruptly shutting your box off. Yes, LOMAC owns your box. But that's our prodigal son. It can do things nothing else can . . .well, so far. (F4 is out and fighterops looks good too). Eagle is aware of this, but they need to get even more serious about fixing this stability stuff . . .and providing FREE patches. (BTW and FYI, 1.02 is no longer supported with FREE patches. You have to BUY 1.1) UBI tech support is no help. . . and yes, we're out here "shootin in the dark". Competition is around the corner. However in the mean time, if your hardware is modern and stable, here's what WILL work. Compared to banging into walls for weeks, it's (relatively) cheap and easy. Get an old ATA 66, 5$, 10 gig harddrive from your local 'puter repair shop. Fully overwrite with "XXX"s, Fdisk/Format and clean install non SP2 XP. Do not update the XP install. Install LOMAC, your stick drivers/programs and all the basics (drivers, DX9c, etc.) No other programs . . yet. LOMAC will run here. If it wasn't the best, why bother. But so far, it's still the best.

You're absolutely right. A 'software conflict' is just a nice way to say it. There is a big, program killing bug in the LOMAC program. The format just fixes the problem LOMAC regularly has with it's operating enviroment. There's something that comes up, that is completely tollerable by any other program running in this normal and stable windows operating enviroment, that LOMAC simply refuses to run beside. LOMAC has been like this all along. (Codecs are a suspect!) As with yours, re-formats are not always an option. (You're a wise man. Fun is fun, but business is business!) So, did you remove one of those codec packs you listed and LOMAC/FC now runs. Which one of those Codecs you listed ended up being the culprit? I didn't quite get that. I'll pass it on. This codec solution could solve some problems and be very helpful. Many thanks Did you need some other suggestions? There's lots more to try before resorting to the 'nuclear option' (re-formating an old $5, 10gig HD from your local 'puter repair shop). Judging from forum posts, it's looking like 2-3 out of 100 installs have crashes of some sort. This has become almost a normal drill.

I've heard about the Codec problem too . . . It's a long shot but well worth a look though. I don't know about your list of Codecs. Otherwisse, this sounds like what I had. I went round and round trying to find the software conflict. I finally fDisk/format'd and reinstalled XP. That fixed the problem. LOMAC ran. I'm being real cautious about what I load back in . . .especially Codecs. I think you are on the right track. This sounds like a software conflict and these conflicts are generally entirely unique to LOMAC. Post your specs, but if you have a modern system (2+gigCPU/9600 or better Vcard and 512+ ram), LOMAC can run.

LOMAC wouldn't run on my machine either. It would just freeze the system at will. When I was at your spot in the LOMAC troubleshoot sequence I had loads of error logs with lots of "cannot find ..." lines. Windows has a debugging tool that creates "dump logs" when a program crashes. You read them with a special program. They're not English . . they're computerese so I couldn't really tell what was happening, so . . . I contacted UBI tech support. They were unable to get LOMAC to run for me by any means. They just finally closed the case without a resolution. The fDisk/format finally fixed the problem. This leads me to believe there was a program, combination of programs or some software configuration that was killing only LOMAC. Other than LOMAC, the computer was completely stable (with all the other big video games installed and running well) and had been so for 2 years. This problem was completely unique to LOMAC. I'm at XP/SP1 now, bringing things back up slowly and still waiting for that 'last program loaded' to take out LOMAC. Still OK. In other words, I still don't know what it was . . .I don't think anyone does . . .yet!

LOMAC can be a bit glitchy . . .but it will run. Nvidia Vcard drivers are at v 77.72 here: http://www.nvidia.com/object/winxp_2k_77.72.html Get Driver Cleaner Pro from Guru3d here: http://downloads.guru3d.com/download.php?det=745 De-install your driver using the control panel add/remove function then run Driver Cleaner Pro. Then install the new 77.72 driver. Now de-install LOMAC. Now delete the whole 'left-over' LOMAC directory. Reinstall the demo. Set all in-game graphic settings to low for the first run. (Don't forget the "Cockpit" setup screen. Everything sets to 'off'.) If it doesn't work here, be advised . . . It is completely common for LOMAC to be the only program that a system has a problem with. FarCry / Doom3 /UT2004 running fine is NOT an indication that LOMAC will run. So here's a T/S sequence. 1) The powersupply could be suspect. If that's OK, 2) A software conflict might exist that is generally most easily solved with an Fdisk/Format. But if you want the best military flight sim running today . . . . Good luck. Let us know how it goes.

Sorry to hear it's still broke. At this point I'd suggest to just focus on one machine. 3 broken machines spread all over is just too wierd! Ck ram volts. If that's OK, then try to break it with the MBM volt log going. Break it . . . Smash it. "Break it . . . like it broke before!" If still nothing (and you have a spare HD) do a fresh XP install. I'm a big advocate of a fresh XP install if the hardware is stable. If the hardware is stable, a software conflict is about all that's left. These conflicts can be impossible to find (for us ordinaty folks) and this could be a real time saver. (Don't just format. Overwrite the whole drive in "XXXX"s, then format and re-install XP) Install LOMAC and your stick software before anything else. If the hardware's OK, LOMAC will run (as well as it ever does). Bring the software load back up slowly and watch for LOMAC to break. I know it's the same on all 3 machines, but maybe it's the same on all 3 machines! It could be just that wierd. Something is!

Isn't it the 71.89 driver with the 6XXX nvidia cards? Reguardless, if you have a 6XXX nvidia card, get rid of the 71.89 driver immediately! The 76.50s at guru3d seem to be OK. If this isn't it, give us some info about your system. Has LOMAC ever worked or did this just start? BTW, this is not an unusual problem. So, Chin Up. It's most likely fixable

What's NewView and Blink? If I run across someone having problems, I'll make sure that the "Remove NewView and Blink" suggestion gets forwarded . . . but I'm not sure what this stuff is! Thanks

Thanks for all the effort, HUQ. You really did a great job of highlighting the situation. Isn't the duel core 4800s about the same clock as the FX55s? It seems, (short of the 7800) this was LOMAC running at the highest settings on the most powerful machine available today . . . and this spectacular machine was then taken to its knees as the frame rate dropped to 5 FPS. Either a major code clean up or a duel processor enabler is going to be necessary. Will the 7800 give a 50% improvement? (Not!) But if it did, that would be an increase to min frame rates of 7.5 FPS. Intel/Amd/Nvidia/ATI are not going to be able to fix this . . .well at least not in the next 5 years!

Take a look here. http://forum.lockon.ru/showthread.php?t=8112 I think 1.1 needs to be installed over a fresh 1.0 . . . just something to try.

That’s great. A success story. Sorry you had to opt for the ‘nuclear option’, but it appears that is not an unusual solution . . . and one that can work. It worked for me too. Glad you got it going Time after time I am seeing some kind operating system or software configuration that has LOMAC targeted like an AGM-65 locked onto a hot tank. Almost always, it only effects LOMAC and often leaves the program nothing more than a smokin’ hole. (Lock-ups/crashes/or, in other words, one time ED customers that might thing twice about supporting ED’s next sim that we all want them to build for us!) UBI has no idea what is causing this. ED would fix it if they could. We’re on our own. If you’re starting over with a fresh install, it would be interesting to see if something finally conflicts with LOMAC as you build your HD back up. Let us know. It’s almost certainly going to be several things, but every little bit helps. Thanks and good luck.

Bear, If LOMAC is causing your computer to actually reboot, 1) Check here. Try the MBM test sequence. Think, "voltage problem". http://forums.ubi.com/eve/ubb.x/a/tpc/f/17610606/m/3621025323/r/1791025033#1791025033 2) Then run the Prime 95 drill suggested in a post earlier in this thread. 3) Then, well . . . .you’re in to it now! See . . . http://forums.ubi.com/eve/ubb.x/a/tpc/f/17610606/m/9221028713 Don’t give up. It’s fixable. If you have a spare HD and just want to fix it without having to become a mad scientist, fresh install non-SP-2 XP and just LOMAC. If your system is stable, LOMAC will run. Rebuild your HD one program at a time. Something will break LOMAC. De-install it immediately! Good Luck and let us know

Just a thought . . . Did ya'll clear out all the X-45 commands that came preloaded in the LOMAC control panel? I erased every last one and then use the X45's profiler to load Ruggbutt's excellent X-45 map. So far, so good . . .

If they don't . . . and you bought it with a credit card, the credit card will almost certainly provide an additional year of warranty. It's part of every VISA/MC benefit agreement I have ever seen. Might as well. . . Heck, its a free benefit. Why not use it?! I buy everything with a credit card and will not buy any computer part with a lifetime warranty (except ram). My experiencvce is that the 'lifetime' warranties on Vcards are bogas. When a 'lifetime' card breaks in 5 years, you may only get get 20% . . .and that's if you are lucky! Credit card companies will go an additional year even after the expiration of a mfg's 3 year warranty. So it's the 5th year that becomes the domain of a wifetime warranty. I like the 3 year mfg's warranties. That gives me 4 full years of coverage. If it breaks in the 4th year, the CC company will refund the full amount, no problem. Has anyone had a good experience (ie, full refund, because the card doesn't even exist anymore!) with a 5 year-old, broken, lifetime Vcard? That would be a really helpful tip!

You locked your AGP buss speed (in the bios) for the FSB overclock, right? AGP busses have a hard time with O/C'ing. With my Abit IS7, I have the volts for my 2/512 sticks of Corsair XMS upped from the default 2.6 to 2.7. I believe we are all using the same type of ram these days. . . maybe not . . . but typically DDR volts are 2.6-2.7. Might have a look at this. PC3200/1.7 volt ram would be new to me. If so, that 1.7v is way low. Now that you got MBM going, throw it all at LOMAC and try to get it to frag. Heat, big missions, blow up everything in sight! . . . the works. Break it, like it broke before. The story will be there.

This was helpful. Voltage Sensor(s) CPU Voltage : 1.57V Aux Voltage : 1.54V +3.3V Voltage : 3.38V +5V Voltage : 5.11V +12V Voltage : 11.54V -12V Voltage : -11.87V -5V Voltage : -3.45V Standby Voltage : 5.03V Battery Voltage : 4.08V You saw the: “-5V Voltage : -3.45V” ? Something’s wrong here. +12V Voltage : 11.54V OK at idle, but watch this. It mustn’t go much lower. This is your Vcard buss. I don't see the ram volts. Make sure they are set to 2.7. (in bios) As far as a video card stress tester. I looked too. I couldn’t find anything I was satisfied would stress the Vcard as much as LOMAC itself. Frankly, I don’t think anything exists that is as big a Vcard load as LOMAC. If you want a video loop to clamp down on your card, those tracks that came with the program will stress the card under LOMAC conditions. Just fire up a big A-10 track with lots of smoke and let it run. It will loop as long as you let it. As far as electrical load, that Leadtech looks like a hungry monster . . . in a good way. Your overclock was impressive . . . but if anything can drag off a PS, that is going to be it. Here’s some power consumption numbers in a review about the new 7800: http://graphics.tomshardware.com/graphic/20050622/nvidia_7800_gtx-10.html Time after time, LOMAC has proven itself capable of causing a particular system to hang, or even reboot, where no other game had any problems at all, graphic or otherwise. Single 6800 card loads are 240/180 for boot/idle. Boot uses the HD, idle does not. This implies 60 watts for the harddrive (240-180). Game play is 275 watts. So, if idle uses no HD and gameplay (suggests) no HD use too, just a loaded Vcard, this implies a Vcard load of 95watts (275-180). This sounds "ballpark" right. I've heard 110watts is not at all unusual for a Vcard. Add em up. Idle is 180, HD is 60, loaded Vcard is 95 = 335 watts. You should be OK, but 1) That Leadteck has one momma of a Vcard cooling solution and 2) LOMAC will actually shut down computers that any other game is fine with. With these additional 2 unknowns, now you’re easily coming up to your PS’s rated max power. Get a little hiccup in line voltage and there it is. I’m becoming increasing suspicious of voltage related “situations” LOMAC might be causing. These graphic problems you are having might be indicating voltage levels that are right on the edge of a system shutdown. However, because of the quality of power you are providing, the computer hangs in there. . . . . or this could be total pie-in-the-sky nonsense! I really don’t know. Honest, I am not claiming any kind of expertise here. But, if MBM is set up to run a log during gameplay, a voltage decrease during your graphic problems could be obvious . . . probably on the 12 volt buss (rail). By the way, I had constant system lockups. My final solution was a complete “X-overwrite”, then F-disk, Format, then reinstall of pre-SP2, XP. I had a software conflict that I was only able to solve by starting over. Mine was not a voltage issue because everything’s the same and LOMAC is now stable (well, as LOMAC gets!) So a reinstall of XP fixed me, but for your case, I’m still liking the voltage angle. Make sure you don’t have ACE codec pack installed. (Just a rumor) Hang in there

Are you using the same LOMAC CD and/or DL'd patch for all these installs. Maybe a corrupted file or a bad factory burn. It's gotta be something common and that's about all that's left. . . . Except . . . You have big power supplies, but have you monitiored volts during actual gameplay? If all these boxes are in the same neighborhood (or not) it could be line voltage. You might try getting Motherboard Monitor (google it, get it, it's free) and record a voltage log while you are playing. If volts go low, stick a volt meter in the wall before you spend on a new PS. There has been one case after another where LOMAC refuses to run at all where every other program on the system works with polished perfection. Often, the mystery goes unsolved. LOMAC is a very fragile program . . . it doesn't take much . . . . 3 machines and 2 cards . . .this is just too wierd!

Yup. LOMAC’s real finicky about what goes on with “its” box. I had a freezing problem with mine and UBI tech support insisted that I unplug my CDRW drive. That wasn’t it, (they never did fix my problem) but it made as little sense as a video driver shutting down a computer, with only one program, like someone pulled the plug. Go figure! Glad you’re back on the road again.

The Nvidia 71.89 drivers cause reboots with LOMAC and the 6XXX cards . . . . or, check here: http://forums.ubi.com/eve/ubb.x/a/tpc/f/99610606/m/9211016033 Try the MBM voltage check drill first. If any of your buss voltages (rails) drop too low, your computer may think it has lost a component (like a Vcard?) and just shut down. LOMAC is a load like your system has never seen! Power supplys have been fixing stuff lately. Something to try anyway.

If anyone knows what's broken, it's the Devs. Without any doubt, they know. The best answer I can sort out is that the Devs will patch every possible thing they can. The state of LOMAC is a reflection of the maximum technical competence of Eagle Dynamics. Thanks to ED for the patch, but especially to the community for fixes and optimizations. It’s not quite a New Zealand winter but it’s still cold, hard, slogging work. T-shirts all around! But still, there is stuff broken that is simply and clearly beyond ED's programming ability to fix, . . . and with that stuff, we're totally on our own.

The Vcard is working harder with these higher settings, so maybe . . . Here’s something to try. This is a system stress test that looks at some basic system functions (especially the system voltages). Get “Mother Board Monitor” (google it, get it, it’s free). MBM will monitor mother board temps and voltages. It will also create a running log of these parameters. Install MBM (carefully selecting your specific MB) and set it up to create a log of your temps and voltages. I set up MBM to create a text file of these readings and place it in my ‘My Documents’ directory (so I could find it later!) The ‘Core 0’ voltage MBM displays is your CPU voltage. ‘Core 1’ is Ram volts. Next, the 3.3 volt buss, the 5 volt buss and the 12 volt buss is displayed. MBM will also record temperatures (CPU, case, etc . . . depending on the temp sensors on your MB). Set MBM to record a reading every 5 seconds. The MBM log will take a snapshot of all these voltages and temperatures every 5 seconds. Play with it a bit. See what it will do. The drill will to be to make 3 runs. Run #1 will be with MBM running and no other programs running. This is the ‘Idle run’. Note all the MBM readings. Now delete the MBM text file so the log will start fresh for the next run. For run #2, start MBM and then go flying with settings that you know work OK. Fly around for a couple of minutes and escape out. Note the MBM readings. Again delete the MBM test file so it will start fresh. For run #3, restart MBM and LOMAC. Crank up the settings. Try everything possible to get LOMAC to crash. When it does, note the MBM readings once again. Compare run #3 (the crash run) to the ‘Idle run’ and ‘LOMAC running OK’ MBM readings. In the #3 ‘crash run’ run log, you are looking for volts that are falling off just before the crash or CPU temps that are increasing just before the crash. Falling volts probably means you need a stronger power supply. Increasing CPU temps mean, well, you know, . . . Give it a try. With all these big Vcards we’re using, there have been a couple of power supply related problems reported lately, but these have been ‘re-boot’ crashes. But heck, it’s fun to play with, (or, well . . .maybe that’s just me!) Good luck.