Poor performance in KOTOR (6600 GT OC)

[Mikey]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.videocards.nvidia (More info?)

Runs uber fine most the time except for some area where I won't see
one frame in 15 seconds. Playing with the graphics settings (usually
texture quality or frame buffer) gets the frame rate up again. Once
the fps are good if I can swith back the graphics settings and things
back the way it should be.

BattleField 2 demo runs great, same with
Doom3
HL2
etc...


Any suggestions, please...

 

[BigJim]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.videocards.nvidia (More info?)

defrag the hard drive
"Mikey" <Hill.B@shadowrealm.net> wrote in message
news:vivqb1lk3rth0sthj14jfvt8ck86v448th@4ax.com...
> Runs uber fine most the time except for some area where I won't see
> one frame in 15 seconds. Playing with the graphics settings (usually
> texture quality or frame buffer) gets the frame rate up again. Once
> the fps are good if I can swith back the graphics settings and things
> back the way it should be.
>
> BattleField 2 demo runs great, same with
> Doom3
> HL2
> etc...
>
>
> Any suggestions, please...

 

[Mikey]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.videocards.nvidia (More info?)

On Sat, 25 Jun 2005 16:08:25 -0400, "BigJim" <woody10277@hotmail.com>
wrote:

>defrag the hard drive
>"Mikey" <Hill.B@shadowrealm.net> wrote in message
>news:vivqb1lk3rth0sthj14jfvt8ck86v448th@4ax.com...
>> Runs uber fine most the time except for some area where I won't see
>> one frame in 15 seconds. Playing with the graphics settings (usually
>> texture quality or frame buffer) gets the frame rate up again. Once
>> the fps are good if I can swith back the graphics settings and things
>> back the way it should be.
>>
>> BattleField 2 demo runs great, same with
>> Doom3
>> HL2
>> etc...
>>
>>
>> Any suggestions, please...
>
Will do (and a bit prophetic because I've been fighting with defrag
for the last few weeks)...

Thanks.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.videocards.nvidia (More info?)

Make sure you got the latest patches, the KOTOR engine has always been kinda
finicky.

"Mikey" <Hill.B@shadowrealm.net> wrote in message
news:vivqb1lk3rth0sthj14jfvt8ck86v448th@4ax.com...
> Runs uber fine most the time except for some area where I won't see
> one frame in 15 seconds. Playing with the graphics settings (usually
> texture quality or frame buffer) gets the frame rate up again. Once
> the fps are good if I can swith back the graphics settings and things
> back the way it should be.
>
> BattleField 2 demo runs great, same with
> Doom3
> HL2
> etc...
>
>
> Any suggestions, please...

 

[Mikey]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.videocards.nvidia (More info?)

On Sun, 26 Jun 2005 01:09:11 GMT, "Philburg" <philburg2@sbcglobal.net>
wrote:

>Make sure you got the latest patches, the KOTOR engine has always been kinda
>finicky.
>
It's all patched up.... My games drive is severly fragmented. I've
been putting it off because it'll take several tries and two or three
nights (getting a new hard-drive in a few weeks and I was hoping to
save the wear and tear on this drive).
>
>"Mikey" <Hill.B@shadowrealm.net> wrote in message
>news:vivqb1lk3rth0sthj14jfvt8ck86v448th@4ax.com...
>> Runs uber fine most the time except for some area where I won't see
>> one frame in 15 seconds. Playing with the graphics settings (usually
>> texture quality or frame buffer) gets the frame rate up again. Once
>> the fps are good if I can swith back the graphics settings and things
>> back the way it should be.
>>
>> BattleField 2 demo runs great, same with
>> Doom3
>> HL2
>> etc...
>>
>>
>> Any suggestions, please...
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.videocards.nvidia (More info?)

'Mikey' wrote, in part:
|| My games drive is severly fragmented. I've
| been putting it off because it'll take several tries and two or three
| nights (getting a new hard-drive in a few weeks and I was hoping to
| save the wear and tear on this drive).

_____

What kind of drive, defrag software, and fragmentation do you have that
would take 'several tries and two or three nights' to defrag? The only
thing I can think of is that your hard drive is failing or has less than 10%
free space. If it is the free space problem, you might try reducing the
size of swap file if its current size is a big fraction of the free space.
If you've got 10 or 20 GBytes of free space, then your drive is likely
failing, and you shouldn't use it before backing up all your data; then wait
for your new drive.

Phil Weldon

"Mikey" <Hill.B@shadowrealm.net> wrote in message
news:ebcsb1pgo24voehem6fb1i6dkrqmmdu0gg@4ax.com...
> On Sun, 26 Jun 2005 01:09:11 GMT, "Philburg" <philburg2@sbcglobal.net>
> wrote:
>
>>Make sure you got the latest patches, the KOTOR engine has always been
>>kinda
>>finicky.
>>
> It's all patched up.... My games drive is severly fragmented. I've
> been putting it off because it'll take several tries and two or three
> nights (getting a new hard-drive in a few weeks and I was hoping to
> save the wear and tear on this drive).
..
..
..

 

[Mikey]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.videocards.nvidia (More info?)

On Sun, 26 Jun 2005 05:21:48 GMT, "Phil Weldon"
<notdiscosed@example.com> wrote:

>'Mikey' wrote, in part:
>|| My games drive is severly fragmented. I've
>| been putting it off because it'll take several tries and two or three
>| nights (getting a new hard-drive in a few weeks and I was hoping to
>| save the wear and tear on this drive).
>
>_____
>
>What kind of drive, defrag software, and fragmentation do you have that
>would take 'several tries and two or three nights' to defrag? The only
>thing I can think of is that your hard drive is failing or has less than 10%
>free space. If it is the free space problem, you might try reducing the
>size of swap file if its current size is a big fraction of the free space.
>If you've got 10 or 20 GBytes of free space, then your drive is likely
>failing, and you shouldn't use it before backing up all your data; then wait
>for your new drive.
>
>Phil Weldon
>

It's a large hard-drive and severly fragmented (was anyways)
consisting of either very small files or very large ones. I'm using
XP's defrag which wants to be run 2x plus... and the drive has 40%
free space.

With the disk defragged the problem still exists. I'll be getting a
new hd soon and when I do, I'll make a fresh install of KotOR.

It's the oddest thing, from 0 fps to 50+ (probably much more) after
the engine has been restarted..
>
>"Mikey" <Hill.B@shadowrealm.net> wrote in message
>news:ebcsb1pgo24voehem6fb1i6dkrqmmdu0gg@4ax.com...
>> On Sun, 26 Jun 2005 01:09:11 GMT, "Philburg" <philburg2@sbcglobal.net>
>> wrote:
>>
>>>Make sure you got the latest patches, the KOTOR engine has always been
>>>kinda
>>>finicky.
>>>
>> It's all patched up.... My games drive is severly fragmented. I've
>> been putting it off because it'll take several tries and two or three
>> nights (getting a new hard-drive in a few weeks and I was hoping to
>> save the wear and tear on this drive).
>.
>.
>.
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.videocards.nvidia (More info?)

'Mikey' wrote, in part:
| It's a large hard-drive and severly fragmented (was anyways)
| consisting of either very small files or very large ones. I'm using
| XP's defrag which wants to be run 2x plus... and the drive has 40%
| free space.
|
| With the disk defragged the problem still exists. I'll be getting a
| new hd soon and when I do, I'll make a fresh install of KotOR.
|
| It's the oddest thing, from 0 fps to 50+ (probably much more) after
| the engine has been restarted..

_____

How large is your hard drive? What file system do you use? What is the
fragmentation percent? Which version of Windows XP do you use?

NTFS is fairly forgiving of fragmentation. With as much free space as you
report, 10% fragmentation or more is about the level where you should
defrag. Defraging twice is never necessary. Your description of what you
go through is a strong indication that your hard drive is failing. A
failing hard drive would also explaing why restarting a large program with
large temporary data files improves performance; the temporary files end up
in a different part of the hard drive. What report do you get when you run
a thorough inspection and repair of the hard drive surface?

Phil Weldon


"Mikey" <Hill.B@shadowrealm.net> wrote in message
news55ub1dio2l0otri6cb6lhc1url32s2p8t@4ax.com...
> On Sun, 26 Jun 2005 05:21:48 GMT, "Phil Weldon"
> <notdiscosed@example.com> wrote:
>
>>'Mikey' wrote, in part:
>>|| My games drive is severly fragmented. I've
>>| been putting it off because it'll take several tries and two or three
>>| nights (getting a new hard-drive in a few weeks and I was hoping to
>>| save the wear and tear on this drive).
>>
>>_____
>>
>>What kind of drive, defrag software, and fragmentation do you have that
>>would take 'several tries and two or three nights' to defrag? The only
>>thing I can think of is that your hard drive is failing or has less than
>>10%
>>free space. If it is the free space problem, you might try reducing the
>>size of swap file if its current size is a big fraction of the free space.
>>If you've got 10 or 20 GBytes of free space, then your drive is likely
>>failing, and you shouldn't use it before backing up all your data; then
>>wait
>>for your new drive.
>>
>>Phil Weldon
>>
>
> It's a large hard-drive and severly fragmented (was anyways)
> consisting of either very small files or very large ones. I'm using
> XP's defrag which wants to be run 2x plus... and the drive has 40%
> free space.
>
> With the disk defragged the problem still exists. I'll be getting a
> new hd soon and when I do, I'll make a fresh install of KotOR.
>
> It's the oddest thing, from 0 fps to 50+ (probably much more) after
> the engine has been restarted..
>>
>>"Mikey" <Hill.B@shadowrealm.net> wrote in message
>>news:ebcsb1pgo24voehem6fb1i6dkrqmmdu0gg@4ax.com...
>>> On Sun, 26 Jun 2005 01:09:11 GMT, "Philburg" <philburg2@sbcglobal.net>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>>Make sure you got the latest patches, the KOTOR engine has always been
>>>>kinda
>>>>finicky.
>>>>
>>> It's all patched up.... My games drive is severly fragmented. I've
>>> been putting it off because it'll take several tries and two or three
>>> nights (getting a new hard-drive in a few weeks and I was hoping to
>>> save the wear and tear on this drive).
>>.
>>.
>>.
>>
>

 

[Mikey]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.videocards.nvidia (More info?)

On Mon, 27 Jun 2005 00:53:34 GMT, "Phil Weldon"
<notdiscosed@example.com> wrote:

>
>How large is your hard drive? What file system do you use? What is the
>fragmentation percent? Which version of Windows XP do you use?
>
>NTFS is fairly forgiving of fragmentation. With as much free space as you
>report, 10% fragmentation or more is about the level where you should
>defrag. Defraging twice is never necessary. Your description of what you
>go through is a strong indication that your hard drive is failing. A
>failing hard drive would also explaing why restarting a large program with
>large temporary data files improves performance; the temporary files end up
>in a different part of the hard drive. What report do you get when you run
>a thorough inspection and repair of the hard drive surface?
>
>Phil Weldon
>
Really, I had to defrag 4 times to get the percentage to zero....First
time didn't make a dent in the amount of fragmentation (just seemed to
move a lot of files around) and when the third ended it was at 3%

It's a 150 gig
XP is SP2 patched to last night
NTSF (done when XP was first installed)
60% ffragmentation (it's been filled completely about 30 times since
the original install).
Now sits at 40% free space (organized and emptied just before the last
set defrags)

You're getting me worried. The size of the drive has had me putting
off looking for bad sectors, but I guess no longer. I'll do a surface
scan tonight.

What's odd is BattleField 2 (demo), 3dmark05 and 03, doom3, Half-Life
2 (demo) and a ton of other games run fine (performance found online).
I even tracked down and played through kkrieger's little demo (96K)
looking for corruption or problems with the card, but it ran
beautifully.

The behavour in Knights of the Old Republic is similar to a memory
leak or attempting to view a very large file (200+ uncompressed) in
either Opengl or Direct X.

It only seems to happen on Dantooine and only when facing the sun
(south). If I load up a new area with the "Frame Buffer Effects" off,
turning it on fixes the problem, or if the "Frame Buffer Effects" are
on, turning it off fixes the problem. Then without loading a new area,
I can then turn the setting on and it's perfectly smooth great
gameplay.

 

[Mikey]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.videocards.nvidia (More info?)

On Mon, 27 Jun 2005 04:18:14 GMT, Mikey <Hill.B@shadowrealm.net>
wrote:

>On Mon, 27 Jun 2005 00:53:34 GMT, "Phil Weldon"
><notdiscosed@example.com> wrote:
>
>>
>>How large is your hard drive? What file system do you use? What is the
>>fragmentation percent? Which version of Windows XP do you use?
>>
>>NTFS is fairly forgiving of fragmentation. With as much free space as you
>>report, 10% fragmentation or more is about the level where you should
>>defrag. Defraging twice is never necessary. Your description of what you
>>go through is a strong indication that your hard drive is failing. A
>>failing hard drive would also explaing why restarting a large program with
>>large temporary data files improves performance; the temporary files end up
>>in a different part of the hard drive. What report do you get when you run
>>a thorough inspection and repair of the hard drive surface?
>>
>>Phil Weldon
>>
>Really, I had to defrag 4 times to get the percentage to zero....First
>time didn't make a dent in the amount of fragmentation (just seemed to
>move a lot of files around) and when the third ended it was at 3%
>
>It's a 150 gig
>XP is SP2 patched to last night
>NTSF (done when XP was first installed)
>60% ffragmentation (it's been filled completely about 30 times since
>the original install).
>Now sits at 40% free space (organized and emptied just before the last
>set defrags)
>
>You're getting me worried. The size of the drive has had me putting
>off looking for bad sectors, but I guess no longer. I'll do a surface
>scan tonight.
>
>What's odd is BattleField 2 (demo), 3dmark05 and 03, doom3, Half-Life
>2 (demo) and a ton of other games run fine (performance found online).
>I even tracked down and played through kkrieger's little demo (96K)
>looking for corruption or problems with the card, but it ran
>beautifully.
>
>The behavour in Knights of the Old Republic is similar to a memory
>leak or attempting to view a very large file (200+ uncompressed) in
>either Opengl or Direct X.
>
>It only seems to happen on Dantooine and only when facing the sun
>(south). If I load up a new area with the "Frame Buffer Effects" off,
>turning it on fixes the problem, or if the "Frame Buffer Effects" are
>on, turning it off fixes the problem. Then without loading a new area,
>I can then turn the setting on and it's perfectly smooth great
>gameplay.
>
It just barely swaps and only for a few seconds.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.videocards.nvidia (More info?)

'Mikey' wrote, in part:
| You're getting me worried. The size of the drive has had me putting
| off looking for bad sectors, but I guess no longer. I'll do a surface
| scan tonight.

_____

A failing IDE interface can also cause the symptoms you see; either the the
motherboard side (traces, PCI bridge) or the main part of the interface on
the hard drive itself. Overclocking that results in a PCI bus speed over 37
MHz (compared to the 33 MHz specificied speed) can also cause hard drive
data corruption, but the symptoms would be a lot more severe (failure to
boot.) Infection with malware can also cause problems, but I'm sure you
have all the security patches, use up-to-date antivirus software with
up-to-date definitions, a firewall, an anti-adware application, and an
anti-spyware application. If there are multiple vunerabilites, then it's
hard to tell exactly what is causing a problem.

Good luck, and safe surfing B^)

Phil Weldon

"Mikey" <Hill.B@shadowrealm.net> wrote in message
newsusub1liq4u3svi7bu47jlna9538fv47ek@4ax.com...
> On Mon, 27 Jun 2005 00:53:34 GMT, "Phil Weldon"
> <notdiscosed@example.com> wrote:
>
>>
>>How large is your hard drive? What file system do you use? What is the
>>fragmentation percent? Which version of Windows XP do you use?
>>
>>NTFS is fairly forgiving of fragmentation. With as much free space as you
>>report, 10% fragmentation or more is about the level where you should
>>defrag. Defraging twice is never necessary. Your description of what you
>>go through is a strong indication that your hard drive is failing. A
>>failing hard drive would also explaing why restarting a large program with
>>large temporary data files improves performance; the temporary files end
>>up
>>in a different part of the hard drive. What report do you get when you
>>run
>>a thorough inspection and repair of the hard drive surface?
>>
>>Phil Weldon
>>
> Really, I had to defrag 4 times to get the percentage to zero....First
> time didn't make a dent in the amount of fragmentation (just seemed to
> move a lot of files around) and when the third ended it was at 3%
>
> It's a 150 gig
> XP is SP2 patched to last night
> NTSF (done when XP was first installed)
> 60% ffragmentation (it's been filled completely about 30 times since
> the original install).
> Now sits at 40% free space (organized and emptied just before the last
> set defrags)
>
> You're getting me worried. The size of the drive has had me putting
> off looking for bad sectors, but I guess no longer. I'll do a surface
> scan tonight.
>
> What's odd is BattleField 2 (demo), 3dmark05 and 03, doom3, Half-Life
> 2 (demo) and a ton of other games run fine (performance found online).
> I even tracked down and played through kkrieger's little demo (96K)
> looking for corruption or problems with the card, but it ran
> beautifully.
>
> The behavour in Knights of the Old Republic is similar to a memory
> leak or attempting to view a very large file (200+ uncompressed) in
> either Opengl or Direct X.
>
> It only seems to happen on Dantooine and only when facing the sun
> (south). If I load up a new area with the "Frame Buffer Effects" off,
> turning it on fixes the problem, or if the "Frame Buffer Effects" are
> on, turning it off fixes the problem. Then without loading a new area,
> I can then turn the setting on and it's perfectly smooth great
> gameplay.
>
>

 

[steve]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.videocards.nvidia (More info?)

"Mikey" <Hill.B@shadowrealm.net> wrote in message
news:lpvub116o3dbj22kl3d7v4stdtrn6c86rn@4ax.com...
> On Mon, 27 Jun 2005 04:18:14 GMT, Mikey <Hill.B@shadowrealm.net>
> wrote:
>
>>On Mon, 27 Jun 2005 00:53:34 GMT, "Phil Weldon"
>><notdiscosed@example.com> wrote:
>>
>>>
>>>How large is your hard drive? What file system do you use? What is the
>>>fragmentation percent? Which version of Windows XP do you use?
>>>
>>>NTFS is fairly forgiving of fragmentation. With as much free space as
>>>you
>>>report, 10% fragmentation or more is about the level where you should
>>>defrag. Defraging twice is never necessary. Your description of what
>>>you
>>>go through is a strong indication that your hard drive is failing. A
>>>failing hard drive would also explaing why restarting a large program
>>>with
>>>large temporary data files improves performance; the temporary files end
>>>up
>>>in a different part of the hard drive. What report do you get when you
>>>run
>>>a thorough inspection and repair of the hard drive surface?
>>>
>>>Phil Weldon
>>>
>>Really, I had to defrag 4 times to get the percentage to zero....First
>>time didn't make a dent in the amount of fragmentation (just seemed to
>>move a lot of files around) and when the third ended it was at 3%
>>
>>It's a 150 gig
>>XP is SP2 patched to last night
>>NTSF (done when XP was first installed)
>>60% ffragmentation (it's been filled completely about 30 times since
>>the original install).
>>Now sits at 40% free space (organized and emptied just before the last
>>set defrags)
>>
>>You're getting me worried. The size of the drive has had me putting
>>off looking for bad sectors, but I guess no longer. I'll do a surface
>>scan tonight.
>>
>>What's odd is BattleField 2 (demo), 3dmark05 and 03, doom3, Half-Life
>>2 (demo) and a ton of other games run fine (performance found online).
>>I even tracked down and played through kkrieger's little demo (96K)
>>looking for corruption or problems with the card, but it ran
>>beautifully.
>>
>>The behavour in Knights of the Old Republic is similar to a memory
>>leak or attempting to view a very large file (200+ uncompressed) in
>>either Opengl or Direct X.
>>
>>It only seems to happen on Dantooine and only when facing the sun
>>(south). If I load up a new area with the "Frame Buffer Effects" off,
>>turning it on fixes the problem, or if the "Frame Buffer Effects" are
>>on, turning it off fixes the problem. Then without loading a new area,
>>I can then turn the setting on and it's perfectly smooth great
>>gameplay.
>>
> It just barely swaps and only for a few seconds.

http://www.google.co.nz/search?hl=en&safe=off&biw=1004&q=knights+of+the+old+republic+dantooine+%2Bslow+down&meta=

 

[Mikey]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.videocards.nvidia (More info?)

On Tue, 28 Jun 2005 09:18:02 +1200, "Steve" <soma1 AT orcon DOT net
DOT nz> wrote:

>
>"Mikey" <Hill.B@shadowrealm.net> wrote in message
>news:lpvub116o3dbj22kl3d7v4stdtrn6c86rn@4ax.com...
>> On Mon, 27 Jun 2005 04:18:14 GMT, Mikey <Hill.B@shadowrealm.net>
>> wrote:
>>
>>>On Mon, 27 Jun 2005 00:53:34 GMT, "Phil Weldon"
>>><notdiscosed@example.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>>
>>>>How large is your hard drive? What file system do you use? What is the
>>>>fragmentation percent? Which version of Windows XP do you use?
>>>>
>>>>NTFS is fairly forgiving of fragmentation. With as much free space as
>>>>you
>>>>report, 10% fragmentation or more is about the level where you should
>>>>defrag. Defraging twice is never necessary. Your description of what
>>>>you
>>>>go through is a strong indication that your hard drive is failing. A
>>>>failing hard drive would also explaing why restarting a large program
>>>>with
>>>>large temporary data files improves performance; the temporary files end
>>>>up
>>>>in a different part of the hard drive. What report do you get when you
>>>>run
>>>>a thorough inspection and repair of the hard drive surface?
>>>>
>>>>Phil Weldon
>>>>
>>>Really, I had to defrag 4 times to get the percentage to zero....First
>>>time didn't make a dent in the amount of fragmentation (just seemed to
>>>move a lot of files around) and when the third ended it was at 3%
>>>
>>>It's a 150 gig
>>>XP is SP2 patched to last night
>>>NTSF (done when XP was first installed)
>>>60% ffragmentation (it's been filled completely about 30 times since
>>>the original install).
>>>Now sits at 40% free space (organized and emptied just before the last
>>>set defrags)
>>>
>>>You're getting me worried. The size of the drive has had me putting
>>>off looking for bad sectors, but I guess no longer. I'll do a surface
>>>scan tonight.
>>>
>>>What's odd is BattleField 2 (demo), 3dmark05 and 03, doom3, Half-Life
>>>2 (demo) and a ton of other games run fine (performance found online).
>>>I even tracked down and played through kkrieger's little demo (96K)
>>>looking for corruption or problems with the card, but it ran
>>>beautifully.
>>>
>>>The behavour in Knights of the Old Republic is similar to a memory
>>>leak or attempting to view a very large file (200+ uncompressed) in
>>>either Opengl or Direct X.
>>>
>>>It only seems to happen on Dantooine and only when facing the sun
>>>(south). If I load up a new area with the "Frame Buffer Effects" off,
>>>turning it on fixes the problem, or if the "Frame Buffer Effects" are
>>>on, turning it off fixes the problem. Then without loading a new area,
>>>I can then turn the setting on and it's perfectly smooth great
>>>gameplay.
>>>
>> It just barely swaps and only for a few seconds.
>
>http://www.google.co.nz/search?hl=en&safe=off&biw=1004&q=knights+of+the+old+republic+dantooine+%2Bslow+down&meta=
>
>
That's the ticket, thanks.
and thanks all who responded.

 

[Mikey]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.videocards.nvidia (More info?)

On Tue, 28 Jun 2005 00:07:24 GMT, Mikey <Hill.B@shadowrealm.net>
wrote:

>On Tue, 28 Jun 2005 09:18:02 +1200, "Steve" <soma1 AT orcon DOT net
>DOT nz> wrote:
>
>>
>>"Mikey" <Hill.B@shadowrealm.net> wrote in message
>>news:lpvub116o3dbj22kl3d7v4stdtrn6c86rn@4ax.com...
>>> On Mon, 27 Jun 2005 04:18:14 GMT, Mikey <Hill.B@shadowrealm.net>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>>On Mon, 27 Jun 2005 00:53:34 GMT, "Phil Weldon"
>>>><notdiscosed@example.com> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>How large is your hard drive? What file system do you use? What is the
>>>>>fragmentation percent? Which version of Windows XP do you use?
>>>>>
>>>>>NTFS is fairly forgiving of fragmentation. With as much free space as
>>>>>you
>>>>>report, 10% fragmentation or more is about the level where you should
>>>>>defrag. Defraging twice is never necessary. Your description of what
>>>>>you
>>>>>go through is a strong indication that your hard drive is failing. A
>>>>>failing hard drive would also explaing why restarting a large program
>>>>>with
>>>>>large temporary data files improves performance; the temporary files end
>>>>>up
>>>>>in a different part of the hard drive. What report do you get when you
>>>>>run
>>>>>a thorough inspection and repair of the hard drive surface?
>>>>>
>>>>>Phil Weldon
>>>>>
>>>>Really, I had to defrag 4 times to get the percentage to zero....First
>>>>time didn't make a dent in the amount of fragmentation (just seemed to
>>>>move a lot of files around) and when the third ended it was at 3%
>>>>
>>>>It's a 150 gig
>>>>XP is SP2 patched to last night
>>>>NTSF (done when XP was first installed)
>>>>60% ffragmentation (it's been filled completely about 30 times since
>>>>the original install).
>>>>Now sits at 40% free space (organized and emptied just before the last
>>>>set defrags)
>>>>
>>>>You're getting me worried. The size of the drive has had me putting
>>>>off looking for bad sectors, but I guess no longer. I'll do a surface
>>>>scan tonight.
>>>>
>>>>What's odd is BattleField 2 (demo), 3dmark05 and 03, doom3, Half-Life
>>>>2 (demo) and a ton of other games run fine (performance found online).
>>>>I even tracked down and played through kkrieger's little demo (96K)
>>>>looking for corruption or problems with the card, but it ran
>>>>beautifully.
>>>>
>>>>The behavour in Knights of the Old Republic is similar to a memory
>>>>leak or attempting to view a very large file (200+ uncompressed) in
>>>>either Opengl or Direct X.
>>>>
>>>>It only seems to happen on Dantooine and only when facing the sun
>>>>(south). If I load up a new area with the "Frame Buffer Effects" off,
>>>>turning it on fixes the problem, or if the "Frame Buffer Effects" are
>>>>on, turning it off fixes the problem. Then without loading a new area,
>>>>I can then turn the setting on and it's perfectly smooth great
>>>>gameplay.
>>>>
>>> It just barely swaps and only for a few seconds.
>>
>>http://www.google.co.nz/search?hl=en&safe=off&biw=1004&q=knights+of+the+old+republic+dantooine+%2Bslow+down&meta=
>>
>>
>That's the ticket, thanks.
> and thanks all who responded.
>
After playing it for a while it crashes fairly consistently with the
Disable Vertex Buffer Objects=1 setting (without a doubt it fixes the
slowdowns). Oh well, it's mostly the engine and not my hardware and
that's a good thing.

Thanks again.