Post by GammaBreaker on Feb 4, 2011 15:24:34 GMT -5
Hello!
While these Free For All forums lack official technical support, some of the moderators are tech-minded folks and may be able to help with some very basic problems.
To make assistance with hardware related game issues easier and faster for everyone, here is a list of information that you can provide us. This is also good information to post on the Official Tech Support Forum.
DXDiag
This is a file that contains a full list of your PC's hardware, drivers, and the likes. It is extremely useful in picking up simple hardware issues. Please post this if you're having hardware-related technical issues. To get a DXDiag file, do the following:
Power Supply
Do not underestimate the importance of a Power Supply's quality. Your PC's power supply is the heart of your entire machine. If it provides insufficient power, power with spikes and dips, etc., it can cripple even the most perfect and powerful computer. More than that, bad power supplies can actually damage your PC's components.
Poor quality or low wattage power supplies are very common in computers that were not originally designed for gaming. PC games, and especially new games, draw tremendously more power. Older games like WoW are nowhere near as taxing as new games, so don't assume that because your power supply can cope with the demands of older games that it can handle CO. CO requires a significant amount of processing power, which means that it needs good, clean, sufficient electrical power.
To provide information on your PC's power supply, you will likely have to remove the side of the case. With the right information, we can investigate the quality of the power supply and determine if it might be a problem. You must provide the following information:
Common Problems
There are a few simple things you can try to make your game run better.
While these Free For All forums lack official technical support, some of the moderators are tech-minded folks and may be able to help with some very basic problems.
To make assistance with hardware related game issues easier and faster for everyone, here is a list of information that you can provide us. This is also good information to post on the Official Tech Support Forum.
DXDiag
This is a file that contains a full list of your PC's hardware, drivers, and the likes. It is extremely useful in picking up simple hardware issues. Please post this if you're having hardware-related technical issues. To get a DXDiag file, do the following:
- 1.a. On Windows XP: Start > Run. Type in "DXDiag" (without the quotes) and hit Enter.
- 1.b. On Windows Vista/7: Click start. Type "DXDiag" (without the quotes) directly into the search menu and hit Enter.
- 2. A new window will come up with system information. At the bottom there is a button called "Save All Information..." This will ask you to save a DXDiag.txt file somewhere on your computer.
- 3.a. Attach the DXDiag.txt to your forum post. The attachment line is below the Subject line in this forum. On the CO forums it is below the entire post editor box and is called "Manage Attachments."
- 3.b. If for some reason you can not attach your DXDiag to your post, you can copy and paste chunks of directly into your post, but this is not preferable just because it is essentially a wall of technobabble.
Power Supply
Do not underestimate the importance of a Power Supply's quality. Your PC's power supply is the heart of your entire machine. If it provides insufficient power, power with spikes and dips, etc., it can cripple even the most perfect and powerful computer. More than that, bad power supplies can actually damage your PC's components.
Poor quality or low wattage power supplies are very common in computers that were not originally designed for gaming. PC games, and especially new games, draw tremendously more power. Older games like WoW are nowhere near as taxing as new games, so don't assume that because your power supply can cope with the demands of older games that it can handle CO. CO requires a significant amount of processing power, which means that it needs good, clean, sufficient electrical power.
To provide information on your PC's power supply, you will likely have to remove the side of the case. With the right information, we can investigate the quality of the power supply and determine if it might be a problem. You must provide the following information:
- Manufacturer (Corsair, OCZ, Antec, etc.)
- Model Number
Common Problems
There are a few simple things you can try to make your game run better.
- Remove Dust: Most PCs have air-based cooling. This requires that fans push and pull air through the case. Dust can build up in a matter of months inside the computer. It coats the parts causing an insulation effect, clumps up to block airflow. This can cause overheating. You can remove dust by buying a can of air from the store, taking the PC outside or to a safe area, and blasting it with the air to dislodge the dust.
- Update Drivers: Drivers are essential to making your hardware do its job properly. Video drivers in particular are updated on a constant basis, until the product is no longer supported. Make sure your drivers are relatively up to date, as this can both optimize general performance and also fix crippling graphical bugs.
- Use Safe Mode: Champions Online has a "Safe Mode" that you can try if all else fails. When you bring up the pre-game launcher, you can click on "Options" by the top. There will be a checkbox for Safe Mode. This turns the game's settings to a bare minimum when launched (yes, it will look like crap). After launching the game, you can carefully adjust each game setting to find out if one of them might be causing your problems.