A solution to getting il2fb to run on a laptop with a non standard graphics card was to select safe settings in setup

thanks to troll2k and moelarrycheese for this solution

ATI Tray Tool and potential java errors

I've recently been having issues with FB+AEP+PF not starting and giving a java error in the fb folder. It wouldn't start if a program called TeamSpeak Overlay was running, also got a "memory could not be written" error when closing il2setup.exe. It turns out that a video card tool by the name of ATI Tray Tools was causing all of this, I uninstalled this program and everything is fine now.

P.S. This may also be related to some crashing of Firefox I've had that seems to be gone now. Firefox uses java so it follows.

EDIT: Turns out to be a problem with older TSO not allowing multiple video "hook-ins". New TSO and ATT play nice nice .

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Urufu_Shinjiro,

If you have an older mobo, check your capacitors!

I have seen quite a few posts regarding random reboots lately. This can be caused by many different things. Overheating would first come to my mind with summer approaching in the northern hemisphere, But often that is not the case. Could be Failing/weak PSU, bad ram, bad OC, drivers, virus and on and on......

That said, I am going to share a personal experience I am currently dealing with.

After much trouble shooting, I finally discovered my problem with random reboots.

I have got some bad Capacitors around my CPU socket. This is very easy to see if you know what to look for. Take a look at THIS SITE to find more info about this problem.

Apparently this has affected every mobo manufacturer. I would suggest checking out the above site even if you do not have any problems. Most companies are offering free "do it yourself" capacitor replacement kits for your mobo.

Soltek is in the process of sending me a kit so I can give it a go.

Hopefully this will help a few people solve some problems in the community. Its kind of a bummer to have a serious problem like this, but its also good to finally have a solution. If you have been looking for an excuse to upgrade, this could be the perfect chance too!

Also, If you have this problem. Contact your mobo manufacturer to see if your board is stll under warranty. Most mobos are 1 year.

Good luck!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: PF_Coastie,

Posted Wed June 29 2005 20:23


Is there any way to change the Default control settings so that any new pilot will start life with *MY* default keyboard assignments instead of UBI's?

Go to the Il-2 root folder, open the Users file, select the folder of your latest pilot, then open the settings.ini file in that folder. Copy the text from that file, go back to the Users file, open the default.ini file and delete the contents, then paste the copied text into the default.ini file. The first three lines will be particular to the pilot whose settings you copied; delete those lines.

Copy and backup the original default.ini file and put it somewhere else before you make changes just in case things go wrong.

Another method is to just move the default.ini file to a safe place, then open Notepad and copy/paste the text from the settings.ini file of your latest pilot. Name the new file default.ini and save to the Users folder in the Il-2 root directory. Again, delete the first 3 lines that are pilot specific. Keep the old default.ini saved somewhere in case you want to restore controller settings to original default.

Changing Planesets in DGen Campaign

This is not exactly a fix, as nothing is broken, but perhaps it can be useful to someone.

DGen campaigns offer sets of planes for every sub-campaign. If you are not satisfied with the sets (typically, your favorite plane is missing), you can change it. I recommend creating backup files or remembering the changes you've done, so that you are able to restore your original settings.

In the DGen folder of the IL2 default folder, there are 37 files that contain the planesets, one for each campaign:

Finland
Fighter - planesFiF.dat

France
Normandie-Niemen - planesFrA.dat

Germany
BF-110 - planesDeZ.dat
Fighter (Center) - planesDeC.dat
Fighter (North) - planesDeN.dat
Fighter (South) - planesDeF.dat
He-111 - planesDeB.dat
JABO - planesDeL.dat
Stuka - planesDeS.dat
Ta-152 - planesDeT.dat

Hungary
Fighter - planesHuF.dat

IJA
Imperial Japanese Army Fighter - planesJAA.dat

IJN
Betty Bomber - planesIN4.dat
Imperial Japanese Navy Bomber - planesIN2.dat
Imperial Japanese Navy Fighter - planesIN1.dat
Rufe Fighter - planesIN3.dat

NL
Royal Netherlands Air Force - planesDU1.dat

Poland
Fighter (Lotnictwo Ludowego Wojska Polskiego) - planesPlF.dat
Sturmovik (Lotnictwo Ludowego Wojska Polskiego) - planesPlS.dat

RAAF
Royal Australian Air Force - planesRA1.dat

RAF
Royal Air Force Far East Command - planesGB1.dat

RN
Royal Navy - planesRNP.dat

RNZAF
Royal New Zealand Air Force - planesRZ1.dat

Romania
Bomber - planesRoB.dat
Fighter - planesroa.dat
Stuka - planesRoS.dat

Slovakia
Fighter - planesSkA.dat

USAAF
US Army Bomber - planesUS1.dat
US Army Fighter - planesUSP.dat

USMC
US Marine Corps - planesUM1.dat

USN
US Navy Bomber - planesUN2.dat
US Navy Fighter - planesUN1.dat

USSR
Fighter (Leningrad) - planesRuL.dat
Fighter - planesRuF.dat
Heavy Bomber - planesRuB.dat
Sturmovik (Leningrad) - planesRuI.dat
Sturmovik - planesRuS.dat

Open the file of the campaign you want to modify, using e.g. Notepad. Let's say you want to fly a Me 262A-1a in the Balaton sub-campaign of the German Fighter (South) campaign. Open the file planesDeF.dat:

[Crimea41]
BF_109E4
BF_109E4B
BF_109E7
BF_109F2
BF_109F4

[Crimea42]
BF_109F4
BF_109E4
BF_109E4B
BF_109E7
BF_109F2

[Kuban42]
BF_109F4
BF_109G2
BF_109E7
BF_109F2

[Stalingrad]
BF_109G2
FW_190A4
BF_109E7
BF_109F4

[Kuban43]
FW_190A4
BF_109F4
BF_109G2

[Prokhorovka]
BF_109G6
BF_109G2
FW_190A5
FW_190A4

[Kubanlate43]
BF_109G6
BF_109G2
FW_190A5
FW_190A4

[Crimea44]
BF_109G6
BF_109G6Late
BF_109G6AS
FW_190A4
FW_190A5

[Lvov44]
BF_109G6Late
BF_109G6AS
FW_190A5
FW_190A8

[Balaton]
FW_190D9
FW_190A8
BF_109G6AS
BF_109G10
BF_109G14
BF_109K4

It's quite obvious what do to next. Add the code for the Me 262A-1a under [Balaton]. The position where you place it also determines its position on the list.

[Crimea41]
BF_109E4
BF_109E4B
BF_109E7
BF_109F2
BF_109F4

[Crimea42]
BF_109F4
BF_109E4
BF_109E4B
BF_109E7
BF_109F2

[Kuban42]
BF_109F4
BF_109G2
BF_109E7
BF_109F2

[Stalingrad]
BF_109G2
FW_190A4
BF_109E7
BF_109F4

[Kuban43]
FW_190A4
BF_109F4
BF_109G2

[Prokhorovka]
BF_109G6
BF_109G2
FW_190A5
FW_190A4

[Kubanlate43]
BF_109G6
BF_109G2
FW_190A5
FW_190A4

[Crimea44]
BF_109G6
BF_109G6Late
BF_109G6AS
FW_190A4
FW_190A5

[Lvov44]
BF_109G6Late
BF_109G6AS
FW_190A5
FW_190A8

[Balaton]
FW_190D9
FW_190A8
ME_262A1A
BF_109G6AS
BF_109G10
BF_109G14

Save the file and run the game. The planeset for Balaton sub-campaign now looks better:



Click Generate and fly your Me 262 over Balaton.

Some warnings:

Avoid adding axis planes to allied campaigns and the other way round, or better, only add planes used by the given air force. For example, you can fly a Me 262 for Germany in 1941, but not F4U, I-16 or G4M in a German campaign. If you try it, DGen will not generate the mission properly or refuse to do it at all.

To avoid crashing your campaign, test it first. Generate the campaign with a starting point at the sub-campaign and with the plane you have changed. Repeat for every modification you did. If it generates the first missions succesfully, your "sharp" campaign will not crash once it reaches the point where you did the changes.

Furthermore, you can fly e.g. a Bf 109 in a Stuka campaign, but DGen will generate fighter missions for you.

Utchoud

EDIT by FoolTrottel, July 2008: Here's a link to a post by Dkoor, containing an updated (4.08m)list of aircraft names: Click Here

This message has been edited. Last edited by: FoolTrottel,

USB devices going AWOL?
Find unplugging them and then plugging them back in brings them back on parade?

Then try:

Open device manager and expand 'Universal Serial Bus Controllers'

Right click 'usb root hub' (you may have two or more so do each in turn).

Select the 'power management' tab.
Deselect 'allow the computer to turn off this device to save power'

Why does this work?

Sometimes XP decides a device is not in current use and will power it down, unplugging and plugging it back in again re-powers the 'hub' (this is the hub on the mobo not to be confused with an external hub).

This behaviour can occur regardles of the devices being attached to built-in, powered/unpowered hubs or pci add in cards.

How to post pictures on the forum and how to put one in your sig.

How to install SoundBlaster Audigy 2 Beta drivers (5.12.10.1162), in case the installer reports:

"Setup is unable to detect a supported product on your system. Please ensure that your product is properly installed before running this Setup program. Setup will exit"

- File: SBA2_PCDrvBeta_LB_2_08_0002.exe
- Card: Audigy 2
- Note: Only drivers will be installed, no other Creative software/tools!

Download SBA2_PCDrvBeta_LB_2_08_0002.exe from Creative's website.

Uninstal any current SB drivers/software (also using DriverCleanerPro)

Run the SBA2_PCDrvBeta_LB_2_08_0002.exe, up and untill above message. Do not press Ok yet!
Browse to folder C:\WINDOWS\Temp\CRF000\Drivers, and copy all files/folder there to a different location.

Now press Ok button, (the files in C:\WINDOWS\Temp\CRF000\Drivers will now be removed by the setup)

Go to Control Panel, System, Hardware, Device Manager, open 'Sound, video and Game controllers'.

Double click Creative SB Audigy 2, goto Driver, choose Update Driver, 'No not this time', Next, 'Install from a list or specific location'.

Browse to the location you copied the contents of that 'Drivers' folder too. Point to the 'wdm' folder. Press Ok, Next. This will update the driver to version 5.12.10.1162.

Finally:
- Make sure your speaker setup in 'Control Panel, Sound And Audio devices, Speaker Settings, Advanced' reflect your speaker setup!
- Run IL2Setup.exe, choose Custom for sound, make sure 'Audio enhancements and hardware acceleration' is switched on. Set the speaker type to reflect your setup.

The other settings are depending on your own taste, and HW specs.(I go with 32 channels, 3D engine mode Full, Sampling Rate 44100.)
Note: Using 32 channels instead of 16, costs me about 4-5FPS running the BlackDeath track, but .... 32 channels just sounds better!

Have Fun!

Hey, simply going to SBA2_PCDrvBeta_LB_2_08_0002\Drivers\setup.exe (not \setup.exe) and update/install from there won't work as with previous drivers? You could run directly that program instead of the complete setup that will detect hardware, display EULA and only then call that other \drivers\setup.exe to update. It could also only remove drivers keep cl software as the mixer to work with newer betas.

Just asking because I haven't tried these yet. In CL's site they recommend to uninstall drivers first, but at least with the previous beta's the same update program would work ok. It would uninstall previous drivers and update, keeping the cl mixer and everything else fully functional.

EDIT/UPDATE: OK, just tried, it succesfully updates older drivers keeping the normal software as the mixer. For those who want to keep cl software but dont trust this updater, go to add\remove, select audigy 2, change, and only untick "windows driver", run driver cleaner to remove the rest, and then install using the \drivers\setup.exe I mentioned before.

Id recommend to use this installer instead of simply pointing the hardware manager to an *.inf for complete cl software installations, as some non standard stuff as cTshared might miss the newer files.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: BelaLvgosi,

I had a very strange problem with the mouse interface in the game. It wasn't fixable by the typical hop to the desktop and back though...

Upon game launch, it would load fully and go to the first menue screen, but when I went to use the mouse to select something, the mouse would move for about a half a second and then seem to lock up. The sound would continue to play fine though, and the ESC key would get me to the Quit screen without problems. The game wasn't locking up, but the mouse IN the game. For the record, I use a Logitech wireless mouse/keyboard set. Not sure the exact model, but it's the one you tend to see at Wal-Mart for about $50.

Finally, after much frustration and time wasted, I dug out an old fashioned, corded, non-optical mouse. I left my wireless set hooked up, and plugged the oldschool mouse up via a front USB port. The mouse now works perfectly in the game, no matter which mouse you use! After I got the cordless mouse working, I unplugged the other mouse and things continued to work just fine. Then I decided to reboot and start the game, having not hooked the corded mouse back up whatsoever. The cordless STILL works perfectly in the game! I don't understand the nature of why this worked, but plugging a corded, ball-mouse in fixed my wireless problems completely. Ooh, I forgot to say that before plugging the wired one up, I tried getting the wireless to work after EVERY seperate install/patch/expansion etc, and it never worked in any - till I plugged the corded mouse in for a minute.

Creative users who can't update drivers on your Audigy 2/Bulk/Oem/Zs etc because the setup says it couldn't find hardware rejoice!
No more need hardware manager or ctapxx forced install, just download drives, pick up a program like winrar that will uncompress their setups to a folder and then:
See this thread http://www.driverheaven.net/showthread.php?t=45004 , among very usefull info, you'll also find a program called ctcomp.exe , mirrored on http://members.aol.com/dvdking2001/Pub/ctcomp.exe and http://www.surana.plus.com/stuff/ctcomp.exe.
Simply run it and it will ask for the install setup to be patched. So, simply point it to the uncompressed folder!

I'm using a audigy 2 bulk, this card had been removed from the list in the last non beta driver compilation (the one ending in R1), altough it only includes drivers previously released separetely that I could install normally. After patching it will install as it should.

Hope this helps!

HOSTING TIMEOUT FIX ON NETGEAR WGT624 ROUTER:

In the "Basic Settings" section of the router settings, I set "Domain Name Server (DNS) Address" to "Get Automatically From ISP", (as opposed to what it defaulted to - "Use These DNS Servers", which had no addresses in the fields), and I can host just fine. Probably somthing many know, but I stumped a zillion people trying to figure out why I could join/play any game fine, but not host. Hope it helps somebody else out!

I do hope no one has this but if thay do great news is here
Uninstalled old ati 9800 drivers used driver cleaner pro in safe mode and the hole 9 yards
Problem installed new vid card X800Xl ati and new drivers plus CCC. Tryed to play Il2 it would not run in opengl only dx.So uninst drivers and ccc start fresh again installed new drivers again still no luck. Search fourms no luck.Uninstalled new drivers again for fun tryed Il2 in opengl it worked with no ati drivers instaled?? any way to make this longer story short.Over a year ago I put {atioglxx.dll}driver file in Il2 folder the same one your game starts from it was put there to make the game run better.Anyway I took the file {atioglxx.dll} out and reinstalled new card drivers& CCC tryed game in opengl and BINGO it worked.I spent three days doing every thing thank god I fell upon this and it worked.Hope this helps someone

What memory should I get on my new a64? I hope to provide very basic info, altough I can't cover it all nor I'd like to, because there are a lot of better sources for info on this matter which I'm fairly limited. So... I'll try to cover some of the most important things do consider. Feel free to add info or make corrections as I don't have a computer store to have personal experience with every component I talked about!

First, you have to make a big choice: is this intended for overclock or not?

If not, the pc3200 spec should ensure you compatibility with a stock cpu running at stock 200mhz htt (ddr400). If you want to do it the safe way, consult your mobo manufacturer and buy only the sticks listed in your compatibility chart with exact part numbers (generic model won't suffice). This should be the most trouble free, as usually these have slack timings which your mobo should detect fine (memory sticks have a SPD chip telling the mobo which settings to boot with), so in the worst case, you might have to manually set latency and voltage on your mobo bios. Other good practice is to check your mobo maker foruns and ask for compatibility info and user experiences, knowing what to expect can solve a lot of headaches.
If you are getting 2 sticks, always buy them matched in a dual channel pack, this will ensure same chips and pcb (brands vary this stuff quickly), so proper detection and operation will be possible.
The speed rate will dictate how much data will be accessed per second in a constant stream (in a extreme case, think of a very big audio file), so 200mhz=ddr400 (it works with two peaks per clock, positive and negative) means a theoretical maximum of 3200MB/s, hence the PC3200 rating. If you run dual channel, then the maximum will 6.4GB/s, but in practice the effiency will be around 90% in both cases. Not that no matter the timings (not counting abnormally high), bandwidth will always be roughly the same for the same 200 at stock.
Timings, most times these are heavily overrated if you intend to run your cpu stock. Most brands will list them in the following order: Cas Latency (CL) - RAS to CAS delay (tRCD) - RAS precharge (tRP) - Cycle time (tRAS), like 3-3-3-8, 2-2-2-5, 2.5-3-3-8. These will dictate how much time your cpu will have to wait for your sticks to give him data (at the speed above), so the lower, the faster your cpu will access data and "gain clocks" due to less idle time. In order of importance to performance, trcd>cl>trp>tras. 2.5-2-2-x is actually faster than 2-3-3, but as most sticks that can do trcd2 will do 2-2-2-x too, that rate is almost non existant.
How much does it affect performance at stock speed? Well... not that much actually, gains can be ~0-3% in games but cost from double to triple in value vs top range. Still, something in the middle as 2.5-3-3-x will give you closer results to tight timings than slacker ones like 3-4-4-8 in value sticks and prices are similar. This is al due to the inbuilt memory controller that makes the path from memory to cpu way shorter than before when it was in a separate module in the northbridge (like you see in p4's or athlon xp and previous models).
IMHO, up to a certain extent, timings mean more than bandwidth in games, because as a lot of small calculations are being made, the time to get data can be more important than the time it will take to be transmitted after access, because small pieces of info are always being accessed, unlike editing a big video file that you'll only access once, and then you have to wait until it's completely digested, depending largely on the speed of your memory bus. It's like a big truck vs a ferrari to bring a single small packet, In a technical way, both examples are incorrect, but I hope you get the picture.
A very important timing on top of those is "command rate" or "command per clock", which can be set at 1T or 2T, this has a big impact on memory bandwith (as an example, my ddr400 a64's will have it reduced to near ddr333 levels). This should only be set at 2T for compatibility issues, on a side note, some asrock models won't let you set 1T, and poor mobos for overclock will require or even force 2T earlier than most, as some asus models. When running many sticks, this will need to be dropped too, as an example, with 939 boards if you populate 4 slots to get it stable you'll need to drop to 2T (per cpu memory controler limitation, altough the ati chipset based dfi ut board can overcome it), you might need as well to drop to ddr333 on non Rev E cpu's as some NewCastle cores or Clawhammers, or even to up trcd a little. Newer Sandiegos, venice, Venus etc are more forgiving, btw use CPUZ to check your CPU type.
As an example, if you had 2x512 2-2-2-x 1T ddr400 sticks and you add another equal pair (this is very important, don't mix pairs!), you'll need to go 2-2-2-x 2T, and if it doesn't work, try 2-3-2-x 2T, or lower to ddr333 and find the tighter you can get on command rate or trcd. With slacker sticks on trcd and trp, messing with command rate, and then with ddr333 should suffice.
The performance loss on 2T isn't that noticeable in games, while in some benchmarks can be very noticeable, mostly on memory bandwidth ones. Some people give 2% figures at most in gameplay, but sometimes the higher memory available will help way more than that little price to pay.
Other important matter is memory voltage, keep in mind that most mobos only apply a default of 2.5v or 2.6v. Some sticks will do fine, while others simply will starve and producing errors. The SPD info on the sticks (when set for autodetect settings) won't change the applied ddr vdd (memory voltage), so most times you'll have to do it on your own, but always do it as your manufacturer suggested. Most old winbond chips either on ch or bh series (or the new resurrected bh utt) will need at least 2.7v for proper work, and if running with the tightest timings, they might require 2.8v for stable operation at 200mhz because of older less miniaturized manufacturing process (.17, .155 or .13 parts), altough they need more voltage for the same, they can also cope with way more due to stronger connections. On the other hand, most mosel or samsung chips can do fine with only 2.6v etc (.11 etc parts) and even when overclocking, they might only require to up it a notch. Other aspect of memory voltage (in case I refer it later) is ddr vtt, this should always be half of ddr vdd and will be automatically set by your mobo, on some older models this is only true up to a certain extent (as the usable 2.8v limit on abit kv8-max3 and ic7-max3 boards, and I guess on kv8-pro boards too), so at higher ddr vdd values instability will arise because the other component will be lacking (will only feed 1,25v vtt at 2.9v vdd, while 1.45v would be needed).
Some sticks will require active cooling, these are mostly the ones based on bh utt or ch utt chips and their manufacturer will clearly state it. This is due to their need to run at very high ddr vdd by default, as 3.2v even if for only 200mhz. These include ocz VX series, mushkin redline series (not the newer 2gb kit which has nothing to do with the rest) and Geil One Bh (not tccd). Not doing so will most certainly fry those sticks in a matter of time. Be aware that to use such sticks you must have either one of the 3: 1) a board than can supply over 3.1v for memory (because using the standard 3.3v line will only be stable up to that), so the dfi lp ut nf4/rx200 series will provide memory feed from the 5v line, making it possible to go up to 4.0v (if you are crazy), abit also has some new boards with this capability; b) an ocz booster device, that feeds from your psu and injects vdd on your dimm slots (be careful with limited mobo and psu compatibility) c) a psu with adjustable rails like some antecs and ocz models, where you can boost the 3.3v line. Keep in mind that +.2v on your psu should be needed for target ddr vdd, but you also need a modified bios to specify such high voltages (as there are for the dfi nf3 250 and ultra up to 4.0v) and a board that can provide correct vtt for those voltages. The rest of the components that depend on the 3.3v rail will be a little punished, so be careful using this route.

Do you want to overclock? Ok, then what memory to get?

- Prior to anything, assure you have proper cooling on system, cpu, memory, backup important stuff and understand what you are doing! This not a memory or cpu overclocking guide, so please check the links at the bottom for that, again this post is to provide info on some basic aspects of memory operation.

OK, first you have to make a target for your desired mhz. First look at extremesys forums etc to see what chances do you have with your cpu, you should know the numbers on it to check it's stepping and manufacturing date, and then compare to others.

Being very brief on this matter, the a64 architecture doesn't run with "fsb". Fsb was a data bus from which your cpu accessed memory and other components, so upping it would result in higher memory bandwidth at 1:1, which means that fsb was 1:1 with memory, so if you overclocked fsb to 250mhz, your memory would follow to DDR500 spec, or PC4000, on plus the communication of your cpu with other components would be faster too, so that shared fsb would be less of a bottleneck to the system.
In a64's instead here's a default hypertransport (nothing to do with hyperthreading!) bus speed aka HTT which runs at 200mhz by default. Each component communicates directly with each other via a two way "HTT Link", this htt link as a combined speed of your set htt speed (stock is 200mhz) X a multiplier (called LDT). For socket 754 this multiplier is 4x stock, while for socket 939 it's 5X, so you components will communicate at 1.0GHz (2.0 ddr due to it's two way) or .8GHz (1.6 ddr) depending on socket, this removes the fsb bottleneck as there is point to point communication in a double data path. Sometimes mobo manufacturers will refer a 2000MHz or 1600MHz "fsb" because of this, but it's in reality it's not quite the same as a true fsb. Note that this is the maximum speed it can run, so if you up the base htt speed, then you must lower this multiplier to a smaller number so that those numbers aren't exceeded. Even if it goes low as 600mhz (1.2 ddr), it won't be a bottleneck to your system! (as an example, htt at 300mhz, htt multiplier only at 2x, but at 3x you should be safe, because 300x3 is inferior to stock 5x200).

Now, how is the speed of your cpu obtained? Every cpu has a maximum own multiplier that X the htt speed set in your mobo will result in a final clock. The 939 3700+ model is very popular today, it works at 2.2Ghz with 1MB cache, in practice, it comes with a maximum 11X multiplier, that combined with stock 200mhz htt will make 11x200=2200mhz.
So you have a cpu running at 2.2Ghz (htt speed X cpu multiplier, 200x11) that is acessed via the htt link bus working at fixed 1.0Ghz (htt speed X htt link multiplier, 200x5).

So, how fast is my memory running at? In "fsb" systems you'd say that your memory was working 1:1, 5:4 etc, this was the ratio of fsb : mem clock, so fsb 250 with 5:4 would make your memory run at stock 200mhz (ddr200). The fact that cpu was running assynch with memory would cause a bottleneck due to more latency in it's access (because it wasn't syncronised right at start), not to mention the lower bandwidth due to less mhz for memory bus. Now it works in a similar way (ratios end working close to the same), so that your memory speed is indexed to your total cpu speed via a divider, taking the 3700+ example, which works 200x11, to get your memory to ddr400 (200mhz) specs you need a /11 divider, so 2200/11=200. Your mobo will support more dividers to match lower ram rattings as ddr333, so around a 14 or similar divider would be used for close to 157mhz (note that it isn't actually 166, but the closer you get with a divider). Usually on boards you don't set this divider directly as an entire number (as with cpu multiplier and htt link multiplier), but select between ddr400, ddr333(or320), ddr266 or ddr200 so that the mobo will set the closer memory divider as possible. These result speeds are only valid for standard htt at 200mhz,so in a practical way, in your bios ddr400 will be "1:1", ddr333 close to "5:4" and ddr266 close to "3:2". Again, this "close to" it's because in any cpu that's not using a multiplier of 10, the maths using entire dividers for mem won't give you exact values, as the example ddr333 for a 11x cpu, which needs to use /14 which will give you 157mhz instead of 166mhz (for 200mhz htt), while if it was a 10x cpu /12 would give the exact 166mhz. http://xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=44339&...light=A64MemFreq+1.1 In this thread there's a little utility to calculate final mem/cpu frequency inputing your base htt, cpu multiplier and memory divider. Note that when cpu mult's aren't entire (as 9.5), the memory math is applied to the lowest entire number, so in the end you'll get a lower mem freq, so you better check that program to know memory frequency if you intend to use one of those.

Soooo, after you have decided on your target frequency, you should buy memory according to that. But please be sure that you can achieve that frequency and test for stability before. As above, you can use dividers to remove your current memory bottlenecks, to check if you can achieve such frequency and run some lengthy tests. If you already have high speed sticks, you can also check your memory controller capabilities to run them at high htt, so reducing your multiplier will help to remove your cpu as a bottleneck. There are a lot of guides on this matter than can give you way better advice than me!
To make it simple, if your stock multiplier is low, you must aim for a high speed rating. As an example, rev E semprons are some nice beasts, but what can you do with a cpu only working at 8x200?, if it’s worth it, slap him ddr600 (most will be 3-4-4-x) sticks to go around 2700mhz, making it a very respectable machine. This is one of those extreme cases where you only want MHz and can’t care about timings, because those MHz are needed for your cpu to scale due to a small multiplier â€" so in the end, the tighter ones won’t make up for a way lower cpu clock. Else, if you have a good multiplier to start, let’s say 10 or 11x and you want to set htt at about 250mhz, you can get a lot of sticks that can do ddr500 at decent timings, most at 2.5-3-3, while some others at cl2 or even 2-2-2 at insane voltage.
Sometimes you might end in a place where let’s say, you have a 11x multiplier and your sticks need 2.5-3-3-x for 227mhz for your target of 2500mhz. As your timings are already moderately loose, your sticks might be able to keep them at way higher speeds, so as most micron 5b or tccd chips that probably will keep them at over 250mhz (good tccds will do 2.5-4-3 or less at 300mhz), so you can drop you cpu multiplier, keep timings and enjoy big bandwidth gains, in this case to 10x250, or 9x275. Keep in mind that some sticks (or limitative boards…) will require you to drop to 2T for such speeds, removing much of this advantage.
It’s up to you to find what you want and test your alternatives, even if it takes some weeks to find a keeper.
Usually buying sticks with Samsung tccd (best) or tcc5 (their replacement on lower range) sticks is a good bet, because they don’t need tons of voltage so most mobos will cope with them, they don’t need crazy active cooling because of this too, at stock 200mhz they can keep tight timings, and depending on their speed binning, they can offer a big range of frequencies at moderately low timings so you can scale on mhz a lot if your cpu multiplier limits you. Some manufacturers as g skill will even offer 2 ratings when you buy them, one for 200mhz and the other for ddr500-600 on the top models. Ocz and g skill offer some of it’s best implementations, and be advised that corsair sticks based on tccd with dfi nf4 don’t play well. Ballistix with micron 5b chips are a good alternative, usually keep tighter timings until later, but cant reach mhz as high, need a little more voltage and don’t play well with some dfi mobos unless using specific bios. Sorry about all of this dfi and ocz talk, but I’m more aware of the problems with manufacturers on whose forums I usually lurk.
To go the winbond way, usually means that you want the tightest timings and your multiplier doesn’t limit you. For small overclocks you can find bh-utt rated for 217mhz 2-2-2-x at 2.8v (as ocz’s GX series, not VX), but take in account that to get over to 233, 250 (they can keep 2-2-2 at these frequencies) etc, you might need 3.2-3.6v (unless it’s classic bh5)! Brands as the mushkin redline or ocz VX use ch utt chips rated for 250mhz at 222 with at least 3.2 to 3.5v (refer to info above on providing high voltage to sticks), giving the best possible performance at those frequencies. The problem is that they need active cooling and will stress your mobo and cpu a lot - if the difference between ddr vtt and vcore on your cpu is higher than .5v, you can risk killing it’s memory controller, see tony’s posts on this matter at extreme sys forums. A lot of chips and sticks have already died, so consider yourself warned so you better wander at dfi/ocz/mushkin forums to know more about this issue and commonplaces to avoid the coldboot issues.

Getting stable settings might turn into a big headache when you have a lot of bios options to mess and get lost with, and more often when you simply don’t so you can’t tweak some key stuff.

Other than your beloved IL2, to test stability run a few passes of memtest (at http://www.memtest.org/#downiso you have binaries to make a bootable cd or disk) before booting windows to make sure you won’t mess your OS. Understand that an unstable memory setting has a great probability to make a mess of an operative system in a way that it simply can’t be recovered. Tests 5 and 8 are the most stressful ones to memory, but even if your system can do lots of hours memtesting without an error, it doesn’t mean it’s stable. Simply because your cpu isn’t in load, making it easier for the memory controller etc, you haven’t a gpu drawing power making more fluctiations etc, so use it as a guide to “I’ll be able to boot windows without needing to reformat right after”.
After windows starts, a way more stressful program is prime95 which has always been a favourite of those who want 100% stable systems. You can find it at http://www.mersenne.org/freesoft.htm , after installing it, do a torture test on “blend mode” and let your computer sit for some hours. This program was made to discover prime numbers for investigation, but using predefined computations to achieve a know result, it can test if your cpu is doing all the math well up to that and there compare with the correct known value. If not, there is surely a hardware problem, and you’ll know when it stops with a rounding error.
IMHO, a good target is 24h without an error, but most will be happy with 12h before calling it prime stable. Notice that many users have configs that feel stable, pass memtest and never crash on them, but fail prime in a couple of minutes. It all depends on how safe is safe for you.
OCCT at http://www.ocbase.com/occt.html provides also a small 30min torture test for starters that you could try before running a prime marathon. It seems like it can pick some errors in less time but it’s not that thorough.
A good program to check overclocking improvements is superpi. This will let you know how much time it takes to calculate pi with a determined number of digits. A very standard test is the 1M test (takes less than a minute), while a 32M is also considered a small stability test, taking around 30m (for those who overclock only to be stable in benchmarks). This is very useful to compare your gains in bandwidth vs timings etc.

Some good programs to check your current memory settings after booting windows are CPUZ at http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php , and everest at http://www.lavalys.com/ where after launching it, going to motherboard>chipset>northbridge: amd hammer you'll see what's set up on every mem parameter. It seems like they don't provide the free version anymore on their site, but it's still mirrored at http://www.majorgeeks.com/download4181.html

There are lots of places where you can get info,

http://www.bleedinedge.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?s=&daysprune=&f=46 the ocz official forums have tons of settings for getting sticks stable with specific mobos
http://www.dfi-street.com/forum/ dfi street has lots of support info you can search on so as the overclocking guides by the mods:
http://www.dfi-street.com/forum/showthread.php?t=20823 as the dfi+amd overclocking guide wich covers a vast number of variables and could be your holy bible on this matter along with various links on specific stuff. As an example, tight timings on a divider vs slack 1:1 http://www.dfi-street.com/forum/showthread.php?t=27875
There are also more as this one http://i4memory.com/showthread.php?t=327
You’ll find a lot of info also on http://www.ocforums.com/ and http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/ where the record breakers hang and you’ll find multiple stickies with databases on cpus etc.
At http://www.techpowerup.com/memdb/ they are making a db with the chips on mems, so you know what you have and what to expect, given all of the info on the sources above.

Hope it helps!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: BelaLvgosi,

Hi all, It has been Long overdue but I have finally updated my FB+AEP+PF and ATI settings pages.

There is not a lot of technical jargon to deal with. Just me explaining things my way.

The first link in my sig is to a zip file download you can save to your computer of all my settings, conf.ini and system.

The second is a link to my website pages where you will find all the same pics and all of my thoughts to go along with them.

So use the website and read all my ramblings to get a feel of my thoughts and reasonings. Then download the zip file for future quick reference.

Have fun!

Some PC's with a dualcore (e.g. AMD X2) processor may experience stutter and bad performance some time after the PC is started.
According to Microsoft a hotfix is supposed to be in the next WindowsXP servicepack. The problem can be solved now though.

From Microsoft's article ID 896256, last review December 20, 2005 (http://support.microsoft.com/?id=896256):
'A supported hotfix is now available from Microsoft, but it is only intended to correct the problem that is described in this article.
Only apply it to systems that are experiencing this specific problem. This hotfix may receive additional testing.
Therefore, if you are not severely affected by this problem, we recommend that you wait for the next Windows XP service pack that contains this hotfix.'.

There are a couple of solutions available:

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?s=81...26dad1281c2b&t=81429

http://forums.ubi.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/49310655/m/4021097973

You can get a driver for the AMD X2 CPU here:
http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/TechnicalResources/...82_871_13118,00.html
Present driver version (January 2006) for WindowsXP is named:
AMD Athlonâ"ž¢ 64 X2 Dual Core Processor Driver for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 Version (exe) 1.2.2.2

At least 2 users of Pacfic Fighters solved the stutter problems by doing what's described above:
http://forums.ubi.com/eve/forums?a=tpc&s=400102&f=4...631063893#3631063893

http://forums.ubi.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/49310655/m...481036534#1481036534

This message has been edited. Last edited by: hamselv2,

Combining SP2 into a bootable XP install disk (Slipstreaming).

Why?
Simplifies XP re-install by including SP2, therefore installing Directx9c, USB2 support and the improved XP firewall that will be on by default.
This means the system is reasonably secure and ready for chipset, sound and graphics drivers installs.

As an added bonus you can also install the 'Recovery Console' which is not otherwise possible with a patched system.
Link above details how to and why you would want to install the recovery console.

How to slipstream?

Download Service Pack2 if you do not already have it.
Then download AutoStreamer and follow the guide Here.

Another useful utility is AutoPatcher XP which is frequently updated to include the latest hot fixes plus some useful tweaks.

This is a large download that can be used immediately after an OS build, and will apply all relevant patches without the need to connect to the internet.
Obviously this will not always be totally up to date, but can be a time saver if downloaded prior to a new build/rebuild .

A list of the fixes included can be found Here

Team Speak Overlay (TSO)

This has affected three people to my knowledge, so there is potential for others to seek the same guidance.

Team Speak Overlay is a utility that displays the callsign of a speaker when using Team Speak, and seems to be increasing in popularity.
However be advised it can cause mission/landscape/Map loading errors for some. Easy to determine if it is the cause of your loading faults, disable or unload it and try again.

An alternative can be found in Teamspeak Display.

Edit: Added reference to map loading problems

This message has been edited. Last edited by: B16Enk,

Random InFlight Music

Here's a little VB script that will randomize your music - I did not create it, sombody named PXL did. I only modified it for IL2.

1st rename all your inflight music.
append/paste any three numbers in FRONT of the wav file. (i used "123-")

Paste the following into a text file
___________________________________________________________________

const FilesSubdir="samples\Music\InFlight"
Napis = "InFlight Randomizer for IL2 "& dirtobecleaned &"?"
Titulek = "Windows Scripting Host"
Dim intDoIt
Dim fso, fold, ffil, ffilact, num

Randomize
Call Welcome()

Set fso = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
Set fold = fso.GetFolder(Fso.getAbsolutePathName("")& "\" & Filessubdir)
Set ffil = fold.Files
For Each ffilact in ffil
num=int(rnd*999)
ffilact.move(fold.path & "\" & string(3-len(cstr(num)),"0") & cstr(num) & right(ffilact.name,len(ffilact.name)-3))
Next

msgbox "Run IL2 and Enjoy"

Sub Welcome()
intDoIt = MsgBox(Napis, vbOKCancel + vbinformation, Titulek )
If intDoIt = vbCancel Then WScript.Quit
End Sub

_____________________________________________________

Close and save the text file
Place it into your "IL-2 Sturmovik Forgotten Battles" folder and rename it IL2RandomMusic.vbs (the name's not important the vbs is)
right-click on IL2RandomMusic.vbs select copy, then right-click on your desktop and select create "shortcut".

Now BEFORE you start IL2 run the shortcut and it will RANDOMIZE the first three numbers.

If only I could figure this out as a CMD file

quote:

from B16Enk

noted you were looking for a way to run it from the command line/batch file.

This will do it:

cscript IL2RandomMusic.vbs

This message has been edited. Last edited by: JRJacobs,

Originally posted by La7_S.Mat

Microsoft FFB2 Software fix.
This will re-enable the button mapping feature (recorder) of the V4.x software.

quote:

For those who use a Microsoft Sidewinder FFB2 on AMD64bit with XP Service Pack2.

Enhanced Virus Protection EVP build into the AMD64bit CPU, which is activated by Win XP SP2, causes problem with Recorder Panel of Microsoft Sidewinder 2.


To solve the problem:
log in as Admin
go to "Control Panel" > "System"
select "Advanced" >"Performance" > "Settings"
seclect "Data Execution Prevention"
select "Turn on DEP for all programs....exept those I select".
Click on "Add", then browse to c:\windows\system32 then in the File name text box type: joy which will show a unlisted file called joy.cpl
select the file joy.cpl after which you are taken back to the DEP Dialog Box
"Game Controllers Contol Panel Applet" will appear with a check mark in front of it
Click Apply
Restart Computer

Now you can open the panel Recorder and assign Macros to Buttons.

This Problem will only happen with systems of AMD 64bit under WinXP SP2

S.Mat
... and no I did not figure this out by myself. I found this in some forum.

I'll now add a caveat, and a further tip:

Enabling DEP can result in other network applications acting screwy (or not working at all) such as FTP.

Enabling DEP as written above, then going into the recorder, then disabling DEP seems to be a persistent fix. Without having to have DEP on.