Windows UT2004 Running slow / lag problems

Ive just recently re-installed ut2004 and i find now i have serious issues with it being so SLOW.
When i first installed it, it ran perfectly, proved by the fact we spent hours on it at a LAN party and my system is sure to cope, but now after a re-format a while ago from a viral infection, and installing all my othe games, UT now runs incredibly slow. Even wehn moving from menu to menu, like selecting onslought it would take 3-5 seconds to load the next menu.
In game play is not too good either!
After pressing fire to continue im greeted again with 5 second lag time and also the game does not respond well to my input to it. Such as running forward, relase 'W' and it keeps running another 3 seconds! WTF is up with that?
Same with mouse gettin lag, screen jumps around etc etc.

System spec:
AMD 3200XP
9600XT
512mb ddr pc3500 Geil

Ive done the usual download new gfx card drivers / direct X, even lowered the settins beyond what i used to play but to still no avail?
What next?
Please dont tell me ill need to reformat?
[EDIT] Also after installing the gfx drivers, im now experiencing that i have 300/512mb ram usage when i start up my computer, this used to be 180-200, this is a big increase. [/EDIT]

 

Mine's doing exactly the same thing mate.

I thought mine might be the graphics card (it's only a radeon 9200 256MB) but if you're having problems too then it can't be. I've got an amd athlon 2500+ barton overclocked to 3200+ so it shouldn't be that. Also I've got 512MB of RAM like you but that can't be a problem cause it only needs 256MB.

If anyone could shed some light on this i'd be very grateful too.

 

Hmmm... Try using a previous install patch. It might be a bug in the latest update for UT.

 

I haven't patched it at all.

 

lol... maybe thats the problem?

 

There's an option you need to turn off in settings.. Can't remember what it was called, but something to do with pre-caching player skins? When I installed it, it was set on as default and took up a huge amount of ram - it was using 800MB including the PF or something rediculous. Turn that off (there are one or two others as well - look at the FAQ on their website for details) and performance will leap up.

 

Yeah and they'd really sell a game with a fault in it...

 

Heh, the sell OS's with faults so whats the dilly with a game? lol

Ive allready turned off most of the settings but still no luck.
I also get keyboard mouse lag! Its like i could be holding down the fire key and the gun will keep firing after i release it, same with movement of vehicles, its really really poo and just ruins the game tbh I dont understand i thought it worked well lol. I also get the beep from the mobo like when you hold down too many keys at the same time, bummer.

 

Thanks calnen it works!

Try turning off the option called "pre-load player skins" or something like that. it's not on the "display" tab on the settings so just have a look through the other ones for it. It speeds everything up loads!

ps there's less stuff to test on a game than on an os so they should be getting it right!

 

Glad I could help Enjoy!

 

rofl, companies NEVER find all the bugs in their games. It's next to impossible. Look at ToEE, full of bugs. Thief 3? Even that has bugs. That's the whole point in patches ya know, to fix those bugs.

 

ive had similar problems-ish: im having not so mucha 'problem' - more a slight annoyance, wondered if anyones got any suggestions? When i load any of the big maps i get about 10 - 15 seconds low frame rate, then all is good. Ive got 2 drives in my rig - system drive is an 80gig ata133, then 160gig sata drive with the game and swap file on - is this a bad idea?

If you take a look at the system specs - do i need more ram?!

xp2500@3200 * 2x256 geil golden dragon pc3200 * nforce 2 * 9800p at stock * water cooled at 38-39 degrees load * drives as above

Cheers! This intial choppiness is annoying

Oh yeah - running in 1024x768 and all set to high

 

512 should be fine to run the game (it's what I'm using) if you're sensible with the settings.. ie/ dont just turn everything up to max like you can with older games!

I dont know what effect having the PF on a second drive would have tbh.. is that the same drive as the game is installed on?

 

Yeah, PF and game on 2nd drive - only did this because i figured that it being the faster drive it might work better? Or maybe im just going to have to reinstall xp and make my 160gb SATA drive the system drive?

 

Just to make people laugh - I'm running UT ok (normal settings, 1024x768) on 512mb SD RAM, 1100 Athlon XP, PC Chips mobo, 20Gb Seagate Barracuda, and I only experience lag when there's a real fight for one of the Onslaught powernodes, or some other high intensity furball.

 

Problem is, most people here wouldn't consider that 'playing'

I'm running 1152x862 (or some other weird res) with all the details on or close to max. What really thrashes it though is 4xAA and 8xAF.. I just cant play a game with AA on anymore, it looks too ugly.

Lots of people aren't happy unless they can play with 8xAA, 16xAF and all the settings maxed out on 1280x1024 though - which is why people buy 3ghz cpu's and 9800xt's.

 

It really does run fine! We had an impromptu LAN game at college on the last day and Iwas next to someone with a 2400 Athlon XP and a mid-high range FX card. Apart from the spirals on the shock rifle (we were playing CTF Face Classic Zoom Instagib), that's it. Although I am looking for an FX 5200 (128) as an upgrade.

 

well aparantly most of the problems with UT are to do with the virtual memory/page file and not actual hardware, thats why it can run on a 1100 athlon. the faster the hdd the better, i had it paging to a 5400 and it was lagging all over the place and the sound was skipping alot.
Moved it to a 7200 8meg maxtor and its fine now.
Also i find having a gig of ram makes the game run alot better as theres less need to use the page file.
If your feeling up to it you can edit the ini file so that the game uses more memory for textures etc so that it doesnt have to page so much.

this can be found here = ut2k4(or whatever)/system/ut2004.ini