HELP - Richard Burns Rally

[GravelBen]

Recently bought Richard Burns Rally (PC dvd-rom), it seemed to install fine but won't run.

I try and start the game, during the intro clips I get sound but no picture (first times I had picture too though), then it loads up rally HQ with the 'select profile' menu and 'create profile' default option, where it freezes and I have to reset my PC. One time it made it one step past there and let me type a profile name in before freezing.

I'm pretty sure all my drivers are up-to-date and I've downloaded the v101 and v102 patches for RBR, so any ideas what the problem is?

PC is:

Athlon64 3400+ (~2.4Ghz)
512 MB Ram
ATI Radeon 9550 AGP 256 MB

Edited by GravelBen on Tuesday 29th May 09:09

[Cliffv8]

this should be the best place to look, hope it helps http://www.bhmotorsports.com/board/viewforum.php?f...

[GravelBen]

Thanks, I've had a look there and haven't found anything relating to the exact same problem but some similar things which I'll look into.


It now seems the whatever is wrong is screwing up GTR as well - it was working last night, its freezing in the menus every time I run it now. I haven't changed anything between then and now, so I don't know WTF is up with that.


Why can't they make computers and games which actually work properly so you don't have to spend more time trying to make them go than actually playing them? Its hopeless, surely it can't be that hard to make things work?

Edited by GravelBen on Tuesday 29th May 10:24

[FourWheelDrift]

If you haven't changed anything and it freezing and such when you try and play a graphics intensive game I'd check your gfx card and your cooling fans. They may be overheating, this does cause the graphics to freeze.

[GravelBen]

Updated drivers for gfx card (again! did it 2 days ago but apparently new ones already) and now GTR is running ok again. Haven't tried RBR again since that though, might give it another go tomorrow.

Is there any way to check gfx card heat, fans etc without opening up the box and getting in there? As my PC is still under warranty which I think is void if I open it myself.

[FourWheelDrift]

GravelBen said:

Is there any way to check gfx card heat, fans etc without opening up the box and getting in there? As my PC is still under warranty which I think is void if I open it myself.

If there are no stickers across the frame then you can easily unscrew the back/side off and have a look. It might be a case of just blowing dust out of a blocked fan or you might even find a fan not working. Has it become more noisy in recent months?

If not try http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php - it's a freeware app to check tempertures. I've never tried it as my gfx card came with Expert Tool.

[GravelBen]

Its always been pretty noisy when working hard, but I haven't really got into playing decent games on it much before now to notice a difference. I'll check temps etc to see though.

If the problem was the gfx card overheating wouldn't it be freezing during gameplay rather than in the menus though?

with the new drivers I get the intro vids working fine again but it still freezes in the first 'choose profile' menu.

ETA: that program you gave the link to shows 3 fans at 0 rpm and 1 varying between 3000ish and 5000+, it seems to think some temperatures are a bit hot as well but I'm not sure what temperatures should be or where to find out? seems a bit weird anyway. Also I can't tell from the program which sensor is for what, except for the main one.

Edited by GravelBen on Wednesday 30th May 05:30

[GravelBen]

Update, it now seems to be working. Mate was having a look thru my settings trying to find something wrong, AFAIK all he changed was turning off ATI catalyst A.I. in my gfx driver settings, so maybe that was screwing it up.

I suspect you may be right about overheating things too though, does 80°+ when under load sound higher than it should be for Athlon64 core temps?