System Shock 2 without sound card?

The game threads got me thinking about this game again, and yeah its old but it still remains one of the best games in my library. The problem with it is its oh so old and simply wont run very long on my HP due to software emulation of the sounds before it CTD. I've tested it under both XP and Vista on my HP dv9500 but on both OS platforms it crashes. What I was curious was if somebody has tried the USB or Express card sound cards with this game and if so did it run stable? If you have one of these sound cards and SS2 can ya fire it up and see if you can get past training?

I've tried just about every other trick that I know to get it to run but nothing seems to be working. The one thing I havent tried is a VM but even then the software emulation would probably ctd the same as my XP Pro boot option. It runs just fine if I install it on my XP desktop but nada on my laptop.

-Reby

 

It might be silly, but have you tried running .exe in either XP or Win98 compatibility mode?

I was having a very similar problem with a game called Planetside. The XP compatibility mode should have fixed the issue, but it didn't. Luckily, the Win98 compatibility mode did the trick!

Just right click the shortcut or .exe and click on properties and then the compatibility tab.

Give it a try?


OH and also! If I remember correctly from when I was having troubles running SS2. It might be the issue the game has with dual core or hyperthreaded computers.

Try finding the process in the task manager that is the game. You have to have the game running so you can see the process in the task manager. Right click 'go to process' in the task manager and select the process with the right click and then select 'processor affinity' and uncheck one of the cores. Make it so that the game is only running on one core.

You'll have to do this each time the game starts, at least I had to. But it does stop one of the crashing causes.

 

Yeah I've tried all the compatibility modes but it would still crash in a sound loop. I haven't tried the 'processor affinity' trick so I'll give that a shot. I'm fairly certain its a sound issue due to the fact that every lockup results in a sound loop loop loop loop loop erm It's pretty rare that I cant figure something out with a computer but this one has me stumped. I just didnt want to spend $80.00 on an external/express card sound card just to get this game to run if it wont work. Its worth it to me if it would stop the sound loop crash but for the most part the sound quality on my laptop is good enough.

Thanks for the input StormEffect.

-Reby

 

I also remember having a sound looping issue followed by incessant crashing. I hope the processor affinity fix helps, whenever I actually remembered to alt+tab out of the game and set it, it never crashed. Other times, I'd be just about to save and WHAM, crash.

Also consider downloading two of the add-ons to the game that improved the experience for me. Seriously consider downloading the Shock Texture Upgrade Project, which only fixes bugs and increases the resolution of the textures. Find that here http://shtup.home.att.net/

If you want to go a little more wild, you might consider installing the Rebirth mod, which also increases polygon counts in the models http://www.strangebedfellows.de/index.php/topic,8.0.html

I personally ran the game with the ShockTextureUpgrade and without the Rebirth mod. The difference between the original model textures and the SHTUP is significant and adds to the gameplay without altering the style in any way.

Also, make sure the game is patched all of the way to...I think it is 2.3??

 

Well after a couple install/reinstall and testing every tweak I could think of and I'm back where I started. No joy I've tried both Vista and XP, patched with the last patch Looking Glass Studios put out, tried it with the high res models and without it, tried the processor affinity trick, changing video drivers/resolutions to match in game display modes, and lastly tried all compatibility modes. I may just have to buy the creative labs sound express card and see if it works or not. If nothing else I can simply return it if it still does not fix my problem.

Its sad that out of all my games just about every one of them run just fine, but one of my favorite games just wont cooperate. Bad little monkey!

-Reby

 

Sorry I couldn't be of any more help. Maybe some day the game will be hosted on GameTap or Steam with compatibility software included, ala Spear of Destiny.

Also I have one last idea. You can use a software sound emulator called VDM.

http://www.3drealms.com/tech/vdmsound.html

3drealms (Duke Nukem guys) have a guide on how to set it up. Generally it is used for DOS emulation when using XP...but it might emulate the sound in such a way that it prevents your problem?

Good luck.