flyfree69

got my G3 today and all i get is ERROR CREATING EFFECT PROPDISK then shuts down. If i don't want to mess with changing my video card can i take it back for a full refund after it has been registered. i was told it would work fine with my computer and i have all the requirements on the box. they should put the video cards that DO work on the box so there wouldn't be so much hassle....

mikersx02

in order for us to help, it would be helpful to list your system specs...


However, I would download all of your latest and greatest drivers for your video card.

And then I would go to ad-aware.com and download the adaware program and run it to clean up your PC. Then I would reinstall g3. If you are still having problems, I would call tech support (They have a database of past problems and they can pinpoint exactly what is causing your problem. (most of the time)

And the final drastic step would be to reinstall your OS on your machine. (this is not a bad thing to do at least once a year.) Really speeds up your PC and makes things less buggy. Even on Windows XP.

rb4123

I agree mike. A lot of people think that they are having hardware conflicts when in fact, it's just old software. I would try to reinstall g3 first, then if theres still a problem, look for new drivers.

flyfree69

i don't know much about computers but here goes, my computer is 1 week old, it has 512mb, 200gb's and when i got ahold of HP they told me i had a intergrated video card ( connected to the motherboard) it is has the XP version. it has the dvd writer / cd writer combo, should i be able to run realflight? thanks

peefiddyonefan

I am willing to bet your gonna have to get yourself a fast AGP card, your integrated graphics card is not gonna be up to snuff.

Matt Merciez

My Feedback: (34)

Which HP computer did you purchase (model #)? Do you or any of your family members plane/desire to play any of the latest released video games?

The reason I ask the above is it might be easier/cheaper in the long run to return your HP since it is only one week old and buy a different computer that can better handle G3.

Where did you purchase the computer?

flyfree69

it's the model # SR1330NX, it plays my hunting game's and the online games just fine. i bought it at Best Buy. what would it cost to upgrade my video card so it would play G3? thanks

jhimmel

According to the specs here -

http://www.jr.com/JRProductPage.proc...d.CPQ+SR1330NX

Your computer has "integrated graphics" (usually not a good sign), but had one "OCCUPIED" AGP slot. If the graphics is "integrated" (usually means on the motherboard), what is occupying the AGP slot?

Hmmm.... at Best Buy it shows the AGP slot as available -

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....ref=25&loc=SMX

That makes more sense.

Jim H.

jhimmel

Flyfree69, I know some have said that the ATI 9600 works fairly well. I see one new for about $100 here -

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproduc...&CMP=OTC-C173T

and I see them on ebay for about half that price. I also saw people post about other good deals on lower end cards that run G3 acceptably - I'll let them hopefully pipe in with their advice too.

Jim H.

captinjohn

If you do not get that G3 going real easy and want to trade for a AFPDelux....let me know. Capt,n

rb4123

It is most likely the integrated graphics card. Although they do do a decent job with some stuff, they are severely limited in capabilities. Also with it being on the motherboard, it does not have it's own memory, and must use system ram, and that could be your problem there. As long as the previous post is correct about the AGP slot, you should be able to get an AGP card that will blow any integrated components away. ATI has made a great comeback, and have some excelent products. I would reccommend the ATI Radeon 9600 series or greater. Although it's not the cheapest card out, it works great. [link=http://shop2.outpost.com/product/3840127?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG]Here's[/link] a link to it from Outpost.com.

flyfree69

thanks for the help guys, i'll start checking out the video cards

Balsabasher

My Feedback: (4)

Flyfree69, Be carefull when shopping for a video card. Your HP has a 250-300 watt power supply and any card over a 9600 or 5700 will need more power. Yes you can buy a bigger power supply but most of the after market power supplies are bigger in size than the HP one. A tight fit! Good luck.

hilleyja

My Feedback: (3)

Don't be too hasty looking for a replacement video card. Check your driver specifications to find out what video spec you have. I tried looking it up on HP's site but all they say is integrated video with 64mBytes of memory. I have two HPs with on-board video cards. They are both NVIDIA GeForce4 440 Go 64M. This video spec had problems with the initial release of G3 because of a G3 bug; it was fixed with the :329 update.

You are experiencing the same b****it I got when I first looked into this. Everyone is telling you to replace your video card. I foot the bill for $299.99 for an ATI Radeon 9800 128 card and later found out I didn't need it.

If your a bit of a novice here is the procedures you need to go through to find the video driver:

1) reduce your windows so you can see you desktop graphic
2) right click mouse on a spot that doesn't have an icon
3) left click mouse on properties
4) left click adapter menu selection
5) Read what it says under adapter type
6) Read what it says under adapter information

Come back to this forum and list the information you found -- we can then check to see if your video is compatible with G3.

NOTE: I did some more research and think I found out what your video is. It appears to by a VIA KM400. It is supposed to be 3D capable with the following specs:

The VIA UniChrome KM400 Chipset is the next generation integrated graphics chipset for the AMD Athlonâ„¢ XP processor. An ultra fast HyperTransportâ„¢ link to the CPU, integrated UniChromeâ„¢ 2D/3D graphics, AGP 8X port, 8X V-Link, Serial ATA/RAID, ATA-133 and USB 2.0 combine to make the KM400 a feature rich and scalable chipset for mainstream corporate and consumer desktop systems.

The VIA UniChrome KM400 chipset features the S3 Graphics integrated UniChromeâ„¢ 2D/3D graphics core with MPEG-2 acceleration and DuoViewâ„¢ technology for excellent multimedia performance and complete flexibility on the desktop.

It is definitely designed around the current desktop systems that run Windows XP and DirectX9.0, both of which fall within the G3 resource requirements. It is also a 64MByte video which is also within the G3 resource requirements. Based on G3 list of required equipment you should be compatible and therefore if your having problems there is ANOTHER graphic bug in G3. BTW, KnifeEdge software, the developer of G3, is, in my opinion, cagey with acknowledging known bugs. The will assume your a computer illiterate and b***sh*t when you ask for help.

peefiddyonefan

hilleyja you are correct he may get it working w/his current card but it will run so slow it won't matter. I had a 9800pro 128 when I 1st got my G3 and performance was terrible IMO -I finally upgraded to a $400+ video card and now I get decent performance. It still could be better. I couldn't imagine how bad its gonna run on his system[sm=drowning.gif]

jaafit

[link=http://12.156.2.54/forums/showthread.php?t=9216]Here[/link] is a list of video cards that will work with G3. Unfortunately, the integrated UniChrome card isn't one of them. If you are looking for a cheap replacement, I would recommend the Geforce 3 TI, which is about $15 on ebay. The above suggestions are good as well.

jhimmel

Where did you find that this chipset offers full support of DirectX9.0? I didn't see it in the specs you posted.

Jim H.

hilleyja

My Feedback: (3)

Relatively new computer comes with Windows XP, Service Pack 1 installed. Mine also came with DirectX9.0 installed.

hilleyja

My Feedback: (3)

If you think the ATI Radeon 9800 128 is too slow your lost way out in left field somewhere. We are talking about Real Flight G3, not the latest and greatest DOOM. With the :329 update my NVIDIA GeForce4 440 Go 64M does not appear to be any faster than my ATI Radeon 9800 128 card.

r1derbike

Well...my thoughts are (throw in bit-bucket if desired):

My EVGA 6800 GT with an Athlon 64 3200+ BARELY runs G3 to my satisfaction. I have to run shadows at medium, my AA @4X, my AF @8, to achieve frame rates from 45 to 50 idling and 85 to 100s flying. When doing close-up maneuvers with lots of smoke, the frame rate drops considerably to a low of 10 to 30 frames. Not good, but expected given my processor and card.

I just finished putting my Thermaltake 680 watt supply and DFI NF4 Ultra D motherboard in my new system. The processor will be an AMD Athlon 64 FX-55, OCZ 4200 EL Platinum Dual-Channel kit @ 1GB. Dual 6800 Ultra PCI-e video cards (SLI) will handle the graphics chores.

If you want to run G3 with EVERYTHING at max, you need a system that runs current state-of-the-art games like Doom3, and others well. That includes a first-rate monitor to take advantage of the video capabilities. There is NO way around this unless you start disabling features and video quality, to match the capabilities of your system(s).

Granted, my definition of "barely adequate" performance may be others' definition of "super" performance, but if you ever run G3 (or any modern game, for that matter) on a high-end gaming system...you will never go back.

Charles

peefiddyonefan

9800pros are 2 year old cards and were fast cards back then -the new generation of cards are more than double the speed of them in DirectX9 apps however.

Just because a PC has DirectX9 installed doesn't mean that the video card is capable of running DirectX9 software.

jhimmel

DirectX9.0 being "installed" does not mean all of its features are supported on that hardware. I'm still wondering how you detirmined that his card has full support of DirectX9. I have not seen that in any of the documentation.

Jim H.

hilleyja

My Feedback: (3)

Actually, I just educated myself of Direct9X and you are correct. I cannot find any statement from VIA Technologies that state the KM400 supports Direct9X.

I even tried to find out if my NVIDIA GeForce4 440 Go 64M was DirectX 9.0 compatible. The best I could find was "GeForce4 Go family of mobile GPUs supports all existing titles and has DX9-compliant drivers for upcoming game titles. " I gues that makes the NVIDIA compatible with DirectX 9.0 but doesn't state it is a video processor optimized for DirectX 9.0 capabilities.

This is Great Plains "Minimum" requirements for G3:

Windows XP*, 2000*, ME, 98
* Local administration access required

Intel Pentium 1.0 GHz or equivalent

DirectX 9 (or above) compatible video and sound card

3D accelerated video card with 32 MB (or more) RAM

256 MB RAM

1.3 GB hard drive space

If you take these requirements literally then G3 can only be run on a computer with a VERY RECENT, HIGH END, graphics card.

I guess I should feel lucky I can run it on my lowly HP Pavilion Laptop. Heck, I only have 1GByte of memory, 80GByte of hard drive, AMD 64 3400 CPU, and a measly 64MByte NVIDIA GeForce4 440 Go 64M video.

Since this is the ONLY action game I have installed on either my laptop or desktop and I have been flying for over 4 years in recent time and started flying in the mid 70s, its time to decide whether I really need this simulator. Couple that with the fact I play with it on the average of 15minutes a week, if that.

Look for an add in the next few days:
1) Real Flight G3
2) Real Flight Add-On #1
3) ATI RADEON 9800 PRO 128MB AGP Graphics Card