quinriva

Yeh, I wasn't quite sure about that. I think it might be a problem with nlite, but given that I am using quite a few new things it could just as easily be a hardware issue, a daemon tools issue or an issue with winxp. I really don't see how it could be an nlite issue as I am quite familiar with nlite and I can't think of anything I could of done there that would result in these sorts of errors, but then the other options are probably even less likely. I decided to put it here because it really is an issue with windows which may or may not be caused by nlite (or Daemon tools for that matter). So if it is unrelated to nlite, then there wouldn't be much chance of putting it in that forum?

I seem to be having a whole array of problems, so I'll try to list them as best as I can. Firstly, it should be noted that these problems occur on fresh installs of both Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 (both nlited). The main trouble that I am having, is that upon installing various games (Quake 4, Call of Duty 2) I cannot play them, because from what I have thus far determined is that all of the installed files cannot be overwritten. Both games are iso's that were loaded through Daemon Tools v4.03 and then installed. I also know that the .iso's are not corrupt as I have used them both before. I thought that there may have been some problem with Daemon Tools v4.03 so I unistalled it, and tried v3.47 but to no avail. When I attempt to delete any of the installed files I am presented with the following message: Cannot delete filename: Access is denied. Make sure the disk is not full or write protected and that the file is not currently in use. So this is what I tried: Unistall Quake 4 - Successfully removes all files Attempt to change the name of any file - no problem Attempt to delete file in windows - Access denied Attempt to delete file through command line - no problem Attempt to delete folder that originally contained the files (fold is now empty) - access denied Reinstall windows and attempt to delete files - access denied I originally had some other problems but I believe that they were related to Win2003 as they have not occured in XP, but I'll list them anyway. Alls installshield install files (nVidia drivers installer, marvell drivers installer, etc.) failed, citing errors of -6008 and 1607 CD Autorun failed listing some weird error, but the autorun process did not end .msi installer processes did not end. Oh and upon reinstalling one of the copies of XP, it decide that all the files on one of my drives (not the system drive) were corrupt and decided to delete all the indexes, and something called orphan files (whatever they are). I promptly powered off the machine as I could find no other way to cancel it. Reinstalling Win2003 reinserted all of the indexes from $0 &$I as well as all the orphan files (althogh 1 minute of deleting took 8 hours to reinsert). But as far as I can tell, all the files that were corrupted by deleting the indexes have now been fixed. I have used nLite a number of times (although older versions), and have never had these problems so I don't thing that it is a problem with the fact that Windows has been nLited. For reference I used nlite RC6, to create 3 Windows Server 2003 discs and 1 Windows XP disc, and I also used and older Win2003 CD that I had lying around, each disc had a slightly different variation. I also used an original Win2003 disc, but that is where I encountered many of the other errors and I didn't even get as far as installing Daemon Tools before I dumped that idea. I've just bought a new computer so I'm quite frustrated that I can't use it until I get these issues resolved. My current system is as follows: XFX GeForce 7800GT AMD Opteron 165 2x512Mb Corsair XMS Pro DFI LanParty UT SLi-DR Expert Various Seagate Hard drives (7200.8 250Gb, 7200.7 160 Gb x2, etc.) So I have no idea what's wrong but to recap: It could be something to do with Daemon tools, but I doubt it It's probably something to do with nlite but I have no idea what it could possibly be I don't think that it is related to win2003 or winxp So, some help would be good. I've installed windows 12 times in the past 2 days. PS. I forgot to format, oops. I'll fix it tomorrow

Hmm, thanks Elektrik. That firmware revision is pretty old so I'm assuming that I would have already flashed to it (I'm normally get the latest firmware as soon as it's released), but I may have been neglecting my DVD drive. I'm installing Win2003 this afternoon (just want to have a look), so I'll check the firmware after that. If that doesn't work I'll have a look at what LiquidSage suggested. Cheers.

I believe that the Gamespy network requires browser support (I'm not 100% sure as I don't use it), but I'm guesing that would be a biggy for playing games online as many games run through the gamespy network. I would suggest going 64 bit. I'm not using a 64 bit processer (yet), so I don't think that my opinion is biased. Also due to the small requirements of the system (needs to play games and that's about it) driver support should be sufficient (you won't need bluetooth, printer, etc. drivers). I'm yet to be convinced whether many (well anything except battlefield 2) games require more than 1 Gb of RAM, however I'm sure that some upcomming games will require it. On the othand with Windows slimmed down available RAM may well jump by as much as 200-300Mb and so the 1Gb of RAM may well be effectively 1.2Gb. On a side note, why is firefox using 180Mb? I have a 780Mb comit charge. That has to be too high for, I'm just browsing the net. Time for a reinstall.

I was burning a few DVD's R+ with Nero today and set the recording to multisession. For some reason or another, although I experienced no errors during the burning process, attempting to mount the DVD results in the error: M:\ is not accessible. Incorrect Function. Granted Nero did warn me that there may be errors attempting to access the second and later sessions on pre-Windows XP machines. However, there is only one session on the disc and I am using WinXP. Additionally Nero recognises the disk as a multisession ISO 9660/Joilet (mode 1) disk with a Session 1 ~3.3Gb. Given that Nero can recognise this, I am assuming that it is a windows error and not an error with the drive. I have no trouble with non-multisession disks. Relevant info: Windows XP SP2 DVD: LG GSA-4082B Title Edited - Please follow new posting rules from now on. --Zxian

Another awsome game that I think you'd enjoy is Crimsonland. Pretty decent graphics for a top down shooter (hardware accelerated). I think it might be shareware, but the final version was released about 3 years ago and is widely available (you know where).

Until they start getting some decent physics and damage models (which generally tend to be dependent on the physics) the NFS series isn't going to be going anywhere execpt downhill. Unfortunately most car manufacturers don't like to show how easily there cars get damaged (hence why GTA dosn't use real world cars). The problem is, is that as long as you are useing real world cars, you can't get decent damage effects unless all manufacturers agree to it. I rekon that they could make a better game if they just dumped using Fords and Hondas and started Forps and Honkas and put in some real physics and damage in. That would make for a better game.

I know that this sort of problem can be quite common in Australia. I know of a number of CPU's that simply won't run with a stock cooler during the summer months. In my opinion if a product is sold in a climate were 40 degree (celcius, i.e. 104+ fahrenheit) are common, then the devices should be able to run with out crashing. On the otherhand, this guy is living in Chicago in the middle of winter, so not exactly hot. Sueing is a bit much, but the products should definately be designed to run in climates that are less than ideal. It's a console, it should be capable of being turned on permanently. In the last month my computer has only had about 2 hours downtime. I lot of people I know turn off their TV, but leave there console running all the time. I mean loading a game isn't exactly quick - so they just leave it running.

Can XFire access existing networks in the same way that Trillian does (i.e. is it just a client?) or would I have to convince all my friends to switch?

Well it is based on a game engine that is almost 6 years old. What do you expect?

Consider some 3000 (socket 939) Semprons, real cheap about US$95 They're good enough for gaming. Though they have only just been released so they may be hard to find at the moment. And motherboard: ASUS A8V-VM ~US$75, comes with decent integrated graphics. Other than that, just add 2 sticks of 256Mb RAM (yes you'll need at least 512Mb total, 256Mb won't cut it). Add a case and a 120Gb SATA hard drive + DVD burnen and you're looking at ~US$450.

People on eBay lie. They are probably selling Pentium 4's under the ruse that they are Pentium M's. I once bought a 128Mb Geforce Ti4200, and received a 64Mb Geforce MX400, about $300 retail price difference. I was p***ed!

Sure it does, but it looks like crap with 'low' settings. Anyway, there is no way in hell I'm paying an extra $100 to get an eVGA card, instead of say the OC'ed Leadtek model (which is like $585) or even a regular Albatron. eVGA might be faster, but it isn't $100 faster. The 3800X2 comes with either Toledo or Manchester cores. The Toledo core just has 2x512k switched off. There is some debate over which is the better overclocker. In theory I think the Toledo is.

I don't really intend on spending a lot of money I'm just trying to get the sweet spot. Unforntunately at the moment the 7800GT is the sweet spot and I have about enough money to splurge on it (just as I did when I bought my Cosair XMS Pro RAM). Similarly with the CPU, I was until recently looking at getting the Athlon 64 3200, because it overclocked to the same performance of an OC'ed 3500 and 3800; however the 3800 X2 is a really good deal right now. If the 3800 X2 hadn't been released I wouldn't have even thought about getting a dual core system. If possible I want to save money at every corner so I don't want spend any more money unless the performance boost is significant. In otherwords if I spend 10% more I expect a 15-20% performance boost. The OCZ Powerstream 520W is AU$225 while the Antec TruePower II is AU$170 and the FSP Blue Storm 500W is only AU$140. is the OCZ really $85 better than the Fortran? It's only 20W more and I doubt the rails in the Fortran are that bad. Would the Antec be the best choice. The 600W Powerstream is $320, I could get 2 Antec's for that so I'm not even going to consider it. BTW www.staticice.com is a really good search engine for Australian Pricing. Anyway anyone know what the best brand would be for a 7800GT (of the above four)? Oh and which core is better for the 3800 X2, the Toledo or Manchester? The end price should be somewhere between AU$1200 - $1400 I wonder if the step up policy is available in Australia?

Hmm. Civilization or AOE. For a long time AOE (1 & 2) out did Civilization (1, 2 & 3) but no more. I have been an avid fan of both series but where AOE 3 screwed up civ is the shiznit biznit. AOE3 oversimplified the game by removing many features, no more supply depots (storehouses) - but overall the game didn't really add anything more than a few gimics (the home city). Civ 4 adds so much. The game fixes many of the problems in civ3 (AI ignoring borders) and adds many new features that really improve the game and allow you to individualize your civilization. Both the enemy AI and your your AI (the AI that controls your cities and pathfinding of your units, etc.) is greatly improved. There are many improvments towards game length, you can play a quick game, normal or epic and each vary the overall speed of the game. For instance the nomal speed reduce the number of turns from Civ3 of about 800 to 500 (building things takes less time, etc.) and epic increases it to about 1200 (I'm guesing). But the game feels much smoother, and you spend a lot less time loading a save because of some silly mistake or oversight that causes your entire civ to colapse. Micromanagment has been greatly immproved and although more comlex, the AI handles it superbly. Combat has also been improved with an experience system (no longer a generic 1 point health bonus, but instead a choice of increase in strength, improved forest defence, improved speed, etc.) and groups of units. There are no longer seperate stats for attack and defence but many units get bonuses against specific units (pikmen do double damage vs mounted units) and in certain conditions (archers get a 25% bonus when defending cities). And the graphics are pretty decent, probably better than Rome Total War. If you liked any of the Civ series get civ 4. If you played Civ 3 or 2 and found it too annoying or time consuming than Civ 4 fixes many of these issues and you will most probably love it. I rate it 5 stars. The only cons that I have discovered so far: The cilopaedia sucks and really doesn't explain many of the concepts well. I've played Civ 1, 2 and 3 and was still confused with many of the aspects of the game. Every now and again the game seriously lags for no reason, alt-tabbing out and back in seems to fix this issue. (Will likely be fixed in patch) No quick start for new games like in Civ3, however you always start near a fresh water source so this isn't really much of an issue. The world view (3d globe) warps the map too much (or not enough), although this is probably a comprimise between a 3D globe and eqally sized tiles. 5 stars because the only failings the game has are not gameplay related.

I noticed that the eVGA card is good but it costs over $100 more than xpertvision, albatron, MSI and gigabyte. The last 4 cards are ~AU560 while the eVGA model is $670. I really don't think the minor boost in performance is worth the extra $100. Is it really necessary to purchase a 600W power supply? I know everyone's all about these beefy power supplies, but isn't 600W is a bit excessive? How does the dual core opteron compare to the 3800X2. I've seen some very impressive overclock with the Toledo cores (E6 stepping I believe). As I intend to use this my computer primaryily for gaming, and I intend on using my Corsair XMS Pro RAM (non-ECC RAM).

Recently playing AOE3 and Quake 4, I've come to the eventual realisation that my Ti4200 and Athlon 2800+ just don't cut it any more. As such I’ve decided to buy myself a new computer for Christmas (well actually Christmas just happens to coincide with the time I’ll have enough money to do so, so let’s say Christmas plus or minus a week). I already have some decent Corsair XMS RAM and a few Seagate 7200.8 drives, so I’ll be keeping those. The graphics card was an easy choice, a 7800GT. The 6600GT just isn’t quite good enough, and the price to performance ratio of the 6800GT isn’t as good as that of the 7800GT (about $480 as opposed to $550 (PCI-e obviously), and all the niceties of alpha layer antialiasing). I have yet to decide on a brand; with the 6600GT it was easy, the Leadtek Extreme clearly lead the field for price to performance ratio, but the 7800 GT’s aren’t as clear cut just yet. Clearly the cheapest brand is XpertVision with Gigabyte, MSI and Albatron all following within $30 bracket. I’m open for suggestions here, but about $620 would be my limit (it is hard to justify spending more than $600 on a graphics card and normally I wouldn’t spend more than $450 but the 7800GT is just so juicy). The decision for the motherboard was a bit more difficult. DFI’s decision to indefinitely delay the release of the LanParty UT nF4 SLI-DR Expert has ruled it out (unless, by some miracle it ships prior to Christmas). This leaves two primary contenders: the ASUS A8N-SLI Premium and the DFI LanParty UT nF4 SLI-DR. What was once an easy choice, back when the DFI carried a $100 price premium is no more. The recent drop in price by DFI, and increase by ASUS has put both boards around the $260 mark. The overclockability offered by DFI is certainly an incentive (as I full well intend on a maximum overclock), as is the replacement BIOS should something go wrong (at just $15 more) as I can only wish that I had one with no less than 5 faulty BIOS’ in the past 3 years (I have four Socket A motherboards, only one works). ASUS offers the incentive of software switching for SLI. Although I will unlikely purchase a second 7800GT until the price drops below $350 (which is not soon), when I do eventually purchase a second card, it will be largely to utilise a quad-monitor setup, the SLI feature would merely extend the life of the system; switching to SLi for games an Normal for desktop & work. I have no intention of boosting performance through SLi in the near future as it is just not reasonably (two 6800GT’s cost $960, while a single better performing 7800GT costs only $550). Which board to choose? The climax here comes in what is largely the most costly decision: choice of CPU. The Athlon 64 3200 Venice sells for $235, while the 3800 X2 is $495 and the 4000 San Diego is $10 more at $505. Note that the 3500 and 3800 Venice’ are not really choices as all three Venice cores stated overclock to about the same frequency. Note also the huge overclocking potential of the 3800X2 – 2.4GHz with stock cooler. I’m not really big on utilising many of the programs that utilise dual core chips (video encoding etc.) and although I do sometimes use these programmes I generally tend to employ my server for such tasks (or my new server, i.e. my current computer). The server may be slower but it won’t tie up my primary computer and generally video encoding time is only an issue if I can’t use my computer because the encoding process is hogging resources. However it is said that some of the new games coming out (namely my personal favourite and sequel to Morrowind, TES IV: Oblivion) are beginning to utilise dual cores. Obviously some of the major players will likely bring out patches to utilise the potential of dual cores: I’m thinking Quake 4, Battlefield 2 and obviously any game base on the Unreal 3 engine. Some might not be so sure about the impending nature of games utilising dual core, but I pose this to you: All three next-gen consoles being released in the coming months boast dual or even multicore processing. I think that games benefiting multicore processing are just around the corner. But is the extra $260 really worth it? On the other hand, upgrading a 2800 Barton to a 3200 Venice wouldn’t be much of an upgrade, although an upgrade to Socket 939 (and hence PCI-e compatible) is necessary none the less. The final and far less exciting component of my decision is what to replace my generic-piece-of-crap power supply with. I am hoping that my 350W power supply will be sufficient to power the system temporarily, although I have a feeling that my eight hard disks and two optical drives won’t be able to function until it is replaced. I was thinking of an Antec Neo-Power 480W, at $140 this seem a viable solution; but is there a better option. I not running any sort of mega-cooling and I only have three fans, two 120mm case fans and an 80mm CPU fan. Additionally it is likely that I will end up putting most of my hard disks in my servers to run as media servers, leaving only two in my main computer (one for the system and files, and another for games). I hope that this will not have to be an immediate consideration and I will likely wait until March to replace the PSU. Finally, there are the future considerations. These are somewhat less of a necessity and I can wait 6 months for them. Ageia’s PPU, Creative XFi, Logitech G15 Gaming Keyboard and G70 Gaming Mouse. Hmm, I can always dream.

I believe that all 6600GT's use DDR3 memory but some of the 6600s use regular DDR memory (hence they're cheaper). LeadTek is one of the best brands for 6600Gt's the PX6600 GT Extreme edition from LeadTek is probably the best option for under 100 pound (I'm guessing, as I'm an Aussie.) Have a look for yourself at prices in the UK on this card. The BFG 6600GT is also good but much more expensive (in Australia anyway).

Yeh, I completly agree with prathapml. But my guess is that you are running an AGP based system and that would require an upgrade of your motherboard and CPU too. So I suggest an AGP version of the 6800GT, they are very cheap for there performance, because no-one buys a new AGP card these days. Have a look they can normally be found at very reasonable prices considering how well they perform.

Quake 4 is Quake. People will play it because it plays like an arcade game. Yes there are other awesome new FPS, Battlefield 2, CS:Source and all the single player ones. However, the fact is nearly all new games are very much more realistic in multiplayer, one-shot-one-kill and require strategy. Quake 4 multiplayer is the fragfest that we all love Quake for (haha a pun). Anyway, people will play it not because it’s a different new game, but for the same reason that people played Quake 3. Anyway the single player is much better, and although linear is still fun. Not as good as half-life, but awesome none the less. The friendly AI is pretty good, but enemy AI feels so very scripted. The battles are challenging for the most part (I’m playing on the hardest difficulty level) and the game is enjoyable. The load times are awesome. The first time you load a level it takes a while, but every time you die and have to reload, it is almost instantaneous. The fact is, if you played Quake 3, you should get Quake 4. It offers all the awesome arcade-like fragging of Quake 3, a pretty decent single player (easily better than Unreal 2, and not far behind Half-Life although the story line is a bit thin), and the graphic goodness that is Doom 3. If your not a Quake fan, then know that Quake 4 is still just Quake. If the choice is whether to buy F.E.A.R. or Quake 4, then don't even think about Quake; but if your asking if it should be one of the 10-15 games you buy this year then the answer's yes. Oh and the new ATI cards = $$$, the X1800xt is better than the 7800GTX, but the X1800xl isn’t as good as the 7800GT and costs more (AU$660 as opposed to AU$550). It will be months before the price drops to a competitive level.

Yeh, no shader model 2.0, let alone 3.0. But it will still run at decent frames. Remember though that the 4200 is a bit better then a 9600 vonilla. But I figure I'll upgrade my card to a 7800 GT after exams - mmm working full time on a 95% desposible income is soooo sweet.

How does one change the default settings for a text box in Word 2003. I am aware that you can select set auto-shape defaults but this applies the setting to all autoshapes. For instance I wish to change the font from Times New Roman 12 to Tahoma 10, and remove the outline, margins and fill(so it's just text, nothing else). If I select set autoshape defaults at this point then all my autoshapes have this setting, so if I draw a rectanfle it will have no Line or Fill, just like the text box. Ditto for lines, circles etc. Is there some way to set the defaults for an individual autoshape (such as the text box) or are all autoshape defaults global paremeters? Cheers

Now to find the .torrent.... Done. Now I wonder if my Ti4200 well stand up to the task. Hmm. I think it might be time to upgrade to that 7800GT.... Yeh, definately time to upgrade.

I posted this topic about 4 months ago, but I still havn't found an acceptable sollution. I had a look at the program shove-it, but it just doesn't seem right to have to have a sharware background task running just to fix a Windows bug. With a fresh install of windows this problem still occurs, so my conclusion is that it is a general issue with the explorer GUI. The fact that I run dual monitors may futher complicate th issue. Eventually I'll write a letter to Microsoft and see what there suggestion is. Maybe they'll actually know something I don't.

Apparently, don't quote me on this (it was 3am) but the next Intel board the 575? is supposed to be intergrating both crossfire and SLI. But then maybe that was just a dream?