Big trouble in little Bonifay

[NEO_CrAz3n]

As some of you know, I recently got DSL. Wow! What a difference from dialup. But all is not well in little Bonifay.

I had two problems when playing online.

1- Sometimes I couldn't join a game with clanmates.

2- Sometimes I'd lose my ESO connection.

I thought it was probably the firewall from my DSL provider and so did Strokey. We were correct. I disabled the firewall and had connection problems. I did it again with tech support's help and had connection problems. I had to reset my modem which enabled the firewall again and I could, once again, connect.

I'll get it worked out but in the meantime I won't be able to play much on ESO.

Also, I always thought an improvement in my connection would help with the lag I have on ESO. It improved it but now I'm certain that it's my computer. When I start the game, my comp it at 100% resource usage. This causes unit commands to be interrupted, slows my entry into games (sometimes people are already chatting by the time I enter) and generally makes micro difficult. Hopefully I'll be up and running 100% before long.

I should have the DSL issue sorted-out this week and will, at least, be able to play.

[I__CHAOS__I]

I hope it gets fixed soon Craz

[StrokeyBlofeld]

You should be able to create "firewall rules" in your modem control panel. (If you can log in to it). I found a guide on creating rules for your modem, let me know if you want the link and I'll send it to you. This would mean you don't have to disable the firewall, you only need to tell it to allow all traffic for the AOE program.

[blayzer13]

it sounds like your having ram problems...as for connection it could be another problem from ram or router issues

[StrokeyBlofeld]

[quote=""blayzer13""]it sounds like your having ram problems...as for connection it could be another problem from ram or router issues[/quote]

There is no dedicated router, just the modem....

[Cyclohexane]

I think you should max out the RAM on your motherboard. That will really help things out. A new video card with more RAM will make wonders as well.

[Comadevil]

1 GB of RAM is good, 2 GB is the optimum for AOE3

[blayzer13]

My comp at home has 1024mb of ram and I lag a good bit, but getting my graphics card when I get home should completely removed the problem.

[NEO_CrAz3n]

Yes, please send me the link Strokey.

I think you should max out the RAM on your motherboard. That will really help things out. A new video card with more RAM will make wonders as well.

It's maxed at 1 gig and when I start the game, not play, not go on ESO, just on the game screen, my resource usage is at 100% with all processes that I can possibly shut down, shut down. My graphics card, the best I can get for this computer, has 250 Mb of memory.

Last night playing KK, microing my army was almost impossible at times. I could a bit but at least 3 or 4 times my army moved to a spot instead of firing on a unit or group of units. It's so annoying.

I did figure out what the problem with my monitor was. The screen was shaking and it would occasionally go dark or black. It was sitting right next to a little 15" TV and that was effecting it. TV + Monitor = Bad

[Comadevil]

Single Cores usually have 100% usage when AOE3 is started and 1 GB and a bit more is also then ussed. This are normal states. I think more something with ur installation is wrong or ur comp is just too old.
What CPU and what graphics card do u have?

Also low resolution 800x600 helps

[NEO_CrAz3n]

The computer is 6 or 7 years old. The CPU is Celeron 1.99 Ghz. The card is a FX 5500 which was the best card I could use. I I had AGP or PCI Express I could have gotten a solid card.

[blayzer13]

im guessing you have pci then? that sucks big time and may be the source of the problem. i got agp which is way more expensive than pcie but it still works. even with 1.99 ghz you should be able to get at least a 512 graphics card

[RascalJones]

AOE3 is the single biggest resource hog on my machine......other than Windows XP.

[Comadevil]

[quote=""NEO_CrAz3n""]The computer is 6 or 7 years old. The CPU is Celeron 1.99 Ghz. The card is a FX 5500 which was the best card I could use. I I had AGP or PCI Express I could have gotten a solid card.[/quote]

Ur comp is just too old. U must use lowest resolution possible with everything turned off. Even then i don't think ur online experience will improve much because PCI for the graphics is the biggest bottleneck followed by ur CPU.
I think u just need a new computer or at least a "new" used one which has enough power

[RascalJones]

my pc is almost 5 years old, can play AOE3, but I don't dare get more adventurous than that. BFME2 would not play at all on it. It actually laughed at me "you can't expect me to run on THAT video card....lol n00b". seriously, that's what the game told me