Quake 4 at ultra settings crash??

[dguy6789]

Keep in mind: My system is Prime stable for 48 hours folding stable, seti stable, memtest stable, and stable with all 3dmarks and a few other benchmarks, as well as it has never crashed in any of my 30+ games.

I installed Quake 4 a few days ago. I set the graphics to ultra, but when playing, within say a minute, the game would instantly crash to desktop and leave the gamma on high. This problem does not occur when using high settings.

I did some research on the internet and people with video cards ranging from X800XLs to X1800XTs were having this same issue.

Keep in mind I do not have the latest patch as of yet.

Does anyone know any way to fix this problem? Does the latest patch fix this issue? Is there some workaround? Thanks in advance.

 

[Ichigo]

Just play at High. I dare you to spot the difference between the two settings anyways.

 

[dguy6789]

I doubt I could tell the difference. I would still like to know if there is a fix to this problem though.

 

[sodcha0s]

Each texture (diffuse, specular, normal) will be at full resolution with no compression. In a typical Quake 4 level, this can hover around 500 megabyte of texture data. This will run on current hardware but will not fit onto a 256MB card, causing texture thrashing. The amount of texture referenced in a given scene per frame ( 60 times a second ) can easily be 50 megabytes+. This is ideal for 512 megabyte video cards.

Read HERE. This site has tons of info in q4 tweaks and settings.

EDIT: The above quote explains the main difference in ultra over high settings. Basically if you don't have a 512M vid card, you're not gonna be able to play on ultra. Even if your system didn't crash, the game would be unplayable because it would constantly have to swap textures from main memory.

 

[dguy6789]

Originally posted by: sodcha0s

Each texture (diffuse, specular, normal) will be at full resolution with no compression. In a typical Quake 4 level, this can hover around 500 megabyte of texture data. This will run on current hardware but will not fit onto a 256MB card, causing texture thrashing. The amount of texture referenced in a given scene per frame ( 60 times a second ) can easily be 50 megabytes+. This is ideal for 512 megabyte video cards.

Read HERE. This site has tons of info in q4 tweaks and settings.

EDIT: The above quote explains the main difference in ultra over high settings. Basically if you don't have a 512M vid card, you're not gonna be able to play on ultra. Even if your system didn't crash, the game would be unplayable because it would constantly have to swap textures from main memory.

Sorry to burst your bubble, but the idea that ultra quality in doom 3 or quake 4 needs 512MB video cards is 100% id promotional wow factor BS. Not one benchmark done by ANYONE has shown any remote performance difference between a 256 and 512 MB card of the same spec in ultra settings in either game. Also, if 512Mb of memory is necessary for Doom 3 at ultra as it says, then explain to me how it is 100% playable at 1024x768 at ultra settings on a 128MB 9800 Pro.

 

[sodcha0s]

Originally posted by: dguy6789

Originally posted by: sodcha0s

Each texture (diffuse, specular, normal) will be at full resolution with no compression. In a typical Quake 4 level, this can hover around 500 megabyte of texture data. This will run on current hardware but will not fit onto a 256MB card, causing texture thrashing. The amount of texture referenced in a given scene per frame ( 60 times a second ) can easily be 50 megabytes+. This is ideal for 512 megabyte video cards.

Read HERE. This site has tons of info in q4 tweaks and settings.

EDIT: The above quote explains the main difference in ultra over high settings. Basically if you don't have a 512M vid card, you're not gonna be able to play on ultra. Even if your system didn't crash, the game would be unplayable because it would constantly have to swap textures from main memory.

Sorry to burst your bubble, but the idea that ultra quality in doom 3 or quake 4 needs 512MB video cards is 100% id promotional wow factor BS. Not one benchmark done by ANYONE has shown any remote performance difference between a 256 and 512 MB card of the same spec in ultra settings in either game. Also, if 512Mb of memory is necessary for Doom 3 at ultra as it says, then explain to me how it is 100% playable at 1024x768 at ultra settings on a 128MB 9800 Pro.

Sorry to burst YOUR bubble, but that is indeed what is happening. You don't have to believe it I suppose, but you wanted to know why and lack of video memory is why.

explain to me how it is 100% playable at 1024x768 at ultra settings on a 128MB 9800 Pro.

It's not, and you specifically asked about quake4, not doom3.

Not one benchmark done by ANYONE has shown any remote performance difference between a 256 and 512 MB card of the same spec in ultra settings in either game.

I couldn't find any benchmarks that used a 256 card on ultra settings. Any that mentioned testing on ultra settings also came with a disclaimer that it could not be done on a card with less than 512M of video memory, so it was only used on 512 cards.

 

[xtknight]

Disabling EAX or "advanced HD" or whatever it's called in the audio settings fixed Q4 crashing for me.

Edit: it was OpenAL actually.

 

[rise]

i thought there was a warning when you first set it to "ultra" that that setting is for cards with 512 ram only?

 

[Smilin]

Ultra uses uncompressed textures.

There may be levels where the total textures are < 256mb so the game would run (relatively) fine.

If you hit 512mb you're gonna texture thrash. You'll know it when you get single digit FPS when sweeping your view around.

 

[lotust]

intresting stuff.

 

[dguy6789]

Originally posted by: sodcha0s

Originally posted by: dguy6789

Originally posted by: sodcha0s

Each texture (diffuse, specular, normal) will be at full resolution with no compression. In a typical Quake 4 level, this can hover around 500 megabyte of texture data. This will run on current hardware but will not fit onto a 256MB card, causing texture thrashing. The amount of texture referenced in a given scene per frame ( 60 times a second ) can easily be 50 megabytes+. This is ideal for 512 megabyte video cards.

Read HERE. This site has tons of info in q4 tweaks and settings.

EDIT: The above quote explains the main difference in ultra over high settings. Basically if you don't have a 512M vid card, you're not gonna be able to play on ultra. Even if your system didn't crash, the game would be unplayable because it would constantly have to swap textures from main memory.

Sorry to burst your bubble, but the idea that ultra quality in doom 3 or quake 4 needs 512MB video cards is 100% id promotional wow factor BS. Not one benchmark done by ANYONE has shown any remote performance difference between a 256 and 512 MB card of the same spec in ultra settings in either game. Also, if 512Mb of memory is necessary for Doom 3 at ultra as it says, then explain to me how it is 100% playable at 1024x768 at ultra settings on a 128MB 9800 Pro.

Sorry to burst YOUR bubble, but that is indeed what is happening. You don't have to believe it I suppose, but you wanted to know why and lack of video memory is why.

You need to read my post. People with X1800XTs(512MB cards) are having the same problem as I am. It is not just me.

explain to me how it is 100% playable at 1024x768 at ultra settings on a 128MB 9800 Pro.

It's not, and you specifically asked about quake4, not doom3.

You are full of it. I played through ALL of Doom 3 and Resurrection of Evil on a 9800 Pro at 1024 ultra settings and never once did it drop below 30fps.

Not one benchmark done by ANYONE has shown any remote performance difference between a 256 and 512 MB card of the same spec in ultra settings in either game.

I couldn't find any benchmarks that used a 256 card on ultra settings. Any that mentioned testing on ultra settings also came with a disclaimer that it could not be done on a card with less than 512M of video memory, so it was only used on 512 cards.

To end your misconception. All games are on absolute maximum in game settings.

http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.aspx?i=2607&p=10

 

[sodcha0s]

To end your misconception. All games are on absolute maximum in game settings.

http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.aspx?i=2607&p=10

This says nothing about in game settings, only that the game was run at a resolution of 2048x1536, with and without AA. Nowhere in the article does it say what in game settings were used.

You are full of it. I played through ALL of Doom 3 and Resurrection of Evil on a 9800 Pro at 1024 ultra settings and never once did it drop below 30fps.

Again, that's D3, not Q4. I have no idea how much memory is needed for textures in D3, I don't even know if ultra quality means the same thing on D3 as Q4: i.e. using uncompressed textures. I've never played D3, but from what I've read Q4's graphics are better/more detailed.

You need to read my post. People with X1800XTs(512MB cards) are having the same problem as I am. It is not just me.

True, I have seen posts about that issue with older drivers (5.10's?) on x1800xt's, but I don't know if it has been resolved. I have also seen a lot of people with 7800 GTX's 256 saying Q4 is practically unplayable on UQ because of studdering. I have an x800 xt pe and tried to run Q4 on ultra, the game took forever on the load screen and then crashed to desktop with a message "out of memory."

 

[dguy6789]

Originally posted by: sodcha0s

To end your misconception. All games are on absolute maximum in game settings.

http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.aspx?i=2607&p=10

This says nothing about in game settings, only that the game was run at a resolution of 2048x1536, with and without AA. Nowhere in the article does it say what in game settings were used.

You are full of it. I played through ALL of Doom 3 and Resurrection of Evil on a 9800 Pro at 1024 ultra settings and never once did it drop below 30fps.

Again, that's D3, not Q4. I have no idea how much memory is needed for textures in D3, I don't even know if ultra quality means the same thing on D3 as Q4: i.e. using uncompressed textures. I've never played D3, but from what I've read Q4's graphics are better/more detailed.

Doom 3 is tougher to run than Quake 4.

You need to read my post. People with X1800XTs(512MB cards) are having the same problem as I am. It is not just me.

True, I have seen posts about that issue with older drivers (5.10's?) on x1800xt's, but I don't know if it has been resolved. I have also seen a lot of people with 7800 GTX's 256 saying Q4 is practically unplayable on UQ because of studdering. I have an x800 xt pe and tried to run Q4 on ultra, the game took forever on the load screen and then crashed to desktop with a message "out of memory."

All Anandtech reviews are done at absolute maximum settings unless otherwise noted.