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The Screen Freeze. Yeah, its still here.

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elricbro3

Member
Jan 6, 2011
24
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#1
Yes, that's right Tripwire.
That screen freeze issue? Where the game randomly, and for no apparent reason, locks up so you cannot move, but you can still hear background noise, and then, after 5-20 seconds, resumes, but you're already dead?
And it does it whenever it feels like, but reliably at the Tripwire Interactive screen?
That glitch that many people are having, yet you've paid no attention to?

Well, listen up.

The issue is caused by wireless settings and, in my case, my network adapter.

If I disable my internet, the error stops.
However, KF also loses its ability to play online. So in other words, it sucks.

For everyone out there who is also experiencing this issue, and now how game-breaking it is, try disabling your wireless adapter through the Device Manager, and see if KF starts working again.

Hopefully if we can single this out as the cause of this freeze, then maybe Tripwire will be able to start working on a solution.

In case anyone wants to know...
AMD Phenom 2.3 GhZ Quad Core
6 GB RAM
150+ GB HDD Free Space
nVidia GTS 450 Graphics Card (it can play Crysis on max, w00t)
 
#3
Brings me right back to my belief on wireless anything: it's the freakin devil, never use it for anything you actually care about...like mouse, keyboard, game controllers, or internet connection for gaming. You'd be amazed how many "little" issues go away if you switch to a wired setup, some of which you don't even notice. Like those times when you swear that you didn't move your mouse that far or you moved it further, probably a wireless hiccup(but you blame yourself until you have a wired mouse).

If you just cant go wired, try using the WLan Optimizer or using a Wireless Network Manager other than the one built into Windows.
 
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#4
I agree entirely. I hate wireless. Unfortunately, in the house I live in, my computer is the only desktop in the house. The internet runs in, through a surge protector, into our modem, into a wireless router, which broadcasts that signal to the rest of my family, who all use laptops.

Regardless of whether or not wireless is a good idea, the issue at hand is that I think I've figured out what is causing this screen freeze issue that many people are having.

If these people could give it a shot, and try KF without the wireless controller or network adapter running, and see if it works, maybe we can help Tripwire get off of their rear ends and do something about this.

EDIT: The internet runs into my computer through a hard line, so I myself am not using wireless internet, but my computer is set up with the software and devices to broadcast that signal, and THAT is what is messing with KF.
 
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#6
The fact that its a user-end problem for everyone having this issue seems unlikely, considering that most of them report this error starting after an update. For most of us, it was during the Christmas update.

Killing Floor had always worked fine for me before, and despite that I hadn't changed any of my hardware, installed anything, or updated Windows, once that KF update installed and I went to play the Twisted Christmas event, it was broken.

The fact that for many people, myself included, this issue began following an update, seems to point towards the fact that something was changed that started this problem.
 
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#7
I was wondering what was going on! :eek:

It never was a major problem before (my router is directly behind me, but difficult to get at to plug in a wire), but I suppose something must be happenning with the wireless capability of it.

Bloody annoying, but not a TWI thing. Well, can you guys give any tips for better connectivity? Since I would either need a lot of cord or somehow sit on the ceiling in order for a direct connection, I would like anything you guys can give to help me do the best with what I have (minus any purchases requiring loadsa money)
 
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#8
I was not aware that this had started from the Christmas update. I looked through all code changes that were made for that update and since that update, but there is nothing that would point toward causing an issue with wireless networking. My only guess would be some maximum packet size that we are now exceeding with the addition of Hell on Earth difficulty or by grabbing twice as many Achievements as we were previously. Neither of those make much sense, but perhaps there's a setting for maximum packet size available in your router configuration? Can someone try bumping that up?

We do test 1 wireless connection here, but it's a Mac. I did a quick test running the Mac in Windows mode and it worked fine, but we are running an N network here, not G/B/A. Maybe the default maximum packet size for N networks is higher?
 
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#9
I've got WinXP SP3 with no wireless hardware. I've checked running services and saw that Wireless Zero Configuration is on. Stopping and disabling it did nothing. However, after disabling my Realtek network adapter I suddenly got drastically improved game and map loading times and ran through the whole normal-long Mountain Pass smoothly without a single freeze. First two tries right before it gave usual freeze at TW logo, then at class selection and once or twice during the first two waves.

So, the problem could indeed be related to some network issues. But besides KF and Windows we have the third side: Steam. It updates frequently, and not so long ago I saw a forum thread where people reported performance issues after some major update. From my own experience, I can tell that when Steam downloads something, it slows down the whole PC, and, besides, I've recently experienced occasional graphic crashes in Team Fortress 2 I've never had before, and this happened shortly after update.

KF worked fine with Steam on, but in offline state. I also tried it online, but with friends/messenger service offline. Got two freezes during the same solo Mountain Pass, but it seemed a little bit better thanks to no delay at logo. Could be a coincidence, though, so this whole thing needs more testing. But I think we are getting a suspect besides TW or MS. :rolleyes:
 
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#10
Well, I appreciate you looking at the update codes to check for issues.

Its true that it may be a Steam issue, but I'm also glad that we seem to have narrowed it down to being caused by an online vs. offline problem.

Any suggestions as to how this could be fixed?
I'm going to try the packet size fix and see if it works.

EDIT:
Tried setting my Max Packet Size to a variety of different values. I tried below, at, and above the size that my computer beings fragmenting the packets.
No luck.
 
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#16
[TW]Xienen said:
Interesting, because timur has had this happen in TF2. Maybe you guys have 2 unrelated issues? Lets see if there are any other similarities between each of your setups...please tell me what your OS, processor, video card, network card, and router details are.
Click to expand...

Model 2510 Vostro, Intel Core 2 Duo Processor, Vista, and a Cisco Valet Router.

Also, it happens in TF2, but only rarely; by far it occurs the most in this order of games (closer to top=more frequent)
RO
Minecraft
KF
TF2

RO sometimes won't let me exit spawn before disconnecting, and Minecraft is pretty freezy, but never disconnects.

KF can be just as bad as RO, and sometimes runs smoothly; It confuses me badly :confused:

And TF2 only has short occaisonal freezes, but for the most part it is the smoothest of these
 
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#17
My system specs are listen in my original posted, and additionally:
Cisco brand Linksys WRT54GS Router
Marvell Yukon 8818071 PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet Controller

And his problem sounds very different from the screen freeze everyone else is experiencing. The KF screen freeze is a constant thing, it ALWAYS happens at the TWI screen, and then at intervals afterwards.

I don't have any troubles with Left4Dead2, Crysis, Crysis 2 Demo, CSS, TF2, or any other online game.

Just KF.
 
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#19
Exited and closed Steam.
Ran KF without Steam running.

Freezes were still there.

It must not be a Steam issue, then.

EDIT: In case you hadn't read or had forgotten, I had mentioned earlier that this freeze happens reliably at the Tripwire Interactive screen upon launch. If I hit a button to skip that screen fast enough, then the freeze occurs the second the menu renders. Is there anything distinctive that happens upon game launch that could be causing this?
 
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