Jabo

My 9800GTX is commercially OC'd, and seems OK if a bit warm. ~S~ Jabo

Everything OK at present. Windows installed, updated and stable. ~S~ Jabo

OK gang, I'm going for it. Win XP 64 bit here I come.... ~S~ Jabo P.S. Hopefully might manage to fly tonight.

And this is why I don't do overclocking...If the uber-cautious BG can have problems, I shudder to think of the hash I could make of it.... ~S~ Jabo

I've always used the remote assistance option native to Windows. ~S~ Jabo

I've seen July 30th 2009 postulated - think this is more likely... ~S~ Jabo

Not sure which patch you're referring to m8, but all you should need is that 1.2Gb monster. That contains the files to patch the basic game to 4.08, includes the mod switcher, no-disk crack etc etc etc. Therefore, the process is; 1) install game 2) install 1.2Gb Mod Pack The other mods haven't yet been fully approved for use with DD co-ops so leave 'em out for the time being. Job done ~S~ Jabo P.S. Hop onto TS if you're still not certain m8, I'll be there for the next 30 mins or so

I can't say I agree with the sentiment, but I do like the way he has felt the need to add 'Zionist' in brackets in front of the 'juice' just in case anyone was uncertain... Doofus. ~S~ Jabo

~S~ and welcome to the Pound Jabo

Welcome to the pound Hollywood - Bear in mind that the Sisters of St Oleg (a local convent) are always on hand to offer...erm...'spiritual' guidance if necessary... ~S~ Jabo

As I understand it, the IL2-1946 game is also available as a paid download directly from ubisoft if you have a rapid connection. Bear in mind that you will also need to download the 352nd mod package which you can find in the Vault. Welcome to the pound Eraser - I think you'll like it here... ~S~ Jabo

Possible confusion there Rog, my pre-SP1 copy of XP could not sort out my shiny new PCI-E gfx card, so I slipstreamed it with SP2 in desperation and hey presto! Everything went back to normal (still dazed and confused, but at least I could get Bill's finest installed). The next steps for me are to slipstream SP3 into the mix which will save me lots of time when I next have to do a 'Quazi' on my system (new verb for the Oxford boys there - I quazi, you quazi etc etc). ~S~ Jabo

OK, I think I understand that. I think I need to find a copy of XP 64bit if I want to push the envelope as far as memory is concerned. Thanks for the clarification m8, much appreciated. ~S~ Jabo

Yep, that could be it...

Eh? You're spot on about Oleg overdoing the ground clutter though. Despite the fact that I spend quite a bit of my online time on the ground, I don't spend a lot of time looking around. Hopefully the production team are doing a good job on the programming so (like IL2) it will run on machines that aren't at the cutting edge. I remember being staggered by Forgotten Battles in comparison to FS 2004. ~S~ Jabo

Hi Dep, been doing some googling, there is no point in putting 16Gb of RAM in that Xeon unit of yours. 8Gb is all that Vista is capable of detecting (64 bit), and going above that will probably make matters worse as Vista will try and address the additional but make a hash of it and will wind up slowing the machine down. I suggest you go to 8Gb if you must, but save the cash on the additional memory and put it towards your graphics card. ~S~ Jabo P.S. Need to look into overclocking now as must find a way to beat Jim...

Given that your monitor was causing the problem, I suspect the default refresh rate was set to a level your monitor could not support, and therefore the monitor was shutting down, giving you the Black Screen of Death ie monitor in power save mode. ~S~ Jabo

My approach is slightly different to Rico's in that I have two HDDs in my PC, one for 'data' (the junk I collect - A bit like Rico's multitude of CD spools) and the other for 'system' files (ie windows). The advantage of this is that I can reformat the system drive any time I like without affecting the data I have on the PC. You can do this with a single drive too by partitioning it into 2 'logical' drives, and using c: for your system, and d: for your data. Obviously, whichever route you choose, you should always ensure that you have your data backed-up on a remote device (like an external hard drive) in case something major should befall your PC. For example, my airshow photos (of which there are many) are on my second drive in the PC where I can get at them quickly, on an external hard drive at home (which is not kept with the PC) and on another which I keep at my parents place, and is updated periodically. ~S~ Jabo

OK, here's mine to start the ball rolling - ~S~ Jabo

Steady on JP, we might one day run out of booze... Incidentally, is anyone bothered that in SOW you'll be able to count the bolts holding the radar towers together? And as for electricity generators for searchlights - sheesh. I'll still buy it though

Nah m8 sticking with what I already have as it's XP Pro Enterprise Edition with a legitimate corporate licence key

Thanks for all the suggestions, I've found the problem - XP pre SP1 doesn't understand PCI-E! I slipstreamed my copy with SP2 and oh yes, by the way, IT'S WORKING!!!!! By thunder this is quick compared to the old machine. 20 seconds from power on to Windows! Will have the game loaded shortly followed by Fraps and I'll do a frame count on Black Death... Thanks to everyone who's offered suggestions, I was really hitting a bad patch there for a while.

I'm wondering if it's due to my XP cd (legit) being pre-SP1. I'm in the process of building a slipstreamed XP installation disk with SP2 which might be worth a try. I will also get the latest BIOS files. Thanks Falcon On a positive note, before it crashes, it's bloody quick

How does 'the whole thing's fubar' sound? Grrr. Getting a blue screen of death while installing windows XP - reporting a fault with 'pci.sys' - gfx card? I dunno. Lost and not happy. Any help gratefully received. ~S~ Jabo

Landed at our local ParcelForce depot at 2.57 this morning and is booked out for delivery! Pace...Pace...Pace...Pace ...Pace...Pa - hang on, is that the front door bell? IT IS!!! And the bits are here - WOOHOO!!! To hell with work, I'm calling in sick...