A:EFTP Audio goes... boom

[Slawbug]

This is the first time I am posting in Tech Support, with a problem rather than a solution. :-(

 

A:EFTP often runs fine on my computer. Occasionally -- usually during combat -- the frame rate will suddenly and precipitously degrade, and then go back to normal. That's not too weird, as my graphics card is old (although it never did that on previous SW games). The real concern is the audio. Occasionally -- and less predictably -- the audio will stutter at the same time as there is a graphics problem. Whereas the graphics display always recovers, the audio output CANNOT recover. It may get closer to normal output but it will continue to stutter, with pauses inserted into the audio breakbeat style.

 

If I quit and restart, things are fine again.

 

If I don't quit, the application will usually crash within several minutes.

 

If I quit but don't restart and attempt to do something else (e.g., use Chrome) performance is a bit laggy and I will spontaneously get the "You must restart your computer" screen within 20 minutes.

 

I get that screen about once a year, so I am skeptical that this is a coincidence. I have, of course, tried redownloading, reinstalling, restarting, looking for driver updates, etc.

 

Finally, I have had ZERO problems with all other SW games, including Avadon. So I was surprised to encounter this. Thanks for any help.

 

SYSTEM SPECS

 

A:EFTP

v1.0

Mac

OS 10.5.8

MacBook

2 GHz Intel Core Duo

 

Audio (Built-In): Intel High Definition Audio

Audio ID: 10

 

Graphics: Intel GMA 950

VRAM: 64 MB of Shared System Memory

Built-In Display

[Randomizer]

I started seeing problems in the last version of A:EftP where the graphics would slow down right when the game calculates a monster's death and would have to switch to the death graphics. I wasn't listening to the audio, but the game always recovers after that and it doesn't seem to affect anything else.

[Daniel Faraday]

I have the same computer and the same problem (only I am running Lion).

 

It lasts for a couple of seconds then it disappears. To make the sound go ‘normal’ again, plug and unplug headphones (or vice versa) or something else in the sound output port of your computer. It usually happens again after some undefined amount of time, but in the end you'll always get a kernel panic.

 

The GMA950 graphics card is a pain. From what I've experienced, it's related to your laptop overheating (possibly in relation to memory usage since it always happens to me when I'm a bit further in *any* game). The fans cannot cool down your laptop properly anymore. It could be that there is too much dust in there, which happened over time? Maybe that's why you've never experienced it before. A way to chech this is to see if you experience the same in Avadon now.

 

Are your fans blasting on maximum power when it happens? A dirty solution is to try a lower resolution or drawing less game graphics; it's less CPU intensive that way and subsequently you can play longer without problems...

 

Edit:

I just read a topic about fans running at 100%, thought this was merely because of my old laptop. Anyway: I think it's related. When I use my laptop on a surface that easily holds heat this problem kicks in earlier. Luckily it's winter here now.