Need app to slow down CPU

[Aku]

Someone posted a link recently, but I can't find it. Mechwarrior 3 has a known problem on faster machines where mechs (including yours) will bounce up and down and sometimes launch into the sky when they bump into something or step off a ledge. Hilarious to watch at first (hopping tanks, lol!) - that is until you're in the heat of battle and suddenly zoom off into space, where you hover helplessly for the next couple of minutes until you come back down again. Lowering the refresh rate all the way reduces this problem, but does not eliminate it. Not on my machine, anyway. The only other solution I can think of is to slow the CPU down. So, a good freeware/shareware app would help. Beyond that, I think I'd have to scratch Mechwarrior 3 from the play list.

[HeroicWolf86]

Someone posted a link recently, but I can't find it. Mechwarrior 3 has a known problem on faster machines where mechs (including yours) will bounce up and down and sometimes launch into the sky when they bump into something or step off a ledge. Hilarious to watch at first (hopping tanks, lol!) - that is until you're in the heat of battle and suddenly zoom off into space, where you hover helplessly for the next couple of minutes until you come back down again. Lowering the refresh rate all the way reduces this problem, but does not eliminate it. Not on my machine, anyway. The only other solution I can think of is to slow the CPU down. So, a good freeware/shareware app would help. Beyond that, I think I'd have to scratch Mechwarrior 3 from the play list.

well you can try to get a patch and that should fix it try to update everything from the vid card to the os sometimes its not the program its the interfearance with onboard stuff and i doupt makeing your computer slower will help it any trust me the more ram and cpu speed the better just search for patches there are always way around problems like it you cant find an official patch try to look for non-official patches lol i find them all the time just have to know where to look goodluck but i doupt lowering system preformance will help any.

[moya]

The thread you're looking for is here:

http://forums.videogamereview.com/showthread.php?t=2213

By the way, lowering the refresh rate helps to alleviate that problem?! What the...?

[Aku]

well you can try to get a patch and that should fix it try to update everything from the vid card to the os sometimes its not the program its the interfearance with onboard stuff and i doupt makeing your computer slower will help it any trust me the more ram and cpu speed the better just search for patches there are always way around problems like it you cant find an official patch try to look for non-official patches lol i find them all the time just have to know where to look goodluck but i doupt lowering system preformance will help any.

I found a freeware app, but slowing down the CPU speed didn't solve the problem. The problem has to do with the refresh rate . Lowering it to 60 fixes it enough to make it an intermittent problem and the game playable. At 72, mechs are bouncing into the sky like they're on pogo sticks. This is a common problem with the game on newer machines running on XP. There's really no patch or fix for it other than to lower your refresh rate and accept the occasional lift-off. I can put up with it because the game itself is so good.

[Aku]

The thread you're looking for is here:

http://forums.videogamereview.com/showthread.php?t=2213

By the way, lowering the refresh rate helps to alleviate that problem?! What the...?

Yes, believe it or not. The problem is documented in Mechwarrior 3 forums. You have to see it to believe it.

[E.T.]

Hey Aku, thats weird. I recall we have similar CPU speeds, though I have yet to experience the bouncing warrior syndrome, lol.

QUESTIONS: [1]Do you have Mech 3 exp Pirates Moon, & if so, does it react likewise?

[2] Have you tried Mech 4: Black Knight?

[Aku]

Hey Aku, thats weird. I recall we have similar CPU speeds, though I have yet to experience the bouncing warrior syndrome, lol.

QUESTIONS: [1]Do you have Mech 3 exp Pirates Moon, & if so, does it react likewise?

[2] Have you tried Mech 4: Black Knight?

Do you run XP Home? This problem is peculiar to XP Home. Also, are you on DirectX 9b? That may also be related to this problem. Do you have Intel or AMD? I forget. This problem is pretty common for newer machines running on XP Home. Actually, it's a magnification of an existing bug some call 'ramping'. In Mechwarrior 3, when you step up onto objects, sometimes your mech will jump up into the air for a second or two. This happens on lots of systems, not just XP. This minor bug seems to get amplified on many XP systems, where you literally take off into orbit, and float in the sky hundreds of feet off the ground for a minute or longer before falling back down to earth. It also causes those little APC tanks to bounce up and down like jumping beans.

By setting the monitor refresh rate to 60, I can minimize the accidental 'lift-offs' of my mech and NPC mechs. The APCs still bounce around, but stick closer to the ground, and tend to smooth out when they close in and start attacking. So, it's just a nuissance problem now and doesn't prevent me from playing. Most of the time the mechs stick to the terra firma. I haven't played Pirate's Moon yet, probably not until I finish the original campaign. I don't have any Mechwarrior 4 games. Different engine and developer, and I know it doesn't have this issue. I don't know why they never came out with a Mechwarrior 4 Gold. I'd pick it up if they'd package it like that.

[E.T.]

I have XP home, I am running Dx9b, & have Intel CPU.

Regarding thread topic of slowing down CPU, my neighbor claims his system wont play Deus Ex [original] for that reason. I forgot about his claim till I read this thread.
I had no idea that it was possible to have too fast a CPU to play games???

[Aku]

I have XP home, I am running Dx9b, & have Intel CPU.

Regarding thread topic of slowing down CPU, my neighbor claims his system wont play Deus Ex [original] for that reason. I forgot about his claim till I read this thread.
I had no idea that it was possible to have too fast a CPU to play games???

It's true that a CPU can be too fast to play some games, but we're usually talking about very old games - particularly DOS games. The problem usually manifests itself in objects moving too fast on the screen, or time moving too fast (like, you have a timed puzzle to solve but end up with ten seconds to solve it instead of a full minute). The Mechwarrior 3 glitch is not related to the CPU being too fast. It has to do with video settings in XP. It could be a combination of XP with Nvidia cards - it seems like everyone reporting the problem has XP Home and a GeForce whatever. BTW, Do you have a GeForce or a Radeon? Anyway, the refresh rate is at the heart of the problem.

I can't believe your neighbor's problem with Deus Ex has to do with his CPU being too fast. That's still a fairly modern game that uses the Unreal engine. His problem must be something else. Probably a driver problem.

[E.T.]

Thanks for the feedback Aku.

Yup, I have the Xp/G4 combo, yet no anti-grav bot behavior in Mech3. I DO recall that the mobile field repair units would slide horizontally @ times[as if they were on ice].

Re: my neighbor & his "too fast" 'puter, he gave my nephew his copy of DE while making this claim, lol. I always suspected it was a lame excuse for comaptibility issues or such.

Speaking of 'Bot games, have you by chance experienced Steel Battalion?
http://www.capcom.com/SB/

I know its 'Box stuff, but looks like an evolved form of BattleTech/Mech series.

[Aku]

Thanks for the feedback Aku.

Yup, I have the Xp/G4 combo, yet no anti-grav bot behavior in Mech3. I DO recall that the mobile field repair units would slide horizontally @ times[as if they were on ice].

Re: my neighbor & his "too fast" 'puter, he gave my nephew his copy of DE while making this claim, lol. I always suspected it was a lame excuse for comaptibility issues or such.

Speaking of 'Bot games, have you by chance experienced Steel Battalion?
http://www.capcom.com/SB/

I know its 'Box stuff, but looks like an evolved form of BattleTech/Mech series.

The only other mech game I have played is Starsiege. I liked that game so much I picked up Mechwarrior 3 Gold a year ago when I saw it in the store. I finally installed it on my current computer last week. Did you finish either/both of the Starsiege campaigns, BTW? Let me know if you have any special settings or overrides you're using for monitor refresh rate, dxdiag Direct Draw settings, or Nvidia video settings. I have a GeForce 4 too, and a Pentium, and XP Home, and DirectX 9b. With systems that similar, there might be some setting of yours that I could emulate and see if it cuts out the bouncing and lift-offs altogether.

[E.T.]

Re: Starsiege, I'm near ending of initial campaign & was distracted by TBS games Disciples:RotE & AOW: Shadow Magic. Two totally different genres, I cant seem to loose the TBS addiction. I will return to Starsiege soon.

Re: System settings, nothing tweaked. My monitor refresh is 75 hertz, I can paste or PM my Dxdiag info if you like.
I have the ti 128mb 4200 GPU [heard it actually has slower core speed than 64mb ti 4200, weird..]

[Aku]

I forgot one thing. What version of Mechwarrior 3 do you play? I play Mechwarrior 3 Gold, which is patched to 1.2 . However, Mechwarrior 3 Gold is a little different from the original Mechwarrior 3 patched separately. I think Gold has some graphic improvements, which makes it somewhat different.

[E.T.]

Good point, my version is at least 3 yrs old. Hmm....could be the difference.