Transitioning screen problem

[youngsheep67]

Sometimes when I enter from the harbor to marketplace or from the marketplace to the various houses, there is a brief pause.... it is at this point my computer freezes, is this normal. I've noticed this more frequently. Is this a server connection problem or is it my computer problem? Sometimes the freeze occurs when the server is really busy.

[ReaperAlexEU]

it has to do 2 things at that point, your computer has to load in all the new data to build the new part of the world you are entering, and the server may have to hand you over to another server.

if its just you freezing then its the problem will be your end. when the server is busy your computer has to load up the details for a lot more players, all their armour and weapons. you can scale down the detail your computer shows other players in the options, that might help you some.

also not sometimes the blue progress bars seem to get stuck for ages, then they might jump a large amount in one go. next time you think you're PC has frozen, walk away and make a cup of tea or coffee. you might find when you return its not crashed and has loaded the new area.

make sure your hard drive is not fragmented. run a defrag tool to ensure the hard drive is being used optimally, that may help with load times. also ensure you have plenty of RAM memory, on a 32 bit operating system 2 GB of RAM should be fine, on a 64 bit OS you'll want to aim for 4 GB of RAM. if you don't have enough you'll find your computer will start to use the hard drive as virtual memory, and hard drives are hundreds of times slower than RAM is, which can really kill performance. i recently tried to play DDO with only 1 GB of ram, it took 30 seconds to show the haste graphics after i cast it!

naturally shutting down extra programs like your web browser and any applications other than anti-virus and firewall will leave more memory free for DDO, so give that a try too.

[pasqualy]

i play DDO in windowed mode (as opposed to full-screen) and find that often when it has to load a new zone (i.e. a dungeon, the marketplace, the narbor, etc.) it will say that DDO is not responding however, if i wait a minute it loads just fine. so like the post above says even if it seems DDO has frozen give it a minute and it should unfreeze. the problem could also be with your graphics card; i play DDO on a netbook (acer aspire one aka tiny little laptop not intended for any kind of gaming) and find that if i keep the graphics settings turned down the game runs much faster. if you want good graphics i'd suggest upgrading your computer or living with some lag/long loading times. if graphics aren't that important to you, turn them down in the options (press escape to open the menu, click options, then click the 'graphics' option on the side) and the game should go faster :)

[Lord_Winn]

Now I understand just waiting for the blue bar to completely load may resolve the problem. What if your computer is making a buzzing sound and your screen just freezes? I often just reboot the computer. Is there a better way to fix this problem? Thank you.

[ReaperAlexEU]

Now I understand just waiting for the blue bar to completely load may resolve the problem. What if your computer is making a buzzing sound and your screen just freezes? I often just reboot the computer. Is there a better way to fix this problem? Thank you.

updates mother board, graphics and sound card drivers. also update windows.

if it still persists check to make sure your computer is not over heating. also is the buzzing from the speakers or from the case? if it sounds mechanical then its a sign of imminent hardware failure. get it to someone who can fix computers ASAP!

if its not hardware related then you can always wipe your computer clean and install windows from fresh. this is often a pain to do but its a great way to resolve software problems.

[Grenada]

Buzzing+Screen freezes= computer thinking (falling behind on processes)

Basically, the computer is falling behind on the things it needs to do to keep the computer running, so things start to freeze up.

It should fix itself within a couple of minutes.

Note: sometimes the computer will do this when it has trouble with the server (poor connection, no connection, etc). Same as above, it should fix itself in a couple of minutes.

After 2 minutes:
Try not to shut down your computer right away. instead try CTRL ALT DELETE. command prompt will appear (if it doesn't, now is the time to manually reboot your computer). select task manager. check on ddo, and if it says not responding, force quit ddo, and restart it. If it says running, your good, enjoy the break while the lag runs its course (or your computer catches up)

Edit: wait, what kind of buzzing? my computer makes a "buzzing" kinda sound when the fan speeds up, which it does automatically when more processing power is being used. If that isn't the buzzing you are getting, then I would suggest a new computer before something bad happens

[ReaperAlexEU]

yeah, it really depends on what type of buzzing you're getting. if its something like a sound getting repeated over and over then its a crash which may be a software problem. if its not coming out of a speaker then its some real bad joo joo. at best it could be a fan starting to die. if you can smell any sort of burn plastic then thats a really bad sign. had drives often make a buzzing sound when they are on their way out, its crucial you get that seen to ASAP as if you dont you will loose EVERYTHING on that hard drive. if its another part of the computer dying then at least your data should be safe, though repairs could still be costly.

so, you need to work out what's making the buzzing noise. hopefully its coming from the speakers, if its not find someone who can fix computers NOW.