Sound Blaster Audigy causing lag?

ttjt_99

Hey people, I have a previous thread talking about a decrease in performance while playing Call of Duty United Offensive when I upgraded from a Radeon 9600 Pro to a 9800 Pro 256. I thought it could be due to either my drivers or the game having online performance. So I reinstalled everything from XP(sp2) and all my drivers. I did not however install an updated Sound Blaster Audigy sound driver, and when I did notice an increase in performance but not a great one. I have an original OEM Sound Blaster Audigy that came with my PC, is there any way that the sound card could cause the lag issues even with '04 drivers? Just curious if anyone has any ideas. Thanks.

Dustmite

I've been fighting this issue from the time CoD: UO came out. Many of the new maps (mostly SP) will slow down so much, the game is hardly playable. I've mailed the boys at the office and they've helped me little. I've got a similar setup: Radeon 9800 Pro (flashed to XT), SB Audigy ZS, Athlon 2500+ and 768 MB RAM. If you start the game in safe mode, it won't load the SB drivers, but I've noticed that the lag is still there. I thought I was the only one having this problem. I've concluded that it's simply poor coding 'cause the original CoD plays fine, as well as other Quake 3 based games. To say that the game is too taxing on the video card is foolish since Doom III on 'high settings' runs like butta'. We may be out of luck until the developers crank out a patch.

ttjt_99

Dustmite, I'm glad you posted that message. I've fiddled around with numerous settings with sound and didn't seem to do anything really. I've rolled back to older Catalyst driver (4.8) and the freezing problem stopped. I've since learned that there's an issue with PB and Call of Duty and the 4.9/4.10 catalysts. As for the poor performance, i've heard similar complaints people were having with their 9800 Pro's and Call of Duty, the card is more than capable and like you said the older Call of Duty ran great. Something with the engine or a combination of Catalysts and PB that makes frame rates drop to disgusting levels. Even heard this happening with people with x800. I mean, that's a $400+ video card. I just wish there was a little more effort put forth from the collaborating companies to iron out these wrinkles before production starts so I don't spend countless dollars upgrading and reinstalling everything on my system! Thanks for the info that makes me feel a little less helpless.

Dustmite

I couldn't agree more. It's just too bad that there's a small glitch in a game that's so good. If you search the ATI site, there's no mention of this. It may be a good idea to mail Activision and let them know there's a problem. Like I said, I've done this and hopefully if enough people complain, action will follow. I guess all we can do is wait for a patch. Bummer.