I've just installed AC onto my vista laptop, and many thanks to past threads that detailed how this can be accomplished. I've got two problems that aren't keeping the game/decal from loading or working, but are annoying.


1) When a decal window is active in AC, my video gets very choppy; kind of like a strobing effect. It's fine when decal is running otherwise, but if I put a window up (like buffme window, or 'alinco found' window, or so on) the video slows down drastically. As soon as I close the window, its back to normal.


2) When I alt-tab out of AC, I get a 30-second pause before the window switches to the desktop. When I restore the AC window I get a 90-second pause before the game resumes. No hard disk activity (like if it were swapping), just the pause.


I'm running an Intel Core2 Duo CPU 1.66GHz with 3G RAM on Vista32 with an NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS. I've tried running AC/Decal in 'normal' mode and compatibility mode, but it doesn't seem to make any difference.


Any ideas?

 

-----signature-----

I'm experiencing problem #1 on my new computer as well. Definitely falls into the annoyance category instead of the show-stopper category, but still...


Core i7 2.67 Ghz, GeForce 260GTX, 3 gigs of RAM on Vista Ultimate 32bit (read - it's not the hardware)

 

-----signature-----

#1 is probably to be expected on slow systems due to the fact that Decal's UI system is still the one that was put in as a temporary hack. The more complex the plugin UI, the worse it gets. LTX is the worst due to the huge number of checkboxes, buttons, etc. HUD-based plugins can help you avoid this problem. Dunno exactly which features you need, but you might want to take a look at AC+.

 

-----signature-----

Well, I don't use LTx; mostly Alinco, Buffme, GoArrow, and couple of others. Thing is, this video choppiness happens no matter which decal window I have open... and clears up as soon as all decal windows are closed.


I have the same setup on my much older XP machine that has much less system RAM and a lower end graphics card without suffering the video chop I see on the Vista machine.

 

-----signature-----

Welcome to decal + vista.. I run a quad 6600 with 8GB ram, and I experience all that with one or three clients..

 

-----signature-----

So it certainly sounds like its not the hardware or lack of system RAM (based on gyes & yaroz's inputs).


Sounds like a HUD-based plugin is needed to avoid the video chop?


I still wish I knew what the problem was with the delay in alt-tabbing in/out of AC... that happens whether decal is installed/loaded or not.

 

-----signature-----

If you are running Vista, have you tried disabling Aero?

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/disable-aero-on-windows-vista/

 

-----signature-----

Yes, I did turn off Aero some time ago. I'm using the Windows Vista Basic scheme.

 

-----signature-----

#1 has me stumped as well. Running Vista 64 on a capable system (aero off!). BTW Virindi, your plug does not cause any problems, all the others (AC+, Go Arrow, Mouse Wheel, DHS, Alinco) make a mess of my screen.