Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Putting out Fire with Gasoline (XFire that is..)

(Nods to David Bowie on that title...Cat People...AWESOME!!)

So, here is a story.

I usually take time every 3-6 months depending on how a computer is doing, to reload the OS.
I am a masochist. What can I say...
I have 3 systems in my home, and after having worked on computers for 15 plus years, I know NOTHING does a system better than an OS enema.
Especially with Windows 7 on the way, I am in "test" mode to make sure of what works and what does not, so I am ready for when that apocalypse hits.

So, I loaded up my MAIN system (hooked to a 42" TV in the living room) with Win 7. I loaded drivers and what not...but, this time..I decided to NOT load XFire.

This all came about due to a complaint by Blamefulgecko having crashes every hour in Age of Conan. Now, I have NOT crashed in the game, but I have noticed performance issues.

Thus, one of the reasons for the reload.

But, what if it is something else? What if the reload was not needed? But, like I said, I was ok with that...but what about XFire?

I had mainly used XFire as a tool to record some video that I have not really posted much of. I had also thought of using it to do voice chat.
And if anything, I kept it loaded to keep track of my game time in Age of Conan. I liked seeing how it ranks right now as the most played game in my list too!!
It also has allowed me to track friends playing the game, and we have built up a list of people on the Xfire community.

But, I am afraid I have put out Xfire (nice pun there Edge..).

The game is running considerably better now since I have not loaded it. I also have alleviated an issue of a black screen on exit in DX10 mode. It never happens anymore, when it was happening on a regular basis before.

So, a note to those who have crashing issues and run Xfire? Looks like it is time to say goodbye to this program, and just forget tracking how much time you spend in game. We all can find another tool to communicate with soon. I am looking at Raptr to see how this plays with AoC, and if it also causes issues, then we may just have to tweet our schedules on our own (sure did like Gamerdna's tracking on Twitter...)

But, I prefer this game running top notch, as when it does, it is gorgeous, and runs like a dream.

And BTW, forget Vista, Windows 7 is truly the better OS.

Also?....CHEERS!

7 comments:

Jayedub said...

Hmmm, I have been running Win7 for a few months now, and everytime I tried runnign AoC in DX10 I would get the black screen of death when exiting the game. Never thought it could be xfire.

I usually just disable xfire in game, but for some reason I turned it back on recently in AoC. I personally have not had any issues when running xfire as long as it is disabled, but I am also running the 32bit version with the 32bit Win7.

Now I did have issues when I was running Vista 64bit with xfire.

Elementalistly said...

I also use 64 bit, and maybe that is the concern? Anyways, like I said, I have alleviated the black screen, and sometimes herky jerky framerates when going to certain locations.

Some NPC loading works better on Tarantia now as well...hooray.

Glad Xfire is gone.

Sam Houston said...

Have you tried using Steam? Since AOC is sold on Steam, you can manually add it to the client, and it may track it (not sure if it tracks it, I think it may). Assuming you have you Steam name entered on GamerDNA, it could then track all your gaming at gamerDNA.com and tweet it out for you, just like Xfire.

Let me know if there is anything I can do to help!

Thanks,
Sam Houston
GamerDNA Community Manager

Jayedub said...

Wow, I didn't know that. Thanks for the tip.

Elementalistly said...

Thanks Sam

Hmm...just reloaded...better put Steam back on and see how that works.

Cheers

(And as a PS: Raptr was a fail due to me running DX10 in AoC. Raptr would suck 50% of CPU then)

Jayedub said...

Unfortunately I don't think Steam works the same way as Xfire does if you have the retail version.

I added AoC as a non-steam game, and I can launch the game with steam, but it did not track any of the game time I put in last night.

Personally I am not having any problems that I know of with Xfire, I think due to running Win7 x32 and disabling Xfire in game.

Originally I used Xfire back when I was in a Call of Duty clan ages ok, but now I like to use it to track game time.

Elementalistly said...

@Jayedub

This may be my issue. I run Win 7 x64 and AoC in DX10.
As a side note, Raptr was tested, and was found out that it does not work well with the DX10 version, and would steal 50% CPU cycles.

Not good.

So, basically, I have nothing to track my time...ah well..

Maybe when I buy a 4 CPU i7 with 6 GPU's and 32GB ram...then maybe..