Not long ago, i bought a copy of falcon 4:allied force. I installed it, and everything went normally.
I loaded up a training mission, and when i pressed 9 to see the chase view, the screen turned black,
then my computer restarted. When i logged back onto windows, there was a message that said
"This system has recovered from a serious error." I tried playing falcon 4 sevral more
times. The same thing happens at random moments, but consistently when i try to see the chase view or i crash, etc.
My computer runs every other game i have, such as il2 sturmovik, fs2004, guild wars, etc.
This problem only happens to this one game. Ive tried playing it elsewhere, and it worked fine.
This is the first time ive ever encountered this error. People have told me to run the game with the computer case open,
buy mobo fan coolers, etc. I really need help.

These are my specs:
Intel Pentium 4 CPU
1.60 Ghz
384 MB RAM
DirectX 9.0c
RAGE128 Pro II Video Card
SiS 7012 Wave Sound Card

I not an expert but you need a serious upgrade in your Memory, and graphics card. What FPS are u getting? Maybe your processor can't push Falcon. How old is that Computer ? Good luck

I don't know if I'd recommend removing the case - it tends to direct the air from the fans to where it's supposed to go.

Yes, you definately need a better machine. Most of us are running at least 1 GB of RAM and is that a 32 MB video card you're using? Falcon is 'playable' at minimum settings, but not very stable. 32 MB is not even the minimum, though. The 'recommended' system is really your best bet, since you'll be able to have a more fun (less crashes) with a recommended system.

I'm with Talonn on this: a hardware upgrade is in order.

You should be ok with the processor, provided you keep some of the graphics settings down in the campaign. You definitely need to upgrade that graphics card, though. That card was around during the original Falcon 4.0, and if I recall correctly had issues (albeit minor ones) with F4 as well. I don't believe ATI has updated that series of drivers since about 2000.

I would seriously consider upgrading to at least the ATI 9000 series card and 1Gb of RAM. A new soundcard wouldn't hurt either; I noticed choppy sound coming from my old Turtle Beach Santa Cruz, which I replaced with a SB Live 24.

Yeah, i really need a new computer. It's from 2000. Can anyone recommend a good computer that can run Falcon 4:AF, IL2 Sturmovik, and LO:MAC that won't force me to sell my house to afford it?

(That will run games like the above smoothly at 70+fps)

Running IL2 and LOMAC at 70+FPS (with max detail, I assume) will require cutting edge. Max processor, 2GB RAM, and an Nvidia 7950 (8800 right now is incompatible with F4AF). You may want to consider a SLI capable motherboard and go Quad-SLI with the 7950s.

FWIW, I run a P4-3.6GHz Hyperthreaded with 1GB, 7950, SB Audigy, and with max detail 1600x1200 with 2xAA/16xAF I get 45FPS in IL2 (forest3, water2, 3dgunners on). F4AF is a little different because it offloads much less to the GPU. I haven't played LOMAC since upgrading.

I run a P4 3 GHz with HT, 1 GB RAM, 256 MB nVidia 7300LE and operate Falcon with max detail at 1280x1024. I've never checked my FPS because I've never thought it was running slow enough to ask "Sheesh, what FPS am I getting HERE?" I got it recently from Dell - it's their vanilla E520 and only cost me $600 after shipping and tax. Currently, their deals are a bit different, but you should be able to get a 'top of the line Falcon machine' for around $600 - $800.

I'm not familiar with LO:MAC and IL-2, but from what I've heard, you'll need a top-of-the-line screamer to run LO:MAC.

Oh now you have done it!! You asked the GREAT QUESTION! Now everyone will want to tell you what they have!!! Do reasearch "alot", spend what u can afford now, but leave room on the machine for upgrades for the future. Spend $2000 on a computer and in 3 months it's worth $600. Good luck in your Quest

Best off definining where you are and how much you have to spend.

Go with....

E6600
n680i motherboard
1gig ram
700W PSU
Thermaltake Armor 8000 case
nvidia 7900 (for now)

You'll spend under 2k

_BA_

Try this
Dimension E521 AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 3800+ 1GB DDR2/160GB, DVD-ROM, No monitor, Geforce 6150 LE, 1yr Onsite warranty $419 shipped free. Exp 12/20

Customize It on Dimension E521, Customize, Customize It $599 config. Remove Monitor. 19in LCD +$180. Vista upgrade available.

choose the $599 one, it comes with a 19in LCD http://www.dell.com/content/products/features.aspx/dimen_e521?c=us&cs=04&l=en&s=bsd

upgrade the video card to Geforce 7600GT from NewEgg for $104.99 after $20 rebate

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130062

total under $1000

I see all bad advice here. You don't need "dual core" to run FalconAF, that's rubbish. It's an old game. You don't even need dual core to run LOMAC.

512MB RAM is plenty to run FalconAF at maximum res IF you have a 256 MB vid card like an ATI 9800 and a cpu around P4, 3.0 or AMD equivalent. You can even run LOMAC on that machine though not even close to maximum res, more like minimum, but it will look and run just fine.

Go with the vanilla E520 that Chronopilot recommends and it won't force your to get a second mortgage. You'll be happy with F4AF with that machine.

However, if you always buy the minimum type machine, you're always going to be handicapped playing the latest advanced sims. That is when a $2,000 investment pays off. And it won't be worth $600 six months later. That isn't true. 18 months ago, I splurged for what was then top of the line Intel and top of the line vid card. 18 months later, I can still run FS9 and LOMAC at higher than average settings without dual core and with only 1 gig of RAM. Only after a year and a half am I challenged by new releases like FSX, a sim I have to run at below average detail but it runs at playable speed (but very little eye candy).

Historically, I've always bought whatever was the fastest machine and vid card out there and didn't have to make a single upgrade for 18 months to 2 years (while other people were scrambling to upgrade this or that every six months to play the newest sims).

It's your choice.

Most important question here. Another important question is how comfortable would you be in building a machine because that would save you a lot of money.

There was a thread over at FW about multi-core chips and F4;

http://forums.frugalsworld.com/vbb/showthread.php?t=113766

In my humble opinion, AF will run OK with 512MB of RAM, but I found it so much smoother when I increased it to 1GB.

Just my €0.02

Hi

Looking at your spec I would have to guess your issue is with vid card (since switching views is causing crash) and possibly low mem depending on OS and how it is setup.
here is min spec for F4-AF

"Windows® 98 / ME / 2000 / XP
Pentium® 4 1.5GHz or AMD Athlon® 1.2GHz CPU (recommend: Pentium® 4 2.4GHz or AMD Athlon® 1800)
384 MB of RAM
1.5 GB Free Hard Disk Space (plus 500 MB for Windows Swap File)
4x CD-ROM Drive, 100% Windows compatible mouse, keyboard and joystick
1024x768 resolution capable color monitor
3D accelerated DirectX® 9 .0c compatible Video Card with 64MB of memory (recommend 128MB)
DirectX® version 9.0c or higher compatible sound card
56Kbps ("hardware") modem for multiplayer options (recommended: DSL/Broadband)
DirectX version 9.0c (included) or higher. "

You will notice your on the very min spec with system ram and CPU, but your Rage128 ProII is a old 32mb card.


Ed

I'm playing LOMAC and F4AF with fairly decent fps (20-30) with following config:

AMD XP 2700+
1GB DDR Ram
ATI 9800pro

I'm selling my pc for 200€ - i would look for something similar in the adds, since many people are making an updating on their machines and selling the old stuff for not much money.

I agree with everything Plainsman says, but this is 'wrong'. Dual-core will give you a significant frame-rate boost in Falcon (and only Falcon). Falcon's old, but it was written with multi-processor machines in mind.

Just helped my brother-in-law to buy a flightsimming computer and set it up for him for all the sims you just listed, including FalconAFv109. In fact this PC runs faster and doesnt bog down compared to my aging Intel P4 3.4Ghz HT, 1Gig DDR2 Corsair and ATI x1600pro. The PC Im referring to was around $800:

Bundle: HP Pavilion A1640N Media Center PC (Intel Core 2 Duo Processor E6300 - 1.86GHz) and 15-inch LCD Monitor
http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?product_code=27487&pfp=dec17




Being an electrical engineer, I usually build all my own systems which usually costs me around $2K or so. I was so impressed with the bang-for-the-buck of the above HP system for under $1K, I bought the next level up system for myself for $1200. Its so hot, they cannot keep them in the stores or the online stores either. It is:

HP Pavilion m7680n TV Minitower
Intel Viiv Technology, Intel Core 2 Duo Processor E6400, 2.13GHz, 2GB RAM, 500GB Hard Drive, 16X DVD+/-RW and 16X DVD Drives, Windows XP Media Center 2005


http://www.compusa.com/products/product_...0n_TV_Minitower


Summary:

Sure there are better systems to be custom built and off the shelf (ie, Dell XPS and others); but if budget and value are a priority, there are good compromises to be had at "reasonable" prices. At these prices, I can buy two systems at the price I used to buy one. So the strategy is that I can upgrade sooner by not putting all my eggs in one basket, which is a good model to go to when the prices are low and the Moore's Law is still driving technology.

In all cases, know what your application goals are and match the hardware to meet those goals, guided by budget and longetivity expectations. Do your homework and know the good video cards, RAM and uP-CPU that you want, as they impact FPS the most.

Facts: LOMAC performs worse with HT (dual core) enabled on my PC (look at my signature.)
F4-AF performs better with HT (dual core) enabled

I also run F4-AF on a XP3200+ and its smooth, but smoother on the P4 2,8 HT