D2 lagging

[scutrbutt7]

I am really frustrated! My character in d2 frequently (but not always) lags!! I can't always get to weapons, t/p scrolls or healing potions in time to save my character because of the slow response of the mouse. I love this game but it makes me so mad!!! Sometimes it happens right when I start game play, and sometimes I can play for hours before I have any problems.
I have already disabled "poll with interrupts", but I don't know much about computers and didn't want to mess my system up "experimenting" trying to fix the problem on my own. This did seem to help for about an hour or so, but went back to lagging afterward and I had to exit the game completely... can you help???
here are some of the specs on my computer, let me know if you need more, but tell me how to find them because I won't know where to find any other info... Thanks! -scutr

microsoft windows ME
sys name: oemcomputer (gateway)
sys type: x86-based pc
pentium III proc. genuine intel ~864mhz
phoenixBIOS 4.0 release 6.0
total physical memory: 127.26mb
avail. phys. memory: 3.53mb
total virtual memory: 2.00gb
avail. virt. memory: 1.73gb
page file space:1.88gb
(not sure what video card I have...what do I look for to find out?)

You may not need all of this, but I'm at a loss for what to give you so this is what I have. ANY help would be great!!

 

[NoNameRequired]

What kind of connection are you using ?

 

[Nelson]

total physical memory: 127.26mb
avail. phys. memory: 3.53mb
total virtual memory: 2.00gb
avail. virt. memory: 1.73gb
page file space:1.88gb




Total Physical Memory ... I would increase that .. get another 128mb at the least ... it is fairly cheap 15-25 dollars for PC133

 

[t'kron]

I would strongly suggest that you get another 256megs of addidional memory instead of 128meg.

delete the bncache.dat file from the game folder

run a scan disk and defrag of your hard drive.

Also check out what files are started when you start your computer and uncheck any unneeded files.

you can identify which are the critical start files from here:


http://www.pacs-portal.co.uk/startup_pages/startup_full.htm

 

[scutrbutt7]

connection for D2...

I'm not quite sure what you're asking for...I don't play the game over the net, just on my pc on single player. Was that what you meant???

thx-scutr

 

[NoNameRequired]

Never mind, I thought you were experiencing lag issues on Battle.net.

 

[scutrbutt7]

no...sorry. any other suggestions?

 

[Unregistered]

The suggestion of more RAM will help you greatly. You should also get used to using the keyboard shortcuts for things such as using potions and spell casting if you are not used to it already. The immediacy of a keypress vs mouse movement+click can save your character inumerable times. Also, there are certain spots where the game will lag more-so than usual. The game will most likely lag around the bosses in each act on a computer that just meets the cpu requirements. In the D2 Expansion there is a horrible lag in Act 5 before you go to fight Baal. Also, if you have D2 expansion you can solve some lag issues by disabling the 3D Perspective video setting under the Options menu.

-- Magickian, because I'm too lazy to login

 

[scutrbutt7]

Thank you so much! I'll give it a try and let you know if I have any more problems...

Thx-Scutr

 

[NoNameRequired]

I remember trying a program that cut some graphics to reduce lag months ago. Does anyone remember that ? D2 Accelerator was it ?

 

[Unregistered]

RAM is cheap, get more. What you're probably experiencing is the inability of a PC with IDE hard drives to do any disk IO while keeping everything else flowing smoothly. You can almost eliminate the need for disk access during play by upgrading to 512M of RAM.

On the other hand, I have an Athlon / VIA KT133 system here with 512M of RAM, and it has never overcome the disk IO problem. only the Intel CPU / Intel chipset systems in the house are truly running Diablo II well. I guess sometimes a fundamental hardware choice (VIA in this case, as far as I know) makes all the difference.

 

[scutrbutt7]

D2 lagging solved (?)

I purchased more RAM and it did help considerably... the game seemed to run much faster as a whole as well. I did experience a little lag a few times, but nothing that required exiting and re-starting the game. I was able to play through the lag and complete the game (finally!). Thanks for everyone's help on this frustrating problem!!!

-Scutr

 

[Zendu]

umm guys..... cough

scutterbut, delete c:\program files\diablo 2\bncache.dat
then clear your recycle bin.

someone should have said this ages ago...

this is a redundant file used by d2 that has all the games youve been in and the chat rooms etc. if you delete it it should clear up any remaning lag

 

[Dtere]

Zendu, tkron did mention this in his first post.

 

[Zendu]

sheesh dont i look like a n00b i complety skipped that line