FBCB: Sim speed gets slower?

[kingnebwsu]

So, I have a question about sim-time. It always seems to run well at first, but then the longer I sim, the slower it goes. Is there a memory leak in the game or something? I'm playing the trial version of FBCB. I have a 1.2 GHz processor with 512 MB of RAM and Windows 98. Is 98 not a version that works well with the game? I did switch the operating system in the menu.

It will start out simming several games per second, but then by the third day or so, it sims one every two or three seconds. Thoughts? Is this normal? It did it both last night and today, and I have restarted it several times.

The game is actually pretty neat, but if the sim speed is always like this...I dunno if I can keep on playing :(

[kingnebwsu]

http://www.fbbgames.com/fbcb/order.htm says that Win 2000 or Win XP is required...is this true? If it is, I may have to install XP. I was having issues with my CD-Rom drive which prevented my upgrade, but I just got a new drive. I'd like confirmation before I do this though...thanks :)

[HeavyReign]

You are running into the issue with Windows 98. It isn't as bad as with ME but it still has major issues. It is a combination of poor memory management in older versions of windows and VB.

[HeavyReign]

http://www.fbbgames.com/fbcb/order.htm says that Win 2000 or Win XP is required...is this true? If it is, I may have to install XP. I was having issues with my CD-Rom drive which prevented my upgrade, but I just got a new drive. I'd like confirmation before I do this though...thanks :)
The game runs 100% better on XP.

[kingnebwsu]

Thanks for the posts dude :)

As soon as my roomy gets home, I'm gonna have him put in my new DVD/CDRW drive (first one ever!) and then I'll work on installing XP. My current CD drive has had issues reading CD's recently.

[MizzouRah]

Thanks for the posts dude :)

As soon as my roomy gets home, I'm gonna have him put in my new DVD/CDRW drive (first one ever!) and then I'll work on installing XP. My current CD drive has had issues reading CD's recently.
Excellent choice on installing XP. Make sure you goto Windows Update and install all the critical updates. Service Pack 2 is coming out soon, which will add some new features as well.

I honestly believe XP is MS best OS ever, and I guess it should be.



Todd

[Glengoyne]

You are running into the issue with Windows 98. It isn't as bad as with ME but it still has major issues. It is a combination of poor memory management in older versions of windows and VB.
I love the game and all, but this is just a cop out. Look at all the VB apps that don't have this problem.

[RPI-Fan]

Look at all the VB apps that aren't as good as FBCB...

[HeavyReign]

I love the game and all, but this is just a cop out. Look at all the VB apps that don't have this problem.
The bigger issue is the amount of memory in use by the program. I've asked questions about this anywhere I thought someone might be able to offer guidance and I usually get the same answer about poor memory management on the older versions of Windows. I mentioned VB because it doesn't give you as much control over memory management as other languages. If you have any ideas about what might be causing it let me know. I'd love to fix the problem if it is something that I am doing that is causing it.

[gstelmack]

I love the game and all, but this is just a cop out. Look at all the VB apps that don't have this problem.
FOFExtractor is running out of resources on some Win9x systems. I'd love to delve in and figure out why, but:

1) I don't have a Win9x box anywhere around me.

2) I'm freeing up all my resources.

Somewhere Win9x is not releasing stuff soon enough after I use it. I'm allocating bitmaps and DCs, grabbing screenshots of 3 different windows, discarding them, and recreating. Win9x doesn't want to free up the resources when I discard them. So I wouldn't go too hard after HeavyReign here, he's right that the Win9x systems aren't very good at memory mangement.

Even Microsoft is dropping support on these systems. Win95 is already gone, and Win98 is either gone or soon to be gone.

[Glengoyne]

The bigger issue is the amount of memory in use by the program. I've asked questions about this anywhere I thought someone might be able to offer guidance and I usually get the same answer about poor memory management on the older versions of Windows. I mentioned VB because it doesn't give you as much control over memory management as other languages. If you have any ideas about what might be causing it let me know. I'd love to fix the problem if it is something that I am doing that is causing it.
HR,

I looked back at what I had posted, and it sounds a bit harsher than I had intended. I have been following along with the troubles of the win98 users. I was one. FBCB is the reason I upgraded to win2k. I know you have put considerable effort into resolving the issue. I know it isn't because you have been sloppy. I think it is most likely that you developed and refined the app on xp or 2000, and an unfortunate consequense is that eventhough it should work on the older OSs, it doesn't. I would say that given the number of 98 apps that don't spin into the ground after a few minutes of play, that it is something you have done. Not something you have done wrong, just something that wasn't backward compatable. Almost certainly something that isn't documented. There is nothing to be ashamed about. You have tried extensively and unsuccessfully to figure it out, and have decided it simply isn't worth the effort to resolve the problem.

I mean no offense. I certainly don't intend to indicate you were a sub-par developer/designer/coder. To have accomplished what you have, that is obviously not the case. I just didn't like the "spin" of your original response.

I hope I haven't made more of an ass out of myself trying to undo any offense.

[RPI-Fan]

The fact is, to make the game the way he wanted it (requiring a good deal of memory), the game simply wasn't going to work on 98 and ME.

To make it backward compatible WOULD have taken away quality from the game.

Therefore it is Windows' fault, and not his, that it doesn't work on those systems.

[kingnebwsu]

I blame society :) I had XP on for about 2 weeks, and it was awesome. Then my HD blew :p It will be back with a vengenance SOON!!!

[HeavyReign]

HR,

I looked back at what I had posted, and it sounds a bit harsher than I had intended. I have been following along with the troubles of the win98 users. I was one. FBCB is the reason I upgraded to win2k. I know you have put considerable effort into resolving the issue. I know it isn't because you have been sloppy. I think it is most likely that you developed and refined the app on xp or 2000, and an unfortunate consequense is that eventhough it should work on the older OSs, it doesn't. I would say that given the number of 98 apps that don't spin into the ground after a few minutes of play, that it is something you have done. Not something you have done wrong, just something that wasn't backward compatable. Almost certainly something that isn't documented. There is nothing to be ashamed about. You have tried extensively and unsuccessfully to figure it out, and have decided it simply isn't worth the effort to resolve the problem.

I mean no offense. I certainly don't intend to indicate you were a sub-par developer/designer/coder. To have accomplished what you have, that is obviously not the case. I just didn't like the "spin" of your original response.

I hope I haven't made more of an ass out of myself trying to undo any offense.
I'd say that is a pretty accurate description of what has happened. My main computer uses Windows 2000 so the problem wasn't evident until the game was pretty much done. I purposely avoided doing things that would make it incompatible with older versions of windows, but unfortunately the one major problem still showed up.

[Glengoyne]

An astute reader might just conclude HR called me an ass.:D


I hope I haven't made more of an ass out of myself trying to undo any offense.

I'd say that is a pretty accurate description of what has happened.
Kudos HR

[HeavyReign]

lol. Gotta love selective quoting.