Stutter/lag..other topics don't fix it.

[airforce09]

Hi..I'm kinda new to the forums so, I apologize if this might not make sense OR I didn't try that or that..

Anyways, I'm running PR on a laptop. It's a gaming vista laptop. It's pretty good, 2.4GHz . But when I start running project reality in singleplayer, online co-op, or just online, I get lag.

The lag is more like, stuttering lag, where when you stand still, everything is perfect. But when you move or there's alot of action, the game starts to stutter, like for example: you're the co-pilot of the littlebird. As the pilot is flying it, you start to see sometimes frames of the littlebird pulling back and then back to where it started, and all over again.

I've looked on other topics, such as closing other background things. I did that, except for xfire though. The lag/stuttering still happens!! I've lowered my graphics all to low, and guess what? It still happens! This started happening when I lowered my graphics for like awhile...then sometimes (sometimes not), it goes away on its own. But this is happening to me on Project Reality and Bf2 Sandbox now...idk what's going on. I've tried setting the texture to medium, and it still happens. I don't really know what are other options...and no; I don't wanna re-install bf2. That just takes too long for me.

I'm running a gaming vista, 32-bit.
other specs:
Processor - Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU

Other info that might help?: I also get kicked from servers which read "MD5tool mismatch BF2.exe"
I've tried to fix it by other topic's step-by-step but I STILL GET IT!!!

[thepalerider]

Give Game Booster a try

[airforce09]

thepalerider;1388459']Give Game Booster a try

Hmm, I'll give that a try and will report back if I still get it . But I still get kicked from servers by the "MD5tool mismatch: BF2.exe (len:204 "..i've looked at other topics and searched for the answer to fix it, but I still get it. My ram is 4GB if that helps..

EDIT: The game booster improved my PR by alot! But I still get that error..and I still lag sometimes..
Error: "MD5tool mismatch BF2.exe. (len:204 , kicked for 2 minutes".

I've tried updating my bf2's PB, which didn't do much either. I've also tried other things like the stick/announcements on this section too...and I still get kicked. Please help!!!

[thepalerider]

Have you read the red stickys?
I found this in : Punkbuster Error: MD5Tool Mismatch Solution

That is related to the md5 checks now enabled on most servers to prevent people from going around the suppression effect.
You MUST start PR with the PR.exe, if you use the bf2.exe (join through XFire, ABR, etc.), you WILL be kicked.
If you use PR.exe and still get kicked, your installation is most likely corrupt at some point.
If the mismatch is in a mods/bf2 folder, try reinstalling BF2 Patch 1.41.

Maybe that's why I was able to play longer yesterday, after formatting/reinstalling (read my prior post) I ran the game with the PR.exe shortcut instead of an older one that called the BF2.exe file. Thanks for the info, let's see if this is the solution...

Or this one?

I fixed my issue.

I had the MD5 mismatch PB error.

I tried your guide. It didnt work, and i have reinstalled PR and BF2.

So i finaly found out what the problem was. I think because this is 0.917 and there is no file called shaders_client.zip in the PR Mods folder of Battlefield 2.

So i asked a friend and downloaded his Shader file for the Battlefield 2 Mod.

Then i replaced the old file with the one i downloaded.

I then used Battlefield cleaner, and cleared my files or smt. And bingo. Im in.

This actually really looks alike to one of the answers written by the OP, he replaced the files that were giving him the error message.

But still it didnt work for you. Which is strange.

But anyway im going to sum down what i did to get mine working:


Problem:

MD5 Mismatch PB banned for 2 min.
Battlefield2/shaders_client.zip

Fix:

1. Download and replace the file in your Battlefield 2/mods/bf2/shaders_client.
2. Clear your shaders, by either downloading battlefield2 cleaner, or go to the documents and settings/User/My Documents/Battlefield 2/mods/bf2/cache. Delete those files.

This new fix is for 0.917 for me.

[airforce09]

thepalerider;1389162']Have you read the red stickys?
I found this in : Punkbuster Error: MD5Tool Mismatch Solution


Or this one?

Yes, I have read the red stickys..I didn't try re-installing bf2 patch 1.41 though, and don't want to because they take very long

EDIT: I will try to re-install v1.41 now...and the 2nd quote you gave me was shaders error..mine was the BF2.exe

EDIT2: I have reinstalled 1.41. Still nothing..NOTHING!!! I am still getting the error >

[airforce09]

bump...I AM STILL GETTING THE ERROR!! CAN SOMEONE PLEASE HELP?!?!

[Rudd]

hey man, you're sure you installed BF2, then 1.41, then 1.5 then PR?

[airforce09]

You mean I have to uninstall PR, then re-download the bf2 patches?

[airforce09]

Bump- I seriously need help. I've googled, searched, read the stickys. I still get the error!

[Ratha]

airforce09, regarding your stutter. In the BF2 engine, passengers of vehicles do tend to jerk and bump around sometimes. This is connection lag, due to your ping and how many updates you are sending to the server or receiving from the server. You should not ever see this happen when playing single player/offline. You can see this happen with any fast moving object usually, they sortof have a rubber-banding effect. All you can do here is stop downloading things in the background (on any other computers connected to that modem too), and use a wired instead of wireless connection. You probably cannot stop this from happening all together unless you play over a LAN.

Its unlikely that what you are seeing is screen tearing, but you could try turning on vertical sync (v-sync) and seeing if that helps. With vsync off, the videocard draws frames as fast as it can, and sometimes it will draw a frame out of sync with the monitor update, causing you to see part of the new frame, and part of the old frame basically. With vsync on, it delays the update until the monitor is ready to display a full image, which can fix some image distortion, but may cause your game to run slower too.

If the game starts to look like its a slide-show instead, or your control feels 'choppy' thats due to framerate. Try turning on your framerate counter by opening the console (~ key usually) and typing: "renderer.drawFps 1" without the quotes. This "Displays the current frames per second (FPS) and the time in milliseconds between frames." This will allow you to see what kind of performance you are getting in game. Your target is to get 60 or above, but 30 is acceptable to some people. The only way to increase it is to drop graphical settings and resolution, or possibly update graphics drivers, but dont expect a huge boost if any from a driver update, especially if your videocard is ****. (What is it by the way?)

Theres 4 major things to try when attempting to fix a BF2 problem, not sure what you've tried:

1: Clear shader cache.
2: Punkbuster update.
3: Backup and then remove all user profiles, or create and use a new one.
4: Full uninstall + delete directory + backup and delete profile directory + full reinstall + 1.41 + 1.50 + hotswap patch + create new profiles (Profiles can be the cause of some weird game-breaking errors at times.)

None of those will likely fix your stuttering, or your lag issues, but one of them may resolve your error. Is easier to spend an hour doing a full reinstall than it is to spend days troubleshooting sometimes.

EDIT: Also, if you use an old version (or possibly a new version) of "ATI Tray Tools" to control your graphics card, disable the on screen display, as that is known to cause a short stutter in games every second or so in a very predictable manner. Most people probably wouldnt notice it however.

[airforce09]

My adapter is a NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT. Idk if that's my video card or not (sorry not REALLY GOOD in these computer specs).

"1: Clear shader cache. I'm pretty sure I've done that many times.

2: Punkbuster update. Did that.

3: Backup and then remove all user profiles, or create and use a new one. What do you mean by that?

4: Full uninstall + delete directory + backup and delete profile directory + full reinstall + 1.41 + 1.50 + hotswap patch + create new profiles (Profiles can be the cause of some weird game-breaking errors at times.) I didn't want to re-install, it takes a long time to apply the patches + etc. But I also get the problem that i can't launch the "xpack" from 1.5. Maybe that may cause this error as well?"

IF this also helps - I've also faced another problem (it happened only 1 time to me so far).
PnkbstrB.exe heartbeat has stopped working or something like that.

[Ratha]

Do you know what your documents and settings or my documents directory is on your OS?

In XP its C:\Documents and Settings\User Profile (Your login name)\My Documents\Battlefield 2\

Your profiles are stored in the \Battlefield 2\Profiles\0000\ directory. 0000 will be the very top entry on your BF2 profile list when you try to login, 0001 will be the #2 one, 0002 will be the #3 one down, and so on.

Heres two options for ya:

1: EASY WAY: You could start by creating a new profile to test with for the time being by logging into BF2 and at the profile selection screen creating a new one. This should generate all new settings, key configurations, server lists, and whatnot. As far as i know uninstalling BF2 does not delete the profile directory, and sometimes the profiles can become partially corrupt.

(I had an issue with the game taking 60+ seconds to login before, found out i had a bunch of corrupt server entries in my favorites, dunno how that happened, once i deleted those entries it only took 3-4 seconds to authenticate my copy of BF2 with the auth servers.) Probably wouldnt hurt to delete the cache directory too if you do this.



2: SURE WAY: My recommended method is to make a full copy of the entire \Battlefield 2\ directory here and all subfolders in it. It should be tiny, probably under 10 megs unless you have tons of screenshots. (zip/rar into an archive is the best method) Then delete or rename the entire \Battlefield 2\ folder (this is the folder that stores your profiles and other settings for your key configs, server lists, video settings, cache, profiles, bot difficulty settings, and so on. This is not the game install directory.

Then after you do that, start the game, create a new profile, set your settings (remember textures to medium or less to avoid crashing to desktop on some maps) For your laptop i would recommend all settings on low since you have a fairly weak videocard, you can increase them later if performance is acceptable. PR requires a lot more videocard resources than standard BF2.

-

Then try to play again. Start off by playing a coop game with the bots, see how your performance is. Check your framerates when looking around, at the ground, towards lots of stuff, at the sky, just make a mental note. If all is well, then try to get online and see what happens.

If you still crash, with the "MD5tool mismatch BF2.exe" error, then quit the game and
1: login to a regular BF2 server. See if you crash. If you still crash..
2: login to a regular BF2 server that does not have punkbuster enabled.

I have heard that some servers will boot you with strange errors because the server has been modified and isnt running the same version of the game as you are. You should be sure to try a bunch of different servers. Also, try one that your friends are able to log into to make sure that they are not modified and that the error you are experiencing is real.

3: Next one is probably a full reinstall BF2. Ive heard that the expansion pack can cause some trouble in the update process. I dont have it though so i cant help there.

Good luck, report back what you find, will try to answer questions as quick as i can.

[airforce09]

Um, I run on vista 32-bit, so I can't find any "\0000\ directory". Only 0001 and 0002.

[thepalerider]

Some other things you can try before you uninstall/reinstall.
Backup your BF2 folder that's inside your documents folder. Once you have a backup delete the original from your documents folder.
Try starting PR from your PR shortcut
a new default folder is created
link to your online account.
If all goes well (CTD gone) all you have to do to get your custom settings back is copy your 'control' file from your backup to the new profile folder.
path:
C:\Users\your user name here\Documents\Battlefield 2\Profiles\0002
note: you may not have a 0002 folder so use 0001 or the highest #

[airforce09]

"Backup your BF2 folder"..
srry I'm not like VERY GOOD at PCs..so what does that mean?

[airforce09]

Nvm, I'ma uninstall PR. I get those stutter-rubberband lag too much. I can't stand it. Sorry. Nice game though