Really weird terrible problems

[Kato]

Whenever I play Halo 2 for Vista on my computer, after a few minutes, I start to smell something like wire burning. Doesn't happen in any other game and I've restarted, installed all the way, and tried with and without the disk.

Also getting some pretty intense z-fighting (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z-fighting) (where two polys ontop of each other fuzz around) on transparent things like any screens or lights in the Cairo or on the Warthog, Master Chief's armor, many Covenant and other guns, and a WHOLE LOT on the intro screen.

I assume that once the game is actually, you know, out, more people will have the problem and it will get fixed. ;) But for now--any suggestions? I can get screenshots of the z-fighting thing.

Thanks!

-Kato

[`Abias]

dANG THAT SUX BRO

[{XF}Lowsy]

Kato, did you see my post about a 'shimmer'? I have a video for you to see as well. If it's the same problem I had, than an update of video drivers may just do the trick. As it did with my problems.

[Kato]

Thank you very much. Driver update fixed the z-fighting. One problem down.

But...the game still explodes my computer. I still smell something really, really burning after just less than a minute of play. Now, I'm a big gamer, and I can promise you, this smell NEVER happens in any other game. I have a GeForce 8800GTX. I changed the power supply today...same problem.

-Kato

EDIT: Rewired my entire computer and unplugged one of my drives. Found some wiring conflicts (splitter plugged into itself) but even after I fixed all of those, the game still creates the smell. Note: I don't even have to start the game. I just sit at the title screen for 10-30 seconds and then I smell something burning.

[Melterx12]

well... h2v takes up alot of resources. theres 2 possible reasons. let me start by saying the problem is most likely in the video card. first possibility: highend nvidia cards like yours (and mine) have a built in fan, the fan automaticlly turns on when the card reaches a certain temp (gauged by a built in sensor), cards heat up when playing resource intense games. If your sensor is defective, the fan wont turn on, and the card will heat up, and without cooling, burn, resulting in the smell. this is dangerous, as i could cause damage to not only the card but also other parts near it, or in rare cases, start a fire. if you feel your fan isnt working (you should hear it (even though its pretty quiet)), replace your card IMMEDIATLY. I had the same problem on one of my cards, how ever, my card is connected to my mobo's sensor and when it heated up, my processor fan turned up and sounded like a leaf blower.

The second possibility is that your power supply doesnt have enough volts/watts to support your computer and your high end power consuming card. This results in the power supply working to its Max, and overheating, causing the same problems as i mentioned above with the video card. If your card specifications ask for a power supply with higher volts/watts than your power supply has, replace it with one that has as much, or better yet, a bit more.

How to check: google a temperature monitor software. this type of software tells you what the temp of your hardware is (usually video card, processor, and power supply). Check ur temp before plaiyng h2v, then Play h2v for 10 mins then check ur temp. compare.
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just my *counts how long the post is* 59 cents.

btw, to the above post, the title screen plays an ingame overview. this is the same as playing in game.

[TPE]

sounds like a broken/insufficiant fan

check if your GPU fan is working. when i got my GPU it smelled like it and i assumed it was "the new GPU smell" it went away after a while

[HMReaper]

Is your processor fan working at full speed? and if you built the comp yourself did you put enough Thermal Grease on the processor? or any for that matter? that would easily creat that kind of smell. But other then that i agree with Melterx12 check your GPU fan and power supply