hardware issues and solutions

[Maniac]

In this thread you can find informations about hardware and hardware related issues.

Minimum system requirements

* Windows XP SP2 or Windows Vista SP1
* P4 3.2 GHz (single core) or any Dual Core processor
* 1 GB RAM (XP), 1.5 GB RAM (Vista)
* A 128MB Video Card (Shader Model 3) - Nvidia GeForce 6600 GT / ATI X1600, or equivalent
* 5.5 GB of Hard Drive space


AthlonXP

AthlonXP CPUs do not work with DoW2, as they don't support SSE, which is needed to run the game.

AMD DualCore

There is a timing bug in AMD 64 X2 dual core processor that drastically reduces performance in Dawn of War II. If you are having problems on an AMD 64 X2 or Opteron dual core, please make sure you have the dual core optimizer installed.

Onboard Graphic

Onboard graphic is not supported for DoW2, it might be that a new driver in the future will change it. If the onboard chipset supports shader model 3.0 it might work, but there is no guarantee.

Keep your drivers updated

Make sure to have the latest drivers for your hardware, this will solve a lot of problems. Below you can find some links.

nVidia
ATI
notebook graphic cards (nVidia)
Realtek
Creative

[Maniac]

(Some possible solutions to fix the problem in addition to the above.)

Activate the Steam community feature on Steam

This worked especially well during the Beta, but still might be useful. To do it open your Steam settings, open the "In-game" tab and tick the box for "Enable Steam Community In-Game".


Set vsync to "0".

Also a possible solution from the Beta. Open the "configuration.lua" file, which you can find in "/documents/my games/Dawn of War2/settings/", with an editor, find the line for vsync at set it's value to "o"


Change to offline mode and back to online.

Some user reported that changing to offline mode shortly fixed some lag problems.


Start the game in Window mode.

Add "-window" to the game's launch option, see here how.

[Kapp'n]

adding the -nosound command line starts the game without sound. This function can be used to distinguish between video/sound problems (ie If any problems are resolved when using the command switch, you know you have a problem with the sound element)


Stuttering/crashing with new sound card with latest drivers

If you have purchased a new sound card but experience crashes and/or stuttering, try disabling any other internal or external sound devices, such as the motherboard's on-board audio. This can be done via the Device Manager in control Panel and should prevent any interference with your new sound card.


Sound stuttering/muting/static (x-fi)

Remove your current drivers and try the unofficial support pack 1.1 drivers available from here This resolved the issue for some users.


Crackling sound particularly in cutscenes

Disable SLI if you have more than one graphics card, the game does not fully support this feature.


Microphone suddenly unrecognised

In worse case senario, restore your OS back to a previous date. Specific configuration files may have become corrupt. This has been reported to be the only solution so far