Our computer is having difficulty handling the game Myst: Uru.  It
slows down drastically at times, and can go blank for several minutes
while it shifts scenes.

Our computer, purchased in June 2002, is an eMachine T1440 with a 1.4
MHz Celeron processor, a graphics accelerator card, 384 MB of RAM, and
6 GB of free space on a 40 GB hard drive.  It's running Windows XP. 
I've carefully checked the computer for viruses and spyware, and it
has none.  (I'm also using SystemWorks 2004 for virus protection.) 
According to the Task Manager, typical Page File usage is between 250
and 300 MB, but when playing the Myst game it jumps up to around 584
MB.  The CPU usage history shows that it maxes out much of the time
Myst is running.

So what's the best solution?  Will adding more RAM help?  Is there
anything else I can do to speed things up?  Is our computer just too
slow and we need a new one?

---

Clarification of Question by dpwiener-ga on 28 Aug 2004 23:24 PDT

Thank you all.  I think the problem turned out to be pilor error on my
part.  I recently borrowed my monitor for another computer, and when I
put it back I think I connected it to the regular video port from the
motherboard instead of the video port of the graphics card.  So
without realizing it we've been struggling along without the benefit
of the video card which we knew was in there.

However, I also implemented some of your other suggestions.  And again
I appreciate the advice.

Just off the top of my head, your computer should be capable of
running the game, because the specs of your machine indicate you're
above the publisher's recommendations:

--Supported OS: Windows® 98SE/2000/ME/XP (only)
--Processor: 800 MHz Pentium® III or AMD Athlon? or better
--RAM: 256 MB RAM or more
--Video Card: 32 MB DirectX® 8.1-compliant video card (see supported list**)
--Sound Card: DirectX 8.1-complaint sound card
--DirectX Version: DirectX 8.1 (included on disc)
--CD-ROM: 4x or faster
--Hard Drive Space: 2 GB free hard disk space
--Peripherals Supported: Mouse, keyboard
--Display: 800x600 16-bit display


The only thing you don't really say is what kind of video card you
have, though the listings on the publisher's page for the game state
that the requirements are pretty low:

--ATI® Radeon? 7000/8000/9000 families
--NVIDIA® GeForce? 256/2/3/4/FX families
--Intel® Extreme

I'd also assume you're running a later version of DirectX than what's recommended.

There's an interesting note from publisher Ubisoft on the Myst page
(see link below):

"NOTICE: This game contains technology intended to prevent copying
that may conflict with some disc and virtual drives."

It might be worth checking with Ubisoft customer support as to what
effects this "technology" could have on gameplay, and what drives are
affected to see if your system is in conflict on those grounds. Some
publishers disable Windows shortcuts (like ALT-TAB to switch to
another application) in hopes that it will thwart copying of the game
through various means, and that could somehow be conflicting with your
system, resulting in poorer performance.


My suggestions would be (in some relative order):

--Make sure you have the latest drivers for your video card, because
the newer drivers can speed up graphics processing dramatically.

--Try lowering the graphics options within the game's settings to see
if there are any that benefit your gameplay. Lower resolution, lower
3D handling and turning off shadows (if offered as user-changeable
settings) can make a difference, and you might find that one of those
settings is really curtailing the game's performance on your PC. Some
games set the program up based on an analysis of your system's specs,
but it's possible that those are too high for your actual performance.

--Shut down any other programs that might be running, including any
system-tray apps that aren't needed. Fewer things competing with Myst
for computing cycles will help it run better. (You may want to try to
open the Windows XP Task Manager by hitting CTRL-ALT-DEL once before
you run the game. If Myst allows it--and it may not, as detailed
above--switching to the Task Manager window might show you what the
game is fighting with for processor time.)

Along these lines, some virus-checking programs can put the handcuffs
on smooth gameplaying, because they check every file as it's used by
the system, so you might consider turning off the virus checking while
you're running Myst. There's always a risk of something infecting your
PC, though if the game doesn't connect up to the Internet (and you're
not running a program at the same time that might enable a virus to
get into your machine, such as e-mail), that risk is relatively small.
It might also be possible to just turn off your virus checker from
scanning files related to Myst, so it'll continue to do its work
protecting your system while not impacting Myst's performance. I don't
know enough about SystemWorks to answer that, but you might find it by
paging through the manual or just opening up the program's options to
see what's available to you.

--As a last resort, RAM is pretty cheap these days, and using more RAM
under Windows XP almost always benefits 3D-based games and other
processor-intensive applications.


**Note that this isn't an official answer through Google Answers
researchers, but hopefully will help you just the same.**



Myst: Ubu page:
http://www.ubi.com/US/Games/pathoftheshell_pc.htm

Yeah your computer should run it fine. The video card can make a big
difference. If you tell us what kind you have we will be able to
determine if that is your problem. Other than that the only thing i
can think of is that you have too much running on your computer at
once. Try shutting the programs you don't need to be running and see
if it improves any. Yeah your computer shoudlnt need to rub that much
memory at once with the basic serives on. On winxp it should just be
barley over 100. So shut down everything that you don't need running.

Despite me having a short answer, I think the others were a little bloated.

From eMachines Support:
Intel® Celeron® Processor 1.40 GHz (w/256KB L2 cache) 

You have a Celeron3 (p3-class) 1.4Ghz processor this processor has
less cache than the Pentium 3 of similar speed. Since you're utilizing
onboard video Intel i810e, probably using shared memory, (right click
"My Computer", click properties, I'll bet it doesn't show 384MB...),
I'd suggest first off, purchase a halfway decent video card. You're
kinda screwed because you don't have an AGP slot in your machine.

If you don't care about TV-output, try:
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-130-175&depa=1
or, if you'd rather HAVE TV-output try:
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-139-151&depa=1
(currently out of stock)

You may see a definate improvement in gameplay just by allowing your
ram to work at full speed. When you're using an onboard video card,
oftentimes it slows the system ram by an order of magnitude because
the chipset's northbridge has to "think" about every memory read/write
instead of actually just doing it's job. With onboard video, instead
of being able to access the whole of your current system ram, the
northbridge has to set up the digital equivalent of police tape to
prevent your operating system, games, etc from overwriting the ram
your onboard video has stolen for itself. Get a video card or a new
machine from someone that doesn't use onboard video. The only onboard
video that you can/should trust is onboard video with it's own ram.
(ex: Dell Inspiron 9100 with 256MB DDR ATI's MOBILITY? RADEON? 9800
AGP 8X Graphics)

So... get a cheapie video card (sub-$50 GeForce2 MX440 PCI) and enjoy your game!