I was having trouble with a game called STALKER - Shadow of Chernobyl, where
in certain parts of the game when you push the quick-save button or the ESC
key, the game crashes to desktop. Searching for an answer, I found a solution
in the Stalker forum where you add a '-noprefetch' command after the exe path
in the games shortcut. This worked for me and no more CTDs.

Are there any performance compromises in this solution? Is it OK to keep
using this trick and possibly use it with other programs or games that might
have issues in Vista? Thanks.

"amenx" <amenx@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
newsA7FC1A4-3C45-4830-A320-9CD5DE18FFB1@microsoft.com...
>I was having trouble with a game called STALKER - Shadow of Chernobyl,
>where
> in certain parts of the game when you push the quick-save button or the
> ESC
> key, the game crashes to desktop. Searching for an answer, I found a
> solution
> in the Stalker forum where you add a '-noprefetch' command after the exe
> path
> in the games shortcut. This worked for me and no more CTDs.
>
> Are there any performance compromises in this solution? Is it OK to keep
> using this trick and possibly use it with other programs or games that
> might
> have issues in Vista? Thanks.

I'm not seeing a CTD issue with STALKER on vista myself, which suggests it
*isn't* a general incompatibility between the game and the OS. Have you
applied patch 1.0003? That fixes a lot of problems for a lot of people from
what I've seen in the forums.

Now as for that command... I'd suggest you don't use it except in cases
where you know it will make a difference (without reading the forum post,
its difficult to know the circumstances that bring about using it with
STALKER). It isn't "dangerous" but it will downgrade performance. Consider
it a specific cure to a specific problem, not something you should blindly
apply to every single app every time you think you might have a slight
issue.
--
Robert Moir
http://www.rhymeswithgeek.com

Thanks for the reply. It seems lots of people were experiencing this issue,
even after upgrading to the 1.003 patch. Its not a frequent occurence, but
only in certain parts of the game. I havent noticed any performance drop or
odd behaviour using it though. I guess I can understand the principle behind
it, and that disabling prefetch would basically be interfering with a major
part of Vista thats integrated with the performance of the OS. Just wondering
what the nature of the drawbacks may be. Thanks.

amenx
-------------------------------------------
"Robert Moir" wrote:

>
> "amenx" <amenx@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> newsA7FC1A4-3C45-4830-A320-9CD5DE18FFB1@microsoft.com...
> >I was having trouble with a game called STALKER - Shadow of Chernobyl,
> >where
> > in certain parts of the game when you push the quick-save button or the
> > ESC
> > key, the game crashes to desktop. Searching for an answer, I found a
> > solution
> > in the Stalker forum where you add a '-noprefetch' command after the exe
> > path
> > in the games shortcut. This worked for me and no more CTDs.
> >
> > Are there any performance compromises in this solution? Is it OK to keep
> > using this trick and possibly use it with other programs or games that
> > might
> > have issues in Vista? Thanks.
>
> I'm not seeing a CTD issue with STALKER on vista myself, which suggests it
> *isn't* a general incompatibility between the game and the OS. Have you
> applied patch 1.0003? That fixes a lot of problems for a lot of people from
> what I've seen in the forums.
>
> Now as for that command... I'd suggest you don't use it except in cases
> where you know it will make a difference (without reading the forum post,
> its difficult to know the circumstances that bring about using it with
> STALKER). It isn't "dangerous" but it will downgrade performance. Consider
> it a specific cure to a specific problem, not something you should blindly
> apply to every single app every time you think you might have a slight
> issue.
> --
> Robert Moir
> http://www.rhymeswithgeek.com
>
>
>