Game no longer running smoothly

[Dramacydal]

Ok, so here's my problem. I used to have that crash to desktop problem but I've been able to solve that. It cost me a lot of time and I probably reinstalled the whole game about 20 times.

Anyways, at first the game was running smoothly with the highest detail settings, even when I still had that crash to desktop problem. But all of a sudden it does no longer work with any halfway decent detail settings, it's running slowly as fuck and it's stuttering. Even when I uninstall everything and just install the original version of LIVE 07.

I did change my graphic card drivers while I was still trying to get rid of that crash to desktop problem. Now I thought this might be the reason for my current problem so I uninstalled all the graphic card drivers on my PC, cleaned up all the mess regarding those drivers and just installed the newest drivers from ATI's official site but this still didn't help.

By the way, my graphic card is the Radeon 9600. But I don't think the card itself is the problem because I already had the game running smoothly before. This shit is probably going to result in me deleting everything on my harddrive and reinstalling windows and everything. So if anyone knows how to avoid that please let me know. Thanks in advance.

[3.14159]

Are you sure that you really uninstalled your video card? coz uninstalling the driver is a bit complicated than you think. here's a nice guide got this from tweakrus.com. if you'd done that and still experiencing problem, check if you enable your AA and AF in video card settings. if its enable try and disable it or set it to application controlled. (although sorry im not familiar with ATI coz i only use NVIDIA)

Warning: If you are on a network and you are not the network administrator, please don't do any of this. Make the IT people earn their money. They'll thank you later.

General Video Driver Uninstall/Install
1. Unplug nic card or modem from net or disconnect. (Driver Cleaner ReadMe)
2. Disable any AntiVirus Software. If you don't disable, it could give you trouble. (Driver Cleaner ReadMe)
3. Uninstall current vid driver (If you have an nVidia mobo and a nVidia vidcard, make sure you only uninstall the video driver, not all nVidia drivers or your mobo will lose its drivers also.)
4. Reboot
5. As the reboot comes up, after the quick memory test and hard drives have been recognized, hit F8 and enter "SAFE MODE." On some boards if you hit F8 too early you will enter other utilities. OR you can run MSConfig.exe, hit the BOOT Ini tab, and check /SAFEBOOT.
6. On reboot into safe mode WinXP SP1/SP2 will auto detect and ask you to install drivers. You should be able to can cancel out of the auto install hardware wizard move to step #7. If you can NOT cancel out of auto detect wizard then, navigate to device manager->display adapters->highlight (nVidia, ATI, etc.) and click uninstall or remove but don't reboot. (From Driver Cleaner ReadMe, modified for clarity by Rike)
7. Run Driver Cleaner with the filter for the driver (nVidia, ATI, etc.) you just uninstalled . Quit and restart into the normal Windows mode.
8. Install new vid driver. Note for SLI users: sometimes the driver doesn't install for both cards. To ensure proper installation, you should check in Device Manager to be sure the driver is installed for both cards. If it isn't, you should right-click on the yellow-question-marked card and click on Update Driver.
9.. Empty the recycle bin and Reboot
10. Redo what was undone in #2 & #1, in that order. Reboot if needed to re-establish Internet connection.
11. Enjoy

Some people skip steps without problems. However, I should note that this is the safest, most stable method that we have at this point.

If you know any steps that should be added or removed, please post them on this thread. Also if you have another method you prefer, please add to the body of knowledge here. I will update the top post as new ideas are posted.

Thanks to all who have contributed to this thread so far. Originally compiled by Rike.

NOTE: This is from the Driver Cleaner readme;

nVidia:
1. Unplug nic card or modem from net or disconnect
2. Remove nvidia from add/remove programs
3. Reboot into safe mode (F8 during boot up)
4. On reboot into safe mode WinXP SP1/SP2 will auto detect and install drivers. Just let it do its thing. If you can cancel out of the auto install hardware wizard then skip the rest and run Driver Cleaner! If you can NOT cancel out of auto detect wizard then...
5. Navigate to device manager->display adapters->highlight nVidia and click uninstall or remove but don't reboot
6. Disable any AntiVirus Software (If you don't disable is than it could give trouble)
7. Run Cab Cleaner (not needed, but recommended)
8. Run Driver Cleaner
9. Empty recycle bin and reboot
10. Install the new drivers

[Dramacydal]

Man I've got no clue what this is all about...I'm not exactly a pro when it comes to computers. But I'll definetely give this a try. Thanks a lot for your help, even if it won't work I'll still appreciate it.

[Dramacydal]

check if you enable your AA and AF in video card settings. if its enable try and disable it or set it to application controlled.

How do I do this?

[3.14159]

im not that familiar with ati card. but i believe you can check it by going to your video card control panel.

[no.mercy]

This is not a solution but just a sharing of a similar experience..I am being troubled by EXACTLY the same problem as yours for over a week now. And yes it also started with that crash-to-desktop problem ..I also have an ATI card, in fact a RADEON IGP 345M..oh yeah i know its jurassic heheh..but i updated my drivers since Live06 and i didn't encounter any problems with my frame rate until just now when I started playing Live 07..first the game was smooth, I was even in my 15th game in dynasty when I experienced that crash. Then the game has not been the same since then..Worst, even my Live06 wont run as smooth as before...So i searched around for solutions..believe me i tried all, installing-reinstalling Live, all display related drivers..up to the last recourse, reformatting hard drive and reinstalling windows to no success at first..until i decided to perform a quick system recovery with the CD that came with my laptop..in short, i got all my original drivers back..then one by one, i upgraded all my outdated drivers..i got one driver from Omega since i guess Ati stopped updating their older cards..now my game is back to normal...hopefully someone can give a very informative solution so we all wont be facing the same problem anytime soon.

also may i add, i noticed in the NBA Live folder, there are folders for DirectX, macromedia etc...anybody here knows if an updated Macromedia Flash is part of the game requirements? thanks.

[Patr1ck]

Flash is only for the online browser thing.

Dramacydal, I had a similar issue, but not as bad. Basically, when I first installed 07, I would get a studder around center court, and I couldn't record videos with Fraps at more than 15 fps. I eventually tried installing older drivers, the 6.5 Cat's (Omega modded). All of a sudden the studder was gone, and I could record videos at 30 fps again, just like in 06. So, I'm guessing that it is most likely a driver problem.

[Dramacydal]

^Now that sounds good. I'll try that because the drivers I used while it was still running smoothly were old ones aswell.

Thanks for the help everyone, really appreciate it.