Silent Hill 3 (PC) Opening Movie Sequence Lags Majorly (Actual Cause Unknown)

[Xtreme2damax]

I've Been Experiencing some trouble with Silent Hill 3, after I recently Installed some Software.

At first I thought is was My Graphics card Driver, so I Uninstalled the version 91.47 of Nvidia Forceware, and Reinstalled the Default Drivers that Came with my Graphics Card. It was a no go, so I'm left Clueless as to what to do.

I've Also tried Uninstalling Silent Hill 3 and Reinstalling it again.

A Description of my Problem:

When Starting Silent Hill 3, the Opening Movie Lags Majorly (Btw This is the PC Version) , Which it has never done before and I had no problems with. I can skip this by pressing escape, but I do like to see the opening movie. It drops down to 5 - 10 FPS on the opening sequence. However This is the only Problem I have with Silent Hill 3, as the rest of the game Plays fine, and so does other games.

It's only the Opening Movie Sequence of Silent Hill 3, that's Doing this. I have already reinstalled windows Because of this Problem, and I'm not About to do it again, as I spent a great deal of time reinstalling all my Software, only to run into this problem again. All my Other Software I ran fine before without any Problems.

The only new software I installed was from microsoft (Internet Explorer 7, Windows Media Player 11, Along With Windows Xp Service Pack 2) I Tried Uninstalling everything I recently installed except Service Pack 2 , which SH3 was Running fine on Service Pack 2.

However it did not help. I also tried Uninstalling WindowBlinds 5, as I thought that was causing conflict with Service Pack 2, and SH3. Still did not work.

I know it is something I installed that is causing my problem, but I can't exactly put my finger on it. I have Silent Hill 4 Installed along with Silent Hill 3, This isn't the problem as I ran them fine before.

As a Second to last attempt, I ran Silent Hill 3 in a window, and shut every process down that wasn't Silent Hill 3 Related, or wasn't a System Process or Critical System Process. This Did not Work Either. So as my final attempt, I came here to seek help, from someone who might of experienced a similar problem, or heard of someone who had a similar problem.

If it Helps any, Here's a short List of some software I have/had Installed, that might be of question of conflict:

1.) VMware Server.

2.) Acronis True Image 9.

3.) Partition Magic

4.) Daemon Tools 4.06

5.) Alcohol 52% FE 1.9.6.4629

6.) SPTD Driver 1.35 (Came With Alcohol 52%)

7.) Windowblinds 5

Thanks if Anyone can help, or offer advice. Oh Btw, I don't have any Malware, Viruses, Trojan's, Worms. Spyware or Adware on my System. Believe me I already thought of that, and scanned.

[jonc2006]

go to run in your start menu and type in dxdiag and see if it comes up with anything such as hardware or software conflicts. also keep trying to run silent hill 3 in a window but try it at its lowest quality settings and resolution and see if the lag is still there. i doubt this will work but try disabling sound effects and music. if its still happening try uninstalling silent hill 3 and reinstalling it. btw i have this game too and you need to have the disk in the drive to play it right? try cleaning your disk, im not sure if it will do much but its something to try.

[Mr. Killjoy]

You have to uninstall a conflicting codec you prolly got from K-lite codec pack, but I don't remember which one. I think it's the mpeg2 codec but I'm not sure.

[Xtreme2damax]

I don't have K-Lite installed, and have never used that program.

Would Windows Media Player 11, or another software have installed that codec?

[Mr. Killjoy]

Yeah of course you can have it installed by another pack or software, but I can't tell you which did. But you can do a search on this forum, I already posted about this issue, and I think someone wrote me the exact codec name.
Else you can google it, it's hard to find, but I did it long ago.

[Hard core Rikki]

FFdshow also does creates such a slowdown. Also happens with Age of Empires 3's intro (the short one with rolling dice).

[Mr. Killjoy]

Good thing it's the only prerendered movie in the game, except (maybe) credit rolls.

[Xtreme2damax]

Thank You, I found the Conflicting files and removed them (Saving a Backup of them of course) and that solved my Problems.

The files were called: "Mpeg2DecFilter.ax" And "mpeg2data.ax"

I however have no clue as to what program these files go to, would you happen to know?

Thank You if you can let me know

[Mr. Killjoy]

They're just codecs, the worst it can do is prevent some video from running, but it never happened to me, so just keep in mind it that kicking them out does more good than bad

[Xtreme2damax]

Thanks, I found out that it was Windows Media Player 11, that installed the Codecs.

I found this out upon Reinstalling Windows Media Player 11, and the files were once again back.

Is there any fix or update from microsoft or anyone, that will let me keep these codecs, without it causing conflicts with games such as silent hill 3?

[Mr. Killjoy]

I don't think so... you could also consider using something else than this resource hog. Movie/music players aren't the hardest things to find ^^