ut.exe going at 100% cpu usage

[Supremeone]

ya lately i've been playing unreal tournament and now getting high cpu usage spikes. Even when i wasn't in any server i had a spike. I tried setting it to low priority and even used a program called process tamer but still didn't work. Happens on any server also. What should i do? I'm going to try to use a different install i have but if that doesn't work im out of ideas. I got antispyware program that ran a scan and found nothing.

[Feralidragon]

1) Are you running single core, dual core, quad...?

2) Is the CPU running at 100% on UT only?

3) Have you checked any extra processes you shouldn't have (antispywares generally don't detect those, from own experience).

4) Have you tried a clean install elsewhere (UT) to see if it's the overall PC or just the install?

[Supremeone]

1. yes
2. yes
3. yes
4. no but i have this old install that always worked no problem and never had any freezes. Now it's freezing, so it's something else for sure.

[GreatEmerald]

Try repatching the game. Also, is your computer a PC or a laptop?

[Feralidragon]

Originally Posted by Supremeone

4. no but i have this old install that always worked no problem and never had any freezes. Now it's freezing, so it's something else for sure.

Software works pretty much like hardware. Yesterday it worked fine, today it doesn't.
Which means, if you think further, if your OS or browser can be affected and "altered" by some other software, so does a game (specially UT since it has all the files spreaded around, instead of some games which have either all integrated into a single app or a very low amount of packaged files).
It happens that UT is really a vulnerable game which can be damaged: by a server, by a mod, by some external software, etc.
So since it only happens with UT, I would say that it's most likelly UT itself (it can be now corrupted).

So you can have an idea on how vulnerable this game is to servers and mods, I have 4 UT installs in my system: a "virgin" one (no mods or anything), the main one (where I develop and test my mods, and play on servers), the ONP one (just to play ONP lol), and a heavilly screwed one which I just didn't delete yet due to the amount of resources and mods there (which was in times healthy as yours, but it got screwed by mods, and perhaps by a few servers as well, but no by me for sure since I didn't even coded at the time rofl).

So:

Originally Posted by GreatEmerald

Try repatching the game.

Yes, in case of a "corrupted" file from the engine itself (core or others), that should solve the issue (as repatching replaces the old main critical files by the updated ones, so if there's anything corrupted, it gets replaced and therefore fixed, pretty much like if you were "repairing Windows").
However, if that doesn't work, install the game elsewhere (in another directory, partition, whatever place), just to test if the CPU goes to 100% and keeps freezing as well (since it can also not be related to a "main" file of the game).

It would be only an "external cause for sure", if that issue also happenned with other games or applications in your PC.

[AnthraX]

Are you sure that you're having spikes? It would make perfect sense if UT was at 100% CPU use nonstop.

[Supremeone]

i rebooted pc and now the problem has stopped, ya i know, weird. Thanks for the responses, especially about how servers/mods can screw up the game. I hadn't thought of that too much.

[Hermskii]

When was the last time you had rebooted the computer? Yes, many things can corrupt UT. The other part about software being good one day and bad the next is a perfect example of what can mess up UT. Seems these days that any little program wants to take over half the stuff that your PC already does fine. Careful when you install stuff to do the custom install and not the recommended one. That way you see what you are really getting. A fresh install of UT also usually fixes everything. If it doesn't you must look at the last hardware you installed since your last install of UT. Peace.