Spore freezes after playing for a while

Question

I've been playing spore for a while now, and I found 2 peculiar phenomenons in the game:

1. Some graphics (such as the monolith, the construction of a colony and lava on planets) don't show up. By don't show up I mean I can see right through the planet if its covered in lava. That I can live with.
2. After x minutes of gameplay (could be anything, 10 minutes or 2 hours), the game gets frozen. The screen flickers with black, and the sound keeps on going.

I'm on a ASUS laptop, Intel i5 Core, RADEON HD 6370M 1GB graphics. Windows 7 x64 Ultimate

If you need any more details comment and I'll add them. I really don't know what to do. Thanks in advance.

Asked by Truth

Answer

This sounds like a graphics card issue. The missing textures might be caused by an out of date or buggy graphics card driver or an issue with overheating.

First, a few general things to check - is the game patched to the very latest version available? Also, if you're overclocking or otherwise have modified the system, turn that off.

The first step to debugging a graphics card driver issue is to try installing the latest drivers from the manufacturer's (in this case, ASUS) website. If you've tried this and it's not helping, try getting the latest drivers for your laptop's chipset from AMD. It's become less possible to do this in recent years; I can't get generic AMD drivers for my laptop's chipset because the laptop manufacturer forbids it, for instance.

The "freezing after x minutes" problem sounds like it could be a symptom of overheating. Is your laptop sitting on something soft, and perhaps blocking the airflow? Make sure that there's plenty of room for air to circulate. You can also place the laptop on a cooling rack (like what you'd use to cool cookies in the kitchen) to see if that doesn't help.

If you've had it for a while and/or it is in a dusty environment, you might want to consider cleaning the fans and exhaust vents with a bit of canned air. You can get canned air at office supply stores. Make sure you keep the can upright, otherwise there's a chance it will blow a super-cold propellant onto your computer, which can cause problems.

If it's still freezing, it might be a good idea to contact customer support for your laptop. They may know of 3D graphics issues with your particular model, although in my experience customer support tends to have a tough time diagnosing these sorts of issues, so consider it a last resort.

Answered by agent86

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Does Spore Creature Creator offer the same editing functions as Spore?

Question

I'm thinking of buying the Spore Creature Creator, and I'm wondering if it has all the editors/parts of the full Spore game?

Asked by Jenko

Answer

No.

The Creature Creator was released as a quasi-demo shortly before the actual game. Even though it is something you have to pay for, it was released with the intention of users buying it to play with while they waited for the final game - with most stores offering rebates on the purchase price of this "demo". While it contains many of the options for body parts found in the full retail version, it lacks many others.

For example:

• Various body parts acquired through play will not be available.
• Earlier/Later stage creature customizations will not be available.
• Buildings/Vehicles will also not be available.

Additionally, the added parts that can be found in the "Creepy and Cute" expansion pack are not compatible with the Creature Creator.

I would strongly suggest buying the full version, as it's very often on sale, over the Creature Creator.

Answered by TZHX

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What's the harm of dying in Spore?

Question

Is there any harm, or any other effect from dying in Spore, in cell or creature phase?

It seems to me that the only consequence is that you get a death mark to your evolution history. However you still get to keep the collected evolution discoveries (new parts), all the collected DNA points.

I mean sure, the game is partly based on the story you are creating for your species, and it's sad to see your little critter bite the dust. However, it doesn't seem like there's much point in trying to avoid risk. One could even go as far as to consider using death as a teleport back to home nest in creature phase (the poor little creature just wandered too far, oh the tragedy...) Is there something I'm missing here?

Answer

The main problem is the loss of any companions in creature phase, which can take time to regain; especially if you're taking other species with you.

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How do I deal with this “system under attack” graphics bug in Spore?

Question

In Spore, sometimes when I'm in the space stage, I will get something like this:

As you can see, the "system under attack" symbol with the big downward-pointing arrow appears over each system, but it's only supposed to appear when that system is actually under attack! It's just that sometimes it doesn't disappear, and nothing seems to get rid of it; I've tried losing the system to an enemy, re-capturing it, destroying all my cities in the system, saving the game and loading... nothing gets rid of those symbols! It often seems to be triggered when you're attacking an enemy system with 2 occupied planets and you start, one planet surrenders, and the other doesn't, you go out to the galaxy view again, go back in, get the other one to surrender, and capture the system. Then when you go out to galaxy view again, you have the "system under attack" symbol stuck there even though you captured the system!

Does anyone know of any way to get rid of these things once the system has been captured?

Answer

This glitch may sometimes be fixed by saving and exiting to the main menu, then re-entering the game. The symbol may also just disappear with time, so it effectively seems to mean "you tried to capture this system somewhat recently", rather than "you are trying to capture this system right now".

The above quote is from the Spore Wiki.

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Neutralize the Grox

Question

In the game Spore, is there a non-cheat way to neutralize the Grox, whether by allying with them, utterly defeating them, or some other method?

Answer

You can both ally with them, or utterly defeat them.

Allying with the Grox is not taken lightly in the Galactic Community, and will result in upsetting all spacefaring nations.

To be able to utterly defeat them, you will need an official mod/patch (use save-as) and have gained secret at the center of the universe. Also, This will take some time, as they have have 2400 systems (a total of about 5000 planets) at the start of the game.

more details (including spoilers and exact methods) can be found at the Grok entry in the Spore Wiki

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Is there gameplay advantage of adding multiple similar parts to your creature in Spore?

Question

In Spore, when adding a new part to your creature you gain the abilities that come with it (e.g. charm level 2, sneak level 1). Naturally, adding a better part (e.g. charm level 4) or replacing the older one gives you better ability.

Adding multiple similar health parts does seem to increase your total health for each part added. But is there some similar gameplay advantage when adding others kinds of parts multiple times?

(Of course, much of Spore's attraction is in creating a creature that suits your tastes, so of course there's often a point in adding multiple similar parts. What I'm asking is if there's also a gameplay advantage.)

Answer

At the creature stage (on land) I'm afraid adding duplicate parts doesn't help you out. Essentially your skill level (charm, melee, etc.) is determined by the part with the highest level (for that skill).

I've experimented with this a fair bit, and does appear to be only be available for aesthetic reasons.

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