computer shuts down

[Mobhack]

Originally Posted by Arralen

Sort of - and yes, most likely:
Open the Task Manager and minimize it to the task bar, then run Steel Panthers, and you'll see that your CPU constantly runs at a very high percentage ... .

On the other hand, if your hardware can't take that, there might be something wrong with it. Might just be that the fans or the heat exchanger need some cleaning, but maybe the heatpipes do not work 100% any longer, or the heat-conductive paste has gone bad ...
To fix these things you better contact someone who's proficient with fixing notebooks, though, as it is quite easily possible to make things worse ...

The game runs in a tight MS_DOS type game loop as it was a port from DOS, so the fans will kick in eventually (I get the same effect with other windows games as well, e,g EU3).

However - I used the vacuum cleaner to suck out the felt that had built up on the grilles and inside of my box (I had the CPU box sitting on the floor and it was choked with carpet fluff). This reduced the overheating substantially! - The fan now only comes into play after an hour or 3 of gaming, and it no longer 'howls' since it can 'breathe'. CPU box is now up on the desk, not down on the carpet any more.

I'll maybe look into detecting the WS_MINIMIZED state this summer, have been meaning to do that, but then again I tend to either be running the game or exit it completely, and not have it minimised in the background.

Andy.