After days of trying to get my system (XP, AMD 1800+, ASUS A7A266 MB, 64mb LeadTek GeForce2 GTS, 256mb DDR 2100, Hercules Fortissimo Sound Card) to stop from crashing (everytime I run SOF2, I ran into a post earlier today that spoke about over heating.
(sorry I dont remember which post or who wrote it).
I deceided to open my box add an extra case fan and then run the game.
IT worked!!! I was finally able to get around the corner and in to the next map without any freezes. It even let me save and open saved games without crashing.
I had various crashes before opening up my box, I would get sound loop freezes, washed out desktops, and copmlete system lock ups.
I guess the game puts a lot of stress on all the components and causes them to heat up and lock?!?
Thanks to whoever it was that put up the original post about the portable fan!
I am gonna keep playing and upping the settings to see how much it can take.
Hope this helps somebody out.
Later.

Good point. Glad it worked for you.

UPDATE:

It only worked for the first two maps. Now it locks up every ~2 mins or so. Even at low settings!
What the F***!!!
This game is really pee-peeing me off. Ive never had this much trouble getting a game to run.
Not to mention the bugs (like characters coming half way through the walls and doors, and my sound droping out after a save).
     

how many case fans do you have?? I had three and it was not enough.I do not like how my case is designed and will be getting a bigger tower. Did you try to shut the computer down and wait an hour and try again. If it runs for a longer period and then crashes you may be still getting heat buildup but it just takes longer to reach a  critical point since you added one more case fan.
I have to run my 12" portable pushing some serious air to run for long periods. So I am looking into a better case with more room for cooling. I built this comp myself so I have only myself to blame

AMD 1.4
soyo k7ada/ali
640 pc2100
g3 ti200 23.11 driver
WIN2000 pro

Do you know how rediculous this souds?
Get a new case, more case fans, FOR A #### GAME TO RUN?

Anyways, ZS2002 do you have any overclocking on the cpu, or vidcard?

Or is this natural heat?

Cause if your not doing any oc'ing this is a serious problem for your computer to overheat like this.

I am not suggesting  for anyone do to anything!!!!
Only that yes I do have a heat problem and more cooling lets me play for as long as I want without craching. What other conclusion can I come to?? I believe my graphic card probably is one of many that got a fan on the gpu from the manufacturer with heavy amounts of goo on it which in turn doesn't dissipate heat well. Only thing is I am a little hesitant in popping off the stock fan and installing a aftermarket one. I can run all day in a normal environment but when gaming I need extra cooling. That is all I am trying to say. Not whether it's ridiculous or not. Maybe my card is a piece of poo-poo, but if I can run this way without replacing my card thats what I'll do. Sorry to have offended you with my post.

I've noticed alot of people having problems with the game are running AMD processors. Simple advice don't overclock the cpu's, it seems the AMD's run alot hotter than the Intel cpus. Try using reference drivers for your video cards. Turn off any programs running in the background especially anti-virus software. Try defragging the HD. There's a good FAQ available on the Raven site for some of the issues being experienced. If your dealing with sound problems and EAX switch to direct sound. I know it's not much advice but it's a start.
BTW look carefully at the available video settings in the game. There are a lot of options to enable and disable which might make the difference between getting the game to run consistently, lockup or crash....
Good luck....

F.A.B. : I have a 2 case fans and 2 Blowers (home brew) aimed right at the CPU.

destrox : Its all natural heat! I dont have anything OC'd in my system. I even have the case wide open.

Is it just me or does any else feel that Raven didnt do much testing with AMD (XP)\NVidia systems?  
I guess I'll have to go and play other more reliable games until this mess gets all cleared up!!!

Update #2:
After tweaking the game settings for the last few days. I decied to try some different hardware combos (Which Is What RAVEN should be doing...Isnt that what they get paid for???).
I deceided to try using a Athlon 1.22 to see if my theory of lack of testing was true .
Since then I have only had 2 lock ups and they were when I uped the setting to the max. At the Game\System defaults I have actually been able to make it from the Hotel to Columbia without any crashes. The only thing that has happen is that is that I have gotten some choppy and choked up screens.

( Hey Raven...are you guys hiring for testing and development, cause there seem to be quite a few of us that are doing the product testing for you guys ).

It is ridiculous that we have to go through so much s*it inorder to get the game to run at least half ass. I feel bad for those people who expect to just install it and play!!!
Well I think I'm done with product testing for today.
Let me know how you guys are doing with it.
Later.