Garbled graphics in Descent 3 with a Radeon

VR7 · Post by **VR7** » Tue Dec 20, 2005 9:35 pm

Yeah, I searched a bit. Found nothing on this.

This is what my D3 currently looks like in OpenGL. In OGL, D3 automatically uses 640x480 in 16 bit, even though I have set it a number of times at 1024x768 in 32 bit, even in-game. When you quit, it stays in 640x480. In Direct3D, it's even more unstable, (looks pretty much similar to the screenshot too) and crashes at random.

Running Windows XP, ATI Radeon 9000 with Omega v2.6.87 drivers installed. Every other OGL game (Warcraft 3, Quake 3, Quake 4...) has worked fine for me.

Krom · Post by **Krom** » Tue Dec 20, 2005 9:40 pm

Update your drivers if there are any newer ones available. 32bit does not work in OpenGL in D3, at all, ever, even on Nvidia cards, so give up on that. Disable any video card overclocking if it is overclocked. Check to make sure your cooling fans are operating properly and the video card isn't too hot.

Check your D3 command line options and make sure there are no settings you don't understand, or post your command line here.

I wonder if you might need to roll back your drivers a bit to an older set, it's possible they broke descent3 somehow. I don't think reinstalling D3 will help, probably not but keep it in mind as a last resort.

VR7 · Post by **VR7** » Tue Dec 20, 2005 9:55 pm

This is a fresh install of D3. No overclocking done, and as I said before, every other game runs just fine.

It was like this on the fresh install, and installing Mercenary and v1.4 had no effect.

Note that the garbled graphics started before I even put in command lines, but just to be safe, here's what I put in:

Command lines:
-nooutragelogo -width 1024 -height 768 -nomovie -pilot "Noel Shourai"

I'd like to leave rolling back as a last resort.

Krom · Post by **Krom** » Tue Dec 20, 2005 10:01 pm

D:\Games\Descent3\main.exe -launched -framecap 0 -nointro -nosparkles -nomotionblur -deadzone0 0.06 -deadzone1 0.06 -nomusic -usesmoothing -width 1280 -height 960

Try playing around with some of the settings in the video card drivers. Also, you don't need to set the width and the height in the command line unless you are using a non standard resolution (like me), just set 1024x768 in the ingame menu.

One idea I had, try running the game with the -lowmem or -superlowmem options to see if changing the size of the textures helps.

VR7 · Post by **VR7** » Tue Dec 20, 2005 10:31 pm

Problem seems to be fixed without the use of -lowmem. Apparently the game will run just fine if it doesn't make the attempt to change the resolution to 1024x768, so it has to stay at 640x480 all the time.

Edit: Whoops. Thanks, Krom.

Duper · Post by **Duper** » Tue Dec 20, 2005 10:40 pm

wow, wild pix.

Would make a killer desktop!

Mobius · Post by **Mobius** » Wed Dec 21, 2005 1:54 pm

640 - bleh! You seeing about 8 brazillian frames per second now?

I think it might be your omega drivers.

Just install the latest CATs.

VR7 · Post by **VR7** » Wed Dec 21, 2005 6:53 pm

Usually when I try to install the standard Catalyst driver I get an INF Error and the drivers fail to install. The cure to this was to create a folder of some sort in the Documents and Settings folder, but I can't remember what.

Diedel · Post by **Diedel** » Thu Dec 22, 2005 10:34 am

VR7,

in case your account name contains special characters (like German umlauts or whatever), or white spaces, that might be the reason for the Cats failing to install.

I had this problem with the BF2 patches, which never properly installed even though I pulled all known tricks (like how to find the installation data folder, copying the data somewhere else and launching the patch manually, and registry fiddling), and once I had created a new admin account on my WinXP machine with a very simple 4-letter account name only containing regular letters, everything worked fine.

What is an INF error anyway?

VR7 · Post by **VR7** » Thu Dec 22, 2005 7:29 pm

My XP account has a space, (i.e. between a first and last name) if that counts.

An INF error basically looks like this:

http://www.je-ha.dk/oslofreak/div-pics/1.jpg
http://www.je-ha.dk/oslofreak/div-pics/2.jpg

In that order. It happens when the installer actually attempts to install the Cats.

Source: http://www.techspot.com/vb/topic15072.html

Duper · Post by **Duper** » Thu Dec 22, 2005 7:32 pm

Update your BIOS on your motherboard., then update your monitor drivers, if there are any.

Reinstall DX9 (something)

Uninstall any ATI drivers and uninstall the device itself.

reboot and reinstall device. Manually install drivers, don't let windows do it.

I believe INF stands for "information" it's a type of driver file. I always have to hunt them down when I update or install stuff on my older OS's.

fyrephlie · Post by **fyrephlie** » Fri Dec 23, 2005 2:14 am

Duper wrote:Update your BIOS on your motherboard., then update your monitor drivers, if there are any.

Reinstall DX9 (something)

Uninstall any ATI drivers and uninstall the device itself.

reboot and reinstall device. Manually install drivers, don't let windows do it.

I believe INF stands for "information" it's a type of driver file. I always have to hunt them down when I update or install stuff on my older OS's.

inf is information... it is the script by which the driver is installed. for your own reference... you can typically right click a .inf file and choose to install it without the lame gui front end (if the files are extracted from said lame gui front end).

this error is saying that it can't find the appropriate driver to your hardware. i.e. setup doesnt think you have an ATI Card that needs drivers. i ran into this before with nVidia cards, (i don't have a ton of experience with ATI because (among other things) ATI hates linux, and I run a lot of linux boxes...) anyhoo... uninstalling the current drivers is a good first step, then, reboot and let the ugly vga driver take over. get over the ugliness and try installing again. then continue at the top of duper's list (skipping direct x cause it's surprizingly dynamic considering it's a microsoft product)

oh and UGH!!! at the ugly giant taskbar on the side... why do they even let you do that!

all that screen real estate lost to a big blue blob!

MD-2389 · Post by **MD-2389** » Fri Dec 23, 2005 12:46 pm

Duper wrote:Uninstall any ATI drivers and uninstall the device itself.
reboot and reinstall device. Manually install drivers, don't let windows do it.

Just to give you a graphical representation of what Duper is talking about:

That is the Driver update wizard. You can access it through your system properties in your control panel. You can also just hold down the windows key and press the pause button. Click on the hardware tab, and click the + next to "Display Devices" and double-click on your video card listing. Then follow the screenshots I posted.

You can also click on the option to NOT search for a driver, and to specify your own. I don't recommend you do this unless you KNOW what you are doing. By default it shows only "compatable" devices. Select your card and click on the "Have Disk" button. Point it to where ATI unpacks your drivers (assuming their installer works like nVidia's) and let windows do its thing.

chuck · Post by **chuck** » Sun Jan 01, 2006 11:43 pm

ive been having graphic problems as well. same card (well, a Sapphire Radeon 9000 Pro 128mb, but close enough) and the problem appears in both Win 2000 and XP. check it our for yourself:

this is the game screen with OGL:

this is the game screen with D3D:

and this is the menu screen with D3D:

my problem's different in that D3D actually works, and i can set it at 1024x768, but its still a messed up situation and worth mentioning.

i'll probably just use OGL to configure everything, and then D3D to play, but youd be surprised at how annoying those blobs under the crosshairs get.

the only way i ever fixed this was to rollback to really old CATs, like 4.2 or something, but thats not really much of a solution, using 2 year old drivers. if anyone knows of any tweaking of the drivers that could remedy this, itd be very appreciated. i dont wanna go into my drivers settings totally clueless...

thanks

BUBBALOU · Post by **BUBBALOU** » Mon Jan 02, 2006 12:10 am

are either one of you using windowblinds if so launch WB config and try setting d3/main to the exclusion list under per-application

I do this out of a force of habit for all games

chuck · Post by **chuck** » Mon Jan 02, 2006 9:52 pm

no, im definitely not

VR7 · Post by **VR7** » Wed Jan 04, 2006 11:42 am

I managed to install Catalyst 5.13 properly and it causes the same problem. However, rolling back to the (really old) drivers seems to fix it for some reason, but no bumpmapping in D3D, grr.

chuck · Post by **chuck** » Sat Jan 07, 2006 11:44 am

well, it works now. it doesnt really make any sense, cause if i reverse the changes ive made, it still works, but if memory serves me right, i moved the Texture Preference and Mipmap Detail Level sliders all the way to the left, and it started working fine. the only reason i doubt myself is that now ive put them back, all the way to the right, and its still fine. i dont get it. oh well, it works, im not gonna complain.

Garbled graphics in Descent 3 with a Radeon

Garbled graphics in Descent 3 with a Radeon

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