Invisible launcher interface

[flyICE]

I just installed the first time Black Shark + 1.01b on my windows 7 PC. When I click the "Black Shark 1.01" desktop icon, the window pops up, but it has a white background with yellow fonts "Loading...". Then the window would become completely white and blank, except on the top right corner there is a banner and text "Version 1.01".

 

If I randomly click somewhere, I may open a submenu which is also displayed in wierd color. It looks to me that that whole menu and interface are there, but in color (inverted?) that not visible on the white background.

 

By luck I clicked the right button and activated the game. After that I also randomly clicked somewhere and some time I launched the game in game mode and it actually was running fine in the default window.

 

I'm running Windows 7 64bit Ultimate, e6600/6GB/ATI X1900 (with windows 7 built-in driver), 30" 2560x1600 + 20" 1200x1600 (in portrait), X45 HOTAS. I'm running Lock On Flaming Cliffs no problem on this setup.

[EtherealN]

This is most likely a driver issue with your graphics card. Ensure that you disable Catalyst AI and/or revert to version 8.12 of the driver suite.

[flyICE]

Thanks for the quick reply! But I'm not using any ATI driver. The driver is Win7's default. Actually, since ATI doesn't provide win7 compatible drivers for x1900, I don't know what to do in terms of installing drivers from ATI... :(

 

Again, the game appears running fine, it's the launcher interface.

[EtherealN]

Yeah, basically the story on the x19 series is that there's something broken in how it handles OpenGL, and the last one I have seen confirmed to get it right is Catalyst 8.12. (Which is a shame since the last one I've seen that officially supports it is 9.3, but that one doesn't get it right either.)

 

It should be possible to install the Vista version on W7, but I have not tried that myself.

 

The Win7 default driver is most likely a distilled version of the regular Catalyst drivers, which would cause you to get a "too new" version. At least that's the case when windows handles my nVidia drivers.

 

The fact that it only occurs in the singleplayer menu interface is an exact mirror of a multitude of problems that have been reported earlier with those cards, and 8.12 was the most sure solution.

 

EDIT: To further ensure that it really is the exact same problem, start the multiplayer interface. That should work, since it runs under the dcs.exe application and therefore lives in DirectX-land, whereas launcher.exe which is the singleplayer launcher appears to be using OpenGL.

[flyICE]

Thanks for the explaining. That seems to make sense. I haven't tried the multiplayer shortcut yet, but I'll give it a try once I'm at home. If that menu runs ok then I guess my problem is exactly what you described.

 

I'll probably install the vista driver to see if it works.

[EtherealN]

Here's an article that might offer you some help:

http://www.techspot.com/blog/354/no-windows-7-drivers-yet-try-using-vistas/

[flyICE]

I couldn't get the catalyst 8.12 installed properly on Win7, so I had to install 9.2(?) the latest from ATI for visita 32/64bit. Yes, now the SP interface is much better. It's still not normal, for instance I only see a circle of buttons but no text on the opening menu. But at least the interface is now usable, and the submenus are good enough for making adjustments. I can't believe ATI or DCS screws up such a small thing. The game plays no problem.

 

Anyway EtherealN is 100% right on this issue... :thumbup:

[EtherealN]

Yeah Ice, the issue really is that those cards specifically are leaving official support from their manufacturers, so drivers are no longer made to accomodate for their hardware and therefore it's also difficult to make software that accomodates them. A shame but that's the way it goes. (You should see the insane stunts people go to to make new stuff work on really ancient hardware... I saw a piece on people who had hacked Voodoo2 cards to run Doom3... That's hilarity. :P )

 

But good that it got useable at least. :)