Gui flickering

[Lange_666]

When i first started FC2, the GUI started in Windowed mode and looked good.

After going through the setup, selecting my desktop resolution and changing a few other things like sound etc, the GUI went full screen but started with lines flickering accross the screen. It does so in every GUI screen. Resetting the resolution back to default and ang again in Window mode didn't do anything.

The flickering lines (about 1 cm large across the entire screen) are only visible in all the GUI screens but not ingame (thank God)...:cry:

 

Anybody else with the same problem?

[jens198]

Yup, same here.

 

Running on a nVidia 8800GT with latest drivers.

 

Jens

Edited March 30, 2010 by jens198

[Distiler]

Same problem this guy:

 

http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=51747

[Vibora]

Yup, same here.

 

Running on a nVidia 8800GT with latest drivers.

 

Jens

I use nVidia GeForce 8800GT also without any problems. My drivers are 195.62 from nVidia.

[BigVette]

I had that problem upon initial install (nVidia 9800 GTX with latest drivers,) but when I re-booted it went away.

[elfon666]

I have the same problem, but haven't tried to fly. I don't want to waste an activation. But if you say that there are no problems in-game I'm thinking of trying.

My graphic card is a HIS X1950 Pro Ice Q3 256 Mb PCIe, and I have tried Catalyst 10.2, 10.2, 8.12, 9.3, 9.4, with no result.

Should I install Windows XP?

[Lange_666]

I have no problems (not these at least) in game, only at the GUI screens.

 

My card is a nVidia 8800GTS 640MB but with 182.50 drivers (higher gives problems with my monitor's resolution under Win7). Big problem is that switching drivers costs activations because it's threated as a hardware change...:cry:

Edited April 5, 2010 by Lange_666
typo in videocard specs

[Vibora]

I use nVidia GeForce 8800GT and drivers 195.62 from nVidia without problems as I said before, the only difference is that I use Windos Vista, so it looks like the problem is with Windows 7.

[jens198]

Running it on a 8800GT with the 196.21 drivers (Win7). No flicker in game, but in alle the menus/editor.

 

Jens

[Distiler]

Big problem is that switching drivers costs activations because it's threated as a hardware change...:cry:

 

Strange hardware you have. Nobody looses activations by changing video drivers.

[Lange_666]

Strange hardware you have. Nobody looses activations by changing video drivers.

Everytime i've changed the videodriver in the past, i lost an activation (needed to re-activate the game) due because Starforce detected a hardware change. Don't know about FC2 but i ain't gonna change drivers if it's not needed.

And since jens198 has the same problem but with a lot recent driver, changing drivers will not do much.

[Lange_666]

Weird:

The multiplayer GUI does not flicker at all.

 

Note: I also checked Black Shark again and i have a flicker there also but only once when the cursor moves over a button.

[Panzertard]

Everytime i've changed the videodriver in the past, i lost an activation (needed to re-activate the game) due because Starforce detected a hardware change. Don't know about FC2 but i ain't gonna change drivers if it's not needed.

And since jens198 has the same problem but with a lot recent driver, changing drivers will not do much.

 

You wont loose activasion in FC2 for the video drivers.

And what Distiler said here still stands; http://forums.eagle.ru/showpost.php?p=865067&postcount=5

There is a common factor between ATI, Catalyst AI and OpenGL.

SP GUI uses OpenGL. The game doesn't - and I think the MP gui also may be Dx.

Catalyst AI = Off - or new/older drivers. There's been quite a few people becoming specialist in finding good ATI drivers over in the DCS section due to this problem.

[sisifos]

I noticed I have GUI flickering only if I have Firefox running in the background. Closing Firefox fixes the problem. Maybe that is your case too guys. Check it out.

[Lange_666]

No FireFox here, using IE and that's not live when i play.

Keep 'em comming...:D

[Panzertard]

No FireFox here, using IE and that's not live when i play.

Keep 'em comming...:D

But still - did you try another Nvidia driver revision?

Edited April 5, 2010 by Panzertard

[jens198]

I noticed I have GUI flickering only if I have Firefox running in the background. Closing Firefox fixes the problem. Maybe that is your case too guys. Check it out.

 

Well, that one worked for me. Not Firefox at FC startup --> No flicker in GUI. THANKS!!

 

Jens

[Lange_666]

But still - did you try another Nvidia driver revision?

Not yet because it's too much of a hassle setting it up again for my monitor to work propherly (creating custom resolutions etc... damn Win7!). So before i do this, i want to know if the latest version (197.13) has the same capability as 182.50 when it comes down to creating custom res with custom freq. 196.xx do but they don't work 100% correct. Haven't found that conformation yet.

 

Or there must be another program running which provoces this flickering but i don't know what yet, all is killed before i run a game (even anti-virus and stuff).

 

If i need to choose between flickering and the resolution i want i go for the resolution, the flickering doesn't bother me that much.

[Panzertard]

Ah, okai - well, yes - I tested some 18x.xx drivers from Nvidia a while ago (181 and 182 if I remember correctly) - and yes, they do flicker. Had to move up to 186.xx I think before the flicker was gone.

IMO thats your choice :)

[Lange_666]

Nope their not...:( (but thanks for the tip). Then i have problems under Win7 with my monitor's resolution (http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/94-63-screen-resolution-windows-1680x1050) and that's a bigger problem then the GUI flickering . My problem is not 1680x1050 but 1152x864 but it's the same problem. Anything under 196,xx doesn't work for that, i've tried those (and lost two FC1.12 activations during the entire process while trying because sometimes for some reason when a videodriver is entire wiped and a new one is re-installed, the FC activation process thinks it made a major hardware upgrade somehow...:doh:). Like i said above, didn't try the latest ones (197,xx), i'll stick to the 182.50's for now.

[Panzertard]

Oh, darn - still I've used 1680x1050 native in many games - worked fine back then and still does. Sorry to hear you had so many issues with that, bud.

 

Just a friendly reminder though, you wont loose any activasion in FC2 by changing a driver.

When out of activations, just contact the guys at support and state that you're out - they will check and issue some more. You can do that through email - and followup through Payment and Activation forum.

Note: they wont issue any new set of activations until you're out though.

[Lange_666]

Took the plunge and installed the latest nVidia drivers (197.13).

GUI flickering is gone and also the mouse-over flicker in the Black Shark GUI is gone...:)

 

But...

 

I again have problems now with my screen resolution (CRT monitor). My 1152x684 is unsharp again (in XP and under customs res of 182.50 drivers this is razorsharp) and offers only 16-bit color. With these 197.13 drivers i can create a custom res of 1152x864 with 32bit color but the picture stays unsharp. When i revert to 182.50 it's razorsharp again. Actualy, only the 182.50 Vista drivers give a sharp image under Windows 7 @1152x864 (and other less common res's). Still wonder why M$ did this because under XP all is fine!. I could go for 1280x1024 which is sharp in both drivers but the monitorscreen size is 4/3 where 1280x1024 is a 5/4 res and then the fonts got a tad smaller again too + i'm loosing some FPS because at 1280x1024 the videocrad has more work then under 1152x864. So i'm not there yet...:(

 

Still have shimmering issue's too. In FC1.12 i have around 5% shimmering, in FC2.0 this goes up to 90%. Nothing i tried (not even with 197.13) has reduced this shimmering. But i'll do some more research before i make a post about it on the forum.

[Distiler]

Wich is your monitor? you could try to download official drivers for it, might fix some resolution issues.

[Lange_666]

IIyama HM903DT-B 19"

I have drivers but Win7 won't install these and forces his own Generic PnP monitor file.

The monitor is reconised alright hardware wise and shows up as IIyama HM903DT-B but the driver is always the Generic PnP Monitor driver from Win7.

No solution on the IIyama website and no new driver either for Windows 7.

In XP it was't even needed to install monitor drivers, the XP drivers had all i need.

Windows 7 does not give all the refreshrates my monitor can handle either and even 197.13 refuses to give 100Hz even when i try to force that.

I even tried to enroll my own EDID file for Win7 to use but even that didn't work as long as i didn't use those 182.50 Vista drivers. These are still the only way to go to get a razorsharp screen under 1152x864 res (but then i get GUI flickering...).

When i first installed Win7 it took me almost an entire week to sort this stuff out so i know what can be done and not. I did read zillions of posts on it (just do a google on Windows 7 and screen resolution and you can read until you're 90... LOL). But thx for the input.

Edited April 7, 2010 by Lange_666

[Lange_666]

Reverted back to 182.50 drivers to get a decent 1152x864 res back. This is still the only driver who delivers the resolutions and desired refreshrates i want so i take the GUI flickering for granted (at least for now).

The 197.13 didn't solve the severe shimmering either, tried about every possible setup, step by step. Lot's of FC2.0 restarts...LOL. But no joy (as in FSX, another sim i can't get the shimmering go away). FC1.12 is as good a shimmer free though.

197.13 solved VSync which doesn't work at all under 182.50...

 

 

Think i will go to ATI again on my next videocard although i went from ATI to nVidia to get rid of black triangles flickering on the runway in FSX and FC1.12. Triangles gone but some severe shimmering in return (which can be solved in FC1.12 and all my other sims but not in FC2.0 and FSX). We'll see.