Display problem, but not a crash

[Major SNAFU]

Hi all,

 

Not sure where to post this.

 

I have been flying the sim for about 4 days and I have been using TrackIR5 for the past 2.

 

All was going well. Was able to fly training missions and some quick-build missions.

 

However, today everytime I have tried to fly a mission, the sim loads and I see the cockpit and can look around for around 2-6 seconds, then the screen changes to show a screen where the bottom half is a water texture (brights blue, I can look down (from what appears to be a moderately high altitude and see the waves) and the top half is usually black. If the mission was to start from the runway, I can look around and see the smoke rising from factories which are suspended over the water terrain (which is always there, regardless of where the mission was supposed to start).

 

But the sim is running in the back ground. I can listen to the training monolog, I can vary the engine inputs, etc. I can even hit ESC and then exit from the mission - but I have no cockpit or airplane to look at.

 

Changes to the system between yesterday's running find and today's odd behavior? Absolutely nothing except I re-booted the computer once earlier today.

 

Can someone offer a clue as to what is happening?

 

Thanks,

 

SNAFU

[celticcoho]

did you run as Admin? 32bit or 64 bit? have no specs for you, so..shooting in the dark here!!! Single player or multi Player? What Beta 1, 2, 3, or 4??:helpsmilie:

[Major SNAFU]

did you run as Admin? 32bit or 64 bit? have no specs for you, so..shooting in the dark here!!! Single player or multi Player? What Beta 1, 2, 3, or 4??:helpsmilie:

 

NVidia 8800,

 

Xp Pro SP3 , Beta 4, TIR 5, 2 Gigs RAM

 

Always logged in as Admin.

[Greb]

NVidia 8800,

 

Xp Pro SP3 , Beta 4, TIR 5, 2 Gigs RAM

 

Always logged in as Admin.

 

Major have you updated all your drivers. Sounds like you may have a video driver conflict. It could also be a heat issue on your video cards part. When 's the last time you cleaned out your box?

 

This being a beta and all it could be a laundry list of things, but I would start with drivers. Make sure you are updated to the the latest DirectX drivers, and I hate to say the obvious you should consider upgrading your OS. Xp is just so long in the tooth.

[Tulkas]

Hi all,

 

Not sure where to post this.

 

I have been flying the sim for about 4 days and I have been using TrackIR5 for the past 2.

 

All was going well. Was able to fly training missions and some quick-build missions.

 

However, today everytime I have tried to fly a mission, the sim loads and I see the cockpit and can look around for around 2-6 seconds, then the screen changes to show a screen where the bottom half is a water texture (brights blue, I can look down (from what appears to be a moderately high altitude and see the waves) and the top half is usually black. If the mission was to start from the runway, I can look around and see the smoke rising from factories which are suspended over the water terrain (which is always there, regardless of where the mission was supposed to start).

 

But the sim is running in the back ground. I can listen to the training monolog, I can vary the engine inputs, etc. I can even hit ESC and then exit from the mission - but I have no cockpit or airplane to look at.

 

Changes to the system between yesterday's running find and today's odd behavior? Absolutely nothing except I re-booted the computer once earlier today.

 

Can someone offer a clue as to what is happening?

 

Thanks,

 

SNAFU

 

Does it look like this?:

 

http://forums.eagle.ru/showpost.php?p=995971&postcount=101

 

It appears to be a common problem. I though it was an ATI issue but you use NVIDIA, so now I am starting to think if XP related instead.

 

I have been dealing with this issue from Beta1 getting worse and worse with every beta release. I have used search function in the forum and found a lot of people with this issue but have not found any comments from ED members regarding the solution so I guess we just have to be patient, sit and wait.

 

Cheers

 

Tulkas

[Nate--IRL--]

It is a known problem with 32bit OS's. It's being worked on, reducing graphics settings helps (especially scenes) but does not solve the problem.

 

Nate

[Major SNAFU]

Hi all,

 

Thanks for the help and the explanation. I am pretty sure my drivers are all up to snuff - what really puzzled me was that I saw zero problems like this the first few days and I put quite a few hours on the sim.

 

Now it is happening virtually everytime I try to fly in the sim.

 

I am wondering if a file in the sim that get written to from time to time (or at exit)may have gotten corrupted?

[Major SNAFU]

Does it look like this?:

 

http://forums.eagle.ru/showpost.php?p=995971&postcount=101

 

It appears to be a common problem. I though it was an ATI issue but you use NVIDIA, so now I am starting to think if XP related instead.

 

I have been dealing with this issue from Beta1 getting worse and worse with every beta release. I have used search function in the forum and found a lot of people with this issue but have not found any comments from ED members regarding the solution so I guess we just have to be patient, sit and wait.

 

Cheers

 

Tulkas

 

It looks quite a bit like that. I don't even get the little boxes.

 

I also noticed for the first time last night when I did get in the air that in F2 view the sky around my A10 would flicker in square shapes, but only in the upper left quadrant. Then most of the A10 itself disappeared and I could see the cockpit, some weapons hard points and a few other things.

 

Then is all vanished to much like what you posted above.

 

Regarding overheating. Maybe. The case is open so there is plenty of air flow around the card. I have 4 Fans in the case and the room where I have the computer is never about 65 degrees F this time of year.

[Nate--IRL--]

Try clearing your temp folder and the empty the precompiled effects folder in the temp folder. See if that has any effect.

 

Also try using the lowest graphical settings. If that works, gradually increase the graphics. Note however different missions and different runs of the same missions will produce different result with regards to your graphics problem.

 

Nate

[Major SNAFU]

Try clearing your temp folder and the empty the precompiled effects folder in the temp folder. See if that has any effect.

 

Also try using the lowest graphical settings. If that works, gradually increase the graphics. Note however different missions and different runs of the same missions will produce different result with regards to your graphics problem.

 

Nate

 

Hi Nate,

 

I will try this tonight and report the effect.

 

Thanks,

 

SNAFU

[Tulkas]

It is a known problem with 32bit OS's. It's being worked on, reducing graphics settings helps (especially scenes) but does not solve the problem.

 

Nate

 

Thank you very much for the explanation, I really wanted to know to what was related and was being worked on.

 

Cheers

 

Tulkas

[Major SNAFU]

Hi Nate,

 

Your suggestion worked a treat! I was able to fly a number of missions w/o a hitch.

 

Thanks again.

[sam777777]

with beta 4 the option boxes dont come up anymore, will try your suggestion and get back.

[Major SNAFU]

Hi Nate,

 

I want to add more details from what I experienced last night.

 

The first mission I flew (Tranining Navigation) ran great with great FPS. I had to quit the mission when the sim would not recognize my L. Ctrl + "up" arrow to specify a new SPI on the HUD (HUD was SOI).

 

I then flew the training mission for GUns and Rockets. Again, FPS was great and no graphic glitches. I rolled in on the first target for rockets. FPS dropped a bit when I fired Rockets (expected). But FPS took a huge hit when I actually hit the target with rockets. In fact, at about 1,500 ft, when I was about to pull off target, FPS dropped to 1-2 FPS and then to 0 FPS. I kept pressure on the stick and put throttles to max and hoped for the best. Betty was making herself well known.

 

When FPS were restored to maybe 8-10 FPS, I was at 200 ft (roughly) and pulling off to the West.

 

From that moment on FPS was reduced, but still flyable. I again took a FPS hit when firing at and hitting the Guns targeets, but not as drastic as the rockets reduction.

 

Durnig landing, etc FPS was okay, but a bit jittery. I just eye-balled the landing.

 

The next mission I few, FPS was reduced compared to the first mission from the moment I entered the sim. I also began to notice a few graphics glitches, etc. I took off and flew around a bit, but the FPS was definitely reduced and in the "F2" view I noticed some glitches with the sky around the A10.

 

I then exited the mission, exited the sim, flushed the temp folders again per your instructions and restarted the sim. Once again the first mission had great FPS.

 

I didn't have time to fly another series of missions.

 

I have all of the graphics set to low, except scenes and textures ? which are medium. AA in the sim is set to 2. heat blur is off, civ traffic is off, and the bushes thing is off.

 

I hope this helps to clarify what I am seeing.

Edited January 13, 2011 by Major SNAFU
rented fingers = many typos ;)

[Nate--IRL--]

The pauses you are now seeing are caused by clearing the Precompiled effects folder, so maybe leave that alone for now and let it build up its effects files. The cannon in Beta 4 will cause a large FPS drop, this is fixed in the internal builds.

 

There is no need to do any testing, the problem is known and understood (and being worked on). Try to enjoy the sim in the meantime, while the Devs work on it.

 

Nate

[Major SNAFU]

Hi nate,

 

Thanks.

 

I will leave the pre-compiled folder alone for now. Back to flying.

[Sn8ke]

XP 64 bit is by far the best operating system still. You can optimize it for maximum performance with minimal usage of ram.

[Kenan]

I'm also having the same problem as Major SNAFU and realized this only happens with textures set to HIGH and HDR to ON.

 

I'm also running XP 32bit w/ ATI4770.

[Yurgon]

Just a little confirmation: I bought and installed Beta 4 yesterday and ran right into the same problem. Switching to low (and then medium) textures solved the graphics glitches for me.

 

My system: Win XP SP3, Athlon 64 X2 4600+, 4Gig Ram DDR2-800, GeForce 8800GT

 

BTW, given that I just collected my first 20 minutes of stick time with the A-10, I just have to say... wow. Wohoo! Yeah! This is ****ing unbelievably great! The instant mission runs even smoother than Black Shark does on the same machine. I love this sim already! :-)

[Nitro_74]

Texture Issues

 

I'm having some video/texture issues that hopefully someone can help me with. Before I explain the issues I'm having, here's my system spec's:

 

XP SP3 32-bit

MSI P45 Platinum LGA 775

Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz

Patriot Extreme Performance 4GB DDR2 PC2 6400

EVGA GeForce 9800 GTX+ Superclocked Edition 512MB

 

After installing the latest Beta (I made my purchase yesterday) I fired up the sim and adjusted my video settings to match those I have in Black Shark: presets to HIGH with my resolution set to 1920 x 1200, and adjusted the Res. of Cockpit Displays to 1024 every frame. I then fired up a training mission and was presented with a "collage" of various colors sort of thrown onto the screen. I had to Ctrl Alt Del to close the sim.

 

I then updated my video driver to the current version (6.14.12.6658) dated 7 Jan 11 and fired up the sim again. This time I tried reduced the Res. of Cockpit Displays back to 256, and the presets to MEDIUM with the resolution down to 1600... This time I was able to get into the pit and see the scenery, but it wasn't very detailed and just didn't feel right. I bumped the resolution up to 1920 x 1200 again, leaving the MEDIUM presets, and was presented with that collage of colors again.

 

I'm still able to fire up Black Shark and operate in the sim without any issues, but can't get Warthog to do the same, even running it at the exact same settings as BS.

 

Does anyone have any troubleshooting suggestions, etc.? Thanks.

 

Nitro_74

[Nate--IRL--]

Try the tweak for windows in my sig, it may help.

 

Nate

[Nitro_74]

Made the changes as suggested, but I'm not presented an option to select 3GB during start up. Where should it appear? Thanks.

 

Nitro_74

[Nate--IRL--]

Made the changes as suggested, but I'm not presented an option to select 3GB during start up. Where should it appear? Thanks.

 

Nitro_74

 

It should appear during start up, maybe the menu time is too short. The Menu time can be adjusted in the system properties (right click "My computer". Click the advanced tab and Startup and recovery.

 

Nate

[Nitro_74]

To make sure I'm doing this right, this is what my file looks like now:

 

[boot loader]

timeout=30

default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS

[operating systems]

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition 3BG" /3GB /noexecute=optin /fastdetect

[Nate--IRL--]

That looks ok, but I can't be 100% as I'm on Win7. Try removing the space from the 3rd line where you have "WINDOW S" to "WINDOWS"

 

Nate