Black screen on startup?

[Niels]

Hi,

I just got SH4, and installed it.
When i start the game, i see the movies, but at the main menu i have a black screen. I hear music and i can click, but i dont see anything.

I'm using a 22'' monitor 1600x1050.
And the movies are showed in either 800x600 or 1024x768.
Maybe that has something to do with it.

Help me please.

Thanks a lot.

Niels

EDIT: Something with my graphic drivers maybe, i'm installing the october ones from nvidia right now.

[Topo65]

I dont remember now the name of the file (I in my office) but you must change the res of your menu in My Documents/SH4 with a notepad. :damn:

[Niels]

okay, thanks a lot for you contribution to my problem, but installing new drivers helped so far.

Sorry for this post.

(i found the solution with the search function on this forum, i'm very sorry i didn't used it first)

[SteamWake]

okay, thanks a lot for you contribution to my problem, but installing new drivers helped so far.

Sorry for this post.

(i found the solution with the search function on this forum, i'm very sorry i didn't used it first)

Good job, yea check the drivers is usually the first thing on the list :up:

Feel free to drop in and ask us questions.

Take a little time and brows this thread http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=108931

Lots of solid advice and tips there...

Good hunting.

[Orion2012]

okay, thanks a lot for you contribution to my problem, but installing new drivers helped so far.

Sorry for this post.

(i found the solution with the search function on this forum, i'm very sorry i didn't used it first)

The important thing is it's fixed and you used the search function!!!

[Seminole]

Yeah ...good thing you used SEARCH....if you hadn't used SEARCH our secret agent would have slipped into your house late at night to paint your screen black for real...;)

[Niels]

For real? Dude, i'm afraid now :huh:

Omg i have this guy on my forum, he is so dumb that he believes everything.
He would really be afraid in this situation. He is almost 15 now, but even he says no, i still believe he is not 100 percent normal in his head, if you know what i mean.
But because he says no, i often scare the **** out of him 4 fun. :rotfl:

Btw, i have problems with SH4 for real this time.
I just shoot 6 torpedo's at a convoy and i'm at 120M down below, and running silent, trying to escape from the freakin' destroyers, but all of the sudden everything is broken and i'm ''dead''. Wtf :dead:

I searched on the forum but i couldn't find anything particular good ...so maybe instead of creating a new topic, i can have my question answered here?
If not, i will create a topic about this, or maybe someone can give me a good link? :smug:

Thanks a lot.

You've got to love newbies :88)

[SteamWake]

For real? Dude, i'm afraid now :huh:

Omg i have this guy on my forum, he is so dumb that he believes everything.
He would really be afraid in this situation. He is almost 15 now, but even he says no, i still believe he is not 100 percent normal in his head, if you know what i mean.
But because he says no, i often scare the **** out of him 4 fun. :rotfl:

Btw, i have problems with SH4 for real this time.
I just shoot 6 torpedo's at a convoy and i'm at 120M down below, and running silent, trying to escape from the freakin' destroyers, but all of the sudden everything is broken and i'm ''dead''. Wtf :dead:

I searched on the forum but i couldn't find anything particular good ...so maybe instead of creating a new topic, i can have my question answered here?
If not, i will create a topic about this, or maybe someone can give me a good link? :smug:

Thanks a lot.

You've got to love newbies :88)

Did this happen during high time compression? Usually the 'death scene' will give you at least some hint as to what happend.

120meters is pretty deep, maybe you hit bottom?

Or one of the DD's dropped a can right on you.

Or a mine got you.

[Niels]

i was very far south of Kobe, Japan. No minefield there in the middle of the ocean.
Deep enough, it DID happened with the time compression on 8x.
It was not the buttom ofcourse, and i dont think it was a minefield either.
DD's ? Destroyer Depthcharges? No, the destroyer was at least 1300 away and didn't crossed my path.

[Niels]

BACK TO TOPIC

The problem is back, even with the new drivers! :shifty:

AND! and and and....i found the problem with the search funtion on the forum, but no solution to what i want.

Problem: In nvidia settings, set the AA and stuff like that to what you want (8x and 16x) gives the game a Black screen.
Also let Nvidia decide: Low quality - Medium quality - medium performance - high performance does not work.
Solution: Let the program decide setting.

But high FPS, low quality...

[Seminole]

Omg i have this guy on my forum, he is so dumb that he believes everything.



Yes..take it on good authority...you can believe 100% eveything your read on the interweb...everything posted is 100% pure fact ...no distortions of truth what-so-ever...:yep:

[Seminole]

BACK TO TOPIC

The problem is back, even with the new drivers! :shifty:

AND! and and and....i found the problem with the search funtion on the forum, but no solution to what i want.

Problem: In nvidia settings, set the AA and stuff like that to what you want (8x and 16x) gives the game a Black screen.
Also let Nvidia decide: Low quality - Medium quality - medium performance - high performance does not work.
Solution: Let the program decide setting.

But high FPS, low quality...


I'm thinking ...at this point...it is time for you to list your system's specs in order for someone to venture a diagnosis...and possibly a solution...:yep:

Also tell what settings do you not get the Black screen with.

Running 8x or 16x AA and "stuff like that" is going to require a pretty beefy rig.

[Niels]

Sure, your are right. But i don't want to be a showoff guy, like you kinda do with putting all the minor information things in your signature like ''17% used of the 8GB'' because i hate people who do that. No offense, but its just showing off your stuff and that is lame... Nevertheless, i think you can help me out so i'm trying not to be too offensive, haha!''

erm..okay,let me see...Bought this 1,5 year ago and its still running good. But i dont care about computers hahaha

Intel Quad Core 6600 2,4GHz
2GB G.E.I.L DDR2-800 PC6400
XGX 680i LT Sli Motherboard
XFX Geforce 8800GTS XXX
OCZ 700 watt power supply.

Found the problem btw... If i turn the settings ''anisotropic filtering'' to -let de program decide'' then the game does work! :D i found out 5 minutes ago...

So, now i'm just having this other problem i mentioned earlier on:

With time compression 8x or 16x in the game, after some time i die? I'm leaking water and everything is destroyed. I'm at 110 meters deep. Is that too deep? :hmm:
I just think this is a bug...

Edit: I made my own mission with the editor with only the purpoise submarine.
Then i dive to aprox. 130 meters. (crush depth should be 167 or something like that).
The i did 1/3 forward. And set the time to 2x. Nothing happens, and i'm watching the Hull damage screen/display.
Then i do 4x and everything is RED and instantly the damage is 100%.

That seems to be a huge bug to me.

[Arclight]

Look in the control room, or better yet, the conning tower. If you see the lights falshing and hear bulbs popping, the hull is under too much stress and you're gonna take damage (eventually).

That 8800GTS is the one with a G92 core (512mb memory) right? Got the same thing (different brand) and AF works fine for me. Might wanna check your setup.

Are you using SLI? Might wanna try running this game on 1 card, doesn't need 2 by a long shot.

[Niels]

I'm not sure if that has to do with my graphic card, but to get back on your question, i have a single graphic card and i got the faster one, the 320mb.

[Arclight]

Err... as far as I know the newer (512mb) cards are actually faster, but that's beside the point. Only reason I mentioned the card is because you say you have AF disabled, which is a shame since you have the horsepower to use it and it can improve quality (on distant textures) quite noticably.

Do you see any signs of stress (flashing lights) in the CR or CT when cruising at those depths? It's a sure sign the pressure hull is under stress and will start to buckle sooner or later.

[Lexandro]

Err... as far as I know the newer (512mb) cards are actually faster, but that's beside the point. Only reason I mentioned the card is because you say you have AF disabled, which is a shame since you have the horsepower to use it and it can improve quality (on distant textures) quite noticably.

Do you see any signs of stress (flashing lights) in the CR or CT when cruising at those depths? It's a sure sign the pressure hull is under stress and will start to buckle sooner or later.

Correct. The 8800GT/GTS with the 512mb of memory are faster than the 320mb models. They are the same graphics chip, but the newer 512mb models are shrunk down in size and have more shaders. IIRC The 320mb model has 96 shaders, and the 512 model has 112 shaders.

Anisotropic Filtering (AF) should not cause the game to black screen, regardless of setting. Neither should Anti-Ailiasing (AA) settings affect the working of the game. Both settings should be usable and with that card, you should be able to do 16xAF and at least 4xAA without any trouble.

I would suggest you do a full system check up, including registry clean, disc defrag, temp file clean out. Then I would also do a "clean" driver install to ensure correct function of the drivers. Simply installing new Nvidia drivers on top of existing graphics drivers will cause corruption and errors in games, and can also lead to the non-function of 3d applications.

Clean driver install method;
Remove current graphics drivers via add/remove programs
Boot windows in to "safe mode" (press f8 on windows boot)
Run DRIVER CLEANER PRO and set it to remove Nvidia graphics drivers
Re-boot to windows, and install latest graphics drivers

*Note* Driver Cleaner Pro is a utility program you can download, simply google it. And graphics drivers should be downloaded direct from the nvidia site and you should ensure they are the correct versions for your operating system (XP/Vista~32/64bit os).

[SteamWake]

i was very far south of Kobe, Japan. No minefield there in the middle of the ocean.
Deep enough, it DID happened with the time compression on 8x.
It was not the buttom ofcourse, and i dont think it was a minefield either.
DD's ? Destroyer Depthcharges? No, the destroyer was at least 1300 away and didn't crossed my path.

At 8X time compression that 1,300 yards can be closed in the blink of an eye.

Im guessing either a DC got you our you may have accidently hit the C key :p