Holy smoke!

GoDeep · 09-21-2011, 01:21 PM

Upon electing a new pope, it is tradition for the cardinals to pass white smoke through the chimney of the Sistine Chapel, so the crowd outside will know a decision was made. World War 2 era ships however, have no such tradition and certainly do not emit white smoke on any occasion that I am aware of.

However, mine do, in SH3 that is. See for yourself:

I am given to understand that this white smoke has something to do with Nvidia cards and/or drivers. In order to resolve this problem, I have been fiddling with antialiasing settings, anisotropic filtering, etc. Neither of those improves or makes worse the condition. I have researched this problem online and also here on the forum but all I have found are people with the same problem but nothing that points me to a solution, other than buying myself an ATI card.

The card is an Nvidia 8600 GT with 256MB RAM, which should be sufficient for a game like SH3, even with GWX installed. My driver version is 280.13.

I'd be grateful for any suggestion that helps improve things because I don't want a new pope elected, I want my burning ships billowing black smoke.

PapaKilo · 09-21-2011, 02:39 PM

Is driver version 280.13 is the latest for your card ?

gt_magnus · 09-21-2011, 02:50 PM

I've heard that there are some bugs in sh3 when using Nvidia cards and there is a thread about it (http://www.subsim.com/radioroom//sho...t=91915&page=1). The tip Ubisoft gave was to press Ctrl+P, but that just disables particle rendering.

You can try it, but I don't think it'll work. I tried to google the white smoke bug, but didn't find anything.

Anyway, hope you get it fixed soon

PapaKilo · 09-21-2011, 03:01 PM

Had Nvidia 6600 GT, now 9500 GT, never saw any white funnel smoke at all..

GoDeep · 09-21-2011, 03:20 PM

@PapaKilo
Yes, 280.13 is the latest for my card from Nvidia, checked this evening. There may be a newer one for Windows, but I am on Linux and this is it, or I have to go beta, with all the problems that may bring. I am given to understand that the 6000+ and 9000+ series don't have problems with particle rendering, so that may be the reason you never saw it...

@gt_magnus
Yes, I found that thread too and I knew about the Ctrl+P combination, just never occured to me to actually try it. I did just now, but I see absolutely no difference in the image at all. The smoke stays white but what else should I see?

gt_magnus · 09-22-2011, 08:04 AM

You should see that the sea spray from other ships disappear, because Ctrl+P disables particle rendering. But back to the white smoke bug. I don't know of any other things to try than to reinstall the game or to buy a new graphics card.

GoDeep · 09-22-2011, 09:19 AM

Thanks gt_magnus. I was afraid that might be the answer, because I did not see any other answer anywhere else. Interestingly, Ctrl+P changes nothing on my set-up. Spray does not disappear, for instance. That's why I asked what to look for. I'll have to see if that is a hotkey captured for something else, so that it doesn't work for SH3...

Buying a new GPU is out of the question for now, but perhaps in the future...

09-21-2011, 01:21 PM	#1
GoDeep Officer Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Netherlands Posts: 237 Downloads: 6 Uploads: 0	Holy smoke! Upon electing a new pope, it is tradition for the cardinals to pass white smoke through the chimney of the Sistine Chapel, so the crowd outside will know a decision was made. World War 2 era ships however, have no such tradition and certainly do not emit white smoke on any occasion that I am aware of. However, mine do, in SH3 that is. See for yourself: I am given to understand that this white smoke has something to do with Nvidia cards and/or drivers. In order to resolve this problem, I have been fiddling with antialiasing settings, anisotropic filtering, etc. Neither of those improves or makes worse the condition. I have researched this problem online and also here on the forum but all I have found are people with the same problem but nothing that points me to a solution, other than buying myself an ATI card. The card is an Nvidia 8600 GT with 256MB RAM, which should be sufficient for a game like SH3, even with GWX installed. My driver version is 280.13. I'd be grateful for any suggestion that helps improve things because I don't want a new pope elected, I want my burning ships billowing black smoke. __________________ On sailor's grave there are no roses, On a seaman's grave there blooms no Edelweiss. The only ornaments are the white gulls And the many tears a girl is weeping. -- German folk song, sung by German seamen during the war.

09-21-2011, 03:20 PM	#5
GoDeep Officer Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Netherlands Posts: 237 Downloads: 6 Uploads: 0	@PapaKilo Yes, 280.13 is the latest for my card from Nvidia, checked this evening. There may be a newer one for Windows, but I am on Linux and this is it, or I have to go beta, with all the problems that may bring. I am given to understand that the 6000+ and 9000+ series don't have problems with particle rendering, so that may be the reason you never saw it... @gt_magnus Yes, I found that thread too and I knew about the Ctrl+P combination, just never occured to me to actually try it. I did just now, but I see absolutely no difference in the image at all. The smoke stays white but what else should I see? __________________ On sailor's grave there are no roses, On a seaman's grave there blooms no Edelweiss. The only ornaments are the white gulls And the many tears a girl is weeping. -- German folk song, sung by German seamen during the war.

09-22-2011, 09:19 AM	#7
GoDeep Officer Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Netherlands Posts: 237 Downloads: 6 Uploads: 0	Thanks gt_magnus. I was afraid that might be the answer, because I did not see any other answer anywhere else. Interestingly, Ctrl+P changes nothing on my set-up. Spray does not disappear, for instance. That's why I asked what to look for. I'll have to see if that is a hotkey captured for something else, so that it doesn't work for SH3... Buying a new GPU is out of the question for now, but perhaps in the future... __________________ On sailor's grave there are no roses, On a seaman's grave there blooms no Edelweiss. The only ornaments are the white gulls And the many tears a girl is weeping. -- German folk song, sung by German seamen during the war.

Thread Tools
Show Printable Version Email this Page
Display Modes
Linear Mode Switch to Hybrid Mode Switch to Threaded Mode

09-21-2011, 02:39 PM	#2
PapaKilo Keelhauled Join Date: Sep 2011 Location: Behind Sonar Range Posts: 536 Downloads: 9 Uploads: 0	Is driver version 280.13 is the latest for your card ?

09-21-2011, 02:50 PM	#3
gt_magnus Sailor man Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Norway Posts: 46 Downloads: 12 Uploads: 0	I've heard that there are some bugs in sh3 when using Nvidia cards and there is a thread about it (http://www.subsim.com/radioroom//sho...t=91915&page=1). The tip Ubisoft gave was to press Ctrl+P, but that just disables particle rendering. You can try it, but I don't think it'll work. I tried to google the white smoke bug, but didn't find anything. Anyway, hope you get it fixed soon

09-21-2011, 03:01 PM	#4
PapaKilo Keelhauled Join Date: Sep 2011 Location: Behind Sonar Range Posts: 536 Downloads: 9 Uploads: 0	Had Nvidia 6600 GT, now 9500 GT, never saw any white funnel smoke at all..

09-22-2011, 08:04 AM	#6
gt_magnus Sailor man Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Norway Posts: 46 Downloads: 12 Uploads: 0	You should see that the sea spray from other ships disappear, because Ctrl+P disables particle rendering. But back to the white smoke bug. I don't know of any other things to try than to reinstall the game or to buy a new graphics card.