Black floating graphics of doom

[meta-redundant]

I haven't seen this posted anywhere else, and didn't find any thing on the (ironically titled) Ubi help section, so I'm posting this here in case any of you have seen it and have any comments! Here's what I am seeing:

--> Large black triangles and other strange shapes protruding from my sub when viewing it using the external camera. Some of them look like they go 1000ft into the game world.

--> Random tears and protrusions when in the command room, to the point I can't make out any of the crew, let alone read the gauges.

I used to run this fine on my 7800GTX, but recently upgraded to an 8800GTS and this is when all the trouble started, but only with SH4. All my other games run fine (in fact, brilliantly). I have the latest Forceware drivers (163.75) and confirmed this in the nVidia system dialog.

My setup:

Dual Pentium 2.8GHz
nVidia 8800GTS
2Gb system RAM
SH4 v1.3

Any ideas guys? It's a bummer...

-Meta

[meta-redundant]

...I forgot to mention in the previous post that I have everything in the nVidia CP set to "Application Controlled." I also tried using the same profile from my old card to no avail.

[SteveW1]

I remember another person with the same kind of problems not that long ago, with an 8800 graphics card. Is your graphics card OC'd? Seems some people have had trouble with 8800 graphic cards and SH4.

[meta-redundant]

Hey thanks for the reply laddy -- it's actually a stock speed, no OC-ing.

[minsc_tdp]

Run ATITool to determine the heat levels and report back. (It definitely works with 8800)

[fvd]

Yep, same problem here.
Same graphics card also.

Only at night i see strange shapes, i tried to make some screenshots to post this problem but believe it or not, the strange colours and shapes do not show on the screenshot.
Screenshot looks normal, so it's extra difficult to explain to people what i actually see. grrrrr! :damn:

Don't have any problems though inside the sub, only exterior at night.

Please inform me if you would find a solution, i would appreciate it!

Good luck,
fvd

[SteveW1]

Found the thread where I saw this before have a read through I hope it helps, I hope its just a driver problem.

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=123128

[meta-redundant]

Run ATITool to determine the heat levels and report back. (It definitely works with 8800)

Hey thanks for the suggestion, good idea. When running the stress test (cube) it tops out around 67C.

I have a Zalman on my CPU whose fan I let run at full blast, as these Pentium Ds are notorious for being able to fry an egg. I did just put in the new card last night so I've left the case door off, which hopefully should help with the ambient temp.

[meta-redundant]

Found the thread where I saw this before have a read through I hope it helps, I hope its just a driver problem.

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=123128

Thanks, those jpgs are *exactly* what I'm seeing, and he has the same card....hmmmmm.....

Diagreement as to the cause, some say heat, some say P/S, some say driver...

My P/S is 500W, the only other card I have in there is the sound card. I have 2 internal HDDs. Jury is out on the 67C heat result, but that doesn't seem too wacky.....?

[SteamWake]

v sync on ?

[meta-redundant]

v sync on ?

Hey thanks for the reply, I have tried it with v-sync both on and off (in-game, and override via nVidia CP).

[SteamWake]

v sync on ?

Hey thanks for the reply, I have tried it with v-sync both on and off (in-game, and override via nVidia CP).

Was worth a shot. Its interesting that someone with the same card has the same issues.

I guess at this point is a process of elimination try changin settings one at a time.

Not much help really. Sorry I cant be of more assistance.

[leovampire]

The game was so graffics intensive that the card started to go buggy once in awhile on me. Come to find out it was drawing more power from the power syply then the card originaly called for.

I went with a Duel ball bearing fan 950w power suply that could run duel pci express sli card's easily and all the porblems stoped. This also allowed me to upgrade to 2 cards in the long run and still no more problems like that.

Seeing I run Nvidia cards only maybe this will help you out?!

[meta-redundant]

WOW are we up to 950W to run games now? Amazing! I am not a major video dude...I do digital audio by trade, and in my industry 950W is enough to blow away an arena :cool:

Well it looks like I should give the power supply issue a whirl...thanks to all of you for your replies on this, it has been very helpful. This was my first real combat experience with this forum and I am deeply impressed.

Cheers all.

Meta

[leovampire]

WOW are we up to 950W to run games now? Amazing! I am not a major video dude...I do digital audio by trade, and in my industry 950W is enough to blow away an arena :cool:

Well it looks like I should give the power supply issue a whirl...thanks to all of you for your replies on this, it has been very helpful. This was my first real combat experience with this forum and I am deeply impressed.

Cheers all.

Meta

The more graffics a video card produces the more power it need's to run same with sound card's and Processors. Then there are the fan's to keep it all cool.

It add's up in the long run.

[Redwine]

Same problem here, with both SH III and SH IV, but with an ATI Video Card, i minimized the problem using ATI Tool, UNDER-clocking the card, reducing core and memory frecuency... :damn:

[Wilcke]

Yep a good Power Supply is important in running a tidy PC these days. The power demand is huge.

ASUS has a neat utility on their webpage that allows you to plug in your PC's spec and it comes up with a wattage number. Excellent to visit and check out your rig especially if its acting up.

http://support.asus.com/PowerSupplyCalculator/PSCalculator.aspx?SLanguage=en-us

The newer GPU's are very power hungry.

Wilcke

[xboxer]

Using an ATI X1950 Pro and Catalyst 7.10....

I have no problems with SH4 even my previous Nvidia card.

But I have this black patch problem with COD 4. :damn:

[Peto]

The power supply certainly seems a likely culprit. If a card doesn't get all the juice it wants it can certainly act up as this problem is described. Frankly--I wouldn't recommend using less than a Good 650 watt Power Supply with the 800 series cards--probably the same for later ATI's as well. Those things are all very hungry!!!

The only other thing that comes to mind is the potential of a DX10 issue--if you're using Vista that is. I'll be watching this post with interest as it's only a matter of time before this problem shows up on my bench at work...

[TarJak]

It could be your GPU overhearting or not enough wattage from your PSU or an incompatability between your graphics card and your motherboard. The last one is less likely though.

I had this problem with my rig when I tried to upgrade the old AGP graphics card. It ended up being a problem with difference in voltage between the old Mobo and the new AGP card.

How I found this out was to swap the card to another machine to check that the card didn't have an electrical fault. It ran perfectly in the other machine which had a newer Mobo. I then changed up the PSU to an 850w based on hearing that power supply could be the problem. That still didn't fix the problem so I had to think again.

I ended up rejigging the whole rig CPU, RAM, Mobo, PCIE card, HDD, which I was thinking of doing anyway but thought the cheaper option would be to just buy a new graphics card. I'm much happier with the result though as I moved from P4 to Core Duo, DDR3, PCIE and SATA and I don't need to upgrade again for a little while.

[kiwi_2005]

I got that black triangle problem with Half life 2 and recently with Call of Duty 4 i found whenever i get it i change my Graphic card drivers, sometimes updating it works or going back (roll back option) to a previous driver. Then problem is solved.

[meta-redundant]

Hey thanks for the continued replies guys. I thought I would update all of you in case anyone else is still stuck ;)

I have since upgraded my P/S to a 700W with both rails pumping plenty of juice, and no luck.

I have gone into nTune and jazzed the heck out of the GPU fan speed, which keeps the temp at a steady 55C...no luck.


Using an ATI X1950 Pro and Catalyst 7.10....

I have no problems with SH4 even my previous Nvidia card.
But I have this black patch problem with COD 4. :damn:

INTERESTINGLY ENOUGH, I got that game recently and it is is the only other game I have that is affected by this! OK what's going on here...I'm starting to think mobo chipset? I have an ASUS p5VDX-1, which has a VIA chipset...