SH5 problem due to "flicker" -- AA options off fixed [Archive]

GoldenRivet

03-08-10, 04:04 AM

does anyone anywhere have a useful solution to this "black screen" BS?

the game is now completely unplayable in the pen and in the sub interior

SPECS:

Windows Vista 32 (SHV outside program files)
Intel core 2 duo 2.4ghz
4 gb ram
Nvidia 8800 GTS

game is patched to latest version

drivers are latest stable drivers for Nvidia card

i dont know what else to do besides box the thing up... this is THE END for me with SHV unless this issue can be resolved.

again if you missed it:

outside the sub... on deck all is well with the universe.

go down the ladder, set foot in the command room

screen goes black, sounds continue.

after anywhere from 3 seconds to about 30 seconds everything fades in from black as if nothing happened.

the only playable "screens" are the map screens, scopes, UZO and conning tower, these are the only places i dont get this "error"

GoldenRivet

03-08-10, 04:22 AM

I'll add:

this "drop out to black then fade back in" is happening on the order of

30 to 50 times per hour of game play :o:o:o

so yeah... about every other minute

sofie_59

03-08-10, 04:27 AM

have you tried the driver from jan 2010 ver 196.21 ?

Sound card driver check for a newer one

And in game Shadow of

Anti aliasing of

V- Sync of

Perhaps its a heat problem
Try out the riva turner for your fan

http://www.guru3d.com/category/rivatuner/

And how to do it !

http://rivatuner.doomdealer.com/

I Hope it solv your problem!

skwasjer

03-08-10, 04:29 AM

GoldenRivet

03-08-10, 04:30 AM

i have tried

V-synch off - no change

all graphics set to minimum - no change

all graphics set to maximum - no change

windowed mode - no change

adjusted resolution for monitor AND game to match - no change

my current Nvidia driver is 196.21 as of two days ago

dont know what the sound card would have to do with it :06:

GoldenRivet

03-08-10, 04:31 AM

- You say it is 'now' completely unplayable. Did it not flicker right from the start?
- Do you have any mods or own modifications installed?
- Have you tried reverting to an older GFX driver?
- Have you tried disabling all eye-candy effects?

it has done this since install.

it seems to have increased in the last 24 hours... but then again, i had most of the day off and have spent most of the time playing today... so i probably just didnt really notice it as much until now.

no mods, i have not reverted to an older driver, see my above post for further details

Ships-R-Us

03-08-10, 04:34 AM

I'm just writing to offer condolences.........Sounds like you did everything proper.....I believe your using the 196.21 driver which is proper.....Maybe try re-installing SH5 to see if it helps.........I just feel bad for you, as your problem makes the other problems seem like a cakewalk......Check for proper cooling on your card also.......You do know the newest driver Nvidia had recalled had fan speed problems affecting cooling.
Keep your chin up.........

Ducimus

03-08-10, 04:34 AM

Im thinking its someting machine specific. I havent experienced any flickering, or any fade to black with only limited useable screens as of yet.

GoldenRivet

03-08-10, 04:45 AM

driver roll back... no change

temps seem ok

i cant figure this out.

Pintea

03-08-10, 04:45 AM

my current Nvidia driver is 196.21 as of two days ago

Try some older drivers.

Do you have any overclocking software installed ?

GoldenRivet

03-08-10, 05:05 AM

Try some older drivers.

just rolled back

Do you have any overclocking software installed ?

negative

on a side note... just tried Aliens Vs. Predator (2010) - runs like a champion thoroughbred full on balls to the wall

fired up left for dead 2... same story.

Silent hunter 5 on the other hand.

play for a few seconds... blacked out for a few seconds... play for a few more seconds... blacked out for a few seconds.

only does this while in the interior views.

map views, scope, uzo, outside views etc... all unaffected.

Pintea

03-08-10, 05:21 AM

Can you post a movie with this bug ?

GoldenRivet

03-08-10, 05:30 AM

Can you post a movie with this bug ?

i could probably get fraps to catch it.

however, I have restarted... the issue seems to have subsided for now.

I will play with it more tomorrow... if the problem returns, ill try to catch it on fraps.

java`s revenge

03-08-10, 05:30 AM

GoldenRivet

03-08-10, 05:34 AM

Is it maybe your monitor?

Here is another rivatuner tutorial,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXr6IIj1sLY

Are all your drivers up to date?

I have read some days ago that there is lately came a nvidia
driver which fries your videocard.

yes. drivers, as stated above, are all up to date.

I was aware of the bad drivers when i updated... and i purposely avoided the affected drivers.

i was on 196.12, i have rolled back to 191.07

might be a monitor issue :hmmm:

I just noticed that i have "windowed mode" checked... yet the game is still running full screen

things that make you go HMMMMMM

Arclight

03-08-10, 05:47 AM

Had that flicker twice; first time I alt+tabbed to desktop to find the color-scheme like it is without earo (solid, non-transparant taskbar etc), second time I had an error message displayed which I noticed after quitting the game; 'windows desktop manager' or 'desktop window manager' has stopped (wdm.exe in taskmanager)

Could try the "disable visual themes" and "disable desktop composition" compatibility options. If that doesn't work, try googling for known problems with wdm.exe/window desktop manager/desktop window manager.

Might try disabling Aero altogether (think it's part of Aero, not sure), if only for troubleshooting. Pretty sure that's what you need to look at. :hmmm:

Might be caused by running out of video-ram; try backing of the texture detail, shadows, resolution and AA; those are the most memory hungry features. If it's indeed related to videoram shortage it should at least help and likely solve it... I think. :doh:

Dimitrius07

03-08-10, 06:26 AM

I had a same problems with black screen and latter on also BSD due to driver error. Maybe this will help.

Download Driver Cleaner Pro (its free utility), open your program and select your current video card. Delete the drivers by pushing start, when done download and install newest drivers, reboot and check if this works for you :03:

TarJak

03-08-10, 06:37 AM

Try dropping your AA settings back a notch or completely disable AA. That's AA in Nvidia control panel. Try using the setting for the game to control AA. Just a hunch.

GoldenRivet

03-08-10, 01:54 PM

Try dropping your AA settings back a notch or completely disable AA. That's AA in Nvidia control panel. Try using the setting for the game to control AA. Just a hunch.

TarJak

i thought AA might be the issue so i turned it to minimum in game.

no luck

then i thought about NVIDIA global settings in the NVIDIA control panel.

took a look there - they were set to high and over-riding applications in some conditions.

i turned all of the AA options off or down to minimum and the problem is FIXED!!!

here you go guys, thanks for the help!

http://blog.newsok.com/thepetshow/files/2009/09/beer.jpg

sevn_up

03-10-10, 10:17 PM

gg5356

03-10-10, 10:22 PM

I just installed a XFX HD 5670 1gb GDDR5. It's working Great. FPS are 30+

Now I can run thur the boat.

Ziggy

03-10-10, 10:59 PM

I have this happen sometimes when I alt-tab and when i switch to different screens. Like nav map to periscope, visa versa. However it is very fast and has never bothered me.

Shadow = 0
AA = Full
Everything else at max setting, Nvidia 9500, newest driver.
I don't know if this can help.

Nuclear

03-10-10, 11:36 PM

I have this problem also. In my events log I receive this message each time it fades out:

"Display driver nvlddmkm stopped responding and has successfully recovered."

I'm using an 8800gtx with 196.21 drivers in win7 x64.

SabreHawk

03-11-10, 01:07 AM

Im running a Geforce 9600GT, and those 196.21 drivers made it go bonkers and had similar results as you have described. In fact those drivers suffered a total failure yesterday and my graphics card just failed too while playing SH5 and was quite an event.
Then had to try to restart my system and it wouldnt, and got a blue screen and message saying a driver has gone into an "Infinite loop".

The only way I've gotten my card to behave was to go back to the 196.75 drivers it had before going to those 196.21 because of the warning about reports of fan speeds causing overheats with 196.75.
But my card just wouldnt have it, and as I said went bonkers.
Luckily I found the 196.75 drivers still stored on my drive.
All is back to normal now.

I personally think the overheats reported are BS, and were due to something else. And that Nvidia will probably have them back up on the site once they test this out and find nothing wrong with them.
They are working fine on my system, and things only went wrong when I installed the 196.21 drivers.
Even my display properties when trying to open the advanced window which is is the Nvidia Nview, couldnt do so and displayed a message saying there was a driver mismatch.

Arclight

03-11-10, 01:15 AM

I am having the same issue with the black screen coming up every few minutes. Makes the game completely unplayable. AA has been turned off both through the game AND the video settings in Control Panel. When the screen goes black, you can press the Left Alt key and it will show you the outlines of the people around you.
Check that it isn't forced in the profile; it overrides the global setting.

For everyone; I strongly suggest ditching the 195/196 releases. Go back to 191 untill they fix that mess (broken overclocking, then broken fan control, just to name the 2 most recent screwups). Maybe stick with 195, just ditch 196.

SabreHawk

03-11-10, 01:34 AM

Ohhhh no not me, back nuthin, I aint going through what just did for 24hrs and my system totally screwed up.:nope:
It's all working fine, and I have SH5's settings all maxed out and cranking out some beautiful and stunning stuff. And running smooth as a baby's behind.:rock:

Arclight

03-11-10, 01:44 AM

OK, but the people having trouble could still try it. :lol:

Btw, if anyone uninstalls their driver, I suggest booting into safe mode right after and using Driver Sweeper (http://www.guru3d.com/category/driversweeper/) to clean out the garbage that gets left behind. Might resolve a few issues as well. ;)

If at some point you had a Radeon and switched to Nvidia, might want to use that to check if there's anything left behind from those drivers as well.

And of course disable integrated graphics in BIOS, and uninstall + clean any drivers for that, if you're using an add-in card. (not strictly nescesary, but for the sake of troubleshooting)

System maintenance 101. :D

Brewtality

03-11-10, 01:58 AM

Try upgrading your operating system... no offense, but vista 32 bits is outdated and pretty much a really poor operating system.

Windows 7 would offer you newer/better suited drivers in almost every compartement, and increase your computers performance.

Best part is that it takes only about 20 minutes to install and 10 minutes to adjust for personal flavour.

PS. sounds like a windows 7 commercial, but I assure you that I am a carpenter from Norway and not a microsoft salesman...

kiwi_2005

03-11-10, 05:03 AM

Does it only happen with SH5, cause most of the time screen flicker means your monitor is dying out not the graphics card. Hook up monitor to another pc if you can and if she still has the problem then at least you know its the monitor.

GoldenRivet

03-11-10, 05:09 AM

for those of you that missed it.

this problem (for me at least) was soundly and swiftly defeated a couple of days back.

thanks for all the help.:yeah:

TarJak

03-11-10, 05:21 AM

for those of you that missed it.

this problem (for me at least) was soundly and swiftly defeated a couple of days back.

thanks for all the help.:yeah:
Glad I could help out.:up: I had similar issues with SH3 and have to put up with jaggies as it doesn't let you set AA within the application. Still better than not being able to play anything at all.

lucky-hendrix

03-21-10, 10:56 AM

i'm also having this issue, I can't get rid of it. I tried various drivers and turned AA off, I also check my GC temp , it was ok. So what sould I do ?

Gilbou

03-21-10, 11:07 AM

First, update to the latest Direct X drivers.
Always even under XP use the Direct 10 or above installer, since it also contains Direct 9c and a version more recent than the one installed with the separate DirectX 9c installer.

Then, use default graphic settings first.
If no change, go back one or two drivers and check again.

If no change, put back latest driver and try tweaking graphic settings from the driver. Enforce them : turn Anti Aliasing off, and Anisotropic off. Change settings one by one until you find.

lucky-hendrix

03-21-10, 02:42 PM

weird , I've increased my graphic setting (low to med) and it's now working fine

stalintc

03-21-10, 02:57 PM

Yeah probably when you moved from low to medium, it turned some shadows on.

I fixed this problem on my PC by turning shadows to medium or high, turning them off makes the problem come back! Weird but it works!

lehovsky

03-22-10, 09:49 AM

If you are using NVidia graphic card do the following:

Right click on desktop and select NVidia Control Panel / 3D options / use second tab on the right and browse for Silent Hunter 5 exe file.
Below you will find settings for SH5, set all Anti Alising to OFF.

The issue with Black Screen should dissapear, althoug I have noticed that if you are near high number of models and objects (at harour) the game crashes into black screen anyway. So I prefer to leave the docks with the map view.

Unfortunatelly I don`t have solution for ATI users, but I think it should be pretty the same, if someone with ATI can check this, it would be really good.

Fanatic SH Pole in UBIs dark hole...
and there came the modders , repaired the atlantic waters,
I finally was able to play, and hunt the Uboot pray.