Bug in DW when using SLI Multi GPU mode on Nvidia Cards

Justin Prince · 03-23-06, 02:39 AM

Just bought a really great system last week, and also bought DW finally.

I have an SLI motherboard with 2 Geforce 7800 GT video cards.

For those who don't know, SLI allows 2 video cards to be used on the same monitor, and can increase performance up to 100 percent. So in my case, I in effect have 512mb of Vram, plus 2 video processors.

However, in case some are having trouble, for DW in the Nvidia config you must use SLI single GPU rendering (in the advanced settings). Using multi GPU rendering (really what SLI is for) causes all sorts of screen corruprions. Text is flickered and unreadable, and pop up menus (such as the weapons, navigation, and other toolbars) rarely show up, and when they do they flicker in and out.

Just thought I'd pass this along. I discovered it today after downloading a bunch of mods, thought I'd buggered my installation. Reinstalled and found the problem still existed, but creating a DW only profile with SLI single GPU renderiing solved it.

XabbaRus · 03-23-06, 08:12 AM

DW was written before SLI was developed or becoming common place. Besides it doesn't need so much GFX power.

So just use the one card. With two you won't see any benefit with the current GFX details in game.

Konovalov · 03-23-06, 08:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by XabbaRus

DW was written before SLI was developed or becoming common place. Besides it doesn't need so much GFX power.

So just use the one card. With two you won't see any benefit with the current GFX details in game.

Yep that is right. No brainer really. SLI is wasted on DW and totally not required. I sort of suspected that there would be problems with an SLI config and DW. I don't have an SLI system and I don't have DW yet but when I do get DW I will have an SLI system by that time so it will just be a case of going into the graphics card settings and changing it to work as single card as Justin said. No big deal really.

Dr.Sid · 03-23-06, 08:20 AM

Yeah .. DW does not need much. Well, it can give GFX card a hard day, if you turn tha shadows on, but without them it's just breeze.
On the other hand CPU load is something different. With time compression, CPU rarely really manages to make 32x.

Jamie · 03-23-06, 10:13 AM

Thanks for this feedback, Justin.... that's unfortunate but interesting.

Of course now I'll see if we can acquire a system similar to yours to reproduce this sort of behavior on our end... Which is EXCELLENT NEWS!

(j/k)

Thanks again,

Justin Prince · 03-23-06, 06:46 PM

Hehe.

I know DW doesn't require much, but since I had it enabled as a global setting, my PC always ran in that mode. Since I do play a lot of graphic intensive games (Think Steel Beasts Pro, COD2 and IL2) in addition to older sims and strategy games, it was easier to set it that way by default, especially as I didn't think it would cause corruption. However, like I said, since older games seemed to work ok, I didn't think much of it.

Just thought I'd pass it along because frankly I never would have suspected that was the cause, and since (at least on my machine when I first installed windows and the drivers) it was set to multi GPU by default, it can be something one could over look.

That said I must say getting 110 FPS with everything turned on in DW, with forced 4X AA and 4X Antistropic filtering is kinda nice

goldorak · 03-23-06, 06:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Justin Prince

That said I must say getting 110 FPS with everything turned on in DW, with forced 4X AA and 4X Antistropic filtering is kinda nice

Thats cool, nvidia cards seem to have no problem with ingame aa and af.
Not so with ati cards

GunnersMate · 03-23-06, 07:14 PM

I'm getting 110-120 fps w/ all max and 8xS AA and 16x AF with 6800gt. :|\

03-23-06, 02:39 AM	#1
Justin Prince Seaman Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Oklahoma, USA Posts: 36 Downloads: 33 Uploads: 0	Bug in DW when using SLI Multi GPU mode on Nvidia Cards Just bought a really great system last week, and also bought DW finally. I have an SLI motherboard with 2 Geforce 7800 GT video cards. For those who don't know, SLI allows 2 video cards to be used on the same monitor, and can increase performance up to 100 percent. So in my case, I in effect have 512mb of Vram, plus 2 video processors. However, in case some are having trouble, for DW in the Nvidia config you must use SLI single GPU rendering (in the advanced settings). Using multi GPU rendering (really what SLI is for) causes all sorts of screen corruprions. Text is flickered and unreadable, and pop up menus (such as the weapons, navigation, and other toolbars) rarely show up, and when they do they flicker in and out. Just thought I'd pass this along. I discovered it today after downloading a bunch of mods, thought I'd buggered my installation. Reinstalled and found the problem still existed, but creating a DW only profile with SLI single GPU renderiing solved it. __________________ Designer of War Plan Orange: Dreadnoughts in the Pacific 1922-1930.

03-23-06, 08:12 AM	#2
XabbaRus Navy Seal Join Date: Sep 2001 Posts: 5,330 Downloads: 5 Uploads: 0	DW was written before SLI was developed or becoming common place. Besides it doesn't need so much GFX power. So just use the one card. With two you won't see any benefit with the current GFX details in game. __________________

03-23-06, 06:46 PM	#6
Justin Prince Seaman Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Oklahoma, USA Posts: 36 Downloads: 33 Uploads: 0	Hehe. I know DW doesn't require much, but since I had it enabled as a global setting, my PC always ran in that mode. Since I do play a lot of graphic intensive games (Think Steel Beasts Pro, COD2 and IL2) in addition to older sims and strategy games, it was easier to set it that way by default, especially as I didn't think it would cause corruption. However, like I said, since older games seemed to work ok, I didn't think much of it. Just thought I'd pass it along because frankly I never would have suspected that was the cause, and since (at least on my machine when I first installed windows and the drivers) it was set to multi GPU by default, it can be something one could over look. That said I must say getting 110 FPS with everything turned on in DW, with forced 4X AA and 4X Antistropic filtering is kinda nice __________________ Designer of War Plan Orange: Dreadnoughts in the Pacific 1922-1930.

03-23-06, 07:14 PM	#8
GunnersMate Lieutenant Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: USS Sea Tiger Posts: 251 Downloads: 4 Uploads: 0	I'm getting 110-120 fps w/ all max and 8xS AA and 16x AF with 6800gt. :\|\ __________________ \"Sir they just fired an Exocet at us!\" \"Very well, Bosn pipe Sweepers\" I\'m having trouble with the radar, sir. What\'s wrong with it? I\'ve lost the bleeps, I\'ve lost the sweeps, and I\'ve lost the creeps.

03-23-06, 08:20 AM	#4
Dr.Sid The Old Man Join Date: May 2005 Location: Czech Republic Posts: 1,458 Downloads: 6 Uploads: 0	Yeah .. DW does not need much. Well, it can give GFX card a hard day, if you turn tha shadows on, but without them it's just breeze. On the other hand CPU load is something different. With time compression, CPU rarely really manages to make 32x.

03-23-06, 10:13 AM	#5
Jamie Sonalysts Inc. Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Middletown, CT (USA) Posts: 204 Downloads: 0 Uploads: 0	Thanks for this feedback, Justin.... that's unfortunate but interesting. Of course now I'll see if we can acquire a system similar to yours to reproduce this sort of behavior on our end... Which is EXCELLENT NEWS! (j/k) Thanks again,