Holy smoke!

GoDeep · 09-21-11, 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.

09-21-11, 02:39 PM

Is driver version 280.13 is the latest for your card ?

gt_magnus · 09-21-11, 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

09-21-11, 03:01 PM

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

GoDeep · 09-21-11, 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 · 09-22-11, 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 · 09-22-11, 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...

09-21-11, 01:21 PM	#1
GoDeep Planesman Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Netherlands Posts: 188 Downloads: 10 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.

09-21-11, 03:20 PM	#5
GoDeep Planesman Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Netherlands Posts: 188 Downloads: 10 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.

09-22-11, 09:19 AM	#7
GoDeep Planesman Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Netherlands Posts: 188 Downloads: 10 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.

09-21-11, 02:39 PM	#2
PapaKilo Stowaway Posts: n/a Downloads: Uploads:	Is driver version 280.13 is the latest for your card ?

09-21-11, 02:50 PM	#3
gt_magnus Sailor man Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Norway Posts: 46 Downloads: 15 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

09-21-11, 03:01 PM	#4
PapaKilo Stowaway Posts: n/a Downloads: Uploads:	Had Nvidia 6600 GT, now 9500 GT, never saw any white funnel smoke at all..

09-22-11, 08:04 AM	#6
gt_magnus Sailor man Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Norway Posts: 46 Downloads: 15 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.