Game Graphics Crash

Hello, everyone!

I have sent a Support Ticket into the Devs on this, but I want your feedback as well. I'll describe the problem and related details the best that I can.

I have been playing CoX for more than five years, and have had my share of Lag and Mapserver issues. However, this experience is a first for me.

I have a Rogue character inside a Hero Tip mission. The mission is in Talos on Infinity server. There is a dock worker as a contact inside the warehouse. After speaking to him, an ambush spawns with Cage.

There is one lieutenant and 3 minions. My character is a Dominator with Grav/Energy power sets. I am popping powers off to contain and defeat. I leave the lieutenant for last, and once I defeat all of the minions, I get a "Clue" pop-up on my screen.

Immediately, my entire screen blanks out and reloads all of the game graphics one particle at a time: perhaps I should say in layers. The load rate is very slow even though I am connected on DSL. It recycles a few times until all the powers that were started complete. I am then mapservered. The problem does not stop there, however.

Once back at the login screen, my screen keeps recycling: wiping the screen blank and then loading the graphics like a broad paintbrush. Unsure of what to do, I try to load my Task manager, but cannot. I then decide to Cold Boot my computer.

I wait a minute or so, and then restart. When the first screen appears I have columns of double $$ all over my screen with the normal test embedded in it. The Windows XP load continues, but the launch screens have these red vertical lines running the full height of the screen. They are widely spaced, and I can still read the screen.

The boot-up continues, but instead of the Welcome screen and my desktop, I get rectangular blocks arrayed across my screen. The displayed area is 2/3rds the normal size, and I cannot click on anything. My mouse still moves across the screen, but I can't see to reboot.

I tried cold booting a few times, but the results were the same. I then went into Safe Mode. I wanted to see if the problem was my hard drive, Windows, or a graphic error. Safe Mode loads ok, but the vertical lines are still there behind my icons.

After a few hours of studying the problem in Safe Mode (note that I tried more than one load in Safe Mode), I exit and do a normal start up. Amazingly, my computer starts without any problems. I run an Anti-virus program just to be safe, and find no problems.

So, I restart CoX, but have it Verify all files. No probpems are found. I load the game. I purposely load a different character, check my Graphic settings, and log my Report. The Graphic settings were unchanged.

I then load the character that started the problem. The load proceeds normally, and I am able to complete the mission that gave me the trouble. That seemed odd, but I was relieved. I do some selling and proceed to the next Tip mission. In the middle of that, I get the same problem.

I summon my patience. I wait to be Mapservered, then position my mouse to click the proper buttons to close out the CoX game. My screen adjusts back to my normal desktop without any hint that a problem just occurred.

As a test, I insert a DVD movie and play it. No graphic or computer problems.

So, what do you think?

My intial reaction is to replace my graphics card. I'm running a NVidia GeForce FX5700LE, 128MB, AGP-8, Rev 2, made in 2003. I have my drivers up to date, and have never seen this problem before.

Sorry for the windy length of this post. I just wanted to include everything I could remember. Thank's for your time, and I look forward to reading your replies.




Stormistress

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'Mirage on Infinity
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