Graphics glitch, need suggestions
By
Beltor,
Posted on: 2012-03-09 09:48 in ALL ACCESS Gameplay Technical Issues Bugs
1) Stick with Nvidia, they have much less headaches than AMD/ATI.
2) AMD bought ATI(or they merged, whatever) so you would be best looking for info and drivers through them. There should be newer ones than 2010. These forums also should have a sticky for driver help for AMD/ATI.
3) Do you have a full screen image of this?
At first I thought it was screen tearing because V-sync may be disabled, but that wouldn't explain your character being displayed below the ground.
I'm guessing it's a bad driver/graphics card that is "drawing" the ground above where the game is telling the drivers that it should be.
It may be a good idea to do a consistency check on the game and repair just to make sure the game is not the cause.
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I fully intend to, but this is the onboard graphics that came with the computer, and I haven't had a chance to get a new card yet.|
Originally Posted by T_Immortalus
1) Stick with Nvidia, they have much less headaches than AMD/ATI.
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| 2) AMD bought ATI(or they merged, whatever) so you would be best looking for info and drivers through them. There should be newer ones than 2010. These forums also should have a sticky for driver help for AMD/ATI. |
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3) Do you have a full screen image of this? At first I thought it was screen tearing because V-sync may be disabled, but that wouldn't explain your character being displayed below the ground. |
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| I'm guessing it's a bad driver/graphics card that is "drawing" the ground above where the game is telling the drivers that it should be. |
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| It may be a good idea to do a consistency check on the game and repair just to make sure the game is not the cause. |
@Roderick
What are your settings?
You could try lowering them, even safe mode, but sometimes they can be too low.
I noticed this was in the redone Atlas Park. Does it do this in the older zones?
What does it looks like in first person view?
This is a really odd graphical error, especially since it seems the ground is fine near the top of the screen but seems to split into two levels that grow wider apart working from the top of the screen to the bottom(background to foreground)..
This is the AMD safe driver list here:
http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=278655
It's one of the stickies above.
I'm absolutely shocked if a driver from 2010 is the newest and best one available to you.
I'd suspect its down to Atlas having been redone and the old low res maps aren't rendering correctly.
Mind of Gaia lvl 50 Defiant's first Mind/Storm 'troller.
Deadly Doc 50 Dark/Dark Corr
and lots more on Pinnacle,Union and Defiant
x1100 is a 7 year old video card.
That's like saying the Nvidia sucks because the FX 5700 sucked. (ok, that's a 9 year old video card)
Other than the issues I had with certain AMD drivers I've had a very nice stable system. The AMD cards have generally been a better value over Nvidia.
H: Blaster 50, Defender 50, Tank 50, Scrapper 50, Controller 50, PB 50, WS 50
V: Brute 50, Corruptor 50, MM 50, Dominator 50, Stalker 50, AW 50, AS 50
Top 4: Controller, Brute, Scrapper, Corruptor
Bottom 4: (Peacebringer) way below everything else, Mastermind, Dominator, Blaster
CoH in WQHD
Quote:
Well, it is solvable. I am not having that issue, but he is.|
Originally Posted by Gaia
I'd suspect its down to Atlas having been redone and the old low res maps aren't rendering correctly.
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Could be that integrated graphics are not enough, at least at the settings he has, to run the new Atlas graphics.
Ultra mode on or off, the newer zones use a lot more graphical power, and even seem to perform better with some of ultra mode on than they do off on the same hardware and software.
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I would argue that you are an even more advanced user than me and most others.|
Originally Posted by newchemicals
Other than the issues I had with certain AMD drivers I've had a very nice stable system. The AMD cards have generally been a better value over Nvidia.
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I've heard of too many problems in every game I have ever played with AMD/ATI cards.
I've also heard that AMD/ATI doesn't always support the newer graphics options that DirectX brings, or that OpenGL adopts as well.
My conclusion?
If you want to just play without hassle....go with Nvidia.
Edit:
Nvidia also doesn't have, what looks like, half of their drivers cause big problems with games such that people need to have threads devoted to which ones are tested and proven "not problematic" on game forums.
I'll stick with reliability even if it may mean increased cost. Thank you. :P
I use an ATI radeon 5670 and athough COH hasn't given me any trouble, i've had similar problems with some other game like Skyrim. I found my problem was the antialiasing mode (Not the AA setting). Setting it to Multi-sample AA fixed it for me. Also COH seems to get glitchy if the card and the game both have antialiasing on. The option "Use application settings" seems to work best for me. Don't know if that helps.
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My settings tool actually says, in a tool-tip, "leaving this setting application controlled is best"(essentially) for most settings. This is on Nvidia.|
Originally Posted by Beltor
The option "Use application settings" seems to work best for me. Don't know if that helps.
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I think it is also the default. I am surprised if AMD/ATI settings tools don't say that and/or default to "application controlled".
You are both probably right on this
AMD tend to provide hardware that is much better value providing the same or better performance for a lower price. Currently they aren't really managing this on their mid level cards though.
However their OpenGL driver support is definitely poorer - that's not to say that NVidia hasn't messed up with its drivers in the past - they managed to supply a run of 3 driver releases with an inverted fan profile that resulted in some people burning out their graphics cards.
Some applications are optimised to use NVidia, others to use AMD. Some will run poorly on AMD some won't run at all on NVidia
CoH uses OpenGL graphics and NVidia's support for that is currently better than AMDs.
Whilst several of AMDs drivers have led to stability problems their stable drivers are easily identified on these forums and those perform perfectly well.
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Probably not other than on minimal settings - even more so if it was the Mobility version. That card was new in 2006 and is currently listed by AMD as a legacy product. As such their latest drivers may not work with it.
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Originally Posted by T_Immortalus
Well, it is solvable. I am not having that issue, but he is.
Could be that integrated graphics are not enough, at least at the settings he has, to run the new Atlas graphics. |
Mind of Gaia lvl 50 Defiant's first Mind/Storm 'troller.
Deadly Doc 50 Dark/Dark Corr
and lots more on Pinnacle,Union and Defiant
Quote:
Interesting.|
Originally Posted by Gaia
that's not to say that NVidia hasn't messed up with its drivers in the past - they managed to supply a run of 3 driver releases with an inverted fan profile that resulted in some people burning out their graphics cards.
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I have noticed that my Nvidia card doesn't ramp up enough under high heat situations to compensate for the heat.
I solved the issue by downloading their Nvidia System Tools and using the performance program to manually set my fan speed higher. It has worked for the past year and a half.
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It does. I had temporarily turned that off to try to improve the graphics on another game that didn't have anti-aliasing or it didn't work, and forgot to change it back later.
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Originally Posted by T_Immortalus
My settings tool actually says, in a tool-tip, "leaving this setting application controlled is best"(essentially) for most settings. This is on Nvidia.
I think it is also the default. I am surprised if AMD/ATI settings tools don't say that and/or default to "application controlled". |
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I wouldn't even go with a statement like that. Both Nvidia and AMD have driver issues. There are several of us here who help other users here and I can tell you both have issues.|
Originally Posted by T_Immortalus
I would argue that you are an even more advanced user than me and most others.
I've heard of too many problems in every game I have ever played with AMD/ATI cards. I've also heard that AMD/ATI doesn't always support the newer graphics options that DirectX brings, or that OpenGL adopts as well. My conclusion? If you want to just play without hassle....go with Nvidia. Edit: Nvidia also doesn't have, what looks like, half of their drivers cause big problems with games such that people need to have threads devoted to which ones are tested and proven "not problematic" on game forums. I'll stick with reliability even if it may mean increased cost. Thank you. :P |
There are quite a few issues with nivdia cards in the tech issues section. I'd help with them more but I simply don't have enough $ and time to go and test Nvidia cards too.
Just in the last few days there were discussions about Nvidia cards having isues. (Not that I belive that whole 560 Ti thing)
H: Blaster 50, Defender 50, Tank 50, Scrapper 50, Controller 50, PB 50, WS 50
V: Brute 50, Corruptor 50, MM 50, Dominator 50, Stalker 50, AW 50, AS 50
Top 4: Controller, Brute, Scrapper, Corruptor
Bottom 4: (Peacebringer) way below everything else, Mastermind, Dominator, Blaster
CoH in WQHD
Nvidia still seems to have less issues across all games, especially their cards that are not the current generation and older drivers.
It seems every new driver from AMD/ATI has issues and they just make people uninstall it and install a completely new driver to fix the issue.
I also haven't heard of people having to uninstall then reinstall the same driver to get it to work for Nvidia, and certainly not as often as AMD tells people to.
Seriously, AMD/ATI may be cheaper and just as good(once they replace the newest driver) but Nvidia is just simpler for most people. Nvidia just works more often.
I'm not a fan. I just like good reliable performance.
So many responses since I went to bed, so I'm not gonna pick out any specific quotes.
-Yes, the 2010 driver IS the newest driver. As I've said twice before, the card is lumped into the "Legacy" driver - that means that the card is no longer supported, so they aren't making new drivers for it any more. Assuming that newchemicals is right, and the card is 7 years old, I'm wondering why it was built into a computer that was manufactured no more than 3 years ago. Cost cutting, I guess.
-It's not Atlas Park only. It happens in every zone. Rarely happens in missions, but it still does. It only affects large horizontal surfaces. NPCs, objects, walls, and even hillsides are unaffected. Large stretches of pavement like the screen above, rooftops, and the like ARE affected.
-I haven't gone into advanced graphics settings, they're still on the simple ones. This happens on all three of the lowest settings, though I usually use Performance (and that's what I was on when the screenshot was taken).
I'll check the safe driver list, though my hopes aren't high there. I'll also check the anti-aliasing settings and whether the driver is set to "let the application control the settings".
The debate on nVidia vs ATI is pointless - I'm stuck with the ATI card in all its Legacy glory until next month - I have no money for an upgrade right now. I have to make this card work until I have some extra cash.
Thanks to all who have tried to help, I'll update after I've tried the suggestions here, or have got the issue fixed.
@Roderick
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That is an issue.|
Originally Posted by Roderick
I haven't gone into advanced graphics settings, they're still on the simple ones. This happens on all three of the lowest settings, though I usually use Performance (and that's what I was on when the screenshot was taken).
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It may not be the cause of your specific issue, but it is a problem.
You see the "advanced settings" are not really "advanced", as in "more power".
It just allows you to set each option individually, rather than as a bulk setting determined by the code the developer of the game wrote.
What they think is a "performance setting" may actually have certain things set higher than what your computer can handle. It may also have certain things set lower than your computer can handle, causing graphical glitches as well.
A good example of this is someone else posting here that their Umbral Beast from Dark Control that has a glowmap looked like a pastel pooch(no glow) because their shader setting was medium instead of high.
I suggest selecting "advanced" and changing things manually to make sure they are all within the limits of your graphics, and possibly see if something fixes your issue.
Other than that, you're stuck waiting for a new card. Sorry
Just a little aside...
Back in the y2k days (when I was really into building PCs) ATI had really good All-in-one Radeon cards that were great for multimedia viewing/editing, but once the AMD thing happened they kinda went down hill in terms of high end graphics. That's why you hear about nVidia so much, they seem to focus on the gaming/graphics community, but you gotta watch your temps and keep em cool!
So, I got a new (to me) computer. It's a year or two old, and for now, I'm just using onboard graphics. It's an ATI X1100 graphics card. This issue was happening on the default drivers, and on the newest one on ATI's site (Which was labeled "ATI Legacy Driver", and dated late 2010).
Basically, anywhere the camera goes, the ground bulges up. Depending on the placement and orientation of the camera, it can result in my character and other nearby players, NPCs and objects to be completely obscured.
Before yesterday, I haven't used a non-nVidia card in over a decade, so I don't know if this is a known issue, or if there's an easy workaround. Any insight would be appreciated.
@Roderick