On Screen Graphics Corruption During Play

scrapser · Post by **scrapser** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 4:20 pm

I just finished building a new PC. I have a Core 2 Duo 2.4, 8800GTX with latest drivers from nVidia, 2 Gig RAM (2x1024 kit), and a Viewsonic VX-922 LCD Monitor among other goodies. When I play Railroads, the mini-map and the main screen both usually show corrupt graphics that look something like vectors of different colors all pointing to some common spot. Once I lay some track and the screen refreshes, they go away but sometimes reappear somewhere else at random and stay there until another event calls for a refresh of the map.

Not sure if this is a bug with graphics card or not but wanted to make the developers aware of it. Hope they read this forum. Anyone else seeing this issue?

Thanks

K-class · Post by **K-class** » Tue Mar 13, 2007 6:47 am

Thats strange and frustrating since you have a beefy PC - dont know what to suggest here.

I usually dont get graphic issues till I run out memory and takes a minute or so to complete laying a track.

Can you play the customised maps ok - which ones?

What resoluation are you running at 1024 x 768 etc
What version of nVidia driver
XP XP64 - Vista
Not overclocked etc. No tweaked FSB or Vid card
Anything else running try shutting down sone other apps.
Motherboard and brand of Vid card etc

Mainly asking as myself and others have thought about upgrading our humble PC's to play this game and I would and Im sure others would like to know that spending the dosh makes a differance. (Doom, Farcry, Quake 4 rock on my PC as is)

Post a pic

scrapser · Post by **scrapser** » Tue Mar 13, 2007 4:08 pm

Here's my system goodies. FEAR, Quake4, Doom3...all maxed out run like quicksilver on glass. I haven't finished installing all my games but these are indicators of the performance I'm getting.

Resolution is 1280x1024. All maps play just fine except for the weird graphics hiccup.

I have all the latest drivers on all my hardware.

CASE: CM Stacker 830 Evolution
MB: DFI Infinity 975G/X (BIOS 12-01-06)
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 (3.314GHz/367x9/533)
HS: Tuniq Tower 120
NB Cooling: Thermalright HR-05 (Passive)
RAM: Mushkin Redline XP2-8000 DDR2 1000 2x1G (4-5-4-11/828MHz)
Graphics: BFG GeForce 8800GTXOC 768MB
Soundcard: Creative Labs X-Fi Elite Pro
Power: OCZ GameXStream 700W
Hard Drives: WD (SATA) Caviar 7200 RPM 250MB x 2 NO RAID
CD/DVD: Sony (IDE CRX320EE/B2S) DVDR/CDRW x 2

Post by **Warll** » Tue Mar 13, 2007 4:25 pm

If I remember right BFG cards come pre-OCed out of the factory. If so that may be where the glitches are coming from.

K-class · Post by **K-class** » Tue Mar 13, 2007 5:25 pm

Im drooling at your specs

As what Warll said and can you say try a lower resolution like 1024 x 768 etc and have you tried say the previous version of nVidia driver if you are running XP. If you have a Vista machine maybe this and the current nVidia driver maybe your issue.

Windows Version as there is a post about Vista. Can you attach a screen shot?

There is a post about vista here.

I would think you specs are great and would normally be a good thing but we are talking about SMR here.

This game SMR is not up there in game design / game engine like Quake 4 or Doom / Farcry etc and your PC prob wasnt even thought of when this game was made.

scrapser · Post by **scrapser** » Tue Mar 13, 2007 5:54 pm

Yes...my BFG is the OC model. I believe it's bumped up to 600 (from 525) according to the box label. I'm running WinXP SP2. I'll have to try lowering the resolution to 1280x960 or more and see if it goes away.

I'm not going to Vista until I have to but I may try installing it as a dual boot system. I have a boot manager program (System Commander

and will be getting a free upgrade in April that will recognize Vista. The only reason...the only reason...I would use Vista right now is for when Halo2 is released. But that would be a very expensive reason!

scrapser · Post by **scrapser** » Wed Mar 14, 2007 4:20 pm

Changing resolutions doesn't appear to have any benefit. The corruption can appear (and disappear) at any time during play. Since it goes away usually within a few minutes, it's not a big deal. I'm thinking it has something to do with the game and the new 8800 card in terms of compatibility. Hopefully they will be issuing another patch or perhaps nVidia will be able to resolve this with a subsequent driver.

nonameguy · Post by **nonameguy** » Fri Mar 16, 2007 2:36 am

This exact problem happened to me once and only once, it was far into a multiplayer game with multiple large cities on screen. Maybe it's overload, who knows... but I was able to play through it and it eventually fixed itself.

Lord_Vader · Post by **Lord_Vader** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 10:20 pm

I've got a new Dell Dual Core with an Nvidia card and the game has real issues. When I play on my older P4 HT Dell with a ATI card, its much better although it still crashes at times.

Jagabot · Post by **Jagabot** » Sat Mar 31, 2007 10:33 am

scrapser wrote:Yes...my BFG is the OC model. I believe it's bumped up to 600 (from 525) according to the box label. I'm running WinXP SP2. I'll have to try lowering the resolution to 1280x960 or more and see if it goes away.

It's the card. The glitches are from the RAMDAC overheating. That's pretty common with BFG cards because they have elcheapo heat sinks made out of dyed aluminum (I had the same one as you, took it back and paid more for an EVGA 8800 card elsewhere). I had similar issues with a BFG 7950GTX-OC card as well, took it back got a refund and went with a EVGA 7800GTX-KO instead which was ~7% slower and 10% cheaper.

I now know not to buy BFG cards: the nice price is a good indicator of the quality.

Post by **Warll** » Sat Mar 31, 2007 3:46 pm

So does that mean EVGA cards are even worse?

Jagabot · Post by **Jagabot** » Sun Apr 01, 2007 3:57 am

No actually EVGA are rated as the top card for almost every higher end model they make (I spent a good chunk of time reading reviews, websites etc., after being disappointed with the BFG cards I'd bought from Futureshop. EVGA had the best reviews and almost no negative customer opinions other than they are more expensive than similar specced cards from other companies -- I also figured if Anandtech and Tomshardware both say something is "the best card" they're not bullshitting you unless it's April 1). That's when I hunted down a new, boxed, 7800GTX-KO (which they no longer sell) and got the best card on the planet from 6 months ago for $300 Canadian, taxes in).

They're also the quietest cards due to the gigantic heat spreader that wraps the entire card and the smaller fan used as a result. I can't hear my 7800GTX-KO in one machine or my 8800GTS-KO AS3 in my other machine which comes with an additional cooling unit that vents your card outside your case, they're both quieter than my Enermax FMAII power supplies. My old cards were loud and ran hot, both of these never exceed 40C under load and usually run around 35C-38C. The EVGA cards are also the only ones that have a minimum 5 year warranty on their cards -- most of their cards have lifetime warranty and an upgrade policy that lets you exchange your old card directly with them to get the newest 'bestest' model (whichever one you want) for a small price difference).

You pay somewhat of a premium for the better cards, but I've found that it's worth it. Especially when you consider the upgrade policy -- you can go from one $450 card to another $450 card for around $90-100 (and trading in your old card) a year later instead of having to pay $450 for the new model and try to flog your old card for $150-200 on eBay.

I'm really happy with deciding to pay a bit more and go with these EVGA cards, I haven't had graphics glitches or artifacting since. They're just really good cards and you can overclock the nuts off them.