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General FreeSpace => FreeSpace Discussion => Topic started by: beatspete on December 24, 2002, 02:07:52 pm

Title: Geforce 4 trouble
Post by: beatspete on December 24, 2002, 02:07:52 pm
...I'm fairly sure there has been a thread like this before but i've done a search and can't find it.

I've installed FS2 on my new PC, but it won't run.  Its installed fine but when the game loads up it minimizes itself then doesnt do anything.
Here's my system stats:

Pentium 4 2ghz
Windowx XP
256MB DDR
Cd-RW + DVD, blah.
Geforce 4 MX420/64MB
40GB HD.

I suspect its the graphics card, i've heard the geforce 4 doesnt like freespace.
Is this a common problem, does anyone know how to fix it?

thanks.
Title: Geforce 4 trouble
Post by: Hudzy on December 24, 2002, 02:53:44 pm
Pretty sure there's a GeForce 4 fix out there. Probably on the Source Code forum. Do a search for it and try it. Not sure on that though because mine didn't have any problems.
Title: Geforce 4 trouble
Post by: diamondgeezer on December 24, 2002, 04:23:29 pm
My GF4 MX440 works just fine (and was great value for money, may I say). However, my research has revelead that the MX420 lacks certain important components of the MX440 or 460 - perhaps herein lies the problem?
Title: Geforce 4 trouble
Post by: fs2freak88 on December 24, 2002, 08:43:30 pm
Quote
Originally posted by diamondgeezer
My GF4 MX440 works just fine (and was great value for money, may I say). However, my research has revelead that the MX420 lacks certain important components of the MX440 or 460 - perhaps herein lies the problem?


Yes, I have a GF4 MX440, and it works fine. I did have a Voodoo card, it really stunk, so I got that (GF4). I think you should return your graphics card you've got now, and get GF4 MX 440. It's a great deal.

Mark
Title: Geforce 4 trouble
Post by: Brummel on December 25, 2002, 02:30:29 am
FS2FREAK is right - the MX 420 is just 7 €/$ cheaper but MX 440 is more complete and upto 20% faster!

but we never got amy probs with Gef2 / Gef4 abd FS 1/2 - did you install all drivers in correct order?
1st Chipset
2nd Directx 8.1
and 3rd the videodrivers?


yeah - its me old Brummelkiller

best wishes to all and nice to see that this is still alive :)
Title: Geforce 4 trouble
Post by: beatspete on December 25, 2002, 05:15:54 pm
Actually its not a 'new' computer, i've had it a few months.  That was bad word choice.  It's new in the sense that it's not got freespace on it yet ;)
I'll have a look for newer drivers, thats probably the problem.
Thanks for your suggestions
Title: Geforce 4 trouble
Post by: Grunt on December 27, 2002, 10:27:16 am
The GEF4 has no problem with the game itself. But it does with the FS fonts. For Win98 you need the following change in the registry:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE/Volition/Freespace2/
Add a DWORD value named "D3DTextureOrigin" and set its value to 1.
Not sure about XP.
I've never heard that the GEF4 would crash the game.

I had similar problem with a joystick which automatically loaded presets before games. It did not load FS, just minimized it as you wrote.
I had to disable automatic preset loading in the joy panel.
You may try this. :)
Title: Geforce 4 trouble
Post by: Black_Dragon on January 22, 2003, 02:18:17 pm
I got a few words,  Windows XP,  it abuses the video cards to make better graphics,  some can hold but others cannot,  and depends on the game you use also,  because i played other games and i dont have problems but when I experiment on different platforms,  you can see the difference on those game that have problems,  like words come out like squares and you cannot read them,  glitches on the images game or movies.

I think there should be something to fix those problems,  like a patch for the Video Cards.
Title: Geforce 4 trouble
Post by: Vertigo1 on January 22, 2003, 04:38:59 pm
Folks, the GF4 MX is merely a redressed GF2.  It lacks all the major features of the Ti line, and right now you would be an idiot if you purchased one when the Ti4200 (64MB) is under $100 USD and outperforms it in every way.
Title: Geforce 4 trouble
Post by: Setekh on January 23, 2003, 05:18:41 am
Guys, I visited a friend's house with an MX420 in it and just installed FS2 in it, patched it up to v1.20, and it worked fine. He's running DX9, though; that might be it.
Title: Geforce 4 trouble
Post by: Vertigo1 on January 24, 2003, 03:42:21 pm
Quote
Originally posted by Setekh
Guys, I visited a friend's house with an MX420 in it and just installed FS2 in it, patched it up to v1.20, and it worked fine. He's running DX9, though; that might be it.


That won't matter because it uses DX8. (the card)  The only card that even takes advantage of DX9 are the latest ATI cards.
Title: Geforce 4 trouble
Post by: diamondgeezer on January 24, 2003, 06:29:00 pm
Well, the time finally came for the old MX440 to be sold on to an unsuspecting friend of mine. The replacement is a Ti4200, which cost me precisely sixty english punds and is quite possibly the best value for money piece of kit in my tower. For those who may be interested, my 3D Benchmark score has jumped from just over 5K to nearly 10K, purely thanks to the infinite power of my new card :)

I should like to point out, though, that eight months ago when I bought my MX440, said card offered excellent value.  Of course, now the Ti line is comming down one can't justify anything less than a Ti42, as Vertigo said, but in its day the MX440 was a great card. I thank you.
Title: Geforce 4 trouble
Post by: Stealth[cro] on January 29, 2003, 02:09:21 am
My MX440 is giving me some trouble as well. Apparently, whenever I switch FSAA on (whichever mode), the main FS2 screen looks like a badly aligned jigsaw (all the pieces have thin space inbetween), and the in-game font looks like all letters have above-scores and underscores...

Any help?


Nevermind my post. I tried changing the D3DTextureOrigin, works like a charm now, with 4xS+texture sharpening. Thanks.
:)



Actually, Strike that. The problem's back again :mad:
Title: Geforce 4 trouble
Post by: Razor on January 29, 2003, 04:23:19 am
I think I have GF4 420 too. The one with TV OUT. I can't run FS2 with hi res maps. :shaking: What should I do? Should I download DX9 and try it out then?
Title: Geforce 4 trouble
Post by: diamondgeezer on January 29, 2003, 06:17:23 am
No no no... the problem is that you need to use the "large textures" registry hack to enable hi-res maps. Go in to your registry editor, navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE/Volition/Freespace2, and add a DWORD value named "D3DUseLargeTextures" and set its value to 1. Easy Money :nod:

And incidentally, I ran in to the text problem when I first tried FS2 with my new GF4 Ti4200... however, since I couldn't remember the registry hack at the time I went and fiddled with the card control settings (right-click desktop, properties, settings, advanced, GeForce 4 tab - assuming you have recent Detonators). Checking the 'texture sharpener' box seemed to do the trick, and now FS2 works like a charm :nod:
Title: Geforce 4 trouble
Post by: Vertigo1 on February 01, 2003, 02:04:46 am
Just to clarify, that option is under your Anti-Aliasing settings. (its available for GF3 users as well)
Title: Geforce 4 trouble
Post by: Vertigo1 on February 01, 2003, 02:07:47 am
Quote
Originally posted by Razor
Should I download DX9 and try it out then?


click here (http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php/topic,12295.msg241928.html#msg241928)
Title: Geforce 4 trouble
Post by: Fry_Day on February 07, 2003, 03:39:26 am
Technically, though, the GF4MX line uses only dx7, and nothing more, but a newer DirectX version can help, since it tends to have bugfixes for older versions' bugs (and of course, new bugs to compensate for that :) )
Title: Geforce 4 trouble
Post by: diamondgeezer on February 07, 2003, 09:27:18 am
*hugs Ti4200*

*realises he's just squashed a very expensive piece of kit...*
Title: Geforce 4 trouble
Post by: Razor on February 21, 2003, 02:13:04 am
Sorry to ressurect the old topic but here is what I found out. When I installed FS2, again I tryed to open the Sparky_hi with VP V and then I found out that there is actually nothing inside the file. I mean, VP v doesnt display anything inside. :wtf:
Ehh any words on this?
Title: Geforce 4 trouble
Post by: diamondgeezer on February 21, 2003, 03:06:24 am
Reinstall the game :nod:
Title: Geforce 4 trouble
Post by: Razor on February 21, 2003, 03:53:58 am
I've done it a billion times so far and still I have the same problem. The only thing I can do is to remove sparky hi and play with 640*480. :mad:
Title: Geforce 4 trouble
Post by: Grunt on February 21, 2003, 01:21:15 pm
And what about the half transparent ships (like the Orion or Arcadia) in the FS1 Techroom ?
I've noticed this only now, and the models look OK in game.
Really strange.:doubt:

Btw: GF4 Ti4200, DX8.1
Title: Geforce 4 trouble
Post by: Razor on February 21, 2003, 04:43:33 pm
Quote
Originally posted by Grunt
And what about the half transparent ships (like the Orion or Arcadia) in the FS1 Techroom ?
I've noticed this only now, and the models look OK in game.
Really strange.:doubt:

Btw: GF4 Ti4200, DX8.1


I can tell you how to fix that. In SETUP just set NO 3D ACCELERATION. That should do the trick. And don't worry. Graphics will look even better. :nod:
Title: Geforce 4 Ti 4600 problem
Post by: FreeTerran on February 22, 2003, 04:14:41 am
I have a Geforce 4 Ti 4600, AMD XP 2600+ and 1 Gib DDR-ram
and when i switch the res. up to 1024*768*32 i have problem with the interface for example the exit button is a little over the mainhall exit.
Title: Geforce 4 trouble
Post by: Razor on February 25, 2003, 06:48:49 am
Try installing the registry hack. It may help you out. :)
Title: Geforce 4 trouble
Post by: FreeTerran on February 25, 2003, 08:29:17 am
Quote
Originally posted by Razor
Try installing the registry hack. It may help you out. :)


:wtf: And how can i do that. :wtf: