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General FreeSpace => FreeSpace & FreeSpace Open Support => Topic started by: nodikus on April 24, 2008, 02:01:43 pm

Title: Engine Glow + texture bug
Post by: nodikus on April 24, 2008, 02:01:43 pm
Hello,

I havn't seen this problem addressed anywhere. When using media vps with FSO 3.6.9 there is a problem with the engine bloom on all types of ships. They seem to intersect the ships and blink out as I alter the pitch of my fighter (IE, different portions of the engien bloom visible as I move). The problem stops when I get close to to the ships in question. Also the surface textures of capital ships displays the same blinking effect although this is only visible on Large vessels. Otherwise gameplay is completely normal.


This suddenly began occuring in the middle of a mod, before that the game had been running normally. Now it affects all mods and the main campaign. I have the graphics set on 32 bit and all the features on and to my knowledge had not changed anything to make this problem happen.

I'm running a 2ghz AMD 64 processor with a Radeon 9800 pro card.

Any help would be apreciated.
Title: Re: Engine Glow + texture bug
Post by: FUBAR-BDHR on April 24, 2008, 02:15:52 pm
-Are you running in D3D or OpenGL?  D3D isn't really supported anymore so try OpenGL if you aren't using it already. 

-Try updating your video drivers

-Try without the MediaVPs (no mod).  Do the graphics look OK now?

-Try running a 3.6.10 build.  If you used Turey's installer to download then there should already be a 3.6.10 exe.  Just select if from the launcher.  Does the same thing happen?
Title: Re: Engine Glow + texture bug
Post by: nodikus on April 24, 2008, 03:52:48 pm
I'm on openGL, drivers are up to date.
The problem is present without the mediaVPs and I get an error message when I try to run the 3.6.10 build that was downloaded.
Title: Re: Engine Glow + texture bug
Post by: FUBAR-BDHR on April 25, 2008, 12:23:15 pm
Post your command line and a screenshot showing the problem.  Also what message do you get when you try to run 3.6.10?
Title: Re: Engine Glow + texture bug
Post by: nodikus on April 25, 2008, 09:48:03 pm
Command Line: C:\Games\Freespace 2\fs2_open_3_6_9.exe -mod mediavps -spec -glow -env -jpgtga -mipmap -2d_poof -missile_lighting -dualscanlines -targetinfo -orbradar -rearm_timer -ballistic_gauge -ship_choice_3d -3dwarp -warp_flash -snd_preload

http://img146.imageshack.us/my.php?image=211314494212e7c3e0a3oqi7.jpg (http://img146.imageshack.us/my.php?image=211314494212e7c3e0a3oqi7.jpg)
Engine Problem

The error is a general windows error.
Title: Re: Engine Glow + texture bug
Post by: FUBAR-BDHR on April 25, 2008, 11:34:10 pm
I don't know what half of those command line options even do.  Only thing I can say is they are no where close to my default command lines.  Maybe someone else can shed some light on this.
Title: Re: Engine Glow + texture bug
Post by: MP-Ryan on April 27, 2008, 06:22:17 pm
I don't know what half of those command line options even do.  Only thing I can say is they are no where close to my default command lines.  Maybe someone else can shed some light on this.

The command lines are fine, they're features that shouldn't affect any of this... with the possible exceptions of -spec, -mipmap and -env.  Try turning all three off and see if that fixes it.  Then turn them back on one at a time.

This looks more like a driver issue to me.  Were he using 3.6.10 then I'd say a code problem but 3.6.9 has been thoroughly tested and nothing like that has reared its ugly head.  You DO have the 3.6.8 mediaVP patches too, right?

EDIT:  D'oh, read the whole post Ryan...

Suddenly began occuring in the middle of a mod?  Occurs in everything now?  Three possibilities strike me immediately:
1.  Hardware problems (dying video card, overheating video card, video card fan dead/dying/filled with dust, video card clocked too high, etc)
2.  Cache.  Delete the contents of your cache folder in the Freespace2\data directory, and each and every single mod directory.  Corrupt cached file can cause all kinds of headaches.
3.  Did you update any drivers or software immediately before the problem started to occur?

---
Onto easily fixable issues...

The 3.6.10 error is because you've grabbed an old 3.6.10 XT build and you haven't disabled normal mapping.  9800Pros and below do not presently support normal mapping (or at least, not in any sort of stable way) and thus you need to turn it off.

Try this (http://icculus.org/~taylor/fso/willrobinson/Xt0314-win32.rar) 3.6.10 build.  It's the most recent of the Xt builds.  Make sure GLSL and normal mapping are both disabled (they should be by default if the build doesn't detect compatibility but you never know).  The relevant options are found in the Graphics and Troubleshooting sections of the launcher settings.  If that doesn't work, you can try the most recent 3.6.10 build without normal mapping.  It's got some other glaring bugs, but if it fixes the graphical issues then that's something anyway.  Get it here:    http://swc.fs2downloads.com/files/fso-20080426_CHIEF_4609.7z
Title: Re: Engine Glow + texture bug
Post by: nodikus on April 30, 2008, 05:50:37 pm
I installed an earlier set of drivers and that seems to have fixed the problem. I don't know what happened as I had not changed any software or drivers for a while beforehand.

Anyway thanks for everyones suggestions and assistance.