Humberton Guard Guild Website

Hi,

I have a little problem with my 3D card. I started to get odd lines comeing out of objects in the game world so thought I would reboot. When I came back to DAoC in the charecter selection screen I could not see the charecters as they had dissapeared under lines and 'growths' all over the place. I went into the game anyway and the same was happening there; odd lines and extentions and the text was disrupted.

I downloaded the latest ATI (it is a 9800XT) drivers and Catalist then started DAoC but got a message something like 'Can not start 3d rasteriser'. I then ordered an x1600 card (how hard is it to find a decent AGP card now!) I thought when this card arrives all would be OK.

I have just spoken to both my company's IT people and they said that if a 3d card fails they the 2d bit would not work either...My problem, they way is software. They have talked about roling back because my problem happened with the new dirvers. (Well it only got worse I still had the odd effects before.) They are talking about viruses...I have run my virus checker and nothing found.

My thought is that there are 2 aspects to a graphics card, the 2d bit and the harder working parts that do the 3d bits. If that second part fails then will not the 2d bit still work?

Graphics aside, I am really enjoying DAoC, I can't believe I was such a sheep and left to other games when my regular friends from way back in UO left. I even managed to ween a friend I met in WoW off to play in DAoC...like I said to them; DAoC is the post-graduate game to WoW's batchelorate. (Please forgive my spelling, I can't even spell in my own language!)

Oh and thanks to the person in HG who ran back to Camalot to return my wave I did write on my desk your name but as it is designed to write on and wipe off, by the end of my extended evening leveling I had sometime in one exciting moment of near death apparently wiped it off .

Anyway, thakns for the help and thanks for the wave )

Seems like software problem to me. Deinstall ATI drivers completely first, than install the latest version again and reinstall latest DirectX.

May help.

Thanks I will give that a go

You shouldn't need to do this but I'm afraid sometimes it is the only way.... download the Pro version of this and run it against all the ATI options. It has saved me before:

http://www.drivercleaner.net/

It will truly get rid of all the ATI bits and bobs allowing you to do a really clean driver install and is a genuinely useful and well maintained piece of software.

Oww, thanks Dervish, I will download that this evening

Excellent, I suppose I better cancel my new card if it is not a hardwear problem.

Oh that's a shame, they have shipped the card I ordered already...how sad, looks I will now have to upgrade my card too

Lines and artifacts can also relate to cooling problems - are you sure the fan on the videocard is still working?

This could explain why you are not having problems in Windows. Displaying the desktop doesn't require a lot from the video card. However, when you start a game like DAoC, the video CPU will have to do a lot more work. This increases the temperature significantly and if the card is not cooled adequately, you will see the result on the screen.

And as far as drivers are concerned: if it ain't broken, don't fix it . I remember having to downgrade the Catalyst drivers in order to alleviate gfx troubles with the DR engine...

ahhh...you know I thought I could not hear the fan so loud...my fan is quiet then loud. Often the sound changed every 30 seconds or so. But I looked at the fan when I open the PC and it was rotating. Perhaps it was not rotating so fast? I pointed my 250mm desk fan into my PC.

I am hopeing that it is hardwear, not because I want an excuse to get a new card in reality, but because I am worried when my IT director mentioned a virus. So I am hopeing that my drivers did not get corrupt because virus

Thank you all for your help. I did as suggested and eventually got all ATI files off. I install new ones and it seems to be working in the little Catalyst window with the racing car. (This would not display before.)

I think as Lorthania say, the card was getting hot and I got strange lines and artifacts...now it is just start and I have my 250mm desk fan blowing on it into open case it is OK. Then I installed new drivers and they did not go prtoperly and it failed to open rasteriser.

So I can still justify that I get a new card hehe...OK so I must not close my PC case and take the fan away in case I find that it stays to working and I lose that justification.

Thank you so much for such fast help...I am lost with out my PC to play at the end of the day lol.

Again big thank you and *huggs*.

Personally - sort your incase fan out - I used to leave the sides hanging off my case to keep it cool - the amount of dust etc you pick up compared to having the case closed is scary - could end up overcooking your machine that way whilst trying to keep it cool. That or just keep an eye on it and give it a clean now n then to keep dust from gathering !

Oh I will As soon as the new cartd I ordered arrive I will just install it. It was shippe today so should arive tomorrow with luck. Beside I need my desk fan to cool me not my PC hehe.