Wow! Weird graphical artifacts

[witch]

Finally OFB arrived - on 14th - even Pescado got his faster than mine. Anyway playing tonight and got some weird graphical glitches...




I've turned textures down to medium and dropped the anti-aliasing a notch, now I'll try reloading the game and see what happens. Shadows are off.

[Azureale]

I solved this problem by upgrading my video driver (nvidia 81.98). 

[Kestran]

Did you try to change her appearance in the mirror? Might work. But shifting out your vid driver like Azureale suggested works probably better.

[DrBeast]

Woooo...that seems like polygon spikes! What card do you have? Is it overclocked? Does it have a fan? If yes, is the fan working? Are you getting any weird graphic glitches in any other games? Have I asked one too many a question?!

[vilia]

@ Witch there have been some problems reported with nVidia cards (do you have one?) & OFB.  81.98 seems to solve most of the problems but on mod the sims 2 they are saying you need to update drivers, uninstall the lastest expansion pack & re-install it as the game is not able to recognise the new drivers. [shrugs - not techie enough to know if this is true]

[Simlover]

Here is a link to Nvidia where it explains the "artefacts" problem.

http://nvidia.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/nvidia.cfg/php/enduser/popup_adp.php?p_sid=3x1Ctj2i&p_lva=&p_li=&p_faqid=181&p_created=1102011824&p_sp=cF9zcmNoPTEmcF9zb3J0X2J5PSZwX2dyaWRzb3J0PSZwX3Jvd19jbnQ9MTYzJnBfcHJvZHM9MCZwX2NhdHM9MCZwX3B2PSZwX2N2PSZwX3NlYXJjaF90eXBlPWFuc3dlcnMuc2VhcmNoX2ZubCZwX3BhZ2U9MSZwX3NlYXJjaF90ZXh0PXBvd2VyIHN1cHBseSB1bml0

[DrBeast]

Here is a link to Nvidia where it explains the "artefacts" problem.

http://nvidia.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/nvidia.cfg/php/enduser/popup_adp.php?p_sid=3x1Ctj2i&p_lva=&p_li=&p_faqid=181&p_created=1102011824&p_sp=cF9zcmNoPTEmcF9zb3J0X2J5PSZwX2dyaWRzb3J0PSZwX3Jvd19jbnQ9MTYzJnBfcHJvZHM9MCZwX2NhdHM9MCZwX3B2PSZwX2N2PSZwX3NlYXJjaF90eXBlPWFuc3dlcnMuc2VhcmNoX2ZubCZwX3BhZ2U9MSZwX3NlYXJjaF90ZXh0PXBvd2VyIHN1cHBseSB1bml0

Am I the only one getting a "Page cannot be displayed" message?

Edit: strange, I get the same message trying to access bookmarked pages too. Something's fishy with my browser. Disregard please.

[witch]

I have a GeForce 5700 Q-something, 256Mb RAM on the card. I've just upgraded my driver to the latest nvidia one. I played for about an hour and have had no more anomalies. I'm pleased because the driver prior to the current one, crapped my sims game completely, so I've been using the version before that. i.e. two versions ago.

@ Dr Beast, No my card isn't overclocked & I don't have fan problems that I'm aware of. (Fingers crossed). No other games are misbehaving and no, there weren't too many questions. 

Ta for the link simlover, but my card isn't up to that level, though I'm currently debating about whether it would be better to upgrade my video card or my motherboard.

Edit: PS I didn't have to re-install the expansion, it didn't seem to have any problems with the new driver, quite the reverse in fact!

[DrBeast]

Well, your videocard is hanging on by the skin of its teeth, so to speak. What m/b do you have, and why would you want to upgrade it? Ah, glad it was just a driver issue btw!

[vilia]

Well, your videocard is hanging on by the skin of its teeth, so to speak.

I guess a nVidia 5200 is even worse then...[sigh]  How close to falling into the abyss am I? Or am I already falling?

@ Witch - I'm glad the problems seem to have stopped for you

[jsalemi]

I have an nVidia 6600 with the latest graphic drivers, and started getting those artifacts with OFB too.  I found that in my case, they were resolved by removing Gunmod's Radiance mod -- it seemed to mostly cause the graphic corruption just after the change from twilight to dark.  After I took it out, the graphic corruption problems stopped.  I also had a problem with the game going to a blue screen during some animations when using Gunmod's Camera Mod 'A'.  Dropping down to version 'C' seems to have solved this one (so far).

[DrBeast]

Well, your videocard is hanging on by the skin of its teeth, so to speak.

I guess a nVidia 5200 is even worse then...[sigh]  How close to falling into the abyss am I? Or am I already falling?

To quote from a song by Anathema:
"Yes I am falling...
How much longer till I hit the ground?"

Sorry, you'll be needing a new video card pretty soon. Maybe not for TS2, but this particulal card IS growing quite old for gaming in general.

[Jelenedra]

The babies head as'ploded! 

[jsalemi]

I noticed in the 'Readme' that came with OFB that Maxis suggests you turn off forced antialiasing and set it to 'application control' with nVidia cards, as this could lead to graphic corruption. That also seems to help, but I still periodically get the blue screen, and sometimes it crashes completed to a BSOD with a video driver error. Maxis definitely has a bug in their nVidia drivers in OFB.

[maxon]

The babies head as'ploded! 

I thought it was a graphical representation of the scream that child is emitting.

[Twibil]

WoW.  A week after I figured it out for myself that it was a driver issue, I finally hear that others are having the same problem.  I am using  Ge Force FX 5700LE, and I updated my drivers before installing OFB.  I have never had such problems before.  My computer would shut down and reboot while simming.  Maybe I have been looking in the wrong places, but today is the first I have heard of Nvidia driver issues.

It just pisses me off that the official BBS preaches about updating drivers, but don't tell us when there may be a conflict. (At least not that I saw, I generally avoid the BBS, unless it is a dire emergency.)

Thank God I have at least half a brain and was able to figure it out for myself.

[gethane]

I installed the december drivers when I did a fresh install. That caused wierd graphical problems (in sims only). I had to fall back to a september driver.

After I installed the patch (prior to OFB), I started getting odd graphical problems again, mostly gray splotches in my neighborhood screen. Upgrading to the newest Nvidia drivers fixed it for me, and I've seen no problems, so far, with OFB.

[witch]

@ Dr Beast - K8X800 mainboad, Via chipset, socket 754 (I think) with an AMD 64 bit chip. She benchmarks around 3Ghz for performance. 1Gb DDR RAM. I was leaning toward a socket 954 board, am now thinking maybe gruntier video card. Can't have both, sigh.

@ Jelendra, yes sorry, the baby's head did explode. My apologies. 

@ jsalemi - I'll try letting the app control the antialiasing, ta for the tip - even if you're a girly swot for reading the readme.   

@ gethane - that's almost exactly what happened with me. One of the recent nvidia drivers was completely useless for simming.

Anyway, must go, got simbusinesses to run, doncha know.

[DrBeast]

witch: your system is pretty fine as is. I'd wait before I did any upgrades and save up some money in the process. Situation's pretty fluid right now as both Intel and AMD will be churning out new processors in the near future (or so I've heard), and the GPU front is a no-win situation too. If The Sims is your only concern, don't spend any money right now on new stuff. Yours is a borderline case I'd say, as a) AMD seems to have abandoned the socket 754 layout but your CPU is still pretty adequate (worst-case scenario, you can always overclock, AMD chipsets just cry out "overclock me!"), and b) your 5700 is getting old but can still cope, as long as you are willing to sacrifice looks for performance or vice versa (though I'd trade it with a Radeon X800GTO here and now if I had the money, but that's just me and I'm a compulsive fool so don't listen to me!).

Anyway, must go, got simbusinesses to run, doncha know.

Yes, yes. Move along now...

[vilia]

To quote from a song by Anathema:
"Yes I am falling...
How much longer till I hit the ground?"

Sorry, you'll be needing a new video card pretty soon. Maybe not for TS2, but this particulal card IS growing quite old for gaming in general.

Well, thanks for breaking it to me gently  I took my baby in to be repaired today and asked my friend to start looking for a good video card for her.  I'll start trying to save some money and try and get a decent one. Seriously though, I appreciate your feedback.

[witch]

Cheers for the advice Dr Beast. Now I just have to look up 'GPU'.

I thought nvidia were the best but people seem to be having less trouble with radeons by all accounts. Seems like you think any performance gains would be through the video card, I might start looking round to see if there're any specials going. If I got a new card I could keep the PC for another 12-18 months hopefully.

[DrBeast]

Well, thanks for breaking it to me gently  I took my baby in to be repaired today and asked my friend to start looking for a good video card for her.  I'll start trying to save some money and try and get a decent one. Seriously though, I appreciate your feedback.

Well, Anathema have some songs that will make Marvin the manic-depressed robot seem like a jeering optimist!

Cheers for the advice Dr Beast. Now I just have to look up 'GPU'.

I thought nvidia were the best but people seem to be having less trouble with radeons by all accounts. Seems like you think any performance gains would be through the video card, I might start looking round to see if there're any specials going. If I got a new card I could keep the PC for another 12-18 months hopefully.

GPU = Graphics Processing Unit. Your graphics card, in short.
Like I said in my previous post, the GPU front is a no-win situation. Some games perform better with a Radeon card, others with NVidia. It seems The Sims favors Radeons from what I've been picking up from various threads. I used to be an owner of both brands. I was thrilled with NVidias back in the early '00s, getting a GeForce2 was a HUGE step ahead of the Intel 740 I had on my rig back then, but when I went from that one to the FX5200 about three years ago I was majorly bummed. At the same time my g/f got a new computer with a Radeon 9200, and it made me hate my 5200 even more! My computer is history now, and so is my g/f's 9200. I bought her a Radeon 9600 Pro six months ago and I'm pretty happy with it. Were I to buy a new computer now I honestly don't know what graphics card I'd get.

Edited to add: if you HAVE to get something now, may I suggest two options?
Option 1: Geforce 6600GT. A pretty decent budget card, I'd go for a 256MB version BUT!!! there are two 256ers out there, one is using DDR2 memory, the other GDDR3. DO NOT get the DDR2 version!
Option2: Radeon X800GTO. A newcomer compared to the 6600GT. Its price has dropped significally too, making it a strong candidate. Again, go for the 256MB GDDR3 version.
Option 3 (bonus!): with the advent of the 7800 series, NVidia is getting rid of its stock of 6800 cards for pretty low prices. Not a card NVidia is very proud of, but it's got some caliber. But, it's a power-hungry, heat-spewing beast, so it needs a GOOD power supply unit and proper ventilation. Now that I think of it, it's still not worth it.

[Simbiiznas]

Code:

# since we don't do bumpmapping on less ps2.0-capable hardware, eliminate tangents
# from the vertex data
# also, the presence of per-vertex tangents in the vertex data stream causes
# "exploded" polygons on the Radeon 9000, even if the data is ignored by the shader
if ($maxPixelProgramVersionMajor < 2)
   boolProp skipTangentsInVertexData true
endif

I realize you don't have a Radeon but it sounds like you are having a similar problem.  I imagine you screen shot is what they mean by an exploded polygon.  I am not very GPU literate, so this is more a shot in the dark than anything.  You can check the settings in you "Graphics Rules.sgr" to see what your setting are.

[witch]

Oh boy. Had a good night playing last night, then tonight the lift breaking was merely the start of my problems.

Suddenly my screen went a pretty blue complete with spinning hourglass. Tha game recovered after I pressed F5 - amongst a few other keys. I saved. It happened again about 10 minutes later. I saved, exited and re-booted PC and game. Loaded a tiny Maxis made lot, not my ginormous vampire castle. 30 minutes later it blue screened, then crashed my PC.

It said: the nv4_disp file had caused the problem. Nvidia display perhaps?!? Ya reckon? Then it told me the device driver had got stuck in an infinite loop. Then it dumped it's physical memory. GRRRR.

So, Dr Beast, I'm going to write down your suggestion, thank you, and start bargain hunting for a new video card - possibly though one that doesn't use Nvidia.

[DrBeast]

Yes, it seems The Sims hate nVidia! I *think* you'll find a 256MB X800GTO at around 160-180 Euros. Hmm. Less than that actually. I just checked some prices and that's the cost here in Greece, so you'd get it cheaper I guess.