Occasional graphical Cluster F***

[Tiedyeguy]

I am having some occasional graphics issues in my game. Most of the time it works "fine", although slow and jerky due to crappy current computer. It seems to strike at random. Reloading doesn't fix it. Restarting X3:TC doesn't fix it. Rebooting my computer DOES fix it temporarily.

It affects everything except for the "main HUD" (Reffered to from now on as the "SuperHUD") and my view of actual ships/rocks/stations/gate/etc. My "SuperHUD" includes the left hand sidebar, my target camera screens in the Top Left and Top Right corners, the weapons displays, the personal and target status meters (shields/hull/serial number/speed/distance near bottom of screen), DRADIS Display (3d minimap in bottom right corner), Sector/Universe Maps, and a few other things.

That said, it most assuredly messes up the "lesser HUD" ("SubHUD") such as targeting brackets, Off-Screen object markers (the icons around the outer edges that show the direction of ships/stations that one can not directly see), and Combat aim markers. It also projects 1000's of "artifacts" in aligning random directions from every speck of space dust, weapons shot, missile, and SubHUD bit.

Only one of my 3 attempted screen shots of the problem actually got saved to my HDD and it can be found HERE

DXDIAG is HERE

I shall attempt to acquire more SSs of this problem and specifically during combat.
Thanks in advance!

:EDIT: Oh yeah, Unmodded, STEAM Version, 1.2.1 and previous STEAM versions equally affected. Terran Game Start. All games started since install are affected. Heavily populated systems seem to cause it more often then barren Unknown Sectors.

[silenced]

either temp problem or your psu is about to die, since it looks like a notebook/laptop, i'd say temperature problems


what about other games installed ? steam and non-steam ôô


but maybe it's only a corrupted file

[Tiedyeguy]

Comp=crappy Dell Inspiron 1501 laptop. Yes, it barely meets minimum specs.
This is the only thing that happens like this in ANY game. I played EVE-Online for several months on this laptop between the point when I lost my discs for X3: Reunion and X3:TC and the only problems I suffered there was a gradual slowdown ending in it grinding to a stop from my lack of RAM (512MB on XP Pro)

Since my GPU is somewhat underpowered, heat isn't much of an issue except during the hottest parts of the summer. It is currently around the freezing point where I live so I don't think that's a problem. None of my vents get much beyond "warm" due to my very custom heavy-duty aluminum/liquid cooling laptop cooler with 2*160mm fans (Handy when one's neighbor runs a machining shop and one's desktop computer is no longer compatible with its old liquid cooling system.)


:EDIT: I upped another SS including combat HERE
Green blurs with red specks near center are my HEPTs/PRGs
The target is BARELY visible about 1" (25mm) to the right of the second PRG icon down with remenints of the hostile targeting bracket which is RARE to see in this situation.
Also, I varified the integrity of my X3:TC files already, no problems. Also, I could dock, save, quit, reboot, and load the same exact place in the game no problem.

[Sandalpocalypse]

Terran Conflict probably places far more stress on your computer than any of those games, particularly on the CPU.

your computer is actually under the minimum specs (1 gb RAM)....

i'm not sure we can help.

[Tiedyeguy]

OK update on this issue. It seems to be directly linked to Missiles being fired. It happens a lot when I fire missiles, a decent amount when missiles are fired at me, and rarely when missiles are fried by an NPC at another NPC. It only seems to happen when I am looking at the launcher of the missile. IE, if an enemy fires a missile at me from behind me, it won't happen. Watching missiles in flight doesn't seem to do anything. Is there some sort of visual missile launch effect?

Currently Ver. 1.3 but as stated earlier, it started long ago.

[eladan]

Your video and sound drivers are well out of date. You should also update directx. You have the cyberlink codecs installed which are known to cause issues.

As Sandalpocalypse said though, your computer is under spec - I'm surprised it's playable at all.

[frymaster]

that actually looks quite cool

the fact that quitting the game and reloading doesn't clear the issue but rebooting does also implies it's something external to the game. There's an outside chance it's a graphics driver issue but that's the classic sign of a gfx card issue (some vertexes being teleported to the other end of the 3d area causing every object to project a pyramid tentacle to that location)

This may be just a transient overheating issue but it could equally be a more permanent problem. If you're confident in opening up your laptop you could try to clear the vents inside (a surprising amount of dust can build up in there) otherwise I think you need a replacement

[Tiedyeguy]

Your video and sound drivers are well out of date. You should also update directx. You have the cyberlink codecs installed which are known to cause issues.

As Sandalpocalypse said though, your computer is under spec - I'm surprised it's playable at all.

Audio/Video drivers were the most up-to-date supplied by the manufacturer (Dell). I *did* just update DX, but I haven't tried playing yet. I also just cleared all references to Cyberlink (and their drivers) from my computer... Not actually sure how it got on here , though I'd assume it has something to do with when my dad borrowed this laptop when his desktop took a spill on the desk .

As I said, the game runs surprisingly well for being on a "work" computer. Terran sectors and a few of the more busy sectors are fairly slow. Otherwise, it is definitely playable though. Even on one of the insane Xenon Patrol missions I got in Family N'jy recently with a dozen K's and lots of P's plus assorted fighters I had very playable frame rates.

....otherwise I think you need a replacement

This *IS* my replacement

[eladan]

Audio/Video drivers were the most up-to-date supplied by the manufacturer (Dell).

Gotta love laptop manufacturers.

If you're still having problems after trying it, please rerun your dxdiag and post it so we can see where things are now.

[Tiedyeguy]

Still having problems While talking to the Dell peoples, I got them to try to update the graphics drivers. Now that I updated DX, I have a new problem... DXDiag keeps canceling my tests because it says I am pressing a key during the test. WTF?