Graphics issues experienced with some players on Vista and Windows 7

[Knossos]

I have a Windows 7 and a Windows XP Machine and see some differences between these in Istaria, as follows:


Under Windows 7 the stone markers at road intersections (such as the 3 markers at the road junction between Last Stand and Wolf's Paw) have a visible arrow but display no legend. The legend can be read in the Target Window when stone marker is given a left mouse click.


Under Windows 7 the weapon tricking screen on the Item Creation window (for weapons that allow tricking) displays no preview image. As a result, the tricking selections are not directly useable during item creation.


Under windows XP both the Stone Marker Legends and the weapon tricking previews are visible.


There are two threads on this Forum with a few clues about this behavior. There are probably other players who might have seen it as well but have not posted on this Forum. One is the Weapons tricking thread in the Help Forum category and the other is the Current Game Bugs thread.


Dhalin and Firebrand report the sign legend problem on Windows 7 X64 and sign legend ok on Windows XP. Kleohais reported the weapon tricking preview problem on Windows Vista but commented that some other players using Vista could see the preview.


Dorrin reported that in Windows XP the sign legends and weapon tricking preview were not available if the Pref in ClientPrefs_Graphic.def is set to the non-dafault : bool renderedTexturesEnabled false.

My Windows 7 is X64 version and my Video Card is an ATI HD 5770. my renderedTextureEnabled pref is set to true. I know of a Windows 7 x64 user with an Nvidia GT 230M Video Card and who can see the stone marker legends and the weapon tricking previews.


I hope others who have the problem can assist in further identifying the cause of this problem:


It seems to be only on Vista and Windows 7


Is it only X64 versions of these Windows (and maybe x64 XP if any players use)?


Is it only ATI Video Cards or are there similar problems with any Nvidia Video cards?


Any thoughts or suggestions on this issue?


Other players please comment and if you have in game friends who do not read these Forums or do not post here, pass their experience here on their behalf.


Knossos

[Kerech]

Under Windows 7 the stone markers at road intersections (such as the 3 markers at the road junction between Last Stand and Wolf's Paw) have a visible arrow but display no legend. The legend can be read in the Target Window when stone marker is given a left mouse click.

I think this is a video card issue, not a Windows 7/XP issue. I have two machines, both running Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit. My laptop shows the legends just fine. The desktop does not.

[Riaken]

I too can't get a preview of weapons at creation, I also can't see a made weapon that is linked or in my inventory. I have vista/geforce card. When I was playing on xp, I could see just fine with same vid card. My last vid card burned out and I have yet another geforce, and still no preview. I always thought this was a bug when Istaria was changed a year ago to play on vista.

[Firebrand]

It's not only on ATI video card: I have Nvidia GeForce GTX280 with (I think) latest drivers.

As Knossos, I don't have the weapon preview on my Windows 7 x64 desktop but it works fine on my Windows XP laptop.

I may also have a look on my netbook with Windows 7 Starter x86 and Intel grahic chipset. I'll try later.

[Knossos]

Firebrand, it might be of interest to know which processor you have in the Windows 7 x64 machine with the Nvidia Graphics Card. I expect it is multicore - is it Intel or AMD? (Mine is AMD Phenom II X6 1055T).

Knossos

[Firebrand]

It's an Intel Core i7 920 (2.67 GHz).

If this can help...

[Firebrand]

Sorry for double post, too late to edit the first one.

I ran a test on my netbook: I have both the weapon preview and the signs displaying fine.
For technical references, here is my netbook: http://usa.asus.com/product.aspx?P_ID=IGLKH3VUoGlp8KE1

So I tried again on my desktop, same places and same formulas as on my netbook. No display this time. Instead I have this funny glitch in Delgarath (stone signs just show no text, only the arrow):

[hallucin8]

Here's a thought...
Try copying over your world cache from the machine that does work to the one that doesn't and see if that makes any difference.

[Firebrand]

I don't believe it's a cache issue: I have already tried a while ago with a cleared cache and got exactly the same results. I experience the same issue on Order and on Blight: both shards have a separated cache.
Furthermore, it seems to be tied to 64-bit operating systems, at least with Windows 7; it would be interesting if someone could test this with the 64-bit versions of Windows XP and Windows Vista.

[Fridlekh]

Is there anyone at all experiencing this problem on XP?

Could those having this issue try turning off Aero or similar themes?

Does this happen in both windowed and full screen modes?

I know at start up we set up multiple buffers, and things like signs and the preview window are rendered to buffer then extracted to a texture... I'm wondering if having a 3d based desktop environment is messing with that?

[Knossos]

My Windows 7 X64 has non-Aero desktop theme (I am using one from the Basic and High Contrast Group). The Weapon Tricking Previews and Stone Road Marker Legends are not visible in game with either the Windowed or Full Screen Mode.

Knossos

[Steelclaw]

Hmm... Frid might be on to something there. Maybe not the desktop environment, but how Win7 uses the 3D device (or rather, allows 3D apps to use the 3D device).

The following functions use the same rendering technique:
weapon tricking previews
item info previews
rotating structure preview in the structure selection window
community survey map
low-res terrain texture tiles
(?) road signs

Are all of these functions broken in Win7/Vista?

(And please continue to answer his above questions too.)

[Knossos]

An not offhand sure about all items in Steelclaw's list but for sure my win 7 x64 does show rotating structure preview in the structure selection window

Knossos

[Firebrand]

Is there anyone at all experiencing this problem on XP?

Could those having this issue try turning off Aero or similar themes?

Does this happen in both windowed and full screen modes?

I tried without Aero in full screen but I have the same bugs.
Please note on my Windows 7 Starter (so x86 and no Aero) the signs and item preview work properly.
Being in fullscreen or windowed mode doesn't seem to change anything.

For Steelclaw:
- weapon tricking previews: doesn't work
- item info previews: doesn't work
- rotating structure preview in the structure selection window: works
- community survey map: works
- low-res terrain texture tiles: no idea, how am I supposed to see this? Setting graphical options to the lowest doesn't show any specific glitch on the ground if it's what you mean.
- (?) road signs: doesn't work

[walkerglassmire]

Running XP, sp3, x86. Road signs working just fine for me.

[Guaran]

Hmm... Frid might be on to something there. Maybe not the desktop environment, but how Win7 uses the 3D device (or rather, allows 3D apps to use the 3D device).

The following functions use the same rendering technique:
weapon tricking previews
item info previews
rotating structure preview in the structure selection window
community survey map
low-res terrain texture tiles
(?) road signs

Are all of these functions broken in Win7/Vista?

Yes. Well, these I know for sure are broken:
Weapon tricking window is blank,
Item previews like say when you click a linked weapon, no rotating weapon in the info window
Road Signs

Can't recall if the rotating structure in the build window works or not.

Community Survey map loads, but doesn't seem to update the players icon as you move around quite right. But mostly it works.

Not sure how to test the low res textures, I think I set my client to high res using some commands Solitaire posted awhile back.

[Smaug]

Nobody came up with cause/solution?

For me Vista 64 premium/Gforce 8800gt

No weapon preview in create item tricking screen
No rotating pic in show item window
I do see rotating buildings in plot planning select window


Smaug

[Guaran]

Pretty sure its a bug in the Client. Hopefully they are having luck tracking it down.

[Dakoren Ironhand]

Having issues too

Item descriptions show up messed up,
Road signs dont work,
No weapon preview in create item tricking screen,
No rotating pic in show item window,
and various of other graphic glitches (cant recall them all exactly this fast)

Windows 7 Pro x64
Nvidia GTX470
Aero Peek enabled, disabling doesnt solve the issue

(this issue is also with the 384.0 build)

[Vahrokh]

I also have things like missing road signs and similar. Win 7 64 bit with NVidia 9800 GT