OpenGL Problem with a Radeon X1900XT
by Bryan Flood · in Hardware Issues · 09/29/2007 (11:03 pm) · 13 replies
My System in a Nutshell:
Manufacturer:
Me and Myself: ASUS A8N-SLI Premium (Socket 939)
Processor:
AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 4400+ (2 CPUs), ~2.2GHz
Memory:
2046MB RAM
Hard Drive:
614 GB Total
Video Card:
Radeon X1900XT 512MB GDDR3
Monitor:
Gateway FPD2275W TFT LCD Monitor 22" Widescreen
Sound Card:
Speakers (Creative SB Audigy 2 ZS (WDM))
Operating System:
Windows Vista Ultimate (6.0, Build 6000) (6000.vista_gdr.070627-1500)
My Problem:
Running with projects in OpenGL mode, polygons are stretched like taffy across the screen and flickering really ugly. Any project made with OpenGL locked in is pretty much unplayable unless I can switch to D3D mode which doesn't have the problem exhibited. Attaching Screenshot so you can have an illustration: img.photobucket.com/albums/v238/lordfirefox/taffy-polygons.jpg
Any suggestions as to what I can do that doesn't require new hardware? I'm running the latest ATi Catalyst (Catalyst 7.9) with latest OpenGL.
Also I'm quite happy with ATi, please keep your opinions to yourself in regards to what brand of video card I'm using, they're not helpful at all.
Edit: I forgot to mention; I do not have the problem in any other OpenGL games, Just ones made with Torque. this rules out a "driver issue". Also I have re-installed my drivers twice already with no change to the way the engine renders. The polygon's are still stretched.
Manufacturer:
Me and Myself: ASUS A8N-SLI Premium (Socket 939)
Processor:
AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 4400+ (2 CPUs), ~2.2GHz
Memory:
2046MB RAM
Hard Drive:
614 GB Total
Video Card:
Radeon X1900XT 512MB GDDR3
Monitor:
Gateway FPD2275W TFT LCD Monitor 22" Widescreen
Sound Card:
Speakers (Creative SB Audigy 2 ZS (WDM))
Operating System:
Windows Vista Ultimate (6.0, Build 6000) (6000.vista_gdr.070627-1500)
My Problem:
Running with projects in OpenGL mode, polygons are stretched like taffy across the screen and flickering really ugly. Any project made with OpenGL locked in is pretty much unplayable unless I can switch to D3D mode which doesn't have the problem exhibited. Attaching Screenshot so you can have an illustration: img.photobucket.com/albums/v238/lordfirefox/taffy-polygons.jpg
Any suggestions as to what I can do that doesn't require new hardware? I'm running the latest ATi Catalyst (Catalyst 7.9) with latest OpenGL.
Also I'm quite happy with ATi, please keep your opinions to yourself in regards to what brand of video card I'm using, they're not helpful at all.
Edit: I forgot to mention; I do not have the problem in any other OpenGL games, Just ones made with Torque. this rules out a "driver issue". Also I have re-installed my drivers twice already with no change to the way the engine renders. The polygon's are still stretched.
#3
09/30/2007 (8:08 pm)
So is there any way to get the MMORPG Kit to use D3D instead of OpenGL? because I'm quite happy with Vista, gaming-wise. XP locks up alot. 
#5
$pref::Video::displayDevice = "D3D"; //"OpenGL";
$pref::Video::allowD3D = 1;
I had to do that with the Torque Showtool Pro cause I got the same problems as you mentioned but with 2900XT on Vista.
The problems occur on DTS and Terrain, didn't notice anything strange on my DIFs yet.
The blue guy from tutorial.base seems to render inside out.
Screenshots...
www.sentient-dreams.com//miscfiles/stuff/a_problem.jpg
www.sentient-dreams.com//miscfiles/stuff/a_problem2.jpg
[edit]
I applied $pref::TS::UseTriangles = "1"; as Joseph suggested and now the DTS shapes seems to render fine. Only the terrain that is still messed up in OpenGL mode. Thanks Joseph, now I can use Showtool in OpenGL mode again.
10/01/2007 (3:32 am)
Bryan I think you could just open the deafult.cs and make these changes$pref::Video::displayDevice = "D3D"; //"OpenGL";
$pref::Video::allowD3D = 1;
I had to do that with the Torque Showtool Pro cause I got the same problems as you mentioned but with 2900XT on Vista.
The problems occur on DTS and Terrain, didn't notice anything strange on my DIFs yet.
The blue guy from tutorial.base seems to render inside out.
Screenshots...
www.sentient-dreams.com//miscfiles/stuff/a_problem.jpg
www.sentient-dreams.com//miscfiles/stuff/a_problem2.jpg
[edit]
I applied $pref::TS::UseTriangles = "1"; as Joseph suggested and now the DTS shapes seems to render fine. Only the terrain that is still messed up in OpenGL mode. Thanks Joseph, now I can use Showtool in OpenGL mode again.
#6
but it is unusual for a driver bug to only affect games made with torque. common sense should dictate that the problem lies with torque and not with the drivers. =)
if there's a problem with the way torque goes about accomplishing a particular task, then it should be changed to accomplish the same task in a different, less buggy way...like the other engines which aren't affected by the driver bug.
10/01/2007 (9:09 am)
Quote:Unfortunately, it doesn't rule out a driver issue :-P There are multiple ways of accomplishing different tasks using openGL, so it's not unusual for a driver bug to affect some games but not others.
but it is unusual for a driver bug to only affect games made with torque. common sense should dictate that the problem lies with torque and not with the drivers. =)
if there's a problem with the way torque goes about accomplishing a particular task, then it should be changed to accomplish the same task in a different, less buggy way...like the other engines which aren't affected by the driver bug.
#8
youve got a good point though. GG definitely shouldn't feel compelled to modify the terrain rendering code just because of a buggy driver. but at the same time I think GG should consider working on a newer version which uses triangle lists.
10/01/2007 (9:41 am)
Joseph, that's one question to consider. another question to consider is whether or not ATI will even bother to fix the issue since, as you mentioned, triangle strips are being used less and less. youve got a good point though. GG definitely shouldn't feel compelled to modify the terrain rendering code just because of a buggy driver. but at the same time I think GG should consider working on a newer version which uses triangle lists.
#9
Updates:
$pref::TS::UseTriangles = "1";
Didn't exactly work as well as I thought it would it got rid of most of the polygon stretching except for polygons in the distance.
I also tried changing the pref.cs for the MMOKit, it didn't work, no selection box for changing Graphics modes either, looks like it's stuck on OpenGL.
I switched over to my XP machine to test TGE and the MMO Kit on it and in OpenGL mode everything looks fine, looks like XP is my dev operating system for the time being.
10/01/2007 (11:14 pm)
Thanks for the replies all, I'll go through this thread and try some of the solutions offered. I'll update you on what worked and what didn't.Updates:
$pref::TS::UseTriangles = "1";
Didn't exactly work as well as I thought it would it got rid of most of the polygon stretching except for polygons in the distance.
I also tried changing the pref.cs for the MMOKit, it didn't work, no selection box for changing Graphics modes either, looks like it's stuck on OpenGL.
I switched over to my XP machine to test TGE and the MMO Kit on it and in OpenGL mode everything looks fine, looks like XP is my dev operating system for the time being.
#10
$pref::OpenGL::disableEXTCompiledVertexArray = "1";
It work on my ATI 1950 on Vista ok.
10/04/2007 (5:35 am)
Hi, I fixed it when I disabled CompiledVertexArray:$pref::OpenGL::disableEXTCompiledVertexArray = "1";
It work on my ATI 1950 on Vista ok.
#11
Tested and working for me.
I am not good with low level stuff, thats why I use an engine, so could someone tell me what the disadvantage is for turning off EXTCompiledVertexArray?
10/04/2007 (1:21 pm)
$pref::OpenGL::disableEXTCompiledVertexArray = "1"; // fix problem with terrain
Tested and working for me.
I am not good with low level stuff, thats why I use an engine, so could someone tell me what the disadvantage is for turning off EXTCompiledVertexArray?
#12
Ah nevermind figured out what the problem was, I closed all my UI windows, works now.
10/08/2007 (2:02 am)
That setting unfortunately disabled the UI in the game :/Ah nevermind figured out what the problem was, I closed all my UI windows, works now.
#13
I made the suggested mods to dumb down the code to force triangles and to disable EXT Compiled Vertex Array and the observed results were good.
Many thanks to all for the very useful data.
The engine could switch these in depending on the actual driver used, but I don't have the patience today ;)
09/09/2008 (4:03 pm)
I just ran into this using the latest drivers. I observed that some dts files would show up fine, but others had some awful flickers, extra triangles out of no where, and some missing structure. These aberrations only happened with ATI cards under vista (tried with three different cards on three different boxes). Vista with nVidia worked without fail.I made the suggested mods to dumb down the code to force triangles and to disable EXT Compiled Vertex Array and the observed results were good.
Many thanks to all for the very useful data.
The engine could switch these in depending on the actual driver used, but I don't have the patience today ;)
Torque Owner Nathan Martin
TRON 2001 Network