weird demo problem

[theenemy]

Hi, it's me again!
I am trying to get a friend interested in this game and got him to download the demo for Windows. However, when he is running the demo, the objects and colors in the game kinda get weird and the letters are non-readable. What's wrong? He downloaded the demo from Gamershell if that is of some help.

[Torin]

if computer its not strong enough alt+tab could result in weird graphics

[Edi]

Could also be if he doesn't have OpenGL drivers up to snuff for his graphics card.

[NTJedi]

Have him update his video card drivers... I recall Windows Vista had some openGL issues which needed updates.

[theenemy]

well, he is using windows xp and I think that he has updated his video card drivers. But i'm not sure, have to ask him.

[vfb]

A friend of mine used --noglext to get around the problem of having a no-so-good video card, you might want to try that if that option is available on Windows.

[theenemy]

This --noglext thing, what is it? I've read in some threads around here about it, but when my friend tries to run it, he only gets a message that it cannot be found.

[theenemy]

Well, me and my pal played a hotseat game of Dominions 3 and he really liked it!
But the problem is still unsolved and I know that I wouldn't like to pay 50 bucks for something that still won't work.

[Torin]

maybe you should wait till you get a better graphics card.

[Gresh]

I had this problem with the demo-under Windows XP-that an alt-tab would cause the menus and such to become transparent and very hard or impossible to read. I bought the game and installed patch 3.10. I still get the transparency issue for a second or two then it resolves back to normal. There appears to be a fix for this in either the game or the patch, making me a happy camper. Also, playing in the windowed mode makes moving around outside the game without having to alt-tab easy.

If you are getting this outside of alt-tabbing I have no advice beyond updating drivers.

[theenemy]

Torin said:
maybe you should wait till you get a better graphics card.



Well, my friend can run games like Dawn of War and Supreme Commander without bigger problems, so...

[Daynarr]

Try pressing Alt+Enter two times. This usually helps resolve problem as it turns game into windowed mode and then back to full screen.

[theenemy]

^
Tried that, but it got even worse(until we restarted the demo).
Has anyone else around here had a problem with THE DEMO. I can understand that they fixed the issue in the retail version(never had the problem myself)but I mean... THE DEMO!
Ehm, we are not really "computer people", we are more like "computer gaming people" so can anyone hook me up with the latest information on OpenGL and ATI graphic cards?

[Torin]

you will have to turn off background animations, no grass, bad trees and medium graphics.
and not use alt+tab.
why would you need to?

[theenemy]

Torin said:
you will have to turn off background animations, no grass, bad trees and medium graphics.
and not use alt+tab.
why would you need to?



Yeah, since alt+tab usually are messing up the game.
Well, were gonna try to turn everything off and put graphics on medium. Wish me luck http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif

[llamabeast]

Does playing in windowed mode rather than full screen make any difference?

[theenemy]

Well it got a bit better(you actually can read the letters now) but still no good.

[theenemy]

It actually gets worse in windowed mode.
Reply to llamabeast

[theenemy]

I tried to run the --noglext thing(now how I know how it works) but things don't get better.

[Johan K]

Try downloading the latest and greatest drivers from http://www.ati.com . Sometimes that helps, otherwise I have no idea other than what you have already tried.

[Zogundar]

Have you tried setting Filter Quality under Video Preferences to "Off"?

[theenemy]

Yep. I think we tried pretty much every advice on this board, but still nothing. Well, we are still gonna keep on trying.

[theenemy]

Ehm, whats the latest OpenGL version to date? My friends seems to be 6.14.10.6663. His graphic card is an ATI FireGL 5100

[theenemy]

Yes! The problem is finally fixed now! And my friend will order the game as soon as possible!
Thanks to everyone that helped us out in these dire times!
Someone, please lock the thread!

[Gresh]

Can you add what you specifically did to fix your issue? Just to help anyone who comes after...

[theenemy]

Well, my friend simply upgraded his graphic card drivers. He did it once before, but they kinda didn't install correctly so he tried it again and..voila! Everything got fixed.