Graphics Problem

[Atreidi]

First thing first. I DO have a legal copy of the game. I have the manual and a valid serial number.

That being said, I have a problem with my graphics. The images are flaky and the background seems to shake around and blend with the letters I am using a high end laptop with windows vista. The game worked fine before I format my computer. I remember it doing something similar the first time I installed it but I fixed it somehow. Now I cant get it to work.

Any idea how to fix this? It might be something really simple that I am missing. Thanks for the help.

[Edi]

Have you pdated the BIOS and the graphics card drivers for your laptop? You should make sure the BIOS is up to date (only needs to be done once, it's a permanent upgrade) and that you're using the latest graphics drivers from your laptop manufacturer (not generics from ATI or Nvidia).

[Atreidi]

Have you pdated the BIOS and the graphics card drivers for your laptop? You should make sure the BIOS is up to date (only needs to be done once, it's a permanent upgrade) and that you're using the latest graphics drivers from your laptop manufacturer (not generics from ATI or Nvidia).

I took care of the drivers. The BIOS I did not upgrade because I assumed it was fine. As far as I know most of the BIOS info stays in the computer after a format since it is not stored in the hard drive. Is that accurate?

[lch]

I had the problem that opening the game a second time caused hilarious colorful artifacts and glitches to appear on the game window when it lost focus. Anybody else has this and wants to share his favorite screenshot?

http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=9700&d=1269297744

[Atreidi]

This is what it looks like..... Any idea how to fix it?

<a href="http://tinypic.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i39.tinypic.com/30mmucx.jpg" border="0" alt="Image and video hosting by TinyPic"></a>

It also shows messed up layers in the game map. I was able to make it work in the Game Map by running the Dominions executable with Windows XP compatibility mode. However, the F2 tab inside the game is still not working. Apparently, one of the game layers is not properly adjusting for some reason.

[nordlys]

Play around with graphics card settings. ATI vcard, by any chance? Make sure "Catalyst AI" is disabled, it garbles the Dom3 fonts just the way they are on your screenshot.

[Atreidi]

I got a Mobile Intel(R)965 Express Chipset Video...
I still have not been able to figure out how to fix it.

[Atreidi]

I discovered what the problem is. I have a WXGA Ultrabright 15.4-inch active matrix (TFT) LCD color display on my laptop. The driver for this display hardware that is automatically selected is Generic PnP monitor and I believe I have to have the specific driver for it to work. If it was a PC and not a notebook the generic plug and play would work just fine.
The problem was not the game but the monitor driver. :(