For some reason, the screen shot pictured above is what my graphic card keeps doing (randomly) in game. In EQ2 this happens once every few hours, I can drop to desktop (just alt tabbing out) and go back into game and it will fix itself. However, it’s not limited to EQ2. When I was playing DDO to do a review for MMORPG.com, it was happening every 20 seconds or so. I’ve not had it happen in LoTRO (yet), or VG, or even EQ1, but it sure doesn’t like EQ2 or DDO. I haven’t figured out the issue yet, and I’m reluctant to get a new video card already because the 8800 I’m using now is still fairly new to me. The 7600 seemed to do a better job though.
Last night I wandered around Kunzar Jungle with the coercer, doing a few quests for some upgrades. Now that she’s hit 75 she can tag along on void shard quests with the biguns and save up for her gear. I had intended on working some of those last night but things didn’t quite work out that way. I did get a nice pair of gloves from questing in the jungle that I had been eyeballing though. I still find it amusing that I have an 80 coercer already as well as an 80 illusionist, so this is my 2nd coercer. If I ever manage to get all of my characters on the same server again that will be funny. I haven’t decided if I’ll keep both coercers forever or not. I more then likely will, who wants to delete a level 80 character.
The guild that I’m in (smaller one with close friends) also hit level 22. We’re saving up (well, I am at least) status and coin to one day get a hall. Will it happen? Not exactly sure, but it’s fun to think about. In the mean time there’s a few halls who have set their druid rings and portals to public so that everyone can use them – a great idea I personally think. I also peeked in on Najena and was happy to see folks there having a good time.
I have one more article to complete today, and then the rest of the week I’ll be able to just devote to gaming and relaxing and getting over this horrible cold that I’ve had since I got back from San Diego. Today the frog voice has sunk to a new low and I’ve got a horrible cough that makes me feel like a smoker of 10+ years even though I’ve never touched those things in my life. It’s got to get better soon though, right?
See you in Norrath!
After reading multiple other posts about the 8800GT, and tinkering with fans (and keep in mind that this is NOT only related to any SOE game but happens in multiple other games) and random other settings, I’ve decided I either have a faulty chip (like others have mentioned) or the 8800GT is just .. horrible in general. There’s a few other bloggers who have also had issues with their cards (same type, same brand) and I’m going to replace it with something that is not Nvidia.
Did you ever determine the root cause for this Stargrace?
Well, I have to say that the problem is less likely your video card or your game and more likely your modeling engine. Those are textures from various DDS files in EQ2 and these are loaded by the game into video memory on startup. At least, I think they are because I can replace those files while the game is running and the graphics in them are not replaced in the game. So I assume they are cached.
Anyway, since texturing is handled by Direct X and settings from the 3D and acceleration on your video card, it is very likely that your settings are causing the issue or Direct X is the root cause.
A couple of things I would try.
Before anything else, be sure that the DDS files are not damaged or if you are using a custom UI, that you try the Default UI to see if the effect goes away.
From the content in your picture the following files are involved.
The earrings and such are from \Sony\Everquest II\UI\Default\images\icons\icon_is11.dds, file date 9/1/2004, size 85.4KB (88KB on disk)
The gems are from \Sony\Everquest II\UI\Default\images\icons\icon_is33.dds, file date 5/25/2004, size 85.4KB (88KB on disk)
Now these files might be fine, but a rogue UI could cause them to be the last file texture loaded before an error occurred. So try to run the default UI before you give up on that pursuit. Just something to run down before you go changing everything else on your PC to find the problem. However, you said some other game exhibits this problem, so without knowing how it is similar or different, I can’t comment on it. EQ2 is the only game I play.
If you get here, you are going to want to do a backup and then do some downloading and tinkering…
First downgrade your Direct X drivers to something prior to 9.0C and then reboot and install 9.0C again. If you don’t downgrade, the install will just tell you that it is updating, but it really doesn’t replace what it finds already there, corrupt or not.
Second set your 3D and acceleration settings in the video driver control panel to Default or basic performance settings. Start the game. If the problem does not persist, but the performance sucks, try to make incremental changes to those settings to get back performance without reinstroducing the issue.
Lastly, there are some files that EQ2 creates like Login Cache and so on that may be storing some information about the textures. I don’t know if that is a rabbit trail or not, but it doesn’t hurt to delete some of those files. With the exception of updates to the game, files created same day and within seconds of your game starting are likely cached files and will be recreated by the game if you delete them. If they are there when the game starts, they may just be updated and this can sometimes be the source of corruption. Be careful deleting and always do backups. You might MOVE these files to another folder before deleting to see if the game will start back up once they are gone.
Best of Luck
It looks like a new form of /gems… oh how I miss /gems * sigh *
I’m sorry that you’re developing a hacking cough dear :( Whilst we did want to infect the great white north, we didn’t want to kill you in the doing.
I did boost the fans up too, to 85%, it made no difference from their default position of like 20%.
It’s not just EQ2, it was also DDO (as I mentioned specifically in the post… hehe, nice to see you reading! =p)
No way am I giving up EQ2, since that’s my game of choice. ;) Nice try though. ;)
Of note…
Make sure you have the latest drivers from Nvidia (not from manufacturer)
Make sure to force update Direct X 9 (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=2da43d38-db71-4c1b-bc6a-9b6652cd92a3&displaylang=en)
Otherwise, the card may be damaged. Also, of note, the fan system on the 8800 can be controlled, and you may have to crank it up…look for software fan control 8800 on google
Finally, there was a specific model of 8800 that had a bad chip on them (http://www.vistax64.com/graphic-cards/175589-nvidia-8700-8800-9600-9800-chips-failing-across-board.html)…hope that is not you.
Now, the big question…does any OTHER game do this or just EQ2? If EQ2, I suggest just uninstalling EQ2, seeing you do not play it enough to warrant it being on your system (giggle/snort)
Good luck
I actually checked that out at first, all fans are working fine and there’s no over heating going on that I can tell, I dusted and cleaned everything – but I’ll give that another shot, can never be too sure. :)
Those types of graphical glitches most likely mean that your graphics card is overheating. Maybe some dust or whatever got in and kind of clogged the fan? Might be a good idea to check it.