F.E.A.R. - major display problems

[jkecskes]

Hi everyone,

I just built my first PC and it runs great. I play Call Of Duty: UO a lot on it and it works flawlessly. High fps, great resolution, etc.

HOWEVER, wanting to test my new monster I went to the store and picked up F.E.A.R. and Tiger Woods 06. I installed the two (they loaded fine, no problems), but as soon as I actually began PLAYING the games (getting past the startup screens, watching some intro movies from the games, etc.) I started getting major artifacting and weird graphics. See pic's:

Picture 1 (http://www.geocities.com/a_simple_blaster/fear2.jpg)
Picture 2 (http://www.geocities.com/a_simple_blaster/fear6.jpg)
Picture 3 (http://www.geocities.com/a_simple_blaster/fear8.jpg)

My computer:
OP: Windows XP Pro SP2
CPU: AMD 3800x2
MOBO: ECS K8M890M-M (V1.0a) (Via Chipset)
MEMORY: KINGSTON 1GB DDR2 667 Memory
POWER: Antec SmartPower 2.0 SP-500 ATX12V 500W
VIDEO: EVGA 256-P2-N615-TX GeForce 7600GT 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card
HD: 150GB SATA Drive

I'm not sure what could be causing this but maybe you guys have seen this problem before and know what causes this.

I have not over-clocked anything. I have 2 fans in my case and getting pretty decent temp levels. I loaded the latest nVidia driver (http://www.nvidia.com/object/winxp_2k_93.71.html) and Direct X 9.0c (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=9226a611-62fe-4f61-aba1-914185249413). Loaded latest Quicktime. Loaded Via chipset drivers (http://www.viaarena.com/default.aspx?PageID=420&OSID=1&CatID=1070). Loaded latest FEAR patch. MOBO came with integrated VGA - disabled it in BIOS and selected the PCIe.


Just confuses me that COD plays flawless but FEAR has probs.

Any help would be appreciated! I'm sort of a tech noob!

[Rob]

Normally I would say heat issues, but you say it only occurs in both FEAR and Tiger Woods? If it is just FEAR having issues, I would feel more confident ruling out your PC and blaming the game/game engine.

Just for our help purposes, what temps are you getting?

After installing those two games, are you able to go back and play CoD without problems?

[Cloudw4lker]

I'd try reinstalling and patching, your game discs might be broken. I've seen the same style of glitched textures in a beta once before, not too fun to play with.

[jkecskes]

Normally I would say heat issues, but you say it only occurs in both FEAR and Tiger Woods? If it is just FEAR having issues, I would feel more confident ruling out your PC and blaming the game/game engine.

Just for our help purposes, what temps are you getting?

After installing those two games, are you able to go back and play CoD without problems?

Yes, both games gave me those weird artifacting in one way or another. I even took the side panel off the case and put a 12" fan blowing right in there and still the same. I lowered the settings on the game to 'Minimum' and there was less issues, but I was under the impression my current rig could handle the stress load (based on my research and others having similar configs saying they play the game close to high settings).

Yes, still able to load COD:UO (not COD2) and play beautifully with all settings on MAX. Someone on another post was saying COD uses OpenGL and these others are using the Direct3D . does that make any sense?

Would it be a Via chipset/Nvidia issue?

I will get back to you on temps - on my laptop now. Thanks!

[jkecskes]

I'd try reinstalling and patching, your game discs might be broken. I've seen the same style of glitched textures in a beta once before, not too fun to play with.

Haven't done this yet since it happens on both games (unless both game discs have issues...)
:mad:

[Jagndeke]

It's odd both games are giving you the same issues. Graphics load-wise, TW 06 is much easier on your system than Fear.

Maybe the latest vid card driver version doesn't play well with both games. Sometimes rolling back to an older driver actually runs games smoother.

[Rob]

You could aways try reinstalling DirectX. Did you install the latest Direct X patch before or after installing FEAR?

[Nyghtfall]

Maybe the latest vid card driver version doesn't play well with both games. Sometimes rolling back to an older driver actually runs games smoother.

I don't know enough about PC tech to diagnose your problem, but trying an older video driver makes sense to me. I say that because I recently tried upgrading to the latest Forceware drivers nVidia released, last year, and my display wound up looking much darker than it used to, and had an odd, red tint to it. I rolled back to the same driver that came installed with my Alienware, and everything went back to normal.

[Nyghtfall]

You could aways try reinstalling DirectX. Did you install the latest Direct X patch before or after installing FEAR?

That brings to mind another idea. Make sure DirectX isn't giving you fits. You can run a diagnostic on it by running 'dxdiag' (sans quotes) from the Start menu.

[Jagndeke]

That brings to mind another idea. Make sure DirectX isn't giving you fits. You can run a diagnostic on it by running 'dxdiag' (sans quotes) from the Start menu.

And... if you install or reinstall directx, you should reinstall your vid card driver right after that.

[jkecskes]

Just tried reloading/wiping directx and card drivers. Still no go.

BUT, removed card and enabled the integrated VGA on the mobo. Loaded up Tiger and F.E.A.R., and although they didnt play at anywhere near top settings, I got none of those weird display problems.

So, it's gotta be the card. Or maybe I'm just installing it wrong, I don't know. If I were to put a new card in, i would:
1. Uninstall VGA integrated adpater
2. Turn off mahcine, put in new card.
3. In BIOS, enable the PCI-e (thus disabling the integrated)
4. Once comp starts up, load in the driver for card (downloaded from NVidia).
5. Reload Directx 9.0c fresh.

Am I missing a step? Speedfan reads system temp at 40C. DXDIAG reports no problems thru tests...and everything is enabled.

[Nyghtfall]

1. Uninstall VGA integrated adpater

Your mobo has integrated graphics? Yipes... I only know one thing about those... stay away from them. Theoretically, you're supposed to be able to disable them, but in your case, the chipset and your vidcard may be vying for control of the display, regardless of what you did with the BIOS.

[Jagndeke]

Just tried reloading/wiping directx and card drivers. Still no go.

BUT, removed card and enabled the integrated VGA on the mobo. Loaded up Tiger and F.E.A.R., and although they didnt play at anywhere near top settings, I got none of those weird display problems.

So, it's gotta be the card. Or maybe I'm just installing it wrong, I don't know. If I were to put a new card in, i would:
1. Uninstall VGA integrated adpater
2. Turn off mahcine, put in new card.
3. In BIOS, enable the PCI-e (thus disabling the integrated)
4. Once comp starts up, load in the driver for card (downloaded from NVidia).
5. Reload Directx 9.0c fresh.

Am I missing a step? Speedfan reads system temp at 40C. DXDIAG reports no problems thru tests...and everything is enabled.

In my bios I have to specifically disable the onboard graphics function so there is no conflict. Are you sure you have one setting that enables PCIe and disables onboard graphics all at the same time?

Also... did you try an earlier version of the Nvidia driver. Try something 4 or 5 versions earlier.

If your vid card was crapped out, I wouldn't think it would be playing other games (call of duty) fine. Not sure where to go from here.

[Rob]

Normally I would agree Jag, but it is weird that all of a sudden everything works when he is using a different card (in this case integrated).

You said you just built your new PC, any chance of returning your video card and swapping it for another? Or if nothing else, borrow a video card for testing purposes.

Other then that, your steps look fine. 40C is not bad, so it doesn't look like a heat issue.

[Shoboy]

I agree with Rob on this one ^^^^

[jkecskes]

Normally I would agree Jag, but it is weird that all of a sudden everything works when he is using a different card (in this case integrated).

You said you just built your new PC, any chance of returning your video card and swapping it for another? Or if nothing else, borrow a video card for testing purposes.

Other then that, your steps look fine. 40C is not bad, so it doesn't look like a heat issue.

Going to RMA the card on Monday. Hopefully it's not a 7600GT problem.
:doa:

[Rob]

On the bright side, if it is a problem with the 7600GT, hopefully the problem will be fixed when you get your new card.