Wtf is up with my game screen?

Levesque · Post by **Levesque** » Sat Aug 16, 2008 2:34 pm

This is what I get when I open the game....

Its rather annoying.

How do I fix it?

Marines · Post by **Marines** » Sat Aug 16, 2008 2:42 pm

that happened to me on my old computer.So i complained to my dad. He couldn't fix so he got me a 24 in. mac. what computer do u have and how old?

Levesque · Post by **Levesque** » Sat Aug 16, 2008 2:43 pm

I got an old piece of junk currently.

2000 Compaq with 128MB RAM, 32MB Video Card 850MHz CPU.

EDIT ONE: Oh yeah, and Windows XP SP2.

EDIT TWO: And I know for a fact it isn't the video card; I just got brand new drivers for it.

Longhair · Post by **Longhair** » Sat Aug 16, 2008 2:44 pm

Funny, I just saw this exact same situation on an older computer just last week. You've got an Intel GMA graphics card, right?

Going to Intel's website and installing the latest driver for that card fixed it for me. On the other hand, once I got the drivers installed, the graphics card had such crappy performance, I had to turn off all textures, and set the quality to low. But it did play the game...

Marines · Post by **Marines** » Sat Aug 16, 2008 2:45 pm

i recommend getting a faster connection and a better computer. maybe a mac or get another windows and get comcast or something. We tried doing what longhair did but it still didn't work. So if it doesnt work try getting faster computer/connection.

Levesque · Post by **Levesque** » Sat Aug 16, 2008 2:46 pm

I know it isn't my connection; I get 100 MBPS speeds.

I'm getting some RAM in a week or so, cause I assume that is the main issue.

Marines · Post by **Marines** » Sat Aug 16, 2008 2:49 pm

hmm if u have another computer try that 1. it worked for me 2. on my downstairs computer it was bad. but on my upstairs computer it worked fine.

Levesque · Post by **Levesque** » Sat Aug 16, 2008 2:51 pm

My other computer is password protected, so yeah.

But I'll get more RAM, and see what happens.

It wouldn't hurt for me to get a decent video card too.

Winny · Post by **Winny** » Sat Aug 16, 2008 3:04 pm

MARINES wrote:So if it doesnt work try getting faster computer/connection.

The speed of your connection has nothing to do with how graphics are rendered. Before giving tech advice, try to figure out what you're talking about.

z[h]ero · Post by **z[h]ero** » Sat Aug 16, 2008 3:09 pm

Levesque wrote:Its rather annoying.

Nicely said.
Wondering how your screen looks during game...

Levesque wrote:EDIT TWO: And I know for a fact it isn't the video card; I just got brand new drivers for it.

The newest video card drivers don't always solve 3D issues.
Personally I guess your video card drivers IS the issue.

Specify your video card model.

lol_u died · Post by **lol_u died** » Sat Aug 16, 2008 3:12 pm

Other than just upgrading. You can just save up the money and buy a decent computer which i highly doubt that you will run into ANY more problems for a while. If i were you, I would get a Mac because on the new Mac models, you can run 2 Operating Systems. Apple and a Microsoft OS. Try looking on ebay, craigslist, etc. Or watch for store clearences for any cheap BUT reliable computer running at least Windows Xp Pro - Windows Vista Home Premium or higher (other than business edition). Hope I helped and cya!

z[h]ero · Post by **z[h]ero** » Sat Aug 16, 2008 3:21 pm

For less than 40$ he could obtain a new video card (I suggest nvidia, or ATI), instead of specially buying a computer to solve the issue.

Post by **blast** » Sat Aug 16, 2008 3:26 pm

lol_u died wrote:Other than just upgrading. You can just save up the money and buy a decent computer which i highly doubt that you will run into ANY more problems for a while. If i were you, I would get a Mac because on the new Mac models, you can run 2 Operating Systems. Apple and a Microsoft OS. Try looking on ebay, craigslist, etc. Or watch for store clearences for any cheap BUT reliable computer running at least Windows Xp Pro - Windows Vista Home Premium or higher (other than business edition). Hope I helped and cya!

With a regular computer, you can run two operating systems too. Or three. Or four. Just like you can on a Mac. So that's not a benefit of a Mac. I have a machine that dual boots Vista Home Premium and Ubuntu 7.10, for example.

Anyways, one possible way to play would be to force the game to run in 8-bit color. This almost always forces the computer to use software rendering instead of hardware accelerated 3D graphics. The problem is that with a machine that old, it will likely be unplayable.

From the look of it, you might be able to play if you just turn textures off, but I can't say for sure. If you have another machine that can run the game, you can figure out the position of the menu items and navigate to the correct location. I think the fonts might still render bad, since they might always be textures.

Anyway, the issue will be your video drivers, since they are apparently not compliant with OpenGL specs.

z[h]ero · Post by **z[h]ero** » Sat Aug 16, 2008 3:42 pm

Levesque wrote:But I'll get more RAM, and see what happens.

Nah, such bugs don't correlate with RAM-size, as in case of RAM-shortage your OS simply uses some amount of your disk-space as RAM-replacement. (If you anyway are planning to buy RAM, then I suggest to use at least 512MB for XP SP2, if you are not a Power user)
But it could be really worth to check whether your RAM has errors.

(Edit: While we are at it:
1. There are also legal methods to install mac os X on a non-apple computer. I'm totally conscious that Apple isn't amused about that, and I'm glad about it, as we should not support a company that so MASSIVELY wants to gag our rights!
2. "Wierd" like I sometimes am, I installed Win98 on a multi-boot centrino system, for real

. Would be wondering if on this forum with thousands of members you could find more than 5 other people with Win98 installed on a centrino-laptop, too )