Re: Rise of Nations Gold Graphics Problem

Hi again Jimmy,

I have done everything at least twice and have been to all the product sites
with no luck, you have been the most helpfull so far. I can't believe I have
such an unusual problem. I'm not looking for rocket science here... I can
usually find a logical solution to most problems, but not this time. Do you
have any ideas on potential hardware problems.
Thank again for any help...

"Jimmy S." wrote:

Hi SW,

If you go through troubleshooting steps again, to cover
any steps which you may have missed, and continue to
the DirectX Diagnostics, then we are most likely facing
a hardware issue involving your video hardware..

--
Cheers, *Windows_XP_MVP_Shell/User*
Jimmy S. http://mvp.support.microsoft.com

Visit my MSN Games and Windows Gaming Help Site: www.msce.mvps.org
MS Games Help and Support Center: http://support.microsoft.com/?pr=gms
My advice is donated "AS IS" without warranty; nor do I confer any rights.
_________________________________________________________

SW Wrote:
=================
| Hi Jimmy,
|
| Thanks for the very good detailed response, but I still have the same
| problem after following your instructions.
|
| Before trying something else I wanted to let you know about a problem I saw
| using DXDIAG. Everything looks like fine and the Directx features are all
| enabled, but when I run the test for Direct3D I get mixed results as
| follows....
|
| Direct3D 7 test - The spinning box is distorted, looks like flashing
| triangles coming from the box.
| Direct3D 8 test - Appears fine.
| Direct3D 9 test - Very distorted like test 7, but it goes a lot faster with
| more flashing video.
|
| Does this mean anything or give any more clues????
|
| Thanks again for any help.
| SW
|
|
|
| "Jimmy S." wrote:
|
|| Hi SW,
||
|| Lets try updating those drivers again using this method...
||
|| Updating video card drivers can solve most gaming issues. Here's some
|| simple abc's to always keep in mind. a. Shut off download accelerators,
|| firewalls and antivirus programs when downloading or installing updates;
|| b. Check for game patches: www.avault.com/pcrl/patches_list.asp?letter=a
|| c. Make sure you meet the game's minimum video and system requirements;
|| d. Check for known issues with your video card at the game's web site. :-)
||
|| 1. Before you update your drivers, I recommend that you update DirectX
|| from: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/directx/default.aspx
||
|| Here are the steps I recommend you use to update your driver. If you've
|| never done this before I recommend you also look over the Installation hints
|| and Release Notes both of which are linked to from their download page.
||
|| 2. Download the latest drivers from: www.nvidia.com/content/drivers/drivers.asp
||
|| 3. Save the .exe driver in My Documents\My Drivers\nVidia
||
|| 4. Restart the computer in Safe Mode by pressing the F8 key
|| about once every second as it's rebooting to pick Safe Mode.
||
|| 5. Click Start / (settings) Control Panel / System / Hardware
|| Device Manager / expand +Display Adapters / right click on
|| the adapter, pick "Uninstall", and click No if asked to reboot.
||
|| 6. Use Control Panel / Add-Remove programs to uninstall the
|| previous driver (exe)software which may have been installed.
||
|| 7. Restart the computer in Safe Mode by pressing the F8 key
|| about once every second as it's rebooting to pick Safe Mode.
||
|| 8. If Windows prompts you to install the adapter, click "Cancel".
||
|| 9. Double click the nVidia driver we saved to My Documents\My
|| Drivers\nVidia folder in step 3 to install.it. If it complains about
|| Windows Logo Certification just click "Continue". This is normal.
||
|| 10. After you reboot, go to Control Panel / Display / Settings and
|| choose 32 bit Color Quality, and 800x600 or higher Resolution.
||
|| TROUBLESHOOTING:
||
|| Test your drivers using DXDiag: Click Start / Run / type: DXDIAG
|| Click the "Test" buttons in the Display, Sound, Music & Network Tabs;
|| If any of the Display options are Disabled and you cannot Enable them,
|| your most likely solution would be to update your Chipset Drivers as per
|| my website: http://www3.sympatico.ca/nibblesnbits/Video.html#v11
||
|| Your program might not support dual monitors, or "dual head" video cards
|| You can disable the extra video output in your display properties control
|| panel. Click Start>Settings>Control Panel>Display>Settings>Advanced.
||
|| Along with your Video card, Sound Cards, Motherboard Chipsets,
|| and Video Monitors may also require updated drivers. Even your
|| motherboard's BIOS may need to be updated for compatibility with
|| your Video card. These steps are listed at: http://NibblesNbitsVideo.tk
||
|| Perhaps the old Nvidia drivers did not completely uninstall. If that's the
|| case, use this utility to completely uninstall the drivers and go to step 7:
|| http://content.guru3d.com/index.php?page=detonatorrip&menu=0
||
|| The latest video drivers sometime don't work with a particular game.
|| (Check the Video suggestions in the readme.txt file in your game folder/CD)
|| If there's no suggestions, try an older (WHQL) driver, and/or if you still
|| experience problems try a Beta driver, or even an Omega driver instead:
||
|| BETA Drivers: http://download.guru3d.com/
|| OMEGA Drivers: http://www.omegadrivers.net
||
|| There you have it, if you have any questions feel free to post them! :-)
||
|| --
|| Cheers, Windows_XP_MVP_Shell/User
|| Jimmy S. http://mvp.support.microsoft.com
||
|| Visit my MSN Zone.com and Gaming Help Site: http://mvps.org/nibblesnbits
|| MS Games Help and Support Center: http://support.microsoft.com/?pr=gms
|| My advice is donated "AS IS" without warranty; nor do I confer any rights.
|| _________________________________________________________
||
||
||
|| SW Wrote:
|| =================
||| My game starts fine, but most of the text is not clear ( can't even read the
||| small text ) and the picture during the game gets distorted as you move
||| around.
||| I don't receive any error messages.
||| I have tried all the different resolution options and have updated all the
||| drivers and directx, but still have the problem.
||| I'm running it on a Win XP desktop with an AMD processor and a NVIDIA 256mb
||| graphics card.
|||
||| Thanks for any help.



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