18 réponses à ce sujet

[Sable Phoenix]

Okay so this is wierd.  I just got a new Alienware machine, GeForce FX 480 video card, Intel i7, 6 gigs of ram.  Theoretically this should play everything having to do with game graphics perfectly.

In the intro move, with the Normandy approaching the Arcturus Prime relay, after the relay catches the ship and flings it and there is that brief still shot of the relay sitting there quiescent, the big glow in the center of the spinning rings is gone.  It shows up when the Normandy's flying towards it, it's only missing at the very end of the intro movie.  This didn't happen on my old (5+ years old) machine that could barely run Mass Effect at all.  Yet it does on the new one which has zero problems running the program and should display everything perfecty.

I checked on YouTube and at least one intro movie that someone recorded and posted has the same problem.  What causes this and how do I fix it?  Is it possibly related to me getting the game from someone who'd already purchased it and not a new purchase of my own? Do I need to check some options in the BioGame.ini?

Modifié par Sable Phoenix, 23 mai 2010 - 07:30 .

[Gorath Alpha]

The FX graphics cards simply aren't for gaming, and no one tests games with those to see if they are compatible or not.  That is a "Production" card, intended for developing graphical elements, not for displaying them at normal animation speeds.  They have vastly different BIOS coding, and hugely different drivers.  AFAIK, the basic silicon on each FX card is unchanged from a Geforce card of some type, but the other things that do differ so much mean that no developer supports using FXes for gaming. 

You will probably need to visit the nVIDIA user forums to learn more, but if I were you, I would send that machine back to Dell and get one that is more suitable for the uses you had in mind for it. 

Gorath
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[Sable Phoenix]

My mistake, it is not an FX card, it is a GeForce GTX 480. It is definitely a gaming card, with onboard PhysX and DirectX 11 support.  It baffles me that something as simple as a light source and bloom effect would just simply disappear out of the intro movie with this kind of hardware.

Modifié par Sable Phoenix, 23 mai 2010 - 09:32 .

[Gorath Alpha]

Don't forget that this is a Dx9 game, not Dx10, and cannot run on the unadulterated Dx10.  There is a copy of Dx9 on the disk and the install would have wanted to install it, unless you vetoed that option.  Did you allow it to install? 

[Sable Phoenix]

I have the latest DirectX package that includes compatibility with everything from 9.0c and above. I know it worked because KOTOR wouldn't run before I installed it, and now KOTOR works fine. So yes, my DirectX is compatible with 9, 10 and 11. If the game won't run on anything but DirectX 9 I wouldn't even be able to start it otherwise, and I've always been able to start it. As far as I can tell, and I haven't gotten past Eden Prime to check it out, but the only thing missing is the glow of the eezo core on the mass relay in that single camera shot. It bugs me though, and I'm worried it will not display other things later on.

Modifié par Sable Phoenix, 23 mai 2010 - 11:31 .

[Kloreep]

I recall at least one other person reporting this bug. (Don't have a link I'm afraid; it was probably back on the old forums.) I can't recall whether they noted any other issues with the game, but I wouldn't get too worried yet.

[Sable Phoenix]

Do you recall if there were any fixes anyone had discovered?

[Sable Phoenix]

So there's no info for this, I'm guessing? It's just a known bug with no fix and if you get it you're stuck?

[Kloreep]

That would be my guess. I didn't want to reply back when you first posted and cut off someone who might actually have a fix; but I don't know of any.



I haven't actually watched for this, for all I know I have it too - it might not even be system related.

[Sable Phoenix]

Would be nice if there were some BioWare employee who would impart their guru knowledge on this to us. My hardware is TOP of the line, with the latest drivers, it should be showing everything. It would seem to be a problem with the actual game, and if that's the case there has to be a way to fix it.

[eshrafel]

I have this on three machines, one with a 7900 GTX, one with a GTX 260 and one with a GTX 295, I have seen it on Windows XP, 2003, and Windows 7. I have assumed it is just a glitch in the actual level/animation.

[Sable Phoenix]

eshrafel wrote...

I have this on three machines, one with a 7900 GTX, one with a GTX 260 and one with a GTX 295, I have seen it on Windows XP, 2003, and Windows 7. I have assumed it is just a glitch in the actual level/animation.

It's not, though.  I ran this game on my old computer that had a GeForce 7800, one that I had to turn the detail settings way down just to run the game, and it showed the eezo core glowing happily away.  There are plenty of videos on YouTube showing the mass relay properly glowing as well (as seen within the first 30 seconds here).  Obviously, though, it's not an uncommon bug.  I really wish someone knew how to fix it, since it's frigging annoying, especially on a brand new top-end machine.

Modifié par Sable Phoenix, 29 mai 2010 - 05:46 .

[MonsterFish]

It's just two seconds. Can't you live with it?

[Sable Phoenix]

MonsterFish wrote...

It's just two seconds. Can't you live with it?

... that's not very helpful.

I could live with it, but I would rather not, and given the hardware I have I shouldn't have to.  It's more than just a few seconds, too, I've noticed that the mass relay glow flickers off for a few moments when the Normandy jumps into the nebula surrounding the Citadel too.  I don't know what other light sources will be affected, but it's obviously going to occur all throughout the game.  So no, I don't want to live with it.  I want to fix it.

[morag_windstar]

If you really want to find a fix, I suggest having a trawl through the old boards - there's a link in one of the stickies at the top of this forum. Sorry I can't offer more help, it's not a problem I've come across.

[eshrafel]

It's entirely possible it *was* fine but patches broke it at some point. I'll try and go through the retail versions to the latest at some point and see if this is so. I don't remember my playthrough on the original 1.00 retail sadly, it was a long time ago.



I've not had issues with any of the other mass relays that I remember. It might be a z-buffer issue, the Unreal 3 engine seems to have these glitches on complicated maps. I am fairly certain this isn't something 'you' can fix, at least not trivially. If you have the time you could try going back to the older versions of the game (I am rather busy), or try older graphic drivers (but I doubt this is an issue as I have been played Mass Effect on drivers from 2006 to 2009). Last ditch efforts will involve messing around with your card override settings, probably paying attention to what z-buffer settings you may have. I doubt you will have any luck, to be honest. It's so brief I doubt many people have noticed it, and since the rest of the game was fine, I have just let it be, and assume it must be something particularly glitchy about that UE3 map.

[Sable Phoenix]

eshrafel wrote...

It's entirely possible it *was* fine but patches broke it at some point. I'll try and go through the retail versions to the latest at some point and see if this is so. I don't remember my playthrough on the original 1.00 retail sadly, it was a long time ago.

I've not had issues with any of the other mass relays that I remember. It might be a z-buffer issue, the Unreal 3 engine seems to have these glitches on complicated maps. I am fairly certain this isn't something 'you' can fix, at least not trivially. If you have the time you could try going back to the older versions of the game (I am rather busy), or try older graphic drivers (but I doubt this is an issue as I have been played Mass Effect on drivers from 2006 to 2009). Last ditch efforts will involve messing around with your card override settings, probably paying attention to what z-buffer settings you may have. I doubt you will have any luck, to be honest. It's so brief I doubt many people have noticed it, and since the rest of the game was fine, I have just let it be, and assume it must be something particularly glitchy about that UE3 map.

That's what I'm afraid of too.  I think it's probably related to the 64 bit Windows 7 OS, most likely the combined DirectX 9/10/11 drivers, since like I said I had no problems on an old, clunky machine that ran XP (other than the game having abysmal framerate, but that's a separate issue related to processor and RAM and vidcard).  It's not just lighting sources either, there are frequent pauses in conversations and little jerks and twitches in character animations that weren't there on the old machine, and Windows 7 has caused minor troubles in other games as well.  It's extremely annoying.

You'd think they could make a solidly backwards compatible OS.  Stupid Microsoft.

[eshrafel]

The pauses occur in Win 7 I can confirm that. I think compatibility mode actually improves it somewhat. I am hesitant whether this is a Win 7 thing or actually iffy code in the Mass Effect executable, it seems a little shoddy at best in places. Plus, at some point you simply have to throw legacy stuff away and start again to truly improve/evolve... It's more backwards compatible that most OS out there, in my experience (with good code, anyway).

The relay thing is not Win7 specific though, I can tell you that at least. I got the same on Win XP64/Win2003.

Modifié par eshrafel, 16 juin 2010 - 10:07 .

[Sable Phoenix]

eshrafel wrote...

The pauses occur in Win 7 I can confirm that. I think compatibility mode actually improves it somewhat. I am hesitant whether this is a Win 7 thing or actually iffy code in the Mass Effect executable, it seems a little shoddy at best in places. Plus, at some point you simply have to throw legacy stuff away and start again to truly improve/evolve... It's more backwards compatible that most OS out there, in my experience (with good code, anyway).

The relay thing is not Win7 specific though, I can tell you that at least. I got the same on Win XP64/Win2003.

Maybe it's a 64-bit thing, then.