A problem
By
Call Me Awesome,
Posted on: 2009-07-01 11:43 in ALL ACCESS Gameplay Technical Issues Bugs
Never heard of this problem before, but it sounds like it's your graphics card. Could you give us some specs on your computer?
Currently playing:
Infinity;
Lady Breeze (50 fire/storm)
Virtue;
Moon-kiss (44 tri-form warshade)
Scarlet Whisper (33 sonic/energy)
Ravenflight (41 archer/elec)
Sure. I just did the City of Heroes helper thing I found on another post.
---System information gathered by CoH Helper version 0.1.1.7---
DxDiag gathered at July 1, 2009 14:48 (-04:00)
Operating System: Windows XP Home Edition (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 2 (2600.xpsp_sp2_gdr.090206-1233)
System Manufacturer: HP Pavilion 061
System Model: PP164AA-ABA a810n
BIOS: Phoenix - Award BIOS v6.00PG
Central Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) 64 Processor 3300+, MMX, 3DNow, ~2.4GHz
Memory: 1408MB
.Net Memory Report: 788MB out of 1407MB available
Page File: 709MB (1657MB currently in use)
C Drive: (SAMSUNG SP1604N) 59735MB out of 146393MB (40%) free
D Drive: (SAMSUNG SP1604N) 140MB out of 6211MB (2%) free
E Drive: (LITE-ON DVDRW SOHW-1633S) zero-size drive
F Drive: (ASUS CD-S480/A5) zero-size drive
Windows directory location: C:\WINDOWS
DirectX: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
DirectX Diag version: 5.03.2600.2180 (32-bit version)
Display Notes: No problems found.
Sound Notes: No problems found.
Input Notes: No problems found.
Monitor: Plug and Play Monitor
Monitor's Max Resolution: 1600,1200
Video Device Name: SiS 760
Manufacturer / Chip: SiS / SiS 760 Rev 00
Video Memory: 128.0 MB
Driver Version: 6.14.0010.3671
Driver Date: 4/12/2005 10:56:30 AM
Driver Language: English
Sound Device Description: Realtek AC97 Audio
Driver File: ALCXWDM.SYS
Driver Version: 5.10.0000.5840
Driver Date: 4/20/2005 11:00:56 AM
WMI Information
Motherboard Manufacturer: ASUSTek Computer INC.
Motherboard Model: (empty)
Motherboard Product: Salmon
Motherboard Version: 1.04
BIOS Manufacturer: Phoenix Technologies, LTD
BIOS Name: Phoenix - Award BIOS v6.00PG
BIOS Version: AWARD - 42302e31
BIOS Release: 20041029000000.000000+000
Registry Information for Current User
Resolution: 1024x768
3D Resolution: 1024x768 (Not using renderscale)
Full Screen: Yes
Maximized: No
Screen Position: 0, 0
Refresh Rate: 60Hz
Vertical Sync Enabled: Yes
Physics Quality: Medium
Maximum Particles: 50000
Max Particle Fill? 10.000
Physics Card Enabled: No
Anti-aliasing: None
Anisotropic Filtering: None
Texture LOD Bias: Crisp
Water Effects: None
Bloom: 1.000 (turned off)
Depth of Field Enabled: No
Desaturation Effects (Sepia) Enabled: No
Shader Detail: Lowest
World Texture Level: Very High
Character Texture Level: Very High
World Detail Level (Vis_Scale): 1.000
Entity Detail Level: 1.000
Shadows Enabled: Yes
Gamma Correction: 1.000
Geometry Buffers (VBOs) Enabled: No
Suppression of Extra Player FX Enabled: No
Suppression of FX When Camera Close Enabled: No
Close Suppression Range: 3.000
Show Advertisements: Yes
Audio Mode: Performance
3D Audio: No
FX Sound Volume: 1.000
Music Sound Volume: 0.600
Show Advanced Graphics Options: No
Overall Graphics Quality: 0.600
Reverse Mouse Buttons: No
Save Login Username: Yes
Transfer Rate: Unknown bytes/second
Current Game Version: 19.20090619.2T
Installation Directory: C:\Program Files\City of Heroes
Mod files in the Data directory
No modifications found
Video Device Name: SiS 760
Manufacturer / Chip: SiS / SiS 760 Rev 00
Video Memory: 128.0 MB
There's your problem. Its integrated video chipset, not a full up card. You need better hardware to play modern 3D games.
Tanker Tuesday #72 Oct 5 @Champion
"I am not sure if my portrayal of being insane is accurate, but damn its fun all the same."
So, I need a new grapics card or something?
Not very good at technical speak. ^^;
Pretty much. Given the age of the machine, I can't say for certain if you are AGP or PCI-E or PCI bus for video card slots.
PCI-E is the "current" and best.
AGP is older and performs less, but acceptable.
PCI is ancient and has low performance and might not even work.
According to the spec sheet for the Salmon ASUS board, you have an AGP8x slot.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814143069
That would be my recommendation. Its about as good as youll find under $100 for AGP given its performance.
Tanker Tuesday #72 Oct 5 @Champion
"I am not sure if my portrayal of being insane is accurate, but damn its fun all the same."
Thank you for the help! I'll go out and see if I can find one. =)
[ QUOTE ]
So, I need a new grapics card or something?
Not very good at technical speak. ^^;
[/ QUOTE ]
Yes.
Integrated cards (chips really, they aren't true 'cards') typically uses your system RAM (memory) to process graphics, which reduces the amount of memory available for the OS and programs, etc..
Dedicated graphics cards have their own memory and processors, which free up system resources for other things.
I wasn't able to verify for sure whether yours is a laptop or a desktop. The model information comes up with conflicting information when I do a Google search.
If it's a laptop, your upgrade options may be few and far between. Not every laptop was designed with games in mind, and many have no options for adding a graphics card.
One search result, based on the motherboard info, suggests it's a desktop. However, from the specs I was able to find, it would appear that you have only an 8x AGP graphics slot, which would still limit your options with regards to a new card.
A quick search on NewEgg comes up with several cards that MAY work for you. You can find that list here.
Most are under $100, however, depending on the age of your system it may be a more viable option to buy a new machine, rather than spend money on upgrading outdated hardware. The AGP interface is old technology and very few new machines are built with it. Those that are tend to be low end 'budget' computers that will not run modern games well, if at all.
Hope that didn't confuse you further! LOL. 
Thank you again. I have a desktop, and the tower for the computer isn't that old (at least in my mind) maybe 2-4 years old.
SiS isn't even on the supported GPU list. The reason it isn't supported is because SiS hasn't bothered to put out a driver that supports OpenGL well enough for this game (which uses OpenGL to do 3D, not DirectX).
Father Xmas - Level 50 Ice/Ice Tanker - Victory
$725 and $1350 parts lists --- My guide to computer components
Tempus unum hominem manet
I'll look at stuff when I go out to Best Buy or something. =)
[ QUOTE ]
I'll look at stuff when I go out to Best Buy or something. =)
[/ QUOTE ]
One thought... if you're thinking in terms of buying a graphics card for your old machine you're unlikely to find an AGP card at Best Buy, your best bet is to order one online from Newegg; the ones linked above should work for you. I highly recommend Newegg as an online computer component seller, they're very reliable.
I'd agree however that you may be better off just getting a new machine, yours is old enough that it would be marginal even with a new graphics card. I'm not completely up on the latest specs, it's been a couple of years since my last major hardware upgrade but in general terms you'll want a dual core CPU (or quad-core), at least 2 GB of RAM (4 is better) and a good video card... stay FAR away from integrated video; you'll want an Nvidia or ATI (I generally prefer Nvidia).
I don't know enough about current generation graphics cards to offer useful advice, but with Nvidia models like 7200, 8200, 9200 and so forth are low end while 7800, 8800, 9800 and so forth are high end. GTX is high end while GS is the lower end. I typically only really research current hardware when it's time to upgrade my machine... I'm probably due sometime in the next year or so. 
I always "roll my own" computers by buying all the components and building it myself; that lets me upgrade individual components as needed without needing a whole new machine... some parts of my current machine are pushing 6 years old while others are less than 2 years old. If you're not comfortable with a screwdriver and installing Windows yourself then you're probably best off with a pre-built machine.
COH has just been murdered by NCSoft. http://www.change.org/petitions/ncso...city-of-heroes
in that PC you should have an AGP slot, which will limit your choices a little bit. the other thing that won't help, is most power supplies in brand computers aren't sufficient to power the higher end cards. you might be able to run this card in your current machine, depending on the current wattage of you power supply
powercooler ati 4670
or this
HIS 3650
the 3650 might be a better choice since it will require less to run it
I downloaded the trial to CoH/CoV and expected it to be great. However, first thing I noticed was the mouse pointer kept fading in and out and some of the text was a little messed up. The main problem is that I can't see my character when I'm making it which is.... critical? And when I just did the next thing and gave my unknown hero/villain a name, I go to their approprate tutorial level. When there, I still can't see my character or any of the other stuff in game.
I play on a PC, also.