Flickering Graphics
By
Acroyear2,
Posted on: 2010-08-17 24:17 in ALL ACCESS Gameplay Technical Issues Bugs
Been having the problem since I17/Ultra Mode testing...
I always thought it was an open window in the background or something.
Win 7 64 Bit
NVidia GeForce GTX 260 (core2.16)
"...now you see that evil will always triumph because good is dumb" - Dark Helmet
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I agree, but if you look back we are only into the second week of the expansion. I'm sure they are very busy and quite possibly are aware of the issue, have ways of recreating it and are working to correct it. Again please note I say possibly =]|
Originally Posted by American_Angel
Actually, normally a red name shows up and asks us for the detailed reports...strangely they are absent on this.
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Anyway I still stand by what I said about the Devs at Paragon, I think we've all seen it at one time or another.
I don't know if this makes a difference, but I just noticed my refresh rate was changed by city of heroes from 60 to 70.
It required a restart to see if there is a difference, and of course Freedom is down now, lol.
EDIT
Scratch that...all servers are down! Maybe they are patching?
I have to say that with the stability patch last night, it seems my flickering has gotten worse =[
Yes it could be me just wigging out but at times last night Praetoria was almost constantly flickering while moving about. It also was flickering when I moved the mouse cursor around. The powers menu/screen was almost unbearable to look at.
Sigh.
Same issue occurring.
Running 2 Geforce GTX 480 cards.
Win 7 Ultimate
12gb ram
-Storm Revenant-
Fires Within: Lvl 50 Fire/Kinetics Controller (Champion)
Steamed: Lvl 50 Thugs/Dark Miasma Mastermind (Freedom)
it happened to me in a mish. I'm guessing this is nvidia's fault.
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Nah, ATI users are reporting it too.
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Originally Posted by KaraK_NA
it happened to me in a mish. I'm guessing this is nvidia's fault.
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Branching Paragon Police Department Epic Archetype, please!
Since it sounds like most people who are having problems with this are using Windows Vista or Windows 7, could it be a problem with Aero? I seem to recall some players had previously reported problems with Aero and CoH.
Quote:
The only problems I've had in the past with Aero is Alt+Tab'ing, when using a custom desktop theme it would eventually disable Aero. Not to mention that this is a recent issue, and I've been on Win7 for nearly a year.|
Originally Posted by Tex
Since it sounds like most people who are having problems with this are using Windows Vista or Windows 7, could it be a problem with Aero? I seem to recall some players had previously reported problems with Aero and CoH.
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I'll turn Aero off when I get home tonight and see if it has any effect.
EDIT: If Disabling Aero doesn't solve the problem, I came across this seeing as how I'm stuck at work:
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Instructions: 1. Click Start . 2. In the Start Search textbox type Services.msc If prompted by the UAC, provide a password or confirmation. Click Continue . 3. Scroll down until you locate the entry that is labeled Desktop Window Manager Session Manager. 4. Right-Click on this service. Select Stop from the context menu. 5. Right Click once again on the entry. Select Properties from the context menu. 6. Go to the “General Tab ” to change the start up type to Disabled. Click OK . I tried it and all the symptoms stopped immediately. The only downside that I see is that windows Aero is disabled and the "open window preview" you see when you mouse over the taskbar icons is disabled. However, this is just a workaround and this issue is still a bug, so any suggestions would be appreciated. |
Still happening with Aero disabled and doing what Red Valkyrja suggested.
Branching Paragon Police Department Epic Archetype, please!
Tex, knowing nothing about programming I came across something on Stackoverflow about Reducing flickering in GDI+ and C++.
/em graspingatstraws
I'm afriad I'm gonna have to burst that bubble Tex... 
I'm running Win XP SP3, Athlon 64 3200+, 1GB Corsair XMS twin-paired/dual channel DDR 400 (still kick-azz 5 years on) Ram...
And a BFG 6800 GT OC
*With an admittedly OLD driver = Because it's the last one that's worked well with my card - from back when they still gave a frak about the Series 6 cards. Every attempt I've made to install newer ones caused me a truckload of problems, I'm simply not doing that again on this system.*
(I'm looking at parts for a new system, but this one still works well given that it's nearly eligible for Social Security.)
I'm not even trying to run the UltraMode settings, I'd be happy with a fix for Anti-Aliasing, that's been "broken" since I17 went Live.
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Originally Posted by Arcanaville
City of Heroes didn't fail, City of Heroes was killed. If a 747 dropped on your house, you'd say you were killed, not you failed to find a safer dwelling.
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Also running XP here:|
Originally Posted by Cardiff_Giant
I'm afriad I'm gonna have to burst that bubble Tex...
I'm running Win XP SP3, Athlon 64 3200+, 1GB Corsair XMS twin-paired/dual channel DDR 400 (still kick-azz 5 years on) Ram... And a BFG 6800 GT OC *With an admittedly OLD driver = Because it's the last one that's worked well with my card - from back when they still gave a frak about the Series 6 cards. Every attempt I've made to install newer ones caused me a truckload of problems, I'm simply not doing that again on this system.* (I'm looking at parts for a new system, but this one still works well given that it's nearly eligible for Social Security.) I'm not even trying to run the UltraMode settings, I'd be happy with a fix for Anti-Aliasing, that's been "broken" since I17 went Live. |
Windows XP Professional
Intel Dual Core 2.0 CPU
2 GB DDR2 Ram (with heatsinks attached)
Nvidia GeForce 9400 GT 1 GB Video Card (that runs everything I'm ever tried to run)
I THINK I FOUND THE CAUSE
I noticed my refresh rate had been changed from 60 to 70 in the options. I changed it back to 60 and it required a restart, but the servers had come down right at that moment for a patch. I logged on last night, but my graphics settings were set to minimum...however the problem did not occur.
This morning, the problem seems to have disappeared and I'm running on high settings again. This tells me that either the hot fix solved the issue (which I doubt since others have claimed it has not) or that the issue was the refresh rate.
Everyone having issues, please check your refresh rate under options, set it to 60 and test to see if the problem remains.
Additional Note:
Although changing the refresh rate seems to have worked...lag is a huge issue still. I keep starting to DC, and just now I totally disconnected right at the end of a mission. Servers were yellow at the time.
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I don't think this is the problem -- or, at least, not all of it. I get the outdoor flickering in Windowed mode (it's the only way I can keep my HeroStats overlay) with my desktop refresh rate (what the game uses in Windowed mode) set to 60.
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Originally Posted by American_Angel
I THINK I FOUND THE CAUSE
I noticed my refresh rate had been changed from 60 to 70 in the options. I changed it back to 60 and it required a restart, but the servers had come down right at that moment for a patch. I logged on last night, but my graphics settings were set to minimum...however the problem did not occur. This morning, the problem seems to have disappeared and I'm running on high settings again. This tells me that either the hot fix solved the issue (which I doubt since others have claimed it has not) or that the issue was the refresh rate. Everyone having issues, please check your refresh rate under options, set it to 60 and test to see if the problem remains. |
Yeah my refresh rate has been at 60 and I'm still getting the flickering.
Branching Paragon Police Department Epic Archetype, please!
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Yep, I get terrible flickering almost every time I move the camera around in Praetoria. It's as if the sun going out for a fraction of a second (or longer,) very annoying.|
Originally Posted by Cynical_Gamer
Anyone else getting a lot of intermittent graphical flickering in the Praetoria areas? Like objects and the whole screen?
GTX275 Win7 64-bit |
GTX 260
Win7 64 bit.
Update: Tried changing my refresh rate to 60 Hz, still flickers.
I've spent some time lately back in good old Paragon City and nothing there flickers.
I've even tried running low everything with all Ultra off and I still get the flicker. I can only stand it for so long then I have to go back to PC just so I can give my eyes and brain a rest.
Any chance any Dev has something to say....please?
Phew! I thought I was going crazy when I started seeing random tile sets on the walls and the mission rooms going pitch black. Thought my GPU was dying but from what I'm reading here I guess it's a bug. For me it seems to begin after a couple hours of playing. When I first start everything is fine.
W7 64 Bit
4 GB Ram
HD3870 512MB
Core 2 Duo E6550 2.33GHZ
(3 year old rig, getting a new one this fall)
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I'd still be worried about your GPU going, or since you say it happens after a couple hours, having a heat buildup issue, and start to monitor its temperature and/or test it in other games. |
Originally Posted by jp74
Phew! I thought I was going crazy when I started seeing random tile sets on the walls and the mission rooms going pitch black. Thought my GPU was dying but from what I'm reading here I guess it's a bug. For me it seems to begin after a couple hours of playing. When I first start everything is fine.
W7 64 Bit 4 GB Ram HD3870 512MB Core 2 Duo E6550 2.33GHZ (3 year old rig, getting a new one this fall) |
That behavior isn't the flickering being reported by other users, and random textures is never a good thing.
"Experience is the mother of good judgement. Bad judgement is the father of experience."
Also experiencing the flickering in open areas. Have tried adjusting all settings, reducing graphics, shadows, etc. -- nothing seems to make a difference.
Win7 64bit
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 295
Intel Core i7
6gb RAM
Also, game switches system to Windows 7 Basic video mode, which may be normal...?
Just to throw up a note. I too am having the full screen flickering when in Praetoria issue. Running GTX 470 with latest Nvidia drivers, Windows 7 64-bit. Did not start happening until 2 maybe 3 patches ago. My friend who does not use Ambient Occlusion at all, but has everything else set the same as me, using practically the same PC hardware doesn't have this issue. I have Aero and Destop Composition disabled (always do when full-screen gaming). It only happens in open world areas, and does not occur (at least last I checked) Hero or Villain side. Only in Praetoria.
"Superman died fighting Doomsday because he allowed his toggles to drop, and didn't beat Doomsday before Unstoppable wore off, sad really..."
I also wanted to chime in on this. I'm having this issue as well. I'm running an ATI HD5870, currently with the Catalyst 10.7 drivers. I upgraded to 10.8 when it first came out, and originally thought the bug was related to the 10.8 drivers, since that's about when I first started to notice it. I completely uninstalled all graphics drivers and reinstalled the 10.7 to try and fix it but it didn't help. I've noticed some other things too:
It only happens outdoors in praetoria. It doesn't happen in missions in praetoria, and it doesn't happen in paragon city (tested in several different zones).
It has something to do with shadows, since if I turn them completely off it stops doing it.
Just for reference, I'm running all graphics settings maxed with the exception of ambient occlusion, since my framerate drops below what I'm comfortable with with both that and FSAA enabled. Ambient occlusion is set to Strong/Quality/Bilateral.
Hope this gets fixed soon.
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I tried disabling Aero in Windows 7, and it didn't help the problem. |
Originally Posted by Tex
Since it sounds like most people who are having problems with this are using Windows Vista or Windows 7, could it be a problem with Aero? I seem to recall some players had previously reported problems with Aero and CoH.
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I noticed a couple other things while playing around with this just now.
The bug doesn't really happen at night. This tends to strengthen the argument that it's something to do with shadows, since there are no shadows at night.
It's also REALLY bad when the game is transitioning from night to day and vice versa.
Oh good, not just me. Yes, I would get that traveling in the open zones of Praetoria.
Vista 64bit
Radeon HD 5850
There are problems yes, there are always problems after a major expansion as this one is. While I have not had the crashing issue, really the only problem I've had is the flickering, and knowing how often the Devs watch and read the forums I think you can bet they are looking into the problem.