Contacts and Costume Pictures Don't Show Up?

Hi!

I've been looking at others who have posted here and around other sites about this problem...

My laptop came with Vista and City of Heroes worked fine then... but I upgraded to Windows 7 Professional 32-bit. This was maybe a year or two ago. Since then, the game does not show the contact pictures or costume pictures. They are just black. Once, I noticed one contact picture did have like, rainbow colored stuff, but that's about it.

Here are the specs: http://www.toshibadirect.com/td/b2c/...sp?poid=433308

And here is this thing:

---System information gathered by CoH Helper version 0.2.0.2---

DxDiag gathered at August 22, 2011 11:31 (-05:00)
Operating System: Windows 7 Professional 32-bit (6.1, Build 7600) (7600.win7_gdr.110622-1503)
System Manufacturer: TOSHIBA
System Model: Satellite L305
BIOS: InsydeH2O Version 2.20
Central Processor: Genuine Intel(R) CPU 585 @ 2.16GHz, ~2.2GHz
Memory: 2048MB
.Net Memory Report: 995MB out of 1916MB available
Page File: 1241MB (2590MB currently in use)
C Drive: (TOSHIBA MK1652GSX) 57414MB out of 143736MB (39%) free
D Drive: (HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GSA-T50N) zero-size drive
Windows directory location: C:\Windows
DirectX: DirectX 11
DirectX Diag version: 6.01.7600.16385 (32-bit version)

Display Notes: No problems found.
Sound Notes: No problems found.
Input Notes: No problems found.

Monitor:
Monitor's Max Resolution: (blank)
Video Device Name: Mobile Intel(R) 4 Series Express Chipset Family
Manufacturer / Chip: Intel Corporation / Mobile Intel(R) 4 Series Express Chipset Family
Video Memory: 830 MB
Driver Version: 8.15.10.1883
Driver Date: 8/27/2009 7:54:00 AM
Driver Language: English

Sound Device Description: Speakers (Realtek High Definition Audio)
Driver File: RTKVHDA.sys
Driver Version: 6.00.0001.5904
Driver Date: 7/28/2009 9:02:42 PM


WMI Information
Motherboard Manufacturer: TOSHIBA
Motherboard Model: (empty)
Motherboard Product: Portable PC
Motherboard Version: Base Board Version
BIOS Manufacturer: INSYDE
BIOS Name: InsydeH2O Version 2.20
BIOS Version: TOSINV - 1
BIOS Release: 20091209000000.000000+000


Registry Information for Current User
Resolution: 1280x800
3D Resolution: 1280x800 (Not using renderscale)
Full Screen: Yes
Maximized: No
Screen Position: 0, 0
Refresh Rate: 60Hz
Vertical Sync Enabled: No


Physics Quality: None
Maximum Particles: 100
Max Particle Fill? 10.000
Physics Card Enabled: No


Anti-aliasing: Off
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: Unknown (4)


World Texture Level: Unknown (3)
Character Texture Level: Low
World Detail Level (Vis_Scale): 0.500
Entity Detail Level: 0.300
Shadows Enabled: No
Shadow Mode: Disabled
Shadow Map Shader: Unknown (0)
Environmental Reflections: Disabled
Advanced Occlusion Settings: No
Ambient Occlusion: Off
Occlusion Strength: Off
Blur: Bilateral
Ambient Resolution: Performance


Gamma Correction: 1.000
Geometry Buffers (VBOs) Enabled: Yes
Suppression of FX When Camera Close Enabled: Yes
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: 0.000
Reverse Mouse Buttons: No
Save Login Username: Yes
Transfer Rate: Unknown bytes/second
Current Game Version: 1850.201006301958.0
Installation Directory: C:\Program Files\City of Heroes

Mod files in the Data directory
No modifications found


Thanks for taking the time to read this and help me. Have a nice day!!

The next time you get a laptop, whenever that may be, make sure it has an ATI or nVidia chipset for the graphics.

Intel's integrated video chipset is not designed for heavy graphics loads. It's designed primarily around business applications. I'm honestly surprised it supports directX 11 at all.

That said, you can try to see if there's an updated graphics driver for the laptop, from Toshiba's website. Because manufacturers often write custom drivers for their laptop computers, going to the computer manufacturer is pretty much the only way to assure that you get any working drivers. Sadly, most laptop drivers are not updated with newer versions. Manufacturers just don't give a damn after the laptop has been sold.

Thanks for your quick reply.

Yes, I know about ATI and nVidia. I tell others the same. Haha.

I wasn't given this laptop with City of Heroes in mind but since it worked it I thought I'd play again.

I had an deskstop before and had to get a new videocard because of the onboard one...

I have the most up-to-date drivers from Toshiba. x_x

You could try: http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Sear...01&FamilyId=39 which is the latest Intel drivers for the 4 Series integrated graphics chipset. 99% of laptop manufacturers never bother to provide updated drivers for their devices beyond the 3-6 month mark after release - it's almost always better to go directly to the OEM for them despite all the nonsense advice to the contrary.

Ultimately, you're going to struggle with that chipset, no matter what you do.