Hello,

Enjoying RoF, save for occasional bizarre graphic "freak outs." Sometimes I can fly for long periods of time without problem, then other times they crop up within minutes of takeoff. Happens in single mission takeoffs and happened once in a campaign. Plane flies normally; just the visuals get mega wacky. I have to shut it down and when I come back sometimes it is gone, and sometimes not. Then, I reboot. Sometimes that works, sometimes not. An estimate as to the frequency of the problem: 33% of the time.

Here are my comp specs (mind you, this stuff is Chinese to me):

ASUS M3N-HT
PC Power & Cooling 750W ATX12V
AMD Phenom 9850 BLACK EDITION 2.5GHz Quad Core (10GHz total processor power)
2GB CORSAIR XMS2
1 Terrabyte Western Digital SE16
ASUS EN9800GX2 1GB video RAM

In RoF I have the post effects off, AA to 4x, vert sync checked, all quality settings on high save for landscape (medium), with anisotropic filter X8. Video memory usage 40%. No idea if any of this means anything but thought I'd add it.

Any help/suggestions appreciated. Remember, please, keep it dumbed down. I understand airplanes but computers are science.

Progressive screens below, taken in same flight, from beginning to unbearable (about ten minutes between first and last).


The beginning.


Getting worse.


And worse.


Unbearable. View is forward, where the front of the plane used to be. Even then, plane flies normally, fires guns, etc.

JFM,

I have never seen anything like that before. Was it flying ok before?

Jason

Hi, Jason,

It flies just fine. For instance, I could fire it up right now and it might fly for an hour without any graphic problem at all. Then maybe tomorrow morning it will act up again. A few hours before I took these screens I was up flying around with no problems whatsoever. I can discern no definite pattern.

For some additional info, I have no problems with any other flight sim (OFF, 1946, the various MSFS, various Wings Over).

I assume this is on a machine that runs other, similar stuff, fine - yes?

Did you consider heat? Often, when a problem changes over time as you've described, it can be traced back to the machine heating up and cooling off - and if it runs OK for an hour at times, keep in mind it's summertime...how's the AC in the room your PC lives in? Right now, mine varies from about 76 at night (I set the AC on 76) and it goes up to about 82 in the daytime (awful...but not as bad as the electric bills *lol*)

Also, I didn't see if you mentioned about drivers above. Everything updated?

Hi, Tamper,

Thanks for your time.

Yes, everything else runs fine on this rig! No problems. From 1946 to AOEIII to SH4 to OFF to FSX.

I considered heat after reading a few posts but that's part of computer "science"--I have no idea what "hot" is with respect to comps. I do have a program that monitors heat and right after I took those screens and shut down the sim, I checked the temps and took a screen, just in case the info might be useful:



Just checked it now, a few seconds ago, and the TMPIN temps are
TMPIN0=46C
TMPIN1=40C
TMPIN2=82C

AMD Phenom temp, all cores, is 45C. 9800GX2 temps are 70C. Definitely a bit cooler now, but I have not run any sort of sim in hours.

AC never ends where I live, save for the odd day or two in January when a cold front actually makes it down this far, but the main thermostat is in a location that does not accurately reflect temperatures in different areas of the house. If set at 76, which is normal, in here could be comfortable but the bedroom freezing. The temp in here is generally cool, although if kids get in here playing and lights are blasting the room temp can increase a bit. A couple weeks ago I put an oscillating fan in here to aid circulation, and if anything it is cooler in here than ever before. (Probably mostly because of wind blowing on me rather than actually lowering the temp in here.)

I have new Nvidia drivers as of a few days ago. I also defragged and opened the computer case and completely "de-dusted" the insides, which I do every couple months.

Any of this useful?

Well, nothing sounds too bad in what you posted, far as temps go. Just a thought - it's good you keep the case clean; you'd be amazed at the people who don't and then have problems with heat.

In a troubleshooting environment - not that it applies to you, just yet at least - I'd take that rascal and force it to heat up a bit. I've used a hair drier to raise the temp enough to either force it to act up, or see it run normally under a sane but higher-than normal temp. It rules out heat, but there's obviously some small risk from doing this.

The situation you've described can be maddening; I wish I had an answer. I've got a whole battery of stuff (like the hair drier) to get machines to 'tell on themselves'. Often, fixing a problem is a matter of duplicating the problem. Swapping parts is another way to isolate a problem; but not everyone has the parts laying around to try it. I recently went through a similar problem with a guy who finally bought new video cards (SLI) and his problem disappeared. Oddly, his cards worked just fine everywhere else, like what you describe.

I've also seen examples like this where memory timings and voltages (in the BIOS) can cause one single game to act up where others run fine.

Wonder what happens if - just for a test - you try to run all the graphics settings on low? Also, consider turning off all the AA/AF, and other 'extras'. The idea being put everything at baseline, and test it. If it works, you can then turn things back on, one at a time, and hopefully identify the setting(s) that cause the problem.

There's no magic or mystery to working on computers Two things matter, in my experience: Logical steps for troubleshooting, and absolute tenacity. I've solved many problems just because I "outlived the problem" Neither of these two things is really exclusive to computers.

One other idea: See if you can find someone here or on the neoqb forums that has a system as close to yours as possible, just to see how theirs runs. People often post their specs in their "sig" lines.

I do hope it gets sorted out.

Thanks, Tamper. I'll try the test and report back any significant findings.

One thing, I should have mentioned that I have the Nvidia settings overriding the RoF AA settings. I'll mess with that too and see if there is any difference.

I tried going into Nvidia control panel and override application settings and it didn't help with the "jaggies" or the "swimming terrain" at all. Thankfully my problems aren't as bad as yours.
Have you mapped your Trackir centering to some other key or joystick button instead of F12? RoF uses F12 for "TV", whatever that is, and when I hit F12 to center my Trackir I got a view similar to the skeleton look of the forward view. I quickly changed it back and mapped "centering Trackir to a button on the stick. Just a thought.

CJ

GPU temperatures look ok JFM

I have new Nvidia drivers as of a few days ago

New might not mean latest so on that premise-

Try doing a Restore if you have one from before that last drivers install

If no luck, get the latest WHQL drivers from the NV site

Uninstall your current graphics card's drivers from Control Panel etc ('only graphics card drivers')

On rebooting run the Driver Cleaner Pro or Driver Sweeper to remove any odd lingering files from the last-installed drivers, you might have to do that from Safe mode

I have the Nvidia settings overriding the RoF AA settings

Be on defaults when you've reinstalled the drivers, no sense in complicating the issue while testing

RoF install should have updated your drivers (for DirectX/D3D) - perhaps you could simply reinstall the same drivers you're on at the moment, to allow RoF to sync up: maybe try that first. The old install-reboot-install-reboot trick

Ming

Hey Jim,

Just out of curiocity. On your graphics tab of your ROF Settings app...what does it read for Video Memory Usage: ??%