Washed out graphics

[F525]

I just installed a VisionTek Xtasy 5864 GeForce 2 Ti card, 64MB. The first two games we tried had very washed out looking graphics on screen. No detail, and with large patches of white and gray. The games that looked this way were MechForce3 and Tachyon.

When we run SimCopter and Flight Simulator 2000, they look ok.

Before I installed the Xtasy, I had a Matrox card in the computer which ran the MechForce 3 ok, and now it won't with the new card.

The motherboard is an Asus P4B with a P4-1.6 GHz Pentium 4 processor.

Are there some settings I need to change for the new GeForce card? The manual that came with it is just about useless.

Thanks.

[Prew]

Many new games have options for redetecting a video card. Since you've changed video cards see if Mech 3 has this option.

[mike breck]

Hi F525,

Do the troublesome games allow you to choose whether to run in Direct 3D or OpenGL. It might be worth experimenting with the games graphic's options.

Also, check the Readme files of both games and see if there are any issues with particular Geoforce cards or drivers. You can also visit the game publisher's site and see if this is an issue and download the latest patches for the games.

Also, if you have not already done so, then install the latest NVidia reference drivers.

HTH

[Steady Teddy]

F525,
To add to what Prew said: You might have to UNINSTALL/REINSTALL the Video Games that are giving you trouble if they were on your Hard Drive BEFORE you installed the new Video Card.
Remove the Game(s) from "Add/Remove Programs" and then DELETE the appropriate Game(s) Folder(s) if they are listed in "Program Files".
Just make sure you FIRST Uninstall the game from the Control Panel.
Most Game Makers recommend reinstalling games after changing Video Cards.

[Tiretool]

Most Game Makers recommend reinstalling games after changing Video Cards.

That's the first I've heard of that... can you show some proof to support this claim?

[F525]

Hi All,

Thank you for your replies.

I checked the version of DirectX that was installed and found that it was version 6. The current version is now 8.

So I upgraded to version 8 and that seemed to do the trick. Son Jon is playing Tachyon right now as I write this and is happy as a clam.

He hasn't tried MechWarrior3 yet, but ver 8 will probably make a difference there also.

Thanks again. Best regards,
Dwight

[Steady Teddy]

Originally posted by Tiretool That's the first I've heard of that... can you show some proof to support this claim?

No I can't show any documentation. Only from personal contact with Tech Support from various Video Game Publishers.
As Prew said, if the Video Game doesn't "redetect the new Video Card" AND there are Graphics problems with the game, reinstalling the game COULD be one method of rectifying the problem since the games settings detect the ORIGINAL Video card.

[Prew]

Originally posted by steady teddy As Prew said, if the Video Game doesn't "redetect the new Video Card" AND there are Graphics problems with the game, reinstalling the game COULD be one method of rectifying the problem since the games settings detect the ORIGINAL Video card.

This isn't quite what I said or implied.

[F525]

Just a followup note about VisionTek's Tech support:
Yesterday, before I had fixed the problem described above(before DirectX 8 was installed), I had gone to VisionTek's web site and filled out the form for describing the problem I was having.

I expected an automated email reply.

Today, a Tech support guy actually called me at home to help with the problem. That's pretty good customer service I'd say.

Score one for VisionTek.