Oy...Now what?

[OldeWolf]

Started playing Stalker and volia, this is what I get:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v606/WeirdPoe/ss_theaudet_12-29-08_12-05-49_l01_e.jpg

Any idea?

As far as I know, all my drivers are updated. I play EVE-online and WoW and Age of empire III and other games just fine. Even playing Stalker on high, I still run around smoothly.

[Bingley Joe]

Is your video card overclocked (note, some cards come factory-OC'd)? That reminds me of the kind of stuff I used to see back in my OC-obsessed youth..

If yes, try dropping to default core/memory speeds. If no, try underclocking slightly anyway just to see if it is indeed heat-related.

Then you can either just live with it for STALAKER, or investigate better cooling solutions, etc.

[squirrelTactics]

It would appear your character has ingested a powerful psychadelic.

[OldeWolf]

It would appear your character has ingested a powerful psychadelic.

lol...


And no my laptop, as far as I know, isn't overclocked. It's a Dell Laptop with dual core, 2 gb ram, etc etc. It even has a added fan on bottom to keep it cool.

So I can't figure out what's wrong with it. Not even Oblivion had this problem.

[Murtaug]

Well, first.. it is Stalker. Second is it patched?

[fitbabits]

It's a viral ad for the new Terminator: Salvation movie.

[Bingley Joe]

lol...


And no my laptop, as far as I know, isn't overclocked. It's a Dell Laptop with dual core, 2 gb ram, etc etc. It even has a added fan on bottom to keep it cool.

So I can't figure out what's wrong with it. Not even Oblivion had this problem.

Hmmm... actually, the fact that you're playing it on a laptop makes me suspect it's a heat issue even more (but then again, it is Stalker, so...) ;)

It's been a while since I fiddled with core/memory speeds, but I really think you should try underclocking whatever video card is in there.. if your driver doesn't already allow it, Google around a bit and you should find a simple utility that will (sorry for being vague -- I can't remember what I used to use anymore)

[OldeWolf]

Haven't a clue on how to underclock it, let alone overclock it. If I break things with my bare hands, I'm afraid what I would do to this laptop.:o

And just out of curiosity, what does Stalker has to do with it? Graphic hog (even if I move around easily and more smoothly than Oblivion)?

[fitbabits]

And just out of curiosity, what does Stalker has to do with it? Graphic hog (even if I move around easily and more smoothly than Oblivion)?
It's extremely buggy out the box. Patches fixed most of the problems, but it's by no means a stable game.

[Bingley Joe]

Haven't a clue on how to underclock it, let alone overclock it. If I break things with my bare hands, I'm afraid what I would do to this laptop.:o

And just out of curiosity, what does Stalker has to do with it? Graphic hog (even if I move around easily and more smoothly than Oblivion)?

It's extremely buggy out the box. Patches fixed most of the problems, but it's by no means a stable game.

Yeah, as fits says, it can be pretty pesky even with the patches if it doesn't like something about your particular setup..

Here's a reasonably coherent explanation (http://www.playtool.com/pages/underclockvid/slowdown.html) about the hows/whys on underclocking a video card (you won't break anything by lowering the speeds -- don't worry).

It was the first thing that popped up when I Googled for it (http://tinyurl.com/8ermj6) though, so it might be a bit on the old side (for example, I seem to recall the most recent nVidia drivers allowing clock-rate adjustments without needing any registry hacks).. the theories are all still applicable however, and any of the methods mentioned there should work just fine depending on your hardware.

[OldeWolf]

I got the game from Steam and Boratika's giveaway.

I will look into the underclocking and if you see an explosion across the horizon, that's my grandma's computer exploding while I go back onto my laptop safely. :D

[DangerousDaze]

You should have got out of there when you were told.

/edit - no idea why it's doing that. Looks more hardware than software.

[ThievesAmongUs]

Clearly, this is a powerful anomaly within the Zone.

[Johan]

It almost looks as if someone wiped their ass with half of your screen. :confused:

[Bingley Joe]

I got the game from Steam and Boratika's giveaway.

I will look into the underclocking and if you see an explosion across the horizon, that's my grandma's computer exploding while I go back onto my laptop safely. :D

LOL good idea!

Be advised though that if you're underclocking grandma's computer, simply locate and press the "Turbo" button. Verify by ensuring that the number on the ULTRAHERTZ™ display readout decreases.

[biosc1]

Clearly, this is a powerful anomaly within the Zone.

That was my initial thought...that it was "in-game".

Strangely enough, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is the one game that cranks my video card fan to max upon starting up...it's really weird.

[mesh]

If I were to take a guess I'd say it's trying to use shaders for sun bloom or something that your laptop graphics doesn't really support (say it reports v3 and is really a v2 chip), it ends up trying to do em in software and fails miserably.

Does it do this regardless what settings you put in for graphics? like all at lowest?

[MagGnome]

Like mesh said, you could have something enabled in the graphics/display options that your laptop isn't actually capable of. That could cause the blur that you are seeing. I'd tinker with turning things on and off to see if it goes away.

As for those asking hinm about patching - he's running the game on Steam, so it should be fully updated.

[fitbabits]

Like mesh said, you could have something enabled in the graphics/display options that your laptop isn't actually capable of. That could cause the blur that you are seeing. I'd tinker with turning things on and off to see if it goes away.

As for those asking hinm about patching - he's running the game on Steam, so it should be fully updated.
Most of the patch questions were asked prior to him revealing that it was purchased via Steam, though.

[OldeWolf]

*Tinker tinkers*

Underclocking: Failed

*Tinker tinkers*

Everything Minimized in graphic setting: Failed

*Tinker tinkers*

Tripping out from Psychotic graphic effects without drugs: Success

[OldeWolf]

I am going to laugh if Boratika's giveaway kills my laptop.

Laugh real hard while I set the dead laptop on fire before sending it back to Dell for a replacement.

[biosc1]

Try running it in windowed mode and see if that solves the issue. Some googling revealed that you're not alone with this issue, but I can't seem to find a resolution other than upgrade/degrade your graphics driver.

[MagGnome]

Most of the patch questions were asked prior to him revealing that it was purchased via Steam, though.

You still fail. :p

[OldeWolf]

Try running it in windowed mode and see if that solves the issue. Some googling revealed that you're not alone with this issue, but I can't seem to find a resolution other than upgrade/degrade your graphics driver.

Wow! That worked! Thanks, if you were here, I would've given you a hug in a manly way (just to keep our self safe :p).

Off to playing Stalker!