Water colour

[angelah]

Maybe somebody can shed some light on why the water has gone awaol please....
This is happening in Open GL which I changed to because DX9 keeps kicking me out.

Pic 1

pic 2, what it should look like.

And thanks to Photobucket for coming to my rescue.

Angela

 

[angelah]

I forgot

I forgot to add this is 2004... I tried changing the setup preferences before opening Trainz but that made no difference. Had to go back to DX now. Tomorrow will show if I am still getting kicked out!

May be some Power settings on my PC need changing?

Angela

 

[StorkNest]

I used to get this in TRS2004 OpenGL, I had to stick with DirectX.
In my case, I think it was because I used a ATI graphics card at the time. Once I a nVidia card, OpenGL worked.
Could be something relating to the graphics card or its settings depending on what you use.

 

[angelah]

ATI

I used to get this in TRS2004 OpenGL, I had to stick with DirectX.
In my case, I think it was because I used a ATI graphics card at the time. Once I a nVidia card, OpenGL worked.
Could be something relating to the graphics card or its settings depending on what you use.

Dear StorkNest,
Mmm, an ATI... I know I have not got an NVidia at the moment, it was changed when I went for a fast card a couple of years back so this may well be the problem. I must go look....

Many thanks for your help,

Angela

 

[mjolnir]

If you've not done so recently, one thing you might try, is to identify the video card you have, and see if there are updated drivers for the card. You can determine the type of card by left-clicking on "my computer", and from the drop down menu, selecting "properties", clicking the "hardware" tab in the window, and looking under the heading "display adapters".

When you know what display adapter you're using, use your favorite search engine, and search for "drivers", "your operating system", and "video controller".

ns

 

[angelah]

Not there

If you've not done so recently, one thing you might try, is to identify the video card you have, and see if there are updated drivers for the card. You can determine the type of card by left-clicking on "my computer", and from the drop down menu, selecting "properties", clicking the "hardware" tab in the window, and looking under the heading "display adapters".

When you know what display adapter you're using, use your favorite search engine, and search for "drivers", "your operating system", and "video controller".

ns

Hi,
I think you meant rick click on My Computer, left does nothing much at all. But right does put that menu up and I went into properties, hardware etc but no heading for Display Adapters at all. I have been hunting all over the place to find which card I have and can't find it!

I run XP Home.

But thanks for replying.

Angela

 

[probe]

Hi Angela

Right click my computer icon, select "properties", then select "hardware", then "Device manager. Then you will see "Display Adaptor". Click on that and it will show your video card details

John

 

[wreeder]

Angela,

You are most likely using an ATI card since this is a pretty common problem in Trainz when using a ATI card in OpenGL mode. After doing a quick search of the forum it looks like going back to DirectX mode is the only option for many people with this problem.

What do you mean that DirectX is kicking you out? Maybe you need to download the latest version of DirectX 9.0c from Microsoft's site. Your installation may have developed a problem. I believe there was an update in March of this year. That would be the latest version.

Here is a link:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...38-db71-4c1b-bc6a-9b6652cd92a3&displayLang=en

William

 

[Gandalf0444]

It is either one of the above problems, or You are trying to force the card to go outside of its boundries, by either graphic heavy programs, or maybe you overclocked it yourself?(I've done this once with my old very old 128MB GPU and everything was really trippy, the spline points became a square that was staticy like you would get on a TV, and colors changed to weird neon like colors) Or the card is on its last legs, and about to die, or another problem could be the card is not getting enough power from the PSU....

 

[angelah]

Fatal Errors

Angela,

You are most likely using an ATI card since this is a pretty common problem in Trainz when using a ATI card in OpenGL mode. After doing a quick search of the forum it looks like going back to DirectX mode is the only option for many people with this problem.

What do you mean that DirectX is kicking you out? Maybe you need to download the latest version of DirectX 9.0c from Microsoft's site. Your installation may have developed a problem. I believe there was an update in March of this year. That would be the latest version.

Here is a link:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...38-db71-4c1b-bc6a-9b6652cd92a3&displayLang=en

William

I get kicked out by a Fatal Error report, no alternative but to choose close.
I have been and got the latest downloads yesterday because the error report to MS sent me there.
It also advised me to change the power settings to Minimal Power Management, which I also did.

I don't think this is an overload because I have been running the card for quite a while, if I remember rightly at the time of purchase it was just one step down from the top one.
I get an ASUS management menu up very often. I seem to recall vaguely that it is an ATI, although I am not certain. Still cannot find the options folk are telling me I should fine when clicking the My Computer icon.
I am back using DX9 now and it has been behaving a little better, only got kicked out twice today. Yesterday it was every 5 minute and drove me mad.

Thanks to all, one day I might find that menu!

Angela

EDIT :- Hang on, I found it.... said I would one day. The card is a Radeon X800 Series.

 

[stagecoach]

Angela
Click on start and select the help and support. Select tools from under pick a task. Select my computer information and finaly select find information about the hardware instaled on this computer.

 

[nbrettoner]

Hi Angela,



I right-click "My Computer", select "manage", then step down through the stages you see in the above pic.
However you may not have "manage" as a selectable item in your right-click menu. Unless your logged on with administrative privileges?.

If you can get this far, click on your graphics card item & check the driver version, then compare with what's available online (as previously suggested by searching thereon).

 

[angelah]

Info

Thanks nbrettoner and Stagecoach,
I will give those a go very soon and let you know how I get on.
This whole thing is very strange because I used to use Open GL all the time as I prefer it and as I don't think 2004 has been updated of late I can't see why these colour effects should change.

Maybe I will find the answer within your suggestions and thanks again.

Angela

UPDATE :- Yes, found both of those even in XP. Confirmed as a Radeon X800S with an Ati2mtag.sys driver. C: drive is 186.30Gb with 133.70Gb free space, so stacks of room on there. The second drive (G is372.60Gb with 320Gb free.
USB Controller(s) Intel(R) 82801EB Controller 24D2 and on, driver usbuhci.sys
To be honest it's all Chinese to me, but there you are. But it does show this is not a NVidia card and it does have an Ati driver. So therein may lie the problem.

 

[mjolnir]

I apologize for the incomplete information I gave in not remembering to specify that to get to "video adapter" it was necessary to click on "device manager".

Using my favorite internet search engine, it appears your video card may be about five years old. Further, going to support part of the ATI / AMD website <cf. <http://support.amd.com/us/Pages/drivers.aspx>) does not list the card you name, which might mean that active the drivers for that card are no longer being actively maintained. Drivers do seem to be available on third party sites, so updating your drivers might be worth considering.

However, if your display adapter is five years old, the chances are good (though you don't say so) that the balance of your hardware is that old as well, and it may be time to think about updating your computer.

ns

 

[angelah]

£1000

I apologize for the incomplete information I gave in not remembering to specify that to get to "video adapter" it was necessary to click on "device manager".

Using my favorite internet search engine, it appears your video card may be about five years old. Further, going to support part of the ATI / AMD website <cf. <http://support.amd.com/us/Pages/drivers.aspx>) does not list the card you name, which might mean that active the drivers for that card are no longer being actively maintained. Drivers do seem to be available on third party sites, so updating your drivers might be worth considering.

However, if your display adapter is five years old, the chances are good (though you don't say so) that the balance of your hardware is that old as well, and it may be time to think about updating your computer.

ns

The PC was upgraded about 3 years ago and that cost over £1000. So it looks as if I have been had.
The shop used old gear to rebuild it and charged me for new.
It will have to wait for a while now before I go mad like that again. It didn't crash out today for a change so perhaps it has settled down, although that may just be wishful thinking.

Thanks to all for the help, where would we all be without the forum.

Angela

 

[angelah]

New PC

What I am considering is having a new PC built just for Trainz, keeping this one for main use, that way the new machine will be free of anything else other than the one program.
I have been looking at graphics cards but mainly it's Chinese to me.
A few pop out, all GeForce.

GeForce 6600 @ £155.
GeForce Sparkle 9600 GSO 786Mb GDDR3 £82 (clocks 1600)
BFG GeForce GTX 275 ODC 896Mb GDDR3 £204
Gigabyte GeForce GTX 285 1Gb GDDR3 (clocks 2484) £230

I wonder if anybody out there can offer some advice on what should be put together?

Angela

 

[StorkNest]

I'm not familiar with card types unless I am looking but I know to always check power usage, better graphics cards use more power so power supply will need to be based on that. Also if possible find out how hot they run, my current card runs hotter than my processor, if it runs high to you but you want it then add to your purchase list a seperate card with cooling fans in addition to whatever the card and processor come with.

 

[angelah]

I'm not familiar with card types unless I am looking but I know to always check power usage, better graphics cards use more power so power supply will need to be based on that. Also if possible find out how hot they run, my current card runs hotter than my processor, if it runs high to you but you want it then add to your purchase list a seperate card with cooling fans in addition to whatever the card and processor come with.

And I don't mean High Explosive Anti Tank! My present card needs an extra fan, it's so noisy too. Being deaf I didn't realise just how noisy it was until they provided a deaf aid. Alan must have been very patient, he never ever complained!
Yes, I do know about the connection between the heat generated and power, but thanks for replying, always nice to get one...

Angela

 

[DaveW]

Hi Angelah,

If you are thinking , new computer, I can personally recommend :-

http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/

They will custom build one to your specs. and price. They use all branded components and give a comprehensive guarantee. They are very helpfull by email or telephone.

DaveW