Twinkling

[kershaw72787]

I have asked aroiund a bit and no one seems to know why, but when I play games, doesn't matter old or new, crummy or good graphics, I get twinkling. Usually between the seems on walls, every now and then on the ground or ceiling. It only happens occasionally, but always in the same place. On some games when I turn it to 16bit textures that fixes the problem, like in Mafia, but on older games like Alien Versus Predator 2 I shouldn't get twinkling with 32 bit graphics enabled. Here are my specs:
Win ME
~800mhz
512 mb RAM
Geforce 2 MX 400
also I play the games with everything in the ctrl+alt+del menu turned off, running around 94 % resources free.

I have antialiasing turned off, with 2x or 16 tap Anisotropic Filtering.

Everything looks and plays fine, but I get the twinkling between the seems. How would I fix this?

Thanks

kershaw72787

[jAkUp]

hmmm... i remember getting those when i had overheating problems, is your card at default speeds?

[kershaw72787]

The only option that I have set different from defaults is turning on anisotropic filtering to force level 2 and instead of using the seam color as desktop I use 32bit. Everything else is the same. Also, my card defaults on antialiasing for direct 3d, and I have been turning it off. Should I leave it on?

kershaw72787

[nVidi0t]

Take the side panel of your computer off for a couple of minutes and then try.

You are experiencing image tearing which is caused by overheating.

If that doesnt help try to cool down the case somehow, maybe with a fan (not for too long though, dust) and try again.

[Greg]

You say, any game, but in the same place, particularly near the seems on wall. Are you sure you are not just seeing normal artifacts that occur in games when the polygons dont share precisely the same vertices. These usually look like a series of evenly spaced dots, sometimes as bad as a line 1 pixel wide. They are often visible when the 'skybox' is a very different color to the inside of a building eg. Inside a dark cave, seeing through to the bright blue sky outside. The worst offender I ever saw was Jedi Knight II, in the big tower room. So many lines I thought it was a rain effect until I realised I was seeing through the dark walls to the bright orange sky outside.

[poursoul]

quit mixing other drugs into your weed.

[Riptide]

The phenomenon he is describing is called "pixel popping" if I remember correctly. It's usually a driver issue although I've heard cases of artifacts due to overclocking being confused with it. Try a different driver, or patch the game that's exhibiting the problem if there's a patch.

[kershaw72787]

What was mentioned by Greg about the evenly spaced dots seems to be the issue since I have tried amy different drivers for my nvidia card: versions 28.32, 40.72, 41.09, 43.35. Maybe I should try one of the 3x.xx, I have heard that the 32.20 works good. Any reccomendations? About it being overheating, that can not be the issue. If I was able to play Rogue Spear on an integrated card fine without overheating, then I put in a better card, my Geforce 2, I should have no problem. It isn't like it happens more often as I play, but as said in the same spot. Usually in dark rooms or in a cave when the lighting changes. So I am not sure, I will try one of the 3x.xx drivers and see what that does. It doesn't happen often, but I am just curious as to how I can fix it. Thank you.

kershaw72787

[Greg]

I really think you are experiencing the problem I describe. Some driver versions can have an effect. The older video cards which have very poor pixel precision and non compliant DirectX and OpenGL rendering used to be real bad at this. No, I don't think you are getting problems with your video memory. If you overclock the memory, you usually get black and white dots like sparkles appearing all over your screen from time to time. If you stood still those sparkles would change position regularly. The effect you see stays constant when you stand still, although you often only notice them while you are moving and get the polygons on screen just in the right spot. Some older games that did clipping in software introduced more tears. Maybe you should try the same game on a friends computer and if you see the same effect you can rest easy. If I have some more time, I may explain further, or attach a screen shot.

[kershaw72787]

I almost got it. I have found that the more I tweak the more minor infirmities I find. When I first started out, I could look at a bland pixelated wall and be amazed, now it is hard to play those older games. I also realize the limitations of my computer. I looked up pixel popping, thank you for mentioning that one, and got a hit. Anti aliasing is the fix for that. So I turned my antialiasing on to 4x for both D3d and OpenGL, I will tweak with it tomorrow, seeing exactly what I need. The antialiasing virtually fixed the problem, I say that because I still get them every now and then, but even then the pixels that pop don't look as bad. Just turn down my resolution some and I am in business. If I recall I had the same problem when playing Mafia. I turned on my antialiasing and it fixed it as well. Not being huge into graphics tweaking long ago I probably just didn't notice it, and I only just did because AvP 2 has a lot of dark corridors. Thanks for your help. I also think that on some of my older games it is just the sky or what not peeking through, but I will experiment. Thanks guys.

kershaw72787