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DarkBASIC Discussion / Strange Video Glitch on SOME computers (no ghosting sometimes- Weird!)

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billy777
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Posted: 14th Apr 2009 21:29 Edited at: 14th Apr 2009 21:37
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Please see attached screenshot...

One of my customers emailed me this screenshot from my new game "Last Half of Darkness: Tomb of Zojir"

All I am doing is creating a plain then texturing it with a black on white smoke graphic then ghosting it. It works great on most computers...

Any ideas why this happens on some users video cards - It only happens sometimes during the game. Sometimes there's quickflashes and then it corrects itself.

I am guessing it's some sort of video card memory or incompatiblitiy right?

I do a "FLUSH VIDEO MEMORY" command at beginning of game.


I have tested this on many, many computers and can NOT recreate this error.

If anyone has any suggestions... much appreciation.

Thanks
Bill

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thenerd
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Posted: 14th Apr 2009 22:02 Edited at: 14th Apr 2009 22:22
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I don't know why, but until I got a new graphics card I had the same problem.
hmm...
Maybe it was because I was running on Integrated Graphics. Do you know the specs for the customer's computer?

I just read your profile, you are very unlucky, because you seem to have a lot of "video glitches" in your games...

hi
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billy777
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Posted: 14th Apr 2009 23:18
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Its actually very rare that my games have any glitches - however occassionally 1% of customers have some sort of strange config or video card that DarkBasic doesn't like for some reason.

So... I thought I would post and see if anyone had any ideas why these random glitches occur on some customers machines.



Thanks
Bill
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Latch
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Posted: 15th Apr 2009 00:25
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Hi billy777,

like thenerd said, it could be their graphics card or their drivers aren't up to date. However, when I updated the drivers to my graphics card, DarkBASIC started intermittently changing the light intensity in 3d - a sort of light flickering thing. Also some crashes occured in non DB apps so I switched the drivers back to the older set - but you wouldn't want to tell your customer to downgrade their drivers.

Quote: "All I am doing is creating a plain then texturing it with a black on white smoke graphic then ghosting it. It works great on most computers..."


Black on white, huh... sounds like you are dark ghosting?
ghost object on <obj>,1

In DBC version 1.20, I noticed a visible plain with black smoke on a white background that was dark ghosted. In 1.13, it works fine. Check out my write up in the last post of:
DBC 1.20 Commands Explained

It has to do with how the material settings reflect light on ghosted (at least inverted ghosted - Dark ghosted) objects. If you've made updates to your game and recompiled it into an exe using 1.20. this might be the culprit.

Enjoy your day.
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Robert The Robot
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Posted: 15th Apr 2009 19:17 Edited at: 15th Apr 2009 19:18
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One other thought, might not be anything in it but it could be worth a shot - the ghosting effect is produced through a technique known as alphablending. If the graphics card can't support alphablending, DB might be just ignoring the command.

DBC does have a command to check alpha-blending avilaibility ("AlphaBelnding Available()", I think). If memory serves me right, if that command returns zerothen ghosting won't work. And if an inability to activate ghosting simply triggers a Runtime Warning, rather than a Runtime Error, DBC will just keep running as though nothing had happened - but ghosting won't be activated.

"I wish I was a spaceman, the fastest guy alive. I'd fly you round the universe, in Fireball XL5..."
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TheComet
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Posted: 15th Apr 2009 22:42
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Is that awesome graphic in the background your game? That looks too good to be DBC. Or is it just a pic?

Peachy, and the Chaos of the Gems

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That1Smart Guy
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Posted: 15th Apr 2009 23:02
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nice simple solution robert, thats my bet on the prob

There are only 10 kinds of people in the world, those who understand binary and those who dont
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billy777
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Posted: 16th Apr 2009 01:46
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Thanks for everyone posting their suggestions... I really appreciate everyone's help.


She emailed me back: It turns out... it was the obvious solution... She needed to update her graphics drivers. She says it all works good now.

Thanks
Bill
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Libervurto
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Posted: 16th Apr 2009 02:00
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do you have a website your game looks beautiful apart from the big white plains of course

can't read?
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That1Smart Guy
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Posted: 16th Apr 2009 05:55 Edited at: 16th Apr 2009 05:56
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Quote: "
apart from the big white plains of course
"

u mean big white planes?

[edit]
after posting that i got 2 thinkin and im not sure which it is, sorry if im ignorant

There are only 10 kinds of people in the world, those who understand binary and those who dont
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Latch
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Posted: 16th Apr 2009 23:23
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When DB was made, they made a typo PLAIN instead of PLANE. It was realized after a while but it was also sort of looked at affectionately as a character trait for DB so it was left in. Plane is the flat 2d surface, plain is ordinary.

Enjoy your day.
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That1Smart Guy
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Posted: 17th Apr 2009 03:40
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o ok, wen i first typed that i was thinking of the term plane used in my geometry class, i hadnt really thought about the code

There are only 10 kinds of people in the world, those who understand binary and those who dont
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