Thick vertical lines are obscuring my game

jongold · Post by **jongold** » Sat Dec 31, 2005 5:14 am

Hey all, I'm new here, hope I'll fit in.

Anyways, I recently got myself a new rig to replace my old P3-600. It's an AMD Athlon 64 3500+, on an Epox 9NPA+ Ultra motherboard and a Sapphire Radeon X600 256MB video card.
Today I installed PS:T and to my dissapointment it's unplayable! There are thick vertical lines obscuring everything. I tried playing around the video options (not that I could see much of it) but nothing worked. I have the 4CD version patched to 1.1, got the latest Catalyst drivers, latest DirectX and running WinXP SP2 with latest hotfixes.
I have no heat issues (sys temp 30C and CPU temp 33 under no strain, it gets no higher than 38-39C on great strain), and I'm completely clueless as to what to try next.
I've attached a screenshot of the starting screen so that you'd have an idea of what it looks like. Any thoughts on solving this issue?

VonDondu · Post by **VonDondu** » Sat Dec 31, 2005 8:39 am

I'm not certain how to fix a problem like that. But my guess is that it might have something to do with your monitor's refresh rate. See if there's a control panel somewhere in the ATi Catalyst driver that lets you change refresh rate or V-Sync. Aside from that, I don't know what else to try. Hopefully someone with more technical expertise will come along.

Good luck!

Bluestorm · Post by **Bluestorm** » Sat Dec 31, 2005 9:07 am

Hi there,
not sure if this will help,i have the game installed and plays ok on xp pro sp2,
my symtem specs are less than yours.I too have a ati card only 128
But like VonDondu said with the ATi Catalyst driver settings might be the problem.
I had the same problem as you do,not sure if you have the same Catalyst control panel,but what i had done was set the 3D options my self (maxed them out),all i had to do was set it to "let the application decide" then the game runs with no problems.

Keep trying and looking back here for more help.

Ravager · Post by **Ravager** » Sat Dec 31, 2005 3:24 pm

Well, I've only been using Nvidia cards and drivers, but I know that sometimes the latest graphics drivers just don't work well with older programs. Maybe you could roll back the Catalyst drivers to an earlier version that still supports your graphics card (if possible)?

What about opening the program at a lower resolution? Maybe it's having problems with that.

Vicsun · Post by **Vicsun** » Sun Jan 01, 2006 12:26 pm

Someone in the tech support forum might be more likely to help you, so that's where I'm moving this thread. As a bonus, I'm leaving a redirect so those who only browse the PS:T forum will see your thread as well.

Rookierookie · Post by **Rookierookie** » Sun Jan 01, 2006 8:52 pm

[QUOTE=Ravager]Well, I've only been using Nvidia cards and drivers, but I know that sometimes the latest graphics drivers just don't work well with older programs. Maybe you could roll back the Catalyst drivers to an earlier version that still supports your graphics card (if possible)?

What about opening the program at a lower resolution? Maybe it's having problems with that.[/QUOTE]
ATI drivers do not hate older graphics card, unlike ForceWare drivers.

When you updated your graphics drivers, did you completely uninstall the previous drivers BEFORE updating?

Daz · Post by **Daz** » Tue Jan 03, 2006 6:01 am

[QUOTE=jongold]I have the 4CD version patched to 1.1[/QUOTE]

Hello.

Just a thought, but have you tried running it without the patch? I think I read somewhere that the 4CD version is already updated, and the 1.1 patch will only make it worse.

Which I think may be my problem as well. I get thick lines on the screen, but only temporarily, and only when certain spells are cast.