Weird plane and player icons with my new laptop.

[SAJ73]

I have just installed AH on my new Acer Aspire 5749 laptop, it has an integrated graphics card called Intel HD Graphics 3000.

The problem I found is when playing AH is that planes about 1k out or more does not show the shape of the plane but shows as just a black square. And the icon lettering flickers between green/white on friendlies and red/white if its a enemy. Makes it hard to see what direction a plane is flying, and makes it hard to recognize enemy cons nearby as they all might show in white when I look.

Another problem I've found is when I open the map. The dots on the map are so small that I have a hard time seeing them at all. They are about 1pixel each.

I am running high res textures, detailed water and water reflections on, shadows are off. I am running most of the bumb mapping on, and ground clutter is on. My frps are in the 40-60+ area most of the time. Down to lower 30's if in a crowdy area with alot of action going on.



But I've been made aware that this is actually a known problem with this Intel graphic card, I just wanted to check if there is any known solution to the problem other than changing the graphic card itself? Because I am not even sure if it is possible to swap out the integrated graphic card on this laptop?! And it's really running everything else rather good I think. I was amazed to see the close up water reflection details first time I tested a pt boat on this laptop. Never seen that before, was stunned to see all the details in the game I have never seen before.  

Was hoping there could be a way to adjust something to make this icon and map problem go away instead, and still be able to enjoy the details.

 

[Tracerfi]

Ok bud I have heard labtops are not the best for gaming so thats about all i know skuzzy probably can help you

[The Fugitive]

Ok bud I have heard labtops are not the best for gaming so thats about all i know skuzzy probably can help you

Great post 

OK SAJ, an intel graphics card just doesn't have the power to run the graphics full up. So whats happening is is your card can't keep up so it cuts corners by making small dots, block for planes and so one.

The best thing to do is to turn down all the graphics, drop to 256 textures and so on. Then try the game and see how it works. If it works good, add a bit more of the graphics and reboot the game and try it again. Keep adding stuff until it start messing up. Make sure to restart the game after each adjustment so your sure it take.

You should be able to find a happy medium some place in there. Good luck!

[SAJ73]

Ok bud I have heard labtops are not the best for gaming so thats about all i know skuzzy probably can help you

Yes, I know laptops are not the best choice for gaming. And I was actually saving for a stationary gameputer. But when my old laptop suddenly quit on me I had to replace that first, because I need something to be able to play AH on while I am on travels too. So for now I am using this laptop, which is running AH alot better than my old stationary does. Exept for this minor issue with the flickering boxy icons and the small dots on the map.

While at home I am still able to play AH on the stationary, but with lower graphic settings and nowhere near the eye candy this laptop gives me..  

[SAJ73]

Great post  

OK SAJ, an intel graphics card just doesn't have the power to run the graphics full up. So whats happening is is your card can't keep up so it cuts corners by making small dots, block for planes and so one.

The best thing to do is to turn down all the graphics, drop to 256 textures and so on. Then try the game and see how it works. If it works good, add a bit more of the graphics and reboot the game and try it again. Keep adding stuff until it start messing up. Make sure to restart the game after each adjustment so your sure it take.

You should be able to find a happy medium some place in there. Good luck!

Ok, I see. So no more eye candy?!  

I'll try to turn things down a bit and see if I can't find a middle way that I might be happy with. After all, it's more important to see where the planes are flying than it is to see how beautiful the water looks up close..    

Thanks Fugitive
 

[Tracerfi]

 After all, it's more important to see where the planes are flying than it is to see how beautiful the water looks up close..  

its true

[gpwurzel]

SA, no reason you can't have SOME eye candy, as Joe suggested, turn it down to minimums's - add and check, add and check fella. That way, you can see the effect each change has on your machine until you find that magical happy medium where you can see and your machine can handle the pressure.

Hope you get it sorted fella, hope to see you in the virtual, seems like ages!

Wurz

[SAJ73]

SA, no reason you can't have SOME eye candy, as Joe suggested, turn it down to minimums's - add and check, add and check fella. That way, you can see the effect each change has on your machine until you find that magical happy medium where you can see and your machine can handle the pressure.

Hope you get it sorted fella, hope to see you in the virtual, seems like ages!

Wurz

You might have seen me without knowing it Sir, I'm Essay73 nowadays in game. 

[gpwurzel]

Really?...lemme think.......nope, dont recognise that name as shooting me down recently - what on earth is wrong with ya, not killing me?????

Tis good to see ya bud, I'll (hopefully) see ya in the unfriendly skies!

<S>

Wurz

[SAJ73]

Roger that Sir. 
I can't promise I will kill you, but I will sure do my very best to atleast put up a decent fight if we should bump into eachother in the unfriendly skies bud.  <S>

[icepac]

Some have this issue which could possibly give an advantage when tanking.

[blazer65]

http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php/topic,333595.15.html  <---   This is probably the same thing you are experiencing.

As you can read in the above thread, I had this same problem.  I tried messing with every setting in the game but it did not help.  What my problem was is that my laptop came with an Intel graphics card, just like yours, but I also have a AMD Radeon graphics chip.  So there are basically two video cards, or whatever, that programs can be run on.  I found that my computers default is to run program on the lower powered on the Intel card, and not the Radeon card.   What I had to do was right click on my desktop, and select the line that says "Switchable Graphics" or something like that.  This lets you choose whether you want to run programs as "battery saver" or "High performance".  I had to switch Aces High to be run as "High Performance" and doing that fixed every graphics issue I had. 

This seems to be more and more common on laptops, because laptops need to conserve battery power when not plugged in.  But since I am sure you have your laptop plugged in while you play at home, just switch it so that Aces High runs as "high performance" and this should fix the problem.

[Denniss]

You may want to try out the latest Intel graphics drivers - they are known to have multiple problems with games but they often fix them over time.
http://downloadcenter.intel.com/SearchResult.aspx?lang=eng&ProductFamily=Graphics&ProductLine=Laptop+graphics+drivers&ProductProduct=Intel%C2%AE+Core%E2%84%A2+Processors+with+Intel%C2%AE+HD+Graphics&ProdId=3231&LineId=1101&FamilyId=39

[Ack-Ack]

The Intel HD Graphics 3000 or any other intergrated Intel graphics chip isn't really designed for gaming despite the marketing blasts from Intel.  Sadly SAJ73 you're only real option with that laptop is to turn down the graphics setting the the lowests levels to get somewhat playable frame rates, though you'll still probably see graphical anomolies.

ack-ack