Aces High Bulletin Board
Help and Support Forums => Technical Support => Topic started by: mrgoat on September 11, 2002, 09:11:42 PM
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Hello,
I have a pretty bad graphics problem with the game. When I try to play (offline/online) all the graphics start flickering with very odd shapes shifting around. They are constant and make the game unplayable.
I have adjusted all graphics settings in game (used every setting with the same results), downloaded all the latest drivers and even switched video cards. I am attaching a picture to give you an example.
Here is my setup:
1.3ghz AMD Athlon
GeForce 4 MX 420 (64 mb)
Windows 2000
512mb RAM
And here is the unfortunate results:
(http://www.angelcsc.com/ahss8.jpg)
Mr Goat
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If you've switched video cards than it's not a compatibility issue. Perhaps you should try to scratch your old copy of AH and reinstall from a freshly downloaded version....Just an idea.
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oooooo green....
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Did you try experimenting with the Disable palletized textures check box?
try a virus scan too .. real long shot..
SKurj
i am using gf4 mx 440 with 40.41 drivers and no probs
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Installing Video Drivers the right way
1> Go to ADD/REMOVE SOFTWARE in control panel and in the list of installed software, click on the entry that mentions your card drivers (or something similar) and press the REMOVE button. You'll have to reboot for it to finish.
2> After you come back up, right click the desktop, choose properties and go to the "Settings" tab. Click on the advanced button and on the "adapter" tab click the change button. Navigate your way through the dialogs so that you install the Standard VGA driver, which is one of the Standard Display
Drivers right at the top of the list of display adapter manufacturers.
You'll have to reboot again.
3> When your machine comes back up this time, it will be in 640x480 16 color mode, so it's not going to be pretty. That's okay. Use My Computer or Windows Explorer to navigate to C:\Windows\Inf and delete the two files there that end with the extension ".bin". Now go one folder further to C:\Windows\Inf\Other and delete any .inf file there with Card's name in it. The .inf files are what windows looks at when it wants info about your hardware. It stores the info it finds in those .bin files for fast easy access by the operating system later. You don't want windows to know anything about your old video card or the version of its drivers it was using, that's why you delete them. Windows will recreate the .bin files when you
load your new drivers, and the new drivers will have their own .inf file. When you see that little dialog pop up that says something to the effect "Windows is creating a database of driver information", that's what's happening... the .bin files are being created.
Now run the latest version driver install. It will ask you to reboot at the end and you should come up in 640x480 16-bit (65536) color mode. Change your resolution to what you like to run, and set the refresh to your preference and then you should be all set. You'll have to recreate any display driver profiles you had created before in the advanced display properties section.
PS: Their are also drivers cleaners such as "Detonator Destroyer", check around for one for your video card.
sprint
:cool:
*MOL*
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Fancy: Probably should have meantioned it, but I did the same thing four times thinkin that might be the problem :)
Skurj: Tried every single graphics option in game. I checked for viruses after you suggested it, its all clean.
Sprint: Thank you for your in depth explaination. I ended up doin ya one better. Was an old hard drive, and was planning on replacing it...decided to take this opportunity to reformat completely, and then downloaded latest drivers. It still didnt work.
After all that, I think it just may be that Aces High does not like my particular setup. I think I'll give a call to Hi Tech tomorrow with all my specs, so that they know which computer it will not run on :)
Mr Goat
EDIT: Oh and in case it makes a differance, the other video cards that I tried were the built in one on the HP Pavilion, and a GeForce 2 32mb
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same problem here, get green polygons and lots of flashing. Just downloaded new drivers, uninstalled old drivers, reinstalled new drivers, reinstalled DX 8.1, reinstalled AH.
Nothing works - i have a geforce pro
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Try capping your frame rate to 45FPS in the video setup and see what happens.
If that does not cure it, check to see if v-sync is enabled or disabled. It should be enabled.
Either of the above should correct the problem.
If that does not do it, please report the driver version you are using.
Does it occur in any plane?
Does it occur only when you are looking at the sky?
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mrgoat,
I posted this for Hyena too... (It should help)
Go to The Guru of 3D WebPage and read about the Detonator Destroyer program. It should help you out. The sight has a ton of info about nVidia Drivers. They seem to NOT uninstall properly, when you update your drivers. There are step-by-step instructions to help you get it resolved.
I had a GF2 MX that had tons of problems too... Mostly with Win2K. You must also ensure that you have the proper Monitor driver (Just as important as your VidCard Driver).
Check the sight I referred to and your monitor drivers... I'll check back in here later...
Cyas Up!
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That screen shot looks like DX corruption to me…
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Skuzzy: I have tried every video option with the game, they all produce the same results.
The driver version I am using is the 30.82 for Win2k/WinXP. I tried the latest drivers as well, but they still produced the same results. It does happen in every plane, no matter where I am looking. The screenshot I took is after managing to find a plane (as the tower and hanger looks the same) and trying to take off.
BigMax: I went to that site and downloaded Detonator Destroyer. It produced an error and crashed when I used it though. I dont think that old drivers are the problem, as I did a full format of my hard drive yesterday (see my last post) and installed everything from scratch.
I also do not think that it is a geforce problem, because it did the same thing with the built in video card on my HP Pavilion.
I went out on a limb and tried using a differant monitor (used a 18 inch LCD) and it still produces the same result.
Also, I did download the latest DirectX 8.1 drivers.
Thanks tons for your guys help :)
Mr Goat
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I have almost identical settings that MrGoat has for his computer and I'm experiencing the same thing - green polygon textures, whiteouts from time to time at the start menu, unable to fly at all. I've tried everything else there is in this forum except the detonator destroyer which I don't think will solve this problem. :mad:
Here's my settings:
AMD Athlon XP 1800+ 1.53 GHz CPU
256 MB RAM (upgrading 512 MB to total it up to 768 MB soon)
Windows 2000 Professional (upgrading to XP Pro soon also)
nVidia GeForce 4 MX 420 (MIGHT upgrade to Radeon 9700 - new puter or this one, unsure)
17 in. CRT monitor - .27 mm dot pitch (not that it does anything to the game)
Someone has said that it might be a DX corruption that's causing the problem - I'm inclined to agree with him since I've tried everything else except checking out win2k directx settings - will see if there's a dx 9.0 beta driver out there and try it out to see if it solves the problem.
Can anyone give me a number to call HiTech support about this problem. Thanks.
If you've talked to them already, Goat - please let me know what they're saying. I would like to have this game work for me while I'm offline and unable to do anything much during those times.
Admiral Tiger
--Hogan Heroes - Colonel --
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What are the frame rates showing when this occurs?
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I haven't been able to get to the tower and see the frame rate since a couple of days already because I've been getting white-outs after starting AH - no way around the problem yet.
've tried everything else except experimenting with directx 8.1b (unsure what version of DX i have on this puter right now as I'm downloading this driver). I think it's an issue between GeForce cards and Windows 2K and XP incompatibility with Aces High -
Is there any other people with the same configurations (Win 2K or XP, GeForce cards) having the same problem or are they doing great with the game? Let me know, and thanks for replying back asap, Skuzzy.
Admiral Tiger
--Hogan Heroes - Colonel --
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Can anyone give me a number to call HiTech support about this problem. Thanks.
Admiral Tiger
--Hogan Heroes - Colonel -- [/B][/QUOTE]
From the HTC home page > About us page :
HiTech Creations, Inc.
210 Park Blvd., Suite 100
Grapevine, TX 76051
(817) 251-1540
(817) 251- 6731 fax
Contact Email: info@hitechcreations.com
Billing Email: billing@hitechcreations.com
Support Email: support@hitechcreations.com
fuzeman
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I would suggest a small addition to Sprint's method: once you've booted in VGA mode, log in and then shut it down in VGA mode.
This ensures a complete session sequence in VGA.
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the problem is simple
you failed to spend another $100 and get a ti card :)
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The detonator destroyer program is ONLY for computers running the Windows 9x kernel. It will crash and burn on 2k and XP.
As far as compatibility issues, I'm running an Athlon 1.4 with a Leadtek Geforce2 GTS 64M card running on WinXP with the 30.82 drivers. I experienced similar issues, but they were resolved when I updated DirectX (which is done on XP via hotfixes at windowsupdate.com).
Try running dxdiag from the command line and running through the tests to see if there are any artifacts visible, or any tests fail. There may be some information there that could help you.
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:mad: I tried to download the latest DirectX - it went smoothly, but I couldn't get anything out of AH - not even the menu and the clipboard at all, it's all a whiteout now. I don't think I'll be able to do anything much with this version of windows and as someone might have mentioned - I'll have to get a new video card - the best way to make it work is to get an ATI card, apparently. :rolleyes: :mad: :D
Admiral Tiger
-- Hogan Heroes - Colonel --
-- ps: referring to failing to get another $100 for a TI card - my old motherboard that i was using along with AH didn't have an AGP slot - Win ME, GF4 MX 420 PCI... I eventually got a new motherboard, new CPU and a CD-RW afterwards - the video card is still the same but yeah, I got to get rid of the one i have now. I've been eyeing for the Radeon 9700 and Gigabyte GeForce 4 Ti 4400 so far (don't want the 4600 - better bargain with Radeon 9700 for the same price)
Well.... Off I go. :)
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I just ran directx diagnostic tool, and forgot to enable the directdraw mode - the funny thing is the last time I tested Direct3d, it didn't work, now it works. Apparently the directdraw mode being disabled will give me only the whiteouts in Aces High - with that enabled, I can get into the game.
The glitches are still there - green polygons - lots of flashing around the place but I've been able to check the frame rate - it was hovering around 37's - I locked the frame rate at 45. Just FYI.
Admiral Tiger
-- Hogans Heroes - Colonel --
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Actually I cant check framerates very effectively. For the most part the text looks like some form of Islamic or Hebrew, all wierd chars.
I checked on the DirectX thing. I downloaded a new version and installed it, that didnt help. Is there an efficiant way of uninstalling the DirectX drivers? I just installed the new ones on top of the ones I had before.
This problem is actually happening on my brothers computer, mine works fine on it. On mine I have:
P4 2.0gig
512mb RAM
Ati Radeon 8500 128mb
Windows XP
It runs pefectly on mine, but fails to run on my brothers.
His computer has no AGP slots, so a TI is out of the question.
Mr Goat
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Well,
On the recomendation of a bud, I've set up a 2KPro partition on my PC and I've got EXACTLY the same problems as all of you :(
LUCKILY, I've set up a dual boot with 98SE, so I can fly if I need to. I'd like to get this resolved, though..
Athlon 1700XP
ABIT KT7A-RAID MB
Hercules GeForce 2 GTS Pro/ 64 MEG Vid Card (30.82 drivers)
DX 8.1B
512 MEGS RAM
Newman
327TH Steel Talons TO
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I believe Dierct X can be loaded over an earlier copy unlike video drivers which should not be, at least with nVidia ones.
I've got no suggestions however to help the problem.
I think positive thoughts for you guys though.
Those 'negative waves' can make a bridge fall down, for proof... watch 'Kelly's Heros'
fuzeman
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OK..so I think this may be a Win2k Pro problem.
I will install Windows XP on the computer, and see if this fixes it. If it does, then you guys will be the first to hear of it :)
Mr Goat
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Latest update..
Installed WindowsXP...not easy. Had to kill Win2k..it was NTFS, so had to find an old Win98 disk to format hard drive again. Installed Windows 98, then installed Windows XP update. Installed all the latest drivers.
Was about 2 or 3 hours worth of work, but the game FINALLY works!
w00t!
Windows 2000 has made an enemy this day..
Mr Goat
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Funny thing, on Aces High's main website, it says the game is compatible with Windows 2000, but didn't say if it was compatible with Windows XP (I thought about the possibility of NTFS being the culprit). Hmmmm.... from what I see here, If i'm correct, I noticed everyone has a GeForce PCI cards on their motherboard, and no TI card at all. This game is supposed to work with NTFS, I think. (well, Air Warrior worked fine for me on that one).
Thought about upgrading to Windows XP Professional but that also has the NTFS. I don't understand why this game is refusing to "cooperate" with the file system when it should be.
TIGS
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It shouldn't be your filesystem. That is totally transparent to the game itself.
I'm running win2k pro on my game machine, and dont have any problems with AH.
Must be a problem with the drivers on pci vid cards.
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Well.. here is my experience:
I've screwed with the system for about a day and a half. I tried different nVidea drivers (including the Detonator 40 beta's) and 2 different nVidea cards (GeForce 2GTS Pro, GeForce 4 MX 440), NOTHING worked. I had an ATI Radeon 7000 VE card kicking around so I put that in, after uninstalling all the nVidea stuff.
It worked fine, with bad FR's.
My conclusion.. There's something rotten in Denmark regarding Athlons, GeForce and (I'm guessing) VIA Chipsets and 2K OS. My thought is that 2K puts the video, sound, RAID (in my case) USB and modem on the same IRQ. Just a guess.. I remember having this problem before.. I THINK it was running Air Warrior under 2K with a similar system (Athlon, VIA, nVidea).
Regardless, I'll be reformatting it all and starting from scratch. I'll still keep the 98/ 2K split and set up 98 JUST for gaming ;-)
Newman
327TH Steel Talons TO
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I was having the same problem, so I started paying close attention to the fps. My computer will start spewing crap like posted above when the fps exceed 70. So now, I have this question: does this sim use D3D or OpenGL? My drivers only allow me to enable/disable vsync in OpenGL.
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I always lock my FR's at 45 FPS. It helps keep the game moving smoothly. I read an article a while ago that said the human eye can't define most movement at that setting.
Being as I'm STILL on dial-up (grrrr), I need all the help I can get!
As I said, I'm thinkin' its an OS/ driver/ chipset conflict within Windows 2000.
Newman
327th Steel Talons FS TO
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I just upgraded to a new system:
MSI KT3 ULTRA2 MS-6380-050 VIA KT333 CHIPSET AMD SOCKET A 3DIMM/1AGP/5PCI/1CNR ATX MOTHERBOARD
AMD ATHLON XP PROCESSOR 2000+ WITH QUANTISPEED ARCHITECTURE (1666MHz) OEM
512MB DDR 333MHz MAJOR CHIPSET 64x64 PC2700 5NS 184PIN DIMM 2.5V DDRAM
with my old GeForce 2 Pro and Sound Blaster Audigy cards.
Aces High has run fine for several years with no problems, now I got my new super computer and I can't play :(
I have all the latest drivers on a brand new clean install of win2k. Every other game I've tried on this system has worked great.
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The game uses DirectX and you should have vsync enabled.
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Thanks for taking the time to pop in here and help folks, Skuzzy. Appreciate it
When you say DirectX, do you mean enable vsych in "Direct3D?"
If that's the case, I find enabling v-sych stutters display online, but not offline.
ATI 8500LE latest official drivers.
DirectX 8.1 (4.08.01.0881)
10 Mbps fiber w/ no router, but Zone Alarm enabled during game play. MTU 1452
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Clean install of Win2k DirectX and Detonator drivers HATES Aces High. Tried it on multiple machines with GF cards in the past. Image looks similar to the one in the 1st post.
Solution.
Install the MS service packs for win2K, availible through MS Windows Update. Worked for me every time.
Win2K is MUCH better than XP but thats just my opinion.
Gatso
(Running Win2K pro SP2 right now for AH)
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Skuzzy, this has cropped up in the past. Might want to add it to the 'list' of known fixable bugs for W2K. SP1 fixed it for me. SP2 fixed it for these two.
http://www.hitechcreations.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=61520
http://www.hitechcreations.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=60798
Gatso
And I just checked... SP3 is out too. Going to follow my own advise and install it now :)
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Hrmm, maybe the service pack thing is it. I only had SP1 installed as of my 1st post because Microsoft's update servers were going super-slow and I wanted to play with my new toy :) I'll update tonight and let you guys know if that fixes it.
g00b
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Well, we have been scratching our heads over this one.
We have a good idea what is going on, but it is happening at a much lower level in the graphics.
Basically, it is a frame stomp or buffer overwrite, if you will. The only way this can happen is if the video card is not telling the video driver or DirectX that the frame buffer is full.
Other things could cause it, but this is the most likely culprit.
The only problem with that theory, is when you turn on V-sync, it should stop the problem, unless the video card and/or driver is ignoring vsync settings.
Hmmm.
Anyone tried changing the AGP bus settings? In particular, fast-writes.
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Hey Skuzzy, give me a list of things to try and in which order and I will try to help you guys figure this out.
Should I go ahead and install the win2k SP3 1st or start playing with bios settings and such?
Thanks for the assistance!
g00b
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Ok, the things that should fix this problem, or at least impact it are:
1) V-sync: It should be enabled (NOTE: If V-Sync is truly enabled it will be improbable that you get frame rates higher than your monitor refresh rate).
2) Frame Rate Cap: Check this box if the above does not fix it
3) Check Fast-Writes in the system BIOS rom. Toggle it the opposite direction from what it is set to (Enabled/Disabled).
4) Set your AGP bus speed to a slower value.
Those are things that could effect the frame buffer and how data moves to it.
Now, if you are over-clocking anything, set everything back to normal. Over-clocking will add problems to doing the above, so you may want to start there first.
If you are using some video tweaker, that likes to stay resident, then disable it as well.
If you have a VIA based motherboard, make sure you have the latest 4-in-1 drivers.
For late generation (GF3 or later) NVidia cards, you should be running 30.82 (30.83??) drivers, as the 40.xx drivers have serveral bugs in them that will create artifacts in the graphics.
Make sure you have the latest BIOS rom for your motherboard. There are some video issues with some motherboards that do require a BIOS update.
If this does not fix the problem, I would like to know the following:
CPU brand/model:
CPU Speed:
Total RAM:
RAM brand and type:
FSB speed:
Video Card:
Video Card Driver Version:
Video Card BIOS version:
Fast Write State:
Motherboard brand and model:
System BIOS revision:
Sound Card brand and model:
Sound card driver:
Operating System and version (the long number):
Operating System Build Number:
DirectX version (the long number):
If you fill out the above, please be as accurate as possible.
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Originally posted by Skuzzy
If this does not fix the problem, I would like to know the following:
CPU brand/model:
CPU Speed:
Total RAM:
RAM brand and type:
FSB speed:
Video Card:
Video Card Driver Version:
Video Card BIOS version:
Fast Write State:
Motherboard brand and model:
System BIOS revision:
Sound Card brand and model:
Sound card driver:
Operating System and version (the long number):
Operating System Build Number:
DirectX version (the long number):
If you fill out the above, please be as accurate as possible. [/B]
Opposed to searching , finding, and writing all of this down, I believe Dx will make a report after DxDiag so you can get this information easier, correct?
I don't think it would report Ram brand and type, Fast Write status, and possibly the FSB speed, but it will give you most of the other stuff without much effort. And you do need to report that stuff for correct diagnosis.
fuzeman
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Yes fuzeman. What we are trying to find is a common denominator, besides the big stuff. We have NVidia cards in house, but have never been able to duplicate the problem.
I figure there is another factor we are missing. This data just might give it to us. I know it is a pain to look up all that, but the more data we have the better our chances are of coming up with a way to duplicate/diagnose the problem.
The fact that is it happening to a handful of people is pretty bizarre in of itself.
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The fact that HiTechCreations actually gives a rats bellybutton about us "handfull of people" is pretty rare. I will gladly supply them with any info they need to remedy this problem. Thanks HTC!
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Rgr, Skuzzy, just trying to let people know there is an easy way to get you all that info, mainly.
My AH experience has been all nVidia, GeF2mx and now GeF4 Ti4200.
Used to see my desktop more with the 2mx than I am with the Ti4200. After putting in the 4 Ti4200 I did get very rare, occasional flashes of triangles, nothing even close to being as bad as the picture. I wonder if mine maybe caused by having the little crt's in my task bar from my dialup connection, but haven't figured out how do remove them. However, that was a few days ago and I can't recall seeing them the last day or three.
[Then again, maybe my head is down in the text buffer repeating over and over 'Check6 is not used to engage' in the training arena.]
fuzeman
Sidenote- CHENAULT and I were talking, I found out who was telling you all those 'lies', and may submit a few suggestions. Would the best avenue be an e-mail or in 'Help and Training' area?
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Ding Ding! SP3 for win2k seems to have cured it! whaddya know?
Thanks!
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Same here!
Clean install of 2K Pro, SP 3, 30.82 nVidea drivers, Via 14.43 MB drivers.
System info:
Abit KT7A-Raid MB
Athlon 1700+
Hercules GeForce 2 GTS Pro/ 64 MEG Vid card
512 MEGS Kingmax PC-150 RAM
SB Live 5.1 Platnium
DX 8.1B
If ya need more info, I'll happily supply it!
Thanks for the Service Pack hint Skuzzy, and SALUTE HTC!
Newman
327th Steel Talons FS TO
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Well, tonight my 'display flashes' were more prevalent than other days. Some were starting on certain aircraft and eminating outward while other flashes seemed related to the frame rate information text in that they were green and in that general area.
I haven't tried or checked the 'fast write' but according to my spec sheet on my rig, I don't even support that.
I'll check and edit if I have it.
fuzeman
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fuze, it is best to use email to contact me. If I am in the TA though, feel free to discuss anything you want with me.
My first priority when I log in is to help folks out and to just talk to people so I can get a feel or pulse of the overall community.