340 replies to this topic

[the bigg]

When I say 'works for me', I mean 'I moved around the mortuary for 30 seconds and dropped an item without visible issues' (well, I played 5 hours of BG1 with the Compat Toolkit and ~40 with disabled Direct Draw, but I tested PST for all of 5 seconds). Compat Toolkit, lowered acceleration, the vbs script and disabling Direct Draw all achieve the same thing under the hood, so if one works all others will, and viceversa.

If you can provide me a save with a copy of Call Lightning I can do more in-depth tests (NB: save in an outdoors area, given how WSM is fussy with resolutions).

[ThunderPeel2001]

Did I miss a step anywhere?

No, I'm the same. PST, 6600GT, XP SP2, SNAFU. Using the Compat Toolkit achieves the same results as lowering acceleration which achieves the same results as disabling Direct Draw. Game runs plenty fast (quicksave in 0.2 seconds!), but mouse leaves artifacts. (Using older 6600GT and drivers, the only issue I get is lag at 1280x800)

Perhaps we need someone like Timeslip (of Fallout/Thief/Morrowind fame) to make a DirectX 9 wrapper DLL or some such? Anyone here know anything about that? In particular his "sfall" mod for Fallout 1/2 replaced Direct Draw rendering with some Direct 3D DX9 mode (no idea how)

- Just a thought anyway, might open up new possibilities for PST mods

Hmph. I don't have a ForceDirectDraw blah blah in Vista... Anyone got any tips?

[ThunderPeel2001]

When I say 'works for me', I mean 'I moved around the mortuary for 30 seconds and dropped an item without visible issues' (well, I played 5 hours of BG1 with the Compat Toolkit and ~40 with disabled Direct Draw, but I tested PST for all of 5 seconds). Compat Toolkit, lowered acceleration, the vbs script and disabling Direct Draw all achieve the same thing under the hood, so if one works all others will, and viceversa.

If you can provide me a save with a copy of Call Lightning I can do more in-depth tests (NB: save in an outdoors area, given how WSM is fussy with resolutions).

Here's a screenshot of the problem I'm having...

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

I'm running 8800 on Vista. I have Ghostdog's mod applied, just having some issues with the areas I can't see... The Compatibility Administrator doesn't give the option mentioned under Vista

Attached Images

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[the bigg]

Lern2reed. The guy suggesting this works with Vista and can find that option just fine.

[ThunderPeel2001]

Woohoo! I missed a step by accident... it now looks like it works perfectly (aside from some weird mouse glitches, but I think I can live with them).

What a brilliant bunch of mods... I can't wait to get stuck in. Thanks a lot!

Edited by ThunderPeel2001, 15 January 2009 - 07:05 AM.

[Elsok]

Here is a list of the issues you'll encounter when playing any of the IE games with a NVidia 8 series card, and their resolution. It is possible that similar issues might arise even with other NVidia cards (apparently, 58xx and higher), but I haven't any experience with them, so I can't guarantee that they'll help
NB: I don't cover the non-expanded games because they likely act as the expanded game (except plain IWD1, which should act like BG1 rather than TotLM) and nobody plays non-expanded games anyway. For all these games, I use the most powerful settings in the "Hardware" sliders (if you have a NVidia 8 series card, you likely have a 300 Mhz CPU

BG2 and IWD1 are fixable directly from their config program:
BG2(SoA+ToB, including Tutu, Classic Adventures, and Big Mods): there are various graphical issues (black boxes and/or randomly-colored lines across the screen), which are solved with the following tweaks in BGConfig: Hardware -> Enable 3D Acceleration. Display -> 32 bit. 2d & 3d options: enable 3D Animations, 3D Acceleration and 32 bit textures, disable the Disable Vertex Padding option.
WD1+HoW+TotLM: I don't know if there are issues in this game; however, Graphics -> enable all save Sprite Mirroring didn't cause glitches.

Dazzle provides a method for fixing BG1, IWD2 and PST that is stabler than the previously mentioned ones:

1. Download and install the microsoft application compatiblity toolkit: http://www.microsoft...;displaylang=en
2. Start the 'Compatibility Administrator' with administrator rights.
3. Click the 'New' Button
4. Right click the new database. Select 'Create new application fix...'
5. Name your program and vendor however you like. Browse to your game executable file. Click next (use bgmain2.exe for BG1, torment.exe for Torment, and IWD2.exe for IWD2)
6. Select 'None' for operating system modes. Don't select additional compatibility modes. Click next
7. Tick the 'ForceDirectDrawEmulation' compatibility fix.
8. Click next and finish.
9. Save your database.
10. Right click the database and select install. This will install the database.
11. Close the compatibility administrator and start baldur's gate. It should work correctly in 32bit mode without any ingame rendering fixes. You don't need to run the compatibility administrator again.

It works also in XP.
In all of BG1, IWD2 and PST, be sure to disable all Software XYZ settings in the Video Options screen.

Additionally, if you set up a profile for all applications in your Forceware Control Panel, you might want to set up a rule for your IE games so that every graphical option is "Application controlled" (for example Anti Aliasing) or Disabled (Triple Buffering).

I wonder if this Microsoft program would fix the graphical glitches I am experiencing with a game I am playing called Pool of Radience : Ruins of Myth Dranor?

[the bigg]

Probably..

[Ironmaster]

I installed BWP and a problem occurs. Image that the character uncovers when it moves, instead of moving fluently moves by big squares. Places I've discovered and then left are black again. Additionally when I look on the map all location becomes visible and there are no more black squares. When monsters die, a black square appears. Same with, for example, birds - in places of its supposedly moving wings there are black squares.

Help How Can I fix it?

I have NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GTS

[Ragnar-GD]

Probably..

Did you notify NVIDIA of this bug? I didn't find it in their list of open issues.

[the bigg]

Probably..

Did you notify NVIDIA of this bug? I didn't find it in their list of open issues.

No. I have better things to do than hoping that NVidia will spend time fixing an issue in a seven years old game for which workarounds exist. Also, lern2quote.

[Ragnar-GD]

Probably..

Did you notify NVIDIA of this bug? I didn't find it in their list of open issues.

No. I have better things to do than hoping that NVidia will spend time fixing an issue in a seven years old game for which workarounds exist. Also, lern2quote.

Sorry, I'll work on that. I promise.

Nonetheless, I found advice on the NVIDIA-forums on reducing hardware-acceleration by two to three steps - I'll try that out later, I haven't installed bgX or PS:T at the moment.

[Jarno Mikkola]

I'm running into a problem using your compatibility administrator fix because I can't figure out how to get admin rights. I was logged in as the PC admin when i installed the software, but I am not an admin on the CA software. Any thoughts? Thanks.

So you have Vista. Disabling the User Account Control will do it...

Start->Control Panel(classic view)->User Accounts->Turn User Account Control on or off-> few clicks -> Restart the computer, and it's done.
When you have done the installation and have already played the game to test it out, you can enable the UAC again.

[eddy]

Hi there,

I created a fix for the famous nVidia bug that allows the IE (and possibly other DirectDraw games) to be played without disabling HW acceleration.
This fix works by providing a wrapper around DirectDraw which emulates the broken functionality in software. I primarily created this for PST as it allows PST to be played without that annoying mouse trail but I've also tested it with the other IE games.

The patch is available here:
http://github.com/jl...w_fix/downloads

[the bigg]

Hi there,

I created a fix for the famous nVidia bug that allows the IE (and possibly other DirectDraw games) to be played without disabling HW acceleration.
This fix works by providing a wrapper around DirectDraw which emulates the broken functionality in software. I primarily created this for PST as it allows PST to be played without that annoying mouse trail but I've also tested it with the other IE games.

The patch is available here:
http://github.com/jl...w_fix/downloads

Very cool. I'll wait a couple of days before giving this visibility in the original post - just in case it's a virus. I hope you'll understand if I'm a bit wary of a .dll by a newly registered person

PS: does the patcher just do a s/ddraw.dll/nvddf.dll/g or is there more to it? If it's just that (+ copying the dll into ./), do you mind if I re-package it as a WeiDU mod (for standardizing the installation)?
Incidentally, I greatly hope it's just that because (given the unchanged file size) this way widescreen and other exe patching mods continue working irregardless of order of installation.