Smoke and Water Graphic Glitches

[bklj2007 2]

Just got a new laptop, It runs the game fine, but in hardware mode there are some strange glitches with smoke and certain effects that are noticable.  I can run it fine in software, but I don' t like the performance hit the game takes.

Here's a couple samples:

Here are the specs

vista home premium

core2 duo 2.4ghz

3 gb ram

ati mobility radeon hd2600 256mb + 1.25 gb of the ram

simcity 4 deluxe edition, with all updates.  no plugins

Like I said, it can run software without this, but I like the better performance in hardware mode.  I'm hoping its just a simple fix in the graphicsrules file or something similar.

[tungston 19]

Have you updated the DirectX 10 drivers?

[dadyrghluv 8]

well since u can run it good in software mode, then this leads to the graphics card. update as tungston said, and see what happens. if not, it may be a heating issue with the graphics card, since ur on a laptop i assume.

[bklj2007 2]

Yeah all my drivers are updated.  I'd like to think this isn't an issue of overheating as its a brand new laptop, and also because I haven't had any problems with other much more graphics intensive game (bioshock).

[DuskTrooper 316]

I'd blame this on some stupid with a flare gun.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

make sure that all the optional features on your graphics system are set to application selected.

SC4 doesn't understand that graphics card.

[tungston 19]

Originally posted by: bklj2007 Yeah all my drivers are updated.  I'd like to think this isn't an issue of overheating as its a brand new laptop, and also because I haven't had any problems with other much more graphics intensive game (bioshock).quote>

 

There are issues with the game, and ATI drivers with some card models.  I must use software rendering with XP and ATI cards X850, X1900.  I have been able to use hardware rendering with Vista, and an X1950 Pro.

I have no experience with the mobile models, so I can't be of much help there.

[Turfing 0]

I am having the exact same problem, but I'm on a desktop.

I'm running: 

Vista Ultimate 32bit

Core 2 Quad 6700

4Gb ram

ATI  HD3870 

running the most current drivers on everything. 

I'm thinking it has to do with ATI cards =\ I used to run a geforce 7900 GT without this problem.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

Welcome to our conversation.

It would seem that something ATI has in its base for the video cards messes the game up.  Make sure all options on the graphics system are set to applicaction selected.

Failing that, you may have to run with Software Rendering.  (Requires a game restart.)

[Turfing 0]

Yep, everything is set to "Use Application Settings"

It does work in software mode, but it's slower =\ was hoping to avoid that.

I'm also getting the "SC4 + vista = random crash"  wonderfullness no matter what I do. (not trying to hijack =P )

[bklj2007 2]

Yeah I have everything set to application controlled as well.  I notice that both of us have vista 32bit.  Would changing to 64 bit help?  I was thinking of doing it anyway to solve the ram problem.

[SC4BOY 21]

I'm curious if ATI HD3870 is a motherboard integrated video card?

[Turfing 0]

No.

http://ati.amd.com/products/radeonhd3800/index.html

[gowerbrown 0]

I'm having a similar problem as mentioned above with an ATI 2600XT with 512meg Ram. I never had this problem with my AIW cards before my upgrade.

As mentioned above, software rendering does work fine, but a little laggy.

Just wondering if anyone else found a solution they could post.

Thanks

[sykodelik 0]

i was having those same problems with my brand new dell pc with vista home premium 32bit, intel pentium dual cpu e2160 @ 1.8ghz each with 2g of ram, and runnin off of a brand new ATI Radeon HD2400 Pro 256mb ddr2 graphics card...that was my problem until i updated the driver and now i can't use hardware settings at all...automatically resets to default software every time i open the game...what do i do there?

[sykodelik 0]

i fixed my problem this morning with rendering options by setting everything in catalyst to application controlled or the lowest setting...so i can use my hardware again but i'm back to having the graphics glitch again...i looked in the video cards.sgr file and found out that my card isn't listed in there, and probably most of the other ATI cards you guys aren't either...take a look there (make sure you uncheck the "always use" option when you open it with notepad!) and i believe we might be able to figure out at least why it's happening...

[sykodelik 0]

i'm sorry to triple post but i was reading down farther in the graphics rules.sgr file and look at what i found out about ATI cards (this is copied straight out of the file):

# The Radeon series has a very slow path for partial

# depth buffer copies. This has apparently been

# fixed for 9500 and later models in the latest drivers,

# but cannot be fixed on previous Radeons because of

# hardware limitations.

# NOTE: disabling this rule unnecessarily may lead to

# very poor graphics performance.

partialRule "Radeon"

stringMatch cardIdentity "*Radeon*"

partialRule "SlowSubrectDepthCopy" -any

stringMatch cardIdentity "*7?00*"

stringMatch cardIdentity "*8?00*"

stringMatch cardIdentity "*9000*"

stringMatch cardIdentity "*9100*"

stringMatch cardIdentity "*9200*"

stringMatch cardIdentity "*9300*"

stringMatch cardIdentity "*9400*"

stringMatch cardIdentity "ATI, Radeon"

stringMatch cardIdentity "ATI, Radeon VE"

stringMatch cardIdentity "ATI, Radeon Mobility"

stringMatch cardIdentity "ATI, Radeon FireGL"

# results in special low-impact scrolling mode.

property noPartialBackingStoreCopies true

# try to reduce the number of dirty rects.

property dirtyRectMergeFrames 8

# use black and white cursors. The Radeons seem

# to work with colour for a while, but in low

# memory situations revert to flickering.

option $Cursor $CursorBW

[Virgil 0]

It seems to happen with all forms of transparency on the rendered world (That means excluding the UI). Also for software mode that is slow and doesn't look as good.

[Virgil 0]

I would just like to add I'm no longer getting this issue after updateing to Catalyst 8.12 I believe