Black Artifacts / Graphics Glitching

[noxDraken]

<p>Hello everyone, i get these black squares/artifacts every time i play EQ2 reguardless of settings in game, or video card drivers - my video card is not overclocked, Radeon 4870</p><p><a href="http://img413.imageshack.us/img413/7185/eq2000028.jpg"><img src="http://img413.imageshack.us/img413/7185/eq2000028.th.jpg" border="0" /></a></p><p><a href="http://img408.imageshack.us/img408/7403/eq2000038.jpg"><img src="http://img408.imageshack.us/img408/7403/eq2000038.th.jpg" border="0" /></a></p><p><a href="http://img100.imageshack.us/img100/3672/eq2000021.jpg"><img src="http://img100.imageshack.us/img100/3672/eq2000021.th.jpg" border="0" /></a></p>

[Smirk]

<p>might want to check hot hot your card is, gpu-z will show the temps in detail, <a href="http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/SysInfo/GPU-Z/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://www.techpowerup.com/download.../SysInfo/GPU-Z/</a></p><p>also try running other games or benchmarks like 3dmark vantage or furmark to see if you still get artifacts</p>

[noxDraken]

<p>my GPU is running at average of 50, i've never had a problem in any other game, even stuff like Crysis/Team Fortress 2 at high graphics either, its just solely EQ2 for some reason</p>

[Almar]

<p>This is what im getting as well but on a much larger scale.  After a few minutes I can hardly see the game.</p>

[TSR-DanielH]

<p>As a first step, lets make sure that it isn't a missing texture or effect.  It could be a particle effect that isn't displaying correctly.  Open your Everquest 2 folder and delete the 'Cache' folder from that directory.  Then run a full file scan when you start the launchpad.  That will force the launchpad to search for any missing files.</p>

[noxDraken]

<p>I have done this, there are no files missing and everything appears ok, i'm going to attempt to clean and reinstall my video card drivers as i can';t think of anything else to do</p>

[Zyphius]

<p>Go into catalyst and turn the fan up to ~60%.</p><p>See if that helps.</p>

[TSR-DanielH]

<p><cite>noxDraken wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>I have done this, there are no files missing and everything appears ok, i'm going to attempt to clean and reinstall my video card drivers as i can';t think of anything else to do</p></blockquote><p>Video card drivers definitely could be causing this issue.  Let us know if there's any change.</p>

[noxDraken]

<p>Ok, for some odd reason having the Complex shader turned on (at all) was causing the black flickering, i have no idea why but when i have the Shader turned off its gone completly, its not really a fix but i can live with it, any ideas why that would be the cause of it?</p>

[TSR-DanielH]

<p><cite>noxDraken wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Ok, for some odd reason having the Complex shader turned on (at all) was causing the black flickering, i have no idea why but when i have the Shader turned off its gone completly, its not really a fix but i can live with it, any ideas why that would be the cause of it?</p></blockquote><p>Do you have the latest version of DirectX 9.0c installed on that computer?  Usually it wont let you into the game otherwise, but that could be causing a problem with the complex shaders.  Try reinstalling DirectX using the link provided below:</p><p><a href="http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=cb7397f3-0949-487b-9247-8fee451bf952&DisplayLang=en" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...;DisplayLang=en</a></p><p>Make sure to restart your computer after the install and before trying to run the game again.</p>

[Malloc]

<p>I had this exact same problem with my 4870.  It took me forever to figure out what was causing it.  It turns out in my case that the video card wasn't working well with my system memory timing.(OCZ Reaper HPC Edition with 4,4,4,15 timing).  I manualy set the timing for the memory to 5,5,5,15 and the problem went away.  Hope this helps.</p>

[TSR-DanielH]

<p><cite>Maloc@Crushbone wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>I had this exact same problem with my 4870.  It took me forever to figure out what was causing it.  It turns out in my case that the video card wasn't working well with my system memory timing.(OCZ Reaper HPC Edition with 4,4,4,15 timing).  I manualy set the timing for the memory to 5,5,5,15 and the problem went away.  Hope this helps.</p></blockquote><p>It's unusual for the memory timings to cause something like this.  I bet that took a long time to find.  Is your graphics card overclocked in any way?</p>

[Malloc]

<p>Yeah my Powercolor 4870 is factory overclocked.  After I changed my memory timings, not only did the black spot artifacts go away, but I also got a huge increase in performance.</p>

[TSR-DanielH]

<p><cite>Maloc@Crushbone wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Yeah my Powercolor 4870 is factory overclocked.  After I changed my memory timings, not only did the black spot artifacts go away, but I also got a huge increase in performance.</p></blockquote><p>It seems like my fear of factory overclocks is well justified.  I have always preferred doing it myself.</p>