FFXI and Nvidia

Mistra

Mistra

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First, sorry if this is in the wrong forum, just seemed to fit best.

I recently did a rebuild on my PC. Specs are as follows:

AMD Socket AM2 3.2ghz Dual Core
8800GTS 640mb (EVGA)
4gigs of Geil PC6400
Asus Special Wifi edition mobo
750W PSU (brand eludes me at the moment, forgive me).
22" Chi Mei 5ms Flat Panel

I've come across a problem in FFXI, and similar older (DX8 older) titles. Periodically, (over the course of about... 10 minute spans) a small, extremely brief black flicker will flash on the screen. I of course, first attributed this to my monitor, until I decided to do some further testing.

Running Oblivion, I find no problems at all when the machine renders everything at 100% detail. In fact, the FPS I tested is rather impressive, given that I did not purchase the GTX.

Now, after letting Oblivion run for three hours, and finding no issues, I decided to test the problem further. I fire up Diablo II. The same issue with FFXI ensues. Randomly, a black flicker flashes on the screen. But there are no other problems. Annoyed, I do some more tests.

I fire up CS 1.6. After running around for a short time, I immediately notice a black flicker again, only this time it seems to be more rampant with the higher frame rate, given that I'm at 100 frames on 1.6. Confused, I close the game and fire up CS - Source. No problems.

Frustrated now, I fire up FFXI again. I was delighted to find no problems... for about an hour. As previously mentioned, an hour into it, the screen flickers black, twice in a row. At this point I'm fully aware that this is an issue with the 8800GTS...

So I research a bit. I check around various places to see if others have the same problem with older titles involving the 8800GTS. Turns out there's many problems, but none that have reported FFXI being one of the older counterparts. Actually, I take that back, I've found one person with the same issue in FFXI, but he was unable to find answers as well.

So... my question to myself this morning was, "How was this overlooked?". I did some pretty hefty research on the card before buying it, and I realize it's my fault for buying the most current-gen Nvidia card, but really... what's going on?

I realize this is a driver issue, and I actually wanted to ask if anyone else is having the same problem, and knows how to fix it. I mean, the black flicker is purely annoying, and nothing more. It's half a millisecond, but it's there, and only every so often. I can live with it until a driver fix is out, but if anyone has any ideas for me... that'd be wonderful.

Thanks,
Mistra
 
You probably have a bad card or drivers that have issues with the card. Not that it never happens with 1st party cards, but I have noticed more problems with 3rd party card makers.

Try guru3d.com and look for some older drivers. trial and error, one might work out.
 
My video card is a NVidia GeForce Go 6800, which they never produced updated drivers for. I'm currently running modded drivers after a problem popped in FFXI.

I'd be fine for an hour or so after logging on, but then even in my Mog House while doing nothing at all, The FPS would drop down every 5 seconds to 1 and then back up to 29. I couldn't figure out what it was, I thought maybe something was running that was interfering with the card or that maybe something became corrupt. After running some tests on my computer, with and without windower, restarting, shutting my laptop off to let it cool completely, I couldn't find a solution.

I finally decided I was either going to find a way to fix this, or quit FF since it was impossible for me to play. I looked around online and found the modded drivers(I forget the website offhand) and I haven't had problems since.
 
DarkMagnus said:
http://www.omegadrivers.net. Guru3d has a mix of both tweaked and official.

I once had a problem with a Nvidia vid card and the solution was ATi :).
Click to expand...

Thanks for the responses, I'll check these out when I get home. To respond to this, I primarily was an ATI user, until recently making the decision to give Nvidia another try. I know any other card outside the 8800 series cards don't have these issues, but that's because the 8800's hardware is still very new, and software implementation hasn't been completed yet. That's the inconsistency I dislike about Nvidia, they release hardware first, and worry about software later. ATI has always been more consistent in that respect.

Thanks again, I'll try these later on, and see if I get some better results.

*edit* Also, I know this isn't a bad card, it's a definite driver issue, just from what I've been reading. Just been unable to find a solution. Hopefully this fixes it.

*edit again* By the way, Oblivion with this system is... jaw dropping to say the least...expecially with a texture re-map.
 
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I haven't seen that issue, but I once had a prob where for like 10 sec the system would lock while in FFXI. This would happen only once a game.

Simple driver update fixed that. I'm currently using omega drivers for my 8800GTS and am having 0 probs.
 
Acks said:
I haven't seen that issue, but I once had a prob where for like 10 sec the system would lock while in FFXI. This would happen only once a game.

Simple driver update fixed that. I'm currently using omega drivers for my 8800GTS and am having 0 probs.
Click to expand...

I am sooooo relieved to hear that, man, can't wait to get home and install it then. Can you tell me the driver version, just for time's saving sake?
 
I'd try out the drivers Acks mentions and any others you can find. Remember old drivers doesn't mean they're lower quality. Still, If you don't have the most up to date drivers from the Nvidia site I'd try those first.

If that doesn't work you should adjust your settings in the Nvidia Control Panel. When I had my 8700gtx It would bug out whenever I had Anisitropic Filtering or Antialiasing set too high.

Nvidia uses a new Control Panel now, and I'm not sure it exposes all the settings the old one does. In any case you can revert it back to the "classic" control panel if needed.

I would try these things 1 at a time with no games or programs running, and test FFXI.

- Turn off Anisitropic Filtering
- Turn off Antialiasing ( in the new control panel this shows a green spinning logo with sliders)
- Turn off/on any dual display enhancements
- Turn off Vertical Sync
 
BAH! Buy a second card and SLI em together!

Definitely have to agree with your assessment of Nvidia's drivers! They make some of the best cards around, but the drivers are shiite.
 
Didn't omega drivers stopped updating for nvidia a couple years ago? Is there another place that has updated drivers, or are you just running the last ones released?
 
To Alanon:

SLI has been planned, and the money for the second card set aside, but I wanted to see how the first performed before ponying up the dough for the second.

To Baj:

Using the most up to date drivers as offered directly from Nvidia. I know nothing about Omega, and didn't until today. I checked out the site though, and it looked to me like his version of the drivers are seriously dated o.O. But, since Acks has no problems with the Omega drivers, I'll try it out. Anything to stop this stupid black flash in DX8 and older games.

*edit* wish he'd respond and tell me which version he's using...
 
omega drivers didn't work?
 
Mistra said:
I'm not at home to download them and try them out yet, so I have no idea. If they work for someone else, I don't see why they won't work for me, though.
Click to expand...

I've never been a huge fan of them, but they do work differently, so it could be interesting. Now - as for talking to me, send me a PM with your yahoo or AIM if you use those. MSN you're out of luck lol
 
I'm currently running drivers that are about a year old for my card. Every time I'd upgrade the drivers, something else would break and I'd just reload the one I'm using now. I'm sure I'm probably missing out on some important features or something that will enhance the performance of my card(because at times games run like shit for no reason), but I can't figure out what's making the new drivers mess up all the time.

One time I lost the ability to play a video on my computer. The files would play(Audio was fine), but the screen would be completely black; no porn = no go, so I reinstalled the old version. The last time, with the latest drivers(about a month ago), Nvidia apparently decided that my resolution wasn't standard enough and didn't support it. So my computer thought my monitor was about an inch wider than it really is and my desktop would scroll to show that missing inch when I shifted the mouse to the right. I couldn't get the driver to accept my resolution in the "create your own resolution" mode, so I reinstalled my old one again.

I never tried the omega drivers though, once I saw how old they were. I might give them a shot now since people are still using them, especially I'm already using old drivers as it is.
 
Think I know which to download, just checked out the site, but will take your reference anyways Acks in case I'm wrong. Guru3d looks like it has the most up to date stuff. Neat, thanks again. Hopefully this works. :D
 
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