FX5900 Unreal 2k3 Faint Lines

I recently bought an MSI FX5900 card and I'm running the 44.71 drivers in
XP.
Very nice, fast and 100% stable at 8xagp, fastwrites, etc.

I also just got Unreal Tournament 2003. I notice that when the game starts
with the intros on black screens, there are faint horizontal lines moving up
or down noticeable on the black areas. It almost looks like some sort of emf
interference or something. It's also noticeable when connecting to a server
and it says "connecting" on a black background. It's not noticable in the
game, only when there is a mostly black background.

I thought maybe it was some sort of emf interference so I tried a dozen
other games and it never shows up. I set my whole desktop to black, it's
perfectly fine too. Tried the direct3d screensavers, like the 3d ball on
black background, and it's perfectly fine too.

Why would this only show up on Unreal 2k3? Is it supposed to be there? Could
it have something to do with the way U2K3 handles gamma and brightness (if I
turned down the brightness and increased the gamma it wasnt as noticeable).

I haven't tried any other cards, so I can't compare.

I have
Asus A7n8X Dlx
Barton 2800+
MSI FX5900
44.71's
Enermax 350W PSU

I noticed a sort of shimmer when i first got the MSI 5900, seems to have
gone away now.

"edde" wrote in message
...
I also just got Unreal Tournament 2003. I notice that when the game starts
with the intros on black screens, there are faint horizontal lines moving up
or down noticeable on the black areas. It almost looks like some sort of emf
interference or something. It's also noticeable when connecting to a server
and it says "connecting" on a black background. It's not noticable in the
game, only when there is a mostly black background.

I had the same interference problem with a Radeon 9700 Pro.. I swapped it
for a Geforce FX 5800 Ultra, turned out the ATi card was defective. Try swapping
refresh rates, that might make it go away.. I only got the interference at 60Hz
and 75Hz, but it was still enough for me to toss the card. You can try switching
back and forth between refresh rates like 5 times, that can help too although
it's not a pretty solution

--
Regards,
Henric

Ensure your motherboard chipset drivers are current and try the 44.67
version drivers. I have an MSI FX 5800 (non ultra) and the card does not
like the 44.71 drivers nor the 45.20 beta drivers.

regards

B
"edde" wrote in message
...
I recently bought an MSI FX5900 card and I'm running the 44.71 drivers in
XP.
Very nice, fast and 100% stable at 8xagp, fastwrites, etc.

I also just got Unreal Tournament 2003. I notice that when the game starts
with the intros on black screens, there are faint horizontal lines moving
up
or down noticeable on the black areas. It almost looks like some sort of
emf
interference or something. It's also noticeable when connecting to a
server
and it says "connecting" on a black background. It's not noticable in the
game, only when there is a mostly black background.

I thought maybe it was some sort of emf interference so I tried a dozen
other games and it never shows up. I set my whole desktop to black, it's
perfectly fine too. Tried the direct3d screensavers, like the 3d ball on
black background, and it's perfectly fine too.

Why would this only show up on Unreal 2k3? Is it supposed to be there?
Could
it have something to do with the way U2K3 handles gamma and brightness (if
I
turned down the brightness and increased the gamma it wasnt as
noticeable).

I haven't tried any other cards, so I can't compare.

I have
Asus A7n8X Dlx
Barton 2800+
MSI FX5900
44.71's
Enermax 350W PSU

"B" wrote in message
...
Ensure your motherboard chipset drivers are current and try the 44.67
version drivers. I have an MSI FX 5800 (non ultra) and the card does not
like the 44.71 drivers nor the 45.20 beta drivers.

regards

B

Thanks for the input. Do you notice any image quality diff with the 44.67's?
I hear the 44.71's have the same performance, with better image quality.

"Henric" wrote in message
-

I had the same interference problem with a Radeon 9700 Pro.. I swapped
it
for a Geforce FX 5800 Ultra, turned out the ATi card was defective. Try
swapping
refresh rates, that might make it go away.. I only got the interference at
60Hz
and 75Hz, but it was still enough for me to toss the card. You can try
switching
back and forth between refresh rates like 5 times, that can help too
although
it's not a pretty solution

--
Regards,
Henric

Thanks for the input Henric.
The thing is, it is only noticable in UT2K3 when the screen is mainly black.
I've tried a tonne of other games, and they dont show the problem at all. I
tried Duke Nukem Manhattan Project which has a similar, mainly black,
startup screen, and it shows no problems at all.
I tried about 5 other games, the WinXp 3d screensavers (like the ball/box on
a mainly black background), black desktop, and the problem exists. Seems odd
that it only shows up in UT2K2 doesnt it?

Thanks Henric.
Actually you were close to being on the right track.
The problem actually is due to Vsync. By default D3d sets Vsync to "Auto" to
let each program decide if it should be "On" or "Off". Well, most games
would enable Vsync under these conditions.
Unreal 2K3, however, defaults to Vsync "Off". Using Rivatuner, I set D3D
Vsync to "Always On".
This fixed the problem!!! Hooray!
I have a funny feeling this is what is causing people to have flickering
problems.
There is an infamously long thread in the EVGA forums about the FX5900
having flickering problems for alot of people. I'm 99% sure that the Vsync
setting is what is causing it.

PS. Another fix would be to set Vsync=True in Unreal 2K3's ini files.


"Henric" wrote in message
...

"edde" wrote in message
...
Thanks for the input Henric.
The thing is, it is only noticable in UT2K3 when the screen is mainly
black.
I've tried a tonne of other games, and they dont show the problem at
all. I
tried Duke Nukem Manhattan Project which has a similar, mainly black,
startup screen, and it shows no problems at all.
I tried about 5 other games, the WinXp 3d screensavers (like the
ball/box on
a mainly black background), black desktop, and the problem exists. Seems
odd
that it only shows up in UT2K2 doesnt it?

Yeah that is a bit strange. It could be that UT2K3 uses a refresh rate
most
other games don't, like 75Hz or something. In your

display properties-settings-advanced-Geforce FX 5900,

under performance and quality, direct 3d, you can assign forced refresh
rates.
Try that for the resolution you use in UT2K3, and see if it goes away. Set
it
to, say, 85Hz if your monitor supports it. The lines are often hard to
spot,
like you said. I saw them easily on the blue WinXP start and shutdown
screens
and dark backgrounds. Worth a shot at least..

When I sent my card back I was told that these symptoms are because of
an
unfortunate alignment of components on the card, which can happen
haphazardly at
manufacturing. This is indeed a case of electrical interference. That's
why they
let me swap the card for free. To be honest I wouldn't have swapped anyway
if it
wasn't for the fact that dealing with ATi's drivers was an outright pain
in the
ass, and I'm a very experienced computer user. Now happy with my GeforceFX
5800


--
Good luck!
Henric

The 44.71 does have a lot better image quality but the overall result is
choppy video (at least for myself) so going back to the 44.67 was my best
result.

regards

B
"edde" wrote in message
...
"B" wrote in message
...
Ensure your motherboard chipset drivers are current and try the 44.67
version drivers. I have an MSI FX 5800 (non ultra) and the card does not
like the 44.71 drivers nor the 45.20 beta drivers.

regards

B

Thanks for the input. Do you notice any image quality diff with the
44.67's?
I hear the 44.71's have the same performance, with better image quality.

I've noticed these on my rig too with the only thing being that the lines
move up & down when I move my mouse and are stationary when the mouse isn't
moving....

Very Very Strange.........



"edde" wrote in message
...
I recently bought an MSI FX5900 card and I'm running the 44.71 drivers in
XP.
Very nice, fast and 100% stable at 8xagp, fastwrites, etc.

I also just got Unreal Tournament 2003. I notice that when the game starts
with the intros on black screens, there are faint horizontal lines moving
up
or down noticeable on the black areas. It almost looks like some sort of
emf
interference or something. It's also noticeable when connecting to a
server
and it says "connecting" on a black background. It's not noticable in the
game, only when there is a mostly black background.

I thought maybe it was some sort of emf interference so I tried a dozen
other games and it never shows up. I set my whole desktop to black, it's
perfectly fine too. Tried the direct3d screensavers, like the 3d ball on
black background, and it's perfectly fine too.

Why would this only show up on Unreal 2k3? Is it supposed to be there?
Could
it have something to do with the way U2K3 handles gamma and brightness (if
I
turned down the brightness and increased the gamma it wasnt as
noticeable).

I haven't tried any other cards, so I can't compare.

I have
Asus A7n8X Dlx
Barton 2800+
MSI FX5900
44.71's
Enermax 350W PSU

Is this in games? Or on your desktop?
If it is in games, enabled Vsync

"ntl: victim" wrote in message
...
I've noticed these on my rig too with the only thing being that the lines
move up & down when I move my mouse and are stationary when the mouse
isn't
moving....

Very Very Strange.........