Flashing textures, anyone have a cure?

[+baffmeister]

Thanks. I'm going to continue to attempt some fine tuning on the anti ailiasing but I'm probably close to optimal for my system at the moment.

 

I played around a bit with the max pre-rendered frames setting and "1" still seems the best but not as dramatic an improvement as I saw with the previous card.

 

After increasing the object texture to unlimited I ran into an over heat situation on the graphics card [frame stutter] so had to disable K-Boost. On exit the card was at 68degC which doesn't sound that hot to me but really don't know much about the subject. With K-Boost off and my current settings the temps are low and the frames are smooth.

 

Wondering if some of the extra texture filtering I was running limited the CPU and caused some issues. With the trilinear and sample optimization off I don't get random "hiccups" any more so maybe the CPU was maxed out from those settings but the GPU still had some head room. Just a theory.

 

I did finally go online to update the computer so it's now circa 2015. Only took 6 hours! Will try the 353.30 drivers. Also, might increase the RAM from 4 to 8GB for a final update to the old but very reliable Win7 64 bit I-3 Dell Inspiron.

[Fubar512]

Baffmeister, what OS are you running? Is it Windows 7 or 8? (Hopefully not 10)

 

Sorry, just saw that you're running 7-64  .  When you say that you're running an I-3 processor, can you get the model number? I know that they were designed to work with DDR-3 memory, but one never knows when dealing with OEMs such as Dell....

Edited November 27, 2015 by Fubar512

[+baffmeister]

Yep! Dell can be a bit weird at times. As delivered the Inspiron 580 has an Intel core i3-550 3.2GHZ with 4MB cache. The 4GB of RAM that came with it are DDR3 so no issues there. The max RAM speed is 1333MHZ. The chipset is Intel H57. I recall shortly after purchasing the computer Intel came out with a much more capable chip set. For some Dell weirdness, even though the Inspirons were shipped with Windows 7 64 bit Home Premium, Dell put a max limit of 8GB on the RAM. This is probably locked away in the bios somewhere, which hasn't been updated by Dell since about 2012. Some people claim they have installed more than 8GB of RAM but it seems to be a hit or miss affair. Other weirdness, the manual that came with the computer says it will accept 1,2 or 4GB modules but the "experts" at the Dell help website say it will only accept 1 or 2GB modules. There is a very good independently run computer store nearby so I may see if I can cut a deal on 4 used 2GB modules. Current install is 4X1GB.

[Fubar512]

353.30 Windows Vista, 7, 8 64-bit uploaded here: http://combatace.com/topic/87707-nvidia-35330-windows-vista78-64-bit-video-drivers/?do=findComment&comment=707412

[Zola25]

Thanks Fubar, it's good to capture the drivers for those who only play SF2 as this at least gives them a workaround in the short term.
 

As the discussion on the TW forum centred around Windows 10, I've created a new thread here http://bbs.thirdwire.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=9754 and have clearly described that the issue happens on Windows 7 on which the SF2 series is supported.  I hope TK will weigh in further on the matter......

 

[stingray77]

Thanks Zola - paulopanz replied just recently that the latest nvidia-drivers (359.06 as per Dec 1, 15) would deliver the cure...

Can anybody confirm? I'd love to see them working before updating and having to roll back afterwards, plus the disappointment.

Would be great to learn that is's eventually sorted (even if not through TK himself).

[Zola25]

Thanks Stingray, I've been away on business for a couple of days so had not seen the response.  I'll give the new drivers a go and report back.

[+paulopanz]

I'm 64 bit proud Win 7 Nvidia equipped and no issue with last drivers.

 

But we have to live with this: our favorite sim is abandonware and Tk (Tw), so concerned with his new mobile games business, totally forgot his older Pc games and us.  I still can't figure why.

 

So no patch, support, exporter or concern: Guys we are our own.

 

Maybe better? I think so.

[Zola25]

I've now tested 359.06 and for me (on Windows 10) these drives reduce the problem, but doesn't entirely eliminate it.

As for TW/TK, I wish he'd come clean about whether he's abandoned the PC games or not.  His responses seem to be very cryptic.

 

[Zola25]

TK has responded to my thread on the TW forums again, he's made an (almost) certain statement that there will be no further PC updates:

 

Zola25,

Thanks, but the game is over 7 years old, so there should be no reasonable expectation for a patch at this point.

We'd love to be able to do more updates, but we simply do not have the resources to do them at the moment. If you need a clear "yes" or "no" answer instead of "maybe", then it has to be "no". That way, any update we do would be a bonus, and no one is disappointed if we never do another update.

Thanks!

 

Although this is disappointing it's hardly surprising, and at least we know where the series stands.

​Hopefully nVidia's next driver will help, which then leaves the lack of AI using countermeasures pods as the worst outstanding bug IMO.

 

[saisran]

Then won't he be so kind as to give the community full access to the innards of the game so that the game can stay relevant

[tn_prvteye]

Well, unless the next Nvidia patch corrects this, no more SF2 for me.  Can't keep the old drivers forever, and I'm not about to set up a dual boot or something just for this.

 

Stick a fork in it, it's done.  :(

[PFunk]

I've pretty much decided to handle this the same way I handled Jane's F-15, USAF, F/A-18, etc., when I moved over to Windows XP.  I'm tired of fighting a losing battle with this stuff, so I've pretty much decided to move over to DCS World.  I have the Steam version of FSX for civilian stuff and I'll just have to re-learn something new for combat.  At least CFS3 and the Firepower mod still work on WinX, so WW2 is covered.

 

I'll miss the F-4 in SF2, but if TK and ThirdWire have lost interest, then so have I.  I suppose I can wait on a driver update from nVidia to fix it, but I'm not holding my breath.

[saisran]

Using the latest 361.91 Driver (Feb 15 release) on a freshly installed windows 10, no afterburner or other graphic tweaks made.

 

Full 5 Merge stock, no mods =  everything works no glitches or anything even at high settings (default)

 

Added the MODs; SF2 Expansion Pack, RSR, and med crisis. A bit of tearing and flickering over the water lasting for less than a second which then went away. 

 

So far i think adding mods and stressing the GPU further will still result in the graphics issue. 

 

I'm building a combined mod folder based on Eburgers campaigns. Will let you guys know how the Driver works after the planes and such gets installed.

[+russouk2004]

you can contact nvidia and report such things....

[burner]

On 8/27/2015 at 11:36 PM, Soulfreak said:

Screenshot?

 

[burner]

8 minutes ago, burner said:

 

 

[Wrench]

What are we supposed to be seeing?

flashing textures very rarely show up in "still frames" of a screenshot

[Arrow]

If it's texture shimmering with a Nvidia GPU we're talking about here; I haven't experienced it with Strike Fighters 2, but I experienced it to a terrible degree initially with Flight Simulator X. I mention it, because there's a well written basic tuning guide for FSX at avsim.com that at one point involves tweaks with the Nvidia Inspector. I've read posts where some gamers have applied the same Inspector tweaks to correct shimmering in other flight sim games. I wish I could provide a link to the guide or recall the exact settings that are tweaked within Inspector, but can just say I was very impressed with the result.

[PJB]

Strike Fighters 2 flickering issue is a forever cancer until thirdwire take notice of this problem for all  type of devices users 

Edited May 17, 2020 by PJB

[Wrench]

necro-thread much, do we??

been discussed to death ... 3W ain't gonna be doing shit anymore for PC games. Live with it, like the rest of us do.

Unless, of course, the Win10 editions --still to come out-- have a fix in their DX12 libraries.