ATI Radeon 9700 Pro - Distorted Graphics in FS2004

[VH-COB]

Hi all,

First I will warn you I'm not much of an expert when it comes to video, graphics, etc.

Secondly here is my computers Specifications:
- Acer Aspire T310 AcerPower
- Windows XP Professional Service Pack 2
- 2.60 gigahertz Intel Pentium 4
- ST340015A [Hard drive] (40.02 GB)
- 512MB RAM DDR PC2700 (2x 256MB)
- ATI Radeon 9700 Pro (Omega 3.8.252 driver)
- 17" CMV CT722A Flat Panel LCD Monitor


Me and alot of other people have being having problems with picture corruption in the game. It happens both night and day.

What it affects:
taxiways
runways
trees
planes (including AI)
buildings
clouds
in-game writing (ATC, Parking Brakes, etc.)

Doesn't affect:
grass
dirt
sky
panels (inc. virtual cockpits)

I have googled this serveral time, I tried the guide on flightsim.com, I have fiddled with the settings myself and I have tried different drivers (including CAT 6.6).

I have now found my way onto the Omega Drives, I read somewhere else that there drivers resolved the problem. Well they did, but now in FS2004 in Displays settings under Hardware, the game can't find the can't find a Device.

As a result everything under Hardware is now grayed out except for Frame Rate setting, I have it set at unlimted but I only average around 7 frames per second. The grayed out settings are as follows:

- Device name: blank
- Frame Rate: unlimited (averages 7 FPS ingame, this is the only thing I can change but it says around 7FPS no matter what)
Rendering Options

Render to Texture: un-checked
Transform and Lighting: un-checked
Anti-aliasing: un-checked
Filtering: none
MIP Mapping Quality: none
Hardware-rendered Lights: 8
Global max texture size: massive
No available resolutions.
Reset Defaults does nothing.


Direct 3D settings are as follows (I can change these settings)

SMOOTHVISION II
Anti-aliasing: 6X
Temporal Anti-aliasing: un-checked
Anisotrpic Filtering: 16X
Anisotropic Filtering Method: Performance
Texture Preference: High Quality
Mipmap detail level: High Quality
Wait for vertical sync: application preference


Happy to give any further details if required. If you would like an image that can be supplied.

Thanks,
VH-COB

[Mees]

Actually, my card (ATi 9550) is pretty close to yours, do you have the latest driver?

[VH-COB]

Well I believe the latest driver is catalyst 6.6, I mentioned at the start off my post I had tried this driver.

[Mees]

well, i don't really know about your gfx issues, but i can tell you: if you want more FPS, get some more RAM, your current amount of RAM is crap

[VH-COB]

I have now installed the original driver that came on the disc, I can edit all settings now but it still happens, the frame rate is back up to 20+ now so im not worried about it its just the horrible distortion I get.

[ctjoyce]

Have you tried any other games? If its FS only. Defrag your drive. If that still dosn't work, then just reinstall.

Cheers
Cameron

[Alonso]

I have an ATi 9550 but none of this problems  ::)

[Wingo]

When you say distorted, what exactly do you mean?? Are the objects "stretched" either horizontally or vertically?? Is the preview screen for aircraft selection distorted as well?? These are similar problems that I had on my ATi 345m card, which I believe is similar to your card. I found that AA was to blame for it, on either 2x or 4x performance i would have the objects you listed distorted either horizontally or vertically. If I set it to 2x Quality the proble would be fixed. Also, swithcing back to a very old driver (2004) fixed this problem.

[Bubblehead]

Had an ATI Radeon 9800 Pro which conked out (fan froze) after a year. Salesperson at Fry's said they had several complaints of the same problem. I replaced it with an ATI Radeon X1600 which I continued to have driver problems from the beginning. It finally went out after a month. After talking to two ATI support techs, I was informed that the drivers need to be upgraded every month because of "unresolved" issues. I'm telling you this cause it may be relevant to the driver problems you have been experiencing.

Bubblehead