flashing with gforce2 mx400

[jimski]

Trying to get my sims to fly with gforce2 mx400. OK, so it's old but it should be consistant with my older programs. Runs fine with IL2. But with cfs2 in particular there is a problem with about half of the aircraft models I download. The original ms models work fine. But the downloads often won't paint the entire airframe and I see lots of flashing triangles where the airframe might be. Sometimes I might see the entire interior with pilot and engine plainly but no fuselage, etc.

I think I have all the correct drivers - I used the origianl CD that came in the card's box. Tried a different model nvidia 64mb card with the same results. All the aircraft models work correctly with my old voodoo 16mb card.

Any ideas? I have fiddled with all the settings I can find. The flashing will stop if I disable the graphics accelleration but then it is very slow.

Jimski

[Dan]

These triangles you see are called Artefacts. I have only ever seen them appearing when I over tweaked my card. The definition of an artefact is an 'An unwanted visual aberration in a video image.' Basically it means something 'aint working as it should be. Two things come to my mind, and that is have you overclocked the card, and is you card running overly hot? That could knock it over the edge a little. The only other thing is drivers - check Guru of 3D for drivers, they usually keep old ones up.
Dan

[4_Series_Scania]

Re-install Direct X.

[jimski]

Before I reinstall directx, I reiterate that the card works totally correctly with IL2 and all the aircraft that come stock with the MS flight sims and with about half of the add on aircraft. All of the aircraft run perfectly with the old 16mb pci Voodoo card. I was thinking there might be an incompatibility between the nvidia driver and maybe a drawing program used to make many add on aircraft. But it sounds like no one else has this problem? I guess the quick thing to do is reinstall direct x and then maybe download the latest video driver.

Jimski

[Moach]

i think this card may have a problem with displaying reflections and stuff like that...

the fuselages are usually reflective, and as the card can't display it properly, you get artifacts or missing parts...

try turning off the reflections in the display menu...

Moach

[congo]

Re-installing directX will have no adverse side effects and may help, the latest version is 9.0c I believe.

I found that driver 43.51 gave good results in cfs2 using a GF2 mx400 in win98.

I used to have exactly the same problem in cfs2, and it was resolved from time to time as it recurred, from either directX or driver re-install, I just can't remember exactly now.

You say IL2 runs fine, I'm using IL2fb with current updates and I get good frame rates but I can't increase the settings to the way I would like them, despite my FAR SUPERIOR CARD to your's. So, Wow!

The GF2 MX400 is an absolute dinosaur, it wasn't even any good when they first came out many years ago!

Seriously consider upgrading to video hardware that is a bit better than relics from the past, especially if you are going to continue an interest in flight simming. By using that video card, you are seriously limiting your simming experience.

I found that it took a minimum of a GF4 TI4200 8x AGP video card to display CFS2 adequately and at the correct resolutions to be competitive at higher levels of online play and to display addons without problems.

IL2 (FB current version) will use just about any resources you can run it with, so you just can't get enough power.

[jimski]

Thanks all for the help. I think I know what I am up against. Will reload directx and new video drivers and think about getting a better card.

Don't know where the "reflections" setting is on my cfs2 program. Funny thing happened while testing one of the models that flash, a P47, after I transfered it to fs2002 to see what would happen. It did not flash but after a short time it converted itself to an untextured all white simple model made of maybe 50 panels. Sort of like flying inside a kite.

As for IL2, I say it runs fine as far as not flashing at all. To run smoothly I have to keep the settings far below "excellent". When I got IL2 two years ago I had the impression from the IL2 forum that no hardware available at that time could run it full bore.

Jimski

[congo]

CFS2 uses a similar aircraft format to FS products.

Main differences are model and texture type support as the sim versions become more seperated by time of release.

If you see all white textures, then you are just seeing the skinned model and the textures aren't showing because the file format can't be read. It's only paint.  ;)

Model incompatibility causes animated or other parts not to show, or possibly the aircraft may not be recognised at all.

[jimski]

Reloaded directx with no change. Downloaded new vid card driver and installed after which none of my flightsim programs would work at all. Reinstalled original driver and got back to having the flashing triangles on just the usual suspects. Had to reinstall IL2fb afterward since the try with the new driver totally disrupted it. Installed older yet pci voodoo card (no flashing triangles with it) along with the nvidia quadro agp so I can run it both ways. I will study up on new cards and probably avoid nvidia. Still think their driver has a conflict with a common model making program. Not sure why the new driver was a total flop. It had a list of applications to click on but directx was not in the list.

Jimski