NOTE: You MUST enlarge the image to see the dots properly.
As you can see, some units (especially Terran) and scenery items (especially asteroids) exhibit teeny white dots along their straight edges. It's much more noticeable when the game is moving, because the dots shift and move around on the surface of the object, change as I zoom in and out, etc.
This happens on other units and scenery items too but it's most prominent in the things I've pictured, and also asteroid fields (not pictured).
A bit of technical data: I have two NVidia GeForce 8800 GTS GPUs w/SLi bridge, 4 (3 free in XP 32-bit) gigs of DDR2 RAM, a 3.0 GHz AMD dual core processor, and a fairly powerful motherboard. My NVidia and sound drivers are up to date, and my system is quite clean. Monitor is an HP w2007 widescreen LCD with DVI-D cable, clear as crystal. Can run Crysis and Fallout 3 on high settings and 60 FPS, etc.
EDIT: Ah, and also, every graphics setting in my SINS is cranked as high as it will go. Highest everything, all options checked, AA x4, etc. (and no forced settings in the Control Panel, just standard globals).
Not sure if there's a way to fix this with NVidia Control Panel, the game's config files, driver rollback, or what... or if this is how the game is for everyone (I sure hope not). I just started playing SoaSE again after a 6-month hiatus and being obsessive-compulsive, I'm pretty sure I didn't see this when I first got the game.
If someone can help me get this fixed, or even make a helpful suggestion, there will certainly be some karma going around because it would be a great relief.
When I get home I will test this to see if I get the dots as well.
I think it's happening because it is trying to make the objects shiny. I notice it with asteroids.
Thanks, hopefully you'll come up with something.
I'll probably try tweaking different settings in the meantime.
Running on a 7900GTX here and no dots that I've ever seen. Sounds like a driver issue to me. I would also try changing the various anti-aliasing and effects toggles. Try turning some of them lower to see if the problem goes away.
disable gamma correction for AA for your video card.
Disabling gamma correction didn't do anything.
What does work is turning off AA entirely. Whether enabled either in-game or through the NVidia control panel, any amount of AA (from 2x to 32x and everything in between) causes the same dots. I tried the gamma thing, I tried all the other miscellaneous settings in the NVidia control panel, I switched off everything in the SINS Effects menu, I messed with everything in the SINS Video menu, I tweaked everything I could find (and changed it all back when it didn't help, except for AA, which is now turned off). Basically, AA = dots.
If it's a driver issue (isn't it always? sigh...), I don't know what I can do about it. I have the latest NVidia drivers as of this month, but I guess I'll check and double-check again as is necessary anytime anyone has any problem with any computer game.
I should mention that I'd really, very sincerely like to be able to use AA if at all possible. Once you've used it a lot you tend to get spoiled.
I'm running with the in-game 4XAA I believe, so it might be possible to get it working. All I can suggest is along the lines of Simmyaz's post to mess with application settings on the card itself to see if various AA options resolve it at all. Else, all I can figure is it's something unique to the 8800's drivers that I just luck out of because I'm using an older card.
Well, so far I've tried:
I'm at a loss for what to do. Unless someone else knows better than I, there's no clear solution, so I have a choice between seeing white dots and disabling my AA.
I may try downloading nHancer later, but I'm not comfortable with it, dislike using it for just one game, and it may not even fix the problem. Even so, if anyone has any suggestions for alternate Nvidia gaming drivers or settings managers, please feel free to share.
I have the same problem with a Radeon HD 4850 (AA 4X), so it's not an nVidia-only driver problem.
I don't recall having this problem with my old 7600 GT (AA 2X).
I don't recall seeing this problem six months ago, either, and the only things that have really changed on my system (pertaining to Sins) are:
1.) GPU driver version
2.) Sins version
Since people with completely different brands and categories of graphics cards (and, naturally, completely different drivers and driver versions) are experiencing this issue, in my opinion it's a fault with the game itself, and not with anyone's computer setup or GPU. I'd say there are also a large number of people who:
1.) Don't notice the problem
2.) Notice it but don't care
3.) Notice it and are annoyed, but don't use this forum
I'm rather annoyed that this problem hasn't been officially acknowledged and probably never will be, since few people are putting up a fuss about it and it's not game-breaking, but I guess it's par for the course these days. Customer service for computer games, we all know the score I suppose.
Well, maybe it will clear up on its own eventually. And I guess it's possible that someone will find a solution.
Technically, those aren't solutions, they're suggestions. It only becomes a solution when it actually remedies the problem.
As of now, the only suggestions anyone's been able to provide are fiddling with the graphics card settings and in-game settings, which are simple spray-and-pray suggestions at best that don't seem to work for anyone (unless these other posters haven't tweaked their settings as extensively as I have).
As far as I can tell, no one knows what's causing the problem or how to actually fix it.
I can say right now it won't be fixed. Leastways not by Ironclad or Stardock. We'll just have to live with it.
I tested it and I do have the same issue. I believe the problem has to do with the shader they use to make objects shine slightly. It seems to mess up on curves, turning up the intensity 100%.
Does Sins support older shader models? One could test those render paths.
Why not? They've got a few expansions left to release, and it seems like they're still actively updating the game version. Maybe someone will notice... you never know.
Granted, technical support here seems mostly non-existent, and I don't know of any way to report bugs or glitches. I have a lot of respect for Stardock's games, but I remember people with professional editing experience begging to fix GalCivII's spelling and grammar errors (and even releasing mods to that effect), which Stardock never really bothered to acknowledge or incorporate into official versions.
That's really the only thing to complain about with Stardock games: Numerous little things never getting fixed, even if they're easily fixable. Other than that, the games are perfect.
I have very little technical know-how regarding stuff like this, which is why I have to come here for help.
I also have this issue with my Radeon HD 4870.It seems, to date, to be quite unresolved.
Hi,
I also get that thing, happening on the polygon borders. However, I usually never zoom in that far, I typically only can see those icons, and then the game is running in a graphics mode that's like a late-80's game anyway If I zoom in, well, there's nice graphics, but it's not well possible to control things...
That happened to me, too, until I found a message on this board. Try support at ironcladgames dot com
Ohh...and they will want your game key to verify that you've got an original.
I'm also pretty annoyed about many little bugs, and most seem to be very easy to solve, like those wrongly selected limit-checks while building units and structures which regularly lead to a complete stop of production although that's not necessary. Since the code shows that it also can properly check the limits, it's surely only requiring to call the proper method to fix it...hope they'll do it.
The good point is that they really read those mails and unlike other companies react to them. I've had those Blizzard guys tell several people with identical bugs that it must be damaged RAM and not the game causing their issues...and then it took some years until they finally fixed it. At least they did. That's the good thing about them
Irconclad support asked for save games and they even used them to find these things I reported. At least two of these bugs (including the increasing slowdown the longer the game runs) are said to be fixed now. I wish that they would give me a test version until they release those bugfixes...but if it's really solved and coming soon, I'm happy. Maybe they are just too busy with those other bugs I reported
Screet
Now that I'm playing the Diplomacy beta and on a different card (GTX 275), any anti-aliasing causes these dreaded white pixels around edges. Fixed by shutting off AA altogether, but that's not really an optimal solution.
Hi folks - we are aware of this issue but haven't had much luck tracking it down yet. Can anybody who still has the problem try this out? Particularly the second part - x8Q.
From Cranke at http://browser.stardock.com/post.aspx?postid=323574&get=&p=
This is what I did: Through NVIDIA control panel, I disabled "Antialiasing - Gamma Correction". This nearly fixed all the white spot issues. I also set my antialiasing to override the game's setting with x8Q. The above two changes seem to get rid of all the white artifacts. Hope this helps someone else ...
This is what I did:
The above two changes seem to get rid of all the white artifacts.
Hope this helps someone else ...
Thanks, Psugar.
I'll get around to testing this asap. It should be noted though that the idea of overriding the in-game AA is already what most of us have been doing, just setting in-game to no AA as well. I'll check what results I get with the various different settings suggested and report back.
Surprised this was revived, but yeah I've been talking with Stardock about the problem...like Psugar said though we're not having much luck solving it yet. (the suggestion that he gave was emailed to me by Paul too (the guy from Stardock helping me), it didn't work for me sadly...)
EDIT: ....And my avatar disappeared!!! Waaaah! lol
Er...nevermind, its back again, lol.
Alright, beginning testing. I should note that it's easiest to see the distortion on non-resource asteroids when zoomed out quite a distance. I'm not noticing anything really when zoomed in. The issue is actually more minor than I recall as I'm currently struggling with my vision to see the problem with edges. Reporting anyway as maybe it'll help track down a similar issue or the cause of this one.
4xAA in-game, Nvidia default settings: White dots on asteroid edges.
AA disabled in-game, Nvidia default settings: No dots on asteroid edges.
4xAA in-game, AA Gamma correction disabled: White dots on asteroid edges.
AA disabled in-game, AAGC disabled: No dots on asteroid edges.
4xAA in-game, AAGC disabled, AA 8xQ override: Dots present, harder to see.
AA disabled in-game, AAGC disabled, AA 8xQ override: Dots present, harder to see.
4xAA in-game, AAGC enabled, AA 8xQ override: Dots present, harder to see.
AA disabled in-game, AAGC enabled, AA 8xQ override: Dots present, harder to see.
Thought my eyes were losing focus, so I loaded up the original test again. Dots are easily apparent there, moreso than any other test settings. From the tests I gather that gamma correction does not affect the artifacts, while a forced higher anti-aliasing method seems to reduce the severity to the point of them existing, but having to strain to spot them.
I realize the first AA disabled in-game test doesn't seem to make sense, but I just reloaded with those settings to make sure and scoured the asteroids. Couldn't see any artifacts at all. So I've either killed my eyes squinting tonight or they're not there. Edit: Never mind, it does make some sense as neither the Nvidia control panel or the game are trying to do any AA in that instance.
Almost forgot, this is on a GTX 275 195.62 driver version.
It could also depend on the card itself, as my old GeForce 7600 didn't have this problem. Even so, NVIDIA said that it could be the game and not the card. Seems confusing I know, lol...
I am having this issue on two computers. One is a desktop running Windows XP SP3 with a 8800 GT card, and the other is an ASUS notebook running Windows 7 with a GTX 260M card. I have updated the drivers, clean reinstalled the game, but I continue to have the same problem.
If I remove anti aliasing, whether through the game settings or the nvidia control panel, the christmas lights go away. If I choose to overide the in-game setting on the nvidia control panel and set anti aliasing to 8xQ, along with turning off gamma correction, the dots are harder to see, but are still present on virtually every structure and ship in the game. Its bugging me, and I don't think I should have to set anti aliasing to 8xQ just to play the game with fewer white dots. Is there a good solution to this? It doesnt seem to be a driver or card issue, since a multitude of people are having this problem with ATI and Nvidia cards.
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