Cut Scene Clarity...

[TheRoc]

G'day Grey Wardens,

I suddenly find the cutscenes in my game are not very clear any more? I had played the game through nearly to the end, everytime a cutscene took place, it was as clear to view as playing the game - with greater clarity and close-ups not particularly possible ingame itself. I am not really sure when the issue started, but I believe it was partially through my second and subsequent play throughs AFTER I had some RAM and Video Card issues.

 

That is to say, my video card fan started to make noises (a rapid tapping sound, similat to the noise it might make if a wire were brushing against it... which it wasn't, it was probably a bearing?) but didn't seem to make any difference. I then had a start-up issue with the PC as a whole, and when I took it to a good friend who works in a repair shop, he discovered that the RAM had failed and needed replacing.

 

Of the video card itself, he warned that the chip set would eventually burn out if the fan was not replaced - but they could not get their hands on a fan for it. I then had two options with the card due to its age; 1) go backwards to a lesser card that would not handle my games or 2) go upwards to a better card. Well, it goes without saying that I chose the better card.

 

I believe everything was fine cut scene-wise initially, but now it seems that only one or two actual scenes within any given cut scene are crystal clear when they play if any are clear at all.

E.g. The party triggers a cut scene and encounters a group of people (a merchant, bandits, whatever?). The scene will usually start now, somewhat blury as we walk up. Then it will cut to the speaker of the group and still be blury as he speaks. The PC or party member (PM) will then speak as the camera cuts to him/her and is probably blury still before it cuts back to the speaker which is suddenly crystal clear! It then cuts to a different angle and is blury again... This will go on for the entire length of the cut scene with or without dialogue options. Some cut scenes are blury from start to finish! The difference is like smearing vasaline over your monitor or for those who wear glasses, like not wearing your glasses while you play. NOTE that when a dialogue option is present to click on, the scene can be blury but the written words are always quite clear.

 

So to recap:-

1) Had nearly played my first playthrough (I started late in DAO history after a friend pestered me to get it and I got the Ultimate Edition with all the DLC + I have a handful of mods installed that didn't seem to affect visuals at the time - such a nude skins, Wilds Robes, sexy Chanter's robes...) and all cut scenes were crystal clear.

2) Had computer problems with both RAM and video card.

3) Replaced RAM and video card and don't believe there was an issue straight away - but this I am now unsure of?

4) Began to experience blury cut scenes, sometimes with very clear cuts within.

5) Attempted to update video drivers, but this made no difference (thought I did experience some issues with the updated drivers when I would delete un-related non-game files from a USB stick with an error message alluding to video drivers possibly not being installed properly!!). Rolled back to original 'off disc' drivers which cleared the problem.

6) Finally realised that there was a Nexus forum I was a member of and could seek tech-like assistance, so here I am!

 

The new video card is a Gigabyte Nvidia Geforce GTS 450 (which I was told by a gaming friend is slightly better than the old card?). The old card was an ATI Radeon HD 4600 Series if any of that helps?

[naomis8329]

Hi, I had similar problems which drove me to distraction with both of my PCs which are behaving well now.

 

A simple question (as I had problems with some cutscenes) did you remove all the drivers for the old card plus any associated programs and registry keys?

 

That sorted it for me. Of course that may not be the case here but its a start.

 

Let me know

Naomi

[TheRoc]

I honestly don't know as my friend had installed the new card and drivers.

 

I'm not overly techie myself, on an XP PC, how is the best way to check and go about that if I might ask?

[naomis8329]

I would download CCleaner which is a free program, this will check for files that are no longer supported and also registry keys that are no longer needed. Install and run the file locater first and delete the files it recommends and then run the registry cleaner and fix those.

 

That should help.

 

http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner

 

Let me know how you get on

Naomi

[Thandal]

My guess would be an out-of-date video card driver.

 

For a total novice, use "Windows Update" (from within Internet Explorer, go to "Tools", then "Windows Update") to see if there's a newer one available via Microsoft. For the more experienced user, go to your video card vendor's support page and look for the most recent verison for your card.

[Sync182]

My guess would be an out-of-date video card driver.

 

For a total novice, use "Windows Update" (from within Internet Explorer, go to "Tools", then "Windows Update") to see if there's a newer one available via Microsoft. For the more experienced user, go to your video card vendor's support page and look for the most recent verison for your card.

 

If you know how - it's generally considered to be a Good Idea to uninstall your existing drivers (easiest way is in Device Manager and remove the video card), then do a restart and point Windows at the folder where your new drivers are when Plug'n'Play finds your video card.

[Thandal]

My guess would be an out-of-date video card driver.

 

For a total novice, use "Windows Update" (from within Internet Explorer, go to "Tools", then "Windows Update") to see if there's a newer one available via Microsoft. For the more experienced user, go to your video card vendor's support page and look for the most recent verison for your card.

 

If you know how - it's generally considered to be a Good Idea to uninstall your existing drivers (easiest way is in Device Manager and remove the video card), then do a restart and point Windows at the folder where your new drivers are when Plug'n'Play finds your video card.

Good approach. But best to have the new driver handy for after you "remove" (not physically, just on the Device Manager configuration screen) your current video card. Windows will ask for it as soon as it detects that the card is present. and MS doesn't always have the most recent one on file. :thumbsup:

[TheRoc]

My guess would be an out-of-date video card driver.

 

For a total novice, use "Windows Update" (from within Internet Explorer, go to "Tools", then "Windows Update") to see if there's a newer one available via Microsoft. For the more experienced user, go to your video card vendor's support page and look for the most recent verison for your card.

 

This seems to be a new thing this uninstall before updating thing? In the many, many years I have updated various drivers from everything from video and sound to cameras and printers, I have never ever had to uninstall an old driver - nor was it ever required or suggested to do so. Therefore it is never the first thing I think about! But times and outlooks change, so I don't doubt this is the case now days.

 

This seems to be my disclosure day today, but a few years back I had a stress related illness (father ill, finding him a nursing home, oldest sister being a s*** - that sort of thing. LOL) and I seemed to have found small chunks of my own memory missing and about 05% of my short term memory vanishing (so I'm about 95% fine) - so all I have to do is remember this stuff! LOL

 

With the new card, I just simply updated drivers as I would normally via the display properties under the Nvidia tab (which is all I ever used to do - depending upon the card/depending upon the tab). When deleting files of any sort (documents, pictures, video clips, anything!) I got a message telling me the video drivers were not installed properly and to reinstall them, which I did to no avail. So I removed the new, later drivers and reverted to the original ones on the CD that came packaged.

 

When I feel I have your directions (which would have been simple a few years ago) straight in my head, I'll give your method a go. Thanks. :)

[TheRoc]

I would download CCleaner which is a free program, this will check for files that are no longer supported and also registry keys that are no longer needed. Install and run the file locater first and delete the files it recommends and then run the registry cleaner and fix those.

 

That should help.

 

http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner

 

Let me know how you get on

Naomi

 

I have grabbed it and am running it now, thank you. :)

[TheRoc]

My guess would be an out-of-date video card driver.

 

For a total novice, use "Windows Update" (from within Internet Explorer, go to "Tools", then "Windows Update") to see if there's a newer one available via Microsoft. For the more experienced user, go to your video card vendor's support page and look for the most recent verison for your card.

 

I guessed it was an out of date driver too, so I take that as a kind of confirmation. :)

 

In the old days I would have gone to the driver page, but for video cards now days I usually just open the display properties and go to the card's tab and find the "Update Driver" button and click that, following the prompts as I go. This card didn't like that it seemed as I had wierd messages from it when deleting files from thumb drives! I might try later the "remove old driver first and then install new driver" method.

 

The only time I have had issues with updating was when I put on a Kodak picture handling program that had come with my first digital camera. To update it, I had to go to the page via the program, close the program, uninstall it, then request the update to the now non-existant program, install the update which was an entirely new program! Seems I had to have the old program up and running to get the new version which was classed as an update...?