Patch Issues and OpenGL & Other Factors

[jared96]

Starting this thread as other has become a bit sidetracked with issues regarding GF responsiveness etc. Would appreciate keeping this to technical discussion and perhaps we can track down where the problem lies and any workarounds that work. Here' the original post:

1. After patching when ya hit "Click here to relaunch", game still crashes when prograss bar hits about 50%. This problem has existed since before the recent round of problems introduced with last patch.

2. I can make flags when in full screen mode w/o crashing.

3. I exited w/o crashing (once). However logging back in still screws up game window placements with all reduced to 800 x 600 footprint.

4. Somethin's funky. Alternate tabbing to web browser or any programs has fonts looking all blotchy. Close Ryzom and they all get crisp and clean again.

I'll address what I have found so far. Please use the numbers to refer to which issue you are responding to:

1. I have made no progress here. As workaround, I am just gonna not hit relaunch, kill the game and try starting again.

2. I am not having any flag issues since 8/20 patch but heard from others who are. If ya still have problems post some details about game settings. Tho, as ya will see below, I have switched to Direct3D and haven't tried to plant a flag yet. Maybe they just gone under OpenGL ?

3. Window remapping is still a problem, at least in OpenGL. In fact today when I logged in, I got the normal 1000 x 600 size character selection window covering 1/4 of my screen. However after clicking on my toon, the game continued to load in the 1/4 size window. Once in game, I went to game settings, clicked on "full screen" so I could see what resolution it thot I was using and it said 1920 x 1200. Hmmm....that's not 1/4 of my screen. Changing it to somwthing else and back to 1920 x 1200 solves it ... well at least for that session.

However, tried something else and this appears to be the reason why some peeps have the problem and some don't. I like OpenGL in Ryzom. If ya have an nVidia card, OpenGL is usally what most peeps prefer. Post 2 or 3 patches ago, shadows became square bar code looking things but hey I could live with that as it's preferable to Direct3D. However, now that I have tried it, one thing Direct3D also seems to have done is eliminated the window location remapping. Under Direct3D all my windows are right were they belong when logging in.

On a side note, I don't like how Direct3D minimizes Ryzom when I alt tab.

EDIT: On 1st exit in Direct3D I got runtime error crash

4. Problem 4, I have found a workaround for which is posted in the other thread. When you go from windowed to fill screen it was changing ya resolution from 1920 x 1200 to 1920 x 1080. Sometimes it displayed the 1080, sometimes it displayed the 1080, sometimes it didn't, but changing it to something else and back again, seems to hold it till the next relog.

So if ya have any of these problems, post the number as referenced above and post ya game settings, vid card, resolution, what initiates the issue etc. and maybe we can recognize some commonalities. If ya have a new "post patch" problem, pick a number ..... 5 is next

[khyle]

Thank you very much, I had problems with my user interface being repositioned at each start until I found this post.

1. After patching when ya hit "Click here to relaunch", game still crashes when prograss bar hits about 50%. This problem has existed since before the recent round of problems introduced with last patch.

3. I exited w/o crashing (once). However logging back in still screws up game window placements with all reduced to 800 x 600 footprint.

3. One thing Direct3D also seems to have done is eliminated the window location remapping. Under Direct3D all my windows are right were they belong when logging in.

On a side note, I don't like how Direct3D minimizes Ryzom when I alt tab.

Re #1: I have had a crash after every patch since the famous "background patcher" was introduced. Go figure. Once past that, Ryzom launches and runs just fine. What it still does, and I'd swear it came at around the same time, is minimize itself during the loading process, from about 33% into the process, to almost exactly 50%, when I can maximize the fullscreen "window" again, so these two symptoms (crashing after patch and minimizing on launch) might be related.

Addressing #3: I have been playing under OpenGL from the very first minute and have sometimes experienced problems like the "bar code shadows", which I haven't seen for a very long time now, not even in the recent past. But having to rework my UI on each and every login killed the game for me, to the point I didn't log in for weeks. Switching to Direct3D did the trick, BUT this can only be a WORKAROUND, not a fix, as I would very much like to continue using OpenGL once it's in a working state again, not least because I occasionally enjoy playing Ryzom under Linux as well (still hoping for a native client...).
An interesting point to note is that (without falling back to D3D) once you have Ryzom up and running, you can switch between character selection and game world as much as you like, the UI stays where it is supposed to be.

I am playing on an AMD64x2 WinXP SP2 machine with 2GB RAM, a GF6600 256MB card in 1280x1024 OpenGL on a TFT with 1.25 screen ratio (which was another story until they got it working again... but hey, they did! kudos!).

[jared96]

Thank you very much, I had problems with my user interface being repositioned at each start until I found this post.

My pleasure. And although this section is wher eit actually belongs I am afraoid many peeps dont read the TS section.

Re #1: I have had a crash after every patch since the famous "background patcher" was introduced. Go figure. Once past that, Ryzom launches and runs just fine. What it still does, and I'd swear it came at around the same time, is minimize itself during the loading process, from about 33% into the process, to almost exactly 50%, when I can maximize the fullscreen "window" again, so these two symptoms (crashing after patch and minimizing on launch) might be related.

Same here.

Addressing #3: I have been playing under OpenGL from the very first minute and have sometimes experienced problems like the "bar code shadows", which I haven't seen for a very long time now, not even in the recent past.

NVidia Geforce 2GO latest version on their site is 84.xx whereas the manufacturer specific version I have is 86.xx For desktops they up to 160.xx so maybe they have forgotten about us.

But having to rework my UI on each and every login killed the game for me, to the point I didn't log in for weeks. Switching to Direct3D did the trick, BUT this can only be a WORKAROUND, not a fix, as I would very much like to continue using OpenGL once it's in a working state again, not least because I occasionally enjoy playing Ryzom under Linux as well (still hoping for a native client...).

Yup. I am anxious to get back to open GL too

An interesting point to note is that (without falling back to D3D) once you have Ryzom up and running, you can switch between character selection and game world as much as you like, the UI stays where it is supposed to be.

Only time I tried that I carshed but that was pre 8/20.

I am playing on an AMD64x2 WinXP SP2 machine with 2GB RAM, a GF6600 256MB card in 1280x1024 OpenGL on a TFT with 1.25 screen ratio (which was another story until they got it working again... but hey, they did! kudos!).

CoreDuo 2.33 Laptop / 17" Screen / WinXPSp2 / 2 GB / Geforce 2Go 7950 512 / 1920 x 1200 / 1.60 screen ratio

With Open GL - bar code shadows / window rearranging / must play window mode

With Direct 3D - no shadows / crash on exit / no window rearranging / must play windowed not to have ryzom minimize when alt tabbing and to have "always on top" programs actually stay on top. Game stays at 1000 x 600 after selecting character.

[jared96]

OK, after a few days I have a rather complicated but working log in procedure.

1. Revert to full screen before exiting game. Otherwise I crash.

2. Log in at full screen, 1920 x 1200 under Direct 3D. If I don't use Direct3D I get windows all rearranged under Open GL. If I log in windowed under Direct3D, then my window IG is teh same size as teh character selction window, about 1000 x 600.

3. Once fully loaded in game, change to window mode. This allows "stay on top" programs to stay on top and eliminates the minimizing of Ryzom when you alt tab.

[gcaldani]

Starting this thread as other has become a bit sidetracked with issues regarding GF responsiveness etc. Would appreciate keeping this to technical discussion and perhaps we can track down where the problem lies and any workarounds that work. Here' the original post:

1. After patching when ya hit "Click here to relaunch", game still crashes when prograss bar hits about 50%. This problem has existed since before the recent round of problems introduced with last patch.

2. I can make flags when in full screen mode w/o crashing.

3. I exited w/o crashing (once). However logging back in still screws up game window placements with all reduced to 800 x 600 footprint.

4. Somethin's funky. Alternate tabbing to web browser or any programs has fonts looking all blotchy. Close Ryzom and they all get crisp and clean again.

I'll address what I have found so far. Please use the numbers to refer to which issue you are responding to:

1. I have made no progress here. As workaround, I am just gonna not hit relaunch, kill the game and try starting again.

2. I am not having any flag issues since 8/20 patch but heard from others who are. If ya still have problems post some details about game settings. Tho, as ya will see below, I have switched to Direct3D and haven't tried to plant a flag yet. Maybe they just gone under OpenGL ?

3. Window remapping is still a problem, at least in OpenGL. In fact today when I logged in, I got the normal 1000 x 600 size character selection window covering 1/4 of my screen. However after clicking on my toon, the game continued to load in the 1/4 size window. Once in game, I went to game settings, clicked on "full screen" so I could see what resolution it thot I was using and it said 1920 x 1200. Hmmm....that's not 1/4 of my screen. Changing it to something else and back to 1920 x 1200 solves it ... well at least for that session.

However, tried something else and this appears to be the reason why some peeps have the problem and some don't. I like OpenGL in Ryzom. If ya have an nVidia card, OpenGL is usally what most peeps prefer. Post 2 or 3 patches ago, shadows became square bar code looking things but hey I could live with that as it's preferable to Direct3D. However, now that I have tried it, one thing Direct3D also seems to have done is eliminated the window location remapping. Under Direct3D all my windows are right were they belong when logging in.

On a side note, I don't like how Direct3D minimizes Ryzom when I alt tab.

EDIT: On 1st exit in Direct3D I got runtime error crash

4. Problem 4, I have found a workaround for which is posted in the other thread. When you go from windowed to fill screen it was changing ya resolution from 1920 x 1200 to 1920 x 1080. Sometimes it displayed the 1080, sometimes it displayed the 1080, sometimes it didn't, but changing it to something else and back again, seems to hold it till the next relog.

So if ya have any of these problems, post the number as referenced above and post ya game settings, vid card, resolution, what initiates the issue etc. and maybe we can recognize some commonalities. If ya have a new "post patch" problem, pick a number ..... 5 is next

Hello.

First of all i have no problems in running Ryzom. I know that my few crashes depends, unfortunately, mostly by my old soundcard and, with hot weather, by my hard disk.

Last time i got a problem was with that unfortunate patch when most people were unable to login due to a client crash before the login process, and devs had to release a special client patch.

After that i run Ryzom smoothly and i don't suffer any of the problem you mentioned.

Anyway this is something i found, and maybe could help a bit:

1. I have seen that the client need a lot of time to release the memory, so it's better to wait at least one minute (depending of the system) before relaunching it.

1. Still: if you don't click 'relaunch' you can miss some patching process, because i'm pretty sure that some 'last minute' patch is done after you click the button, maybe not always, but i've seen it. This can cause also some patching loop that someone suffered in the past. It's better to click that button.

2. I can't tell anything around this issue: i never crashed with the flags nor i missed them a single time (i do the backup anyway).

3. It's absolutely clear that you just lose the client.cfg file where the UI preferences are stored. When you lose the client.cfg file (or maybe, the file is not saved at all), the client will use the default settings, stored in client_default.cfg. When the game start in a different resolution, obviously all the window settings will be broken, regardless of what is saved in the 'save' folder, expecially when u jump to a low resolution from a very high one.
You can try this: when you are in game with the correct settings and resolution, do alt-tab and go into Ryzom folder. Then search and copy the client.cfg in some other part. When you logout with crash, just go look the file and see if it is missed or if the content seems broken.

4. This is not unusual. The most common reason is having different desktop resolution/frequency than in the game and often, expecially the OpenGL drivers, don't switch very well. The best thing to try is, in my opinion, to always run games (not only Ryzom) at the same resolution/frequency of your desktop. This will result also in a better alt-tabbing.

You don't get problems switching between character selection and in game because it's the same engine that is working.

Furthermore, i have to say that i got some strange thing in the past, when trying to change my settings, searching my preferred one:

One time i got the same 'font' problem switching from 1920x1440 back to 1600x1200, but what i have done was simply to logout and relog, and the fonts were restored in the correct way.

After some patch, i got the 'sound muted' problem. I resolved this doing:

when in game with sound muted: i switch 'sound off' in the option panel then i logout. When i relog (with the sound 'normally' turned off), i switch the sound on in the option panel. It always worked (well, i got the problem only after a couple of patches).

Finally, here is my hardware and my settings, just for someone that wanna do a comparison:

Intel CPU 2.4 GHz with HT enabled (this means around 3.2GHz)
ASUS P4P800S FSB800
1GB PC3200 RAM
ATI X1650 AGP 8x 256MB
SATA HD 120 GB
Creative SBLive 5.1
Windows XP SP2 fully updated
DirectX 9.0c (used OpenGL drivers with Ryzom only one time)

You can see that, except for the ATI, the PC is pretty old. But i started Ryzom with a Radeon 64MB ViVo, then i used an AIW 9800 128MB till few months ago.

With this old PC i run Ryzom in full settings, except the textures where i use only the 64MB, just because i've seen no differences in using the 128MB.
All other settings are at max, and i have them maxed also during OP battles.
I have also the "Save config file when quitting the game" checked (this checkbox is found using the external configurator).

I play games always in fullscreen, so maybe this can't be of any use for people playing in windowed mode.

Anyway, hope this can be useful for someone.

[jared96]

3. It's absolutely clear that you just lose the client.cfg file where the UI preferences are stored. When you lose the client.cfg file (or maybe, the file is not saved at all), the client will use the default settings, stored in client_default.cfg. When the game start in a different resolution, obviously all the window settings will be broken, regardless of what is saved in the 'save' folder, expecially when u jump to a low resolution from a very high one.
You can try this: when you are in game with the correct settings and resolution, do alt-tab and go into Ryzom folder. Then search and copy the client.cfg in some other part. When you logout with crash, just go look the file and see if it is missed or if the content seems broken.

Good thought. However your missing one thing. The remapping was ocurring (under Open GL) regardless of whether or not ya crash. The remapping occurs in Direct3D when you load in window mode. I too had no problems for many days after the patch and was scratching my head as to why so many peeps were reporting problems I had never seen. Then one day all of a sudden I was in the same boat and have been ever since.

Current workarounds include:

a) Switch to Direct3D
b) Log in in full screen mode, switch to windowed mode to play
c) Before exiting, switch to full screen

As for alt tabbing:

a) You can't alt tab in Open GL under Open GL unless in full screen mode unless you open a program before launching ryzo. (Start btton will not get "unhidden").
b) You can't alt tab in D3D in fill screen mode w/o minimizing ryzom.

By can't I mean not on any of my systems anyway (all nVidia based).

4. This is not unusual. The most common reason is having different desktop resolution/frequency than in the game and often, expecially the OpenGL drivers, don't switch very well. The best thing to try is, in my opinion, to always run games (not only Ryzom) at the same resolution/frequency of your desktop. This will result also in a better alt-tabbing.

I think ya missed soemthing here to. What ya saying is non applicable as LCD's have only one resolution (you can fake others) but screen resolution is 1920 x 1200 and I play under 1920 x 1200. However Ryzom often opens in otehr resolutions such as 1000 x 600 (Character slection screen size) or 1920 x 1080. And when it is in 18209 x 1080, ryzon config is saying it is 1920 x 1200.

You don't get problems switching between character selection and in game because it's the same engine that is working.

Depoends on whetehr in D3D or OpenGL. In Open GL I crash.

One time i got the same 'font' problem switching from 1920x1440 back to 1600x1200, but what i have done was simply to logout and relog, and the fonts were restored in the correct way.

Can just chnage to any resolution IG and then change back to fix.

After some patch, i got the 'sound muted' problem.

Two simpler ways to do this:

a) Click on ya window when loading. If Ryzom loses "primary" program status when Ryzon loads the background thing, the sound program happens. Clicking on Ryzom stops it.

b) add the downloader=0 line to cfg file

[gcaldani]

Good thought. However your missing one thing. The remapping was ocurring (under Open GL) regardless of whether or not ya crash. The remapping occurs in Direct3D when you load in window mode. I too had no problems for many days after the patch and was scratching my head as to why so many peeps were reporting problems I had never seen. Then one day all of a sudden I was in the same boat and have been ever since.

Current workarounds include:

a) Switch to Direct3D
b) Log in in full screen mode, switch to windowed mode to play
c) Before exiting, switch to full screen

As for alt tabbing:

a) You can't alt tab in Open GL under Open GL unless in full screen mode unless you open a program before launching ryzo. (Start btton will not get "unhidden").
b) You can't alt tab in D3D in fill screen mode w/o minimizing ryzom.

By can't I mean not on any of my systems anyway (all nVidia based).




I think ya missed soemthing here to. What ya saying is non applicable as LCD's have only one resolution (you can fake others) but screen resolution is 1920 x 1200 and I play under 1920 x 1200. However Ryzom often opens in otehr resolutions such as 1000 x 600 (Character slection screen size) or 1920 x 1080. And when it is in 18209 x 1080, ryzon config is saying it is 1920 x 1200.



Depoends on whetehr in D3D or OpenGL. In Open GL I crash.



Can just chnage to any resolution IG and then change back to fix.



Two simpler ways to do this:

a) Click on ya window when loading. If Ryzom loses "primary" program status when Ryzon loads the background thing, the sound program happens. Clicking on Ryzom stops it.

b) add the downloader=0 line to cfg file

Well, i misunderstood then, i was thinking you have the remapping only after a crash.

FYI you can alt-tab in full screen mode also without any other window opened first: because the 'Window' key is disabled the only way to do is using the ctrl-alt-del to open the Task Manager. It works pretty fine for me.

Explain why you think minimizing ryzom is a problem? I didn't understood that as i minimize ryzom with no problem. The only bug i get when alt-tabbing is the Contrast/Brightness settings lost, but because the slides remains in the correct position i have just to touch one of them to restore the correct brightness/contrast i have choosen.

You right for LCD, I use a CRT monitor.

About the sound problem, i have read that fix, but personally I don't think that 'having the window losing focus' is the real problem. I never care on how the client load, i often do other things while loading and never have the problem. (as i said i got it only after a couple of patches).
I still think my solution works better with no reason to tweak the cfg file to remove the background downloader. A couple of time the background downloader crashed at startup, the game still launched normally.

Or are you telling me that 'every time' the client lose the focus, the sound bug appears?

Said that, because i'm really curious, i'm going to change to OpenGL to see if I start having some of the bugs (altough ATI implementation of OpenGL is not so good).

I will post any result i got from this test.

[jared96]

FYI you can alt-tab in full screen mode also without any other window opened first: because the 'Window' key is disabled the only way to do is using the ctrl-alt-del to open the Task Manager. It works pretty fine for me.

Too many steps. I have a "bookmark" which loads 4 tabs

Ryzom.com
BM Site
Raum
Bubblegum Mats database

Since I use these constantly during game the 1 button launch lets me alt tab just fine....as long as I do it before I launch ryzom.

Explain why you think minimizing ryzom is a problem? I didn't understood that as i minimize ryzom with no problem. The only bug i get when alt-tabbing is the Contrast/Brightness settings lost, but because the slides remains in the correct position i have just to touch one of them to restore the correct brightness/contrast i have chosen.

I don't get that problem. But as to explaining mine, if you use any "always on top" programs nuthin gonna be on top when in D3D full screen. Also I wanna see my screen (like say at least compass to see approaching mobs or see chat boxes waiting for "I'm back from afk" mesages) when I take a "time out" to type and e-mail or open a text file with a crafting recipe. When I alt tab in full screen, ryzom is minimizing takes that away.

On the minimization thing, but another topic, the game never used to "minimize itself" when loading. No look back, what does that tell you ? When does the game minimize ? ...when something else takes system priority over it. I suspect that there is some other kind of background thingamajiggie is going on. Something is stealing priority from Ryzom in the middle of loading so it minimizes the load screen. Mehthinks one of the reasons we haven't seen requests for "explain your system specs" etc is that they know what the problem is but perhaps don't want us to know what this thing is doing.

About the sound problem, i have read that fix, but personally I don't think that 'having the window losing focus' is the real problem. I never care on how the client load, i often do other things while loading and never have the problem. (as i said i got it only after a couple of patches).

I never had it either but when I did, clicking on the window does solve the problem. When it became almost permanent with the following patch, I did it. Frankly, I disable anything that tries to do stuff in the background (including Windows Update) and usually block such actions with my firewall or program options when provided. I use mike Lin's Start Up Control Panel to disbale almost every "auto start" item when windows loads. If I didnt have the problem, I would still would disable the background downloader.... the sound problem just gives everyone GF's blessing to do so.

Or are you telling me that 'every time' the client lose the focus, the sound bug appears?

After 1st patch, I'd get it 1/6 times or so....after next, like 1/2 times. The fact that clciking ona window changes the result tells me that the downloader seizing priority is not letting the the games call to sue sound resources go thru.

Best thing GF could do right now is yank the downloader and whatever other background thingamajiggie is loading and go back to the old way which worked. The 1h stamina changes and other items are not system related and I think all these problems can be traced back to either the downloader or some other background activity that we don't know about.

[gcaldani]

But as to explaining mine, if you use any "always on top" programs nuthin gonna be on top when in D3D full screen. Also I wanna see my screen (like say at least compass to see approaching mobs or see chat boxes waiting for "I'm back from afk" mesages) when I take a "time out" to type and e-mail or open a text file with a crafting recipe. When I alt tab in full screen, ryzom is minimizing takes that away.

Ah, kk. I understand that it's annoying you.

On the minimization thing, but another topic, the game never used to "minimize itself" when loading. No look back, what does that tell you ? When does the game minimize ? ...when something else takes system priority over it. I suspect that there is some other kind of background thingamajiggie is going on. Something is stealing priority from Ryzom in the middle of loading so it minimizes the load screen. Mehthinks one of the reasons we haven't seen requests for "explain your system specs" etc is that they know what the problem is but perhaps don't want us to know what this thing is doing.

The game minime to show a window only if it is already in 3D and not always (depends of the window to show), but it never minimize in 2D (ie during startup) unless it's coded into client or the bg downloader, as another program can minime it intentionally, but not the OS.

I never had it either but when I did, clicking on the window does solve the problem. When it became almost permanent with the following patch, I did it. Frankly, I disable anything that tries to do stuff in the background (including Windows Update) and usually block such actions with my firewall or program options when provided. I use mike Lin's Start Up Control Panel to disbale almost every "auto start" item when windows loads. If I didnt have the problem, I would still would disable the background downloader.... the sound problem just gives everyone GF's blessing to do so.

After 1st patch, I'd get it 1/6 times or so....after next, like 1/2 times. The fact that clciking ona window changes the result tells me that the downloader seizing priority is not letting the the games call to sue sound resources go thru.

Best thing GF could do right now is yank the downloader and whatever other background thingamajiggie is loading and go back to the old way which worked. The 1h stamina changes and other items are not system related and I think all these problems can be traced back to either the downloader or some other background activity that we don't know about.

I agree with you that the first thing todo should be removing the bg downloader as all the problems started with it.

But they should never never never track anything in the live server, they should use only the ATS for that purpose. Would be very poor development and an inexperiended team attitude to do so. I'm sure they don't (:eek

BTW: I tried OpenGL and got no problems as with DirectX (except losing Bloom).

[jared96]

The game minime to show a window only if it is already in 3D and not always (depends of the window to show), but it never minimize in 2D (ie during startup) unless it's coded into client or the bg downloader, as another program can minime it intentionally, but not the OS.

In D3D, windowed.....start login, character selection window (1000 x 600) window appears, game loads in that size window on 1920 x 1200 screen covering 1/4 of the screen.

In D3D, full screen.....start login, character selection window (1000 x 600) window appears, game loads goes full screen for what you call 2D part, then minimizes itself to taskbar. Clicking on Ryzom tab on task bar should bring back to full screen but doesn't ... well not immediately.....after about 20 seconds comes back to full screen and finishes loading.