RTW map problem

[Derfasciti]

My maps are black and when my view in battle mode moves my soldiers look like they fade.

Can anyone give me any help?

Sorry if this is the wrong forum. I don't think it is.

[Muizer]

My maps are black and when my view in battle mode moves my soldiers look like they fade.

Can anyone give me any help?

Sorry if this is the wrong forum. I don't think it is.

Probably IS the wrong forum lol, but who am I to say as I'm new here too. As for your problem, if you experience the following when you first installed the game:

1)The land on the campaign map is very dark, though you may be able to see something if you turn the contrast on your monitor way up.
2) Cities, characters and such are very bright by comparison.
3) There are no coloured boundaries between regions.
4) textures on the battlemap don't display properly

those are clear signs you need to update your video drivers. If that's not it, well then, I don't know either.

Muizer

[Derfasciti]

How do I do that though?

I know very little about computers AT ALL.

Also, would that explain my soldiers? I can't really explain what they look like. They look normal when the cameras not moving but when it does their frame's shadow seems to remain behind while I'm moving. it's really weird.

[Muizer]

Well let's just check your driver's date shall we? If it's well over a year old it will probably need updating.

1) in windows go to "start" and click "run"
2) enter the text: dxdiag
3) click OK

This ought to bring up a panel with lots of information about your system.

4) at the top of the panel click on the tab labeled "display".

That should bring up the information on your video card and drivers. It would be helpful to know what your video card type is (top left) and your video driver version and date (top right). If it's less than a year old it shouldn't really pose problems, but if it's older it could well do.

Muizer

[Derfasciti]

device name is RADEON IGP 345M

the main driver is an ati2dvag.dll

date is 4/28/2004


Does this help?

[Muizer]

device name is RADEON IGP 345M

the main driver is an ati2dvag.dll

date is 4/28/2004


Does this help?

Name is RADEON IGP 345M

the main driver is an ati2dvag.dll

date is 4/28/2004


Does this help?

I'm running the game with a RADEON IGP 320M myself, which I believe is similar, but slightly older. It's on a notebook right? I had the problems I described when I first got the game, and installing new video drivers did solve them. The video drivers I have are indeed newer (though not all that much) than yours, so updating them seems worth a try.


If you do want to try it do this:
1) go to www.ati.com
2) click on the "drivers & software" tab
3) click on your operating system (I'm guessing it's windows XP?)
4) click "notebooks with ATI graphics"
5) click on Catalyst 5.9

That brings you to the download page. The catalyst driver installer comes as an executable file. Should be self eplanatory when you run it.

NOTE: In the past anyway ATI rather had not you download drivers for notebooks from them but referred you to the notebook manufacturer instead. Hence the following not on the download page.

"Certain mobile products are blocked from downloading the Catalyst™ Mobility™ software driver available from the ATI web site. This is to protect systems from installing drivers that may disable features or functionality provided by the system manufacture."

Yadayadayada. I guess they don't want to take responsibility for it with some systems. I suspect it's more a legal issue than anything. If it should come up, I think I can point you to a work-around solution for that.

BTW, if your system is indeed similar to mine there's another thing you might want to try. When the machine starts, a message comes up with "press F2 to enter setup" (in some cases it's another key). Try that, and you may find an option to divert extra memory to your graphics card!


Muizer

[Derfasciti]

I think I dl'd it. Afterward it was put into a folder. I installed it and it seems nothing has changed. atimcatw is the file, yes?

[Muizer]

I think I dl'd it. Afterward it was put into a folder. I installed it and it seems nothing has changed. atimcatw is the file, yes?

Hmm that's disappointing. Did you check with dxdiag again to make sure the driver's installed?

Muizer

[Derfasciti]

Well I tried a 3rd time and then it got me to the window where it said in a box "finish". So i did. But still nothing. This is most distressing...

[Muizer]

Well I tried a 3rd time and then it got me to the window where it said in a box "finish". So i did. But still nothing. This is most distressing...

plz check with the dxdiag procedure I wrote about earlier to see if your installation was successful.

If it was, then I'm out of ideas for now. If it wasn't, then I'll try to install this later version myself (I was intending to do so anyway, but it's not urgent for me) and see if there are any pitfalls that could be causing problems. I have to say that with the similarity of our vid cards and the symptoms you describe I would be VERY surprised if the drivers weren't the cause of and solution for your problems.

Muizer

[Derfasciti]

Well what should be difference in that menu? It looks the exact same to me.

[Muizer]

OK, now I'll be offline soon. So, I'm going to assume the install failed. I told you about a workaround. That is basically what I did when I first got the game. The workaround involves downloading the ORDINARY catalyst drivers:

www.ati.com, drivers&softwire, your operating system, RADEON, catalyst.

there are more files in the download section, but I think you only need the display driver.

That's the easy part

Now go to the following site and follow the instructions:

http://www.driverheaven.net/patje/

It explains how to use a tool (DL link at the bottom of the page) to modify the installer of the catalyst driver to make it work on Laptops. As you can see, your video card here IS listed as supported (it wasn't on the list for the driver I pointed you to earlier. I was just hoping it would work because, as you can see, this procedure is a bit more complicated). Note, when installing this driver, you may have to opt to ignore some warnings about compatibility and certification and such. Only thing I can say is that I've been running the modded catalyst for nearly a year now and it's given no conflicts whatsoever.


Muizer

[Muizer]

PS was typing during your last post. If the date of your driver hasn't changed, that means the driver didn't get installed. Looks like you'll have to do it the hard way then and try the modding tool.

Muizer

[Derfasciti]

I'll try to do this when I have some time and patience. Thanks for all YOUR time and patience.