S&M CS: Graphical Corruption

[Ultra]

Hi Telltale

I'm trying to play the Sam n Max demo. At first, the game runs perfectly. However, a few minutes into playing, the game sticks for a few seconds after which it continues with corrupted graphics. It's as if bits of the 3D models are floating around them in incorrect places. Any solution to this? I'm keen to pick up the season but this is holding me back :D

[Emily]

What kind of video card do you have, and what are your other system specs?

[Ultra]

What kind of video card do you have, and what are your other system specs?

Geforce FX 5600 128mb (Installed new forceware a couple of weeks ago)
AMD Athlon 1.1ghz
384mb RAM

[Emily]

Well, your processor and memory are on the low side, but I don't think that should make a difference for the video. Is this a laptop?

[Ultra]

Nope, desktop. I doubt CPU and RAM are the issues as it runs perfectly for a good few minutes until it freezes up for a moment and the graphics become corrupted.

[Ultra]

Hi Emily, any suggestions for me?

[Steltek]

Are you sure your PC/graphics card are not overheating? (that could cause graphics corruption) Do other 3D games run fine? Have you tried shutting down all processes running in the background (things like the AV scanner, messengers, ...)?

[Emily]

I'm afraid I don't have any suggestions. This is the first I've heard of this sort of problem.

Could you send your dxdiag information to support@telltalegames.com?

The question about the graphics card overheating is a good one.

[bsaller]

I've had the same problem with random polygons appearing onscreen. I emailed Telltale, and they suggested that I change my drivers. I've tried many different drivers for my ATI Radeon Mobility 7500, and nothing works. I have never had this problem with any other application. I have a Pentium 4 2.4GHz and 1GB of RAM, so I don't think power is an issue for me. If anyone figures out a solution, I would love to be able to play Sam & Max.

[Emily]

Was I the person who responded to your email? In that case, maybe this isn't the first time I've heard of this sort of problem. They all start to mush together. :p

I'll make sure the tech guys take a look at this thread.

[Kevin]

Any chance you might be able to send in a screen shot?

To take a screen shot, delete your prefs.prop file so the game will run in a window, then hit the Print Screen key, open Paint, and go to Edit->Paste. We might be able to recognize your specific issue.

[bsaller]

It's taken me 3 months to get around to it, but I've finally attached a screenshot of the graphical problems I've experienced with Culture Shock. So far the same kinds of random polygons have shown up in every area of the game for me. Could this be a problem with anything but my video card?

[Emily]

Yuck. Definitely looks like a video card problem to my untrained eye...

[bsaller]

Not to be rude, but is it possible for someone with a trained eye to look at it? While I'm not too worried about the $8 that I dropped on the game, I would really like to play it if possible.

[Kevin]

This looks like we've exceeded the vertex limit on your Radeon 7500 mobility. This is an older chip designed for DirectX 7, and is actually below the requirements for the game. Here's (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_ATI_videocards) a good reference for where this card fits into the ATI family:

Thanks,
Kevin

[Emily]

Thanks, Kevin.

Bsaller if you do want a refund, it's not a problem.