Screen flickers???
 

Hello Y'all

I'm experiencing some flickering when in MA2 Time Screen Saver mode. This flickering is occuring just before a change of lightness. I wonder if anybody has experienced this, too??? :confused:

I have already tried to change the FPS, to no avail. My VGA card is a built-in one fra ASUS (Motherboard: PGD1-VM)

If not, I hope Serene will read this and provide an update/bugfix soon?

Thanks in Advance,
Kim Isdal from Copenhagen, Denmark

I can't seem to find a listing for that particular mobo. I do find one for a P5GD1-VM. Is this the one you are refering too? Without a dedicated graphics card I would expect you to have problems rendering the aquarium. You might want to look into getting a relatively inexpensive graphics card to plug into that mobo for best results.

The Intel 82915G chipset has an integrated graphics chipset by Intel. I would not expect miracles from a $3 graphics chipset but I would start with the latest drivers. Download the appropriate driver here:

http://downloadfinder.intel.com/scri...=1764&lang=eng

That motherboard only takes PCI Express video cards. There is no such beast as an inexpensive PCI Express video card.

I don't know, they're getting pretty close...

$42 is absurd for someone who wants an entry level video card.

Whatever happened to $26 GeForce 2 MX400 cards? That's perfect for the Aquarium and any 3D game more than 4 years old.

Honestly? :erm: I consider the sub $50 mark to be the very definition of entry level. If you can't spend $50 then stick with integrated graphics... Anything around the $25 mark is mega-barebone-no-frills territory... Seriously most of the current intel integrated stuff is better than the trusty old Geforce2 MXs...

Sorry... Yes it is the Mobo P5GD1-VM I'm referring to.

The funny thing is, there's absolutely NO flickering when I'm using my MA2 (without TIME, that is). This leads me to believe that there's something wrong/different in the coding of MA2 and MA2 TIME...

All the best,
Kim Isdal - Copenhagen, Denmark

As far as I know there is no difference between the two except for the additional textures and so forth that are required to render the additional things in the Time version. My best guess is that you are right at the limit of what that chip will handle with the standard version and when you use the time version it pushes you over the limit. Sort of like only adding 2 drops of water to an already full 5 gallon bucket. Its still over the limit and will leak. You can try the drivers that Morgan listed above and see if this will help. If it doesn't I would guess that your best bet would be to get a dedicated video card. Rendering things in 3D and managing all the textures and so forth is extremely difficult for a chip only.

Which version of MA2 Time are you using? Try the MD version and let me know if that also flickers.

Also keep an eye on MA2.6 when it comes out. I don't know the upgrade details yet but that will let you run both in one screensaver.

Feldon29's link to a newer Intel Graphis Chip driver did the trick. Thanks a lot everybody for all your help and insight.

I can still see that I'm pushing this poor chip to its limits due to blurry edges of the fishes when the SS is running, so I may well go for a dedicated VGA card after all. But you have bought me some time, though. :-)

Again, thank you all,

Kim Isdal - Copenhagen, Denmark