Video Card and Screen Problems thread.

[Renvales]

Okay, one by one then:

I do use a physical wire through Ethernet for my connection. I feel it's the best way to go when network/online gaming. I have experienced connection drops with wireless. Also about your windower suggestion, I can honestly say that with the windower, my game actually runs smoother. I just hate to play it thorugh the windower, because I am not utilizing what I paid for in my monitor (22" HD Flatscreen), lol. I can just maximize the window, but it's just not the same. As far as the last thing you said e.g. "Avast!", my mind is a blank, lol. Run that by me again please. And thanks for the feedback.

[Gentoo]

...As far as the last thing you said e.g. "Avast!", my mind is a blank, lol. Run that by me again please.

Just check your anti-virus software. Some AV softare has applications that check network connections as well as checking the file-system for incomming malware. If your AV software has such background agents, it might be worthwile to turn them off and test to see if it's them affecting your network throughput.

You also might want to download the latest network card driver. I'm assuming you're using the one built into your motherboard, and I think one of these Realtek drivers would probably match the one on your motherboard -- I see they updated it as of 3Jan2007.
In fact, it might be worthwhile to also visit the Intel driver download site for your motherboard. I noticed the Bios was update in September, and the component driver pack was updated in December.

Beyond those, it might be interesting to download the latest Vana'bench software from Playonline, run it in the high resolution mode (forget what it's called on the menu) and see how your computer fairs. Actually watch the test, and see how your computer reacts while in the very crowded scenes. If you see the framerate drop severely, you can eliminate networking as the primary culprit. If it goes very smoothly all the way through and scores highly, the problem is probably somewhere in your networking.

[Renvales]

I got around 4500. Lol, my computer is IT.

[Esper]

Greetings and Salutations.

i myself am a new player to Final Fantasy XI (the fact that you can play as a Dragoon is what caught my attention), and purchased the game yesterday.

I did check the system requirements, and know that my system beats what it is asking for. Below is what I am currently running:


Processor - AMD Athlon (tm) 64 Processor
3000+
2.01 GHz, 1.00 GB of RAM

Video - GeForce 6200 LE
256 MB

Drivers for video are up to date, as well.


Now, here's where it gets fun. I am able to load and log into PlayOnline with no problems, as well as get to the character select screen. However, afterwords, once the character has been selected, I am unable to see anything save for my mouse, and the only way to shut the game down is through Alt+Tab. I have spoken with customer support, and they tell me it is because i operate off of a satellite, which doesn't make much sense to me, but hey, I guess I can run with it. i do use a wireless router that I have configured, as per the specifications given to me via the CSR, and still nothing.


Help, please?

[Esper]

Hehehe.....cancel that, please. Got it working. Just had to wait a little bit, first!
Satellite transfer rates aren't the best, so it takes a minute to load up.

[Melanie]

hey i'm new t the forum but i have this weird problem before my pc i used to play final fantasy online with no problems grahically and gameplay wise, well when vista came out i changed to vista and found out at the time final fantasy want compatible with it so i formated back to XP, this is where my problem started here are my specs at the moment:
=============================== System =================================

CPU = Intel(R) Celeron(R) CPU 2.60GHz
CPU Speed = 0
No. of CPUs = 1
OS = Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2 Ver 5.01.2600
Version of DirectX = DirectX9.0c
Main Memory = Capacity:767MB : Free Space:365MB
Drive [C:\] = Local Disk Free Space:3.63 GB(Capacity:38.28 GB)
PlayOnline Viewer Install Path = C:\Program Files\PlayOnline\SquareEnix\PlayOnlineViewer\
FINAL FANTASY XI Install Path = C:\Program Files\PlayOnline\SquareEnix\FINAL FANTASY XI\
TETRA MASTER Install Path = C:\Program Files\PlayOnline\SquareEnix\TetraMaster\
Graphics Card = RADEON 9600 SERIES
Type of Chip = ATI RADEON 9600 Series
Video Driver = ati2dvag.dll
Version = 6.14.10.6414
Updated = 12 December 2003 05:50
VendorId = 0x1002
DeviceId = 0x4151
SubSysId = 0x7C37174B
Revision = 0
VRAM = 128.0MB
AvailableVidMem = 122.3MB
AvailableTextureMem = 239.0MB
Sound Card = Realtek AC97 Audio
Sound Driver = ALCXWDM.SYS
Version = 5.10.00.6230
Updated = 08 March 2007 14:34
Network Card = Realtek RTL8139 Family PCI Fast Ethernet NIC
Network Driver = RTL8139.SYS
Version = 5.398.613.2003
Updated = 04 August 2004 06:31
Motherboard = SiS-651
Manufacturer =
Version =
Serial Number =

My problem with finalfantasy is that when ever i go to ingage in combat when i hit something i get lag and also when it hits me back now if i stand and allow it to hit me everything is fine O.o, i can use magic without lag, when i am around loads of people i get lag. now i've spoken to SE and they told me to turn down res and all that but it dont help, i shouldnt have to if i havnt had this problem before they then noticed i have the wrong driver and that i need 5.13 now i have the cd which came with my graphics card and it has 5.13 on there , when i uninstalling my driver and ati software then try to install this i get a message :

Severe INF error video driver not found setup was unable to complete the installation try to setup your display adapter with a standard VGA driver before running setup ...
This weird because i can easyily install the 6.14 driver but i cant go back to 5.13 ATI have taken their sweet time and when they did get back to me i was told to get rid of any files accociated in my registry which i didnt come across any, and i'm still waiting on their reply... please hopefully u can help i've been without this game for 6 months now O.o pulling my hair out, can i add all my other games work perfect such as sims 2 and guildwars

[Melanie]

k well havnt seen a reply yet but i have decided to go for driver 5.11 and see if that helps my problem with the lag but when i go to check Manage-> system device-> and then check my graphics card the version is 8.201 but when i check the driver details their all 6.14 ... why is this i'm trying my best not to see these 6.14 drivers its annoying i dont udnerstand how they come up inside a 5.11 package ... its the same when i download 5.13.. and i am making sure i uninstall everything first with the uninstall program from ATI but still i see them.. -.- i'm really loosing patience here i dunno what to do i'f i could just get some help please.
i was thinking off just wiping out my whole system (format) then start all over -.- and that update for finalfantasy aint pretty but i really need this back up and running can anyone help or is there something i'm doing wrong??

[Mhurron]

There are ATI driver cleaner programs out there, you'll want do download one and use it to remove any trace of any ATI driver you have installed on your system. Next you'll need to find the most recent drivers that support the Radeon 9600. Then make sure you have the most recent drivers for your motherboard. After that, don't run FFXI over 1024x768 and don't turn on AA or AF.

www.guru3d.com probably has links to a driver cleaner on their forums.

[Melanie]

Hey thank you Mhurron but one this though dont i need 5.13 ?? i mean SE were telling me they dont support anything higher and i've had this driver before but now i've had problems with finding 5.13 without seeing 6.14 drivers in it.. which is what really messes things up because i've always played final fantasy in 1280x1024 and its worked perfectly fine till i moved to vista then downgraded to xp again i've had this problem.

[Raydeus]

On your first post you were saying you upgraded to Vista but it didn't work (Did you download the Vista-compatible POL at the time?) and then went back to XP.

Did you reinstall everything from scratch or just went back to XP using System Restore? Most of the times system restore will mess many things up, so reinstalling your OS from scratch is preferred (although the back up process prior to reinstalling so you don't lose your files can be a pain some times ).

[Melanie]

at the time i installed vista there was no compatible version for POL so i just went back to xp doing a clean install all over again -.- and this is when my problem started, just yesterday i wipped out my pc yet again i downloaded 5.13 and ran the FF bench mark and it went perfect so gonna install FF and hopefully i've resolved the issue.. i havnt yet done the windows update with the 80 files because i've noticed that along the line a file that comes with that update kinda messes with FF so gonna try like this for a moment ... and can anyone tell me why there are 6.14 drivers in 5.13 install ?? i'm confussed

[Mhurron]

Driver versions won't always match the catalyst release version. Development on new 9600 drivers probably stopped a while ago.

A fully updated XP will run FFXI fine so run those updates. Also again, make sure to get the latest drivers for all your hardware, especially the motherboard.

[Melanie]

thankyou :-) and yes another thing is the mother board if you check my specs there is no driver there .... dont know why even if i check on divice manager there are no drivers why is this, a friend told me by motherboard maybe dont have one ... but its quite odd seen as it is SIS and even when i do try to update my motherboard driver it says it cant find the device ...its just one thing after another but seeen as you'be braught that up that could be the major problem here..

[Raydeus]

What brand is your motherboard? It says SiS but that's usually only the model of the chipset.

You can find it simply checking it visually (gotta open your rig), the model and brand are usually written on the board in kinda big letters/numbers.

With it you can go to the manufacturer's site and download the driver package apropiate for your motherboard. Also, if you don't have any drivers installed when you do the windows update after installing the OS then it will download them automatically from the MS site. And those drivers can cause you a lot of headaches.

[Melanie]

ok here is the INFO i've found, Motherboard ID: SiS-651-6A61XE19C00
Motherboard name: ECS L4S5MG3
MB Chipset: SiS 651
Company manufact: elite group

Since my last message i had done a system format yet again -.- and done a fresh install of everything FF 5.13 driver for ATI and SP2 and still my problem persists not as bad as before but still lags when people fight its weird cuz magic and everything doesnt lag me out... i really dunno what this is... still playonline config cant see my motherboards info only that its SiS 651 not even a version on there i dunno where to go from here with my motherboard i dont want to mess up anything but anyway who cares at this stage i only have FF on my pc at the mo