Texture pop in/draw distance problem

[gnb]

I'm having this problem since an year or so (everything was normal before, so it is not the games, not the control panel settings and not the drivers newer/older).

I saw a topic here about the same problem (it was from 2008, and it was with radeon 4870 x2)
where 2 people were having it, and there was no solution replied.

I have seen many thread with this problem on the web, but again with no solution found.

So, I am with Windows 7 32-bit, Geforce 8800GT. The problem consists in poor draw distance and a texture "change" in 95% of the games. It is not only for objects on the background, but in closer object, where the texture "changes" (or pops in, dunno how to describe it) when i make a step forward, and changes again when i go back

Example with COD MW2 http://img69.imageshack.us/img69/3226/asd3.gif (notice the change of the car's texture. This happens with sandbags, NPCs, etc.. (This is .gif so please wait a while or refresh unless it starts moving.

Example with SWTFU http://vbox7.com/play:d5fe0b6f (1 sec only, but you can see the change when i move forward.

Example with Dragon Age http://img196.imageshack.us/img196/28/asdyz.gif (the texture of the white ox is "changing"

The is an example of a guy playing Oblivion with the same problem as mine (especially the trees "changing" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ax4P06hyGnY

The interesting thing is that for me Oblivion is one of the few games that are not bugged.

Other games that are normal are RTS games, even ANNO where i can zoom in and out, and i don't notice any bugs, and OpenGL games (Doom3, Quake 4).

I think it has something to do with Windows 7, some strange incompability with my card, or maybe because I have installed 4 GB RAM, but using 32 bit windows.

Recently i bought a new computer for mine cousin with a 9800GT, installed Win7, installed COD2 and saw the same problem

The one thing i haven't done is going back to XP, installing 64 bit OS (which some of the ppl with the problem have done, but without a result.

It is a long post, but this problem is annoying, and I would be thankful if you manage to help me.

Thanks.

 

[Mussels]

the problem is the games themselves. there is nothing you can do about it.

 

[gnb]

It is not in the games, i have played the games before and there wasn't such thing.
Even when i played COD 2 with Geforce 4 and 7600gs it was normal, and now it's not

Half life 2 ep2 has also very onnoying trees, grass and rocks popping, and it also was normal before

 

[phanbuey]

yah its a draw distance thing

i dont know that you can change that... i notice it in crysis like mad.

You used to play these games before and they were fine? hmmmm...

I see what you're saying about COD 2 and mine def dosn't do that. Maybe try different drivers?

 

[gnb]

Crysis hasn't the furthest draw distance by default. I have tried with many drivers, eventhe first Win7 drivers (185.21 i think)

 

[phanbuey]

tried turning off all texture optimizations in the control panel? Set to high quality?

 

[gnb]

Yep i have tried

 

[ctrain]

this is almost undoubtedly the games themselves, just model level of detail at work trying to save you performance.

it'll swap to a higher quality model when it figures you're close enough to actually notice the detail. this isn't your system doing something terrible, it's just an incredibly common optimization at work.

 

[gnb]

But i have played the same games before and this wasn't happening, that is what is worrying me.

 

[ctrain]

can you mimic the effect by going into iron sights in COD?

if you position yourself right, you should be able to get it to change just by sighting.

 

[gnb]

I don't have COD installed atm, but as i remember i could get the effect by using iron sights.

P.S- Just tried in Crysis (vehicle's wheel are bugged like COD's sandbags etc..) and i got the "change" by sighting. I will try to post gifs later

The gif (it is a little slow) http://img823.imageshack.us/img823/4317/bugz.gif
Here is the tyres'(the rims especially) texture change while sighting

 

[gerardfraser]

I don't have COD installed atm, but as i remember i could get the effect by using iron sights.

P.S- Just tried in Crysis (vehicle's wheel are bugged like COD's sandbags etc..) and i got the "change" by sighting. I will try to post gifs later

The gif (it is a little slow) http://img823.imageshack.us/img823/4317/bugz.gif
Here is the tyres'(the rims especially) texture change while sighting

Its all in the LOD for the games.The screenshot you showed for Crysis,heres how to change it.I could of went back father and it would still be the same,but you would not see the wheels lol.

Add this line to an autoexe.cfg file.
e_lods=0



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Here are some other commands, if ya want I can tell you what each one does.
e_lod_ratio=6
e_lod_min=0
e_lods=1
e_view_dist_ratio = 100
e_view_dist_ratio_detail=100
e_view_dist_ratio_vegetation=100 This one here can get rid of popups.
e_view_dist_custom_ratio=200
e_vegetation_sprites_distance_custom_ratio_min=1
e_vegetation_sprites_distance_ratio=1.5
e_detail_materials_view_dist_xy=4096
e_detail_materials_view_dist_z=256

 

[gnb]

I know about editing the cvars in Crysis, but this is bot only in Crysis, and this "wheel change" wasn't happening the first time I played Crysis. I was just giving an example what is happening in almost all games

I created an autoexe.cfg file in the Config folder of Crysis, added the command but nothing happened.

I just renamed it to autoexec.cfg and the tyre isn't "changing", but the npcs are still bugged
Can i do the same file for all the other games?

 

[ctrain]

I don't have COD installed atm, but as i remember i could get the effect by using iron sights.

P.S- Just tried in Crysis (vehicle's wheel are bugged like COD's sandbags etc..) and i got the "change" by sighting. I will try to post gifs later

The gif (it is a little slow) http://img823.imageshack.us/img823/4317/bugz.gif
Here is the tyres'(the rims especially) texture change while sighting

this is an expected change.

it's not a bug, it's normal behavior. that's why i asked you to confirm that it happens.

 

[gnb]

But this means that i have a general problem with the LOD settings and i have to manually adjust them for each game. I tried with Rivatuner but it makes no change.

And I know that this is not normal behavior . I know how things were before this started to happen.

 

[daehxxiD]

But this means that i have a general problem with the LOD settings and i have to manually adjust them for each game. I tried with Rivatuner but it makes no change.

And I know that this is not normal behavior . I know how things were before this started to happen.

No, it most likely just means that you didn't notice it the first time you played through it and now that you noticed it for 1 game you start noticing it in all the other games. I'm almost 100% positive this is just normal Level of Detail; it's the Game-engine doing this, not some fault in your hardware.

 

[gnb]

The texture change of the sandbags in COD 2,4,6 is so obvious that it is just impossible i didn't noticed it before. I am 100% sure that wasn't happening. I know what normal LOD and draw distance is and that this is not normal.

For example look at the Oblivion video in my first post. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ax4P06hyGnY

This guy has bugged LOD (more obvious when you look at the trees). If you that this is normal behaviour, i can say that i also played it some days ago, and it wasn't like that.

It was one of the few games that are absolutely normal (which is strange). Also i have found different topics on the web with ppl that have the same problem (there also was example with COD and the problem was like mine).

So the next time I manage to reinstall Windows, I will put back XP and see if that changes something (there is chance it wouldn't, because there were people trying this with no help), because I first noticed this soon after i put Win7 for the first time.

I posted this because i wanted to see it anyone here has the same problem (like an older thread about a guy with the same problem, there was another with the same thing happening).

Anyway, thanks to all who responded.

 

[XibaD]

The texture change of the sandbags in COD 2,4,6 is so obvious that it is just impossible i didn't noticed it before. I am 100% sure that wasn't happening. I know what normal LOD and draw distance is and that this is not normal.

For example look at the Oblivion video in my first post. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ax4P06hyGnY

This guy has bugged LOD (more obvious when you look at the trees). If you that this is normal behaviour, i can say that i also played it some days ago, and it wasn't like that.

It was one of the few games that are absolutely normal (which is strange). Also i have found different topics on the web with ppl that have the same problem (there also was example with COD and the problem was like mine).

So the next time I manage to reinstall Windows, I will put back XP and see if that changes something (there is chance it wouldn't, because there were people trying this with no help), because I first noticed this soon after i put Win7 for the first time.

I posted this because i wanted to see it anyone here has the same problem (like an older thread about a guy with the same problem, there was another with the same thing happening).

Anyway, thanks to all who responded.

I'm facing the exact same problem recently in everygame. I have an ASUS 4870 1Gb and there's popping in BC2, STALKER's, Crysis, a little in CoH ... the Ungine Heaven tests... And It's driving me crazy. Maybe has to do something with DirectX10/11?

 

[gnb]

I haven't found a solution yet, but your same problem(and some others i have noticed) shows it is not the games but something else.

When did you noticed the problem? Did you do something specific before you saw this? I saw it after i upgraded to windows 7

 

[Mussels]

the fact that you're all seeing it in DirectX 9, 10, and 11 (unigine heaven) programs, on ATI and nvidia hardware in a ton of game engines... really just makes me think you're all seeing things.

 

[gnb]

I know how it sounds, but i know what I'm seeing and i know that it is not normal. There was a guy here with the same problem (actually there are two of them). http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=75565

but he hasn't posted a solution, maybe he hasn't found one. There are also 2-3 threads in the nvidia forum (again with no solution, and again more than one man complaining.)

 

[Mussels]

I know how it sounds, but i know what I'm seeing and i know that it is not normal. There was a guy here with the same problem (actually there are two of them). http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=75565

but he hasn't posted a solution, maybe he hasn't found one. There are also 2-3 threads in the nvidia forum (again with no solution, and again more than one man complaining.)

when tracking down this kind of problem, you must ALWAYS look for things in common.

So far we have ruled out: game engine (according to you), DX level, ATI/nvidia, drivers, OS - what the hell is left?

For all i know, its something as simple as you playing on a smaller, lower resolution screen previously, so the game engine didnt drop as many items out as a performance enhancement.

 

[gnb]

It is not the resolution- I've tested COD2 on the lowest res with the lowest graphics settings and it was the same.

 

[XibaD]

Sure I notice too. I notice it when I move around and face some objects (grass, boxes, even highly textured zones). When I walk near this objects or textures they suddenly appear in front of me, a drastic transition between not beeing seen and beeing seen (objects) or low quality LOD and high quality detailed textures. I don't know how to explain better. In some games it's a noticeable effect (BC2, STALKER, Crysis, GTA IV...) and in others the effect is barely noticeable (CoH, Ungine tests, Futuremark tests, Borderlands, CoD...).

As gnb said, it's not the resolution. I have already tested this and lowering the res doesn't help. At firs I thought that was something with the memory frecuency, but I tried to lower it from its defaults and that doesn't help neither.

I also thought that was Windows 7, but I reinstalled Windows XP x64 and it was happening to in native DX9 mode.

I don't know how tho think.

 

[ctrain]

If you can move back and forth and make the transition happen yourself, then it is the game, plain and simple. There is nothing else to it.


You're just seeing model LOD. The graphics API doesn't do this, your hardware doesn't do this. It's up to the game engine to handle... which also makes it easy to take pictures of since in COD4 it's just a console command. You won't find a solution outside of turning detail settings up in game.

http://img709.imageshack.us/img709/1900/iw3mp2010071520511521.jpg
http://img199.imageshack.us/img199/4596/iw3mp2010071520512137.jpg
http://img697.imageshack.us/img697/508/iw3mp2010071520512560.jpg
http://img718.imageshack.us/img718/8929/iw3mp2010071520513214.jpg