Graphic Problems

[CamarisTheHero]

Hello
I recenlty returned to DDO and this is the first time I've tried running this game of my laptop. The game loads just fin but when I get to the character selection screen, it bugs out. The screen just starts going crazy, it's kinda hard to describe but the best thing to compare it to would be like trying to watch scrambled analog tv channels back in the day. The game still runs fine (i just pressed enter one time and it loaded into the game as i could hear the tavern music and when I moved around the scrambled video was moving with it). Each time this happenes I have to hard shutdown my computer. I'm at the end of my troubleshooting knowledge for this and seek some help. Here is what I've tried so far and system specs.

Ensured I have the latest video drivers for my card.
Reset the graphic settings to default.
Edited the Userprefences.ini file to ensure that ingame resolution matched my current desktop resolution.
Edited the Userprefences.ini file to have the game run in windowed mode and ensured that the ingame resolution in windowed mode matched that of my current desktop resolution.
Ran video card diag. and directx diag.

Spec:
Dell Inspiron M1710
Intel 2.33 GHz Dual Core
2GB RAM
NVIDIA GeForce Go 7950 GTX
Windows XP Pro

Any help I could get would be much appriciated.

[Yeti]

The first thing to check would be heat and power. Make sure your laptop profile is not forcing lower power or fan settings to your graphics card (sometimes they will do this if not directly plugged in). You may want to post your dxdiag info (as well as running the test in Dxdiag to make sure it is not a global issue).

[CamarisTheHero]

Ok, I found a a Power Mizer setting in the NVIDIA control panel. When i switched it off, the no longer gives be the problem described in my last post. However, when I play the game it runs very choppy even at default settings. This also causes the music to skip tracks everytime the video gets really choppy (I experienced this in the tavren just running around in circles). The game gets even choppier when I attempt the match the in game resolution to the desktop resolution or change any video setting.

[DGK2000]

I stand corrected, I blame lack of coffee.

[Freeman]

Geforce Go models are integrated graphics, and share memory with the system. Im not sure you can ever get the game to run smoothly on a laptop that doesnt have a dedicated video card, I know many other games wont run well on integrated cards.

Actually, the 1710's video card is a separate unit, not an integrated card.(My wife had the same laptop, and I replaced a bad video card in it personally) It should run without any problems, even at very high settings. The first thing I would check is whether you have problems with other graphics-intensive programs. I use Futuremark's 3D tests on a loop to check for a video problems. That will help you determine if it is a problem with DDO or an overall system issue.

[Yeti]

As always, it is also vitally important to make sure you have the most up to date drivers. Nvidia has been releasing a lot of fixes in their drivers lately.

[Riddikulus]

Just for kicks, try turning off StencilShadows and EnvironmentStencilShadows in your UserPreferences.ini, e.g.:
EnvironmentStencilShadows=False
StencilShadows=Disabled

I've currently got a problem (described here) (http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=133792) with my 8800GT which is completely solved by turning off those two settings.

[Riddikulus]

Just for kicks, try turning off StencilShadows and EnvironmentStencilShadows in your UserPreferences.ini, e.g.:
EnvironmentStencilShadows=False
StencilShadows=Disabled

I've currently got a problem (described here) (http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=133792) with my 8800GT which is completely solved by turning off those two settings.

As I've posted in the thread quoted here, I appear to have solved my issue by lowering my 8800 GT's memory clock from 900 MHz factory default down to 800 MHz. After that I am able to run on Ultra High settings with everything turned on and get about 30 fps.

Run NVidia's NTune Stability Test from http://www.nvidia.com/object/ntune_5.05.54.00.html to see if your card has a problem outside of just DDO. That program will also allow you to adjust the gpu and memory clock settings.