Troubleshooting DDO graphical problems

[adRyft]

Been playing DDO for a while now. Sometimes the game seems to get... cranky. Observe if you will:

http://img26.imageshack.us/img26/760...shot00000k.jpg

I tried installing the latest nVidia driver and the game was unplayable... it got so bad that the screen was a mesh of noise, with no discernible objects or toolbars visible. I tried running CoD: Modern Warfare and got a crash to desktop after the loading screen.

EDIT:

lots of internet research yielded that it was likely a driver problem.

I scrubbed off nVidia's latest driver (whatever it was that their site gave me) and tried one of a few older driver variants that were recommended to me for my 7600 GT.

So I started by trying the oldest recommended driver, which is 93.71. The game runs extremely choppy, but it runs. And it's clear, with no visual artifacts or glitches visible. I think my choppy results may be intense lag... I tried CoD4 single player and it runs beautifully. After trying to get through early parts of DDO despite stuttering, I got CTD.

I next installed version 169.17 beta. I'm getting the weird visual artifacts again, but DDO runs smoother. Of course, every once in a while the screen now goes black.

I still have to try 178.24.

Any other suggestions for the to-do list? Do you think newer drivers will likely yield better results?

[adRyft]

Updated the above description with my latest results. Any suggestions or comments still appreciated.

[dasungeheuer]

I think you're right on the money with "driver problem". Someone else had very similar issues and reported them last week. He solved his issues by going to the latest "omega driver" for NVidia. That's a community-tweaked driver package that stopped at 169.21 (XP) and 169.25 (Vista32). http://www.omegadrivers.net/

It's annoying that current driver packages don't support older graphics cards well in DDO, I'll give you that.

[adRyft]

Thanks for the response!

I haven't found a driver that lets me play the game, which is pretty harsh. So far I would have been better off not altering my original drivers to begin with. And since I don't recall which driver version I started with, I've essentially "broken DDO" for my intents and purposes.

I will try the Omega drivers you suggested. Keeping my fingers crossed!

[adRyft]

Wow, those Omega drivers really did the trick!

Not only does the game run, but it runs smoothly now, and without any detectable graphical glitches! I'm very impressed!

I was so happy, I threw a party:

[dasungeheuer]

Yay! Congratulations!