PW is disappearing

grynn
grynn Posts: 11 Arc User
edited October 2008 in Support Desk
I started playing just over a week ago, and all was good. Then a couple days later, I started noticing that there were some invisible people running around - I could see their names and click on them, but their avatar didn't render at all. Shortly after that, all players were invisible (including most riding pets - I could still sometimes see those manta-like ones for some reason) unless they were standing very close to me. Monsters and NPC's seemed fine, and fighting pets usually seemed ok too.

As of this morning, even their names are gone. If I move the mouse cursor over someone I can still see a highlight ring under where I presume their feet are, but names are invisible no matter the distance. If I click on an invisible person, over half of the time I don't see their name by their picture - I see a blank picture, and a number like P-123456 where the name should be, though the faction still displays ok. I saw a couple names like that while shopping yesterday, but I thought that was actually their name. Now I'm assuming it's a GUID for their character serving as a placeholder for the actual name. Players still become visible when standing right next to me. For now. I can also see text over their head when they talk, marriage text, and the names of any consignment shops (but not the name of the shop player).

I've run verification twice. I've updated my video drivers. I've changed every video setting in PW from lowest to highest and back again, and most of the settings on my video card (I left alone anything that was set to "application controlled") and nothing helps, this just gets worse. I'm at my wits end - it's becoming unplayable. Help?

Windows XP SP3, AMD Athlon XP 2800+, 1.5 GB RAM, BFG Geforce 6200 w/256 MB
Post edited by grynn on

Comments

  • grynn
    grynn Posts: 11 Arc User
    edited October 2008
    Quick update:
    I installed PW on another computer, logged in, and had the exact same problem. I created a second character on the original computer, and all appears to be working perfectly. This seems to be a problem only with this one character. I'd really like to get this fixed.
  • surtr
    surtr Posts: 3,378 Perfect World Employee
    edited October 2008
    Please submit a ticket to tech support.
    In it, please include the following information:
    • A link to this thread
    • Whether or not the second installation utilized the exact same installer
    • Your account name (NOT the password)
    • The name and server of the afflicted character
    • A zip or RAR file containing a DXDiag log and at least one screenshot (in JPG format) containing your character and surrounding ones.
    ==/Senior QA Lead/==

    Surtr from the south wielding fire
    The gods' swords shine in the darkness, like stars in the night
    Mountains collapse into rubble and fiends shall fall
    Man walks the road to ruin as the sky splits in two
  • grynn
    grynn Posts: 11 Arc User
    edited October 2008
    Thank you. I did that last night, hopefully they can sus it.
  • Belial - Heavens Tear
    Belial - Heavens Tear Posts: 972 Arc User
    edited October 2008
    The problem may be related to running best performance - have you tried tweaking with the system settings?

    If you open System Settings, you have the UI pane - on there there is a slider for Distances. It allows you to see up to 170 metres away if put to the right. If that was not up to the maximum, set it to be so, close the System Settings window then have a look at where your avatar is at the top left corner of the screen. There are 4 buttons up there - one for best performance (arrows and running man), one for showing & hiding other player's names and icons (headshot), one for for showing players outside the range limit (this is affected by the distance setting I told you about before and looks like a stickman) and the last one for showing/hiding monsters on the minimap (looks like a little green face).

    Just thought I'd throw this in, in case it is just an UI issue rather than a problem with your game (since you verified it though, it shouldn't be).

    Hope it gets resolved soon!
  • grynn
    grynn Posts: 11 Arc User
    edited October 2008
    Thanks for your reply, Belial. When I first realized that distance was a factor, monkeying with the distance slider was the first thing that I tried. I probably toggle the performance button a few times a day in the hope that it just got "stuck" in some weird way and it will "unstick", but that hasn't worked either. I think I've tried everything I can on my end (and I'm more than willing to give a go at anything I haven't - I almost bought a new computer!), so I'm just crossing my fingers for the TS guys now.

    And I hope it gets sorted out soon too. Another player that I squad with a lot said today that he thinks he's gotten this bug now also. When I first searched the forum for this problem, I found two other people who described something that sounded like it as well. I assume that for every person who takes the time to post in the forum with a problem, there is also an untold number of people who don't. I have to wonder how many of them just give up on PW instead. I'd really like to stick around, and I'd like them to also, but I don't like the prospect of having to abandon one character and start another whenever this thing pops up. Especially given the money I've already spent on just this one. Fingers still crossed.
  • Belial - Heavens Tear
    Belial - Heavens Tear Posts: 972 Arc User
    edited October 2008
    grynn wrote: »
    Thanks for your reply, Belial. When I first realized that distance was a factor, monkeying with the distance slider was the first thing that I tried. I probably toggle the performance button a few times a day in the hope that it just got "stuck" in some weird way and it will "unstick", but that hasn't worked either. I think I've tried everything I can on my end (and I'm more than willing to give a go at anything I haven't - I almost bought a new computer!), so I'm just crossing my fingers for the TS guys now.

    And I hope it gets sorted out soon too. Another player that I squad with a lot said today that he thinks he's gotten this bug now also. When I first searched the forum for this problem, I found two other people who described something that sounded like it as well. I assume that for every person who takes the time to post in the forum with a problem, there is also an untold number of people who don't. I have to wonder how many of them just give up on PW instead. I'd really like to stick around, and I'd like them to also, but I don't like the prospect of having to abandon one character and start another whenever this thing pops up. Especially given the money I've already spent on just this one. Fingers still crossed.

    I have experienced the P-123456 bug too, but that was a while back... I thought the recent patches had fixed it :-/.

    I do hope your ticket resolves your query and sorry I couldn't help!
  • darthpanda16
    darthpanda16 Posts: 9,471 Arc User
    edited October 2008
    We are aware of this issue, and we appreciate everyone telling us. Please continue to try and help us narrow down the cause of this.

    We are doing what we can to make noise about this issue (as we can't reproduce it ourselves yet), and have passed it along to the appropriate people and we will just have to wait and see how the issue is handled.

    Have you all tried uninstalling and reinstalling the game?

    Did you run the auto-patcher to update the game, or use a manual patch?

    If you used the manual patches, which ones?

    Thanks
    Do you need help learning about patching the game, installing it, changing antivirus/firewall settings, changing network settings, learn how to use a computer, keeping your PC maintained and more?
    Visit our BRAND NEW Knowledge Base & Support Website! - Tech Support Flowchart - Panda Caught on Camera
  • grynn
    grynn Posts: 11 Arc User
    edited October 2008
    NP Belial, I appreciate any input here.

    Darthpanda, I haven't reinstalled, but I did do a clean install on another system and I used the autopatcher on both. If it might make a difference, I'll try an uninstall/reinstall and patch manually, and let you know how it goes.
  • grynn
    grynn Posts: 11 Arc User
    edited October 2008
    I think it may be fixed. I can't tell you how to fix it for others, but maybe if I explain it someone who knows what they're doing can figure it out.

    While playing my second character, the client started acting weird - mostly resources like skins, sounds and buttons not appearing. At that time, I don't think the client had enough memory available to it, so I don't think this was the client's fault. At any rate, I tried to exit to desktop and it hung. I rebooted, launched the client again, and all my settings were wiped out.

    I reset everything back the way I'd had it (using the 2nd character), and just on a lark, decided to check the first character again. I switched, approached Etherblade, and saw green dots on the minimap, but no people. I checked the settings for that character and found that some appear to be per-character rather than per-installation. I turned on proxy visuals on the UI tab, and cranked up the distance - THERE WERE PEOPLE! Halleluja. They still had no names, but sure enough the names option was unchecked. One checkmark later, and they had names again.

    I can't tell you if the P-123456 problem still exists, because I rushed in here to explain it. I have no idea why that character had the same problem on another machine, unless you transfer the per-character settings when a player logs in. I can't tell you if proxy visuals was unchecked all along, because I never thought to check the UI tab for rendering options. I can just tell you that I'm very happy to have this fixed (knock on wood), and I hope that something here will help you fix it for others. And maybe prevent it altogether in a future update.

    *joy*

    Off to maim and kill.
  • darthpanda16
    darthpanda16 Posts: 9,471 Arc User
    edited October 2008
    We're glad you have made progress and can play. Thanks for the tips! b:pleased
    Do you need help learning about patching the game, installing it, changing antivirus/firewall settings, changing network settings, learn how to use a computer, keeping your PC maintained and more?
    Visit our BRAND NEW Knowledge Base & Support Website! - Tech Support Flowchart - Panda Caught on Camera
  • koko156
    koko156 Posts: 1 Arc User
    edited October 2008
    Belial - Heavens Tear wrote: »
    The problem may be related to running best performance - have you tried tweaking with the system settings?

    If you open System Settings, you have the UI pane - on there there is a slider for Distances. It allows you to see up to 170 metres away if put to the right. If that was not up to the maximum, set it to be so, close the System Settings window then have a look at where your avatar is at the top left corner of the screen. There are 4 buttons up there - one for best performance (arrows and running man), one for showing & hiding other player's names and icons (headshot), one for for showing players outside the range limit (this is affected by the distance setting I told you about before and looks like a stickman) and the last one for showing/hiding monsters on the minimap (looks like a little green face).

    Just thought I'd throw this in, in case it is just an UI issue rather than a problem with your game (since you verified it though, it shouldn't be).

    Hope it gets resolved soon!


    I was having the problem with invisible players also, it was the icon for showing players outside range, that was the problem, thanks alot it was driving me crazy!
  • grynn
    grynn Posts: 11 Arc User
    edited October 2008
    One more update - I encountered another player who seemed to have this, and explained how it got fixed for me. They clicked the Default button in system settings, reset all their settings, and apparently it was fixed.

    I've seen the P-123456 thing again with both characters, but usually briefly - the name and picture comes after a second or two most often. I've also found a couple invisible individuals with the second character, but just isolated ones. Not everybody.
  • Scrydan - Heavens Tear
    Scrydan - Heavens Tear Posts: 20 Arc User
    edited October 2008
    For the GMs and people who have this bug.
    I know the fi, it's pretty simple; go to your PW folder>userdata systemsettings.ini and delete it.
    Start your game and input your settings. Done.
    Hope this helps.
  • Ibiki - Lost City
    Ibiki - Lost City Posts: 22 Arc User
    edited October 2008
    I kind of had the same problem as the OP, I was in a squad with guildmates and suddenly 3 people vanished and their names were their player-numbers/codes.

    I tried everything what people said on this thread, nothing worked.

    Then I tried what Scrydan said and it worked.

    Jump for Joy, Jump for Joy!

    So, thank you Scrydan. :)

    ( And the others for their inputs aswell. )
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