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Forums > Home› Support› Graphical and Sound Issues

Known issues and some workarounds (READ THIS BEFORE POSTING)

SystemSystem Member, NoReporting Posts: 178,019 Arc User
edited January 2015 in Graphical and Sound Issues
Hey guys. I keep seeing forum threads popping up for the same issues over and over again. To avoid cluttering up this forum with stuff that we, the devs, are already well aware of (and working hard on, I assure you!), I'm going to go ahead and make this post to keep track of known issues and workarounds or fixes.

If you want to post about any of these issues, please try to limit it to one of the (many) existing threads instead of making more new threads.

Some polygons show up black in random places under DirectX 11 mode
THE WORKAROUND: Switch to DirectX 9. You can do this in the video settings if you turn on "Show advanced settings" and then expand the tab at the very bottom for troubleshooting. Select it from the video card menu.

THE FIX: We're still working on that one.

THE UGLY TECHNICAL DETAILS:
Caused by bad model data. We're aware of it, and working on fixing it, but we have to go through and fix up a ton of models.

This only affects people using the DirectX 11 renderer, so if it's driving you totally nuts, you can switch to DirectX 9 mode. We haven't actually started using any fancy DirectX 11 features that don't exist in DirectX 9 yet, so ther only difference is a minor performance one.

It's one of those cases where something was wrong all along, but until we started using DirectX 11, it didn't matter. I guess DX9 was a little less strict with its interpretation of model data.

FORUM THREADS:
http://forums.startrekonline.com/showthread.php?t=251947
http://forums.startrekonline.com/showthread.php?t=250404
http://forums.startrekonline.com/showthread.php?t=248928
http://forums.startrekonline.com/showthread.php?t=246919
http://forums.startrekonline.com/showthread.php?t=247275
http://forums.startrekonline.com/showthread.php?t=246941

Stars render in front of planets / planets look semitransparent / flickering nebulas
THE WORKAROUND: None yet.

THE FIX: We're working on it.

THE UGLY TECHNICAL DETAILS:
Some of our sky domes (that is, a big sphere with a stars background texture) are not rendering at the right depth, causing them to show up in front of planets sometimes, or at the same layer as nebulas. We're still fixing up the sky domes. We used to do some trickery to make sure the depth values would always end up squished to the very edge of the range, but that was causing some other issues and due to other developments, it's no longer feasible.

FORUM THREADS:
http://forums.startrekonline.com/showthread.php?t=263691
http://forums.startrekonline.com/showthread.php?t=263295
http://forums.startrekonline.com/showthread.php?t=247134
http://forums.startrekonline.com/showthread.php?t=249742
http://forums.startrekonline.com/showthread.php?t=253160
http://forums.startrekonline.com/showthread.php?t=252586
http://forums.startrekonline.com/showthread.php?t=249798

Screen renders as a blocky mess using AMD video cards.
THE WORKAROUND: Downgrade your AMD graphics driver to version 12.1.

THE FIX: AMD is working on it.

THE UGLY TECHNICAL DETAILS:
Version 12.2 of the AMD driver has something horribly wrong with it. AMD is (hopefully) working on a fix for this. It's not just affecting our games.

You may have to completely uninstall your AMD driver before installing the 12.1 version. It's been reported that the driver rollback feature didn't work for someone.

FORUM THREADS:
http://forums.startrekonline.com/showthread.php?t=263130
http://forums.startrekonline.com/showthread.php?t=263321
http://forums.startrekonline.com/showthread.php?t=259428
http://forums.startrekonline.com/showthread.php?t=260437
http://forums.startrekonline.com/showthread.php?t=261411

User interface issues
These should probably go in the Gameplay Bugs forum (that's probably where the UI programmers would look first)...
http://forums.startrekonline.com/forumdisplay.php?f=69

Help! My issue isn't in the list
Now you should post a forum thread about it.

And REMEMBER TO POST SCREENSHOTS.

Seriously though, post screenshots. We basically can't do anything without them, regardless of your ability with words and description.
Post edited by Unknown User on
«13

Comments

  • maltinpolarmaltinpolar Member Posts: 5 Arc User
    edited August 2012
    Archived Post wrote: »

    Some polygons show up black in random places under DirectX 11 mode

    THE WORKAROUND: Switch to DirectX 9. You can do this in the video settings if you turn on "Show advanced settings" and then expand the tab at the very bottom for troubleshooting. Select it from the video card menu.

    Just FYI: this is still happening, and I'm using DirectX9. So this workaround is not working.
    @maltinpolar
  • maxvitormaxvitor Member Posts: 2,213 Arc User
    edited August 2012
    Do you have DirectX 9 installed? Or is it still running Direct X 10/11 in Direct X 9 mode?
    If something is not broken, don't fix it, if it is broken, don't leave it broken.
    Oh Hell NO to ARC
  • maltinpolarmaltinpolar Member Posts: 5 Arc User
    edited August 2012
    maxvitor wrote: »
    Do you have DirectX 9 installed? Or is it still running Direct X 10/11 in Direct X 9 mode?

    Good question. I didn't think of that. I checked via dxdiag and it says I have DX11, even though I've repeatedly downloaded and installed DX9 directly from Microsoft's site. Now, doing some more digging I also found this version. Which one should I use?

    I figured I could uninstall DX11 and install DX9, but I'm reading here that there's no way to manually uninstall DX11 from Windows 7 unless you go into the registry, and that deleting it "it is not recommended. Doing so may cause errors or reduced system performance".

    What should I do?
    @maltinpolar
  • beezle23beezle23 Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited August 2012
    maltinpolar wrote: »
    I figured I could uninstall DX11 and install DX9, but I'm reading here that there's no way to manually uninstall DX11 from Windows 7 unless you go into the registry, and that deleting it "it is not recommended. Doing so may cause errors or reduced system performance".

    What should I do?

    For starters, leave DX11 intact in Windows 7.

    What video card do you have?

    What drivers are you using with it?
    __________________________________________________
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC] "I weary of the chase. Wait for me. I shall be merciful and quick."
  • behelusbehelus Member Posts: 4 Arc User
    edited August 2012
    - windows vista, service pack 1
    - direct x10.1 + the latest vide card drivers for the geforce 210 (asus 210 en silent).

    the only missing polygons i find, are those on hair models. never in any other location.
    namely on the "pony tail" and any extrusion or extended hair stye.

    all the other in game items remain intact and normall.
    hope this tiny bit of information is usefull in any way posible, as detailed descriptions
    are redundant in this thread about that isseu.
  • thaddeusbartthaddeusbart Member Posts: 3 Arc User
    edited October 2012
    I's having a weird glitch in the Kerrat war zone, The Borg cubes are like glitching and stretching across the whole area of the war zone and i dont know how to fix it can someone help me?
  • admiralsvakadmiralsvak Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited November 2012
    I have an issue, the game keeps crashing on me and everyone else seems to have the same damn problem if you damn cryptic people haven't noticed!
  • trojanpride69trojanpride69 Member Posts: 1 Arc User
    edited November 2012
    admiralsvak wrote: »
    I have an issue, the game keeps crashing on me and everyone else seems to have the same damn problem if you damn cryptic people haven't noticed!

    I have exactly the same problem. After 1-5 minutes, on any graphics setting, my screen blacks out entirely. Then my graphics card struggles to bring up the image, with some apparent lag in FPS.

    Text:
    Display driver stopped responding and has recovered
    Sub-text:
    Display driver Intel Graphics Accelerator Drivers for Windows 7(R) stopped responding and has successfully recovered.

    I am currently running a Gateway, NV79C with an Intel(R) Core(TM) i3 CPU M380 @2.53GHz, 4 GB RAM (3.68 usable), 64-bit operating system.

    I was never able to play on best graphics without some processor lag. However, a step down on the simple menu graphics setting allowed my machine the best performance with graphics. Now, it does not matter what I play, the BSOD (Black Screen of Death) will cause my machine to crash 2-3 times before locking my machine up. The only solution is to do a hard reset.
  • jcswwjcsww Member Posts: 6,825 Arc User
    edited November 2012
    In before the lock! :D Clearly, who ever said things were getting worked on was full of it! :cool:
    Te4YUZG
    The Captain_Zero Is Pure Awesomeness Thread
    Ten Forward Battle Brigades OG Thread / New-Old Ten Forward Battle Brigades Thread
    Join the TenForwardForum in-game chat channel. / Test Server Character Copy Page
  • shank75shank75 Member Posts: 2 Arc User
    edited December 2012
    trojanpride69 wrote: »
    I have exactly the same problem. After 1-5 minutes, on any graphics setting, my screen blacks out entirely. Then my graphics card struggles to bring up the image, with some apparent lag in FPS.

    Text:
    Display driver stopped responding and has recovered
    Sub-text:
    Display driver Intel Graphics Accelerator Drivers for Windows 7(R) stopped responding and has successfully recovered.

    I am currently running a Gateway, NV79C with an Intel(R) Core(TM) i3 CPU M380 @2.53GHz, 4 GB RAM (3.68 usable), 64-bit operating system.

    I was never able to play on best graphics without some processor lag. However, a step down on the simple menu graphics setting allowed my machine the best performance with graphics. Now, it does not matter what I play, the BSOD (Black Screen of Death) will cause my machine to crash 2-3 times before locking my machine up. The only solution is to do a hard reset.

    I'm having the EXACT same issues!I run the same intel graphics card on my laptop and also have had to lwer my graphic settings for the same reason as mentioned in this post.WTF,Cryptic?How can blame intel if it worked before the Ssn 7 patch?!?!
  • xsi1exsi1e Member Posts: 109 Arc User
    edited December 2012
    I am also still getting this issue, Ati 6870 regardless if i run the game in Dx9 or Dx11. This issue has been going on since 2007. Please cryptic make this a priority.
    1kltX02.jpg
  • aureleusaureleus Member Posts: 175 Arc User
    edited December 2012
    Well I recently came back from a long break from STO and I immediately noticed that my FPS was Capped at 30 FPS, where as before I averaged 55-60 FPS, I can't seem to figure out Why this is happening, nothing in my system has changed.

    System.

    Phenom II X4 955BE @ 3.9GHz
    8GB DDR3 1600MHz
    HD4890 1GB
  • lolimpicardlolimpicard Member Posts: 309
    edited January 2013
    xsi1e wrote: »
    I am also still getting this issue, Ati 6870 regardless if i run the game in Dx9 or Dx11. This issue has been going on since 2007. Please cryptic make this a priority.

    Same issue still going with my 6900 series card. Even the GPL trade terminal in Q's Winter Wonderland has flipped polygons right on the front, apart from about 90% of the ships.
    Beautiful. Magnificent.

    It's not too difficult Cryptic.
    You fix your exporter/converter.
    You export all the ship models.
    You put them in a patch.
    Unless of course you have these errors in your source model...
    then you should slap the artists sh*t.
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
    He's dead, Jim.
  • captainpainfulcaptainpainful Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited January 2013
    I have a Problem. I run the game on hd mode 120hz 1600x1028 I suffer from a memory leak and within about 2 hours the games starts missing textures and lags and I have to clear memory to get it to run properly again on Windows 8 this game filled all of my 64 gb ddr 3 ram yesterday. this was ok last week
  • rednecksithrednecksith Member Posts: 3 Arc User
    edited February 2013
    Just came back to the game after about a year's absence. I am getting just HORRIBLE stuttering almost everywhere; back then it was only during ground combat but now I'm getting it in certain space environments too. Funny thing is, I've upgraded my GPU from an HD5770 to an HD6870 since then, yet the older card ran the game better!

    Graphics settings don't matter, it happens even with everything turned to their lowest possible values.
  • ericwtngericwtng Member Posts: 7 Arc User
    edited February 2013
    FOLLOW THIS LINK::cool:
    http://sto-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?t=519961

    This started after the 1/10 Patch... Okay?
    I'll start playing a mission or battle when out of nowhere the FPS drops down to approx 1 frame per 1 & 1/2 seconds. I've been playing this game since its release back in 2010 & have never had this issue untill now. Think you might consider running a Fine Tooth Comb through all recent patches, starting with 1/10 patch & work forward. Something went terribly wrong on your end. Its not a system issue. As you can see my Tower has atleast 2 to 3 times what is required to run this game.....:)

    Mainboard: PEGATRON CORPORATION Benicia
    Chipset: Intel G31/G33/G35
    Processor: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6700 @ 2666 MHz
    Phys Memory: 4096 MB (4 x 1024 DDR2-SDRAM )
    Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce 9500 GS
    Hard Disk: (750 GB)
    OS: Windows (TM) Vista Home Premium Home Edition 6.00.6002 Service Pack 2 (x64)
    DirectX: Version 11.00
    Audio: Realtek HD Audio Configured for 5.1 Surround Sound
  • simonktemplarsimonktemplar Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited March 2013
    I've returned to the game after about a year, since then I've upgraded my graphics card to a good discreet ATI Radeon HD7750. The performance of the card in the game is extremely good, only I seem to have the graphics driver crashing issue people with integrated Intel graphics have been having! Apparently, the game runs normally until the graphics drivers crash, causing the game to freeze and the screen to go black. The driver then restarts and the game continues, while the problem tends to repeat itself every 5 minutes.

    I'm very frustrated about this. I can understand when it affects an integrated Intel gpu, but why does it happen with my discreet gpu? Currently i've found no workarounds, i've set the game to about the lowest graphics settings possible, still crashes. I even sent a customer support ticket but was unable to resolve the issue that way. (because of an error in customer support stating that the email i've used to reply does not match the email i've registered with my account!! And that just isn't true.)
  • the1tiggletthe1tigglet Member Posts: 1,421 Arc User
    edited April 2013
    Flickering:

    The direct X 9 workarounds are not working on my machine at all.

    What's worse is I've been thru three graphics cards and two computers and three operating systems over the life of this game and the backdrops in instances still flicker to this day. Today as a means to try and find a fix before searching the forums for a solution, I tried using DX 11 (beta) in the hopes that it would fix these issues. While the rest of the game's overall appearance was significantly higher, this problem persisted.

    So I'm wondering does anyone know if they are finally addressing this issue on the test server?
  • thesavage0nethesavage0ne Member Posts: 3 Arc User
    edited April 2013
    I can run most games without any problems with lag/chopiness like fallout NV, fallout 3, black and white 2... and the ones that do have a low framerat have at least a regularly slow framerate like skyrim. i have problems when i'm sprinting on ground missions where it will just stop mid stride and wait a bit also when i am changing directions on the ground and moving camera. in space it dosen't happen at all in combat only when i am going fast speed or whatever its called. but then i can't turn the warp speed off because of how choppy it is. its not internet, and it not my pc. or at least it shouldn't be.
    Here are my specks.
    Intel (R) HD graphics
    (4x)Intel (R) Core(TM) i3 CPU
    not sure you need sound but both Intel(R) Display Audio and Realtek High Definition Audio
    4gb ram
    Windows 7 x64

    I have tryed changing litterially EVERY graphix setting, please help! at level 1-30 it wasn't so bad... missions were easy enough but now i can hardly complete one at level 44
    sorry for multi posting, but for some reason i still can not make a new thread. it still says not untill a certain amount of time.
  • wrathehawkwrathehawk Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    Ok so I've been reviewing threads here in support about graphic issues. I do have a doozy. I have every graphic set to max, even filled with the troubleshooting options. I have switched between dx9-dx11. To date the graphics don't really change. They look more blocky then back in the day Half-Life. There's quite a bit of pixelation that can be seen in the distance and full view of a character. My system is mid range except the video card (which site reviews show it to be high end).

    Here's a brief detail of my system. Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
    AMD FX(tm)-8120 Eight-Core Processor (8 CPUs), ~3.1GHz
    Memory: 8192MB RAM
    AMD Radeon HD 7900 Series

    I see that AMD is working on a fix for the 12.1 driver (been working on it for a while now).....
    My room mate's pc is older by 1 year and his graphics are supreme. I don't get it.
  • afree100afree100 Member Posts: 332 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    wrathehawk wrote: »
    Ok so I've been reviewing threads here in support about graphic issues. I do have a doozy. I have every graphic set to max, even filled with the troubleshooting options. I have switched between dx9-dx11. To date the graphics don't really change. They look more blocky then back in the day Half-Life. There's quite a bit of pixelation that can be seen in the distance and full view of a character. My system is mid range except the video card (which site reviews show it to be high end).

    Here's a brief detail of my system. Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
    AMD FX(tm)-8120 Eight-Core Processor (8 CPUs), ~3.1GHz
    Memory: 8192MB RAM
    AMD Radeon HD 7900 Series

    I see that AMD is working on a fix for the 12.1 driver (been working on it for a while now).....
    My room mate's pc is older by 1 year and his graphics are supreme. I don't get it.

    Do you happen to have the half resoultion graphics setting on (if you do turn it off (the easiest way to do that would be by typing /renderscale 1 into chat)), also 12.1 driver is super old that got fixed ages ago, you should update your drivers from here (on the right panel where it lists OSes): http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/Pages/index.aspx. But that only affected the beta driver so I am pretty much certain you do not have the 12.1 issue (it was like a checkerboard with black squares more than a centermeter accross appearing like a movie (as in flat 2D surface, just like parts of your monitor were turned off)).

    Definatly not a issue with your hardware, you should be running this game on max settings with no lag whatsover.
    Starfleet M.A.C.O. KDF Honor Guard
  • shadowhwkshadowhwk Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    I posted here cause I couldn't create a thread. Now I can so I'm removing this post.
  • wraithdogwraithdog Member Posts: 5 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    Exposed skin on character models now flickers post-LoR, faces most notably. Turning Vsync off eliminates the problem totally. Same results under DX9 and 11. All detail settings are on highest level, running ~190-200 fps without Vsync. Did not have problems with Vsync before LoR.

    Intel "Sandy Bridge" Core i5-3350P quad @ 3.1 GHz
    8GB DDR3-1600
    nVidia GeForce GTX 660 w/2GB GDDR5
  • captaintarnacaptaintarna Member Posts: 1 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    shadowhwk wrote: »
    I posted here cause I couldn't create a thread. Now I can so I'm removing this post.
    This is me as well.
  • kviper84kviper84 Member Posts: 1 Arc User
    edited July 2013
    Hello,

    I have got a problem, with the game launcher (directx 9) it seems the game launcher start perfect, but the window does not show , only on the tray i can see it is loaded.
    I use win 7 so i can see in little what - when is loaded.
    I refresehed the launcher, but it did not work.

    What do you think about it?

    Thanks
  • afree100afree100 Member Posts: 332 Arc User
    edited July 2013
    kviper84 wrote: »
    Hello,

    I have got a problem, with the game launcher (directx 9) it seems the game launcher start perfect, but the window does not show , only on the tray i can see it is loaded.
    I use win 7 so i can see in little what - when is loaded.
    I refresehed the launcher, but it did not work.

    What do you think about it?

    Thanks

    if you are describing what I think you are press Crtl+Shift+Esc --> select applications then right click on gameclient or Star Trek Online and click maximise, may or may not fix your issue.
    Starfleet M.A.C.O. KDF Honor Guard
  • sinsofanempiresinsofanempire Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited August 2013
    thesavage0ne wrote: »
    I can run most games without any problems with lag/chopiness like fallout NV, fallout 3, black and white 2... and the ones that do have a low framerat have at least a regularly slow framerate like skyrim. i have problems when i'm sprinting on ground missions where it will just stop mid stride and wait a bit also when i am changing directions on the ground and moving camera. in space it dosen't happen at all in combat only when i am going fast speed or whatever its called. but then i can't turn the warp speed off because of how choppy it is. its not internet, and it not my pc. or at least it shouldn't be.
    Here are my specks.
    Intel (R) HD graphics
    (4x)Intel (R) Core(TM) i3 CPU
    not sure you need sound but both Intel(R) Display Audio and Realtek High Definition Audio
    4gb ram
    Windows 7 x64

    I have tryed changing litterially EVERY graphix setting, please help! at level 1-30 it wasn't so bad... missions were easy enough but now i can hardly complete one at level 44
    sorry for multi posting, but for some reason i still can not make a new thread. it still says not untill a certain amount of time.
    >Intel (R) HD graphics
    There's your problem.
    Common people, use some common sense and realise that INTEL GRAPHICS are NOT FOR PLAYING MODERN GAMES. Its gotten just silly recently, with people buying hardcore graphical games like Crysis 3, and then wondering why the game refuses to start with 'Unsupported graphics chipset' on their Intel graphics.
    President of Alpha Solaris, a Federation fleet.

    I used to be Sinsofasolarempire
  • sovereignncc1701sovereignncc1701 Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited October 2013
    Hi everyone,

    I've got a problem too with Intel HD:

    My Notebook has an AMD Radeon HD 7970M as well as an Intel HD 4000. The game only recognises the Intel card.

    I already switched it in the Catalyst Control Center but that happend to be of no use.

    Anyone can help me how to tell STO to use the AMD instead?
  • craig76craig76 Member Posts: 775 Arc User
    edited November 2013
    they really need to do a massive upgrade on the game so it can accept late model cards.
    I just purchased GTX760's. And STO will run in DX11 or DX9, but the amount of issues i have trying to run in either is ridiculous. I hope, after season 8, they stop releasing new content, and start working on bugs, and a new engine or repairs or whatever so we can run our late model cards,etc.
    DX11 issues i have, is it keeps popping up with pixel shader warnings. no matter what i do, they keep popping up all the time.
    The other issue is no biggy, but still, annoying, can't seem to take screen shots when it goes to a cut scene.

    DX9 issues, will not select 1920x1080@60hz.....I know about the selection under screen res, which is refresh rate. But screen res stays at 1920x1080@23hz.
    Other issues in DX9 are i will be playing, graphics look fine, then all of a sudden, the graphics look terrible, as if i have settings set to minimum. Which i dont, they are all maxed out.

    I have all latest drivers. It is a new PC, and is i guess high end.
    Also audio issues regardless of DX9 or 11. The more going on, I.e, big battles heaps of ships etc, audio virtually cuts out. Now i had this problem on my old pc, and PWE kept telling me it was my realtek drivers, even tho they were the latest ones.
    Now, with my new pc, im using HDMI from my video card, straight to my tv, and it still does it. So, PWE, again, need to fix this game. Cause i for one, am getting tired of playing a broken game. I spent a bit over $2k on my new pc, and i am disappointed that STO is still broken. No matter what i do to try and get the audio or graphics sorted out, the game fails me. So, If they dont fix it soon, im going back to playing EVE or X3 or something. At least i dont have graphics or audio issues playing other games. Why is it only STO im having these problems??

    Finished ranting :D

    I will add to this by saying, my other GPU, was a GTX 275, and ran fine, except for the audio issues. Seems that wherever i look on here, everyone has basically the same thing in common in regards of issues, that is we are all using relatively new hardware. I didnt say all of us DO have new hardware, but seems the majority does.
    I believe God created the universe, because he knew we wanted to explore. So, he made us a playground...
    planet-space-sun.jpg
  • nekotainekotai Member Posts: 1 Arc User
    edited November 2013
    Think season 8 doesnt like amd..
    Not getting quite as far as some of the above examples. As soon as the char starts to load on the char selection screen sto crashes and goes back to desktop. i have updated graphics driver about 6 days before season 8 released.

    Sto was fine on full graphics before update

    600 series amd card on windows 7 dx 11
This discussion has been closed.