Problem with video card maybe?

[Gordon Frohman]

Okay, so I started playing STALKER a couple days ago and everything was smooth right? So today I started and got to X16 and met the Pseudogiant.

It started crashing when it stomped the ground, but then I fixed it. Don't know how, and yes, this is going somewhere.

I have a mod for STALKER called ULTIMATE which is a merger of like 20 different mods or some shit. So I get to the Burer fight and the screen is spinning wildly out of control and then I use a console command to fix it. It worked, I thought, but then got a black screen. I got off the game and restarted.

Wouldn't you know it? Some other fuck up happened! Only this time it was something I hadn't expected: a screen where I could see my gun, my health, rain and some other shit, but also artifacts. That kinda scared me as I thought my card was dying. Not your typical artifacts, these were black squares and rectangles mishmashed around the screen, but NOT checkerboard style.

If my card was in fact dying, would I even be able to type this message and see my screen perfectly? I tried other games and their screens weren't fucked up, only STALKER. I have an nVidia 8800 GTX if that helps.

OH also I downloaded new drivers too, then rolled back, THEN the fuckup happened, and then downloaded them again. should I just reinstall STALKER and see what happens?

Any advice?

system32, go ahead, get it out of your system

[Saladin]

Well if you installed new drivers and then rolled back, that sounds like a good candidate for trouble.

When installing drivers, it's always good idea to uninstall the old ones and then install the new ones. Rolling back doesn't always work right and can fuck things up. I'd recommend uninstalling your drivers and then installing the new ones, or uninstalling your drivers and installing older ones if the new drivers are giving you trouble.

STALKER is notorious for having all kinds of weird problems. So it might just be the game. If not, try another game that's equally rough on your graphics card and see if anything happens.

[Gordon Frohman]

I tried damn near every game I have and still no problems like the ones with STALKER. On top off that, this is as far as I can remember the only time I've gotten this issue.

How do I uninstall previous drivers? And then install the older ones?

[Saladin]

Under Uninstall Programs in the Control Panel (or Add and Remove programs in some older versions of windows), look for Nvidia Drivers and uninstall those. After it's done, restart your computer.

It should be sluggish and weird, but it should work ok. Now install the new drivers and restart your computer. You should be good after that.

If not, well, STALKER can be really wonky sometimes. It's hard to say whether it's a hardware or software problem but, given the probabilities, it's most likely just STALKER being weird.

[Gordon Frohman]

So how would I know for sure if my video card is fucked?

[Saladin]

You'd be seeing problems across the board and shit wouldn't be working correctly in general.

[Mr. Smith]

Make sure you delete system32, that can really screw with your card.

[Gordon Frohman]

Also Sally, what's a bad temp for CPU and GPU? mine is standing at:

both cores 40c
GPU 73c with fan 60%
hard disk at 30%

is that bad?

[Mr. Smith]

Also Sally, what's a bad temp for CPU and GPU? mine is standing at:

both cores 40c
GPU 73c with fan 60%
hard disk at 30%

is that bad?

Dude, just do what I did. Go to a computer fair, avoid all the booths with white people, find the real computer guys and then have them build you a brand new computer. Costs much less then an ailenware, plus you get a service plan with the computer geeks.

[Gordon Frohman]

K so I reinstalled STALKER and I get the artifacts on screen, can't see shit but the sky and my HUD and reticle. My graphics card was sitting at 66c or 150f, maybe that's why?

But why STALKER only? Other games work fine?

[Gordon Frohman]

Here's what it looks like after reinstalling, even trying new drivers.

[Mr. Smith]

Looks fine to me.

[Gordon Frohman]

Seriously, stop posting.

[Gordon Frohman]

Oh and my GPU temp was at 66c, now at 61c since I upped the fan speed. That bad?

[Saladin]

It doesn't sound normal, that's for sure. I don't know what my card temp averages at during an intense game, but it definitely isn't that high.

It sounds like STALKER is overheating the shit out of your video card, why I have no idea.

I'd recommend googling the problem, I doubt you'd be the first person to run into it.

But it doesn't seem to be a hardware issue if you have indeed run games that are more graphics intensive. Keep in mind that video cards rarely break, it's far more likely that it's just STALKER being weird for whatever reason. Possibly some conflict with drivers or perhaps the version you're using is weird and you need to update.

Google it, I bet someone has had this happen to them before.