Both DVI-port AND cable were broken... No i can use DVI with any game... my god...

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Hi,

 

since the official driver, the family of usable video-cards has been significantly extended (by the GF 7xxxx series).

And now, RLoew is working on an OS-patch, that might well enable cards (of the GF 6xxxx and GF 7xxxx families) with 512MB.

 

Great.

 

The last factor for me, that limits my choice of GPUs, is the DVI port.

 

On any card and any motherboard i have, Thief 1 crashes, when the monitor is connected via DVI (the same happens with the rather unknown game "Jetz" by THQ, which was made for the "HotWheels" series of diecast toy cars - you fly around with a toy jet in your flat, fight toy-armies, ufos, dragons, and trash mums expensive inventory now and then - definitely fun, cannot be run on XP).

 

As i want to have a system that is as compatible with any game of that time as possible, this severely limits my choce of GPUs.

 

But, as my selection of hardware is big, but not complete by any means, and as there may be tricks do avoid this bug (if it is a bug at all, and not some quirk with my hardware or such), i'd like to ask you, if you had a similar experience as well. On the internetz, a saw some threads reporting similar problems (esp. with Thief 1), without any solution in sight.

 

Thief 1 was a popular game, so if anyone of you has the old (non-gog.com) version, you could even try out, to see if you can verify this.

 

Any idea anyone? Any ace up your sleeves?

 

Cheers, Ragnar G.D.

Edited October 20, 201510 yr by ragnargd

That may well be the result of a bug in the respective games, in which case only a game patch may fix it.

 

The only 'Thief' I found in my collection is a Z80 game and no trace of 'Jetz'. Sorry I can't be of much help.

That may well be the result of a bug in the respective games, in which case only a game patch may fix it.

 

The only 'Thief' I found in my collection is a Z80 game and no trace of 'Jetz'. Sorry I can't be of much help.

 

For the records:

 

Thief: http://techland.time.com/2012/11/15/all-time-100-video-games/slide/thief-the-dark-project-1998/

 

Jetz: http://www.tower.com/games/pc-games/details/hot-wheels-jetz-pc-games-110717703

 

I tried Thief on Windows XP, and it happens there as well.

It seems the games are not able to switch resolutions on DVI, as DVI limits the selection of resolutions, while VGA does not (which is a risk, in a way, for the monitor...)

What monitor are you using?

I will have to look to see if I still have Thief. I know I have the demo.

What monitor are you using?

I will have to look to see if I still have Thief. I know I have the demo.

I'm using a (eight years ols) 17" Hyundai TN LCD with both DVI and VGA-port, native resolution being 1280*1024.

I can replicate this problem with a (ten years old) 37" BenQ LCD TV, that also has DVI and VGA-ports (among others like Video-S, SCART, and such).

I can look up the detailed type if that helps, but i'd rather not, as they are quite dusty and hard to lift...

 

Cheers, and thank you for your efforts!!!

 

Ragnar G.D.

 

P.S.: Observation: Windows 10 freaks out when using it's own driver on these monitors, i.e. declaring them as non-pnp, and setting 63Hz refresh-rate, which is only fixed if the NVidia-driver is installed right thereafter (otherwise the screen stays black after the next reboot).

Edited October 18, 201510 yr by ragnargd

If you know exactly the resolution(s) the game(s) want(s) to switch to, you may try to override the monitors' DVI EDID by adding custom resolutions. That may work. Unless they go somewhere very low, such as 320x240 - even for a split second - which I don't know if it can be sustained by such monitors.

 

Oh and in the PS above you mean 63Hz (vertical refresh?), probably.

 

@ Tripredacus: If I recall correctly, the demos at that time used to be much more tolerant than the final products. It may well be that the demo works in such setup while the full game won't. But that's just to be tested.

>>Oh and in the PS above you mean 63Hz (vertical refresh?), probably.

 

correct...

Just to be certain, in your experience, Thief DP is actually crashing? Not where you launch the game, the screen goes dark and you can't see anything?

Are you using Thief Dark Project with no patches or Gold edition?

Take a look-see at these:

A few patches to allow the game to run at higher resolutions:

http://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=121449

Mentions setting a .cfg file to a certain resolution:

http://alt.games.thief-dark-project.narkive.com/R0FW9qAi/thief-gold-resolutions

Just to be certain, in your experience, Thief DP is actually crashing? Not where you launch the game, the screen goes dark and you can't see anything?

Are you using Thief Dark Project with no patches or Gold edition?

A few patches to allow the game to run at higher resolutions:

Mentions setting a .cfg file to a certain resolution:

 

 

I can start up and until into the game menu, and the game CTD when either starting a new game, or loading an old one.

 

Switching to the VGA-port allows a new game, and loading of the same old savegame (after rebooting inbetween, of course).

 

Changing the in-game screen resolution to any allowed value does not change anything.

 

I do used both the GOLD version, and the original one, same result.

 

I know of those patches, by being a regular visitor to TTLG (as i modded quite some LG-game, although not having enogh confidence to release my mods), and they do help getting higher resolutions, and avoid the nauseating switch of screen-resolutions.

 

I did not apply those patches here, but i will, and report.

I also will test this on three other monitors in my room, as it may be, even though not highly probable, the monitors mentioned above are part of the problem.

 

(If a patch for the game fixes this, it does not mean you cannot encounter a similar problem elsewhere. Again, i have the same behaviour for the game "Jetz", for which noone should be bothered to produce a patch... :-)

 

Cheers, Ragnar G.D

 

P.S.: I really appreciate the help you (and anyone else) provide! Thank you in any case!

I haven't had the chance to try anything out yet, but I still have some questions.

1. You mention you have a monitor with SCART input. Are your displays running in NTSC or PAL?

2. I think it would be useful to have the model numbers of the monitors you are having trouble with so that specs/capabilities can be compared. Its usually difficult to find two people with the exact same setups.

Regarding your mods, you should release them! But only do so with the understanding that you will not be concerned that people do not like it or have complaints. I've released mods before and it was a fun time for me.

Another possibility is that the game may support different resolutions in menu vs the 3d engine in gameplay. I've seen this happen before but it didn't result in a CTD.

After a tip from someone on vogons.net, i exchanged BOTH the card AND the cable.

 

(Yes, they did this to each other: A really small part of the pin sticks in the DVI-port. I hate them)

 

Elimination process always has to account for the possebility of TWO faulty components.

 

Now, every game works on DVI.

 

Thanks to everyone!

 

And sorry for me not testing thoroughly...

Edited October 20, 201510 yr by ragnargd