funny problem with the sky in GTA: Vice City.

[m0L3]

specs:

Asus A7M266 motherboard w/ BIOS rev. 1007
AthlonXP 1600+
512mb PC2700 DDR RAM
Sapphire Radeon 8500LE 128mb @ 275/275 (using Cat 3.4's)
Soundblaster Live X-Gamer 5.1
60gb 7200rpm Maxtor (where Vice City is installed... This is where I boot into WinXP)
30gb 7200rpm Maxtor (Windows 98 is on this harddrive... I dual boot.)
WindowsXP Pro

Anyway, I noticed if I rotate the view upwards, there's a certain point where the sky overlaps with other scenery around... Here's a screenshot:



At the top, that was a cloud that just overlapped with the rest of the sky.

I run the game at: 1024x768, 32bpp, 2x Quality FSAA, 16x Anisotropic filtering. All details are turned up, view distance is 5 notches below max.

*edit* funny thing, it doesen't have this problem if I turn off FSAA... But I wanna play with FSAA!

[Johnnie Walker]

I am having the same problem using 2x AA + 8x AF.

any idea on how to fix it?

[recoton]

fromwhat i seen on 3dgamers.com they have a fix for corrupted graphics on vice city that is if you havent tried that yet.

[Nosferatu]

Well, I get similar "special effects", but only with AA enabled (Cat 3.4, of course).
Without AA everything looks just fine.
So I think it's pretty clear that Cat 3.4 has "some" issues with AA in GTA VC...

[breez]

Same here...

[Ibis]

have the same prob without AA, looks like its semitransparent textures thats makes everything transparent.

[usmanusb]

did u updated your window xp Pro service pack? (sp1) actually i got some problems wth Gta3 and i installed it and everything was fine; if the problem still remains try to install its 1.1 patch it may solve the Problem.
Usman Sarwar

[m0L3]

Well, my copy of WindowsXP is *COUGH*non-legit*COUGH* and my buddy that gave it to me told me NOT to install the service pack, because Microsoft knows a lot of people out there have the *COUGH*non-legit*COUGH* copy, and the service pack sees this and sends word back to Microsoft about it.

However, I do have legit copies of Windows 98, Windows 98SE, and Windows 2000 Pro.

I switched to Win2K Pro, and downloaded all the service packs and security updates. I switched mostly because WinXP kept giving me issues. Under Win2K Pro, I don't get that weird corruption in Vice City w/ FSAA on, and all my games seem to look and sound better.

My only gripes:

can't turn on fast-writes, and after I exit a game, it doesen't refresh back to the desktop gamma... Probably an easy fix, though.

[Ibis]

I run win2k too, and still have that problem, but not running any AA, could it be something with directx 9 which I use?

[usmanusb]

So i will recommend u to upgrade ur Directx9 to direct 9a. because there are many bugs which i experince under directx9. I think(chk new Thread of mine regarding DIRECTX9 bugs for RADEON8500) there is bug for radeon 8500 cards.

For windows xp Pro, First thing there is good leap of performance in xp as compare to 2k. I have practically chked it. from texture quality to frame rate definately xp is better than 2k. about pirated verson, frankly speaking my friend had installed the xp with sp1, and he wasn't asked by the big old Microsoft rather nothing has happened. trust me atleast chk xp and sp1 once u will definately see the difference. I m currently using Winxp (sp1) and also Directx 9a. I m not getting any problem with any games. Nothing will happened accept install the sp1 when u are NOT ONLINE. NOBODY will ask u.
USman Sarwar

[Ibis]

Originally posted by usmanusb
So i will recommend u to upgrade ur Directx9 to direct 9a. because there are many bugs which i experince under directx9. I think(chk new Thread of mine regarding DIRECTX9 bugs for RADEON8500) there is bug for radeon 8500 cards.

For windows xp Pro, First thing there is good leap of performance in xp as compare to 2k. I have practically chked it. from texture quality to frame rate definately xp is better than 2k. about pirated verson, frankly speaking my friend had installed the xp with sp1, and he wasn't asked by the big old Microsoft rather nothing has happened. trust me atleast chk xp and sp1 once u will definately see the difference. I m currently using Winxp (sp1) and also Directx 9a. I m not getting any problem with any games. Nothing will happened accept install the sp1 when u are NOT ONLINE. NOBODY will ask u.
USman Sarwar

I'm actually totally against XP, not because some stupid idea I got, I have tested it, several times, just keeps returning to Win2k. Xp got nothing that Win2k hasn't for me, exept higher memusage, and thats not that wanted either. Then all the small things you have to fix in XP, like disable "simple filesharing" which isn't so simple, instead of just rightclicking a folder and share, you'll be promted to run a 4 pages guide on your and others computers...hate all guides. Ofcourse, it's possible to get XP to look, work and be as fast (or faster) than Win2k, but then I rather use Win2k and miss out on all the work. PLus I can't stand the broken DivXmovie problem, that just doesn't exist in win2k. If you don't want it there that is.

[Alin99]

I read somewhere that the problem with sp 1 on pirated version of win xp is with the way it checks for the serial number. Sp1 apparently checks for a very commonly distributed serial number [i think it started with fck...] and if you have it, it installs about half way and then gives some error message through which you can't continue, and yer stuck with a useless computer.
So from what I gathered, you better have a non-banned serial number or ya could be screwed...

Alin

Originally posted by usmanusb
So i will recommend u to upgrade ur Directx9 to direct 9a. because there are many bugs which i experince under directx9. I think(chk new Thread of mine regarding DIRECTX9 bugs for RADEON8500) there is bug for radeon 8500 cards.

For windows xp Pro, First thing there is good leap of performance in xp as compare to 2k. I have practically chked it. from texture quality to frame rate definately xp is better than 2k. about pirated verson, frankly speaking my friend had installed the xp with sp1, and he wasn't asked by the big old Microsoft rather nothing has happened. trust me atleast chk xp and sp1 once u will definately see the difference. I m currently using Winxp (sp1) and also Directx 9a. I m not getting any problem with any games. Nothing will happened accept install the sp1 when u are NOT ONLINE. NOBODY will ask u.
USman Sarwar

[DigitalDemon]

^^^ we have a winner! Jus change the key ya goons and all will be normal... I mean, warez is bad bad bad!

[m0L3]

Not all of us have $200 bucks we can throw down for an over-priced operating system!

I can barely buy ONE game a month as it is.

Anyway, I still kinda get the anomoly in the sky with FSAA on in Win2K.

I think it's because of FSAA in conjunction with the motion-blur that is built into Vice City... I don't think they like each other.

[funnyperson1]

fsaa is messed up in my Vice City too, otherwise runs fine

[Pe-Te]

Whoa, Vice runs high res AND AA with 8500s ? Never thought that 8500's AA would be usefull in ANY game. Well you guys _allmost_ proved me wrong.

... since it corrupts the screen. Any of you guys reported this to ATI catalyst report system ?

Pe-Te