4850 - White dots in Crysis?

[IbaneZ]

Hi all

Anyone else got this problem in Crysis? On some surfaces, like rocks and doors there are some flashing white dots. Is this a driver problem or is it a busted card? All the other games I've tried are just fine (Bioshock/CoD4/UT3), it's just in Crysis I see these dots.
The card is not overclocked and the temps are just fine.

I took a screenie of it, but I don't know if you'll be able to spot them.

[IM_ShambleS]

They look like atrifacts to me..
I usualy get them from over stressed gpu or high temps.

i woud use ati tool to scan for atrifacts and see what kind of temps ati tool can get your gpu too.
i would also concider running rivatuners monitoring software with loging on so you can play crysis and riva tuner will record temps over the period of time you play for.

Hope it helps some.

[IbaneZ]

No artifacts in ATI Tool and the temps won't go over 50C with the Accelero S1.

So I guess its just a "Crysis thing" and nothing to worry about.

[IbaneZ]

Hmm, in DX9 mode the dots are gone, so I guess it's a weird software problem.

No biggie, the game looks good in DX9 too.

[FrAg Of FuRy]

It's your memory overheating. Used to get it when I oc'd my 9800 Pro too far, ironically, in FarCry.

I'm guessing dx10 is more demanding on the card, thus making it warmer and creating the artifacts.

[IbaneZ]

Originally Posted by FrAg Of FuRy

It's your memory overheating. Used to get it when I oc'd my 9800 Pro too far, ironically, in FarCry.

I'm guessing dx10 is more demanding on the card, thus making it warmer and creating the artifacts.

The temps seem fine though. I have no problems in other DX10 games or in 3dmark Vantage. So I guess I can live with it since it's only appears in Crysis.

I had a 8800 GT installed on this puter before, so maybe a format C: will help.
*Still hoping the card is ok*

[bigtabs]

Formatting your HD wont stop your VRAM from causing artifacts. This will only get worse especially as newer, more demanding games come out. The fact that its only the most stressful game doing it at present is a dead giveaway. Card needs to be RMA'd or you could risk applying new gunk to the memory to see if that fixes it but then your warranty is dead and no guarantees.

[IbaneZ]

Ok, thanks. I guess the card's going back then. My usual luck!

[Pepsin]

Same here.. no problems in other games, but a few white pixels on rocks in Crysis in DX10 mode. Is my card also faulty?

-The dots only appears on a few surfaces, like rocks..they do not appear randomly on the screen

-All other games work fine

-I even tried underclocking to 500/750 and the dots remained.. No difference at all..not more dots, nor less dots.

-The dots are "static".. If I don't move the viewpoint, the dots remain in the same place

-Just run ATITool, no artifacts found.

If you decide to RMA your card, would you please let me know if the dots disappeared with the new one? Sometimes, what seems like a hardware issue *can* be caused by software errors.. For example, there's a known bug in The Witcher that causes some kind of corruption that people often mistake for a faulty videocard. But if the errors disappear with a new card, I'll RMA mine too.

[spike700]

Originally Posted by Pepsin

Same here.. no problems in other games, but a few white pixels on rocks in Crysis in DX10 mode. Is my card also faulty?

-The dots only appears on a few surfaces, like rocks..they do not appear randomly on the screen

-All other games work fine

-I even tried underclocking to 500/750 and the dots remained.. No difference at all..not more dots, nor less dots.

-The dots are "static".. If I don't move the viewpoint, the dots remain in the same place

-Just run ATITool, no artifacts found.

If you decide to RMA your card, would you please let me know if the dots disappeared with the new one? Sometimes, what seems like a hardware issue *can* be caused by software errors.. For example, there's a known bug in The Witcher that causes some kind of corruption that people often mistake for a faulty videocard. But if the errors disappear with a new card, I'll RMA mine too.

If the dots are completely static and do move, disappear and reappear, then it is doubtful that it is a memory issue, bad memory does not cause cause constant static corruption.

Out of curiosity what res are you running it at? I have seen a few games where the pixel shaders used caused corruption like that at lower resolutions.

i would try lowering the res to see if the dots get bigger and also try turning down the shader quality to see if it makes the dots disappear completely.

[cvearl]

Not a faulty card!

I am getting it too.

I am putting a ticket into ATI for this.

I am running a 4870. It's not in any game but this one and not on the entire screen. In the first level when you come to the Radar or Radio Tower with the shacks on the beach... Inside the shack I get the white dots on SOME of the walls and so on.

C.

[cvearl]

Originally Posted by spyre

If you are getting white dots you need to RMA the card back to where you bought it.

I am getting the same thing in DX10 mode all high in some areas and on some textures but not screen wide...

I have submitted a ticked to ATI on it.

How do you get to DX9 mode when in Vista?

C.

[Danny Nissan]

Eh there are those kind of white dots in AssassinsCreed DX10 mode aswell. The review site HardOCP also found the same issues.

It´s most likely a bug with the DX10 part of the ATi driver rather than anything else.

http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/image....JfNV81X2wucG5n

See? White dots on the shadows there aswell (on a HD3870X2).

[IbaneZ]

I guess my card card was ok after all. I RMA'd it and got a new one, same problem.

Originally Posted by cvearl

How do you get to DX9 mode when in Vista?

C.

Start>Games>right click on the Crysis icon and choose play DX9. You shouldn't see any weird dots in DX9.

[Pepsin]

Too bad you had already RMA'ed the card... But at least this almost confirms that it's not hardware related. Usually when you get white dots like that, it means faulty VRAM. For example, one of the pictures at http://www.playtool.com/pages/artifacts/artifacts.html has those white dots. Usually, they happen in several games and there are often other artifacts as well, like spikes.

There's also a remote possibility that the memory chips are in fact overheating - When the GPU gets to almost 90C, it's heating up the heatsink to the point where it probably heats up, rather than cools the memory chips. But then I think the artifacts should have appeared in many other games and in DX9 mode. I tried many demanding games and demos, like 3DMark Vantage, Furmark, ATITool's artifact scan and the DX9 Real-Time High-Dynamic Range Image-Based Lighting.. Those are known to be very demanding and usually reveal any overheating or stability problems.

More likely, there's something funny with ATI's DX10 driver. I also got some strangely coloured pixels in the Ping Pong DX10 demo (http://ati.amd.com/developer/demos/rhd3000.html).. Does anyone else get those? I'm running the Hotfix driver.

ATI better fix this soon - the dots in Crysis are not hugely annoying (you barely notice them normally), but if people begin RMAing their cards, it will cost ATI board manufacturers money and hurt ATI's reputation.

[IbaneZ]

Pepsin:

Yeah, Crysis is the only game I've had problems with too. Oh, and the Ping Pong Demo, same as you.

So if you have these flashing white dots in Crysis DX10, don't RMA your card. I bet ATI will fix this problem in an upcoming driver.

[cvearl]

One of the Beta teststers here msg'd me that the driver team has acknowledged the DX10 Crysis bug but could not gaurantee when it would be fixed by. Just that they are fully aware of it.

That at least is a good thing.

C.

[Falkentyne]

Glad to see they replied back.
The last time I saw static white dots like that, it was years ago, but I remember it being something like "polygap errors" back then. The dots didn't move; rather they either went away or appeared depending on the angle/position you had the view pointed at.

I'd guess it will be fixed in the 8.8-8.9 driver set, unless some hotfix comes out before then...

[Mikey242]

Haha, damn I just RMA'd my card too. Wish I had read this thread before sending my 4870 back!

[lapino]

Just made a post about this in the driver-feedback thread before reading this. Also thought my card was faulty, since I put a S1 rev2 on it (temps seem very good though). We'll see with future driver updates.

[byron_hinson]

The bug is fixed in the 8.9 drivers

[Petrakeas]

I own a HD4870 with 8.8 catalyst and have the same bug in DX10.
I have noticed another issue in DX10, which is visible in IbaneZ' screenshot above.
When the suit is in "maximum strength" or "maximum speed" in DX9, the hands look red and yellow and the are "animated". It's like "energy" is flowing there.
In DX10 they look plain red and yellow. It's like a shader is not working right. Watch the screenshot comparison:


do you have the same problem?

[lapino]

Those 8.9 drivers aren't out right? Or are they?

[bradsh]

this bug with the hands still has not been fixed. GOOD JOB ATi! Glad to see we're on the ball. Anyone else got the hands bug or is it just me?

[spyre]

Works ok here for DX10 in Vista X64 with my 4870X2 with the 9.2 drivers, the hands appear as they do for DX9.

[bradsh]

weird. i reinstalled Crysis and the patch just to be sure, but I still get the bug

[bradsh]

this bug is pretty bizarre. i deleted my entire profile directory (documents/my games/crysis) and then started a new game and the bug went away. But after about halfway through the first level, speed and armor had lost their shaders and gone into flat mode. its very strange, and i still think ati is to blame somehow since i never had this on nvidia

[BlindNero]

"the patch"? There are 2 (two) patches you should install. 1 and 1.1 (hotfix).

I confirm what Spyre says.

[bradsh]

there is a 1.1, a 1.2, and a 1.2.1. 1.2.1 is an internet multiplayer hotfix, unnecessary but yes i installed it as well.

i installed Windows 7 on a fresh drive and then Crysis and 1.2.1, started a new game DX10 Very High, got past the part where you vaporize Aztec and IT HAPPENS EVERY TIME.

So here is my fairly reliable reproduction instruction, works for me on Win7 and Vista with everything up to date.

Start a new game, DX10 All VERY HIGH settings. Use speed to get to aztec. Have speed on when the cinematic begins. After the cinematic where he is vaporized, your speed hands will be flat shaded. This will never correct itself and if you load a game saved after this point it will always be flat shaded.

I would like to say this is a game bug but it simply doesnt happen on nvidia hardware. The Way It's Meant To Be Played indeed :/

[bradsh]

I found some threads over at inCrysis forums as well. Seems this is a definite ATi problem.

http://www.incrysis.com/forums/viewtopic.php?id=25855

Is there anything that can be done to bring this to the driver team's attention, or are we just SOL?