# Far cry 2 graphic problem.



## Jeron Signe (Oct 30, 2008)

Ok I installed Far cry 2 and started it. Everything was ok but after few minutes weird colours started to flash for some time. Hills were disappering and grass became blue or black. But only for short time. It is like a flash. One moment grass is green then black and once more green. It really annoys me please help. There is a sample of what's happening to me. http://img134.imageshack.us/my.php?image=screenshot0036wn2.png

My PC:

2 GB ram
graphic card 8800 gtx 
Core 2 duo 2.4 Ghz
Windows xp


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## alwrmc (Jan 13, 2004)

I did not see a problem in the screenshot. I'm going to suggest that you check and if necessary upgrade your video card drivers. NVidia has a beta driver (I'm currently using it) that was made available for FarCry 2. I believe it is version 180.43
I assume that you already know to uninstall the old drivers, reboot and then install the new drivers. You should also temporarily disable the anti virus software during the install.


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## unRheal (Nov 9, 2008)

I've been searching and gone through quite a few results before finding someone with a similar problem to mine.

(sorry to OP - no solution yet, but maybe more info would help someone think of something... so I've elaborated mine below)

alwrmc - you're right about the 180.43 beta drivers being the latest and seeming to indicate they're "for" Far Cry 2

However, I started with 174.74 for my 8800GTX, and when Far Cry 2 said they were too old (but ran anyway) - I noticed these strange periodic (and highly annoying) "flickers" - the vegetation and landscapes seemed to flash different, fairly regularly... it's quick so it's hard to tell exactly what's going on, but it looks like the grass sort of flashes a different, incongruous frame or 2, maybe a different color, or pointing a different way from the current wind-blown direction, etc.. and there does seem to be white/bright frames in there too, maybe.

I then of course tried upgrading to the beta 180.43, which I'm still running, but it made no difference.

I couldn't see the issue in the OP's posted pic either, but it was too small and quite dark... I might try to capture 2 different frames or something if I don't find some other solution soon! 

I also tried turning off HDR, bloom, and AA, with no effect, so I also tried taking every setting down a notch from what they were, but still no better.

I also was running the original 1.0 at first, but finally decided to let the "auto update" thing finish, bringing me up to v1.01 (I think) - but again, no joy.

Any other thoughts or suggestions much appreciated.

Thanks & Cheers


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## choxaway (Nov 20, 2008)

I originally installed the game after having had a GFX card failure - my 8800GTS (750mb) cooked in the thick layers of dust, as did a component of the mobo. Whilst awaiting a replacement I purchased a 7600 card so I could carry on with photo editing. Just for interest's sake, I tried the game with this card at very low settings all round and could just about run it, albeit very jerkily.

Just got the replacement card installed, fired up the game and everything works maxed out, but I'm getting continuos flashing triangles and small odd shapes darting about, like being in a leaf storm. The game runs very smoothly but obviously something's not right. 
After getting the machine back it had 180.48 drivers installed. I d/loaded and installed 180.43 just in case it was a drivers issue but the problem persists.
The problem doesn't show during the loading screens, only after the game starts. Exit to the Options page and the triangles are still darting about behind the info panels so it carries over into the 2D rendering, which strikes me as odd. Any ideas?


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## rexgrant (Mar 2, 2006)

Hi 
Farcry 2 loads a DRM protector in the guise of a rootkit.This DRM will try to disable programs that can download torrents and copy protected DVD's, If you have any of these type of program on your PC it could be your problem {could be} Always fully uninstall your game as you may loose an install and you only get three before going back to get them to clear for you. but if you uninstall the way they advise you can install back on the same PC as many times as you like.
Regards
Rex.


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## choxaway (Nov 20, 2008)

Hi Rex,
Just thought I'd check another game so just installed CallofDuty World at War for the first time and I have the same anomolies on screen. This time they're coming straight at me in diverging lines - a bit like going down a tunnel and everything flashing past. The game plays fine, albeit it seems fixed at 1024x768 - other options are greyed out, which is also odd as I play at 1680x1050 on my 22" widescreen. There's just these triangular darts flying at me effect from the centre of the screen. The outer areas are fine, unlike FCry2 which had them all over and flying in all directions.
What's so bizarre is that the temporary 7600 card, although it was no good for gaming (which I already knew) had none of these particular problems, which suggests it's the replacement card at fault?
Now I should add that I'm using noDVD cracks for both games (never quite got over having a flightsim CD brake up in my DVD player one time in the past - hence the cracks used now) but I was also using one for FCry2 before the replacement card arrived, so I don't think that's relevant.
I suppose I'll have to take the machine back to the shop tomorrow to have them investigate this. It's not apparently game specific so must be something else - any idea what else could be causing it? Thanks for any help you can offer.


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## rexgrant (Mar 2, 2006)

Hi Choxaway.
It looks to me as though your drivers are corrupted I am assuming you have not cleaned them before installing the driver updates, Go here and download this drive cleaner pro. free download and safe.download Driver cleaner pro
Read the instructions and follow exactly. Goes something like this 
Remove Video driver Reboot into safe mode. start Driver cleaner pro click down the drop-down box until your driver shows ATI or Nvidia and any additionals you intend to replace ,then click clean reboot back into windows disable your AV and install video driver .all been well that will do the trick.
Good look
Rex 
driver cleaner pro
http://downloads.guru3d.com/download.php?det=745


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## choxaway (Nov 20, 2008)

Hi again,

Thanks for getting back to me. I followed the link but it said the program's been withdrawn and is now shareware only and I have a bit of a thing about shareware stuff from bad past experience.
I did a Google search but no suitable alternative programs came up. In the meantime, I just uninstalled the display drivers via the add/remove panel, rebooted when instructed and did a fresh install of 180.43 - but it's still just as before with all the flying triangles. 

Is there any chance the replacement card's faulty or could the new mobo be at odds with the card? I can't think the computer guys I've used for years would have got the combination wrong but my knowledge is very limited and I'm just fishing for ideas. Incidentally, I have XP Home SP3, 2gb DDR2, Audigy 2, AMD3000 PCIExpress


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## rexgrant (Mar 2, 2006)

choxaway said:


> Hi again,
> 
> Thanks for getting back to me. I followed the link but it said the program's been withdrawn and is now shareware only and I have a bit of a thing about shareware stuff from bad past experience.
> I did a Google search but no suitable alternative programs came up. In the meantime, I just uninstalled the display drivers via the add/remove panel, rebooted when instructed and did a fresh install of 180.43 - but it's still just as before with all the flying triangles.
> ...


Hi again 
99% of the time the type of problem you are getting is software related ,If your card was faulty it would show up on other programs.
The program driver cleaner pro is first class and if the Publisher now wants a reward for is program I think if I were you I would pay it.then you will have the program every time you change your drivers.
But as we say that is your choice. You say you have upgraded your video card some of the high end cards today require a lot of power to drive them Are you sure your PSU is up to the job that is another possibility.
But I would try the cleaner first 
Regards
Rex.


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## rexgrant (Mar 2, 2006)

http://www.drivercleaner.net/ppdocs/s1/php/ExpressCheckout.php


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## choxaway (Nov 20, 2008)

Hi Rex,
Take your pont re software but this effect's also happening in Call of Duty World at War. In each case the 2D loading pages/options menus etc are fine (no triangles behind them), run the game and the anomolies appear, retreat back to the loading pages and the flying triangles are there behind the text boxes.
I found Driver Sweeper at Guru3D and used this to remove residue after the add/remove program, as instructed in their readme. Downloaded a fresh set of drivers from nvidia site and installed these . . . no change.

My worry is that even if I use the freeware program, will it be any more efficient than Driver Sweeper?

In the past, when upgrading nvidia drivers, I've not bothered uninstalling older versions and simply installed new ones over the old - this has always worked fine. Wasn't the case with ATi, when you had to remove the old ones first, but several folk told me installing over the old nvidia ones was OK. Whether true or not, I've never experienced any problems with the routines before. The old 8800GTS ran everything fine, including Crysis with everything maxed out so I don't understand why the replacement one's having issues with these two new games, given Crysis was probably far more demanding.
Sorry to keep prattling on about this but let's just presume for the moment that it's not a drivers issue, is there anything else that may be the culprit? Aside from the new Workstation mobo, nothing else has changed. Power supply's fine as they specifically checked this after previous problems with a faulty batch of PSUs.


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## HeavyHemi (Nov 21, 2008)

choxaway said:


> Hi Rex,
> Take your pont re software but this effect's also happening in Call of Duty World at War. In each case the 2D loading pages/options menus etc are fine (no triangles behind them), run the game and the anomolies appear, retreat back to the loading pages and the flying triangles are there behind the text boxes.
> I found Driver Sweeper at Guru3D and used this to remove residue after the add/remove program, as instructed in their readme. Downloaded a fresh set of drivers from nvidia site and installed these . . . no change.
> 
> ...


From the description it appears you have a bad video card. Rexgrant is correct that if you only had a problem in one program the odds are high it is a driver issue. However considering you used a different card and did not have the problem then installed your new card and have graphical anomolies in more than one program I tend to believe your GPU is faulty. Hopefully you have some kind of warranty and they will replace it for you.


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## choxaway (Nov 20, 2008)

Fortunately the card was only just over a year old and still covered by the nvidia 2yr warranty. It was sent off to Nvidia (I believe it may have gone from the UK to somewhere in the far east) and the card that came back was allegedly a replacement. I'd had a 2 week wait for all this to happen as they were apparently out of stock of 8800GTS cards and I'm wondering if it was a new card that they sent or a 'repaired' one.

The guys at my computer shop expressed some doubt as to which it might be and one said he has little faith in 'repaired' cards as they often have problems afterwards. I'm taking the case in to them tomorrow and they're going to check things over, reinstall drivers etc but they believe it most likely to be the card rather than software related.

The guy who usually does my repairs/installations said he'll ring the suppliers on monday if he hasn't been able to resolve things. Apparently if Nvidia can't supply a new replacement (don't think they have any new 8800s left) they already said they'd offer the latest equivalent card instead at no extra cost. We'll see what happens but I told the guys that if there's an option to upgrade to an even better alternative I'd be happy to pay a reasonable amount to do so. Best to keep my options open, methinks. I'll report back when I have further news.

Thanks for the help, folks. :up:


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## choxaway (Nov 20, 2008)

At last an update on the story - if anyone's still interested. 

1. A 'replacement' GTS arrived and was installed but failed within three hours. We suspect it was my original card they simply sent back.

2. The guys got stroppy with the suppliers and an 8800 Ultra arrived. That was faster than my card so I thought we were doing rather well until this card also failed after half a day. It was supposedly a replacement card but the guys reckoned it was a repair job on a faulty return and they hold the view that repaired cards rarely prove to be much use.

3. This time they got really tough and intimated I was likely to sue the shop for poor workmanship. Totally untrue, of course, but it did have an effect as within two days a shiny new 9800 GX2 turned up. With 1gb of on-board RAM plus my existing 2gb system RAM I figured things would fly now.

4. Well they did but these cards create huge amounts of heat and I started having game slowdown as it throttled back trying to protect itself. The 9800's a huge card and in my old case, despite the fans and other cooling gizmos, it was still overheating. I'd already had to have a new motherboard after the initial one damaged itself during the initial failure and with the 9800's arrival a new power supply was required to run it (my old one wasn't up to the task), so there was two options left, namely buy a new proper gaming case or buy a cheaper, less power hungry/heat generating card to be installed in the existing case.

So now I have everything up and running in an Antec 900 gaming case. The ambient temperature inside sits at 60 degrees when nothing's happening but when playing FAR Cry 2 it works its way up to 75 degrees and I do still get some slow-down/micropauses. 

I'd hoped this new setup with this latest and allegedly faster card and much improved ventilation/cooling would have resolved all my problems but it would seem I may have to accept some hot-running issues. It didn't get that hot in the shop when they tested it all day but they were using a smaller monitor. I'm running a 22" widescreen at its native 1680x1050 and I suspect this may just be too much for the system when things get visually complex with all graphics settings maxed out. If I try to run the game in Ultra high, rather than Very High, it does become a slide show. This only really occurs after an hour or so's game play but I'm running out of ideas and really don't want to throw any more money at this when, as my wife, so politely puts it: "It's computer games, for crying out loud. How much more money are we going to waste on this ridiculous hobby of yours!" What can I say . . .


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