New player here with some graphics trouble
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Hello everyone. I never played this great game when it came out, but I had always heard good things about it. I picked up a cheap copy the other day looking for older games that I can play on my laptop. I have a Lenovo 3000 series running 32-bit Vista Home Premium (Service Pack 2), Intel Dual Core T2080 CPU, 2GB RAM, and an Intel GMA 950 256MB integrated GPU. After installation, I got the well-documented failure to recognize my graphics card error and the annoying Intel text flickering. Otherwise the game plays wonderfully with no other errors at max settings. However after a lot of searching and researching, I decided to do the following:
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uninstall Freelancer
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download official v1.1 patch
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download the newest unofficial quickfix patch from The Starport (supposed to fix this problem thanks to the revamped flconfigdatabase file)
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installed newest 945 chipset family drivers for my GMA 950
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installed the newest update for Direct X 10
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fully updated Windows Vista (including Service Pack 2)
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reinstalled Freelancer
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applied the quickfix patch
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applied the v1.1 patch
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restarted the game
This time it recognized my graphics card, so I thought the problem would be solved, but the text flickering is still there in almost every menu screen (like the ship dealer, for example). If I turn on rollover help, I can get it to stop temporarily by rolling over any of the buttons, but it starts again every time I move the mouse off the buttons. When I looked at the flconfigdatabase file, I noticed a comment detailing two other possible text fixes: reinstalling the text files from the CD, and reinstalling the MSXML parser from the CD, so I:
- copy/pasted/overwrote the text files from the CD to my Windows Fonts folder (however I did not reinstall the text .ini files from the CD because the quickfix patch includes some new .ini’s and I didn’t want to mess anything up)
- ran the MSXML install .exe from the CD again
Unfortunately this did not solve the problem. I have tried every documented fix for this Intel issue I could find on this site and the rest of the web to no avail. I still persistently have the text flickering problem, and it’s driving me crazy ??? I really want to play this game, are there any gurus on here who have any ideas for me?
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Download this and see if it helps
http://the-starport.net/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_download&gid=8&Itemid=43
Freelancer Hardware Update
The Freelancer Hardware Update package contains an updated set of Video Card display DeviceID’s. The list of supported hardware grows as more hardware is submitted by players like you. If you are having trouble with the game because of having a video card made after the year 2000 then try this out.
Extract this package to Freelancer’s EXE folder to update your hardware support.
Author: Louva-Deus
im not sure myself which is more upto date… this flconfigdatabase OR the quickfix patch…
OH and Welcome to The-Starport
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If you look in your Freelancer folder (C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Freelancer by default), I believe there is an XML package somewhere in there. Execute it and try again.
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First off if this was a court of law they would refer to me as a “Hostile Witness” as I swore off Vista long ago on my own machines. ;D
However, I do still have to “Fix” these things on a all too frequent an occasion with, You guessed, Vista Installed,
Two Possible Answers for you…
1st,
Your Video Driver may install a separate applet In Control Panel, or it May just be reached off the Standard Display Applet / Settings Tab / Advanced Button Pathway. Regardless, you are looking for the Intel Graphics Media Accelerator Driver for Mobile (GMA). Open the Applet (Graphics Properties Button from Display Applet), and locate the 3D Settings Button.
Click and open the 3D Settings button. If the “Restore Defaults” is not grayed out MAKE NOTE of the current values and save this info! Then click Restore Defaults, Ignore Intel stating at top these settings only pertain to OpenGL. If the button is not Greyed out, Intentionally change one value, click Apply, then come back and Click Restore Defaults. Some bizarre reason I have seen this fix it as well. Remember, if none of this step solved your issue, and there was other than default settings in the 3D Settings Area, be certain to restore these from your notes.2nd,
This well written guide will help with attempting a fix using Compatibility Modes. Beginners Guides: Making Old Software Compatible with Windows Vista The entire guide is useful, but the sections on page 4 and 5 mean the most to you here. I think your issue might trace to “Disable Display Scaling on High DPI Settings” on page 5. Especially if your running Large or Scaled Fonts on your Desktop as many do on Laptops for visibility.I hope one of these get you results.
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bump.
I have this EXACT issue, also with the intel GMA chip. Is there any workaround? I’ve tried both methods, disabling scaling and restoring the default intel graphics settings. It’s odd how my friend’s ancient S3 video card can run this fine. There must be some driver issue between the intel chip and Freelancer.
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my experience is that the GMA500 i got in my netbook doesnt like 8 bit graphics, 16 bit graphics and 640x480 resolutions, it doesnt like transparent textures with something that is overlapping isnt transparent… this is only the drivers that has trouble with, everything on my list now works without the drivers but then u wont be able to play new games (DX8 and up)
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Have you tried alternative graphic card drivers? (For instance, for ATI omegadriver)
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That be the exact issue I’m having right thar! As of this moment, I have only found one thing that fixes this issue, but at the cost of graphics degradation and some speed.
SwiftShader:
http://9xxssf.info/downloads.htmlUnzip and drop the files
d3d8.dll
d3d9.dll
SwiftShader.ini
SwiftShader 2_0 Configuration Panel.mht
into your freelancer EXE folder and run FL.http://www.procyonserver.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=22387#p22387
Couldn’t changing shader options or so in the graphics card setting help a bit as well?
