Beta 10a issues
 

Hi all

I figure as this is a Beta forum you are looking for feedback if anyone finds bugs so anyway, thought I would hopefully help fix what is my all time favourite screen saver.

I'm using Vista 32 bit on a Dell M1730 Geforce M8800 SLI.

My first bug is strange. When I click Preview I can view the screen saver perfectly, looks lovely, haven't found anything to be a problem. However when I leave my computer to switch to screen saver from a time out I get a graphical oddity. Basically there is no background behind the coral, just black, but what is striking is that as the fish swim around the tank they are not redrawn over. So you see a trail of graphics where the fish has been. Like the wrong buffer is being drawn to screen, or rather the backdrop gradient blue colour is not redrawn to the main buffer before the rest of the 3D image.

The second bug I can investigate further if required but basically I have witnessed my PC ending the screen saver without me doing anything. I would call it a crash but it doesn't report to be one, the screen saver just ends. I cannot be 100% certain I didn't accidently move something but I'm 90%+ in the 2 cases I have seen it.

Sorry my first (well 2nd) post is a whine thread, you deserve better feedback than that but I hope this feedback can be of some value.

The fact that the background wash is not being redrawn is usually a driver problem, but can also be caused by running out of video RAM.

The second problem could be caused by some higher-priority program taking control and ending the Aquarium. This used to happen a lot with network software when a new message came in, but I haven't heard much about that in a few years. Of course, this is assuming that you do not have "Exit on Mouse Move" checkmarked, and the system is simply getting a mouse signal (wireless and optical mice are especially prone to sending random signals).

Hi Jim

An update to this because I thought I would test it last night. I left the screen saver on all night by clicking Preview in the screen saver settings screen and it stayed on all night. Also in the morning after using the PC the screen saver kicked in when I left the PC for some time and it didn't display the strange background issue.

I will look for new drivers for my card but I am using very recent drivers that were a proper release, not beta, from nVidea.

I don't have exit on mouse move checked. I'll give you an update if I can find a way to repeat this consistently.

The latest drivers are not always the "best" drivers. Sometimes you might need to roll back to an earlier version for better results. Check here for other info and options.

Haree, main thing to worry about with the drivers is the WHQL ones from Microsoft (you do Windows Update and it helpfully suggests that you get "new" "certified" graphics drivers) usually are not optimized for 3D graphics. We've seen a lot of folks with graphic glitches after installing those drivers from Windows Update.

If you downloaded ones from nVidia.com directly then you should be in good shape.