Graphics issue Fish trails (Radeon Card)

[cheapsoda]

The issue looks like when it paints the new graphics it paints right over the old and the old graphics never get removed so it leaves little trails on the screen. I've tried updating drivers and no luck. Any ideas?


Here is a screenshot: https://ibb.co/vsgMDD0


The video card is: Radeon RX 5700 XT

[feldon34]

This is always caused by a driver. When you updated the driver, did you use the recommended one from Microsoft / Windows Update, or did you get it directly from AMD's website?

[cheapsoda]

I'm using the newest stable drive from AMD's website. Is there a setting I need to disable or change?

[feldon34]

So this will sound counterintuitive, but sometimes, the newest driver is not the best. AMD will release their latest drivers which covers 150 different cards over a span of 10 years and they didn't actually test stuff on the older cards or chips or especially laptops.

Marine Aquarium 3 is based off a 20 year old program. You may need either wait for another update from AMD, or download an earlier more compatible driver.

[SoCal65]

I'm having the same trail issue with an up-to-date Radeon RX5700XT.

The solution of using an old out of date driver, just for this program, is not a viable solution.

Perhaps updating a "20 year old" program would benefit everyone including the publisher.

[Jim Sachs]

They might have an error in their latest drivers. If enough people complain, maybe they'll fix it. They are not about to give me their driver code (even if I could still understand it at 73).

[feldon34]

Originally posted by SoCal65:

I'm having the same trail issue with an up-to-date Radeon RX5700XT.

The solution of using an old out of date driver, just for this program, is not a viable solution.

Perhaps updating a "20 year old" program would benefit everyone including the publisher.  

Is your driver from AMD.com or the automatic one that came from Windows Update?

[ttrichard]

Same issue, drivers are from AMD.com, card is RX6900XT. I've had different versions of the driver (updates) from AMD, but issue remains.

[Jav400]

Just as a finish to this thread and in case someone else reads this...............


Historically Morgan and I both had more problems and had to try to help people with AMD drivers and their cards than we did with nVidia cards. I know that doesn't help you in this situation, but sometimes backing up one version in drivers would fix the problem and then going forward with testing new drivers when they came out let you progress.


That's also why Jim lets people download a limited free version before buying the program so you can test out your system for problems beforehand.

[hclarkjr]

add me to this list, just built new system with radeon 6900xt and am having this issue too. damn love this screen saver and am sad i can not use it anymore

[hclarkjr]

Originally posted by feldon34:

Is your driver from AMD.com or the automatic one that came from Windows Update?  

problem is with all the drivers, even the one installed by windows. i suspect windows 11 is at fault too in my case

[Ralph]

Sadly old software has trouble keeping up with the latest operating system. I am currently nagged by Apple to upgrade to iOS Ventura, but if I do.. my email program from Mozilla (SeaMonkey) will not run. My choice to stay with the latest operating system or use software I am familiar with. My main desktop still has windows 7 for that very reason.

[hclarkjr]

found a solution, somebody made 4k recording and uploaded it to youtube. all you need to do is download program called lively wallpaper and point it the link and instant screensaver. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ldeOT3Ysgs

[feldon34]

I think it comes down to how the Aquarium is initialized.
If it's run as a Program it's fine.
If it's run as a Screen Saver, it has problems.
If another program starts up as a screen saver and then loads the Aquarium, it tends to be fine.
Jim chased this problem for 20 years.

[Gurd73]

Good hour everyone! Tell me, the problem with Radeon cards has not been resolved?

[Gurd73]

Good hour! Has anyone solved the problem?

[Gurd73]

Originally posted by feldon34:

I think it comes down to how the Aquarium is initialized.
If it's run as a Program it's fine.
If it's run as a Screen Saver, it has problems.
If another program starts up as a screen saver and then loads the Aquarium, it tends to be fine.
Jim chased this problem for 20 years.  

Good hour! Has anyone solved the problem?

[Vinz Clortho]

This issue seems to be particular to the RDNA based AMD cards. Polaris and Vega aren't affected. I've sent an error report to AMD about it, but I don't know if they're going to do anything. After all, like the late Regis Philbin, I'm just one man.

[schilrj]

Originally posted by feldon34:

I think it comes down to how the Aquarium is initialized.
If it's run as a Program it's fine.
If it's run as a Screen Saver, it has problems.
If another program starts up as a screen saver and then loads the Aquarium, it tends to be fine.
Jim chased this problem for 20 years.  

This seems to be the case, at least with what I'm experiencing. Since rolling back the drivers is not a feasible option for me, I've been trying to mess with the graphics settings.

My laptop has the Intel Iris Xe GPU, and also a NVIDIA RTX A2000 8GB GPU. When using the Windows 10 Graphics settings, I can choose to set the preference of the MarineAquarium3.scr to use the "High performance" GPU, which is the NVIDIA. Doing this fixes the trailing fish graphics in the screen saver preview, and also when running it as a program. However, when the system starts it as a screen saver (from letting sit idle), the trailing graphics are back.

After scouring on-line for more time than I probably should, I found something that said Windows uses "scrnsave.scr" in the System32 folder to launch the screen saver. I'm not sure if that's how it really works, but I tried it by adding the scrnsave.scr to the Graphics settings list and setting the GPU option for it to "High performance" as well. Still same result (works in preview and when run as a program, but not when Windows launches it as the screen saver). I also found the "MarineAquarium3.scr" and "scrnsave.scr" files in the SysWOW64 folder and added them to the Graphics settings list too (as High performance). Still same result.

When I set the Windows Graphics settings to "Power saving" (which is the Intel Iris Xe Graphics GPU), even for just the \System32\MarineAquarium.scr file, the trailing graphics return in the screen saver preview and when running Marine Aquarium as a program. It seems this is proof that Windows may be forcing it to use the Intel GPU rather than the NVIDIA when Windows launches the screen saver command. How to tell it to NOT do that is still outside my knowledge, if it can even be done at all.

I've also tried using the NVIDIA Control Panel to manage the 3D settings to use the NVIDIA GPU for the same files. Still no luck in fixing the trailing graphics.

I'll keep trying different combinations of the above and searching for answers as I can. If I stumble across the fix, I'll let you know. Until then, if anyone has any other ideas, I'd love to hear em.

[Jim Sachs]

schilrj -- Thanks for all your efforts.