RPG Maker VX Ace - Full Screen Flicker under Windows 7 64 bit

[Larn Conner]

Hello, this is my first post.

I searched the forums last night for anything that might be related to my problem and I can't say I found anyone with a similar thing happening to them.

I also searched the internet for a solution and found some people mentioning what might be the cause and that there may be no solution.  I'm stating

this before I state the problem so the reader understands the steps I've taken before seeking advice on this forum.

The Problem

___________

When I build a simple game and run it in a window, it works just fine, runs fine.  When I launch the game in full screen, there is a super annoying flicker

*flashing screen* is very noticable.  I have made a video of this and posted it to Youtube before posting on here.

The Youtube video showing the problem

_______________________________

Spoiler

http://youtu.be/KVwHUvJ9isU

The video doesn't quite show the flashing.  Instead it seems to show the game flashing on and off, but the actual game screen is almost constantly visable,

except that it's flashing/flickering white/normal/maybe blackscreen very rapidly.

The game itself plays normal, except for the flashing.

Ok, I am running RPG Maker VX Ace on a Samsung laptop Model RF711 with intel core i5 cpu.

It's got intergrated Intel graphics card and NVIDIA GeForce GT 540M.

The drivers are Intel 8.15.10.2622 driver date 1/10/2012 - Samsung updater updates this itself.

Nividia driver 9.18.13.2049 driver date 6/21/2013 I always update this as soon as there is an update.

Ok, from the information I got on the internet, it might be the intergrated Intel HD card that is causing the problem, but there is no way to disable it and use only the Nividia card.

Already tried to change the graphic card acceleration and there is no way to change it.  Intel card won't let me do that.

Any advice would be appricated.  Anything I missed, please let me know.  Thank you.

 

[Andar]

as you already assumed that looks like a problem with the video driver, not the game itself.


Please test the following:


Download Yanfly's Core script (or another script that can change screen resolution) into a test project and change that project's resolution to 640x480.


Then test if the problem still exists on full screen or not.


(RM's base resolution is not a native windows resolution, some drivers get problems with fullscreen and custom resolutions).

 

[Shaz]

It does sound like a driver issue to me.


Does the same thing happen when you launch the game's exe file rather than launching from within the editor?


What if you change the editor to run in XP compatible mode?

 

[Larn Conner]

I'm currently downloading the latest Intel HD graphics card drivers, I'm like a year behind the times there.  I'll see if that fixes things.

If I use Yanfly's Core script to change the resolution, isn't that considered modifying the exe?  I'll see if I can try it and report the results, but currently I'm not up to speed on adding scripts.

I did try a compressed exe of the game last night and it was also flickering.  I tried it in Windows XP SP3 mode.

 

[Shaz]

No - a script does not change the exe. You can use Graphics.resize to change the resolution to 640x480. It's an RGSS command and has nothing to do with changing the exe. Anything HIGHER than 640x480 would require a change to the exe, which goes against the EULA.


I'm not sure what extra Yanfly's core script provides as far as resolution change that isn't accomplished by the inbuilt Graphics.resize command.

 

[Andar]

If I use Yanfly's Core script to change the resolution, isn't that considered modifying the exe?  I'll see if I can try it and report the results, but currently I'm not up to speed on adding scripts.

no, nothing that can be added as a script is modifying the exe.
To modify the exe you need a so-called decompiler and a good programming knowledge - scripts only add functions and don't change the exe because they are stored elsewhere. Similiar conditions exist concerning the API-Files - that also isn't easily changed unless you download modified API's or DLL's


Edit:


@shaz: it doesn't really provide extras, it's just the way I would do it (I don't like to remember or learn all functions and script commands, I usually use a reference when programming - but that is also a result of how I studied programming techniques...)

 

[Larn Conner]

First of all, thank you both Andar and Shaz for your help.

The updated Intel HD driver didn't solve the problem.  I'm going to try Yanfly's Core Script next.

 

[Larn Conner]

Shaz I tried Graphics.resize (640, 480) like you mention in another of your posts right before rgss_main call.

looks like this.

#==============================================================================
# ** Main
#------------------------------------------------------------------------------
#  This processing is executed after module and class definition is finished.
#==============================================================================
Graphics.resize_screen(640, 480)
rgss_main { SceneManager.run }
 

Is this correct?

 

[Shaz]

spot on.


Please edit your thread instead of double posting.

 

[Larn Conner]

I'll keep that in mind about editing a thread instead of double-posting.

The screen did get bigger, but the flashing is still there.

There's one other game that does the same thing.  It's an old game from around 1995, Hardwar.  The only way I can play that game is in a virtual machine.

 

[Andar]

Then it's most probably the result of that specific hardware combination with two graphics cards.


There are ways to solve those effects, but those require a lot more informations about your computer hardware than what we have at the moment, and even then it can't be guaranteed that a solution is possible.

 

[Larn Conner]

Yes, I think you are correct.  I was hoping someone might know what's going on and have a solution.  It was a shot in the dark.

Thanks for your help.

 

[deilin]

Windows 7 64 has HD issues no matter what video card you have.

Windows 8 too, while at it.

It happens more in 1080 as well.

 

[Jay_NOLA]

Check your power management settings.

The Intel card can cause flickering depending on your power management settings.  It can be trying to save power on one of the cards most likely when you  launch Ace in full screen mode, by reducing power on one of the cards.

Turn off any power saving setting for the graphics cards and check any other power saving management settings too.

Also, check the Intel website as it has a support section, a support forum, and you can check to see if the site has newer drivers that the Samsung updater isn't detecting for them.

It is also a good idea to periodically check Nvidia's  site too as the updater/check program that is part of the newer Nvidia drivers often doesn't indicate if the drivers were updated like it is supposed to and you can miss several updates by not checking the site.

 

[Larn Conner]

Jay_NOLA, thanks for the advice, the settings are set to maximize performance, the intel settings are set to max performance.  There are no settings for Nividia in the power settings.  I hardly use my laptop outside my house so it's always set to high performance and I personally checked every setting to get the most out of the system.

The intel HD graphics drivers I installed a few hours ago are directly from Intel's web site.

The Nivida drivers are probably the latest, just got updated a month ago or less.

I'm staying away from intergrated graphics after this laptop, sticking to pure Nividia graphics board, it's a pain having to deal with the Intel HD graphics card, it's always getting in the way.  I don't know if that's the problem for sure, but it seems others are having similar problems on the internet.

UPDATE:  I figured out a way to get RPG Maker VX Ace to work full screen without flashing.  The solution is not perfect, but I'm gonna share it here for anyone in the future who might have the same problem and is looking for a solution.

First of all, please don't try this if you don't know your way around computers very well.

Here's what I did.  I clicked the start button lower left in Windows 7.

I then clicked on "computer" middle of the right side list of programs that show up when you click the start button.

I right clicked "computer" folder and then clicked "properties".

I went to "Device Manager". It's on the upper left of the window that pops up.

I then went down to "display adapters and clicked it to reveal Intel HD graphics and Nvidia graphics.  I right clicked nvidia and "disabled" it.

I restarted the computer just to make sure nvidia wasn't active and tried RPG Maker and the full screen game worked just fine.

To re-enable nvidia, just go back to the "display adapters" option and right click nvidia and "enable" it.

Restart and you should be back in business.

I'm writing this info for someone in the future who might be having the same problem, but this is a bit advanced and shouldn't be tried by someone who doesn't know very much about computers.

 

[Archeia]

Great job and we're glad you were able to get it fixed. <3

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