OGL TEARING PROBLEM NEVER FIXED!?!

[Simon Thomas]

Looking at the threads from the past months there never was a "proper" fix for the tearing in all OGL games like Q3A and Q2? Is is a vertical refresh problem (VSYNC) or is it some other problem with the memory on certain cards. It looks like to me VSYNC is never enabled in OGL at all. If anyone has had this problem and fixed it then please answer. Setting up the cvars in Q3A does not help.

[Simon Thomas]

--- FROM ABOVE TOPIC ---

I forgot to meantion the tearing does not make the game unplayable and it happens with both TurboGl and the normal ICD. I am using powerdesk 5.52 (latest). My monitor refresh rate is 100Hz at 800x600 and I have tried upping and lowering the refresh rate and it seems to make no difference. It seems to be slightly worse with the TURBOGL although
I get a higher frame rate.

My system :-

PENTIUM III 600MHZ CPU (100MHZ)
GA686 440BX MOBO (100MHZ)
G400 32MB DUAL (SGRAM)
196MB 100MHZ RAM

THE MATROX CARD IS ON IRQ 11 AND IS NOT SHARED. THERE IS NOTHING IN THE PCI SLOT NEXT TO THE CARD.

I AM RUNNING IN AGP X 2 MODE AND PCILIST TELLS ME EVERYTHING IS OK. IT MAKES NO DIFFERENCE WHEN I DROP INTO X 1 MODE.

I AM NOT OVERCLOCKING THE CARD, MOBO OR PROCESSOR ALTHOUGH OVERLOCKING DOES NOT MAKE THE PROBLEM WORSE.

UNDERCLOCK THE CARD DOES NOT MAKE ANY DIFFERENCE.

I HAVE THE LATEST AGP DRIVER FOR MY BOARD (INTEL 440BX DRIVERS).

DIRECT3D GAMES WORK PERFECTLY (EXCELLENTLY)

MORE ON THE PROBLEM

LOAD Q3A WITH - ANY - SETTINGS FIND A ROOM WHERE THE FPS IS OVER 50FPS (SMOOTH) PRESS THE LEFT KEY TO TURN THE SCREEN (MOVE AROUND). ITS LOOKS BLURRY (NOT SMOOTH) AND THE LINES OF THE DOORS ETC. SEEM JAGGY OTHERWISE PERFECT.

ON A SAME SYSTEM WITH A AN ATI-RAGE PRO 8MB (AGP) AND 2 CREATIVE LABS VOODOO2's (SLI) IF YOU CAN ACTUALLY FIND A ROOM THAT IS OVER 50FPS (HAHA) AND DO THE SAME IS IS SMOOTH WHEN MOVING LEFT AND RIGHT WITH THE KEYS.

SAME WITH QUAKE2.....

ANY IDEAS...? YOU HELP WOULD BE GREATLY APPRCED.

TA

[Targon]

Did you disable V-sync perhaps? That can cause the problem, as well as a number of other things.

[Simon Thomas]

NO VSYNC ENABLED EVERYWHERE WITH REGHACKS FOR DIRECT3D AND ENABLED IN Q3A and QUAKE2 - I HAVE JUST LOOKED AT HALF-LIFE AND IT SEEMS THAT THIS HAS A PROBLEM TOO. IN Q3A I HAVE EVEN ENABLED IT AT THE COMMAND PROMPT. I DON'T WANT TEARING IN MY GAMES - ESPECIALLY ON THIS SYSTEM.

[Targon]

To take a step back, what version of Powerdesk and TurboGL are you running. Also, what resolution do you run your desktop at? Do you use the dual head feature?

One problem I have seen is that dual head can sometimes cause problems. Also, running at 1600x1200 desktop can cause problems(bump mapping really has problems at 1600x1200 with dual head enabled).

[Simon Thomas]

TAKE A STEP BACK.......(CONT.FROM ABOVE)

OK I AM USING :-

POWERDESK FOR WINDOWS 9x 5.52
TURBO GL 1.30

I AM RUNNING WINDOWS '98 BUT NOT SE - I HAVE SERVICE PACK 1 INSTALLED THOUGH

I DO NOT USE THE DUAL HEAD FEATURE IT HAS BEEN DISABLED SINCE INSTALL. I HAVE NO NEED FOR IT AT ALL AS I HAVE ONLY 1 MONITOR.

I RUN MY DESKTOP AT 1280 x 1024 IN 16BIT I DIDN'T REALISE THIS HAD AN EFFECT ON OGL THOUGH.

I REALLY HOPE SOMEONE CAN HELP ME BECAUSE OTHER THAN THESE TEARING PROBLEMS WITH OGL (NOT DIRECTX) I LOVE THIS CARD TO DEATH

HELP IS GREATLY APPRECIATED.......

[Maggi]

You could try some of the OpenGL commands like:

gl_finish 1
gl_swapinterval 1
gl_ext_swapinterval 1

...

put those into your autoexec.cfg

[Maggi]

PS: STOP SCREAMING AT US !!!

seriously, using capital letters only is a little disturbing to read ...

[Simon Thomas]

OOh! Your awake!

Sorry about the CAPS. I'm not screaming at you. I will try the cvar params...and will let you know later....

Ta very muchly

[Rik]

OpenGL V-Sync - the naked truth!

(based on my half-arsed observations):

As far as I have seen, only the last two ICD releases have the relevant OpenGL extension for V-Sync in them (versions 5.50.010 and 5.52.015) - the TurboGL does not feature it.
Use one of these and look in the GL extensions information in Q3A - it will be listed.
There is also a new registry entry pertaining to this at [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Matrox\PowerDesk\Curre nt Settings\"User3D.SwapIntervalExtEnable"] along with a few others which I think relate to OpenGL.

If all goes well and you also enable V-Sync in the QII/Q3A console, tearing will be eliminated.

[Orion_UK]

Tearing is what is troubling me with Tribes. I have tried some of the registry settings you pointed to Rik, but with no success. It would be nice if we could find out the correct settings to make it work.Either to make the in game switches function or just force it on or off.

Barry

[Simon Thomas]

Got it! Well for Q2 anyway. I had to drop my desktop to 1024 x 768 16 bit !!! Is this normal? Other games seem to speed up quite a bit too. Its purfect now in Q2 (!yes!)

But alas Q3A is still tearing (with cvars and lower desktop) -but to a much lesser extent-. It must be the game rather than the card - perhaps I'm being toooo picky.

Thanks for the help though everyone. I'll keep scanning the forums to see if anyone else has the problem.


OUT

[Rik]

Simon -
I guess you might know this, but did you try 'R_SWAPINTERVAL 1' in Q3A? For some reason the syntax is different to Quake II with it's 'GL_SWAPINTERVAL 1'.
If all else fails, you could try a monitor refresh rate of 100hz or higher (as long as your monitor can comfortably take it) as this always helps to lessen tearing.
I feel your pain...tearing in OpenGL has been annoying me for ages!

[Simon Thomas]

-- FROM ABOVE THREAD ---

R_SWAPINTERVAL 1 (aha!) I Will try this shortly. I always thought it was :-

gl_finish 1
gl_swapinterval 1
gl_ext_swapinterval 1

Maggi?

Maybe this is the source of my problem... shall I try

r_swapinterval 1
r_ext_swapinterval 1 ??

Maggi?

My refresh on my monitor is set to 115Hz. The tearing isn't tooo bad now though although noticeable. Maybe its not tearing after all, as I said above Quake 2 is perfecto!! Maybe Quake 3A pushes the card a bit more - what I can't understand is, if I am getting 60fps and I hold down the left key why the walls look blurry (as I turn) and the lines seem to judder.

I am praying that r_swapinterval 1 will fix it.!!!

Thanx Rik

[Maggi]

I'm not sure ...

the gl_ commands are OpenGL syntax and the r_ commands are for Q3 and partly also for H-L ...

Try 'em all ...