ThieveryUT with GeForce FX 5200 problems

[Sneaky1Kenobi]

I just bought a new GeForce FX 5200 128 MB 8x AGP video card and I am getting strange problems when running Thievery. Please help!

When I start Thievery, just before the opening credits begin to run, a small message box pops up that only says "Error". When I click OK, which is the only option I am given, I am able to get in game, but it refuses to go full screen - I can still see my taskbar at the bottom of the screen and it covers important game information like my lightgem. Pressing the maximize button does not make it fullscreen. The graphics quality is also worse. I am running at 800X600 by the way and my old video card was a Voodoo 3 16 MB (ick)!

I loaded plain old UT and changed my video card option to Open GL and UT seems to run just fine, but this change did not fix the Thievery Mod.

Any help would be rewarded with 2 Inviso potions and a cookie!

[LaughingRat]

Did you change your Thievery rendering to OpenGL, or just your UT rendering?

Do you have current (and compatible) video drivers for that card? If so, did you FULLY uninstall your previous drivers before installing the new ones?

[Sneaky1Kenobi]

Wow! Quick reply! Thankx!

Okay, I don't know how to change the rendering in Thievery. UT offers the option under the Options Menu, but Thievery's options menu doesnt have that choice listed. How do I change the rendering in Thievery to OpenGL????

Also, yes I have installed all of the drivers for my new card. As far as my old card goes, no I did not uninstall the drivers and this is why. When I originally bought this computer I was not given a disk with the drivers for my old card on it. I am a big fat chicken and am afraid to uninstall the old drivers in case I should need to use my old card for some reason. Nothing else seems to have a problem with my not having uninstalled the drivers for the old card.

[Radamanthus]

If you have a CD burner, backup the old files, then uninstall.

If not, use them good ol' floppys.

Or, tyou may need to reinstall UT. Again, backup these files.

Sometimes letting the computer cool down for a few hours works too. I remember this happened to me.

[Sneaky1Kenobi]

Well I would back up the old driver files to floppy (as I don't have a CD burner), but I don't know where they are lol!

Anyway, before I do that I want to try changing Thievery to OpenGL. Can anyone shoot me in the right direction as to how to do that?

[LaughingRat]

Anyway, before I do that I want to try changing Thievery to OpenGL. Can anyone shoot me in the right direction as to how to do that?

Try Start -> Programs -> Thievery (or wherever you've moved it to) -> Change Video Options

Installing new video drivers over old ones can cause big problems. If changing to OpenGL rendering doesn't fix the problem, you'll need to look into it. You may want to anyway, since even if you find a workaround for Thievery, it could still cause you problems elsewhere.

Start your system in safe mode. How to do that varies from system to system, but it's usually a key you press during startup. Once running in safe mode (it'll say "Safe Mode" in all four corners, and you'll be in 640X480 res, with only 16 colors), uninstall ALL video drivers. Then restart in normal mode, and install your new drivers.

[Sneaky1Kenobi]

Thank you so much for your help! I can't believe I didn't see that option for changing video mode - I guess the reason I didn't is that I have a desktop shortcut to Thievery and never get to it through the Start>Programs way - lol! After I changed to Open GL it does run better, but I probably will need to go ahead and uninstall all the video drivers and reinstall like you said LR.

Thanks for the help!

[LaughingRat]

Thank you so much for your help! I can't believe I didn't see that option for changing video mode - I guess the reason I didn't is that I have a desktop shortcut to Thievery and never get to it through the Start>Programs way - lol! After I changed to Open GL it does run better, but I probably will need to go ahead and uninstall all the video drivers and reinstall like you said LR.

Thanks for the help!

No problem. It confused me at first, too, since I was used to there just being an option right in UT.

[Sneaky1Kenobi]

More performance problems! :x

Okay I changed my rendering to Open GL, updated my graphics card driver, uninstalled my old video card drivers, and I am STILL having weird problems!

What happens now is that it takes forever to do anything in the game. For example, I might try to open a door and it takes 30 seconds for the door to show that it opened in the game. Recently I was a guard and it took over 30 seconds just to drop the supply chest. Also, I feel like I am being teleported sometimes because I will be one place one second then the next frame I am clear across the room or even in another room!

My ping is fine - that should not be the problem. I just got cable and it stays around 200. I checked my FPS and one time that was the problem cuz they were only 10! Another time, however, the FPS was 25-35 and I was still having the slow response time.

I tried changing to 640X480 res to see if that helped and it doesn't. Any suggestions? It is just about unplayable online now!

[LaughingRat]

Is this in online play, or single player? Try both and find out. If it's just online, then it sounds like a packet loss problem, which is not a video problem at all, it's a connection problem. While online some time, press F7. That brings up your netstats, unless you've rebound that key to something else for some reason. You can see your packet loss there. If there's any at all, you have a connection problem. If you have more than about 5%, you have a SERIOUS connection problem.

In any event, with that video card, you should be getting better than 25-35 fps (unless maybe you have a real dog of a CPU?).

[Sneaky1Kenobi]

Okay LR - you are such a sweetheart to be so helpful!

I tried both online and single player, and only had this problem online. By the way, my CPU is a big DOG - only 550 mhz. I can just barely play Thievery at all! I plan to get a new computer when Thief 3 comes out or before if I just can't take it anymore - lol! Avg FPS 21 even WITH my new video card. Packet loss was sometimes 0% but spiked up to 638% at one time. The average was about 50-80%. How do I fix this? Should I call my Internet Provider? Also there were 2 numbers listed next to packet loss - one on left and one on right. What is the difference?

I also get the dreaded "Connection Failed" message and get booted after being on the server after only about 2 minutes usually. The laggy response time also happens when I am spectating. Takes forever to change views between players in follow mode. I am afraid to play online with these awesome players as I will do nothing but waste spawn with my current state of affairs! :x

[LaughingRat]

First, a note: The Unreal engine is unusually CPU dependent. A CPU upgrade will see a much larger boost in performance than a similar videocard upgrade.

Now, about your actual problem - it's a connection problem. If you're seeing that lag ONLY online, and you're usually reading no PL (Packet Loss), but it spikes as high as you've said, that's a BIG connection issue. The fact that you get DC'd often is another symptom. Just a stab here, but when you're webbrowsing, does it often take a long time to connect to a site?

I can't fix that, or tell you how to. You'll have to contact your ISP about it. Sadly, most ISP's tech support is pretty unhelpful on these things, but if you can show massive packet loss to them, they SHOULD be interested in getting it fixed. It usually indicates a major problem in their network, although you may be getting that PL somewhere else in your route to the server you're connecting to. If it happens on all servers, it's probably in your ISP's network, if it's only one server, it's probably not your ISP, and you'll just have to play elsewhere.

[Sneaky1Kenobi]

I already contacted my ISP and they basically said that the problem was untrackable. :x I do get the problem on all the T vs. G servers that I have visited in the last couple of days - every single one - not that there are many - lol! If my ISP can't fix this problem it looks like I won't be able to play Thievery (online at least).

They tried doing the trace route thing on the server and of course none of the Thievery servers whose IP I gave them would accept it. They also did the trace route with another online game and there was almost no packet loss. Weird!

Well maybe the problem will clear itself up in a few days - who knows!

Thank you bunches for all of your assistance and may the TafferGod bless you with many Invisibility Potions!

[LaughingRat]

I don't see how a traceroute "won't take". At worst, once you get close to the server itself, you won't be able to trace any further hops. Have you tried running a traceroute yourself?

All is not necessarily lost, though. I had persistent problems with my cable service a while back. I switched. On DSL now. You can always try a different ISP. Try threatening your ISP with a loss of business first, and see if they'll take you more seriously.

[Sneaky]

Are you connected directly to the internet or through a router? I was having bad packet loss issues with thievery awhile back (around 30% average). It turned out I just had a bad router and when I put in a new one everything worked great!