[LJ717]

I have Windows XP and ever since I upgraded my video driver in order to play Aura, my desktop icons are real small, and when I play URU, I see patches of white on the ground and the graphics look 2-D instead of 3-D. Does anyone know how I can correct this? If I did a System Restore, would that correct it? If I do a System Restore, will I lose any of my game files? Thanks for your help!

[fov]

That's weird. For the small icons, have you tried messing around with Display Properties? Right click on your desktop and select Properties, then go to Appearance / Advanced. Select "Icons" from the drop down menu. What size are your icons set for? (Mine are at 32 - I've never messed with this so I assume 32 pixels is the default.)

What kind of video card is this?

I'm not sure if System Restore affects drivers. No harm in trying it... you can always reverse the System Restore if it doesn't work. You shouldn't lose any data, but you will lose any programs you installed since your last restore point. I don't know what this means for data that's included with the games you've installed since then (like saves that go with a game that won't be there anymore after you go to the restore point). I've done System Restore a thousand times but I never really paid attention to what happened to saves and stuff...

Sorry, that's probably not much help.

-emily

[LJ717]

Hi emily:
Thanks for your response. My icons are set at 32 also. I guess they aren't TOO small, just smaller than they were before I upgraded my video driver. My video card is an NVIDIA GeForce4MX Integrated GPU, Version 6.14. I'm afraid to do a System Restore if it means I will lose programs I've installed, because I've never done a System Restore on that computer (I've only had it for about 10 months) and I have all of my games on it. I don't want to lose them. I have heard of people running certain games in Compatability Mode and wondered if that might work for URU. Since I don't know how to set it up in Compatability Mode, I haven't tried it. Do you think that would help, and if so, can you tell me how to do it? Thanks a lot for your help!

[fov]

System Restore makes restore points periodically - often when you install something. So you should be able to restore without having to go back all the way to the beginning.

What is your desktop resolution set to Maybe installing the new drivers changed the resolution to a higher one? This would make the icons look smaller than before.

To put a program in compatibility mode - right click the program's .exe file, select Properties, and go to the Compatibility tab. There are options here to set the program in win95, win98, etc. and also to run in 256 colors and 640x480 resolution (for much older games; this wouldn't work with URU).

-emily

[LJ717]

My screen resolution is 1024 by 768. My DPI setting is 120DP (125% normal). If I lower my screen resolution, everything gets so large my Start button and half of my icons disappear. Maybe I should try lowering my DPI first, and then lower my screen resolution. Actually, the icons I can live with, but not knowing how to get my graphics back to normal in URU is what's really bugging me. Also, the distant buildings in Path of the Shell that are painted on screens out in the water in Ahnonay, have completely vanished. This, combined with the white patches and other distortions in the graphics and color, is really upsetting since I just love to walk around and explore URU and POTS.

Thanks again for your help.

[Crypto]

Originally Posted by LJ717

My screen resolution is 1024 by 768. My DPI setting is 120DP (125% normal). If I lower my screen resolution, everything gets so large my Start button and half of my icons disappear. Maybe I should try lowering my DPI first, and then lower my screen resolution. Actually, the icons I can live with, but not knowing how to get my graphics back to normal in URU is what's really bugging me. Also, the distant buildings in Path of the Shell that are painted on screens out in the water in Ahnonay, have completely vanished. This, combined with the white patches and other distortions in the graphics and color, is really upsetting since I just love to walk around and explore URU and POTS.

Thanks again for your help.

I think you should uninstall the latest drivers and reinstall the previous one. It is perhaps the only way.

[fov]

My computer is set to 96 DPI. This could be the problem with the icons, because the higher your DPI (the more pixels displayed per inch), the smaller your icons will be. The icons have 32 pixels in them so at 96 DPI they're about 1/3 of an inch wide; at 120 DPI they're about 1/4 of an inch wide.

1024x768 is a good screen resolution for today's monitors. I wouldn't go lower than that.

For URU, I agree the best thing to do may be to go back to your old drivers. Are there any video settings in URU that you can play around with?

-emily

[LJ717]

I reset my DPI to 96 and didn't see any changes to my icons, other than their alignment on my desktop. I don't know how to delete the updated driver and reinstall my old driver since my computer came without any installation disks. I will look and see if URU has any video settings. I don't remember seeing any, but it's worth a try to look again. Thanks for your help!!

[fov]

You might not see a change in the DPI until you restart your computer.

What kind of video card do you have? I think XP lets you roll back to the most recent driver but I forget how to do this. I'd have to mess around with it before I could tell you how (and I'm not on my home computer right now). If you go to your video card manufacturer's website they should have older drivers there that you could try, too.

-emily

[Crypto]

Originally Posted by fov

You might not see a change in the DPI until you restart your computer.

What kind of video card do you have? I think XP lets you roll back to the most recent driver but I forget how to do this. I'd have to mess around with it before I could tell you how (and I'm not on my home computer right now). If you go to your video card manufacturer's website they should have older drivers there that you could try, too.

-emily

In the list of software, just uninstall it like any other program.

You'll get a pretty uncomfortable resolution afterwards but if you manage to download and install a previous driver, your problem is most likely to be solved.

[LJ717]

Thanks to you both for your suggestions. I did restart my computer but didn't see any changes. I'm afraid to delete any drivers as I don't know enough about computers to be sure I could reinstall another one, and that computer isn't hooked up to the internet. I went into URU and made some changes to the video settings. I don't see the white patches any more but the graphics are still 2-D instead of 3-D. It is rather acceptable like this, so I guess I'll just live with it until my son (the computer guy in our family) comes down for vacation. Of course he's kind of like Tim "The Tool Man" Taylor, and will probably have my computer hooked up to surround sound and a wide-screen TV before he's done! LOL Thanks again for your help.

[Crypto]

Originally Posted by LJ717

Thanks to you both for your suggestions. I did restart my computer but didn't see any changes. I'm afraid to delete any drivers as I don't know enough about computers to be sure I could reinstall another one, and that computer isn't hooked up to the internet. I went into URU and made some changes to the video settings. I don't see the white patches any more but the graphics are still 2-D instead of 3-D. It is rather acceptable like this, so I guess I'll just live with it until my son (the computer guy in our family) comes down for vacation. Of course he's kind of like Tim "The Tool Man" Taylor, and will probably have my computer hooked up to surround sound and a wide-screen TV before he's done! LOL Thanks again for your help.

You're welcome, and don't forget to mention us (is it ok to speak for you too fov?) to the "Toolman".
The way you're describing him, we (same question but more general) all might learn something from Him one day.

[Nala]

Originally Posted by LJ717

I have Windows XP and ever since I upgraded my video driver in order to play Aura, my desktop icons are real small, and when I play URU, I see patches of white on the ground and the graphics look 2-D instead of 3-D. Does anyone know how I can correct this? If I did a System Restore, would that correct it? If I do a System Restore, will I lose any of my game files? Thanks for your help!

About the white patches on the ground, I see them as well. I went into a computer store and I was told that it was normal - they said that the graphics card was not really good enough to show all the ground without the white bits, but apparently it is good enough to play the game.

I don't know if anyone else has already told you this, but my father says that a system restore should not make you lose any programs you have installed. That includes URU .

I cannot answer about the graphics looking 2D not 3D, sorry.

Hope I was some help.

Nala.