blurred textures and tattoos in black&white

[ajoOba]

Hello there.

I got some graphic problems in black&white. Maybe you can help me.

The texture quality of objects like my creature, buildings and everything else but the terrain is very low. This also makes the tattoos on my creature deformed and not identificable.

I uploaded some screenshots so you can understand my problem better:

http://img517.imageshack.us/gal.php?g=kreaturherz.jpg

I use Windows 7 Ultimate 64 Bit version. I have an ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4650 graphic card with the latest driver.
I already tuned every Setting in my System and in Black&White Setup to maximum.
I tried with different patches and different Black&white versions (language), but nothing changed. The same problem is on my brothers computer.

 

[Sylvan]

Run Setup.Exe and go to Custom.

Check every button there, and raise every slider to the maximum (right side)

Mind you, black and white in an old game, and textures are bound to be lower quality then games of current day.

Also, the texture deformation of tatoo's on your creature has been an issue since the dawn of times. Just try to find a location on your creature that doesn't mirror or deform it as much.

I suggest you use a circle tatoo to test the deformation.



PS. do not check Internet Weather. - It doesn't work anyway.

 

[ajoOba]

Run Setup.Exe and go to Custom.

Check every button there, and raise every slider to the maximum (right side)

Believe me, i already spent a lot of time with the setup.exe
It's not like i forgot a button after like 100 times try & fail.

Mind you, black and white in an old game, and textures are bound to be lower quality then games of current day.

And to proof you wrong i got a picture of how the game CAN (should) look like:

http://img146.imageshack.us/i/texturbildvergleich21.jpg/

And a picture of how the game looks on my computer:

http://img532.imageshack.us/i/texturbildvergleich22.jpg/

Again: The pictures i posted above are NOT bad, because B&W is such an old game. I already posted that on another Forum. Why does nobody believe me?

Also, the texture deformation of tatoo's on your creature has been an issue since the dawn of times. Just try to find a location on your creature that doesn't mirror or deform it as much.

Ok, now you make me curious. I haven't found ANY and i mean ANYone else on the internet talking about this issue. You make it look like this problem is sooo much common, now i would like to hear more about it.
What exactly is the reason for it? Is it a problem of the game version or my computer?

I think the setup.exe button of "Use hi-res textures" doesn't work. Because whether i click it on or off, nothing really changes in the game.

 

[Aurora]

I think the setup.exe button of "Use hi-res textures" doesn't work. Because whether i click it on or off, nothing really changes in the game.

A quick google search says that option only works on supported video cards. Perhaps yours isn't supported? I cannot seem to find a list of supported cards, but I will keep searching.

 

[GallopRider]

Are you running in any type of Compatability Mode or Running As Administrator?  Also, are you using 16-bit or 32-bit colours?  32-bit is much better and (for me, at least) clearer.

 

[ajoOba]

A quick google search says that option only works on supported video cards. Perhaps yours isn't supported?

"only works on supported video cards" means that there were video cards (old ones, probably aeons ago) not supporting this feature.

Are you running in any type of Compatability Mode or Running As Administrator?

Nope. Compatability Mode doesn't start the game and Running As Administrator doesn't change anything.

Also, are you using 16-bit or 32-bit colours?  32-bit is much better and (for me, at least) clearer.

I am using 32-bit colours.

Anyway, i got some news. I found someone on the hamachi network encountering the same problem as me.

We found out we both have 64 Bit Operating Systems. Probably this "Use hi-res textures" button only works for 32-Bit OS.

Does maybe someone know how to fix that?

 

[Sylvan]

I myself have windows 7 64x bit, and never had an issue with Black and White.

You won't find anything about the Tatoo deformation, because it is such a common issue, people tend not to notice it or complain about it. The reason for it is because the bone count / model used for our creatures, has been reduced, so it saves room, so black and white fitted on one CD back when it was released. Because of this, sadly, many tatoo's mirror, or become deformed in certain locations, such as shoulders, hands, or lower backs.  The least deformed location, is almost always the belly.

after close examination, I do now see that indeed, your game does not use the High Res Textures, I suggest you look to Catalyst Control Center, as it may mess up some things.


What issue exactly it is that makes you unable to use High Res Textures, I do not know, but it is the only issue you have at the moment, and indeed, that is why your game looks bad.

As I said, it seems Catalyst Control Center seems to prevent the use of it, or it is downscaling the images. -  Try putting everything there on Auto.

Or turn off the following things; (I might be wrong here, as I have nVidia) Anisotropic Filtering + any kind of Anisotropic improvement, any Trilinair / Bilinair improvement, and any kind of aditional MipMapping, or MipMap reduction / improvement / creation.


If this does not solve your issue, I don't know what else will.

I have added an image, are you sure you ran Setup.exe like that?

 

[ajoOba]

Here is a screenshot of my settings:

http://img198.imageshack.us/i/windowbild.png/

I will try to configurate my graphic settings in windows.

EDIT: the resolution is so low because i manually fitted it to wide screen (1366x768).

 

[Sylvan]

Mhm, it should be correct. - Did you try the Catalyst Control Center thing I suggested yet?

 

[ajoOba]

As I said, it seems Catalyst Control Center seems to prevent the use of it, or it is downscaling the images. -  Try putting everything there on Auto.

Or turn off the following things; (I might be wrong here, as I have nVidia) Anisotropic Filtering + any kind of Anisotropic improvement, any Trilinair / Bilinair improvement, and any kind of aditional MipMapping, or MipMap reduction / improvement / creation.

Did you try the Catalyst Control Center thing I suggested yet?

Well, i tried putting everything on Auto. I can't change any Billinair/Trillinair and i can't turn off MipMap. I can only turn it to Quality or Performance.

Anyway, i tried something on my brothers Computer because he has an Nvidea video card.  I tried it with everything off and with everything on, but still no change.

 

[Sylvan]

Then, sadly, my knowledge about PC's and Video Graphics staggers.

The only other I can say, is that perhaps the installation was improper, or that something messed the cd.

Either way, this will be my last post here. I hope you get it solved!

 

[ajoOba]

The only other I can say, is that perhaps the installation was improper, or that something messed the cd.

I already installed Black&White multiple times. I also thought the cd may be messed up, but i tried different versions on the internet, still no change.

 

[fenton_pat]

I don't know as much about this kind of things as the others in this thread, but I do have one or two suggestions.  They're not out an out solutions, but may point you to your problem to help find a solution.

• You mentioned another player on Hamachi with a similar PC to yours having the same problem.  Perhaps it'd be worthwhile identifiying the difference in Graphics cards you two have.  Then perhaps seeing if there are any known issues with your card.  Although that's probably something you've done already I would guess.
• Just because your graphics card is years newer than the game you're playing does not mean it's compatible.  As I understand it, don't different manufacturers introduce new graphics software in their newer cards?  This new software may be incompatible with the graphics requirements of such an old game.  Sometimes, older is just...better.
• In lieu of the above point, normally changing compatibility mode would help sort things out.  However a more extreme thing to try would be to install a virtual machine on your PC and install an older version of Windows.  I grant you - that's alot of effort to just play a game and there's a solid chance it won't work, but I thought I'd just put the suggestion out there.

Beyond that, I'm stumped.  I'm sorry I can't be of more help.  Like what was said above - I hope you get this solved.

If you do, please come back and tell us what the problem was in the end and how you fixed it.  That way, it'll hopefully help sort out others with the same kind of problems.

Thanks

 

[ajoOba]

You mentioned another player on Hamachi with a similar PC to yours having the same problem.  Perhaps it'd be worthwhile identifiying the difference in Graphics cards you two have.  Then perhaps seeing if there are any known issues with your card.  Although that's probably something you've done already I would guess.

Yes, we've already done that.  It doesn't matter if it is ATI or Nvidia. It was no graphic card problem.

Just because your graphics card is years newer than the game you're playing does not mean it's compatible.  As I understand it, don't different manufacturers introduce new graphics software in their newer cards?  This new software may be incompatible with the graphics requirements of such an old game.  Sometimes, older is just...better.

Still, it was no graphic card problem. I can exclude this now completly.

However a more extreme thing to try would be to install a virtual machine on your PC and install an older version of Windows.  I grant you - that's alot of effort to just play a game and there's a solid chance it won't work, but I thought I'd just put the suggestion out there.

Maybe this would also work. I haven't try this one out.


Here is what I did: uninstall windows 64-Bit. Install windows 32-Bit.

It doesn't matter if it is windows 7 or vista as i can tell you. It's the 64-Bit that's causing the problem. This way i got it solved.

 

[Gremxula]

OK so to get slightly clearer graphics on a 9y old game  you cripple  a modern PC.
I would never have thought of doing that.