Curse

Alderin · Feb 02, 2007, 08:04 AM // 08:04

I've tried to submit a question on Support.PlayNC.com about an issue I'm having with Guild Wars, and each time I fill out all the information and submit it, it comes up with an error and asks me to go back, reload, and try again. I've tried six times, even left the site and came back to it.
I've never had a problem submitting a question/report before... and I've done so many, many, many times. I'm assuming they are having some sort of error or glitch with their site right now??

The question I'm trying to submit is this...
----------

Guild Wars Game causing Graphical Error

I've been playing Guild Wars since shortly after it came out, and I've always loved the game and the sharp graphics it offered. I upgraded to one of the cards the main web site recommended at one point, a 128 Meg card that did a nice job, but still didn't show all the details as well as I'd like, or as well as my roommate's 256 meg card did... so a few weeks ago I went and got a 256 MB DDR, AGP, Diamond Stealth S120 model card by ATI, Radeon 9550.
The card is very nice and plays videos and all on my computer very well. I can play other games like Fable and World of Warcraft (which I only played briefly and gave up on) without missing a pixel... but when it comes to Guild Wars it seems to have some issues. Normally the game play is perfect in PvE and in the few PvP battles that I have done since I got it, but when ever I try to go into Alliance Battles it glitches and the whole screen goes fuzzy/glitchy (see the attached files, I don't know what to call that mess) after a few minutes of playing in there. The only way to get it to stop is to restart my computer, and then it's fine again until I attempt to play in Alliance Battles. I also had this happen once or twice in a few places in the Nightfall campaign, but in Factions and Prophecies I've yet to have an issue. The only sure-fire way I know to get Guild Wars to crash the card is to go into Alliance Battles... and I've played for more than six hours in PvE areas, many times, since I had the new card, without fail.

All other games work fine, and all other video applications and such are flawless. It's just Guild Wars that causes this to happen, and just in a few places (like alliance battles).

Help???

Kuldebar Valiturus · Feb 02, 2007, 11:47 AM // 11:47

OK...looks to be a combination of issues.

But, I recommend you sort out the video card issue first. Verify that you have the correct drivers installed and ensure that they are not corrupted.

Just uninstall all software/drivers related to your video card and reboot clean. Do not allow plug and play to automatically install drivers again on reboot. If you have the latest drivers for your card, run the installation program.

Considerations:

Is your PC over clocked (ie. Bios Settings)?

Have you over clocked your video card, or used utilities that have done so for you?

Manually force Guild Wars to auto-detect your video card? (It may be "stuck" on your old settings)

Any other programs running in background while playing Guild Wars? (Video overlays, mal-ware or other memory hogs, etc.)

Have you ran a -repair on your Guild Wars installation or, perhaps reinstalled to rule out game file corruption? (If you have a good net connection, a reinstall should be fairly painless.)

Cloudpiercer · Feb 02, 2007, 04:57 PM // 16:57

I have an account problem that cant be resolved for the same reason. Everytime I finish typing out the form I get an error, I've tried like 20 times over a couple months and I pretty much gave up on it.

Is there a number we can call or something?

devils wraths · Feb 02, 2007, 05:18 PM // 17:18

thats your graphics card artifacting due to heat no doubt or something in your pc

Kuldebar Valiturus · Feb 02, 2007, 06:34 PM // 18:34

The PlayNC Support site error is probably caused by a browser setting. <cookies, pop up blocker, etc.) What does the error say?

Alderin · Feb 02, 2007, 11:00 PM // 23:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by devils wraths

thats your graphics card artifacting due to heat no doubt or something in your pc

That doesn't really make any sense or seem plausible.
As I said in my post, I can play PvE for six or eight hours without a problem, and I can do so then leave my computer on for a few days, then come back and do it again without any issues. I can also run any other game for as long as I like without any problems, so I don't see how your explanation could make any sense... unless of course somehow Alliance Battles causes graphics cards to run hotter than any other part of Guild Wars or any other game I've played with it, and as a result it overheats within a few moments of me going into the Alliance Battles. Not to mention I can load up my computer from a cold start and then go straight into Alliance Battles and have it glitch up like it is, reboot and do so again and again, as I did and mentioned doing, yet if I stop trying to go to Alliance Battles and do regular PvE or PvP I have no problems at all, at least not until I go back into Alliance Battles, and it happens each and every time there without fail.
Why would Alliance Battles force the card to overheat after a minute or two, when nothing else does even after hours or days?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kuldebar Valiturus

The PlayNC Support site error is probably caused by a browser setting. <cookies, pop up blocker, etc.) What does the error say?

I'll have to go back and try to get all the information on the error, but nothing in my browser has changed in the past few days (since I last sent a report without an issue) and I've send dozens of reports/questions in the last few months with no issue either. This is actually the first time I've had a problem sending in a report, and I even tried it with FireFox as well as Avant (which I usually use) and still had no luck. I ended up editing an existing open ticket to get the information sent to them.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cloudpiercer

I have an account problem that cant be resolved for the same reason. Everytime I finish typing out the form I get an error, I've tried like 20 times over a couple months and I pretty much gave up on it.

Is there a number we can call or something?

I've sent in dozens or reports before, and one just a day or so prior, and this is the first time I've run into this error myself.
If you find a number for them, please do share it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kuldebar Valiturus

OK...looks to be a combination of issues.

But, I recommend you sort out the video card issue first. Verify that you have the correct drivers installed and ensure that they are not corrupted.

Just uninstall all software/drivers related to your video card and reboot clean. Do not allow plug and play to automatically install drivers again on reboot. If you have the latest drivers for your card, run the installation program.

Considerations:

Is your PC over clocked (ie. Bios Settings)?

Have you over clocked your video card, or used utilities that have done so for you?

Manually force Guild Wars to auto-detect your video card? (It may be "stuck" on your old settings)

Any other programs running in background while playing Guild Wars? (Video overlays, mal-ware or other memory hogs, etc.)

Have you ran a -repair on your Guild Wars installation or, perhaps reinstalled to rule out game file corruption? (If you have a good net connection, a reinstall should be fairly painless.)

I tried killing and reloading the drivers again, but it didn't seem to help.
My PC is not over clocked.
My Video Card is not over clocked.
I did do the manual detection, the first time as well, and it made a huge difference in the graphics (the new card that is) but didn't seem to affect the error in Alliance Battles.
I keep my computer pretty clean, nothing running in the background except for the bare necessities that support Windows XP Professional edition, even though I have run a browser or two in the background before without memory being an issue, but normally I restart before I delve into a multi-hour Guild Wars gaming session.
I tried a reinstall, and even did the -image download again to grab all the files for quick loading (since I do have a very fast connection) but that hasn't seemed to help either.

I'm back to square one pretty much... able to run any game or any part of Guild Wars except for Alliance Battles.