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Dark Game Screen Issue

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Old_Geezer | 15:44 Tue 17th Feb 2015 | Computers
11 Answers
Game playing with far too dark a screen.

Given I’ve scoured the Web for an answer already I appreciate I’m probably clutching at straws here, but you never know who may come up with an answer.

I’ve enjoyed, up until now, the game series 'Dragon Age' (although very disappointed to discover that despite all the hype the third of the series is not the same game at all, but a conversion to a game type I just don’t get on with. It merely retains a continuation of characters and world/story.)

Having tried a few times to get used to this latest game I went back to the previous version (DA II) for a further bash. (I really must find a more rewarding interest.)

But recently I’ve added a second monitor to my PC, and managed to get the processors running a lot cooler as well, and so I wanted to take advantage of the “very high” and/or “high” detail video settings.

The trouble is that the video settings have always been a little buggy. I had to change the config file to give a “gamma” value of ‘2’ in the past in order to play the game and still see what was on the screen.

OK. I went into the game settings screen, found that I needed to change from Directx 9 to Directx11 to use the higher detail levels. I was informed the game would need to be quit, and restarted to use the new renderer.

I did so. The first issue, a relatively minor one, is that the game no longer comes in as full screen. Regardless whether the full screen box is ticked or unticked, it’s still opening in a window. The window is close in size to the screen so the problem isn’t devastating, but it’s still annoying. It’s not as if it let me move the cursor to another window without Alt/Tab anyway. It’s pretty pointless it running being in a window.

But the larger issue is that the screen is so dark it obscures one’s ability to see what’s going on.

I tried editing the config file, replacing the previous gamma value ‘2’ with a ‘5’ this time, but it makes no difference. And if I alter it afterwards from the setting control screen it clearly doesn’t like the ‘5’, as the moment one moves the pointer it resets its scale to a maximum of ‘2’ anyway.

It’s this issues that makes the high detail game unplayable.

Running Windows 7 by the way, if it makes any difference.

Dxdiag tells me that my graphics card is NVIDIA GeForce GTX 470. Integrated RAMAC. 4048 Mb total memory. Running 1152 x 864 (32 bit) (75Hz) to the Hitachi CM802 monitor.

If it is relevant I have to use an adaptor to change from DVI at the graphics card to VGA at the monitor.

DirectDraw, Direct3D and AGP Texture acceleration are all enabled. Driver version should be latest as there is something that monitors and occasionally tells me there is a new one to download. 9.18.13.4725

Does anyone have any possible solution; as I have disappointingly returned to the medium texture level of Directx 9 in the meanwhile ? Otherwise it’s too dark to use.

Cheers.
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http://www.nvidia.co.uk/download/driverResults.aspx/81905/en-uk
22:42 Tue 17th Feb 2015
Double check your graphics card drivers here

http://www.nvidia.co.uk/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-uk

As far as I can see they should be 347.52 released on 10/02/2015

If you use the Nvidia prog in Control Panel you will get better troubleshooting possibilities in there. Including dxdiag for DirectX.

Hows the new monitor connected, maybe an issue there?

Generally, altering the 'gamma' and 'windowed mode' or 'full screen' in game settings normally works.

I have no experience with the game so cannot advise, but suggest you visit their forums.
Question Author
Thanks for the response; I'll give that link a check when I get back, but as mentioned I have NVIDIA's own check thingy running (probably over the top) and so 9.18.13.4725 would be what I'd expect to be right. It was listed as 10/1/15.

Both monitors are connected the same way, through DVI to VGA adaptors. (No point in replacing 19" working monitors, even if a little old). Have to say I've not tried making the other one "master". Might try that I suppose.

The windowed/full screen options seemed to work with Directx 9, not 11 though.

Yes been through many forums checking. The only suggestion anyone ever gives is the gamma thing, which worked for Directx 9, but not 11.

Got the above info using dxdiag. Could not see it screaming of a problem anywhere, but I'll check again.
Question Author
Was a nice try but I think their site may not make the right decisions.

[i]"NVIDIA Installer cannot continue
This NVIDIA graphics driver in not compatible with this version of Windows.
This graphics driver could not find compatible graphics hardware."[i]
Question Author
Was a nice try but I think their site may not make the right decisions.

"NVIDIA Installer cannot continue
This NVIDIA graphics driver in not compatible with this version of Windows.
This graphics driver could not find the compatible graphics hardware.
"
Question Author
Well that was both acutely embarrassing and gratifying at the same time. I have no idea how I managed to downloaded the 32 bit version, will swear I selected 64 bit. Anyway that seems to have done the trick ! It now comes in and can be set bright enough.

What I don't understand though is given I have had GeForce Experience running since installation and it likes to advise of an update, it seems weekly, why on Earth did it keep updating the wrong software ? Strange world sometimes.

Thanks muchly, I shall spend time tomorrow comparing the high res and medium. It looked very more detailed when all was dark, it seems less so at present but I need to contrast and compare a bit. Cheers.
Question Author
Interesting, I tried turning on the anti aliasing and anisotropic filtering and it was ok with it for a while, not that I noticed much difference, then I hear "pling" and the dark windowed version comes up ! I turn them back off again and I get the light full screen version again.

I did spot a "windows returned to default colour" warning for a bit, but then that disappeared. Too quick to read properly but something about processor struggling ? Something's not up to scratch then.
Question Author
It was a brave try, but after a few billion updates from Microsoft (?!?!?!?!?!?!?!) it's right back to the same problem. Even reinstalling does little.

As I write it does occur to me that maybe I could uninstall before I reinstall. But confidence level is back on the floor again.
Question Author
Spent ages uninstalling one NVIDIA thing at a time and rebooting.

Sad to say it has not corrected after I reinstalled http://www.nvidia.co.uk/download/driverResults.aspx/81905/en-uk afterwards.

I'm open to any further suggestions. Don't really understand why it worked for a short while, and then failed again.
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