American Civil War Game Club (ACWGC)

Has anyone else had a problem with HPS games going to a white screen as fire graphics are trying to display on screen? I usually get it on incoming fire, sometimes for 3 or more distinct firing. Obviously, I see no info on the effect of the fire. I seem to remember something similar happening ages ago, and JT traced it to a dx call. Is it possible it's back? Maybe because of changes for Vista? I believe i'm running the latest 9c. Vid card is a nVidia 7800 GTX.

I'm also losing some of the drop down boxes - they sometimes go transparent, either wholly or in part.

Never had this before - changing acceleration setting doesn't help, either.

Lt Gen Bill Braddock, 1/3/III ANV

It is best to send the info to HPS support and let Rich sort it out.

<b><font color="gold">Ernie Sands
General, Commanding, Army of Ohio

ACWGC Cabinet Member
ACWGC Records Site Administrator
</b></font id="gold">

Isn't it usual for you to 'white out' during game play, Bill. [:p]

MajGen Al 'Ambushed' Amos

The Union Forever! Huzzah!

I had a few 'white outs' back in my college days . . .

Sincerely,
Brig Gen Dwight McBride
V Corps/AOP/USA

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="3" face="book antiqua" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by wjbraddock</i>
<br />Has anyone else had a problem with HPS games going to a white screen as fire graphics are trying to display on screen? I usually get it on incoming fire, sometimes for 3 or more distinct firing. Obviously, I see no info on the effect of the fire. I seem to remember something similar happening ages ago, and JT traced it to a dx call. Is it possible it's back? Maybe because of changes for Vista? I believe i'm running the latest 9c. Vid card is a nVidia 7800 GTX.

I'm also losing some of the drop down boxes - they sometimes go transparent, either wholly or in part.

Never had this before - changing acceleration setting doesn't help, either.

Lt Gen Bill Braddock, 1/3/III ANV

<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">

Yes, I have the same problem with several of my HPS games, especially during indirect fire in the Squad Battles series. And I installed a new video/graphics card on my pc just to get rid of this problem. But it didn't help at all. I have no clue as what can cause this "white out" and transparent menus, but it was a relief to hear that it wasn't just me that experienced this.... [8D]

MajGen Atle Jenssen
CO 2nd Division
XXth Corps
Army of the Cumberland
USA

I started getting this problem when I changed my mouse. My old Microsoft wireless mouse was ok (until it died) but the new Microsoft Wireless Laser Mouse 5000 I bought recently has caused all sorts of minor glitches. The drivers seem to interfere with screen refresh process somehow and I get occasional screen flickering, as well as the white screen and transparent menus in the HPS games. By the way I run XP. I can live with it but it is annoying.[xx(]


[url="http://homepage.ntlworld.com/a.r.barlow/acwgc/acw.htm"]General Antony Barlow[/url]
[url="http://homepage.ntlworld.com/a.r.barlow/acwgc/western_theater.htm"]Commander, Western Theater, Union Army[/url]

My white outs were worse- they happened as I saved the turns and wiped out my moves!! Awful, My opponent Jeff Mathes has been very patient.

I wound up reinstalling windows I had things so screwed up( I couldnt uninstall the game!!). Then I reinstalled the game into C:\HPS\ instead of C:\program files\. It then took me a few stabs to get the patch to line up. Its only been two turns and they have worked but I still hold my breath when I go to "save to".

By the way -Thanks again Ernie( my computer guru)

Colonel Tony Best
Army of Georgia

Ha! I installed a MS 3000 optical mouse before rejoining the club. I dismissed this as the cause, but come to think of it, it's a 1000 dpi mouse with a magnifier function. I wonder if to get the 'precise control' MS touts, it monkeys with the graphics. What kills me is ultimately, it's the dx graphics that cause the issue - so MS now made a product that doesn't play well with MS. [:o)] To paraphrase, "Charlie don't surf, and Bill Gates don't game!"

I'll check for new drivers, play with the settings and let you know.

Lt Gen Bill Braddock, 1/3/III ANV

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="3" face="book antiqua" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Al Amos</i>
<br />Isn't it usual for you to 'white out' during game play, Bill. [:p]

MajGen Al 'Ambushed' Amos

The Union Forever! Huzzah!

<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">

White lightnin' causes those white outs, Al!

Lt Gen Bill Braddock, 1/3/III ANV

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="3" face="book antiqua" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Antony Barlow</i>
<br />I started getting this problem when I changed my mouse. My old Microsoft wireless mouse was ok (until it died) but the new Microsoft Wireless Laser Mouse 5000 I bought recently has caused all sorts of minor glitches. The drivers seem to interfere with screen refresh process somehow and I get occasional screen flickering, as well as the white screen and transparent menus in the HPS games. By the way I run XP. I can live with it but it is annoying.[xx(]


[url="http://homepage.ntlworld.com/a.r.barlow/acwgc/acw.htm"]General Antony Barlow[/url]

[url="http://homepage.ntlworld.com/a.r.barlow/acwgc/western_theater.htm"]Commander, Western Theater, Union Army[/url]
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">

I have got the same wireless mouse.... So, that's what causing all this mischief then? [xx(] 3 x Huzzah for Microsoft [V]

MajGen Atle Jenssen
CO 2nd Division
XXth Corps
Army of the Cumberland
USA

Well, ms has no new driver. I think we're going to have to beg Rich to address this. I have zip, zero, nada issues with any other programs. I've tried changing mouse settings, ng. Short of uninstalling this driver and ditching my mouse for my old one I'm at a loss to do anything else on my end.

Lt Gen Bill Braddock, 1/3/III ANV

It's happened to me too occasionally (white screen). Mostly in the PZC series during the some of the defensive fire shots. Then the screen is normal after the shots end. I use an ATI video card on an Intel system. I'm running Vista Business x64, and a Logitech wired mouse (MX518).

I've had no issues with drop-down menus.

Lt. General Dirk Gross
XIV Corps/AoC

I'm still a damp behind the ears Union Lieutenant, so I thought it was me. However, I use a Logitech Marble Mouse (trackball) and get a whiteout once or twice a turn during incoming fire.

1st Lt. Harlan Seyfer
3/2/I/AoP

Harlan, I also use a Logitech Marble Mouse (trackball) and have never suffered from whiteout, well maybe between the ears but not on screen. I've used a series of trackballs for years to play these games without incident. I'm still on XP and won't get a Vista laptop until Xmas (here comes Santa Clause, here comes Santa Clause ...) so I can't say that trackball combined with Vista won't do it.

Lt Gen Ned Simms
1/1/VIII/AoS/USA
Blood 'n Guts hisself, a land lovin' pirate. Show me some arty tubes and we'll charge 'em.
VMI Class of '00

I've been using the Logitech Trackball for years without problems both under XP and Vista. I would tend to suspect your video driver more than the mouse. Reinstall both drivers and see if it fixes it. There is a problem with how Windows handles reinstalling drivers. Unless you change versions it never really overwrites the original driver so a corrupted driver seems to stay corrupted.

I would also look at whether your video board is up handling these new games. They require quite a bit of video memory but I am not sure if they have a minimum spec.

LG. Kennon Whitehead
Chatham Grays
1/1/III AoM (CSA)