Disappearing characters (FFXI) :: Free Realms

Sage

620 posts

Recently characters both PC, NPC, and enemy alike have begun to appear and disappear randomly on my screen. They are there, just not showing, then if I move my character or change the camera angle, the character(s) in question will appear again. If I'm highlighting them, they don't disappear, but while unviewable I can not target them. This happens in all zones as far as I can tell.

Also, any characters with a fading effect (enemies disappearing after death, avatars, PCs after changing equipment, etc) appear on my screen with gaps of horizontal lines in them. I'm not sure if this is related or not.

I'm on Windows XP with an NVIDIA GeForce FX 5500 for video card. I've run virus/spyware/etc scans on my system as well as file checking POL and FFXI. I've got the most current version of DirectX and video drivers.

Thank you in advance for your time and help with this matter.

#2 Oct 26 2007 at 3:10 AM Rating: Good

__DEL__1592283547217

Scholar

1,719 posts

Does this happen only when you are playing FFXI or does it also happen when doing other video intensive things playing other games, playing high res video, editing video?

Have you done a "Check Files" yet on your POL client? (You can start it up before you go to sleep and have it check)

This could be in my mind a few things;

FFXI data corruption
Video card getting hot and diminishes performance
Drivers corrupted and need to be re-installed.

There are other possibilities however these are the common ones.

#3 Oct 26 2007 at 7:15 AM Rating: Good

Sage

620 posts

xXBijiontXx wrote:

Does this happen only when you are playing FFXI or does it also happen when doing other video intensive things playing other games, playing high res video, editing video?

Have you done a "Check Files" yet on your POL client? (You can start it up before you go to sleep and have it check)

This could be in my mind a few things;

FFXI data corruption
Video card getting hot and diminishes performance
Drivers corrupted and need to be re-installed.

There are other possibilities however these are the common ones.

FFXI is the only video intensive thing I have on this computer, so I don't really have anything else to test or compare with. These issues only seem to involve characters as things like buildings, backgrounds, etc still show solidly as they always have.

I've run check files on FFXI and POL, as stated in my first post.

The computer says the video card is working properly. I'm not sure if that is a means of telling if the drivers are corrupted, though.

#4 Nov 05 2007 at 5:34 AM Rating: Good

Sage

620 posts

What other possibilities could cause this issue?

#5 Nov 12 2007 at 4:34 PM Rating: Excellent

Kaolian

Leet Haxör

29,919 posts

You could be running out of video and or system ram. What do the rest of your system specs look like?

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#6 Nov 17 2007 at 7:23 AM Rating: Good

Sage

620 posts

Where would I find this information?

#7 Nov 19 2007 at 7:41 AM Rating: Good

Usagi

Living on a Prayer

30,114 posts

FFXI is kinda picky about what version drivers you run.
Sadly, they haven't put out an update list of "compatable drivers" in a while.
I'd try some of the drivers at http://www.guru3d.com/
I've had really good luck getting those to work with FFXI.

#8 Nov 20 2007 at 6:29 AM Rating: Good

__DEL__1680481127345

Sage

21,262 posts

There is a setting for "max characters displayed" in Misc 1 or Misc 2 in the game configuration settings. If you have this reduced from the max, and you're in a crowded zone like Whitegate or Dynamis, FFXI will randomly remove PCs past a certain number to limit the amount of stress on your PC. Unless you're running on a fairly crippled system, it's best to keep that at max.

#9 Nov 22 2007 at 6:41 AM Rating: Good

Sage

620 posts

catwho wrote:

There is a setting for "max characters displayed" in Misc 1 or Misc 2 in the game configuration settings. If you have this reduced from the max, and you're in a crowded zone like Whitegate or Dynamis, FFXI will randomly remove PCs past a certain number to limit the amount of stress on your PC. Unless you're running on a fairly crippled system, it's best to keep that at max.

I know how it looks when a PC disappears due to "max characters displayed" and this is different from that. NPCs, Enemies, and PCs alike are disappearing and reappearing on my screen, even in low population areas.