Video Flickering on Cut-Scenes?

from Stardock Forums
It's not much of a big deal for me; but I'm curious as to whether or not anyone is also running into these same 'problems', and have found a solution for them. I'm running on an IBM T23 laptop - everything's updated, literally. Microsoft's Windowsupdate, IBM's support center. I've got the latest bios, firmware, video drivers and patches possible for my laptop at the present. During the cut-scenes of GalCiv, I'll get a 'partial' flickering frame of sorts. Essentially, there'll be a white frame surrounding the cut-scene video half-way down, and the upper half of that frame is completely black. It's really not much of a hinderance to gameplay, and I skip the cut-scene altogether...but has anyone ran into this problem and figured out a solution for it? I would have thought downloading that 330 meg multi-media installation would probably help, but I guess it didn't. I am running on Direct X 9.0b and everything, and ran the diagnostics. I'm wondering if that's because my screen resolution is set at 1400x1050, 16-bit? Any suggestions would be nice! :)

~SDC~
174 views 10 replies
Reply #2 from Stardock Forums Top
There's something I haven't thought of. I just downloaded the tools and all...are there any other things I should do? Is this a codec of sorts?

~SDC~
Siege of Centauri
Reply #3 from Stardock Forums Top

Well, if something has taken over the file association, like Quicktime, installing the bink tools should reclaim the association.

I don't think that there are actual codecs involved.  But if they play fine in the viewer but not in Gal Civ, there are a few other things that I can have you check.  DXDiag will report if there are  any errors with DirectX.

Reply #4 from Stardock Forums Top
Well, I did install the program and all, and I also ran it and had the 'Bink It!' option pointed to the sub-folder 'movies'. I'm assuming this is the folder? Or should I not have 'Bink'd it' at all? There's still the white frame around the the cut-scenes, the top portion thereof being black, of course. Not sure if this is the way it was supposed to be; though I'm assuming there shouldn't be any 'white' alongside the borders at all?

~SDC~
Reply #6 from Stardock Forums Top
I've had problems in the past with other games in which there were white flickering boxes showing around binks. Make sure you don't have any windows open in the background that are set to show above any other windows (such as instant messaging programs, etc.)
Reply #7 from Stardock Forums Top

You get the white borders when you're playing it with the bink video tools?

Your resolution should be at least 1024x768 when running Gal Civ.

Did you try running dxdiag?

Reply #8 from Stardock Forums Top
FWIW, I'm running Galciv on a T30, haven't seen any issues like that. Running 1024x768 true color, don't seem to have enough memory to go larger.
Reply #9 from Stardock Forums Top
I ran the dxdiag and tested everything - no problems found at all whatsoever. Anytime I try to downgrade my resolution lower than the 1400x1050, my screen fonts go all crazy. Strange - yes, I've been trying to tinker around with them, but they end up getting all fuzzy. Hence, why I've always stayed at the default 1400x1050. I definately don't have anything running in the background. I don't think it's much of a memory issue too, since I've got 512 megs loaded on here. The video memory's 16 megs, and I'm still at 16-bit (primarily for OOTP, since my 32-bit gets a bit 'translucent' on me).
Playing the videos with the Bink Video Player; I notice at the very top right of the screen, alongside the window's exact frame (the blue frame), it turns white half-way during playback. It's a small little line, breaks down into white boxes on the border itself. :SURPRISED:

Should I convert some of those movie files with the RAD tools? Perhaps I should push up to 32-bit? This definately isn't a gameplay killer or anything. Just a small little thing I thought I'd at least try to iron out. :notsure:

Or maybe I should try increasing my refresh rate? It's at 60 right now...don't think I've ever tinkered around with it ever since I got my laptop a couple of years ago.
~SDC~
[Message Edited]
Reply #10 from Stardock Forums Top

I have actually seen this before on my brothers computer. Its not a laptop, but with bink files he has the same issue you describe. However the cause of his problem is damage to his video card as a result of a faulty powersuppy. I doubt this is actually that helpful to you unless your laptop has had any physical/shock damage similar to my brothers case. Just thought I'd mention it anyway.

~SDC~