Knowledge Base

Zoo Tycoon: Known video issues

Article ID: 309695

Article Last Modified on 11/14/2007

APPLIES TO

Microsoft Zoo Tycoon
Microsoft Zoo Tycoon: Marine Mania
Microsoft Zoo Tycoon: Dinosaur Digs 1.0
Microsoft Zoo Tycoon Complete Collection

This article was previously published under Q309695

SUMMARY

This article describes known video-related issues that you can experience when you play Microsoft Zoo Tycoon. The information in this article is first broken out by general issues and then by issues that have only been known to happen on specific types of video hardware.

MORE INFORMATION

Zoo Tycoon, Dinosaur Digs, and Marine Mania require DirectX 8.0a-compliant video cards.

Note It is good practice to always install the latest certified drivers for all your hardware.

General Video Issues

Contact the manufacturer of your video adapter to obtain and install the latest version of the driver for your video adapter. For information about how to contact the manufacturer of your video adapter, see the "References" section of this article. You may also visit the following Microsoft Windows Update Web site to see if applicable driver updates are available:

http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com

To identify the name and manufacturer of your video adapter:

Click Start, click Run, type dxdiag in the Open box, and then click OK.
Click the Display tab.
Under Device, look for Name and Manufacturer.
Click Exit.

The following are general video related issues that you may experience when you start or play Zoo Tycoon.

Display Resolution Issue

If your computer's graphics card does not support 1280 x 1024 resolution but you select that option in Zoo Tycoon, Zoo Tycoon may be displayed correctly in the current game but incorrectly in subsequent games. To avoid this, set Zoo Tycoon to use only the resolutions that your computer's graphic card supports. See your video adapter documentation for help in determining the best resolution setting for your computer.

Building Sections Disappear

If you have a line of buildings that runs from the upper left to the lower right of the screen and you put a building perpendicularly near that line, and move your view of the game screen so that the newest building is near the top of the screen, the building may not be displayed correctly. This is merely a display issue; the building functions normally. To view the building normally, move your view of the game screen so that the building is near the center of the screen.

Blinking Pointer

If the Display Pointer Trails check box is selected in the Mouse Properties dialog box before you run the game, the cursor will blink when you are playing Zoo Tycoon. To stop the Zoo Tycoon pointer from blinking, click to clear the Display Pointer Trails check box.

Game Drops to Desktop

When you click Play, the game may drop back to the desktop. This may occur if you are using an incorrect monitor. Change the monitor to Plug and Play, Super VGA 800 × 600, or use the original drivers from your monitor's manufacturer. For additional information about how to troubleshoot display issues , click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

263039 Games: How to troubleshoot display issues

Specific Video Issues

The following specific video hardware have known video-related issues in Microsoft Zoo Tycoon:

Maxi Gamer Cougar and Maxi Gamer Xentor 32

You may experience irregular game play with Zoo Tycoon when you use Maxi Gamer Cougar or Maxi Gamer Xentor 32 video adapters. If you do experience difficulty, contact the adapter's manufacturer to obtain their latest DirectX-compatible drivers. This is the only known resolution.

nVidia

Some nVidia video adapters may cause Zoo Tycoon to stop responding. To resolve this behavior, make sure that your video adapter is using driver 4.13.1.1241 or later. To download this driver, visit the following nVidia Web site:

http://www.nvidia.com/

nVidia Geforce 2 MX and Geforce 3 or 4 Ti

When you play Zoo Tycoon, you may experience one of the following symptoms:

Distorted graphics
Flickering or flashing on the screen
Slow or choppy game performance

To resolve this issue, visit the following nVidia Web site to download and install the latest nVidia drivers:

http://www.nvidia.com

If the latest drivers do not resolve the issue or if your computer has the nVidia TNT 2 adapter installed, visit the following nVidia Web site to download and install 30.82 drivers:

Windows XP/2000 Driver Archive
http://www.nvidia.com/object/win9x_30.82.html

nVidia 40.72 Video Driver

When you play Zoo Tycoon, the bottom of the screen may flicker. This issue has been known to occur with the nVidia 40.72 video driver. To resolve this issue, either upgrade to the latest nVidia video drivers or downgrade to the 30.82 driver.

Some Trident Blade 3D

When you play Zoo Tycoon, the game stops responding. To work around this issue, use the DirectX Diagnostic tool (Dxdiag) to disable DirectDraw:

Click Start, click Run, type dxdiag, and then click OK.
Click the Display tab.
Click Disable next to DirectDraw: Acceleration Enabled.
Click Exit.

Note Disabling DirectDraw and Direct3D acceleration will slow overall performance.

ATI Rage IIC

When you try to play Zoo Tycoon with a computer that uses an ATI Rage IIC video card, Zoo Tycoon will generate errors and may freeze when you try to quit the game. The Rage IIc video card does not have video drivers available to make it compatible for Zoo Tycoon. The most udated drivers for the Rage IIc is DDI Version 6. This version does not work correclty with Zoo Tycoon.

REFERENCES

For information about how to contact the manufacturer of your video adapter, click the appropriate article number in the following list to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

65416 Hardware and software vendor contact information, A-K

60781 Hardware and software vendor contact information, L-P

60782 Hardware and software vendor contact information, Q-Z

Microsoft provides third-party contact information to help you find technical support. This contact information may change without notice. Microsoft does not guarantee the accuracy of this third-party contact information. To see if applicable driver updates are available, visit the following Microsoft Windows Update Web site: