Microsoft KB Archive/263039

Knowledge Base

How to troubleshoot display issues in Microsoft games

Article ID: 263039

Article Last Modified on 12/4/2007

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APPLIES TO

• Microsoft Flight Simulator X Deluxe
• Microsoft Flight Simulator X Standard
• Microsoft Links 2003 Championship Edition
• Microsoft Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings
• Microsoft Age of Empires II: The Conquerors Expansion
• Microsoft Age of Empires II Gold Edition
• Microsoft Age of Empires III
• Microsoft Age of Empires III : The WarChiefs
• Microsoft Age of Mythology
• Microsoft Age of Mythology Gold
• Microsoft Age of Mythology: The Titans
• Microsoft Bicycle Board Games 1.5
• Microsoft Bicycle Card Games 1.0
• Microsoft Casino
• Microsoft Classic Board Games 1.0
• Microsoft Combat Flight Simulator 2: WWII Pacific Theater
• Microsoft Combat Flight Simulator 3: Battle for Europe
• Microsoft Crimson Skies
• Microsoft Dungeon Siege
• Microsoft Dungeon Siege: Legends of Aranna
• Microsoft Dungeon Siege II
• Fable: The Lost Chapters PC
• Microsoft Flight Simulator 2000 Standard Edition
• Microsoft Flight Simulator 2000 Professional Edition
• Microsoft Flight Simulator 2002 Standard Edition
• Microsoft Flight Simulator 2002 Professional Edition
• Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004: Century of Flight
• Microsoft Freelancer
• Microsoft Halo: Combat Evolved for PC
• Microsoft Halo 2 for Windows Vista
• Microsoft Gears of War (PC)
• Microsoft Impossible Creatures
• Microsoft Links 2001 Standard Edition
• Microsoft MechCommander 2
• Microsoft MechWarrior 4: Black Knight
• Microsoft MechWarrior 4: Clan Mech Pak
• Microsoft MechWarrior 4: Inner Sphere Mech Pak
• Microsoft MechWarrior 4: Mercenaries
• Microsoft MechWarrior 4: Vengeance
• Microsoft Midtown Madness 2
• Microsoft Motocross Madness 2
• Microsoft Pandora's Box
• Microsoft Rise of Nations
• Microsoft Rise of Nations: Gold Edition
• Microsoft Rise of Nations: Rise of Legends
• Microsoft Rise of Nations: Thrones and Patriots
• Microsoft Shadowrun (PC)
• Microsoft Viva Pinata (PC)
• Microsoft Zoo Tycoon
• Microsoft Zoo Tycoon 2
• Microsoft Zoo Tycoon Complete Collection
• Microsoft Zoo Tycoon: Dinosaur Digs 1.0
• Microsoft Zoo Tycoon: Marine Mania
• Microsoft Zoo Tycoon 2: African Adventure
• Microsoft Zoo Tycoon 2: Dino Danger
• Microsoft Zoo Tycoon 2: Endangered Species
• Microsoft Zoo Tycoon 2: Marine Mania

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This article was previously published under Q263039

SUMMARY

This article describes how to troubleshoot display-related problems that you may experience when you use one of the Microsoft games listed in the "Applies to" section.

MORE INFORMATION

This section contains the following topics:

• General display symptoms
• Display troubleshooting methods

General display symptoms

The following list contains general display symptoms that you may experience when you use one of the Microsoft games listed in the "Applies to" section:

• Textures are missing.
• Textures are distorted.
• Texture colors are distorted.
• Textures are blurred.
• Textures are flashing.
• Flashing mouse pointer.
• Screen text is blurred or cannot be seen.
• Graphics are black or white.
• The screen turns black.
• Horizontal flickering bar lines across the screen.

Display troubleshooting methods

Check for any known issues

There may be specific issues that are documented or troubleshooting steps for your game that may help you resolve display problems. To view any known issues for a Microsoft game, visit the following Microsoft Web site, and then select or search for your game:

http://support.microsoft.com/games

Install the latest video driver for your video adapter

Contact the manufacturer of your video hardware for information about how to obtain and install the latest version of the video driver for your video hardware. To see whether applicable driver updates are available, visit the following Microsoft Windows Update Web site:

http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com

Click Play to view this streaming media demonstration.
For information about how to contact the video adapter manufacturer, 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 identify the name and manufacturer of your video hardware, follow these steps:

1. In Microsoft Windows XP, click Start, click Run, type dxdiag in the Open box, and then click OK.
   

In Windows Vista, click Start, type dxdiag in the Start Search box, and then click dxdiag.exe in the Programs list.

1. Click the Display tab.
2. Under Device, look for Name and Manufacturer.
3. Click Exit.

Click Play to view this streaming media demonstration.

Install the latest version of DirectX

To download and install the latest version of DirectX, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/directx/default.mspx

Adjust display settings

Many newer Microsoft games require a video card and monitor that can run a resolution of at least 800 x 600 at High Color (16 bit). Set the Windows display resolution to 800 x 600 at High Color (16 bit), and then test the game. To do this, follow these steps:

1. In Windows XP, click Start, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.
   

In Windows Vista, click Start, type personalization in the Start Search box, and then click Personalization in the Programs list.

1. In Windows XP, couble-click Display.
   

In Windows Vista, click Display Settings.

1. Click the Settings tab.
2. Move the Desktop Area slider or the Screen Area slider to the 800 x 600 pixels setting.
3. In the Color Palette box or in the Colors box, click High Color (16 bit).
4. Click OK, and then click OK again.
5. Click Yes to accept the settings.

Note After you change your video resolution, you may have to adjust the monitor settings so that the screen displays correctly. See the monitor documentation for more information.

If you know what resolution your game is set to run at, set the Windows display settings to the same resolution as the game. You may also try setting your display resolution to 640 x 480 High Color (16 bit).

Adjust graphics hardware acceleration

To adjust graphics hardware acceleration, use the method described for the operating system that you are using:

• Windows Vista
  1. Click Start, type personalization in the Start Search box, and then click Personalization in the Programs list.
  2. Click Display Settings.
  3. Click Advanced Settings.
  4. Click the Troubleshoot tab, and then click Change settings.
     If you are prompted for an administrator password or for a confirmation, type the password, or click Allow.
  5. Move the Hardware Acceleration slider two notches to the left of Full (the Disable cursor and bitmap accelerations setting).
  6. Click OK, and then click Restart Now.
  7. After the computer has restarted, test the game.
• Microsoft Windows 2000 or Windows XP
  1. Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.
  2. Double-click Display.
  3. On the Settings tab, click Advanced.
  4. Click the Troubleshoot tab.
  5. Move the Hardware Acceleration slider two notches to the left of Full (the Disable all cursor and advanced drawing accelerations setting).
  6. Click OK, and then click OK again.
  7. Test the game.
  
• Microsoft Windows 98 or Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition
  1. Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel
  2. Double-click System.
  3. On the Performance tab, click Graphics.
  4. Move the Hardware Acceleration slider one notch to the left of Full (the Most acceleration setting).
  5. Click OK, and then click Close.
  6. If you are prompted to restart the computer, click Yes.
  7. Test the game.

Note If your game runs with video acceleration turned down, it may indicate that you have to update your video driver or it may indicate that your display adapter cannot run your game at full acceleration.

Check or turn on Direct 3D

To check or turn on Direct3D acceleration in Windows XP, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, click Run, type dxdiag, and then click OK.
2. On the Display tab, verify that all DirectX features are turned on. If any features are turned off, click Enable next to the feature.
   

Note If some DirectX features are unavailable, verify that your video adapter meets the minimum requirements.

Note Windows Vista automatically enables Direct 3D acceleration, if it is supported by the display device and driver.
Click Play to view this streaming media demonstration.

Switch from full-screen mode to Windowed Mode

You can switch the game to run in Windowed Mode. To switch to Windowed Mode, start the game and then press ALT+ENTER.

Note Some games do not support this function.

• If the game did not switch to Windowed Mode, continue to the next step.
• If the game switched to Windowed Mode and the issue is no longer occurs, your video card and DirectX are not installed correctly, or your video card cannot run the game in full-screen mode.

Adjust the Refresh Rate

For Windows Vista, follow these steps:

1. Open Display Settings. To do this, click Start, type personalization in the Start Search box, and then click Personalization in the Programs list.
2. Click Advanced Settings.
3. Click the Monitor tab, and then select a new refresh rate. The monitor will take a moment to adjust. If you want to keep the changes, click Apply. If you do not apply the changes within 15 seconds, the refresh rate will revert back to your original setting.

For Microsoft Windows 2000 or Microsoft Windows XP, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel. Or, click Start, and then click Control Panel.
2. Double-click Display.
3. On the Settings tab, click Advanced.
4. On the Adapter tab, click List All Modes.
5. Select a valid mode.
6. Click OK two times.

For Microsoft Windows 98 and Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel. Or, click Start, and then click Control Panel.
2. Double-click Display.
3. On the Settings tab, click Advanced.
4. On the Adapter tab, click Change.
5. Follow the Update Device Driver Wizard to select a good driver.
6. Click OK two times.

For Windows 95, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.
2. Double-click Display.
3. On the Settings tab, click Advanced.
4. On the Adapter tab, under Refresh Rate, select Adapter default.
5. Click OK two times.

Remove multiple adapters by using the DirectX Diagnostic Tool (Windows 95 and Windows 98 only)

To remove multiple adapters, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, click Run, type dxdiag -ghost in the Open box, and then click OK.
2. Click the More Help tab.
3. Click the Inactive button.
4. Click the item on the left, and then click Backup.
5. Repeat these steps until all the items have been removed from Inactive Window.
6. Click Exit.

Set the accelerated graphics port aperture size to 64 megabytes or to 128 megabytes

If you are using an accelerated graphics port (AGP) video adapter with less than 32 megabytes (MB) of memory, and the AGP aperture size is set too low, some games may crash and some games may not run. We recommend that you set your AGP aperture size to 64 MB if you have 192 MB or less of total system memory.

If you have 256 MB of system memory, or if you have more than 256 MB of system memory, set the aperture to 128. Higher settings do not have a significant effect on performance and actually increase the size of the Graphic Address Remapping Table (GART), although the increase of the size of the GART may sometimes have an adverse effect. The AGP aperture size is a setting in the BIOS of many computers. For information about how to adjust the AGP aperture size, contact the manufacturer of your computer or of your motherboard.

For information about how to contact the manufacturer of the computer or the manufacturer of the motherboard, 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

Additional query words: 1.00 2.00 msgame black screen crash hangs freeze lock fatal exception t-shoot video display

Keywords: kbhowto kbgraphxlink kbenv kbdisplay KB263039

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