graphic glitch in skyrim

[elias64]

I just played my 1st half hour of skyrim today.I know I'm way late in starting skyrim but I was heavily involved in the battlefield series and have put off skyrim knowing it would always be there and by now I'm sure theres some good mods for it.

The problem I'm having is even from the beginning with the cart ride,I have some squares at the top of the screen and dashes in the middle of the screen and a couple of small technicolor squares.I've had graphics cards go bad in the past and thats what this looks like.Also I think a power supply did the same kind of thing once.

I restarted the game twice and still had them.The thing is that heavily modded oblivion and morrowind and every video thing I can throw at my system are working fine.

I'm running a gtx 260 1gb ddr3 graphics card,enermax 630 watt power supply with enough volts on the appropriate lines and my cpu is athlon duo core 5600 2.9 ghz, 4 gb of ram with windows xp sp3.Hardware should run the game fine...I think

One thing I'm not very familiar with is some of the settings like anti-aliasing and shaders and whatnot.So the next step I can think of is messing around there.

Is anyone familiar with this or had or heard of this problem and can recommend what settings can cause this or which settings I should adjust?

I let the game pick the settings and it chose high quality.

[donnato]

Hello Elias ,and welcome. There will no doubt be more knowledgeable folks looking into this but for now...I`m with you in that, you`re hardware seems ok. That leaves the softer side of ware. Have you installed any patches..? I did a quick search and found ... THIS ... Also , there`s an unofficial skyrim patch available. i`m hoping that you can get this sorted pretty soon and without too many headachs.

[elias64]

Thanks Donnato.After making a steam account and installing I forgot about any patches that might be needed.I'm on it now.After seeing those graphic quirks I was relieved that nothing else was doing it so hopefully it will be software solvable and thanks for the link and the patch reminder that I should've thought of already.

[Hanaisse]

Keeping your game updated to the latest Official patch is essential, but it's not going to fix your graphics problem. Your graphics card is a little on the low end side. Skyrim is a graphics-intensive game, leaps and bounds over MW and OB. What graphics setting are you playing at? If you're trying to run at High (or Ultra), lower ALL your settings (including in the advanced tab) to Medium from the game launcher Options menu. If that doesn't help, try Low.

You should also make sure your graphic card drivers are up to date, and check the GeForce website, they have all kinds of help on what settings your card should be at to play Skyrim. Actually, nevermind, I just looked and the GTX260 doesn't even have settings for Skyrim, that's how low it is. Make sure to turn FXAA and anti-aliasing off and as recommended above, try Low-Med game graphics settings.

Good luck.

[elias64]

http://i1058.photobucket.com/albums/t410/jehu5/72850_2013-02-20_00002_zpse7e77bda.png

There's probably a better way to post photo links but that is the direct link at photobucket to a screenshot of how it looks now.I'm patched up to current and it did take away the larger boxes and cleared up some stuff.What its showing now is hard to read but it says dawnguard imperial something and still has dashes.After another restart its almost like an advertisement or something from a mod(?) it said "organizing bandits" and some other stuff all in black but splotchy.

[_echo]

Yeah that looks like your card is failing.

The 260 isn't a bad card by any means, and more then capable of running skyrim, but perhaps skyrim was the final straw.

[elias64]

This is kind of strange it runs best at high settings.The thing is the stuff on the screen is superimposed,its not changing or anything.The game is working great and the graphics are awesome.Does anyone remember in the game would there be "fort dawnguard Imp" with 4 or 5 stars showing on the screen somewhere? Also is there something ingame about "organizing bandits"?

If I have to get a new card so be it but I still like to find out whats up.I'd hate to buy a new card and find out it was a bad install or something.Is that a possibility? I'll try that,it can't hurt and I'm at the beginning so nows the time.If it wasn't writing superimposed I'd give up hope but...oh another thing my ingame play should have the magicka,health and stamina bars at the bottom of the screen right? Or is it on me to make them show?

Also if the card is going south then oblivion and battlefield and something else should be looking corrupt shortly wouldn't it? I'm thinking maybe I should keep trying for a solution till something else looks weird on another app before giving up the ghost with this card.

all ideas and suggestions are appreciated,thanks guys!

[HeyYou]

Might try updating your video drivers....

[Hanaisse]

You didn't say if you tried lowering your graphics settings or not.

Also, are you trying to run with the HiResTexture packs?

If you think it might be some kind of corruption you can always verify cache through Steam.

oh another thing my ingame play should have the magicka,health and stamina bars at the bottom of the screen right? Or is it on me to make them show?

I don't know how far into the game you are, but the "Intro" scene is quite long. Those won't show until you've finished character creation and Alduin attacks.

[elias64]

yes i did try al the lower settings and each time I lowered more of the superimposed writing came thru,a little with each time.When I'm indoors its perfectly clear.When I was in the blacksmith uncles,the jarl of whiterun's and the cave he sent me to its crystal clear.I just got the golden claw from the spider-food guy is where I'm at.

I'm not running HiRes packs or any mods yet.Going to stick with vanilla while everything is new and exciting for a while.

Is verifying the cache only for a steam download not a disc install? LOL "steam download" sounds like an appropriate name for what they're capable of giving you!

On a seperate note I wish Bethesda hadn't got into bed with Steam.I have GTA 4 liberty city and there were lots of people with problems just because they make you have rockstar online and windows live.I have the disc so I really wish Steam wasn't involved in any of this.I'm running the game with Steam offline.

[HeyYou]

All of your updates will come thru steam. Including all game patches..... verify game cache will work even though you installed from a disk, and will make sure you have all the latest and greatest patches...... (official ones at any rate.)

What operating system? Do you have the sidebar running while playing? (Vista/Win7)

[elias64]

I'm still clinging onto windows xp sp3.I might've found the culprit if a southbridge running hot will produce those video glitches.I just switched cases because I smoke and it doesn't mix well with a see through acrylic case.So I went with this aluminum cooler master,wave master that I've had for ages and the fan that covers the southbridge(?) stopped working.I didn't notice it till I heard some warning beeps from the system.

I have the side off the case and watching the fan now in case it stops.Too much cig smoke and pet hair gunked it up pretty good to where I have to help the fan get started...like a ww1 biplane lol.I'll be loving it if getting a new fan does the trick.

I just lost the coolest horse I've ever had too.The quest where the barmaid gives you the bounty note.I bought a horse and took him to the towers with the bridge going across.I ran into the tower to fight and saw the horse freaking out by the doorway and thought something was hurting him so i ran back out to help him and it looks like to me he had the smarts to figure out that arrows were coming from enemies on the bridge and he wanted to fight!

I say that because the next thing I see the horse made it thru the doorway and into the castle tower.I pulled out a bow thinking i have to nail this bridge guy so the horse will calm down.I got off 3-4 arrows when I see the horse on the bridge heading across it! I went as fast as i could ditching the bow for a dagger but when i got up there the horse had already fallen to his death in the creek.He took someone with him though.

That was one of the most amazing things I've ever seen.Actually I didn't see the amazing part.That horse navigated those stairs and even fit through the cutouts in the floor.If you remember those towers and bridge...I cant believe it.He stomped out 2 wolves on the way there too.

Thats it he's getting resurrected.Anybody else experience something with the only horse for sale from Whiterun? his aggressiveness puts the modded unicorns in oblivion to shame.He's huge too I cant believe he made it up that tower it seems impossible.

[grond]

Great horse. Great story.

I hope you found the cause of the glitches. I have almost the same issue, not with Skyrim, but with my rig. One of the two fans in the front of my Antec 900 case is dying. Being lazy, I planted a Vornado fan in front of my rig so it forces great volumes of cold air down the rig's gullet. If you can, you should try something like that, until you can fix your dying fan. It's a messy lazy fix, but it works. I've learned that having the side of the case off doesn't do what I imagined it did. The tightness of the case causes an air current to flow over the hardware. Take a side off, and there's a problem with airflow that might cause other parts in your rig to get too hot. So a fan blowing into the open side might help as a temporary thing.

I'm replacing my dying fan today. I promise.

If you have problems with dust, smoke and pet hair - same as I do - look into getting a Metro Vac Mini Blower. I'll be getting one ASAP.

[donnato]

Oh heck yeah Grondo...I`ll have to save meh pennies for that. Saved the page to favs.

[elias64]

I replaced the fan and bought a small handheld vac/blower for 12 bucks to get by but I want a metro vac as well.Its looking like a video card purchase first.

[grond]

Let us know how it goes.

[elias64]

I'm deep into the game now and only having to tolerate a few black specks.If I go indoors for a minute it usually clears up.This isn't how i want skyrim to be though so I'm saving for a gpu.I want to see this game in its glory!

[grond]

I remember doing the same with Oblivion. Play through, then when you upgrade your card you'll be able to replay, but it will seem like the first time you've played.

Or, hold off on Skyrim and get another job to speed up the 'updation' (I just made that word up )