Oolite Bulletins

G'day,

I heard about the original Elite from Retro Gaming, and I wanted to have a go at it, and apparently this is supposed to be the next best thing.

I downloaded the latest Oolite, opened it and installed it like a kid on Christmas day, but it looks like this:

http://img69.imageshack.us/img69/217/ooliteproblem.png (22kb, PNG)

I can't even see the text properly, everything is either a square, a single colour, or too vague to make out.

Any ideas on what's happening? I'm running Windows XP with the best DirectX Possible (Can't get 10), Dual Core 2.61 GHZ, 2 gigs of RAM, and an Nvidia GeForce 8600.

Please lend me a hand, I want to get into this ASAP!

Hi Luca, welcome to the boards! I'm not an expert [EDIT]so ignore everything I say ...

Well, with an opening like G'day, you must be another Aussie..

Firstly, welcome to "the friendliest board this side of Reidquat"..

The first thing you need to know, is that Oolite doesn't use DirectX, it uses OpenGL. And the image you linked is usually an indicator that you need to update your graphics drivers. If you're using a full PC (as opposed to a laptop) you need to go to NVIDIA and install the latest drivers. If you're using a laptop, and have no luck with the nvidia drivers, you may want to see this thread.

Disembodied wrote:

Hi Luca, welcome to the boards! I'm not an expert but you might find this thread useful. If not then stick around – a real expert will be along shortly ...

Disembodied.. that thread is only applicable to laptops.. please check before recommending that solution, I don't know what would happen if somebody tried to implement it on a desktop PC..

Diziet Sma wrote:

Disembodied.. that thread is only applicable to laptops.. please check before recommending that solution, I don't know what would happen if somebody tried to implement it on a desktop PC..

It's all just PC hell to me, I'm afraid! I've edited my original post.

Luca wrote:

I can't even see the text properly, everything is either a square, a single colour, or too vague to make out.

Any ideas on what's happening? I'm running Windows XP with the best DirectX Possible (Can't get 10), Dual Core 2.61 GHZ, 2 gigs of RAM, and an Nvidia GeForce 8600.

Yes I believe that this is an issue with some Nvidia cards.

It has a simple solution.

Find the Oolite.exe file, right-click on it and select "Properties". Add " -nosplash" to the target field, as per the following screenshot:



I believe this should sort out your problems.

To echo what others have said, this is a driver problem.

You're running XP with a Geforce card? Same here on my Ooliting rig, though in my case an FX 5200 Ultra.

I've found that the latest Forceware drivers may be no joy, ie actually cause the graphics fail. My solution was to find older Forceware versions that supported my card, and trying them till Oolite (and my other games) ran happily.
The "sweet spot" version, for me, is Forceware 93.81. YMMV of course, but it's worth a try.
You'll find a nice fat archive of backissue drivers at Guru3D. Some had luck with the Omega versions of Forceware, too.

Good luck.

JazHaz wrote:

Find the Oolite.exe file, right-click on it and select "Properties". Add " -nosplash" to the target field...

It's definately worth trying this first, before buggering about with drivers!!

JazHaz wrote:

JazHaz wrote:

Find the Oolite.exe file, right-click on it and select "Properties". Add " -nosplash" to the target field...

It's definately worth trying this first, before buggering about with drivers!!

Sorry, I disagree.
In my experience, there's something iffy about the way the recent versions of Forceware loads, or fails to load OpenGL with some cards on XP. The result is crappy graphics and/or crappy performance running Oolite exactly like Luca's screenshot has shown. It's a driver problem, and -nosplash won't resolve it.

Been there done that, experienced the problem myself and fixed it. So thar.

Hi guys, I've done the "-nosplash" trick (I had to reinstall Oolite to a different folder though), and the game runs like clockwork.

Thanks for your help!

M'kay. I sit corrected. While I still feel -nosplash isn't a magic bullet fix-all, it worked in this case.
It's like a "universal socket wrench" that turns every nut except those weird 8-sided pronged ones.

Happy flying, Luca. May the pirates go easy on you (at least till you reach Competent! ).

Just gotta say one thing: LOL!

JazHaz wrote:

Just gotta say one thing: LOL!

The three hour dogfight was finally over, with the heavily wounded Cadudeus injectoring away under an erratically flickering cloak. The ship that was also a lifeform took a tremendous beating from the Cobra's military lasers before giving up. But she gave back as much as she received, and with relentless ferocity. The Cobra was left in poor shape itself; the pilot knew he was looking at a very large repair bill in the near future.
The pilot couldn't remember how this conflict actually began, apart from both ships answering a distress call, and joining a hastily assembled, yet loosely organized militia force of lone-wolf ships fighting off a large Thargoid invasion fleet. The Bugs have been getting increasingly bold throughout the war, and every starship commander was required by a new GalCop law to drop their normal business, and immediately attack the Thargs. The pilot concluded after some thought that it could've been a case of friendly fire and hot heads; there was a lot of laser beams, plasma flak, Thargoid drones and hardhead missiles flying around, and you couldn't shoot without hitting something, a storm of violence that many crews on both sides wouldn't come home from. In the end the Thargs were defeated, but at a heavy toll. This was a sobering train of thought, and the pilot slowly regained self control from the adrenaline rush of intense combat, enough to notice the object on his scanner the fleeing Caddy had left behind.
It was a communications relay buoy, according to the functioning, but quirky STE, but of an unusual, half organic design. As soon as he had a target lock on the strange device, his commscreen came to life. The screen showed the face of the Caddy's captain, a fierce-looking, clearly carnivorous reptilid with a prosthetic left eye. In a growly, deep, but somber voice, the scaley combateer spoke.
"You've bested me, sir. Enjoy your victory ale on my tab when you get to dock, you've deserved it. You've humiliated the Wyvern and forced me to retreat, in an epic duel of lasers, skill, and cojones of steel, despite us both being shot at by the Bugs. I salute you, Commander, well done." The reptile smiled, and raised a clawed hand over his gleaming, metal lined brow. "It's been a long time since I was forced to bow out of a battle, and it was a blast." The saurian chuckled softly. "We've got to stop meeting like this."
As the channel closed and the commsat self-destructed, the Cobra pilot flopped back in his seat, and let out a chuckle, which soon became a laugh.

That piece of fiction is a fellow ooliter's way of admitting with dignity that he's been pwned. This time.
I'm glad Luca got his problem solved, and how he got there really doesn't matter in the end, right?

Tee hee!

Disembodied wrote:

Hi Luca, welcome to the boards! I'm not an expert [EDIT]so ignore everything I say ...

Reminds me of a short story by either Asimov, Clarke or Bradbury.

Statement 1: Everything I tell you is true.
Statement 2: Statement 1 is a lie.

I think this then lead to the shutdown of a computer system as it pondered the logic of the two 'facts' - does anybody remember it?