Problems with WED functionality

Hello,

I recently bought new pc, switched from XP to Win7, 64-bit system & updated my graphic with ATI Radeon HD 5700.

..and this is the source of my problem. This card & new drivers are affecting the functionality of some programs that are relying on OpenGL. The problems I'm having are related to WED functionality: the editor is experiencing random freezes of the image in his windows that I can re-vitalize only by going to preferences & choosing a different video out. Then when that one freezes I choose another & so on. It's very disturbing & I can't get a good work flow.

This is the solution I found on the web & with which I fixed my Jedi Outcast & Return To Castle Wolfenstein games:
http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?p=15344297#post15344297

..but when I put the same atioglxx.dll file next to WED.exe nothing is different.

Is anyone else expiriencing the same problems & is there some way I can fix this without going back to older ATI drivers?

Btw the problem is completely the same for A6 6.60, A7 7.50 & 7.84, since I am using all three versions (they are all commercial versions).

I have an HD5770 in my new pc and i haven't these problems

Do you also have win7, amd & 64-bit system? ..and if you do, did you experience any openGL related problems (if you have any older games that rely on openGL installed)?

Here is another post related to this problem:
http://lucasforums.com/showthread.php?t=204478

yes, Win7 64 Bit and a AMD Phenom II X4 955 3.2 Ghz

No, I haven't other older OpenGL games installed, so I can't say you, sorry

I didn't have any WED problems before I installed my graphic card drivers update. I am almost sure that it's openGL related.

Is there a way I can make WED use old openGL without compromising the new one, similar to the Jedi Outcast solution?

Hm i don't think that wed uses opengl at all. It uses DirectX8/9 or a software renderer for its windows.

..but wouldn't I experience freezing's also in regular games (or when I run project from WED) if the problem is DirectX related? I don't know, I may be wrong with the openGL theory.

...
Update: I can also fix freezing with RightClick->GXL->Refresh/Recreate Views. But the strangest thing of all is that freezes seem to be happening only when bigger groups are selected?? Is this possible? Did anyone ever had similar problem? I can make a small video to demonstrate this.

Problems with OpenGL or with your graphics card or driver are unrelated to Gamestudio, so I'm moving this to Morbius. Gamestudio does not use OpenGL. - If it's a certain 3D card that causes problems, you can most likely find suggestions on the Internet. Another possibility is a hardware problem - overheating of the 3D card, a too weak power supply, or a memory fault. There are hardware tester programs that can find such kind of problems.

O.k. thanx.

..so that's why that atioglxx.dll file didn't work, my mistake.

Anyway, I decided to patch this problem fast so I uninstalled new drivers from August 2010 & installed older drivers from April 2010. Now everything is in prefect order. There are also available drivers from May, June & July but I didn't try those yet.

I didn't consider this to be a bug but this problem was/is only Game Studio related, actually only WED related. There were no other problems/faults that would suggest overheating of the 3D card, weak power supply or a memory fault. All my other programs & games were working with optimal performance, from Crysis to Jedi Outcast.

I don't want this to sound like a critic, but I must admit that I find to be normal to look for solutions that involve Game Studio on the forums, not on the Internet.

Unfortunately I didn't solve this problem with drivers downgrade but, let's say, I delayed it for a while. I will wait for new drivers & see if problem goes away by it's self.

Since I'm not experiencing any troubles now that I installed older drivers I am not in the position to find out more about this problem but here is what I come to until now:

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////
PROBLEM:

Freeze’s are happening only with...
gxl2basdx9a.dll
gxl2basdx9b.dll
gxl2basdx9.dll
gxl2dx8a.dll

...and not with...
gxl2bas32.dll
gxlbase32.dll
gxlBase.dll

Freeze’s are happening only when manipulating the scene in the WED's 3D window under these conditions:

1.When larger group is being selected (everything is o.k. if nothing or single block/object is selected)
2.When option: View->Textured(F7) is active (it doesn't happen when Solid or Wire Frame is active)

My conclusion:

There are some incompatibilities with ATI Radeon HD 5700 8.10 (on AMD, 64-bit system & win7) drivers and the method in which textures are displayed in the WED's 3D window (while multiple objects/blocks are being selected with View->Textured mode activated & under gxl2basdx9/9a/9b/gxl2dx8a).
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Sounds strange but there it is.

I guess, JCL won't look in this thread again - he read only the headline and the first two sentences of your first post - and decided that it is unrelated to his business.
You have to post this in Bugs or similar with a headline like "Freezes in WED's 3D window under certain circumstances" - to get it recognized from Jcl...

Yeah, I guess your right.

I must say that I'm not so happy with JCL's reply, it was a bit quick & generic, but it was to be expected since this problem is A7 (not A8) related & also I'm the only one that has these issues. I have found just one other, let's say, similar post concerning the ATI, AMD, 64-bit system & Win7:

http://www.opserver.de/ubb7/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=250902&page=1

Anyway, as this is not recognized as a legitimate problem by JCL at the moment & I did resolve issue (for now) with the older drivers, I'll just wait for new ATI updates in a following few months & see if things pick up. If not I will try posting again, this time in the bug section.

Hey Ganderoleg,
I have the same problem, although i have win7 32-bit. I have the newest driver. My graficcard is ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3650.

Sorry to hear that, I thought I was the only one with this problem.

As you can imagine, I tried number of things but only solution that worked for me was installing the older ATI drivers. I "solved" it with 4.10 drivers for my card but there was also 5.10, 6.10 & 7.10 versions that I haven't tried (8.10 was the one that was creating the problem).

I suggest that you try (if you haven't tried already) experimenting with different rendering dll's (gxl2basdx9.dll...) and all other stuff you can think of & if nothing works, just download older drivers & see if thing will be o.k.

I don't think JCL would be interested in looking into this issue, but we could try posting in Bug section if your problems turns out to be also driver-related.

I also tried it with the other dll´s, but always the same problem. I also think that this is a driver problem, because yesterday i updated my grfic driver, and now WED is much more crazy. The 3D view always dissapears, even if i make a small change.

Yeah, that's the same thing I was experiencing I reinstalled GS's (all three that I'm using), tried all I could with GXL properties/advanced D3D light setting/device setup, updated DirectX, downloaded & installed latest Microsoft DirectX SDK..

As I suggested, I think your best shot would be to go back to older drivers. It's not a real solution but..

But then my grafic performance would be really bad.

Well... yeah Maybe you can try with drivers not older then a month or two. If they work then that could hold the water for some time. But if future driver-updates don't resolve this issue, we are in trouble. I definitely can't have a year old drivers on my PC.