I was playing "Lightbringer" and the graphics were absolutely beautiful. While playing the game, the graphics all of a sudden became washed out, hard to see, etc. Looked like a game that came from the early 80's. I have uninstalled the game, re-installed it, but I get the same bad graphics. If anybody who has played this game experienced this problem? BTW, it is only THIS game which is performing so badly. As I said, when I first started this game, the graphics were absolutely gorgeous. I would appreciate anybody's input regarding this problem. I have WIN XP. I HAVE tried different "compatibility" settings, but to no avail.
Sxndy

I guess you could try uninstalling and reinstalling QuickTime.
Use a registry cleaner after uninstalling it.

Thanks for your input, Jenny. Unfortunately. it's not the videos that are affected, it's ALL of the graphics.
Sandy

Sanford,

Cydonia is a DirectX game not Quicktime, far as I can tell. Still there must have been a change in the system, hardware or software, for the graphics to deteriorate in the middle of the game.
The game used DX6 but most WinXP users should be up to DX9.0 and should not install DX6 when installing the game. The DX Diagnostic tool for DX9 can be used to check current DX conditions. Any software for the graphics card should be checked for card settings.

Were any changes made in the system between episodes of playing Cydonia? Sort of hardware failure, this is about the only thing that would cause a change in the graphics.

OFF TOPIC
This game can be made to play without changing CDs. All you have to do is copy the data folders from each CD into the directory where the game was installed. Copy one of the spl directories into the game directory as well.

Edit the Registry entry HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Aneiva\Cydonia\1.0 changing CDPath to point to the hard drive directory in which the game was installed. Now you can play without using CDs.

Have you managed to play it in XP, Robert ?
I checked Inferno's website, but apparently she never got around to testing it.

According to Dreamcatcher it was not XP-compatible.
According to ***link to web archive of Dreamcatcher's Lightbringer support page***

It's one that I'd play in a VM.

Cydonia works perfectly on my WinXP SP3 system. Cydonia is the original 5CD package.
Athlon XP 2500+
Sound = Creative SB Audigy2
Video = NVidia GeForce 7600 GS
DirectX 9.0c
Old hardware and software but still works well.

I'm not sure if this is relevant but here are my autoexec.nt and config.nt files.
autoexec.nt
lh %SystemRoot%\system32\dosx
SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 P330

config.nt
dos=high, umb
device=%SystemRoot%\system32\himem.sys
device=%SystemRoot%\emm386.exe
EMM = RAM
STACKS=16,512
files=50
buffers=20

PS It has been awhile that I've played the game. Just installed and ran it. It will glitch unless you run it in Win98 compatibility mode!

Robert, thank you so much for your input. I even downloaded the Cydonia DEMO. Had the same bad results. The actual game I'm playing is in VM. I'm using "Daemon Tools Lite" which offers Virtual Drives. I played quite a few old games using that system (ISO). I can't imagine as to WHY the graphics changed their properties for ONLY this game. Any other suggestions would be deeply appreciated.
Also, thank YOU, Jenny, for trying to help me.
Sandy

Robert, I just re-installed DirectX 9.0C. Tried the game again, but same problem exists. DRATS!!!!

Which emulation software are you running the VM under?

Also, I'm wondering if this might not be one of the issues Jenny quoted in her link...

Sanford,

Please try to remember what changed on your system since the last time Cydonia had good graphics. Something must have changed or the graphics would not have changed.
I've no experience with VM but if that is always how you played Cydonia, most likely a setting in VM changed.

Also note I've edited my message to indicate Win98 compatibility mode is critical when played directly from WinXP.

First off I like RG's idea of copying all of the game to the HD and playing it from there...

I believe there are 2 patches out there for this game, 1 patch is for the CD version and the other if for the DVD version, just wondering if the patch would help you or not.

Daemon Tools emulates a CD or DVD drive. It should work whether you're using it with a VM or not.

Which Virtual Machine software are you using? VirtualPC, VMware, or VirtualBox?


The patches are for random crashes to desktop.
This is the description of the patch for the CD version from the archive of the old Dreamcatcher website:

Thanks everybody for your help. I guess that I'm NOT using a VM machine after all. I'm using Daemon Tools Lite. I still don't know as to why the colors changed to POOR quality in the middle of the game. That IS a mystery.
Sandy

Have you changed your video acceleration/color quality setting by any chance?

Here's a video - Video Settings

Hi, InlandAZ,
As far as I know, I have NOT changed my color settings OR the acceleration settings. I assume that you mean in my "NVIDIA CONTROL PANEL", nor have I changed anything in the DXDIAG window. Thanks for the helpful video.
Last night, I started to play "CYDONIA" again and the colors were normal once more, but I have found that they will change to BAD while in gameplay. It's a random situation, and it happens ONLY with this particular game.
I certainly appreciate your input.
Sandy

Uh, Oh, just tried playing again and I'm back to "terrible" graphics.Very weird, I must say.

Your problem sounds like the one described here
http://www.gamepatchplanet.com/articles/games_windows_vista_windows_7_bad_colors_fixes.php


Anyone know if Cydonia/Lightbringer uses a 256 color palette or not?
If it uses 16-bit color instead, the above would not be relevant.

Edit -- The DVD version seems to use 16-bit color.
Tested on a "vintage" 233 MHz computer with Windows 98 and a Matrox Mystique video card.

Hard to tell exactly what the game uses. Here is an excerpt from the cinit.txt file.
DXT::InitDD() * got DirectDraw4 interface, probably 95/98. we're in luck! *
DXT::InitDD() * DirectDraw4::GetDeviceIdentifier succeeded *
==[ "NVIDIA GeForce 7600 GS"
DXT::InitDD() * no driver profile matches, using default flip mode (3). *
DXT::InitDD() - mode enumeration found 18 modes
DXT::InitDD() - 640x480x8 - rgb 0x000000 0x000000 0x000000 - yuv 0x000000 0x000000 0x000000
DXT::InitDD() - 800x600x8 - rgb 0x000000 0x000000 0x000000 - yuv 0x000000 0x000000 0x000000
DXT::InitDD() - 1024x768x8 - rgb 0x000000 0x000000 0x000000 - yuv 0x000000 0x000000 0x000000
DXT::InitDD() - 1152x864x8 - rgb 0x000000 0x000000 0x000000 - yuv 0x000000 0x000000 0x000000
DXT::InitDD() - 1280x960x8 - rgb 0x000000 0x000000 0x000000 - yuv 0x000000 0x000000 0x000000
DXT::InitDD() - 1280x1024x8 - rgb 0x000000 0x000000 0x000000 - yuv 0x000000 0x000000 0x000000
DXT::InitDD() - 640x480x16 - rgb 0x00f800 0x0007e0 0x00001f - yuv 0x00f800 0x0007e0 0x00001f
DXT::InitDD() - 800x600x16 - rgb 0x00f800 0x0007e0 0x00001f - yuv 0x00f800 0x0007e0 0x00001f
DXT::InitDD() - 1024x768x16 - rgb 0x00f800 0x0007e0 0x00001f - yuv 0x00f800 0x0007e0 0x00001f
DXT::InitDD() - 1152x864x16 - rgb 0x00f800 0x0007e0 0x00001f - yuv 0x00f800 0x0007e0 0x00001f
DXT::InitDD() - 1280x960x16 - rgb 0x00f800 0x0007e0 0x00001f - yuv 0x00f800 0x0007e0 0x00001f
DXT::InitDD() - 1280x1024x16 - rgb 0x00f800 0x0007e0 0x00001f - yuv 0x00f800 0x0007e0 0x00001f
DXT::InitDD() - 640x480x32 - rgb 0xff0000 0x00ff00 0x0000ff - yuv 0xff0000 0x00ff00 0x0000ff
DXT::InitDD() - 800x600x32 - rgb 0xff0000 0x00ff00 0x0000ff - yuv 0xff0000 0x00ff00 0x0000ff
DXT::InitDD() - 1024x768x32 - rgb 0xff0000 0x00ff00 0x0000ff - yuv 0xff0000 0x00ff00 0x0000ff
DXT::InitDD() - 1152x864x32 - rgb 0xff0000 0x00ff00 0x0000ff - yuv 0xff0000 0x00ff00 0x0000ff
DXT::InitDD() - 1280x960x32 - rgb 0xff0000 0x00ff00 0x0000ff - yuv 0xff0000 0x00ff00 0x0000ff
DXT::InitDD() - 1280x1024x32 - rgb 0xff0000 0x00ff00 0x0000ff - yuv 0xff0000 0x00ff00 0x0000ff

If someone knows what flip mode(3) means, it would help.

There is a file in data/ui driverconfig.txt which says:
# -- Finding the optimal "flip mode" for your card:
#
# Start up the game normally. When you get to the main menu enable the
# special flip keys by typing (in all lowercase) "flip". You should
# hear a click indicating flip keys are enabled.
#
# Hit new game to get the introduction sequence to play. During playback
# the number keys 1 through something (8 I think) will change flip modes.
# Try them out and see which one seems to work the best (a "bad" mode will
# flash about once a second).
#
# The first two actually force a black flash and should be used as a last
# resort. 3 and 4 are the most common (3 is the default).
#
#


###################
#
# ati cards
"Rage " "4"
" Rage" "4"
"ATI " "4"
"All-in-Wonder" "4"
"XPERT" "4"
"3D Charger" "4"
"ATI-TV" "4"
"3D Pro Turbo" "4"
"XPRESSION" "4"

# others.
"FIRE GL" "4"
"S3" "4"
"Trident" "4"
"Cirrus Logic" "5"
"Chips & Tech. Super VGA" "5"

The above does nothing noticeable on my WinXP system.

Well, Robert,
I tried your "flip" suggestion, but nothing happened. I DO have WIN XP and not Vista or Win 7, so that may be the reason. Sometimes when I start the game, the graphics are awesome, and sometimes while STILL playing, the graphic quality suddenly declines. Sometimes when I start playing the game, the graphics are "bad" to begin with So far I've been making headway playing the game for as long as the "good" graphics remain on the screen. It's a pretty tedious way of doing things, but I have the patience to do it.
Sandy

Sanford,
Have you set the compatibility mode for the program to Win98 or Win95? That was necessary on my system.
The game when installed will have placed in START/Programs/Cydonia a Cydonia icon. Right click on it and select Properties. Go to the Compatibility panel, check use mode, and select either Win95 or Win98. Try each and see what works best for you. This may solve your problems.

Robert

Sanford Robert's suggestion should work. It always helped me to play in compatibility mode when I had trouble with a game. Good Luck!

From Snford's first post...

Just a stab in the dark, but could this not be an issue with the game, but with Sanford's monitor?

Hi, Draclvr,
This is the ONLY game that has presented me with this "graphics" problem. Sometimes, if I have set the compatability tab to 256 COLORS, the game starts out "normally, but eventually, it goes "bad" again. Weird!
Sandy

Very weird! It just sounds to me like some setting is not holding.

YAY! I finally figured it out, fellow Boomers. In the Compatibility window, the ONLY thing that has to be "checked" is "USE 256 COLORS". The game is performing much better, now. I appreciate everybody's input. Now can I go to sleep? LOL
Sandy

JENNY, earlier in this thread you mentioned that this game MIGHT use a 256 color palette. Now we ALL know you were correct about that. THANKS!

Good Show sanford! Have Fun!