Video issues - Rise of Nations Gold

I am having odd video problems with Rise of Nations Gold that I cannot seem
to resolve. Hope someone can help. (1) The cursor has developed a pixellated
block behind it that contains a lot of rubbish. (2) Blue concentric circles
and strange arrows appear on the playing area that refocus play to that
location and zoom the window to maximum zoom. (3) From time to time, the
mouse gets "sticky" and goes haywire. I have tried reinstalling the game and
reinstalling the mouse drivers (Intellipoint Optical v5.3). The PC spec is
P4-2.66 with 1GB RAM, 256 MB Radeon AGP-8X video card and 80GB hard disk. The
game is original and brand new with the latest patch applied. Any help
appreciated.

Tony, Brisbane Australia.

Hi TonyG,

I see you've already updated RON and your mouse drivers, however
updating video card drivers can solve most gaming issues. Here's some
simple abc's to always keep in mind. a. Shut off download accelerators,
firewalls and antivirus programs when downloading or installing updates;
b. Check for game patches: www.avault.com/pcrl/patches_list.asp?letter=a
c. Make sure you meet the game's minimum video and system requirements;
d. Check for known issues with your video card at the game's web site.

1. Before you update your drivers, I recommend that you update DirectX
from: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/directx/default.aspx

Please look over the ATI articles about their latest driver on the download page.
They list Installation Tips, Fixes, and Release Notes with important information.

2. Download the latest Catalyst driver for ATI Radeon or All in Wonder Card:

Win XP/2000: http://ati.com/support/drivers/winxp/radeonwdm-xp.html
Win 98/Me: http://ati.com/support/drivers/winme/radeonwdm-me.html

3. Save the .exe driver in My Documents\My Drivers\ATI

4. Restart the computer in Safe Mode by pressing the F8 key
about once every second as it's rebooting to pick Safe Mode.

5. Click Start / (settings) Control Panel / System / Hardware
Device Manager / expand +Display Adapters / right click on
the adapter, pick "Uninstall", and click No if asked to reboot.

6. Use Control Panel / Add-Remove programs to uninstall the
previous driver (exe)software which may have been installed.

7. Restart the computer in Safe Mode by pressing the F8 key
about once every second as it's rebooting to pick Safe Mode.

8. If Windows prompts you to install the adapter, click "Cancel".

9. Double click the ATI driver we saved to My Documents\ My
Drivers\ATI folder in step 3 to install.it. If it complains about
Windows Logo Certification just click "Continue". This is normal.

10. After you reboot, go to Control Panel / Display / Settings and
choose 32 bit Color Quality, and 800x600 or higher Resolution.

TROUBLESHOOTING:

Test your drivers using DXDiag: Click Start / Run / type: DXDIAG
Click the "Test" buttons in the Display, Sound, Music & Network Tabs;
If any of the Display options are Disabled and you cannot Enable them,
your most likely solution would be to update your Chipset Drivers as per
my website: http://www3.sympatico.ca/nibblesnbits/Video.html#v11

Your program might not support dual monitors, or "dual head" video cards
You can disable the extra video output in your display properties control
panel. Click Start>Settings>Control Panel>Display>Settings>Advanced.

Along with your Video card, Sound Cards, Motherboard Chipsets,
and Video Monitors may also require updated drivers. Even your
motherboard's BIOS may need to be updated for compatibility with
your Video card. These steps are listed at: http://NibblesNbitsVideo.tk

Perhaps the old ATI drivers did not completely uninstall. If that's the
case, use these utility to completely uninstall the drivers and go to step 7:
http://www.driverheaven.net/cleaner/ (works for all cards including nvidia)

The latest video drivers sometime don't work with a particular game.
(Check the Video suggestions in the readme.txt file in your game folder/CD)
If there's no suggestions, try an older (WHQL) driver, and/or if you still
experience problems try a Beta driver, or even an Omega driver instead:

BETA Drivers: http://download.guru3d.com/
OMEGA Drivers: http://www.omegadrivers.net

There you have it, if you have any questions feel free to post them!


--
Cheers, *Windows_XP_MVP_Shell/User*
Jimmy S. http://mvp.support.microsoft.com

Visit my MSN Zone.com and Gaming Help Site: http://mvps.org/nibblesnbits
MS Games Help and Support Center: http://support.microsoft.com/?pr=gms
My advice is donated "AS IS" without warranty; nor do I confer any rights.
_________________________________________________________

TonyG Wrote:
=================
| I am having odd video problems with Rise of Nations Gold that I cannot seem
| to resolve. Hope someone can help. (1) The cursor has developed a pixellated
| block behind it that contains a lot of rubbish. (2) Blue concentric circles
| and strange arrows appear on the playing area that refocus play to that
| location and zoom the window to maximum zoom. (3) From time to time, the
| mouse gets "sticky" and goes haywire. I have tried reinstalling the game and
| reinstalling the mouse drivers (Intellipoint Optical v5.3). The PC spec is
| P4-2.66 with 1GB RAM, 256 MB Radeon AGP-8X video card and 80GB hard disk. The
| game is original and brand new with the latest patch applied. Any help
| appreciated.
|
| Tony, Brisbane Australia.