Annoying Screen Shake

[Guest]

I have a Samsung 19" monitor and a GEForce4 Ti4200 set up on my AMD Athlon XP2000+ machine. I notice that on the panel I have been using that the panel "shakes" very slightly but at a high rate, especially noticeable in the bottom right hand corner of the screen, probably because that is one area with some gauges I frequently use and so pay more attention to this part of the screen. What would be causing this?? I am running the monitor at 100Hz, which makes the desktop perfectly smooth (it was flickering/shaking a bit at 75 Hertz), but in MSFS full screen mode the shaking is back :( BTW, I tried another monitor and had exactly the same thing hapen. In MSFS, I am running at 1024*768 mode at 32 bit color depth.Any suggestions?Thanks,Nick

[Guest RiddlePilot]

I came across something interesting the other night. While checking out my new Motorola FRS radios (to be used on the trip back to school next weekend), I hit the transmit button while it was close to this Compaq 150 monitor. The thing started shaking terribly. It was almost like one of those machines that you see the computer tech's using on those ITT Tech commercials (forgive me for my technical knowledge is not very good). Putting the other one up to the other side increased the shaking even more. My suggestion is to check for any devices around your computer that might be emitting radio waves. If not radio waves, move the speakers...some are not magnetically shielded, which might cause your problem.

[Guest]

You go to Embry riddle?? im going there soon too! what year r u in?

[Guest]

Bumping........

[Guest]

Hi Nick,The usual culprit is that you're running WinXP... It can happen on 9x as well, but on XP its more common. The reason is that XP doesn't use your desktop refresh rate by default for any 3D DirectX or OpenGL apps.Since you're using an Nvidia card, there are more than a few fixes. The best, in my opinion, is NV Refresh Tool. It allows you to pick the refresh rates for all resolutions your monitor supports. This will lock your monitor at that rate, even in 3D apps. Be aware it doesn't work for all the latest beta versions of Nvidia drivers however. You can download it here:http://www.nvrt.netHere's a decent little writeup that gives more information (and other ways to deal with this):http://www.d-silence.com/video/refresh2.shtmlGood luck,Elrondhttp://members.rogers.com/eelvish/Boycott-RIAA.gif]"A musician without the RIAA, is like a fish without a bicycle."[/font://http://members.rogers.com/eelvish/B...cle."[/b][/font

[Guest]

Thanks for the tip. I'll download those utilities now and give them a try. I know it is not interference - I did a lot of EME work for the previous aircraft manufacturer I worked for, and so I know what interference looks like, and this didn't look like it! Besides, when I set the monitor to 100Hz on the desktop, no problems noted. I figured that there must be a difference in the display frequency between the windows mode and full screen mode, and it sounds like I could be right.Thanks again!Nick

[Guest]

Unfortunately, the web site you linked to doesn't seem to be working! How big is this program? I may try and look for it on Kazaa or something later today.Thanks,Nick

[Guest JonP01]

You can also get a WinXP refresh rate fix at www.guru3d.com in the "downloads" section.

[Guest]

Huh... You're right. Sorry about that Nick - it was up the last time I checked a few days ago. I wonder what happened? I'll search around and see if they moved domains.In the mean time, Jon is absolutely right. You can try RefreshLock (also available from Guru3D - I don't think WinXP Refresh Rate Fix works with the latest official Nvidia drivers - am I wrong Jon?). I personally haven't used this particular tool as yet, but I just did a quick search around and its got some rave reviews - it also seems to be a universal fix for all cards and drivers which is very nice. Basically it does the same thing as NV Refresh Tool, so I hope it works just as well. If you try it, I'd love to hear your feedback.http://www.pagehosting.co.uk/rl/There also seems to be a tool from the same author called Refresh Force. It claims to be a permanent fix for this issue, and doesn't run in the background (NV Refresh Tool didn't either, but the above RefreshLock seems to sit in the system tray). It also claims to be non-card and non-driver specific - if so, it sounds wonderful. I'd be interested in hearing experiences with this one as well if you happen to try it.http://www.pagehosting.co.uk/rf/Again, sorry about the bum referal...Take care,Elrondhttp://members.rogers.com/eelvish/Boycott-RIAA.gif]"A musician without the RIAA, is like a fish without a bicycle."[/font://http://members.rogers.com/eelvish/B...cle."[/b][/font

[Guest gasebah]

What I do not understand is that I actually never encounterd this problem although I am running WinXP and a GF4Ti4600.I know exavtly what 60Hz look like, so I am absolutely positively sure my monitor does not run at 60Hz in FS2002 or any other 3D application. I read so much about that refresh problem that I am really wondering why I never encountered it. I install my card, install the monitor driver, that's it. Go figure.Alex

[Guest]

Hey Alex,Depending on the timing the drivers are installed after installation, XP either chooses 60Hz or 75Hz... I can't remember offhand the exact procedure for achieving either at the moment though, since I've been using Refresh Rate fixes for so long now. I don't like to fly in anything less than 85Hz.So in your instance, you're probably locked at 75Hz - which is leaps and bounds better than 60Hz of course. A good way to tell is to turn on VSync in your drivers, unlock the FS framerate limiter and crank down visual settings to the barest minimal. Startup in a sparce area and see what your framerate tops out at. If it hits 75 FPS (or 60) but no further, you know where your at.Many don't mind 75Hz. While I happen to like 85Hz myself, there may be no need for your to use a refresh rate fixer if you enjoy you flying as is.Take care,Elrondhttp://members.rogers.com/eelvish/Boycott-RIAA.gif]"A musician without the RIAA, is like a fish without a bicycle."[/font://http://members.rogers.com/eelvish/B...cle."[/b][/font

[Guest gasebah]

Hi Elrond,O.K.that is a good explantion. Because IMHO the difference between 75Hz and 85Hz is hard to tell in a moving picture. So it is well likely that I am actually running at 75Hz. But I will check and use a refresh rate tool then. Because my monitor can do 85Hz at 1600x1200x32.As you seem to be an expert I will shoot two more questions. 1. When I fix the refresh rate with one of those tools, what will happen to the refresh rate on a 2nd monitor connected to the same graphics card??2. What about overriding windows refresh settings in dxdiag, without any additinal tools?Alex

[Guest]

Well, I'm certainly no expert in this area... I'm just pulling up memories of what I've read or experimented with.The second monitor issue is a toughie with previous tools. However it looks like the above Refresh Force fully supports second monitors (finally). I've always had to hand edit my inf files to fix the issues since I've never found a tool that automatically does... That may be a thing of the past now with the above (and if it works correctly).DXDiags lock of the refresh rate is really only a stop gap. There are some games that don't seem to initialize properly with that setting and thus end up at the default 60 or 75Hz. For most newer games, there doesn't seem to be a problem. Remember however that that only locks DirectX refresh rates. OpenGL games would be unaffected, and locked at lower rates still.With the refresh rate tools, they actually remove lower refresh rate settings from your registry... So if you set 800x600x32 at 85Hz for example, thats the *only* refresh rate that will be available from then on (unless you re-run the tool of course). Because of this, that rate is used regardless of game support or 3D library used.Hope that helps,Elrondhttp://members.rogers.com/eelvish/Boycott-RIAA.gif]"A musician without the RIAA, is like a fish without a bicycle."[/font://http://members.rogers.com/eelvish/B...cle."[/b][/font

[Guest gasebah]

Thx so much Elrond. U seem to always know what you u r talking about. It is a shame that the morons spoiled this little star thing. You would have sure gotten an award for the last two days from my side.Alex

[Guest]

Thanks for the advice Elrond! Refresh Force - that is what I downloaded and installed. Clicked the screen size and refresh rate, closed the programs and all my display problems in FS2002 with it :)It's difficult to say it works "great" or anything like that, all I can say is that it was exceptionally easy to use and works!Thanks again for your help!Best Regards,Nick