Player and herring invisible

[PwnzorBot4000]

Hello, I downloaded ETR 0.7.2x64 on win7x64, and the player, the herring and also some obstacles are invisible. The player in some occasions may be visible as a white ball with a green line around it. Is this known? Is there a workaround? Thanks.

[Mr. X]

It is not a known problem. Maybe it helps to update your graphics drivers (which graphics card do you use?)

[Etaoin Shrdlu]

I am having this exact same problem. It also affects trees and the start/finish gates. I am using x64 Windows 7. I have tried both the x64 and x86 versions (both on the same computer)—no difference. This is what it looks like:

[Mr. X]

Thanks for the screenshot. Can you tell us something about your graphics hardware and the driver you are using?

[Etaoin Shrdlu]

Well, I am using a laptop with Intel HD Graphics installed. It seems to be very customizable, including 3D options.

Interestingly, the original Tux Racer works just fine.

[Mr. X]

I somehow expected something like an Intel IGP. However, all Intel HD graphic adapters should support OpenGL. Are your drivers up-to-date?

[Etaoin Shrdlu]

I'm using driver version 8.15.10.2342. Windows claims that it's up to date.

[Mr. X]

Windows Update does not provide latest graphics drivers. According to the version number, this driver is from 2012, either it is not up-to-date, or you are using a very old graphics device. Always download drivers from the manufacturer of the device, e.g. https://downloadcenter.intel.com/.

[Etaoin Shrdlu]

So i installed this update and it still does not work. Are there better drivers compatible with Intel Core i5-2540M?

[Mr. X]

This seems to be the correct driver. Unfortunately, I have no Intel IGP which I could use for testing ETR.

I have created a special build for you which might help us to find out what the problem is: http://pkeus.de/~philipp/Temp/ETR-Test.zip
Please try out if it works, and if not, have a look if it prints any error messages to the console window.

[Etaoin Shrdlu]

No, it did not work. Here are the error messages:

Warning: The created OpenGL context does not fully meet the settings that were requested
Requested: version = 1.2 ; depth bits = 32 ; stencil bits = 8 ; AA level = 0; core = false ; debug = false ; sRGB = false
Created: version = 3.1 ; depth bits = 24 ; stencil bits = 8 ; AA level = 0; core = false ; debug = false ; sRGB = false

Then it prints "Failed to open the audio device" maybe 20 times.

[Mr. X]

So there seem to be two issues
- Audio does not work (maybe you could try to update your audio driver as well)
- OpenGL does not work as it should. However, creating an OpenGL 3.1 context instead of 1.2 itself should not cause the problem; I tried with a 3.1 context here and it works.

[Etaoin Shrdlu]

Actually, the audio works fine with the regular build. It's just the special build that's mute.

Perhaps the problem is with the depth bits (24 instead of 32)?

[Mr. X]

Perhaps the problem is with the depth bits (24 instead of 32)?

I tried that out, too - it is not the reason for the problems.

Actually, the audio works fine with the regular build. It's just the special build that's mute.

During testing, I now noticed the same issue, too. It seems to happen from time to time, but not always.

[TCr82]

hi, I also want to say, that I get the same problem. Tux is invisible. With newest version 0.7.4 too.
I also have a Notebook with a Intel HD 4000 and a Nvida Quadro K1000M (but primary the Intel Card is used). Lasted driver are used. ohh.. and my os is Windows 10 64bit

[Pavel Novak]

I confirm to have the same problem. Win7 64bit with the latest Intel Graphics Media Accelerator Driver from the Intel webpage.

[Pavel Labutin]

Same problem with Win10 x64 (tech info at end of this message).
But x86 version looks like this:

Notebook with NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M
Driver: C:\WINDOWS\system32\NvIFROpenGL.dll, 21.21.0013.7270 (English), 8/26/2016 09:27:49, 439352 bytes
Driver: C:\WINDOWS\SysWow64\NvIFROpenGL.dll, 21.21.0013.7270 (English), 8/26/2016 09:27:49, 388544 bytes

[Pavel Labutin]

I updated the driver to version 22.21.0013.8494 (English), 7/19/2017.
Nothing changed.

[Pavel Labutin]

Original TuxRacer (0.61a) works properly.

[Pavel Labutin]

ETR 0.6.0 - OK
ETR 0.7.0 and 0.7.0 beta - The issue described above
Tested on x86 versions

[Keagan Winterthieme]

I can also confirm this issue is related to Intel HD chipsets, using a Windows 7 x64, tried both 0.7.3 and 0.7.4, graphics are great other than player and trees and fish are missing! Tried all kinds of tweaks, have the latest driver from Intel, etc. ETRacer 0.6.x plays and works fine, as well as the original legacy TuxRacer. Something OpenGL got broken in 0.7.x. I'd be happy to help in whatever way works.

[Alexander Kriegisch]

I am seeing the same problem on Windows 10 Pro, game newly installed on my Lenovo Thinkpad Carbon X1 5th Generation, native display resolution is 1920x1080.

Update:

• Intel HD Graphics 620
• 128 MB dedicated video RAM, 8119 MB shared memory
• Intel driver version 23.20.16.4849, driver date 2017-10-27

[Alexander Kriegisch]

Yesterday Intel support notified me that there is a new driver version available which fixes the problem. It took them about 5 months after I issued the support ticket.

I can confirm that the issue is fixed, everything looks as it should, including colours.

Relevant links:

• My support ticket with the final resolution
• Intel Win10 x64 version 24.20.100.6094 download (please choose ZIP version because you probably need to override your manufacturer's or Microsoft's blocking the installation because it is not via Windows Update)
• Release notes explicitly mentioning Extreme Tux Racer (plus SpellForce 3, Far Cry 5 and Far Cry Primal) under "key issues fixed".
• Installation instruction for manual override. Without that I could not install the driver even though it is an official release.

[Mr. X]

Thanks for reporting this to Intel!

[Mr. X]

I was finally able to try ETR on a machine with an Intel IGP. I was able to reproduce the issue (though I have still no clue, why it fails) with ETR 0.7.5. However, I can tell that after updating the driver to major version 24, things changed: Player and trees are visible now, although in wrong (blue) color.