Screen Tearing / Enabling V-Sync

[rrael 0]

Problem: I can't seem to get rid of the noticeable screen tearing in every RPG Maker XP game that I've tried.

 

This is my first post in any RMXP community (I'm completely new to RPG Maker), and I'm afraid it's because I'm completely confused about this. I've exercised my Google-Fu and searched every XP community I could find, and yet there doesn't seem to be a single answer or solution anywhere. The word v-sync seems to be a taboo? That, or this problem was solved by ingenius scriptors 4 years ago and I'm the only noob with the gall to ask about it.

 

Now, the problem might be because ATI drivers are terrible, and the built-in option for v sync hasn't worked ever since I got my card... I've always used D3DOverrider instead... but it doesn't work in this case. Am I screwed? I see people post that they don't have this problem. But I've always been extremely sensitive to things like this. I couldn't imagine developing and testing a game on the RMXP platform and having to ignore the atrocious screen tearing.

 

I'm no novice to windows, I've tried everything I can think of (except for ruby scripting solutions because that is not at all my forte). I have never had a problem enabling v-sync or triple buffering in any 3d game, so my question is, how the hell do I fix this in 2d games?

 

Thanks in advance for your help.

[Bob423 52]

screen tearing? can you give a screen shot?

 

btw you came to the right place. :alright:

 

it DOES seem to be a computer problem, but it might be a problem with rmxp. what version of rmxp are you using? (i think there's more than one) did you pay for it?

[Polraudio 122]

No screen tearing here. Hit F1 while in game and make sure Smooth Mode is turned on. Thats the only thing i can think of.

[rrael 0]

It's the trial version, so 1.04? I tried taking a screen, but you can't really capture tearing that way. The F1 commands were one of the first things I tried, no dice.

 

I'm at a total loss, I don't understand how I could be the only one experiencing this. I searched 4 or 5 forums and I barely even found the word v-sync mentioned.

 

I read that the engine runs at 40 frames, and since my LCD runs at 60hz I thought that might be a problem, so I added Graphics.frame_rate = 60 in the main script. No change. Also tried an anti-lag script (don't remember whose), although lack of framerate isn't really the problem. Did nothing.

 

I suppose you could say it's a computer issue, thats kind of what screen tearing is. But I've never had a problem forcing v-sync / triple buffering with D3DOverrider to fix it. RPG maker games don't seem to play nice with it however.

[Polraudio 122]

I remember having massive screen tearing on my 10 year old desktop and my 4 year old laptop. They both had crappy intel graphics cards. No screen tearing on my desktop with GTX 460. I also have a 60hz LCD TV.

Whats your GPU and CPU and do you at least have Directx 9? That might help solve the issue a little more.

[rrael 0]

ATI 5870 and Phenom II X4 965, latest dx updates.

 

I was thinking - if my usual methods of forcing v-sync rely on directx, well, what does the RMXP engine run on? Maybe I need a different program or driver to recognize it.

 

Honestly, if ATI drivers weren't so pathetic maybe the control panel v-sync would fix the tearing, but it's never once worked for me.

[Polraudio 122]

Well v-sync is mainly for Fullscreen games. Seems like an ATI issue to me. There might be no way to fix it.

[madanchi 18]

you forced any options within CCC? IF so that would explain, best go into their (gpu section) and click 'Default' or some similar sounding option to reset default settings. It might even be a bad driver, not necessarily a bad driver as such but more of one that doesn't agree with rmxp that well

 

try re-installing rmxp if those fail - just remember to back-up your games ;D

Edited December 16, 2011 by madanchi

[rrael 0]

you forced any options within CCC?

 

Default settings actually, I'd recently changed drivers to try and fix this problem. I suppose I could try much older drivers, I've tried 3-4 recent ones, but I'm sure that would screw up one of my other games.

 

Polraudio - I can't believe I overlooked that, v-sync only works in fullscreen... *insert homer simpson doh!*

 

Thanks for the help guys, after toying around with it, D3DOverrider does indeed do the trick but only in fullscreen mode. Which leads to another problem, one that I was researching anyway...

 

Is there a way to have both custom resolutions - ideally selectable ingame, I realize that might be pushing it - and fullscreen mode?

 

I'd really like to make the game for 1280x720, that way I can play it comfortably in fullscreen without screen tearing (I run at 1920x1200), but for maximum user friendliness I would want several lower options as well. I tried ForeverZer0's custom res script, which is great, but doesn't play well with alt-enter. Also, is the tileset width x height a hard and fast rule? No way around how the engine deals with this? I can see it being a problem if every interior has to be a certain min size to work right. In that case I guess I'm better off just working with the default res, that or try to explain why all the houses in this quaint little fisherman's village have mansion-sized interiors lol.

 

Much thanks for the quick responses, it's been murder trying to figure out the limitations of RMXP and what I can work-around with scripts. I'm trying to see how "modern" and user friendly of a game I can make within XP.

[madanchi 18]

for custom resolutions, someone would have to code a script. it is possible for sure (not in fullscreen though) but it's just finding someone who would code it

 

and glad your making progress with the tearing issue :) also, 1920x1200 and a game that is 640x480 is gonna look like hell, it does with 1920x1080

[kellessdee 48]

With scripting, there isn't really much you CAN'T do. The scripting language used may be slow (making heavier mechanics more difficult to produce), but it doesn't have much in terms of what it CAN'T do.

 

Have you tried this resolution script?

http://www.rmxpunlimited.net/forums/topic/6913-goldaryn-multiple-resolution-kit/page__hl__resolution__fromsearch__1

 

Also, if you plan to go with developing a game, I would advise choosing either the most common resolution (1024x768), or the smallest resolution you plan to allow. Making a game to support various resolutions can be tough. The difficulty mostly lies in the various interfaces the user has. scaling an interface isn't always the best idea, and you would need to make the interface dynamic (based on resolution) and look clean in all resolutions...

 

When it comes to RPG Maker, i think 640x480 is good enough. Since you need to hack at it a bit to get custom resolutions, I don't really think they are worth it IMO.

 

If you decide with different resolutions, I wish you luck.