Game freezes in town screen

[Naki]

The checkerboard remains regardless of the video settings.

This is unexpected - what exact AMD Radeon videocard do you have?
Can you post a screenshot?
Also, what is your Windows version and AMD Radeon video drivers version?
Also, do you have the latest Heroes VI game patch - 1.8.0?

[Ribannah]

ATI Radeon HD 3600, driver version 8.970.100.7000
Windows Vista Home Premium
Game version 1.8.0

[Angelspit]

Congrats, you just won the race!

[Naki]

Hmm, is this a laptop? If so, what laptop brand and model?
You may have better luck if you install ATI/AMD drivers instead of the laptop manufacturer drivers.
If it is not a laptop, what exact ATI Radeon card is this - 3650, 3670/etc? Is it an AGP or PCI Express card? This seems to be a driver issue and should be solvable one way or another.

Also, if you have 2 GB of RAM on your PC/laptop, maybe upgrading to Windows 7 is a good idea (although I am not 100% sure that will solve the Checkerboard issue).

Congrats, you just won the race!

LOL!
Yello - The Race
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2ajhz ... Wxb_bVkNj4

[Ribannah]

It's not a laptop.

I'm not going to take any chances with my system just because I'm missing out on the art in a game screen.

To me both graphics problems suggest an improperly indexed array. I still think they are one and the same problem.

[Naki]

What chances???
I was going to suggest non-destructive steps, nothing major will happen when you try them. Anyway, if you want to play this way and don't want any help, OK then...
Did you post about this issue in the official Heroes VI forums?
Maybe you can also contact UBI tech support, did you do that?

No arrays here.
The Checkerboard bug is a texture bug, and the Nvidia GeForce bug is a bug caused by Nvidia changing their drivers, and has to do with pixel selection.

EDIT: It's a bit unclear - can you actually play the game this way? Does this happen in just 1-2 screens only?

[Ribannah]

Like I wrote, I can play the game. It is only the town art on this one screen that is missing.

On this one screen the programmers have coded something different than on all the other screens. Perhaps a DirectX method is called with some uninitialised variables. The result can be missing textures with one driver, and a freeze with another.

[Angelspit]

Yello - The Race

I love that song, thanks for the link!

[Naki]

Like I wrote, I can play the game. It is only the town art on this one screen that is missing.

On this one screen the programmers have coded something different than on all the other screens. Perhaps a DirectX method is called with some uninitialised variables. The result can be missing textures with one driver, and a freeze with another.

There are no freezes on AMD/ATI cards, and I think none on Intel too (of course, the original 1.0 game version refused to run on some Intel GPUs).
The Town Screen Freeze bug is ONLY on Nvidia GeForce cards.
Anyway, if you can play the game it's OK then.

Yello - The Race

I love that song, thanks for the link!

You are welcome! Yello is a great band.

[Ribannah]

Nvidia: "Only Heroes6 has a town-screen bug."

It's for the game company to avoid these bugs. There are vastly more games than there are graphics cards.

[Naki]

Nvidia: "Only Heroes6 has a town-screen bug."

It's for the game company to avoid these bugs. There are vastly more games than there are graphics cards.

Here is UBI's explanation - UBI used some non-documented/special way to handle per-pixel selection. Then Nvidia changed their drivers, which made that GPU routine not work any more.

The problem needs to be fixed on UBI's side, but I have bad news - the promised patch 2.0 will not come in the beginning of April (which has already passed), it is delayed.

[Naki]

GUYS, I don't have time to play 2.1 yet - could you please test it!
It was released last week. There was no 2.0 patch or 1.9, the version released was directly from 1.8 to 2.1.
(Although I think SoD was at 2.0 - I don't own SoD yet).

So, is the Nvidia GeForce Town Screen Freeze bug solved in 2.1 patch as UBI claims, or not?

Please test in Heroes VI vanilla/original, SoD, and any of the two mini-expansions/DLCs. Then report back!

[mordredrs]

My video card is a GTX 550 TI (win 7 64), i'm playing patch 2.1 and i've no black screen issue.

Except for the fact that, no matter how big my army is, i always receive a smaller one to fight against bosses (AI? bug? balancing?)...

[Naki]

My video card is a GTX 550 TI (win 7 64), i'm playing patch 2.1 and i've no black screen issue.

Except for the fact that, no matter how big my army is, i always receive a smaller one to fight against bosses (AI? bug? balancing?)...

The Black Screen issues is another, completely separate issue!
The one I was asking to test is another bug, where the Town Screen would freeze on some of the tabs in it - Creature Recruitment tab, Tavern tab/etc, but the screen would NOT become black, just frozen at the last thing you were seeing. You can then move the mouse and click, and also press keys on the keyboard and hear the game respond, but the screen stops re-drawing. You can then press Alt+F4 to close the game.

[mordredrs]

My video card is a GTX 550 TI (win 7 64), i'm playing patch 2.1 and i've no black screen issue.

Except for the fact that, no matter how big my army is, i always receive a smaller one to fight against bosses (AI? bug? balancing?)...

The Black Screen issues is another, completely separate issue!
The one I was asking to test is another bug, where the Town Screen would freeze on some of the tabs in it - Creature Recruitment tab, Tavern tab/etc, but the screen would NOT become black, just frozen at the last thing you were seeing.

Only a small loading time when opening a new faction town screen. Maybe the issue is related with this loading time?

[Naki]

My video card is a GTX 550 TI (win 7 64), i'm playing patch 2.1 and i've no black screen issue.

Except for the fact that, no matter how big my army is, i always receive a smaller one to fight against bosses (AI? bug? balancing?)...

The Black Screen issues is another, completely separate issue!
The one I was asking to test is another bug, where the Town Screen would freeze on some of the tabs in it - Creature Recruitment tab, Tavern tab/etc, but the screen would NOT become black, just frozen at the last thing you were seeing.

Only a small loading time when opening a new faction town screen. Maybe the issue is related with this loading time?

No, it is not. That loading time is normal.
If you played the game before and visited the official UBI forums, you would see more info - the problem started with TWO things:
1) Patch 1.5.x, released in July 2012 - this patch added the 3D animated Town Screens.
All OK until point 2.
2) Nvidia GeForce drivers from September 2012, these caused the game to freeze in the Town Screen, due to Nvidia changing something in their drivers - they said UBI used a non-standard/unsupported GPU routine.
UBI said it has to do with per-pixel selection of buildings in the Town Screen.

UBI says this is completely fixed in version 2.1, but I am not sure if that is true.

[mordredrs]

Since i'm running the game with a nvidia gforce gtx 550 TI (drivers updated) and i've not this issue, i think they have solved the problem