Help Needed! In-game menu buttons are weird.

[Zarfen]

Hi everyone.

I am desperately in need of assistance! I have, after some configurating gotten my keyboard and graphic settings to a satisfactory level.
However, one major problem remains, my menu buttons look really weird. They're all really bright and somehow pixley and almost unreadable (which partially explains why the other configuration took so long ).

It's hard to explain what it looks like, and when I tried to take a screenshot I failed, both at attempting the in-game command (ctrl + [ ?) and the good 'ol 'Print Screen'.

But, from my extremely narrow experience, it definitely looks like some graphic/compability problem rather than some regular setting's issue.

At first I though it'd be ok to play anyway, since the buttons are explained at the bar on the top of the screen, but when I realised that the 'click functions menu', where you can choose magic, items etc, is made out of those buggy buttons as well, I felt an extreme need to fix it.

I've already tried going into FFXI config and changed the resolution there, resulting in much nicer looking characters and envoirments, but the menu (in-game as well as the character select menu) is totally unreadable and weird.

Any help on how to solve this issue is greatly appreciated! I'm a big Final Fantasy fan boy and I don't want be buggered by this troughout the game.

By the way, I'm playing a Mithra, starting out as a warrior in the 'Shiva' world. I ultimately wanted to play a Khimari look-alike lancer, so I took what I found closest to that .

Regards
Zarfen

EDIT: I'm sorry if I have misplaced this thread, but I started looking for answears, and I found alot of threads and talks about similar problems here, so I though I might give it a shot.

[KingOfZeal]

Re: Help Needed! In-game menu buttons are weird.

For screenshots, I would suggest Fraps. It's not just for videos.

The in-game screenshot function doesn't work unless the menus are hidden (on PC, scroll lock hides the menus, then print screen will take the shot and save it in a folder in the POL menu). Likewise, Print Screen on it's own doesn't have any effect.

There are a few other things which can take screenshots (which is how you can see all these pictures of chat logs), but they mostly have varying degrees of legality. Fraps is about the only thing that's unofficially sanctioned by SE, since it's required to make videos that SE accepts as fan submissions (for contests and such).

And, while you try to figure out what it is I just said, try running a file check. It may turn up a corrupted file... I know the menu is controlled by individual file (or files), which is how you see menu mods every so often.

[Feenicks]

Re: Help Needed! In-game menu buttons are weird.

Get a program like FRAPS or Clipper and take a screenshot using that. I've never heard of this problem so it would be good to see what you're talking about. It might be a driver issue though.

Also:

configurating

Configuring?

[Rothy]

Re: Help Needed! In-game menu buttons are weird.

I don't think I understand what you are talking about, like the others said.. get a screenshot using Fraps or something, then post it on here for us to see.

[Zarfen]

Re: Help Needed! In-game menu buttons are weird.

Thank you all for your input!

@Feenicks: There I go for trying to use fancy schmancy words

@KingOfZeal: How do I check if my files are corrupt?


I got fraps and I took some screenies:








I hope that'll show you what's wrong.
Also, is it normal for ffxi to run on just abut 30-40 fps, seems weird since I've got a nice gaming machine.

Ok, so if someone is able to tell me what's wrong/help me with it, I'd be grateful.

Cheerio
Zarfen

[KingOfZeal]

Re: Help Needed! In-game menu buttons are weird.

When you start up POL, before you log in to your POL account, there's an option "Check files" on the side.


If you're set to automatically log in on POL, then just log out and you'll get to that screen.


I can't say I've ever seen something like that before, though; it looks like a texture is getting misapplied -- both in placement and effect. What are the particulars of your system (OS especially)? For the record, the cursor is fine. Also, what resolutions are you running (both background and overlay)? What settings are the FFXI Config utility set to?



And FFXI is capped at 30 FPS, which has to do with the port from PS2... you can do a search and probably get a bit more technical with it on this forum.

[Ameroth]

Re: Help Needed! In-game menu buttons are weird.

Also, as a side note, make sure you go into Content IDs from the FFXI top menu and activate any and all expansions you have or it will be as if you don't actually have the expansions at all.

[Lunaryn]

Re: Help Needed! In-game menu buttons are weird.

Yeah, looks almost like some sort of glitch in transparency effects or something, which I haven't seen much outside of console emulators. File corruption might be possible, but I'm leaning more toward a graphics issue. You might want to try uninstalling and reinstalling your video drivers. Also, if you have an ATI Radeon, make sure you have the appropriate version of the .NET Framework installed before reinstalling the drivers. Older versions require 1.1, newer versions require 2.0 (I think some of the really new versions might require 3.0, as I had difficulties with an X1650 card whose drivers wouldn't work under Windows 2000). I got some rather... interesting results on my notebook after an OS reinstall wherein I'd accidentally installed the ATI drivers before installing .NET

[Zarfen]

Re: Help Needed! In-game menu buttons are weird.

@KingOfZeal:
Did a file check, no errors.
I run Overlay: 1024x768, Background: 1024x1024
I'm not 100% sure what you mean with FFXI config utilities, but I have changed most of the changeable things in the config for a high performance (ie textures to high, environmental effects to smooth etc.), Although I had the same problem before I changed any of these settings.
I run on windows xp professional, and my graphics card is a nvidia something.

@Ameroth: Thanks for that! I had no idea they had to be manually activated!

_______

Also, while activating my expansions, I realised I used a 30 day free trial reg code that came free with the FFXI 2008 edition (includes all expansions, and apparently, some kind of guest pass) when I installed PlayOnline and FFXI (The original, non-expansion one).
Will that affect anything in any way? Is there anyway or anywhere I can change the registration codes for FFXI and PlayOnline from the free trial one to the proper one? I guess I could just reinstall or make a new content id, but I'd like to keep my current ID for nickname etc, and to boot I've registered the 4 expansions with the real code to this ID, and I'd think I can't register them to another ID then.

Thanks
Zarfen

[Feenicks]

Re: Help Needed! In-game menu buttons are weird.

If your card is a nVidia something, go here for the latest drivers. Install them and see how you fare.

If you're still having problems, try turning off bump mapping and see what that does.