Pixelated Shadows during Cutscenes?

@ObsidianVashti

Never hurts to set the game shortcut as administrator

I would of thought Debug Mode will be sufficient , and yes I can understand about focusing on the overclock with an EVGA card, I have known of an issue with EVGA980s here but not aware 970s are affected the same way.

@ObsidianVashti

This is the closest issue I could see for your card , I don't think its the same thing though

Yes, I had come across that forum thread before. I don't think it's for my exact model card either. Close but not quite. Furthermore, I've never had the game crash. My card's temps are relatively low and it only happens in SWTOR. I may see if I can get anywhere with EVGA or NVIDIA support. Otherwise I'm not sure what else to try. The problem is cosmetic more than impeding my gameplay. My main concern is that it may be indicative of a larger problem that I am unaware of. Other thoughts: Is there any way this is related to my monitor or the use of an HDMI cable for connections? Perhaps a failure of the cable or monitor to readjust resolutions when first starting or changing graphic settings? Just trying to think outside the box.

The main thing that bothers me is the extremely jagged shadows that show on character figures during in-game conversation scenes. Are these problems related or completely separate. The shadow issues seem to align with what others many years ago indicated as a conflict between "High" quality shadows and inefficient resolution. The fault appears to be SWTOR engine related rather than my card. Should I just remove shadows with my setup or is there an optimal way to configure them for my card?

@ObsidianVashti

I have thought about it being HDMI as well , if can try DVI it is something to try

I haven't been worried about shadows more the black screen, for the shadows if you turn off AA is there any change ?

I always use my card as a base as it is a 970 here is my dxdiag attached for comparison, it a month old but gives you an idea

Unfortunately this monitor is HDMI or Display Port only (Dell U2414H). I will play around with the AA settings in just a sec. For now I may also just update to the latest NVIDIA drivers since we know that didn't resolve the problem. I may verify that there's not drivers specific to my monitor or something like that too.

Unfortunately this monitor does not support DVI-I (HDMI or DIsplay Port only). [Dell U2414H]. I'll try playing around with the AA settings. I tried adjusting bloom, conversation depth, and shadow map resolution all to no avail. Shadow map resolution on higher settings refines the pixelation so it isn't as bad, but it's still very noticeable.

@ObsidianVashti

I use displayport myself with my 970

Current Mode: 2560 x 1440 (32 bit) (59Hz)
       Monitor Name: DELL U2715H(miniDisplayPort)
      Monitor Model: DELL U2715H

Update:

I discovered that if I set Shadows to Low rather than High any pixelation issues disappear. This mirrors what was indicated in some previous swtor.com forum posts I linked earlier in this discussion. It appears there maybe some odd issues with characters and shadow settings that are on "High". I do not understand the exact nature of this issue, but am disappointed that it is evident since patch 1.2 all the way to 4.0+ Adjusting the AA settings does not change anything (although this is when the black screen issue stopped, attempt to reproduce?) Furthermore, while making some of these adjustments the screen refreshed appropriately without needing to minimize and maximize the game engine. It appears that the black-screen issue is not consistent. This time when first starting SWTOR it loaded straight to the main menu rather than a black screen. I do not have a display port cable readily available tonight, but I may see if I can track one down to test for kicks and giggles. Monitor drivers are now installed with no change.

1920x1080 resolution @60hz for monitor

*Update:

I can confirm after toying around with the settings, the black screen issue only appears to occur when the AA is set to "Very High." If I make any graphical adjustments with the AA on anything except "Very High" the black screen issue does not occur. I will keep testing this to confirm there is no deviation. Shadow pixelation occurs regardless of AA settings.

@ObsidianVashti

I have shadows on low as well , maybe why I have never seen this with the shadows , I have link issues at present that will stop me testing at present , link is only up for a minute at a time , damn fibre 🙂 great when it works

@ObsidianVashti

 I have AA on very high but I do have MFAA turned off if relevant

If you are referring to the MFAA within the NVIDIA Control Panel, mine is also turned off (the Global Setting). In general setting shadows to Low seems to have resolved any and all stuttering issues (despite being minute) and rids all characters of shadow pixelation during cutscenes (because then there is no shadows). The shadows look brilliant in the environment during gameplay, so I would love to have this setting on high, but not if it creates all these issues due to SWTOR's poor optimization.

It appears that the black screen issues occurs only if my AA is set to "Very High" still verifying that this is consistent, regardless of other settings.

Were you able to determine if you also experienced pixelated shadows when you had this setting turned to Very High? Occasionally I will still have a black screen when the game loads the title screen. Otherwise I may update to the latest graphic drivers since we realized that it appears to be the game rather than my card now.

Happy New Years!

@ObsidianVashti

I don't get any black screens at all, is the video driver still in debug mode ?

I cant test the shadows at present moving house

No. However, this black screen is much more difficult to test. It only occurs maybe 10-20% of the time when I first start the game. Every since reverting back to the previous drivers with a clean install I have not had the black screen issue when firing the Agent's carbine ability. The main thing I'm wanting to confirm is whether or not you also experience the pixelated shadows. No rush, good luck in the transition!

I hope your move and transition has been going well. I'm still experiencing issues. I did encounter this forum post today that seemed to have an extremely detailed inside perspective regarding what might be happening with SWTOR and this graphics card:
https://forums.geforce.com/default/topic/884991/?comment=4694763

Any thoughts?

@ObsidianVashti

Sitting a  hotel room , lucky for hotel wifi , I am very familiar with that thread you linked , will try and find the other that was made on a different forum

@ObsidianVashti

here is the other thread to the one you linked , I posted in it so certainly know it 🙂

thread is here

For the 980s I am aware EVGA released a firmware update, I haven't looked at this recently to see what was occurring with the 970's

to show you the widespread that issue with EVGA , see if this link works here

@ObsidianVashti

There is this hotfix driver here fixing some clocking issues , but still saw some reports with 900 series issues even on this driver ( the reports are not related to swtor )

See thread here

This problem is causing more of a headache than I thought it would. Now I'm starting to be concerned that this issue isn't limited to SWTOR alone. I've been primarily playing SWTOR but haven't played that many other games to notice in the long term whether I experience any issues. I can now confirm the following three problems were noticed when first using the graphics card in SWTOR.

1) Black-outs:
Upon launching SWTOR or inducing a visually intensive sequence (Carbine blast with the Imperial Agent, or a visually chaotic Warzone) the screen would black-out and would need to be refreshed by minimizing and then resuming the SWTOR application. In each scenario game audio will continue in the background, but the screen will remain black. Now with the latest drivers installed I have not noticed the issue when firing carbine blast (or visually intensive sequences). However, the screen may black out when adjusting Shadow settings or after a set period of time randomly blacks out with no patterns. This seems to coincide with a lot of the forums you linked in this thread that suggest the graphics card is doing a power reset of some sorts. It may also correlate with some of the shadow setting difficulties I have been having listed in point 2.

2) Shadows/Pixelated Shaders:

In-game shadows for environments during cutscenes are extremely blocky or pixelated. This seems to have been refined extensively in the latest (December 2015 driver update). However, the problem is still apparent here and there. This seems to be the only setting that casuses issues. I know you mentioned you had not been able to test this with your own 970. This would be helpful to know where the problem lies.

3) Framerate Lag/Stutter:

When updating my graphics card to the latest (December 2015) drivers stuttering became a problem. After following your suggestion to change the CPU pre-rendered frames to setting "1" in the NVIDIA control panel, this has been completely resolved.

None of these problems were affected by using the Debug mode in NVIDIA Control Panel.

I will update this thread with specific version numbers and better grammar when I have the chance. For the time being my concern is whether or not they are going to ever make the EVGA 970 graphics card stable. Why was this the highest rated card on Amazon if it has all of these problems? How does anyone deal these type of problems.

What would be different between the hotfix link you provided and updated drivers? I'm leery trying anything that isn't officially from NVIDIA or EVGA.

Once again, thank you so much for your assistance!

@ObsidianVashti

This here will explain the hotfix driver

Have you approached EVGA at all ? maybe there is a newer firmware etc to trial

I need to double-check with EVGA. Originally I thought the issue was isolated to SWTOR. However, now that I see it appears to be more widespread I may go back to EVGA. Additionally, I confirmed that the pixelated shadows still appear. I am running the December 21st 2015 driver (361.43). The way I understand it the hotfixes are basically beta drivers, correct? However, if this graphics card has been out for a couple of years now and the issues still aren't fixed, what are the chances of these issues ever being fixed? (Sorry, a bit pessimistic. None of this directed at you). Since you have a 970 also, am I correct in understanding that you also experience some of these problems?

@ObsidianVashti

I can give you more info next week hopefully, all going well .... hope internet is working (scheduled for Friday) after moving into house on Thursday.

I have a Gigabyte G1 Gaming GTX970 but I do not recall having issues you have currently.

hot fix driver has fixes for 361.43 that they consider bad enough to patch before the next official release

I did some major tweaking within the NVIDIA control panel and applied the hotfix. For the last couple of days or so I have not had a black-out which seems to be a good sign. That could simply be coincidence as they didn't happen that often to begin with when December 2015 drivers were installed. If I look really closely (ie. if my character is standing still) you can notice the pixelation of shadows still creating some odd visual effects. It's nowhere near as bad compared to where I started, but it is still there. I'm going to be following the hotfixes, forums, and release notes closely to see how this situation evolves. Furthermore when I have the time I'm going to talk with EVGA support.

Best of luck getting your internet all set up, I was doing that not too long ago.

Ok, yesterday- with the hotfix applied- my game still booted to a black screen. It looks like I'm going to pursue this with NVIDIA and EVGA support. If you set your shadows to Very High do you experience any in-game issues? I know previously you mentioned that you had them turned to Low. Was there any reason for that?