What in blue blazes is going on in game?!
 

Look at this!
http://screenshot.xfire.com/screensh...48b13342d4.jpg
What's up with this?!

It doesn't stay on, but it flashes like it all the time! It's getting quite annoying.

My graphics card is a Radeon X1270, but I don't think that's the problem. But it probably is, I don't know. I'm also on vista.

Thanks!

It is definitely a graphic issue.

The first step is to make sure you have all of your updated drivers.

Next, I'd lower the texture resolution of the game and see if it changes.

-Elo

That did it! Thanks a ton. I love this game :stcool:

Awesome. Glad to know you're fixed. :)

-Elo

Wait, it's broke again. I exited, then came back in and it did the same thing. :(

What fixed it the first time -- the driver update, or you changing your graphic settings?

If it was from the graphic settings, there is a chance that the settings weren't saved when you exited the game. Check your settings again, lower them, and see if it corrects itself.

-Elo

I was having major graphics issues myself. On the official Pirates web site, there is a list of supported drivers (sorry, can't remember exactly where, but it's something like tech support, or known issues....i'll check)

Anyhow, turns out my graphoics driver was not on their "officially supported list" (ATI Radeon xpress 1100, also a vista os). I sent a question to customer support about the driver, and if it would be added to the supported list, and they sent back a fix. Works perfectly now!

Go see if your driver is supported, and if not email them. I got the fix sent back in less than a day, and for the POTCO team, that's like warp speed :)

This was the fix they sent me, I have no idea if this will work on your computer though, so check it out before you try this:

"The issue you reported may be due to an incompatibility with OpenGL and your video card driver. Enabling Pirates Online to use DirectX 9 should resolve the problem.

To specify Pirates Online to use DirectX9 you will need to edit the "game_options.txt" file located in the PiratesOnline directory if you have ever saced settings in the Options Panel.

1) Go to Start | Programs | Accessories | Windows Explorer
2)Navigate to C:\Program Files\Disney\Disney Online\PiratesOnline
3) Double click on game_option.txt
4) Make sure "state" has "working" on the line directly below it. If you see "attempted_working" change it to "working"
5) Under "api", please change the text from "default" to "pandadx9"
6) Save the file then launch the game"

That's word for word what they sent me, and it works like a charm :)

I think it's interesting that it defaults the 3D library for Panda3D to openGL...I'm going to have to check this when I get home. If my config is set to the default of openGL, I'm DEFINITELY going to switch it to DX.

I'll edit this post with my findings at home.

Edit:

Switched the API to pandadx9 and the game worked fine. Didn't really notice a change. Chances are that they set the default API to be openGL so that the game will install and run on non-windows-based machines.

-Elo

I think it looked like shutters. I've never had a problem like this. To me, it looks edited, but I can see it isn't.

~CaptainMonkeys

Vista is your problem. You cannot play fully and correctly on Vista sometimes. Plus, I wouldn't spend money on a graphics card for a game that your playing for free. It's not worth the money unless you are unlimited access.

Why do you think Vista is causing the problem? I don't have problems like this, and I run Vista. It's a graphic issue where some of the textures are being rendered incorrectly. More specifically, an issue with openGL and the way the user's video card driver is handling those calls.

-Elo

Thanks for this information, I know I am about one month late or so replying, but it resolved my issue also. The game, specifically when battling with my cutlass, would literally skip like a record player. It became really annoying and I remember this issue during the beta version also. I was going through my own technical support issues from beta but couldn't find the solution. When reading the above steps it rang a bell and figured it would resolve the problem like it did during beta. Well, I am off to potentially be some sort of pirate again...Thanks!

EDIT 04/10/2008 10:55PM
One other thing I noticed regarding this file, if you never click on "Options|Graphics" and save the information this game_option.txt file is never created. By default, There is another file very similar called Last_Working_Options.txt that actually is your default graphics setting and when this was updated pirates online worked fine. If you updated the Last_Working_Options.txt then you should be ok, but if you decide to customize your graphics you will have to update the game_options.txt file which is not installed by default you physically have to customize your options.

I have Vista and it works fine - or it WAS working fine, until I had to reinstall the game and they "updated" again yesterday. Now I'm having all sorts of graphics/display problems. It's exactly the same computer I was using on Wednesday, but after the reinstall and updates on Thursday, something's gone wrong.