The dark mod 2.09 black screen at startup with music and sounds playing

[Timudjin]

So I got back to my desktop and installed the dark mod 2.09a, but when I start it I get a gray screen for a couple of seconds then a black screen. I can hear the music and the menu sounds when I move my mouse but I can't see anything. I tried some things from what I could see in the forums but nothing worked. I have a pretty old GPU but it should run it no problem I believe (a Radeon hd 4850). Things i tried:

-Downloading the latest dev build

-Downloading the build test15973-8787

-changing glcore from 2 to 1 and to 0

-changing the resolution to 800x600

-starting it in compatibility mode windows 7

-changing glsl 

-changing shadow to 0

- downloading an executable posted by stgatilov in a post about the same problem (I can't find it anymore)

None of this worked and the log file doesn't show any issues. Any idea how to fix this or if I need an older version, because I believe the GPU should be able to launch the game properly at least?

[duzenko]

1. Update graphics driver

2. Upgrade the hardware

3. Downgrade TDM

[Timudjin]

The graphic drivers are up to date, I'm pretty sure that's not the problem, and the game runs on my shitty toaster of a laptop that has an integrated intel hd 3000. I mean it runs like a PowerPoint presentation at probably less then 10 fps but it runs. 

I downgraded to 2.08 and I still have the same issue. I think it might have something to do with the settings or the game but I have no idea what to start changing. 

Ok I downgraded to 2.07 and it works, but there is a problem with the menu, when I pass my mouse over menu options (new game, options, exit ...) they flicker and there is some type of graphical artifact, don't know exactly how to explain it.

2.06 seems to work pretty well, haven't yet launched a mission but the menu looks clean and it works without issues as far as I can see. 

Edited October 26, 2021 by Timudjin

[freyk]

Try another devbuild (give us the version numner)

And please generate a qconsole log and give us its content.

 

Edited October 28, 2021 by freyk

[Timudjin]

Ok I tried what you said. I cannot generate a qconsole log with 2.09 or any of the test releases I tried.

I tried test15973-8787 again. It doesnt run and I get the same problem.

I tried test15973-8797. It doesn't even start, no black screen no music and mouse noises in the background, just a crash and I get a blue crash window with "error during initialization.  too few!" written on top, whatever that means. 

I tried test16019-8980. Same problem as above with the too few thingy. Normal log says nothing usefull, no qconsole log.

I went back to 2.07 to generate a qconsole log as I couldn't with the others. I couldn't get this release from the installer by the way as my antivirus blocks it saying it's a trojan and when it's disabled it shows, after a little while :  

ERROR: Missing chunk 51451011..40965251 (4284481536 bytes) after downloading URL http://mirror.mstrmnds.me/releases/zipsync/release/release207_from_release206/tdm_shared_stuff.zip
Warning: Showing error message: Missing chunk 51451011..40965251 (4284481536 bytes) after downloading URL http://mirror.mstrmnds.me/releases/zipsync/release/release207_from_release206/tdm_shared_stuff.zip

 

So I had to get this version from moddb. Other versions I tried download normally from the installer. Anyways I still got a few problems with 2.07, mainly that some textures are pink, but not all the time. For exemple in the training mission, the food plates in one of the rooms turn pink when I approach them while they are the normal gray color otherwise, same thing happens in other missions with these plates. There is some pink stuff above some doors too, and the FM "Coercion" has a big pink spot outside of a window. I believe this is visible in the qconsole log of 2.07 that I will attach here.

I'm thinking this whole shit could be an Opengl error. I'm not sure my GPU is capable of running Opengl3.3 fully. It runs 3.1 I believe but I'm not entirely sure it runs 3.3 on windows 10.

qconsole.logqconsole.log

qconsole.log

[stgatilov]

Perhaps it would be a good idea to check the "Beta Testing 2.08" thread and try to change cvars listed there.

For instance:

• r_uniformTransforms 0
• r_fboColorBits  32
• r_usePersistentMapping 0
• r_useMultiDraw 0 and r_useBaseVertex 0 (I guess they don't exist in 2.09 anymore)

[Timudjin]

I got 2.08 and changed those cvars that I could find, still no luck

[stgatilov]

It seems that TDM does not render on Terascale1 GPUs...

I wonder if this is the problem with menu only or with all rendering?

For instance, if you unpack the attached zip into TDM installation directory, and then start the game with command line parameters:

• TheDarkModx64.exe +map test/5598_crazyhedge.map

UPDATE: After some time you need to click (attack) to start gameplay...

Will it show anything when game starts?
(if you are not sure you did everything right, you can look at game console: it will print a lot of stuff when you start a map, plus sounds will change too)

maps.zip

[duzenko]

Don't you get a click to start gui before you get to 3d world?

[Timudjin]

I'm guessing this needs to be run in the windows command shell? In any case that's what I did. I only get a black screen with no music, left it for a while, clicked pressed alt+ctrl+², got nothing, no console, no map, no music, just a black screen.

I decided to test a little further and started the game normaly, tried to launch the in-game console but it wouldn't appear neither.

So I rolled back to the versions that worked and launched the command that you gave and it worked, on 2.07 the map launches but on 2.09 it does not. I even changed some of the cfg lines to check it out but no luck.

[stgatilov]

Let me be frank: I have absolutely no idea what's wrong and where to search.

We can of course try to investigate it, but most likely it will take a lot of time and effort, without any guarantee of success (we can find nothing, or find something that we won't be able to change anyway). Indeed, it would be great to make TDM work on GPUs of your class because they formally support minimum required GL version, but I'm not sure you want to go this route without much hope for success.

[duzenko]

Does 2.08 work?

[stgatilov]

1 hour ago, duzenko said:

Does 2.08 work?

If you read the whole topic, you'll know that 2.08 does not work.
2.07 is the latest version which works.

[duzenko]

I think it's too late to fix it then
If even gl 3.1 was too much stress for that pc