Osmos Support

[eddybox]

@TheTourist314: did the latest Steam update solve your sound problems?
Thanks,
Eddy

[Steedus]

Yes that fixed the problem, but just fyi it's not exactly a desirable solulution to have to use generic software sound drivers over my dedicated sound card.

@Steedus and @jeffplum:

We rolled out an update to Steam to resolve some people's sound issues, but it seems to have caused problems for a few others. But, we included a way to manually choose your sound driver, which should allow you to resolve the problem via a config setting.

Go to the Osmos directory in the Documents folder and open the Config.cfg file. Inside, you'll find a line that says
soundDevice "-1"
Change this to
soundDevice "1"
so that the last device in your sound list will be selected.

Let us know how that works for you.

Thanks,
Eddy

[eddybox]

Yes that fixed the problem, but just fyi it's not exactly a desirable solulution to have to use generic software sound drivers over my dedicated sound card.

Agreed. Our next minor update should support your dedicated sound card.

Thanks,
Eddy

[patrick_leb]

@patrick_leb: are you playing on Steam? If so, try S1-2 again with rendering LOD set to low (in the visual options). does that solve the framerate issue on startup of that level?

Nope, I got the game straight from Hemisphere. I tried with rendering set to High/Med/Low and I get the same result.

Patrick

[TheTourist314]

@eddybox,

Yeah, the last steam update definitely did fix the crashing I had on start up. If I come across anything else, I'll let you guys know, but so far it's working perfect. Great job!

[Soran]

@Soran: odd case you have there... almost guaranteed that it's a graphics driver issue, but you mention you're running the latest. it might be worth looking into alternate driver versions. also, have you tried toggling vsync (in the visual options.) that might help.

Thanks,
Eddy

Have tried the vsync option... No change...

According to ThinkVantage System Update I have got the newest driver, but might try some older versions this weekend...

[proctor]

Thanks Meal Worms, you were right. By lowering the rendering detail on that level it ran fine. I am a happycat.

[eddybox]

@rlahalla, @bamboo, @Hwee, @jeffplum, @IronMike, @Bluebear, @stuartgc, @thedox, @Dredboss, @Red Alert, @paul, @Sjado
...and anyone else with the "update screen" / flicker bug.

Just wanted to let you all know that we're working hard on it.

FYI, It causes a lot of strange behaviour, including:
- update screen flickering
- demo -> full version screen flickering
- unexplained speed-up / slow-down of the game
- unexplained zooming
- wonky gravity effects
- etc.

It has all the symptoms of memory corruption, but it's only happening to a small percentage of players (less than 1%, but reliably), so it also seems like a hardware issue.

Some of you have reported that toggling fullscreen (alt-f), vsync, steam friends, etc. seem to make the problem go away, but only for a while. Sjado, has turning on vsync solved this problem permanently for you?
Dredboss also reported that running fraps, which fixes the framerate to 30, causes the problem to go away.

Thanks a lot for all the info and troubleshooting you've done so far -- we really appreciate it!
But, we could still use some more info from you in order to help track this down. Could you post to this thread the following info please:
- what OS you're running (XP/Vista/7), including service pack
- your machine model and specs
- your graphics card
- what version you're running: Steam or standalone (purchased from Hemisphere or D2D)

Also, has anyone else tried to capture a video with fraps? If so, does it solve the problem for you as well? If not, could you post the video to youtube and link to it here please?
Finally, if clamping the framerate does seem to solve the problem, perhaps adding this line to your MyDocuments\Osmos\Config.cfg file will help:
maxFramerate "30"

Thanks a lot for your help!
Eddy

[jeffplum]

Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition Service Pack 3
DirectX - 4.09.00.0904 (DirectX 9.0c)
DualCore AMD Athlon 64 X2, 2000 MHz (10 x 200) 3800+
Motherboard: Epox EP-9NPAJ SLI
Motherboard Chipset: nVIDIA nForce4 SLI
System Memory: 2048 MB (PC3200 DDR SDRAM)
GFX: NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTS (320 MB) XfX

Running Steam version.
I have turned off Steam Friends.
I have turned on Vsync.

I've found that when the game is running normally I can force the problem to appear by alt+tabbing to windows and alt+tabbing back to Osmos. When I resume game I have all the symptoms you described above. If I don't force the problem, it usually occurs after approx. 20 minutes play anyway - usually at the crucial moment!

Hope this info helps.

[jeffplum]

O..K... Just tried to run the game, played for about 10 minutes and the flicker came back with a vengeance - well it wasn't even a flicker anymore, just a game-paralyzing screen like when I first ever experienced this problem. Now every time I load the game I just get this screen. When you say memory corruption do you mean my RAM chips or something else?