Weird graphics issues in games (Nvidia optimus??)

[Finzy]

Got a new laptop recently and I'm getting weird graphics issues in Dragon Quest VIII and Ape Escape 3 that I've never seen before. In Ape Escape 3, parts of the geometry in levels go missing once in a while or at certain angles like this:

http://cloud-4.steampowered.com/ugc/5947...2B623E9F3/

(Windows are missing the frame + the tables are missing the covers around them, they reappear if I move around and then disappear again, it's not a game issue as it didn't happen on a previous pc I played the game on. It's more apparent in some levels where I can see through whole walls and stuff)

While in Dragon Quest VIII, the screen flickers constantly, especially in outdoor areas, like it was changing brightness rapidly, causing flashing. (Graphics are fine there though, it's just flashing all the time)

Tried both the latest GIT and SVN builds and both have the same issue. Haven't gotten around to testing other games yet as I need to rip the discs all over again. The issues persist with and without speedhacks, and I also tried the Nvidia Gsdx hack to no result. I'm thinking it might be Nvidia Optimus screwing things up somehow, but the emulator IS using the correct graphics card so I don't know what's up with that (as in, speed is good and all, and I've set the 740M to be the default card for all applications).

System specs & Gsdx settings:

Intel Core i7 4700MQ 2.4 Ghz CPU
8 GB RAM
Nvidia GeForce GT 740M (Latest stable drivers, 337.88)
Windows 8.1 64 bit

Gsdx AVX2 D3D11 Hardware mode (tried SSE41 too, no difference)
Default graphics adapter (Tried setting it to the GeForce 740M with no difference)
1920x1080 internal resolution
Texture filtering on
No hacks (except Skipdraw 1 and Wild Arms Offset for DQVIII, since it needs em, disabled them for AE3)


Any suggestions welcome, going away for about a week so might not be able to reply immediately though.

[avih]

As a first suggestion, try to run PCSX2 with the integrated GPU (HD4600?) and see if the problems still exist or if it only happens when using the nvidia GPU.

As a second suggestion, if you haven't already, try to run in native resolution in HW mode.

Please report back on those 2 experiments.

Good report, thanks.

[Kyuubixcel]

[edited - removed full quote of comment 1. -avih]

I would try turning off the skipdraw, though it may make your game slightly slower.

[tsunami2311]

[edited - removed full quote of comment 1. -avih]

try the 340.43 driver they been reported by users to fix texture flickering in DX 11 of gsdx

[avih]

Guys, there's no need to quote 2 pages of text. It's pretty clear what your answer refers to when the thread contains one clear question and only 2-3 posts.

Quoting so much when it doesn't add anything useful or focuses a specific part of the question which you refer to, just makes the thread less readable.

I've edited both posts and removed the quote.

[Finzy]

Thanks for the suggestions, I tried running the game on the same settings on the integrated Intel HD 4600 GPU and it was fine, no more graphics issues as you can see (DQ8 was also fine):

http://cloud-4.steampowered.com/ugc/5947...E024C53AA/

Going back to the Nvidia GPU, I tried running the game on PS2 native resolution, and using scaled resolutions up to 3x but the issues persist, unfortunately.

I don't think downgrading the driver is an option as I need the new drivers to run new games like Company of Heroes 2 properly (COH2 actually likes to be a ***** about it and complains if your drivers are outdated, and I'd actually like to stay up to date on drivers for a change ). So it looks like I'm stuck running Pcsx2 on 4600 till I find a solution for now, that sucks since the performance is considerably worse compared to the 740M.

Oh yeah, I've no problems running normal PC games drivers wise btw, and I can also run the Dolphin emulator fine on the 740M so it seems to be some kind of Pcsx2 specific issue.

[Nobbs66]

Thanks for the suggestions, I tried running the game on the same settings on the integrated Intel HD 4600 GPU and it was fine, no more graphics issues as you can see (DQ8 was also fine):

http://cloud-4.steampowered.com/ugc/5947...E024C53AA/

Going back to the Nvidia GPU, I tried running the game on PS2 native resolution, and using scaled resolutions up to 3x but the issues persist, unfortunately.

I don't think downgrading the driver is an option as I need the new drivers to run new games like Company of Heroes 2 properly (COH2 actually likes to be a ***** about it and complains if your drivers are outdated, and I'd actually like to stay up to date on drivers for a change ). So it looks like I'm stuck running Pcsx2 on 4600 till I find a solution for now, that sucks since the performance is considerably worse compared to the 740M.

Oh yeah, I've no problems running normal PC games drivers wise btw, and I can also run the Dolphin emulator fine on the 740M so it seems to be some kind of Pcsx2 specific issue.

Yeah, the new Nvidia drivers cause issues with pcsx2

[Blyss Sarania]

Nvidia broke PCSX2 with their GPUs a while back but won't accept bug reports from us because they say emulation is illegal.

[Nobbs66]

Nvidia broke PCSX2 with their GPUs a while back but won't accept bug reports from us because they say emulation is illegal.

Even though a decent sized portion of us actually took the time to mod our ps2's and dump the BIOS. Then we ripped our own games to iso's.

[Finzy]

That's very lame (for Nvidia)...