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    Strange "strobe" effect on my 1530 screen

    Discussion in 'Dell XPS and Studio XPS' started by molarman, Oct 25, 2008.

  1. molarman

    molarman Notebook Enthusiast

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    I am playing a not-so-well-known game (shooter) titled "Sniper Elite". Although I just recently purchased the game, it was released a few years ago. I am having rather odd behavior that I can't figure out. During much (but not all) of the gameplay portions of the screen go black, and then quickly revert back to normal colors and textures. It does this randomly and quickly making a portion of the screen take on a strobe effect which is rather disconcerting. The portion of the screen which takes on this behavior coincide with the outlines of buildings and such, so they are geometric in shape (squares, rectangles, etc). There are no patches to this game that I am aware of and it is no longer published, and is probably not supported.

    Any ideas what might cause this and what can be done about it?
     
    molarman, Oct 25, 2008
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  2. yomamasfavourite

    yomamasfavourite Notebook Evangelist

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    What windows is it for?
    I've a load of old windows games 95/98/2000 that I just fired on for the hell of it, some work others though get that sort of a funny effect, (even under compatibility mode)
     
    yomamasfavourite, Oct 25, 2008
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  3. molarman

    molarman Notebook Enthusiast

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    It was written for 98/ME/2000/XP. I am running in compatibility mode. Do you think this is the issue?
     
    molarman, Oct 25, 2008
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  4. yomamasfavourite

    yomamasfavourite Notebook Evangelist

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    Most likely, Vista has some major issues with backwards compatibility, You say you are running in compatibility mode, did you install it in compatibility mode also? that sometimes helps.

    All you can really do other than that is search for patches - there ususally are some if you look a little bit.
     
    yomamasfavourite, Oct 25, 2008
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  5. molarman

    molarman Notebook Enthusiast

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    I was not aware of the ability to install in compatibility mode. How is this done?
     
    molarman, Oct 25, 2008
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  6. yomamasfavourite

    yomamasfavourite Notebook Evangelist

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    As far as I can remember its (assuming the game isn't installed)

    - put in disk etc.

    - window comes up asking whether you wan't to autorun, exlore etc.

    - click explore look for a file like autorun.exe (usually has an application picture and is of type application)

    - right click it

    - properties

    - compatibility

    - run for 98/95 (whatever one its supposed to run for)

    Then click the autorun application and install as usual - Nb it may stiil not work properly for you, vista can be a right pain sometimes.
     
    yomamasfavourite, Oct 25, 2008
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