graphical problem in RtCW/Quake

I have an issue with the graphics in rtcw or quake, regardless if I change texturebits/colorbits/stencil bits etc it looks like it's using low color bits.
Here's an example: http://ph4te.piano-piano.ch//bully/sky.png
I brightened the image to make it stand out more. It's most obvious in the sky, but if I get close to textures it's pretty much visible everywhere.
Like I mentioned before I tried changing commands in rtcw's config, messed around in my graphic card's settings, also installed new drivers.
Nothing worked so I came to the conclusion that it must be my graphic card than. I could use a hardware update anyway so I bought one only to find out the problem is still there.
I don't really mind it when I'm playing myself but I'm making movies and it looks damn ugly.
I'm running windows xp and have an nvidia geforce gt 640.

Hopefully someone has the answer,
greets!
Comments
16
afaik it's normal and it's due to the skybox. Nothing can be done as far as i know!
It's not unfortunately, here's a picture taken by kris of his sky: http://krisofwin.com/shot0000.jpg
Parent
EXACT same position of sky? if yes, i have no clue then :x

assuming u have a good cfg...
Parent
Yes, all my settings are normal. The graphic bug is all over the map but it's most obvious in the sky. It didn't really matter where he took the pic.
Parent
Try some other config and see if same behaviour happens.

Perhaps check nvidia/ati settings (to fix some graphic glitches)
Parent
Can happen when something with r_displayrefresh isn't right, set too high w/e if i remember correctly...results in that same 16bit look.

Ttry different settings and make sure that your hardware can display the chosen r_mode and hz.
Thanks for the tip!
I have the BenQ XL2420T which as a native resolution has 1920 x 1080 and 120hz, which is also the resolution and hz I'm capturing in. I fiddled around a bit with the hz, 100 and 60 are the same but when I changed it to 85 it's actually even worse. http://ph4te.piano-piano.ch//bully/sky2.png
So I do think the problem might have something to do with the hz but I don't know what as my hardware supports the res and hz combination :(.
If there is a picture displayed on your screen then your hardware supports the settings...
I remember having the same problem some years ago, had always that 16bit-colors look and nothing fixed it.
Finally it had something to do with the refreshrate/resolution setting, in ET or OS can't remember exactly.
If it comes to my mind what it exactly was i'll let you know...

Just to be sure:
r_colorbits "32"
r_texturebits "32"
r_texturemode "gl_linear_mipmap_linear"

right? :)
Parent
Hello again,

Yes those are the settings I'm using.
Thanks a lot for your help so far, I hope you can remember what it was!
Parent
I started paying attention to it but I think I have it in windows as well. I looked it up on google and it seems my problem is called "gradient banding". There's suppose to be a smooth transition from one colour to another, I kind of see it in steps.
I installed windows 7 to see if that helped but that didn't make any difference atall, bleh.
Parent
That might be a problem for pro photoshoppers, but i don't think that it causes those really massive gradients like on that last screenshot you posted. Dammit I know I´ve had the same problem for quite a while and did even accept it as a fact as i couldn't find a solution...someday I messed around with something refreshrate/resolution related and it worked. :)

Try to create custom resolutions and force the refreshrate for it, like in this tutorial: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/33641-screen-refresh-rate-custom-nvidia-brand.html
Step 7 is crucial, you have to set your refreshrate .001 above the actual value!

And then use the custom settings in ET too.
r_mode "-1"
r_customwidth "1920"
r_customheight "1080"
r_displayrefresh "120" w/e

Try different resolution/hz combinations to see if it brings some noticable changes, maybe even a different monitor for testing...
btw when did it start to look that way, or was it always the same?
Parent
Doesn't work either unfortunately, very interesting though.
I think I have actually had this for several years, but I had a crt back then which was quite dark, so I didn't really notice. The reason I know that I've had this for several years is because I just watched an old video I made and saw the colour bug.
I think the next step is to try some old drivers or custom drivers like omega or something, I don't know...
Still once again thanks for your help :)
Parent
Ok and you are sure that it is always present?
D3D-games, opengl-games, videos, photos etc...?
I guess it's related with opengl, earlier there were quite a few bugs regarding colordepth afaik.

Post here or send me your cfg if you want, maybe there is something not right!?
Otherwise gl :)
Parent
Yeah I'm pretty sure it's always present. I took a picture from a monitor testing site (http://www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/gradient.php) related to the gradient banding. http://ph4te.piano-piano.ch//bully/monitortest.png
It should be a smooth transition but you can clearly see it going in "steps" from black to white.
Here's the rtcw config I'm using: http://ph4te.piano-piano.ch//bully/wolfconfig_mp.cfg
Parent
Can you try it with another monitor from brother/mother/etc?
Maybe it's just the screen causing the troubles, if you already bought a new gfx card.

Looks pretty much like the standard cfg, lots of standard values like rate "5000" ?

What I noticed graphics-wise, I don't think that any of this will solve your problem tbh, but it's worth a try, else I'm pretty clueless from now on :)

seta r_displayrefresh "120"
seta com_maxfps "100" // try 100hz/100fps or 120hz/125fps

seta r_lastValidRenderer "GeForce 9600 GT/PCIe/SSE2/3DNOW!" // not the card you are using atm or?

seta r_dlightBacks "1" // set to 0
seta r_finish "1" // set to 0 if no problems appear
seta r_ignoreFastPath "1" // set to 0 if no problems appear

seta r_stencilbits "8" // set to 0
seta cg_shadows "1" // set to 0 together with stencilbits 0

seta r_ignorehwgamma "1"
seta r_ext_gamma_control "0"
seta r_gamma "1.3" // try different values for this 3 gamma related settings

seta r_intensity ? // it's not there but won't do the trick anyways...

seta r_allowSoftwareGL "1"
seta r_allowExtensions "0" // at last you can try to set these values, that will disable all opengl rendering by your gpu and let the cpu do the rendering in software mode, maybe it changes something and then you have at least a clue what the cause is!

gl!
Parent
r_depthbits 24/32
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