© 2003-2026 Ironclad Games Corporation Vancouver, BC. All rights reserved.
© 2006-2026 Stardock Entertainment
Search
Forum Home | Login
Theyus
Theyus
Join Date 03/2008
0

Transparent Planets

March 20, 2008 11:47:29 PM from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums
It's pretty self explainatory, the planets in-game are partially transparent. By like, 50%

I see no setting to change this, my settings are at thier highest, I have an ATI Radeon 9250 250mb, so I don't THINK there would be a bad problem with it hardware wise.

Any Help?
technical
Locked Post
Search this post
Advanced Search
Subscription Options
Reason for Karma (Optional)
Successfully updated karma reason!
Theyus
kryo
Join Date 05/2003
+458 sdemployee
Reply #1 March 21, 2008 10:14:17 AM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums
Update your video drivers.
Reason for Karma (Optional)
Successfully updated karma reason!
Theyus
VasQuarde
Join Date 02/2008
0
Reply #2 March 28, 2008 10:25:53 PM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums
My drivers are up to date, and by complete chance, I have the exact same video card
that Theyus does. I have the same problem as he does. It is some kind of Pixel Shader
version that it supports? Is there some way to make planets solid?

Aside from this glitch, I can otherwise run the game perfectly under normal
circumstances. I just would like to see solid planets, instead of this:

Reason for Karma (Optional)
Successfully updated karma reason!
Theyus
Kyle_Fesy
Join Date 11/2007
0
Reply #3 March 28, 2008 10:44:12 PM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums
lol ur fleet is massively suronding the planet, y don't u put ur ships on stack? lol
Reason for Karma (Optional)
Successfully updated karma reason!
Theyus
kryo
Join Date 05/2003
+458 sdemployee
Reply #4 March 28, 2008 10:48:36 PM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums
My drivers are up to date


Which drivers, exactly? Windows Update and OEM websites don't generally have the latest. Then again, ATI discontinued support for the 9250 after Catalyst 6.5 IIRC, so that's the driver you need to have.
Reason for Karma (Optional)
Successfully updated karma reason!
Theyus
Kuromimi
Join Date 04/2008
0
Reply #5 April 1, 2008 6:28:39 PM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums
Same problem for me. All planet objects except asteroids and suns are partially transparent. So, it looks like the problem is the atmosphere layer. Radeon 9200 graphics card here. It does have minor transparency problems with some games, yes my driver is up to date, unless some 3rd party has a driver that fixes this problem.

I'm quite sure the problem is the glowy atmosphere layer over the planet. My card decides that the solid planet underneath should be as transparent as the air.


Short fix idea: Does anyone know how to turn off the atmosphere layer? Just change the file name/delete the file/null it out?

Reason for Karma (Optional)
Successfully updated karma reason!
Theyus
Reclaimer
Join Date 10/2006
0
Reply #6 April 11, 2008 5:18:44 PM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums
Same problem here with a 7900GS and the unofficial 174.70 drivers. I'll try updating to the official 174.74 betas. If that doesn't do anything, I'll bookmark this page and update when I get my 9800GTX back from step-up (sent in an 8800 GTS 512, not the 7900).

PS: This started with the 1.04 patch, my 7900GS and 8800GTS worked fine in 1.03.
Reason for Karma (Optional)
Successfully updated karma reason!
Theyus
unit171
Join Date 10/2007
0
Reply #7 April 11, 2008 5:30:43 PM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums
Had these as well after playing with "effects" settings. 9600GT, drivers version - 174.74. After restarting game - all went to normal again. But unfortunatly thats the less significant of video issues I have with this game.

Reason for Karma (Optional)
Successfully updated karma reason!
Theyus
Reclaimer
Join Date 10/2006
0
Reply #8 April 11, 2008 5:39:55 PM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums
Yeah, before I reinstalled the drivers I restarted the game to see if it was just a fluke and it looks like it was. I reinstalled the drivers anyway and it still works fine. Looks like it was a one time "deal." Good luck to you guys who still are looking for solutions.

What kind of video problems do you have, unit? A 9600GT should be able to play Sins pretty well if a 7900GS (albeit, voltmodded) can.
Reason for Karma (Optional)
Successfully updated karma reason!
Theyus
Annatar11
Join Date 11/2006
+527
Reply #9 April 11, 2008 5:47:57 PM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums
This is the thread for unit's issue
Reason for Karma (Optional)
Successfully updated karma reason!
Theyus
Reclaimer
Join Date 10/2006
0
Reply #10 April 11, 2008 5:52:08 PM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums
Oh, I see Sorry I can't help, unit. Good luck with your problem though.
Reason for Karma (Optional)
Successfully updated karma reason!
Theyus
unit171
Join Date 10/2007
0
Reply #11 April 11, 2008 6:10:26 PM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums
Reclaimer, Annatar11

and most terrible, this one
https://forums.sinsofasolarempire.com/307465/#1688188

A 9600GT should be able to play Sins pretty well if a 7900GS (albeit, voltmodded) can.


SoaSE is a great game, but honestly that level of graphics could be handled by Geforce2Ti. Check Hegemonia if you dont belive me I dont know how Ironclad guys did optimizing, but it seams not very well.
Reason for Karma (Optional)
Successfully updated karma reason!
Theyus
Reclaimer
Join Date 10/2006
0
Reply #12 April 11, 2008 9:01:34 PM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums
I think the graphics in Sins are amazing for how well it runs. I was expecting to be watching a slide show on my 7900GS while I waited for my step-up, but I'm staying above 50fps all of the time, unless I'm running at 8x or 6x on a big map with lots of AI. And then it's the single core usage that's holding me back, not the GPU. All while keeping a beautiful look. For how it performs, Sins looks amazing.

Oh, you mean the graphics that you're having trouble with. Sorry, I thought you were saying that all of Sins was outdated and unoptimized.
Reason for Karma (Optional)
Successfully updated karma reason!
Theyus
Alfedenzo
Join Date 06/2007
+1
Reply #13 April 11, 2008 10:35:07 PM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums
@Theyus: I was having the same problem after I updated via SDC, and was also seeing old market prices, but after I reupdated via the download link on the Sins website, it fixed both problems. I'm using a GeForce 8600 GTS, so your millage may vary.
Reason for Karma (Optional)
Successfully updated karma reason!
Theyus
unit171
Join Date 10/2007
0
Reply #14 April 12, 2008 4:05:59 AM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums
Oh, you mean the graphics that you're having trouble with. Sorry, I thought you were saying that all of Sins was outdated and unoptimized.


No, I dont mean my case. I mean Sins graphics in general. And I dont use word "outdated" at all. I think graphics in Sins is nice, but unoptimized - yes thats for sure.
Because I remember playing Hegemonia like 5 years ago on my Geforce2Ti, and it handled it pretty well. And Hegemonia, I think had better graphics. While Sins requires:

(Radeon X1600 / GeForce 7600 and above)
Reason for Karma (Optional)
Successfully updated karma reason!
Theyus
ToJKa
Join Date 02/2008
+9
Reply #15 April 12, 2008 4:59:11 AM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums
Planets were transparent on my computer too when i still had a Radeon 9250. After i "upgraded" to Radeon 9600, everything has shown ok. As for drivers i've always used the Omega divers: http://www.omegadrivers.net

They may give a little boost.
Reason for Karma (Optional)
Successfully updated karma reason!
Theyus
chriswa
Join Date 05/2008
0
Reply #16 May 9, 2008 9:50:02 PM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums
I was having the same "Transparent Planet" problem and poked around at some of the files. After an hour and a half of tedious trial and error, I seem to have opaque planets! In GS_Planet.fx, I copied some lines to do with AlphaBlend from RenderWithPixelShader to RenderWithoutPixelShader. I'm not sure if I'm truncating some other visual effect by doing this, but everything looks nice to my virgin eyes!

C:\Program Files\Stardock Games\Sins of a Solar Empire\PipelineEffect\GS_Planet.fx

BEFORE:
Code: c++
  1. technique RenderWithoutPixelShader
  2. {
  3. pass Pass0
  4. {
  5. VertexShader = compile vs_1_1 RenderSceneVSSimple();
  6. PixelShader = NULL;
  7. Texture[0] = ;
  9. // copied from Pass0 of RenderWithPixelShader, it seems to make the planets opaque for my crappy video card!
  10. AlphaTestEnable = FALSE;
  11. AlphaBlendEnable = TRUE;
  12. SrcBlend = ONE;
  13. DestBlend = ZERO;
  14. }
  15. }


AFTER:
Code: c++
  1. technique RenderWithoutPixelShader
  2. {
  3. pass Pass0
  4. {
  5. VertexShader = compile vs_1_1 RenderSceneVSSimple();
  6. PixelShader = NULL;
  7. Texture[0] = ;
  9. // copied from Pass0 of RenderWithPixelShader, it seems to make the planets opaque for my crappy video card!
  10. AlphaTestEnable = FALSE;
  11. AlphaBlendEnable = TRUE;
  12. SrcBlend = ONE;
  13. DestBlend = ZERO;
  14. }
  15. }


Hope this helps someone else with archaic hardware!

P.S. NVIDIA GeForce4 MX 440
Reason for Karma (Optional)
Successfully updated karma reason!
Theyus
Anubis208-RG
Join Date 09/2007
+7
Reply #17 May 9, 2008 10:29:00 PM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums
This is funny. I thought I was the only one. I use Google Desktop and I've noticed that if it's on when I'm playing sins, the planets are all transparent (it looks kind of cool, actually.) I closed Sins, closed GD, restarted sins and everything's back to normal. I also saved a gave with the transparent planets, just to see what would happen. It turns out that when you load it, it looks completely normal. Basically, this has no effect on the game, save the transparent planets part...

By the way, I have an nVidia 7600 GT video card.
Reason for Karma (Optional)
Successfully updated karma reason!
Theyus
Shadow_of_Light
Join Date 12/2007
+8
Reply #18 May 13, 2008 9:38:32 AM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums
ive had this problem once. just started a random map with 4 peeps, as soon as the planet showed up they were all transparent, not liek the pictures above.... just like being able 2 see through the terran planet (could see all 3 asteroids through the terran)


never had any more issues after, but still = weird
Reason for Karma (Optional)
Successfully updated karma reason!
Theyus
Vlassen
Join Date 05/2008
0
Reply #19 May 24, 2008 7:46:20 PM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums
for people who have a radeon 9250 I found the solution.

go to C:\Program Files\Stardock Games\Sins of a Solar Empire\PipelineEffect\GS_Planet.fx

and you will find something like this at the end, just erase the bad section and copy past the good section (this).



technique RenderWithoutPixelShader
{
pass Pass0
{
VertexShader = compile vs_1_1 RenderSceneVSSimple();
PixelShader = compile ps_2_0 RenderScenePS();
Texture[0] =;


}
}

technique RenderWithPixelShader
{
pass Pass0
{
VertexShader = compile vs_1_1 RenderSceneVS();
PixelShader = compile ps_2_0 RenderScenePS();

AlphaTestEnable = FALSE;
AlphaBlendEnable = TRUE;
SrcBlend = ONE;
DestBlend = ZERO;
}

pass PassCloudLayer
{
VertexShader = compile vs_1_1 RenderCloudsVS();
PixelShader = compile ps_2_0 RenderCloudsPS();

AlphaBlendEnable = TRUE;
SrcBlend = srcalpha;
DestBlend = ONE;
}
}






P.S. MAKE A BACKUP!!!!!!!!!!!
Reason for Karma (Optional)
Successfully updated karma reason!
View all recent posts
Mark all posts as read Delete cookies created by the forum Return to Top
Stardock Forums v        Server Load Time:   Page Render Time: