white dot lines in PC Games --- what causes it?

[Navaros]

lately, almost every PC game I buy has this problem.

the problem is, at certain exact points of the game, the display is corrupted by lines of white dots which the developer did not put into the game.

i have had this problem with many games, from several different publishers. i suspect it is caused by scratches placed on the CD-ROM discs during the manufacturing/packaging process which result in the game not copying the the corrupted (scratched) data exactly as it should when the game is installed. i want an official confirmation from someone who actually knows what these dots are exactly, and what causes them, although i suspect nobody on this board will know for sure but i figured i'd ask just in case.

if anyone does know what causes this problem, then i will also ask: how am i supposed to prevent it? i am sick to death of having to exchange almost every single PC game i buy because it has this defect at some point(s) in the game. so i wonder, are there certain stores that get shipped the defect-free batches of the game and most other just get the average defect-filled copies?

i really don't wanna turn into a warez kiddy, but if this nonsense happens to me a few more times then it seems as if that will be my only alternative.

some of you may tell me not to worry about this defect and "who cares" etc. to you i say, don't bother telling me that. i may be a bit of a perfectionist, but that is my perogative and i refuse to pay top-dollar for a game which has defects in workmanship before i even take it out of the box.

i have included one screenshot in this post to illustrate the problem. if more are required to properly demonstrate this issue, i can certainly dig into my other games and post a whole whackload.[attachment archived by Gobalopper]

[number6]

Have you confirmed this as an actual problem by duplicating the problem on a machine other than yours? When you take these games back for issues like this have you asked the staff at the store if others have seen these problems?

Sounds more to me like the problem is with your setup and not the games themselves. Your presumption about the CDROM being scratched, while seeming logical, is dead wrong. If the CDROM was scratched in such a way it would corrupt a file and the setup program should give you an install error because most install utilities do some sort of checksum to ensure all data was copied correctly. If the graphics were read from the CDROM at runtime while playing the game the graphics problems would be much more evident than a few white dots.

What brand/model video card do you own and what driver version are you using?

[Navaros]

number6: that's a "stock answer" you are giving which I've heard from the Tech Support of many publishers, and i believe your answer here is incorrect.

i have not tested them on multiple machines, but i have tested them on my machine with various graphics cards.

even so, it is not a "random" problem. the defects occur at certain exact points in the game.

whenever i exchange a game, the white lines never occur in the same place with the New Install.

this tells me it is a manufacturing problem for sure - otherwise why wouldn't the defects be randomized? that is illogical.

[number6]

Well so far you have not convinced me that your theory is based on anything other than observation. You are now saying that the dots do not appear at the same point in the game when you get another copy. In your first post you said these dots appear in "certain exact spots" of the game. Which is it? If these dots appear in random spots of the game again I would say that it is a hardware problem on your system. You say you tried various graphics cards on your system. Have you tried a completly different motherboard? The safest way to eliminate your hardware as the problem is to get some other system, possibly at the store where you bought the game, and see if the problem shows up in the exact spot of the game where you are seeing these dots.

Again I ask you, what brand/model video card do you own and what driver version are you using?

[gryphon]

I agree with Number6. The changes of it being a production error in the CDrom is not verry lickly.

The dots you see, [ as in the picture shown ] do they stay point at a certain point or move as the screen moves. In other words, Do they stay at the same place on your monitor, or if they are at a deck plate as shown in your picture, do they stay fixed on that part in the game ?

[Navaros]

i will clarify: i install a game. the white lines occur at a certain exact place (or various exact places) in that game, and never elsewhere. the white lines will never "randomly" occur at spots which differ from the where they are known to occur.

for example: let's say I install a game, and at the Elevator on Level 1 of that game, the white lines *always* occur. regardless of reloading the game or rebooting my system, or uninstalling then reinstalling the game. yet they do not occur anwhere else on that level.

if i were to exchange this disc, and uninstall the copy i originally had, then reinstall from the New disc - in that case i could go to the Elevator on Level 1 of that game to the exact same "problem spot" as before, and the white lines would no longer occur there.

based on this, i find there can be no other reasonable conclusion aside from manufacturing defects

to gryphon: yes, the dots do move as i move the Camera. their size/location fluctuates slightly.

[Cyborg]

Cd's very seldomly contain errors because of the method of copying them, and a scratch in the cd must be deep and easy to see for a file to be corrupt.

If a file gets corrupt by scratches in the cd, that part of the cd is not readable, and you would never be able to copy anything from the scratched area.

*ADDED*

I saw your screenshot, and recognize the error.

There can be a few reasons to why the error occurs:

1: The polygons may not be joined perfectly, and are leaving a tiny space. as you rotate the camera, they will change in length.

2: Your graphic card is drawing the polygons wrong leaving those white dots.

The white dots seem to appear between two polygons, so the error is not so hard to address.

I believe it's either the game being imperfect, or your hardware drawing some polygon edges wrong.

[Andrew]

I would say it is the game itself and not your system that creates these lines. The developers may not have noticed them. I believe I have seen this in many FPS myself.(where walls/objects meet together)

[Navaros]

here is another shot, totally different game, totally different publisher. i apologize for the darkness, my screenshot taker keeps making it really dark even after i boosted the in-game gamma to max :(

in this particular copy of the game in this shot, the error only occurs at this exact point in the game. yet in other areas built with the same tiles, it doesn't occur at all.

it's hard to take screenshots of the lines because they are more disturbing when the camera is moving. when the camera is still, i can only capture a few dots with one screenshot. but while playing the game and moving the camera, these dots form long lines[attachment archived by Gobalopper]

[Cyborg]

It's obviusly misplaced vertex coordinates.

Everyone encounters those sometimes.

[Scy]

check ur card driver setting, change the mode to Best Image.

it's not seems like a game problem.

can u explain more about that problem with games...

[gryphon]

I'm with the reasons Cyborg and Andrew mentioned here.

If you want to be shure if it's a production error only occuring with the CDroms you have. Take them to a friend and try them on his pc.