[noonoo]

First, I would like to say Happy Birthday to all of the birthdays today! I am having trouble with the Disney 'CARS' pc game. There are images that are not being displayed properly. When you try to do some of the activities (eg. driving Mater through his junkyard to tow cars), you have to try to do them blind, because the screen remains white with just the character and some obstacles revealed. The game requires Windows 98/ME/2000/XP-256 RAM - Pentium 3 800MHz or better - 500MB disk space - Geforce2/ATI 7500, 32 MB VRAM minimum - 16-bit DirectX 9 & above - 8x CD. I have a Pentium 3 with only 501MHz, Windows XP, 512RAM, 64MB VRAM, 16-bit and 8x. Could the 501MHz be the problem (requires 800MHz)? How do I fix this issue? I am not very good in the tech. area, but I can figure out some stuff. Please help! Kids are getting mad at me!! Thank you in advance!

[Advertisements]

That may be the problem but it's not that the game is slow, it's that the visuals are corrupted.

First off, do a hardware check of your video:
RightClick MyComputer --> Properties --> Hardware --> Device Manager -->Display Adapters

Once you find that let us know and we can direct you further. The problem may be that you do not have the current drivers for your video driver, therefore causing the problems with the graphics.

[BlackPandemic]

That may be the problem but it's not that the game is slow, it's that the visuals are corrupted.

First off, do a hardware check of your video:
RightClick MyComputer --> Properties --> Hardware --> Device Manager -->Display Adapters

Once you find that let us know and we can direct you further. The problem may be that you do not have the current drivers for your video driver, therefore causing the problems with the graphics.

[noonoo]

Thanks for getting back so quick. Under device manager - display adapter - it reads Radeon 7500 in PCI slot 1. I was trying to update driver yesterday, but the wizard kept searching...and wouldn't stop! I don't know if you've played the 'Cars' game, but to explain a little further, in the Legends Race, on the left side of the screen there should be the characters to choose from, yet the screen is white. When you unlock the character, the left side still remains white but there is a round animated highlight under where the character should appear. The boards that you have to race or move as your car do not display either. They remain white screens, with only the obstacles appearing. For instance, you are supposed to tow cars in a fenced lot, yet the fence doesn't show, so you're driving around blind. Please & Thank you for your time and help!

[BlackPandemic]

The card is a bit outdated, and by a bit I mean it is outdated even as a doorstop What you can try is go to ATI's website (www.ati.com), click on Drivers & Software, Windows XP, RADEON, and then download the latest Catalyst drivers. If that doesn't work, you may have to dish out a couple bucks for a new video card (or even processor).

[noonoo]

Crap! I was afraid of that! Thank you for the advice! What kinds of video cards are best? Thanks again!

[dsenette]

you could also try setting the video settings within the game to their lowest settings and see if the game runs...then move the graphix settings up one step at a time untill the game is unplayable..then move them back to the last playable setting

[noonoo]

Thank you! I think I already tried that by right clicking on the game icon/properties/compatibility. Under that is run program in Windows 95, 98, NT 4.0 (service pack 5.0 or higher), or Windows 2000. Then you can run in 256 colors, or 640x480 screen resolution, or disable visual themes. I've tried various combos and nothing worked. Is there another way around that? Also, BlackPandemic- the only thing I see on ATI for me is the Catalyst Control Center. Is that okay to download? Thanks!

[dsenette]

no..that's not what i was talking about...once you start the game there should be a section for setup or options or something...and you should be able to change the settings within the game

[noonoo]

Oh! Okay, sorry! There is an "options" in the Main Menu, but there is only a music volume slider, effects volume slider, captions on/off, and story mode on/off. That's it! I thought there would be more, but there isn't! Thank you for taking the time to help!

[noonoo]

You know what else? I should also mention in the "read me" section, it states

Known Issues (VIDEO)
--------------------
1. HP Pavilion 8495 OEM drivers running Windows 98 causes issues in the
game. To correct this problem please contact your hardware manufacturer
for the latest drivers.

2. There are known performance, sound and graphic issues when using an
nVidia nForce audio/video card. Please contact your hardware manufacturer
for the latest drivers.

3. There are known graphic corruption issues related to the following video
cards:
-ATi Rage128VR, Rage Fury MAXX, Rage IIc, 2D Rage Pro Turbo 2X
-ATi Radeon, All in Wonder 128, Xpert 2000
-ATi Radeon 7200, 7500, 8500
-Intel 82810
-Matrox G200, G450, G550
-Diamond Viper 770
-Asus AGP-V6800
-GeForce 256
-Elsa Erazor III

UPDATING to the MOST RECENT VIDEO DRIVERS from the manufacturer website,
will solve most video problems related to this game.

4. There are known graphic issues when using ATI built Radeon 7200, 7500,
or 8500 video cards as well as the NVIDIA GeForce4 MX 440 with AGP8X
video card with the latest drivers. If graphic issues occur, press
Alt+Tab to back out of the program and Alt+Tab again to resume your
game.

5. If the game does not function after it is installed, check your video
card installation in your system settings to make sure that a video driver
is installed for your video card in your computer.

6. This game requires you to at least have DirectX version 9.0 or higher.
It is recommended that you restart your computer upon installing or
upgrading to DirectX 9.0.

I'm probably an idiot for not mentioning this, sorry. Could this be the problem? Thanks!

[dsenette]

The game requires Windows 98/ME/2000/XP-256 RAM - Pentium 3 800MHz or better - 500MB disk space - Geforce2/ATI 7500, 32 MB VRAM minimum - 16-bit DirectX 9 & above - 8x CD. I have a Pentium 3 with only 501MHz, Windows XP, 512RAM, 64MB VRAM, 16-bit and 8x. Could the 501MHz be the problem (requires 800MHz)?

what are the specs on your processor?


for the video drivers go here and get the Catalyst Control Center Package that will have the drivers and everything else all in one package

[BlackPandemic]

The Catalyst Control center and it's runtime thingamabob is what you need and the fact that your card is on the problem list (never a good thing) is the solution to your problem.

Install the Catalyst Control Center (which has the driver in it) and see if that works. If not we need to know what slot the Radeon 7500 is in (AGP or PCI). I got an old Radeon 9600 for $70 like 5 years ago so who knows how much it is now. But all you'd need is something cheapo like that if the drivers don't fix the problem.

[noonoo]

dsenette - specs are Pentium III with 501 MHz/512 RAM/64MB/32-bit video(Radeon 7500 Family), running Windows XP Professional. Thanks again!

BlackPandemic - Tell me about it! Not good...
Downloading CCCenter now, Radeon is in PCI slot 1. Hope this works! Thanks again!

[dsenette]

hahah sorry i should have seen those specs up there (especially since they wre in the text i quoted) the proc being that far bellow minimum specs would cause some serious issues

do you concur blackpandemic?

[noonoo]

AARRGGHH!! How do you fix that? Please don't tell me I'd have to buy a new processor?