Game randomly scrolls the map

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infiniteboat
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Joined: Mon May 26, 2014 9:39 am

Game randomly scrolls the map

Post by infiniteboat »

After I play for a while the game just scrolls the map up and to the left on its own. This happens every time I play for more than 30 minutes.

I have unplugged my xbox controller (this actually screwed up the new XCOM) and all other inputs besides the mouse and keyboard.


I disabled the second monitor (it seems to happen less when I play only with one monitor enabled.


Sometimes when I save the game it stops scrolling, other times I have to close the game completely.


This is very very frustrating. I try to play on "locked" mode just lock on my homeworld or whatever but it makes the game very difficult to do anything.


Any suggestions?
Raap
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RE: Game randomly scrolls the map

Post by Raap »

The view can be scrolled using the direction keys on the keyboard. Does the problem (temporarily) go away if you use those to scroll in the same direction as the view is already scrolling?
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Retreat1970
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RE: Game randomly scrolls the map

Post by Retreat1970 »

Old issue. Seems to affect vista x64 users. for me I get to 1.2gb mem usage and it scrolls. A game reboot fixes it for awile. I'm sure its some sort of leak for vista users but unsure. No fix atm. There are other posts for this.
infiniteboat
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RE: Game randomly scrolls the map

Post by infiniteboat »

ORIGINAL: Retreat1970

Old issue. Seems to affect vista x64 users. for me I get to 1.2gb mem usage and it scrolls. A game reboot fixes it for awile. I'm sure its some sort of leak for vista users but unsure. No fix atm. There are other posts for this.


Ah crap, i really hope i didn't just sink a grip into a game that I can't play 95% of.
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Retreat1970
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RE: Game randomly scrolls the map

Post by Retreat1970 »

I can finish games but I have to restart the game every 30 min or so once things start getting large. Maybe devs could help us poor vista users out?
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Erik Rutins
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RE: Game randomly scrolls the map

Post by Erik Rutins »

Hi guys,

We will happily help out to the best of our abilities.

Could you please post DxDiag files for your systems?

We haven't seen this on our Vista test system so seeing your specs may be helpful.

Any additional information you can provide about what's going on in the galaxy or what you were doing before it started scrolling on its own would also be helpful. When you say it happens every 30 minutes, is it really that predictable for you? Do you see any changes in the game's memory usage over that time in the Task Manager?

Regards,

- Erik


Erik Rutins
CEO, Matrix Games LLC


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For official support, please use our Help Desk: http://www.matrixgames.com/helpdesk/

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Retreat1970
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RE: Game randomly scrolls the map

Post by Retreat1970 »

Thanks Erik. I watch the Distant Worlds exe in task manager while I'm playing and without fail as soon as it's around 1.2gb memory usage the cursor takes off to the upper left. If I save my game, restart the game then reload the saved game all is well. But then 1.2gb and wooosh there it goes. The game is unplayable because the mouse cursor always wants to go to the upper left corner no matter what you do.
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DxDiag.txt
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Magnum9
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RE: Game randomly scrolls the map

Post by Magnum9 »

I've had this happen as well... however it was after I was in game for probably 4-5 hours.

I played a few tutorials, started one medium sized new game, messed up/figured some stuff out, started a new small scale game with no AI and had this happen at the end of that long stint.


Posting DxDiag
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elliotg
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RE: Game randomly scrolls the map

Post by elliotg »

Hi guys

Have you tried using a different mouse?

You have 32-bit Windows, so Distant Worlds is limited to a maximum of 2Gb memory, which actually reduces substantially with other things going on. So you are likely getting near memory limits at 1.2Gb. Possibly your mouse driver is getting impacted by this somehow.

You could try enabling the /3Gb memory switch on 32-bit windows to provide more memory for DW, which in turn may help with your mouse issues (assuming the theory above is correct). To do this follow the instructions here: http://dwf.blogs.com/beyond_the_paper/2009/04/enabling-3gb-switch-on-windows-vista.html. Note the section at the bottom "Enable the 3GB switch on Windows Vista".

Thanks
Elliot
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Retreat1970
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RE: Game randomly scrolls the map

Post by Retreat1970 »

Hi Elliot thanks for the reply. I run Vista 64bit and I think Magnum9 does too but he just ran the 32bit dxdiag. I've tried a different mouse, even a ps/2 (hard to find nowdays).

tm.asp?m=2564386&mpage=1&key=&#2785696

Above is a 4 year old post on this. The common theme I see is Vista 64 over and over.

Best game ever, and thanks for looking into this.
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zakblood
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RE: Game randomly scrolls the map

Post by zakblood »

64bit version of vista would make more sense, as ram and video from dxdiag states too much for 32bit anyway to use.

Windows 11 Pro 64-bit (10.0, Build 22621) (22621.ni_release.220506-1250)
Malicious
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Joined: Fri May 30, 2014 4:08 am

RE: Game randomly scrolls the map

Post by Malicious »

I also have this bug, and also run Vista 64 bit. I am an avid gamer, play many games that use a lot of memory, and this is the only game that this has ever happened to me in. I get the error exactly as retreat describes (as soon as 1.2 gigs memory is used, the map scrolls to the upper left.) The scrolling is independent of mouse position.

I will also note that the scrolling bug CAN stop if the memory use drops sufficiently low once more... but will resume quickly thereafter. The scrolling is constant, and effectively gamebreaking.

Here is my DXDiag:
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DxDiag.txt
(39.01 KiB) Downloaded 18 times
infiniteboat
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Joined: Mon May 26, 2014 9:39 am

RE: Game randomly scrolls the map

Post by infiniteboat »

I can't confirm any of the observations regarding memory usage the other posters seem to be a bit more useful than me. I will try to keep an eye out in the future and I will post again if I get any different behavior than what was already mentioned in this thread. Attaching my DxDiag for additional debugging purposes.


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DxDiag.txt
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Magnum9
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RE: Game randomly scrolls the map

Post by Magnum9 »

Just checking in to confirm I am running 64 it Vista.

Also just FYI... I'm assuming the 64 bit OS makes the "switch" link irrelevant. I ran the command lines anyway and received the following message:

"An error occurred while attempting to delete the specified data element. Element not found."

I'm assuming whatever this addresses for 32 bit users isn't pertinent to anyone running a 64 bit OS?
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elliotg
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RE: Game randomly scrolls the map

Post by elliotg »

Hi everybody

Thanks for your feedback on this issue.

Can you please all tell me what DPI you are running Windows in?

You can check this in Control Panel > Display > Set custom text size (DPI)

If you are not currently using 96 DPI (100%) can you please switch to this and see if this fixes the problem. You could also try enabling 'Use Windows XP style DPI scaling' in the above window.

Either way, please post your current DPI setting here.

Thanks
Elliot
Chocoma
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RE: Game randomly scrolls the map

Post by Chocoma »

Hi Elliot,

I checked the DPI, it was set at 96, still error.

I've been doing a ton of google'ing on this and as far as I can tell it has to do with some kind of memory usage "cap" and vista64. As the game progresses, more and more is going on in a galaxy and requires more CPU work. That's about as far as I can tell. The larger the galaxy you play, the sooner it will happen and eventually even saving and reloading doesn't fix it anymore as the memory useage is too large.

Hopefully it's just an overflow error somewhere. But thanks for looking.

Cheers
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Retreat1970
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RE: Game randomly scrolls the map

Post by Retreat1970 »

96 DPI and XP style is checked.

For me a game restart fixes it for awhile. Until I hit 1.2GB mem usage again of course. I'd send a save game but it's kind of pointless because no matter how big a game I've got going on it loads back in after a game restart at 700 to 800mb. I know nothing about computers, but if you have a game running that needs 1.2GB mem at a certain point why does it need 400mb less at that same point after a restart?

Keep throwing out the ideas for fixes, and again thanks for the attention.
Fujimo
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Joined: Tue Jun 03, 2014 9:20 am

RE: Game randomly scrolls the map

Post by Fujimo »

Is there anything being done here from the developer to fix the scrolling issue? The issue has been known for some time now and you (matrix games) know about the issue please fix it or should I troll steam forms and make it an issue there?
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Retreat1970
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RE: Game randomly scrolls the map

Post by Retreat1970 »

I'm sure they're looking into it. This bug isn't as bad as it used to be. There have been some major memory usage improvements and I don't hit 1.2gb now for over an hour or so of gameplay. Plus Universe loads so much faster than shadows did. Elliot will squash this eventually I'm sure.

Edit: This just happened to me again, but a save, quick restart of the game, and in 60 seconds I'm back playing 1400 15x15 at 750mb. In an hour or so I'll do it again. Definately not crippling like it used to be but annoying all the same.
Beastro
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Joined: Fri May 30, 2014 8:18 pm

RE: Game randomly scrolls the map

Post by Beastro »

I'm getting this badly as well. Hits pretty much every 10-15 minutes and after 2-4 saves I need to restart the game.
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