flickering

[spaceless]

Greetings,

I want to start by saying THANKS for the great software! Probably like most people here I love our universe, it's so fascinating I could spend every hour of every day of every week just reading books about it and now I can even experiment on my own a little.....that's just awesome!




Now to the one and only "problem" (not a real problem, but still annoying) I have:

I think it happens mostly when objects collide. It may happen also on other occasions, but I can't confirm that.
So sometimes, not always, when objects collide, the screen starts to flicker. It stops when I restart the simulation or open a different one. Pausing the sim also makes it stop flickering.

I searched the forum, but couldn't find anything similar on that issue. If any more information is needed, just tell me.
It's no big thing, but still a little annoying ^^

Thanks in advance

[spaceless]

Yeah, I first thought I overlooked something on that issue but decided to open this topic anyway. Good to know, somehow, that I decided right ^^

Now back to the issue:
Will it be fixed? I've no idea of programming, but I can't imagine this would take much effort, or am I wrong?

Anyways, would be very appreciated

[Joshimitsu91]

I'm pretty sure Dan will fix it as soon as he finds out whats causing it

[spaceless]

That would be really great since that's the only issue I've come by so far. None of the other problems posted in this forum seem to concern my copy of the software, except for the galaxies, but it's already known that that's buggy.

So thumbs up

[Dan Dixon]

I think this is a V-sync issue that others have reported.

I'll be adding a quick fix in the next release and a more comprehensive fix in a later build.

[spaceless]

Ah OK, I read the V-Sync threads, but since I've got no tearing elsewhere (quick rotating etc.) I didn't think of it being a similar problem.

Anyway, thanks a lot

[Dan Dixon]

Ahh... maybe I'm wrong about this being a V-sync issue.

Sounds like a rare bug with the collision marks. Does it always clear up if you clear the collision marks?

[spaceless]

Does it always clear up if you clear the collision marks?

I'm quite sure it does, yes.

The thing is that I myself didn't realize for quite some time that those collision marks can be removed manually, molunbun was the one who mentioned removing the marks ^^ (I only knew for sure that the flickering stops when I restart the sim or start a different one, which both, in fact, removes the collision marks...)

But after molunbun saying that, I tried if only removing the marks without restarting etc. worked for me too and until now...yes, it does.

[Dan Dixon]

Cool. Good to know. Thanks!

I'll be changing the way impact marks are drawn in the future and hopefully that will solve this problem.

And something to try would be to make sure you're running the latest video drivers. Are you?

[spaceless]

I are baboon
Sorry, it's 1:30 am here, I should go to bed ^^ Anyway, I'm running the latest drivers, yes

[Dan Dixon]

I are baboon

It's true, we are all African apes.

Anyway, I'm running the latest drivers, yes

Thanks for letting me know video drives are unlikely the cause of your problem.

[spaceless]

It's true, we are all African apes.

Weasel is not

[Darvince]

I thought that the flickering would be caused by dust, but apparently not.

[spaceless]

Hm, isn't dust more or less everywhere? Then it should flicker all the time, which it doesn't.
Or am I wrong about the dust?

[Dan Dixon]

No... I think it's because of the way impacts are drawn on the object.

[Cwix]

I believe I am having the same flickering issue.  It only appears to happen when there are collisions.  If the sim has all the planets playing nicely then it does not flicker.
If you would like I can probably get you a video of the issue.

Running
Phenom 2 Dual core @ 3.1ghz
Dual ATI 5670

I love the software, if there is anything I can do to help resolve the flickering I can go back to pretending I'm a god, and start flinging some more asteroids at the earth.

[BrunFrakk]

same issue here. it is always started by one, more likely many collisions, but does not necessarily stop after the collision marks disappears. it also seems to get worse the more you zoom out. 

[Dan Dixon]

It would be helpful to see some video of this problem. Can anyone take some video and upload it to Youtube as a private video and post the link here?

It can be video taken with a camera pointed at the screen, but should show a few seconds of it working and then what happens when the planets collide.

Thanks.