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Hi.
I've been having some problems with seeing horizontal lines on my screen during games, especially on darker backgrounds, for quite a while now. It all started a few months ago where I started noticing them in a steam game, where they would become quite noticeable when using the shift+tab overlay. It also become noticeable in SC2, mostly when looking over area with fog though, but still quite annoying.
At first I wasn't sure what the problem was, and as I was planning to get a new PC soon anyway I decided to let it be and see if that would fix it. I got my new PC along with Skyrim. The lines did not only continue being there when playing Starcraft 2, but they were also showing a lot when playing Skyrim, especially in dark areas of the game. As the PC was brand new I thought I had now located the problem to be my screen, it was old as well, so I figured I'd get it replaced soon. I first tried to get a new cable for it, bought a VGA>DVI as the screen only had VGA, but still didn't help.
Yesterday I then went out and bought a new screen, and this is where I'm getting really confused. I plugged it in, installed the required drivers, and went to test it out in Skyrim. To my joy the lines were now gone, and I finally thought I got rid of the problem, but that didn't last longer than until I went on to play some Starcraft 2 and saw that I still had theese horizontal lines going through my screen, still mostly noticeable at the areas with fog, but yet so annoying that I want to get rid of them.
I realize all of the above information may not be necessary, especially considering that all my hardware is new and that the problem is now only in Starcraft 2, but I thought I'd add it anyway to make sure I wasn't sitting with anything that might help solve the issue.
Obviously I've been trying to search around for solutions to this, looking at previous related problems in the tech support forum alongside several sites from google, but nothing has yet solved my problem.
So far I've tried the following solutions:
- Made sure that my graphic card drivers are up to date
- Tried with / without V-Sync
- Tried in different graphic settings (ranging from low to extreme)
- Tried different resolutions
- Tried both with and without windowed mode
- Removed Starcraft 2 from my computer and installed it again
- Made sure I don't have magnets near the screen that could interfere
- Launched a game in Starcraft 2 and unplugged everything beside the screen and power cable.
- I have a router in my room, tried turning it off while in a game vs the AI to see if it interferes
On the top of my head this is the options I've tested, though I may be missing some. I realize that some of them may seem silly, but I'm desperate to solve this and trying everything with even a slight possibility to work.
I also realize that only testing Skyrim and Starcraft 2 is a small sample, but currently I don't have any other games installed. Also considering that I no longer see them in Skyrim I think it's just some sort of settings problem within Starcraft 2, but I honestly can't figure out what.
I warmly welcome any sort of suggestions as I really want to fix this. From the small ones that I may just have missed and would make me look like a moron if it worked, or to the bigger ones that would require some more effort or testing. I'm open to any help and I just want this fixed.
Almost forgot to add my specs, here they are:
Windows 7 64-bit
Nvidia 560
i5-2005k 3.30ghz
8gb 1.600 DDR3
The screen is a Samsung S24A300B
Thanks for any help in advance.
Edit: Made sure to clarify throughout the entire OP that it happens in Starcraft 2 to avoid confusion.
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Are you really very sure you got your GPU and the GPU drivers both installed correctly?
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I had the same issue. At first I thought it was my graphics hard. However after getting a new computer it became obvious that it was my Samsung monitor. At first I only noticed it in Starcraft, but after a while I started seeing the lines in everything, including windows. So I bought a new monitor, and problem fixed.
Edit: For the record, I didn't have the exact same monitor as you. It was a Samsung 19" LCD.
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It's probably your vsync/refresh rate settings. What resolution and refresh rate are you using?
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On January 04 2012 00:00 Lowko wrote:
Are you really very sure you got your GPU and the GPU drivers both installed correctly?
I received my PC prebuilt and with the drivers installed already. I also went to NVIDIA's homepage and asked it to detect my GPU and search for driver updates, and it said everything is updated. So yes, I'm pretty confident the drivers are installed correctly, but reinstalling the drivers may be worth a shot.
On January 04 2012 00:26 PandaTank wrote:
I had the same issue. At first I thought it was my graphics hard. However after getting a new computer it became obvious that it was my Samsung monitor. At first I only noticed it in Starcraft, but after a while I started seeing the lines in everything, including windows. So I bought a new monitor, and problem fixed.
Edit: For the record, I didn't have the exact same monitor as you. It was a Samsung 19" LCD.
I forgot to say in the OP, I also checked if they were visible with another screen I have(beside my screen with my old pc, which means I checked 3 now, though 1 of them surely doesn't work as intended any more), it's a really old one, so if it works properly is questionable, but I had the same issue in Starcraft as on my Samsung. Also I looked very carefully for the lines on other places, tried to put a black background on my desktop and I couldn't spot anything. Obviously it could still be the screen if you say it happenened over time, I hope it isn't though. If it is I surely want to get it back to the store ASAP.
On January 04 2012 00:41 kcbgoku wrote:
It's probably your vsync/refresh rate settings. What resolution and refresh rate are you using?
My refresh rate of the screen is 60 and is also set to 60 in windows and Starcraft. My resolution is 1920x1080.
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Try to set your resolution to 1440x900 and set your default refresh rate which is 75. See if it helps.
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On January 04 2012 02:11 kcbgoku wrote:
Try to set your resolution to 1440x900 and set your default refresh rate which is 75. See if it helps.
I just went into Starcraft and changed resolution to 1440x900 and set the refresh rate to 75. It's still there. To make sure I also changed to the same settings in Windows (so both Windows and Starcraft were at 1440x900 and 75 at the same time), and they're still there.
Edit: Just thought I'd clarify in this post that it did afterall work with vertical sync enabled on 1440x900 and 75hz, with only very little of it left at the top of the screen. I do however still have the problem in 1920x1080, which is the resolution I want to use.
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Did you turn vsync on? If not, try it.
You may just have to live with this. That's the flaw of monitors with low refresh rate :/
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On January 04 2012 02:43 kcbgoku wrote:
Did you turn vsync on? If not, try it.
You may just have to live with this. That's the flaw of monitors with low refresh rate :/
75 hz is not low. 60hz is standard. What are you talking about?
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is your pc overclocked? i had that problem the second i overclocked my cpu a bit for some reason. maybe its that?
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On January 04 2012 02:43 kcbgoku wrote:
Did you turn vsync on? If not, try it.
You may just have to live with this. That's the flaw of monitors with low refresh rate :/
I actually forgot to try with and without V-sync, and with V-sync it's a lot better, almost entirely gone. Still a little left in the top of the screen, but not as much, and a lot better than before. Now please tell me that this means there's a solution so I can play in high resolution without this, not that I would be forced to play in 1440x900 if I want it to be better? Would really defeat one of the main purposes of getting a new screen (beside getting rid of it in the first chase obviously.) I even asked about refresh rates in the store, and he ensured me I wouldn't have any problems with 60hz.
On January 04 2012 02:54 eu.exodus wrote:
is your pc overclocked? i had that problem the second i overclocked my cpu a bit for some reason. maybe its that?
I haven't overclocked anything.
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Ignore kcbgoku. 60hz is as standard a refresh rate as standard gets. Refresh rate of a monitor wouldnt lead to this kind of a graphical issue on its own anyway so I don't see the point in bringing up refresh rate at all except to make sure that the SC2 dropdown option lines up with the refresh rate of your monitor.
I mean 99 percent of us have a monitor with a vertical refresh of 60hz so blaming it on the rate is quite silly.
"very low" >.>
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Bosnia-Herzegovina114 Posts
I am not quite sure it is the same thing as the problem I had when I downloaded the digital SC anthology from Bnet, but it sounds right (I also noticed horizontal line traveling as if a waterfall is cascading down the screen, most noticeable in fog of war). My friend came and wanted to set my monitor's refresh rate to the maximum possible (100 Hz) but I didn't allow it, instead we went for 90 Hz through Desktop's Properties>Settings>Monitor and the problem seems to have gone away.
I have Windows XP SP3.
Hope this gives you some information which eventually leads you to resolving the issue.
Edit: Misread the OP, thought it was referring to BW.
Edit #2: I have the box "Hide modes this monitor can't display" checked, so I know I can experiment with refresh rates without fear I will damage it
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On January 04 2012 03:17 Medrea wrote:
Ignore kcbgoku. 60hz is as standard a refresh rate as standard gets. Refresh rate of a monitor wouldnt lead to this kind of a graphical issue on its own anyway so I don't see the point in bringing up refresh rate at all except to make sure that the SC2 dropdown option lines up with the refresh rate of your monitor.
I mean 99 percent of us have a monitor with a vertical refresh of 60hz so blaming it on the rate is quite silly.
"very low" >.>
My old screen was also at 60hz, and having played SC2 since release and only noticing it a few months ago I can see it would be odd that 60hz would be the problem. I have however also bought a new PC since then, I have no idea if that could have any impact. (Meaning that I had problems in SC2 with both my old and new pc as stated in the OP)
On January 04 2012 03:20 greendestiny wrote:
I am not quite sure it is the same thing as the problem I had when I downloaded the digital SC anthology from Bnet, but it sounds right (I also noticed horizontal line traveling as if a waterfall is cascading down the screen, most noticeable in fog of war). My friend came and wanted to set my monitor's refresh rate to the maximum possible (100 Hz) but I didn't allow it, instead we went for 90 Hz through Desktop's Properties>Settings>Monitor and the problem seems to have gone away.
I have Windows XP SP3.
Hope this gives you some information which eventually leads you to resolving the issue.
Edit: Misread the OP, thought it was referring to BW.
Edit #2: I have the box "Hide modes this monitor can't display" checked, so I know I can experiment with refresh rates without fear I will damage it
When going into options at the desktop it wont allow me to take it higher than 60, (59 and 60 being the only option), while still having my resolution at 1920x1080. I'm not willing to compromise with the resolution, as it was one of the reasons I wanted a new screen.
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If everything is completely new and nothing is a hold over. Like Graphics card. Then I find it unusual that the exact same problem manifested itself for you.
There is absolutely nothing in common between these two PC's?
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On January 04 2012 03:42 Medrea wrote:
If everything is completely new and nothing is a hold over. Like Graphics card. Then I find it unusual that the exact same problem manifested itself for you.
There is absolutely nothing in common between these two PC's?
As said in the OP I did have problems with it in Starcraft 2 and in steam games, especially when looking at the shift+tab overlay with my old PC, then got a new PC where I still had it in Starcraft 2. I also bought Skyrim for my new PC, which had the problem as well. I can't say if my old PC would have problems in Skyrim, as it can't run it (but I assume it would as it had problems with steam overlay). I then got my new screen yesterday and it removed the problem in Skyrim, but it remained in Starcraft 2. That makes me think my old screen did indeed have problems, and I don't think my current issues are related with the previous, but I thought I'd add it to the OP anyway just in case. Currently I can only confirm that I have problems in Starcraft 2. Nothing inside the PC is from my old one. The only things I currently use and also used on my old PC is my mouse, keyboard and headset.
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This is kind of a longshot but it is possible you might have a lot of interference in the area you live. Is there someone living around you that is a radio enthusiast or something?
I dunno i once had a problem where a guy across the street owned a transmitter and when he jumped the power up it would scramble everything in my apartment. Even my wired devices would stop working.
Even that wouldn't be 24/7 though...and it would be across everything. Strange.
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People have trouble reading. I didn't say 60 isn't standard. I use 60 myself, however I doubt there are monitors with vertical refresh rate lower than 55Hz in production. Also I'm sure that there are monitors with at least 120Hz so in 55-120 range, 60 seems pretty low doesn't it?
Imo you see those "lines" because your 60Hz refresh rate is too low for your eyes to ignore them and unfortunately I don't think there is a solution for this.
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On January 04 2012 03:55 Medrea wrote:
This is kind of a longshot but it is possible you might have a lot of interference in the area you live. Is there someone living around you that is a radio enthusiast or something?
I dunno i once had a problem where a guy across the street owned a transmitter and when he jumped the power up it would scramble everything in my apartment. Even my wired devices would stop working.
Even that wouldn't be 24/7 though...and it would be across everything. Strange.
I'm quite sure there's no radio enthusiast living nearby, or anything else giving interference. With the new screen, it's also only happening in Starcraft and it's constant. The desktop, teamliquid page, etc, is fine. And as said Skyrim also used to have problems but it dissapeared with the new screen (and I can confirm this 100%, i looked very carefully for just the slighest problem in it, and the lines that used to be there with the old screen were very clear and almost impossible to miss). So I don't think my current problems are related to the previous, though I also found it very odd when I saw lines in Starcraft 2 again on my new screen, and I can fully understand why it sounds very weird as well.
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EPT
