Impossible Creatures (steam game) graphical issue with D3D9on12

[blaze13799]

Intel arc graphics, core ultra 9 185H, RTX 4070 laptop

Graphical error with terrain shadows, all shadows of static terrain objects (rocks, trees, etc.) appear as solid black rectangles.

[vdwtanner]

Hi @blaze13799, to help me debug the issue (and possibly give you a local work-around), would you mind setting up a regkey?

1. open regedit
2. go to Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\
3. Edit > New > Key - name the key Direct3D and then open it
4. Edit > New > Key - name the key Direct3D9on12 and then open it
5. Edit > New > DWORD - name it AnythingTimes0Equals0 and set the value to 1

Launch the game and let me know if the problem is resolved :) If it is I'll try to get ahold of a copy to test out a proper app compat fix that only applies to this game.

You should also delete the regkey or set it back to 0 once you are done testing as it will have a small perf impact to do the necessary check in shader code.

[blaze13799]

Thanks for the response @vdwtanner

I followed the steps and it didn't change anything. I've attached a screenshot so you can verify that I did it correctly

[vdwtanner]

@blaze13799
Hmm, that looks correct, so it's probably not the easy solution I was hoping for.
The next step is a bit more involved, but can you try to get a d3d9 pix capture of the issue?

1. Install June 2010 DirectX SDK: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=6812
2. Open PIX for Windows (64bit) - (should be able to find it by just typing into the search bar, but if not it will be under C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft DirectX SDK (June 2010)\Utilities\bin\x64)
3. File > New Experiment
4. Set Program Path to the exe for the game
5. Select "A single-frame capture of Direct3D whenever F12 is pressed"
6. Click "Start Experiment"
7. Once the issue is on screen, press F12 to take a capture, then close the game
8. PIX should now have the capture loaded. Save that out, zip it up, and then attach to this thread.

Oh, and would you mind sharing your OS build number? System > About your PC and then it should be listed under "Windows Specifications"

[blaze13799]

I think the capture worked, can't really tell so let me know if I need to redo it.
Experiment1.zip

OS build- 26100.3775

[vdwtanner]

@blaze13799 Ah, looks like that just saved the experiment when you ran it did you see something like this at step 8?

Goal is to save out the PIXRun file so that I can see what is going on. File size ought to be relatively large (MB instead of KB).
The UI is a little weird with the nested windows, so make sure that the PIXRun file is the active window when you try to save.

Thanks!

[blaze13799]

No, I'm not seeing that. Nothing happens when I press f12. I checked fn lock, tried capturing via a timer and tried adding reg keys "TdrLimitCount"=dword:00000020
"TdrLimitTime"=dword:00000005

but no luck. PIX is not executing the capture.

[blaze13799]

@vdwtanner Any ideas on how to progress on fixing this? I can send you a steam key for the game if you need one for testing.

[vdwtanner]

@blaze13799 Thanks for the efforts and offering to send a key :) I'm looking around internally to see if we have a copy I can get my hands on. I'll update here once I've had a chance to take a look myself. (ETA 5-10 days)

[blaze13799]

@vdwtanner I've found another report on this issue, it also includes some traces and logs which might help you diagnose.
AlpyneDreams/d8vk#66

[vdwtanner]

Thanks! API Trace traces have been helpful in the past. It will still be a bit before I am able to dig into it though.

[blaze13799]

@vdwtanner So I tried using dgvoodoo2 and it partially fixed the issue! The regular shadows are restored but there are still gray bars at the edges. Maybe this can help you narrow down the exact cause?