Intro movie doesn't show

[springel]

When I start the game, the introduction movie doesn't show: I hear the sound, but the screen remains black.
When I click with the mouse, I am in the start screen, and the game plays OK.
Windows 8.1

Just a minor nuisance, but I wonder if there is a fix?

[VPaulus]

Open the game installation folder, find a subfolder named "Movies" and open it.
Inside you'll find the intro movie. Can you play it with Windows Media Player?

[Tophat1815]

Springel did VPaulus idea work for you?

[springel]

ORIGINAL: VPaulus

Open the game installation folder, find a subfolder named "Movies" and open it.
Inside you'll find the intro movie. Can you play it with Windows Media Player?

Yes, the movie on itself plays fine in Windows Media Player

[VPaulus]

Can you try start the game in windowed mode and check if the issue persist?

You can start the game in windowed mode by editing the Startup.ini file ( in the game installation folder).
Change:

'SCREENWIDTH 1024
'SCREENHEIGHT 768

to

SCREENWIDTH 1024
SCREENHEIGHT 768

[springel]

ORIGINAL: VPaulus

Can you try start the game in windowed mode and check if the issue persist?

You can start the game in windowed mode by editing the Startup.ini file ( in the game installation folder).
Change:

'SCREENWIDTH 1024
'SCREENHEIGHT 768

to

SCREENWIDTH 1024
SCREENHEIGHT 768

No, that also shows a black screen (with the movie sound).

[VPaulus]

Could you please attach a DxDiag report file?

How to get a DxDiag report file:

1. Click on "START" (on Windows 8 press “Windows key” and the “R” key at the same time)
2. Click "run" (skip this step on Windows 8)
3. Type in "dxdiag" and click "OK"
4. Check through the tabs and perform all tests
5. Click "Save all Information..." and save the text file to a location of your choice
6. Attach the file to your message

[springel]

I think I include the dxdialog file

[VPaulus]

Please check if your Nvidia graphic card is set as the preferred graphics processor.

Open the Nvidia Control Panel and locate the Manage 3D Settings. Change, in both Global and Program, the Preferred Graphics Processor to High Performance NVIDIA Processor.

[springel]

Ha, I see that Windows Media Player refudes to use the NVidia card. The choice for this program is locked on the integrated graphics card.

When I set Distant Worlds to use the integrated graphics card, the intro video shows. But then the game doesn't run on the fast card.

Are there any other videos inside the game later on? Otherwise I just leave it there and skip the intro.

[CyclopsSlayer]

You might force the use of the NVidia card by using the hardware manager to deactivate the Integrated Video. I do that with the integrated sound as well so it uses my sound card with out issue.

[springel]

ORIGINAL: CyclopsSlayer

You might force the use of the NVidia card by using the hardware manager to deactivate the Integrated Video. I do that with the integrated sound as well so it uses my sound card with out issue.

I thought about that for a moment, but it is my laptop, and when running on the battery it is probably much better to use the integrated card for common use. I also found some hints to rename the media-player .exe and give it a new profile in the NVidia settings. That seems to work if you associate the media with the newly named .exe, but I am not sure if embedded use, like in this game, will also keep working.

This bug happens for more people with ASUS or Lenovo laptops, with for instance advanced video software.

I suppose in the game a fix could be to let the media player create its own canvas, instead of letting it draw on the game canvas, that is locked to the NVidia card. But that might be awkward from a programmers standpoint. I haven't seen this effect in other games though, so there should be a way to display these videos in process, instead of out-of-process like it seems to happen in Distant Worlds.

But like I said in the OP, it isn't a big deal in this case.

[VPaulus]

ORIGINAL: springel

Are there any other videos inside the game later on? Otherwise I just leave it there and skip the intro.

No, no more videos.