[AmericanWaffleX]

Well I took a long break from the game and I have decided to come back and play a ton more now, but after getting in game, I was greeted by this random black screen.

Everything goes dark, then it goes away and i can play, but there is some lag afterwards. This has ended up occurring constantly. The game is unplayable due to it. Ill get on and click a few times, black screen, lag, normal, repeat. Ill be in combat, black screen, lag, Im dead. Ill fly around, its all normal for about 5 minutes, then black screen, lag, normal.
It doesn't crash the game, it just appears and harasses any attempt to do anything.

Trying to do anything in game has become frustrating and a pain. I went on the STO forums and some people have been having the same issue, but I have had yet to find a solution.

Has anyone else had this issue? Anyone know a possible solution? And will the next update possibly take care of this?

I really want to play STO, especially to get me hyped for the new movie next year, but if this keeps up, I may end up taking another long break

[pintDMG]

Sounds like a graphics error. Update drivers, check card.

[AmericanWaffleX]

Do you have a instructions on how to do that? Or a link to instructions?

[pintDMG]

If you specify your graphics card (and OS version), I might be able to help, yes. =)

[AmericanWaffleX]

Windows 7
Intel(R) HD Graphics

I have a laptop so I am pretty sure it is integrated. And this problem has not occurred on other games either, only STO since i've started recently playing again..

[Aslan]

well i notice after i updated my nvidia driver some faces at esd are black

[Supergrover]

well i notice after i updated my nvidia driver some faces at esd are black

What DX version are you using?
I still get tones of missing/black textures running DX11.

[AmericanWaffleX]

Well, I just updated my driver and there are still blackout spikes.

Hopefully tomorrow's patch fixes this.

[Aslan]

What DX version are you using?
I still get tones of missing/black textures running DX11.

DX-11

[Supergrover]

DX-11

I would say thats where the missing textures is coming from then.

Here is a quick copy/paste froma quick search on STO's forum, looks like a widespread issue with onboard GFX, might or might not work for you Waffle:

Originally Posted by shadow10052012 View Post
Here you have a set of graphic options wich will not crash your video driver when in space, or if it does, it will be very rare.
Options marked with * can be changed at will.

Monitor vertical sync OFF
Half resolution OFF
Antialiasing NONE
Dynamic lighting OFF
Lighting quality HIGH*
Shadows LOW
Max lights per object 2
Texture anistropic filtering 2x*
World texture quality 150%*
Character texture 100%*
World detail distance 75%*
Terrain detail distance 150%*
Character detail distance 80%*
Show high detail objects OFF
Max physics debris objects 30*
Raise settings in character creator OFF
Postprocessing OFF
Visual FX quality LOW
Soft particles OFF
Bloom quality LOW*
Bloom intesity 100%
Screen space ambinet occlusion ON (this is important, must be ENABLED)
Cinematics focus ON*
Underwater view OFF*
Reflection quality LOW
Lens flare quality OFF

Now for "Troubleshooting" i will list only those that are ON, those not listed are OFF including "Limit frame rate".

Limit CPU usage when inactive ON
Mulitcore rendering ON
Minimum shadow buffer bias ON
Reduce CPU/GPU usage ON


Try them as listed first time, then you can modify those with * if necessary. I do not guarantee that these settings work, but they did for me and other players with same video issue.

[AmericanWaffleX]

I tried it and it helped slightly. It wasn't blackouting as much and I could play a little, but it came back shortly after.

[Subbie]

Hi

Just seen this and thought i would reply and say a friend off mine had an issue similar to yours
his laptop specs are
Acer Aspire 5720

Core 2 Duo T7300 2.0GHz

15.4" TFT, 2048MB RAM

180GB Hard-drive DVD±RW

Intel Graphics

I uninstalled Acer`s own NVidia drivers and did a reboot only to find the laptop then asking for the Intel`s GM965 graphic driver disk

so i then had a look for the laptop specs on the Acer support and service website and then by using there FTP site got the right

drivers for his laptop from here Index of “( ftp://ftp.work.acer-euro.com/notebook/aspire_5720/ )” having done all of this there were still some issues of the black screen and missing textures so i then told him to take his laptop home and then run the sto launcher,and from the main menu click on options at the top and do a force verify this then check`s all of the files and replaces the corrupted files if there is any. please note this does take a long time to complete. Well after this was done these issues were gone for him, if you are still experience these issues doing a force verify for yourself might help .