Minecraft glitching :(

[Thorin]

Okay, here's my comp:

CPU: Core 2 Duo E6550 - 2 cores, 2.33 GHz, 4MB L2
RAM: 2GB DDR3
Video: nVidia 8400 GS, fanless (not sure who the actual manufacturer was)
HDD: Western Digital 250 GB, 7,200 RPM

I installed Minecraft 1.2.5 and ran it, but found the game was slow and choppy and all the fans in my comp were spinning hard (lots of noise).  Task Manager showed 100% CPU usage.  So I went into the video settings and set render distance to short (and also tried tiny) - the game was now responsive, but the CPU was still maxing out.  So I updated Java (uninstalled 6-21, installed 7-5), then installed OptiFine (using MagicLauncher), then tweaked the OptiFine settings to turn off everything that would cause performance problems.

Now the fans don't come on anymore, but as we're playing the walls frequently disappear and show what's underground - like an xray mod (note: I am not using any mods except MagicLauncher and OptiFine).  This makes it difficult to play, since if there's a mob right in front of you aboveground, and suddenly all you can see is inside the ground, you don't know where the mob is.  It also makes mining really difficult.

So, any suggestions on how this might get fixed?  Shouldn't Minecraft be able to run on this setup?  Are there any Java updates I might need to install that Minecraft uses?

[Tom]

OptiFine likes to cause glitches I've found (textures for chests like to disappear, mobs sometimes get random textures applied randomly).

Also try turning on Advanced OpenGL. It actually turns on the use of the OpenGL Occlusion extension, which really helps frame rates on my laptop (though OptiFine's extra option on that option is worse, but then I have an intel gpu).

You're also probably going to want more memory. 1G for the OS, 1G or more for the game, and more for anything else you have running at the time.

Mind you, the ground being transparent sounds more like world holes from back in the day.

[Mr. Analog]

What version of Windows are you running?

I had quite a few issues running Minecraft on Win7 with 64 bit Java.

[Tom]

I don't know if you guys remember those pictures I posted of our little spelunking trip, and all the graphical glitches I see when on my laptop. Just in case you don't, here's a couple, one taken today, and another taken a while back.

[LennyLen]

With the exception of the Graphics Card, your setup is pretty much what I had before I upgraded and I also had to drop the render rate to tiny just to be able to play at all. It was still taking up 100% CPU, and I could here my fans going from downstairs.  I was also constantly running out of memory.

The issue with walls disappearing happened to me when I started using OptiFine on the new PC as well.  This is a known problem and can often be fixed by turning off threaded optimization in the NVIDIA control panel.  Doing this fixed it for me.

[Tom]

Oh, I should mention I also have an 8400 GS. It is INCREDIBLY slow. KDE's compositing is less than ideal on it, and my intel laptop handles it decently.

So if you can, I'd suggest upgrading to something less slow if you can. It was great to have for my server system before I upgraded it. Thing is low profile and fanless. Very handy for a server system that doesn't need fancy graphics (and doesn't have any built in).

[Thorin]

OptiFine increased the FPS by quite a bit, but did nothing to reduce the load on CPU and resultant fan speed and noise.

Advanced OpenGL is enabled in the game and set to Fast (yes, I'd read about what it does with occlusions).  Not sure if I have to enable something in the video driver, but I didn't see anything.

I read through IronWaffle's speed guide, which suggested limiting the RAM available to Minecraft so that it doesn't start swapping out.  I limit Minecraft to 256MB using MagicLauncher.

WinXP 32-bit with Java 7 32-bit.

I'll check the nVidia control panel for "threaded optimization" as soon as they let me back at the computer (even with its glitchiness, there's still two fighting to play!).

Yes, I would _love_ to upgrade my computers.  However I just spent six months spending $1,000+ more than I make while my wife was in school, so there's not a lot of cash at the moment.  Maybe someday I'll have money to buy a decent rig (actually at least a couple, since there's six of us here that use the computers).

And yes, the 8400 GS is slow.  I bought it as a cheap silent solution to Farmville spinning the fans up (no, seriously, my wife was playing Farmville and I had to crank the volume on the TV in the same living room so I could hear it - fifty bucks was worth it).

[Thorin]

Damn, now I'm looking at video cards and wishing I had some cash to spend and at the same time worried I'll make the wrong choice (haven't kept up with video cards for several years now).  GT520?  Cheap ($50), fanless (I love the quiet cards), 8x better than 8400 GS according to nVidia themselves.  GT630?  A little more ($80), 21x better than 8400 GS.

Or I could try it on the other machine with (supposedly) matching config - same vid card, same processor, same mobo, same ram, different psu, different hdd.  Wifey tells me the fan never kicks on in the other machine.

Which makes me wonder if Minecraft is just completely missing the vid card and running against the integrated graphics (I have read forum posts that said this happening, but I don't know how to check whether Minecraft is hitting the onboard stuff, and I haven't found a way to turn the onboard stuff off (stupid Dell-specific bios)).

[Tom]

Generally integrated graphics are completely disabled when you install a graphics card.

I have an 8800GTS 320MB card I don't particularly need. Would have two, but one died.

[Thorin]

I wouldn't mind borrowing that for a bit to see if it fixes things...

[Mr. Analog]

I have one you can have:

http://forums.righteouswrath.com/index.php/topic,7491.0.html

[Thorin]

I have one you can have:

http://forums.righteouswrath.com/index.php/topic,7491.0.html

Last posting date: Reply #1 on: 2010-11-12, 10:37:48

Yeah, so, I would've thought you'd sold that

I have an 8800GTS 320MB card I don't particularly need. Would have two, but one died.

I think getting an 8800GTS in there will require me to upgrade the PSU in there (cheap Dell 330 watt).  Although between the two of you I could upgrade both 'puters at the same time

But first, I need to do a check whether the other computer has the same loudness issue with Minecraft.  Wife says it doesn't with other games the kids play (that is, on the problem computer they _do_ make the fans spin up, on the other computer they _don't_ make the fans spin up).  So there's some troubleshooting / comparing to be done there.

[Mr. Analog]

I *think* I still have a spare PSU kicking around

I have a room full of computer gear I want to get rid of but no wheels to do it with.

[Tom]

I *think* I still have a spare PSU kicking around

I have a room full of computer gear I want to get rid of but no wheels to do it with.

kijiji. I got rid of a @%&# ton of random @%&#. and a lot of it WAS @%&#. Give away for free, or very cheap, and people will gladly come take it.

[Mr. Analog]

I *think* I still have a spare PSU kicking around

I have a room full of computer gear I want to get rid of but no wheels to do it with.

kijiji. I got rid of a @%&# ton of random @%&#. and a lot of it WAS @%&#. Give away for free, or very cheap, and people will gladly come take it.

I want to take it to the eco station in one trip...