Just curious. I’ve been playing King’s Bounty on my XPS m1210 laptop which is 2.5 years old. The game ran great since Christmas, no issues.
Two nights ago I installed a mod for KB that basically releases restrictions on camera control. You can zoom in/out much more and I think swing around more.
The game seemed to work fine for an hour or so, and I was happily zooming in an out then I started noticing graphical weirdness so I shut it down. Then I found the problem – numerous horizontal shimmering lines – at the desktop as well. Never had a second’s problem with this machine before that moment.
Dell Tech worked through a bunch of diagnostics and came to the conclusion the video card, nVidia Go 7400, is shot, and they are replacing it and the motherboard to which is hardwired. (Fortunately I’m still within the three year extended warranty).
So could I have caused this by installing a mod that may have overworked the puny little video card? Or is just a coincidence?
Most likely coincidence. The chip was probably getting close to failing, and the recent gaming binges probably put it over the edge. But it wasn’t caused by the mod or the games per se.
I’m with Ryan, my first video card fried while I was playing Sims 2. The game was rough on my old card but it was probably that the fan was already going out and the extra smooth lines just pushed it over the edge.
It probably would have gone out if you were playing Pac Man in your browser.
And while I don’t recall if the card in question is one of them, but Nvidia was having a ton of issues with select laptop graphics cards for overheating and failing.
Given that its a coincidence, I take it then that when the machine is fixed, playing again with the mod installed is not risky. Or should I avoid it in an abundance of caution?
Sure glad I had that three year coverage. They want another $200 to extend it to a 4th year… and I’m seriously considering it. Its always a crapshoot…
I am at this moment shopping for a replacement for my 7900 that went bad. When I started getting artifacting in TF2, I looked online and sure enough, they are known to go bad at relatively low temperatures.
Tylertoo, I’d definitely hit Dell up for a replacement if your graphics card was one of the ones that was affected by the defective Nvidia stuff. The worst they can say is no, and at best, you end up with a fixed machine.
Mod away. Outside of crazy install programs, which I have never heard of going bad on a mod, usually you just have to occasionally reinstall the game if it fucks something up.
I personally wouldn’t be willing to spend $200 for a fourth year. By that time I’d be thinking about an upgrade and probably just put that morning towards a new laptop. You wouldn’t be far from that upgrade by then anyway.
Of course I’m still happily using my T30, so consider this advice slightly hypocritical.
