Graphical issue

[agent509]

So, I have the demo for this game installed, and the opening cut-scenes work fine. Once the game gets past the first cut-scene, however, the screen is left completely black except for the cursor. Afterwards, the create a character menu pops up, and works perfectly fine, but as soon as I finish creating my character, it goes back to being totally black. This repeats until all cut-scenes are over, and once the main game starts the screen is still black, but I can hit escape to open the menu, which works perfectly fine. Everything else about the game seems to be working fine, the only problem is that I can't see any of it. I've tried validating the cache to no avail. Drivers are up to date and I have had no recent hardware issues, or issues with other games.

[Ataraxis420]

Same here, nothing but a black screen.

Validated cache files, video drivers up-to-date. Running on a HD5850.

[DJLanceRock]

Turn off post-processing in graphics settings.

[agent509]

Same here, nothing but a black screen.

Validated cache files, video drivers up-to-date. Running on a HD5850.

I'm also on an HD5850. Probably a specific issue with this card series then.

[raimaro]

Had to disable V-Sync AND Post-Processing to get it to work on my Radeon. Game looks, feels and plays like an Consoleport btw

[gonzo13]

HD6870 here with the same problem. I only had to turn off post-processing to get rid of the black screen although I still experienced some graphical bugs during cinematics (weird missing/stretched textures).

[MrUnderstanding]

Turn off post-processing in graphics settings.

This.

Looks like the game has issues with AMD cards. Yay.

[k1DBLITZ]

Same problem here. Running an AMD 6990 with Catalyst 12.1 on Windows 7.

Disabling post processing got rid of the black screen.

[Demourge]

Oh good, thankfully I'm not the only one..

Also keep in mind if you have a problem with EA's datamining policity to decline the ToS and opt-out before you play .. Thought at first this was causing it ..

Just putting it out there :)

[NorthernKingdom]

This is an AMD GPU issue.

Either you can turn off post processing in the graphical options or go into Catalyst Control Center and manually enable AA.

The developers know of the bug and said it's not in the release code.

[fchopin]

Same problem with my AMD card.

[Kutznutzov]

This is an AMD GPU issue.

Either you can turn off post processing in the graphical options or go into Catalyst Control Center and manually enable AA.

The developers know of the bug and said it's not in the release code.

Seems like a pretty big mistake to leave it in the demo then.

[revolving door]

Had to disable V-Sync AND Post-Processing to get it to work on my Radeon. Game looks, feels and plays like an Consoleport btw

Thank you for this. +1 rep. I did notice that my 2 6970s in crossfire seemed to run a lot hotter while playing. I have Skyrim maxed out and they never go above 85c with the fans set to automatic. While playing KoA it was hitting 92c and my GPU fans were running quite a bit louder. Hopefully just an issue with the demo.

[verashkhal]

Same problem here. Way to go not testing on AMD cards. Radeon 6870 here.

[dfranczyk]

I also had black screen problems, had to pull up the settings menu and turn off post-processing and turn down anisotropy. Also had to turn the camera sensitivity way down, it was like being on a rollercoaster.

[Dazzled]

Nvidia, the way it's meant to be played.
There has never been a truer slogan :p
Seriously, ATI cards are always a bit more powerful and slightly cheaper but they always have driver problems.

[Lord_Gannondorf]

Thank you for this. +1 rep. I did notice that my 2 6970s in crossfire seemed to run a lot hotter while playing. I have Skyrim maxed out and they never go above 85c with the fans set to automatic. While playing KoA it was hitting 92c and my GPU fans were running quite a bit louder. Hopefully just an issue with the demo.

Issue with the demo? Doubt it. Overheating GPUs are rarely an issue with the game, rather the users PC. If you're using the reference design 6970s then that's no surprise, but there are so many things you need to take into consideration. Easiest way to keep temperatures down is to cap the framerate (use v-sync), but you should invest in better cooling (whether that be on your case or even something to keep your room temperature down).

[agent509]

There has never been a truer slogan :p
Seriously, ATI cards are always a bit more powerful and slightly cheaper but they always have driver problems.

The fault isn't with AMD, the fault is with the developers not doing more in depth QA. I've had just as many issues with nVidia cards as I ever did with anything from AMD. It's easy to blame the gpu manufacturers and fuel more wars between the two (three if you count Intel), but in reality it's almost always down to bad QA by the developers.

[revolving door]

Issue with the demo? Doubt it. Overheating GPUs are rarely an issue with the game, rather the users PC. If you're using the reference design 6970s then that's no surprise, but there are so many things you need to take into consideration. Easiest way to keep temperatures down is to cap the framerate (use v-sync), but you should invest in better cooling (whether that be on your case or even something to keep your room temperature down).

Well considering I had cold winter air blowing in from my window into a small room with a large case fan blowing from the side onto the GPUs didn't think it was an issue with my PC. Like I said never had issues with any other more graphically intense games before. Although I had turned off v-sync due to the aforementioned issues of the black screen after the first cinematic.

[NorthernKingdom]

The fault isn't with AMD, the fault is with the developers not doing more in depth QA. I've had just as many issues with nVidia cards as I ever did with anything from AMD. It's easy to blame the gpu manufacturers and fuel more wars between the two (three if you count Intel), but in reality it's almost always down to bad QA by the developers.

eh, AMD's poor display driver support would suggest it's a AMD issue rather than a developer issue since it's so frequent. I mean developers are using a standardize API it should technically work regardless of the hardware manufacturer yet time and time again AMD hardware specifically has issue rather than both which are using the exact same API in the game.

[Lord_Gannondorf]

Well considering I had cold winter air blowing in from my window into a small room with a large case fan blowing from the side onto the GPUs didn't think it was an issue with my PC. Like I said never had issues with any other more graphically intense games before. Although I had turned off v-sync due to the aforementioned issues of the black screen after the first cinematic.

There are so many different possibilities. Is it the game? Maybe, but from what I've played I doubt it.

You said you hit 85c on Skyrim. Chances are, with 2x 6970s, that you are being CPU bottlenecked unless you are running at a ridiculous resolution. Being CPU bottlenecked (which you most likely are in Skyrim) would cause your GPUs to not to nearly as much work. Do you have MSI Afterburner or another GPU monitoring program installed? Monitor your GPU usage in-game, if both GPUs are below 99% GPU Usage then you are being bottlenecked by your CPU. If both GPUs are 99% then you're not, and I'm guessing that's what the case is here -- you're getting significantly higher usage in this game than others. Not because it's more "graphically intensive" but because you're not being bottlenecked as much, if at all.

If you're getting high temperatures and drivers/the game isn't at fault then. Then you've got a few options... limit your FPS (with v-sync or another program, MSI Afterburner latest beta now has an FPS limiting option) or get better cooling (are your GPUs using the reference coolers or something aftermarket? / improve case airflow, etc.)

[fchopin]

I disabled post processing and now the graphics are showing normally, thank god we can see.

[combatflexo]

Same issues on my AMD 6770, I'm going to try again with a controller(if it will work) this time.

[verashkhal]

There has never been a truer slogan :p
Seriously, ATI cards are always a bit more powerful and slightly cheaper but they always have driver problems.

That's the easy way out. Blame it on the drivers.

In reality, I don't have any other games with this issue. The true issue is that they didn't test it well enough with ATI cards.

[Punctual]

That's the easy way out. Blame it on the drivers.

In reality, I don't have any other games with this issue. The true issue is that they didn't test it well enough with ATI cards.

Why must there only be one "correct" answer? Its likely a mix of both of these.

At least its been identified and ATI users know to be wary at this point.