Stick it to the Man! PC game blurry or out of focus until paused

[BustaBust]

I just installed the game, but it seems blurry or out of focus when in-play, but when I pause the game, it looks clear and focused. When I unpause it, it returns to it's blurry, unfocused state. I tried to tinker with the video settings to no avail.
Could it have something to do with the frame rate?

Anybody else have this problem?

Game link: http://store.steampowered.com/app/251830/

System Requirements:
Operating system (OS) XP
Processor (CPU) Dual-Core 1.6 GHz
System memory (RAM) 2 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD) 2 GB
Video card (GPU) AMD Radeon 6310
ATI Radeon HD 4650
DirectX 9 compatible

I have Windows 8.1
Quad Core Q6600
4 gigs of RAM
Plenty of HD space
Video card: ATI 2400XT (only problem I could think of)

 

[Puppies04]

Got to ask... do you play any other games where this doesn't happen?

i.e - are you sure it isn't your screen? What scr4een are you using and what resolution is it set to.

 

[BustaBust]

It's never happened EVER...I'm using an old Dell 1905FP set to 1280x1024 and the in game video is set to the same or maybe 1280x720...I've never seen this on any PC I've ever owned and have never heard of this happening to anyone or even seen it on the internet.

 

[styrafoam]

When was the last time you updated your video drivers?

 

[Jodell88]

When was the last time you updated your video drivers?

AMD doesn't update drivers for those cards any more, at least not on regular basis.

 

[Martimus]

It's never happened EVER...I'm using an old Dell 1905FP set to 1280x1024 and the in game video is set to the same or maybe 1280x720...I've never seen this on any PC I've ever owned and have never heard of this happening to anyone or even seen it on the internet.

Have you tried to set it to your monitors native resolution? Blurriness is usually caused by over active AA or having the wrong resolution. Other common causes are the video settings in the game, so try turning them down as well.

 

[BustaBust]

Hello everyone,
Thank you for the help so far. The game will only let me choose 1152x864 or 1280x1024 and that is it. Both options are still blurry and are completely clear while paused...is it possible that there are frame rate issues since it works just fine when paused? I'm trying the latest drivers for my card now (Beta drivers though!) and will let all of those interested know with a reply...thanks!

Update: Ok so I found the latest drivers for my card (ATI HD 2400XT) and they were the beta drivers too... well anyway, the installation log showed that there was an error when installing the display driver (the whole point of the installation!) and my driver did not update..many errors after trying other installations too...native resolution is 1280x1024 @ 60Hz and nothing is changing. I cant even install other versions of the drivers for some reason now.

 

[futurefields]

I think youneed to upgrade you GPU to get it to work

 

[CuriousMike]

Sounds like a GPU issue; possible to try in Windowed Mode ?

 

[styrafoam]

Is this on a laptop or motherboard integrated graphics?

If so, what is the model of either?

 

[Markbnj]

Is it possible it's just a heavy-handed implementation of motion blur?

 

[reallyscrued]

Sounds like anti-piracy measures.

Using a no-cd crack?

 

[BustaBust]

Is this on a laptop or motherboard integrated graphics?

If so, what is the model of either?

Neither, I'm using a Gateway 5678 that has a PCI-E card in it.

Sounds like a GPU issue; possible to try in Windowed Mode?

I've tried in Windowed Mode, same thing happens.

To all of those who are saying it's a GPU issue, but then why would it look fine when paused? A GPU issue would present the problem consistently, right?

Are you other guys saying it's some sort of Macrovision for anti-piracy?
I'm not using a no-cd patch/crack

 

[styrafoam]

My guess is its either straight up gpu incompatibility since you are a couple generations too old according to the requirements, or the drivers you are using don't properly support whatever features the game is after. When you installed windows 8 were you ever able to install drivers from AMD?

 

[BustaBust]

I figured it out it guys! It seems that many ATI cards are having this problem when using Windows 8 or 8.1

The package fails when installing the display driver. You must go in and choose the device from a list and located the .inf in 86A folder that has been extracted from the installer. You must manually do it or else it won't work. I've already tried to let Windows search online and my computer, but it always states I have the most up-to-date driver.
Manually locating the driver worked and even gave me more options for resolution in the game. I chose the highest resolution which I already had it set to and the blur/grain crap went away on its own after using the in game option to apply settings.

Thanks everyone!

Note - This happens even when using newer cards...I'm guessing it's a Win 8/8.1 problem

 

[Wizpig]

I read the forum issue you had on blurry game play for Stick it to the Man! and I'm having the same issue. I have the ATI Radeon 2400 HD series and updated through device manager and have blurry issue still.

You wrote "You must go in and choose the device from a list and located the .inf in 86A folder that has been extracted from the installer. You must manually do it or else it won't work."

I don't know where to find that. Could you give me some direction on how to solve this. Thanks.

 

[Wizpig]

I updated the display driver, and maybe that did help but ultimately within the game video settings, simply turning off "depth of view" and or "shadows" settings did the trick. Much better to view game play, though there is a slight graininess to it, but now I can play the game. Thanks.