Issues with HD4000/HD4600 on older games (1997-2002)

[OJabu]

Hi,

If you made it through the slightly confusing title, read on.

Since I "upgraded" to HD4000 (laptop) and HD4600 (desktop) lot of older games stopped working properly. This didn't happen with HD3000, GMA HD, 4500MHD etc.

Overall I find 4000/4600 performance very good and completely satisfactory for my needs, but until these bugs are fixed, I might have to look for something different.

Here are games with which I experience issues:

AVP2 + AVP2: Primal Hunt (2001-2002)

On 4000/4600 I'm experiencing "vision bug", basically the Pred & Alien vision doesn't work - it makes the screen black.

What makes this issue slightly annoying is that this "bug" wasn't observed on several Intel GFX in the past, but without any actual pattern in its occurrence.

These iGPUs worked well:

GMA 945

GMA 3100 G45

4500MHD

GMA HD

HD3000

But on these, the bug occured:

GMA x3100

HD4000

HD4600

So over time, the issue was at first non-existent, then introduced with X3100, then fixed up until HD3000 and now it's broken again.

This issue is entirely OS independent and was observed across many different laptop models.

Soldier of Fortune: Double Helix (2002)

This game refuses to start under Windows 7 x64 stating insufficient AGP memory. Under Windows XP it works fine, with slight stuttering.

Works fine with dedicated AMD HD7750, tested also on 4500MHD without any issues under Win7.

Drakan: Order of the Flame (1999)

This game does not work under any OS with HD4000/4600. It crashes when user access graphics setting under Options or when starting the game.

Works fine with dedicated AMD HD7750 or on Intel HD3000, 4500MHD

Commanche Gold & F22 Raptor (1998)

I'm experiencing weird color inversions in menu under Win7 x64. Under WinXP works fine.

Monkey Island 3: The Curse of Monkey Island (1997)

Same color inversions under Win7 x64, does not occur under WinXP, but with HD4000/4600 it crashes within one minute of gameplay. Tested on two systems.

Works fine on 4500MHD and ATi X1400

I understand those are (very) old games, however the fact that most of them worked fine on legacy Intel iGPU-enabled laptops makes me think what was tweaked in the most recent drivers that these issues came to surface (again).

Can I at least hope that those issues will get fixed?

Thanks

[idata]

I suspect that the AvP2 bug is exactly the same one experienced in No One Lives Forever (which uses the same underlying game engine) when underwater - a bug I've sadly reported multiple times. I believe it's to do with the use of shaders in the now-defunct Lithtech engine, and as you say, it was never a problem with older Intel graphics chips.

Support for pre-DirectX 9 games seems to be particularly ropey nowadays, sadly. And I'm not sure that Intel have much incentive to fix or interest in fixing it (certainly, nothing has improved over the year and a half I've been installing driver updates on this computer). Usually someone comes along and states the importance of contacting the game developer for a patch, but these games are all games either made by defunct developers or with licences that have now expired, so the chances of further game updates are essentially nil.

I find it extremely frustrating that I'm no longer able to play these games on computers with integrated graphics chips, since these issues seem to affect any graphics chip from the HD4000 onwards. These should be games that Intel HD graphics have no problems with at all.

[Allan_J_Intel1]

Thank you for your feedback on this matter, I will forward this information to our engineering department.

Take a look at playable game list for your graphics controller:

http://www.intel.com/support/graphics/intelhdgraphics4600/sb/CS-034993.htm 4th Generation Intel® Core&# 153; Processors with Intel® HD Graphics 4600 — Playable Games List for Intel® HD Graphics 4600

http://www.intel.com/support/graphics/sb/CS-033387.htm Intel® Graphics — Playable Game List for Intel® HD Graphics 2500/4000

Please check for updates about it on same forum thread.

Allan.

[OJabu]

Hi,

I made a short video demonstrating the issue with Lithtech-based games.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S17kk389oeQ Intel Integrated Graphics Adapter Demonstration - Lithtech Engine based games - YouTube

I tried to cover all graphics chipsets from GMA950 to HD4600, though there's likely one or two missing.

Nevertheless, the issue was introduced with HD3000 and is still not fixed.

Thanks goes to RLacey for providing footage from No One Lives Forever