 GENERAL POINTS WITH GRAPHICS CARDS

 1)     Ensure you have OGL support and that drivers are up to date or are
        known to work correctly with other gl applications.

 2)     Beware of 2nd hand cards - they may be being sold for good reason.
        This is especially true with older ATI Radeons where the z-buffer
        depth is inadequate. This causes texture fighting with dyn-lights
        amongst other things.

 3)     To be able to set your monitor's maximum resolution then you will
        need to set your desktop to use these values.

        In general flat screens are comprised of a set number of pixels
        so not using its native resolution which is fixed by the
        panel's construction will just degrade the visual image. It is
        best to ensure that your desktop is set to the screen's native
        values. If you don't want to do this then it is best to select
        a fullscreen resolution that uses these values from within
        Risen3D using the Control Panel (hit F4, for example, and then
        select video).  Note that if you have set your desktop to a
	resolution that is less than the screen's capability then you
        will be prevented from using a higher resolution in Risen3D. 

        In addition flat screens have just one native frame rate, not
        many, and it is important to use its native frame rate as others
        are dealt with by software in the monitor which only leads to
        poor visual performance. In addition beware of settings
	claiming to increase contrast. This is a fudge in the monitors
        software and is only any good for desktop apps with fixed
        images. It is best to ignore any settings which claim to be
        able to exceed the screen's native hardware design limits.

 4)     If using ATI Radeons then do not set anything in the ATI control
        panel. If unsure open the panel and use the 'reset to factory
        defaults' option.

	If you are using a flat panel monitor (i.e. not an old CRT type)
        then check what Risen3D is reporting with the desktop frame rate.
        If it is a strange value like 59 when you know your panel's
        native resolution is 60 then, in Windows NOT Risen3D, set the
        refresh rate to 60. Not doing this will force any window you
        may want to open in using a refresh rate that could cause
        jerkiness when using VSYNC. Alternatively if you have set a
        fullscreen value to correctly use the 60 rate then you will get
        a black screen every time you start or exit Risen3D because a
        window's function then has to be called to change the display
        setting which natively causes this black-out with its attendant
        delay.

 5)     Note that some Radeon cards cannot support the method used in R3D
        for dynlights; notably early ones and the HD4200 fitted to some
        portables.



Also see R3D_TroubleShoot.txt in the help folder.