[Bug 23863] New: The Bard's Tale (2005): unplayable due to almost completely black screen

http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=23863

Summary: The Bard's Tale (2005): unplayable due to almost
                    completely black screen
           Product: Wine
           Version: 1.3.0
          Platform: x86
        OS/Version: Linux
            Status: UNCONFIRMED
          Severity: normal
          Priority: P2
         Component: -unknown
        AssignedTo: [e-mail]
        ReportedBy: [e-mail]

Created an attachment (id=29959)
 --> (http://bugs.winehq.org/attachment.cgi?id=29959)
terminal output (without any dll overrides)

After starting The Bard's Tale (published in 2005 by inXile Entertainment) the
screen in the menus is way too dark, so you can see almost nothing, unless you
turn up the gamma of the screen. The animated hero is also missing on the left
side of the screen, when you choose to generate a new character.
The biggest problem that makes the game unplayable is when you start a new
game, almost the whole screen is black, only the mini-map is shown in the
upper-right corner, and the health bar in the upper-left corner. Besides only
subtitles are shown. Majority of the screen is pure black.

This bug affects at least the Steam version of the game, but according to AppDB
the retail (DVD version) is also affected:
http://appdb.winehq.org/objectManager.php?sClass=version&iId=4041
I tried out several Wine versions but all of them showed the same issue,
including 1.1.0 which received Gold rating on AppDB.

However, the demo version of the game has no such issues: it displays
everything correctly, from the menus to the actual gameplay.

The only difference between the terminal output of the demo (working one) and
the retail version is the following line (repeated several times) when playing
the retail version:
'fixme:d3d:buffer_PreLoad Too many full buffer conversions, stopping
converting'

Wine-1.3.0
Fedora 13
Nvidia 7600 GT card / driver 195.36.31

[Bug 23863] The Bard's Tale (2005): unplayable due to almost completely black screen

http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=23863

--- Comment #1 from GyB   2010-08-01 07:37:49 ---
Created an attachment (id=29960)
 --> (http://bugs.winehq.org/attachment.cgi?id=29960)
screenshot showing the issue during gameplay

[Bug 23863] The Bard's Tale (2005): unplayable due to almost completely black screen

http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=23863

--- Comment #2 from GyB   2010-08-04 11:51:48 ---
Created an attachment (id=30002)
 --> (http://bugs.winehq.org/attachment.cgi?id=30002)
rzipped +d3d,+d3d9,+d3d_shader,+d3d_surface log (head)

The first 100.000 lines of a +d3d,+d3d9,+d3d_shader,+d3d_surface log.

The full traces log would be more than 3 Mbytes in compressed size until I can
get into the main game. I hope it still contains useful information in this
manner.

[Bug 23863] The Bard's Tale (2005): unplayable due to almost completely black screen

http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=23863

--- Comment #3 from GyB   2010-08-04 11:53:05 ---
Created an attachment (id=30004)
 --> (http://bugs.winehq.org/attachment.cgi?id=30004)
rzipped +d3d,+d3d9,+d3d_shader,+d3d_surface log (tail)

The last 100.000 lines of a +d3d,+d3d9,+d3d_shader,+d3d_surface log.

[Bug 23863] The Bard's Tale (2005): unplayable due to almost completely black screen

http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=23863

Salim  changed:

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--- Comment #4 from Salim  2010-11-07 08:46:17 CST ---
I do not have this issue, In game graphics really are OK even if covered by my
GNOME panel. Game graphical options are all set to max.
I'm using Wine 1.3.6, Ubuntu Maverick x86_64 and of The Bard's Tale from the
original DVD.

[Bug 23863] The Bard's Tale (2005): unplayable due to almost completely black screen

http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=23863

--- Comment #5 from GyB  2010-11-07 09:10:33 CST ---
(In reply to comment #4)
> I do not have this issue, In game graphics really are OK even if covered by my
> GNOME panel. Game graphical options are all set to max.
> I'm using Wine 1.3.6, Ubuntu Maverick x86_64 and of The Bard's Tale from the
> original DVD.

That's great. What gfx card/driver are you using, btw?
Now I can't even start the game: after the logo the whole screen turns into
black even if I start the game in virtual desktop mode.

[Bug 23863] The Bard's Tale (2005): unplayable due to almost completely black screen

http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=23863

--- Comment #6 from Salim  2010-11-08 15:45:31 CST ---
(In reply to comment #5)
> That's great. What gfx card/driver are you using, btw?
> Now I can't even start the game: after the logo the whole screen turns into
> black even if I start the game in virtual desktop mode.

I'm using a laptop. Graphic chip is Intel GMA X3100.
Have you tried to updat Wine to 1.3.6 ?

[Bug 23863] The Bard's Tale (2005): unplayable due to almost completely black screen

http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=23863

joaopa  changed:

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--- Comment #7 from joaopa  2011-07-09 09:17:20 CDT ---
reported FIXED by comment 5.

This bug can be closed as FIXED.

[Bug 23863] The Bard's Tale (2005): unplayable due to almost completely black screen

http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=23863

--- Comment #8 from GyB  2011-07-09 09:31:55 CDT ---
(In reply to comment #7)
> reported FIXED by comment 5.
>
> This bug can be closed as FIXED.

Still not fixed for me in Wine-1.3.24.
In comment #6 the commenter wrote he was using an Intel gfx card. Mine is
Nvidia. That might be a difference.
The demo version (installed in the same wineprefix as the Steam version) works
without the issue.

Nvidia GeForce 250 / driver 275.09.07

[Bug 23863] The Bard's Tale (2005): unplayable due to almost completely black screen

http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=23863

André H.  changed:

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--- Comment #9 from André H.  2011-10-04 11:55:40 CDT ---
might be fixed after my recent gamma work, could you please try again?
if it's still present in current git a +xvidmode trace would be nice

[Bug 23863] The Bard's Tale (2005): unplayable due to almost completely black screen

http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=23863

--- Comment #10 from GyB  2011-10-04 13:10:56 CDT ---
Created attachment 36709
  --> http://bugs.winehq.org/attachment.cgi?id=36709
+xvidmode log

Still a problem in wine-1.3.29-169-gdb882bf.

Nvidia 250 / driver 280.13

[Bug 23863] The Bard's Tale (2005): unplayable due to almost completely black screen

http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=23863

--- Comment #11 from André H.  2011-10-04 13:52:43 CDT ---
(In reply to comment #10)
> Created attachment 36709 [details]
> +xvidmode log
>
> Still a problem in wine-1.3.29-169-gdb882bf.
>
> Nvidia 250 / driver 280.13

it already rejects some gamma ramps...
is that log including gameplay?
what happens if you switch to a console and run xgamma (you might need to set
the display to :0 )
i bet it's "-> Red  1.000, Green  1.000, Blue  1.000" and so is not a gamma
problem, so i most likely can't help (and setting another gamma value via
xgamma also won't help)

[Bug 23863] The Bard's Tale (2005): unplayable due to almost completely black screen

http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=23863

--- Comment #12 from GyB  2011-10-04 14:04:22 CDT ---
(In reply to comment #11)
> (In reply to comment #10)
> > Created attachment 36709 [details]
> > +xvidmode log
> >
> > Still a problem in wine-1.3.29-169-gdb882bf.
> >
> > Nvidia 250 / driver 280.13
>
> it already rejects some gamma ramps...
> is that log including gameplay?
> what happens if you switch to a console and run xgamma (you might need to set
> the display to :0 )
> i bet it's "-> Red  1.000, Green  1.000, Blue  1.000" and so is not a gamma
> problem, so i most likely can't help (and setting another gamma value via
> xgamma also won't help)

Yes, the log includes the gameplay as well.

output of xgamma while the game is running:
-> Red  1.000, Green  1.000, Blue  1.000

Setting another gamma value via xgamma doesn't change anything in the game.

[Bug 23863] The Bard's Tale (2005): unplayable due to almost completely black screen

http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=23863

--- Comment #13 from GyB  2012-05-28 05:43:02 CDT ---
This bug is still present on my system with Wine 1.5.5.
Now I tested the game with the open source Nouveau driver as well, and the game
exhibits the same problem as with the proprietary Nvidia driver (295.49).
The screen is almost completely black, only the compass, minimap can be seen.

Actually, there might be 2 different problems here. One is the dark screen, the
other one is the missing objects. If I turn up the brightness level to the
maximum in the options menu, the gamma of my desktop indeed turns to a very
bright level, but the brightness level in the game barely increases.

[Bug 23863] The Bard's Tale (2005): unplayable due to almost completely black screen

http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=23863

Erik Løvland  changed:

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--- Comment #14 from Erik Løvland  2012-06-03 14:17:54 CDT ---
As GyB says. Bug still present. wine-1.5.5 and nvidia-driver 295.53.
If I start in virtual desktop, the whole screen goes darker and changes back
top normal if i start nvdiaia-settings program.
If I use winetricks to set glsl=disabled (glsl shaders) the game just hangs on
startup.

[Bug 23863] The Bard's Tale (2005): unplayable due to almost completely black screen

http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=23863

André H.  changed:

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                 CC|[e-mail]            |

[Bug 23863] The Bard's Tale (2005): unplayable due to almost completely black screen

http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=23863

Rixa  changed:

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--- Comment #15 from Rixa  2013-02-03 12:32:00 CST ---
I'm getting this with wine-1.5.23, nvidia driver 310.32 and Bard's Tale from
GOG.com.

[Bug 23863] The Bard's Tale (2005): unplayable due to almost completely black screen

http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=23863

Shmerl  changed:

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--- Comment #16 from Shmerl  2013-02-03 20:30:42 CST ---
I have the same problem with black screen, and also the game shows apparent
slowness.

OS: Debian testing x86_64
Wine: 1.4.1
Video card: Nvidia GeForce 8400GS, with Nvidia driver 313.18.

[Bug 23863] The Bard's Tale (2005): unplayable due to almost completely black screen

http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=23863

--- Comment #17 from Shmerl  2013-02-03 20:31:38 CST ---
(In reply to comment #16)
> I have the same problem with black screen, and also the game shows apparent
> slowness.
>
> OS: Debian testing x86_64
> Wine: 1.4.1
> Video card: Nvidia GeForce 8400GS, with Nvidia driver 313.18.

Version: GOG 2.0.0.

[Bug 23863] The Bard's Tale (2005): unplayable due to almost completely black screen

http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=23863

Jeff MacLoue  changed:

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--- Comment #18 from Jeff MacLoue  2013-03-08 05:47:32 CST ---
Trying GOG's The Bard's Tale version on GeForce GT640, the issue is the same
for wine 1.2.3, 1.4.1 and 1.5.25.

Unlike +xvidmode log posted by GyB I get the following error:

err:xvidmode:ComputeGammaFromRamp inverted or flat gamma ramp (0->0), rejected

So probably the game gets some very wrong idea about the colorspace so it sets
all the pixel colors to black for 3D rendering. Some things like particles,
text and minimap (probably drawn elsewhere and passed to 3D renderer as a
texture) look correctly drawn.

I have managed to get rid of the error quoted above with
"CopyDefaultColors"="Y" option for X11 Driver but this didn't help the 3D at
all.

Tried both native/internal d3dx9, enable/disable glsl (no effect at all).

PS I'm running Slackware 13.37 (X.Org X Server 1.9.5) with binary nVidia
drivers 310.32.

[Bug 23863] The Bard's Tale (2005): unplayable due to almost completely black screen

http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=23863

whatbug  changed:

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--- Comment #19 from whatbug  2013-03-08 18:17:37 CST ---
I tried running the game with a SwiftShader (software d3d rasterizer) demo, and
it works fine, while gamma ramp messages remain.

Interestingly, I can reproduce current wine behaviour (very dark menu screen,
no models) if I turn vertex shaders off in SwiftShader preferences.

Could it indicate a problem with wine's vertex shader implementation?

[Bug 23863] The Bard's Tale (2005): unplayable due to almost completely black screen

http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=23863

[e-mail] changed:

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                 CC|                            |unsuspicious.fakename+wine@
                   |                            |gmail.com

--- Comment #20 from [e-mail] 2013-09-30 12:09:14 CDT ---
Same Problem in wine 1.7.3
( using nvidia too )

[Bug 23863] The Bard's Tale (2005): unplayable due to almost completely black screen

http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=23863

--- Comment #21 from Béla Gyebrószki  ---
Still present in Wine 1.7.24

Tested with
Nvidia binary drivers 331.89
Nouveau 1.0.9

Good news is that the game has a native Linux version which doesn't have the
reported problem :)

[Bug 23863] The Bard's Tale (2005): unplayable due to almost completely black screen

https://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=23863

--- Comment #22 from Austin English  ---
This is your friendly reminder that there has been no bug activity for over a
year. Is this still an issue in current (1.7.51 or newer) wine?

[Bug 23863] The Bard's Tale (2005): unplayable due to almost completely black screen

https://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=23863

--- Comment #23 from Béla Gyebrószki  ---
Still the same in wine-1.7.51-70-ge19a8fd

fixme:win:EnumDisplayDevicesW ((null),0,0x33eed8,0x00000000), stub!
fixme:d3d:wined3d_check_device_format_conversion wined3d 0x130f00, adapter_idx
0, device_type WINED3D_DEVICE_TYPE_HAL, src_format WINED3DFMT_B8G8R8A8_UNORM,
dst_format WINED3DFMT_B8G8R8X8_UNORM stub!
fixme:d3d:wined3d_check_device_format_conversion wined3d 0x130f00, adapter_idx
0, device_type WINED3D_DEVICE_TYPE_HAL, src_format WINED3DFMT_B8G8R8X8_UNORM,
dst_format WINED3DFMT_B8G8R8X8_UNORM stub!
fixme:d3d:wined3d_check_device_format_conversion wined3d 0x130f00, adapter_idx
0, device_type WINED3D_DEVICE_TYPE_HAL, src_format
WINED3DFMT_B10G10R10A2_UNORM, dst_format WINED3DFMT_B8G8R8X8_UNORM stub!
fixme:d3d:wined3d_check_device_format_conversion wined3d 0x130f00, adapter_idx
0, device_type WINED3D_DEVICE_TYPE_HAL, src_format WINED3DFMT_B5G6R5_UNORM,
dst_format WINED3DFMT_B8G8R8X8_UNORM stub!
fixme:d3d:wined3d_check_device_format_conversion wined3d 0x130f00, adapter_idx
0, device_type WINED3D_DEVICE_TYPE_HAL, src_format WINED3DFMT_B5G5R5A1_UNORM,
dst_format WINED3DFMT_B8G8R8X8_UNORM stub!
fixme:d3d:wined3d_check_device_format_conversion wined3d 0x130f00, adapter_idx
0, device_type WINED3D_DEVICE_TYPE_HAL, src_format WINED3DFMT_B5G5R5X1_UNORM,
dst_format WINED3DFMT_B8G8R8X8_UNORM stub!
fixme:d3d:wined3d_get_adapter_raster_status wined3d 0x130f00, adapter_idx 0,
raster_status 0x33eb84 semi-stub!
err:quartz:GetClassMediaFile Media class not found
err:quartz:GetClassMediaFile Media class not found

The Bard's Tale from GOG.com
Nvidia binary driver 340.93
Nouveau/Mesa git
Fedora 22

[Bug 23863] The Bard's Tale (2005): unplayable due to almost completely black screen

https://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=23863

[e-mail] changed:

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--- Comment #24 from [e-mail] ---
> Still the same in wine-1.7.51-70-ge19a8fd

Any improvements since that time?

[Bug 23863] The Bard's Tale (2005): unplayable due to almost completely black screen

https://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=23863

--- Comment #25 from joaopa  ---
Does the bug occur with demo
http://www.fileplanet.com/151519/download/The-Bard%27s-Tale-Demo

[Bug 23863] The Bard's Tale (2005): unplayable due to almost completely black screen

https://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=23863

--- Comment #26 from joaopa  ---
Does the bug occur with the demo
http://www.fileplanet.com/151519/150000/fileinfo/The-Bard%27s-Tale-Demo

[Bug 23863] The Bard's Tale (2005): unplayable due to almost completely black screen

https://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=23863

--- Comment #27 from [e-mail] ---
(In reply to joaopa from comment #26)
> Does the bug occur with the demo
> http://www.fileplanet.com/151519/150000/fileinfo/The-Bard%27s-Tale-Demo

No idea. The demo seems to be playable. Fresh wineprefix, didnt try to use
purist mode.

wine 2.0-git.

[Bug 23863] The Bard's Tale (2005): unplayable due to almost completely black screen

https://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=23863

--- Comment #28 from Béla Gyebrószki  ---
(In reply to joaopa from comment #25)
> Does the bug occur with demo
> http://www.fileplanet.com/151519/download/The-Bard%27s-Tale-Demo

It was already stated in comment #0 that the demo version does not show the
issue.
Still present in wine-2.0-160-g152b240, tested with the GOG.com version.

OpenGL vendor string: NVIDIA Corporation
OpenGL renderer string: GeForce GT 730/PCIe/SSE2
OpenGL core profile version string: 4.5.0 NVIDIA 378.09

[Bug 23863] The Bard's Tale (2005): unplayable due to almost completely black screen

https://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=23863

--- Comment #29 from joaopa  ---
Does the bug still occur with latest wine(4.0-rc6)?

[Bug 23863] The Bard's Tale (2005): unplayable due to almost completely black screen

https://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=23863

--- Comment #30 from Béla Gyebrószki  ---
(In reply to joaopa from comment #29)
> Does the bug still occur with latest wine(4.0-rc6)?

Still present in Wine 4.0-rc6.

[Bug 23863] The Bard's Tale (2005): unplayable due to almost completely black screen

https://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=23863

Paul Gofman  changed:

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                 CC|                            |[e-mail]

[Bug 23863] The Bard's Tale (2005): unplayable due to almost completely black screen

https://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=23863

--- Comment #31 from Paul Gofman  ---
Created attachment 63296
  --> https://bugs.winehq.org/attachment.cgi?id=63296
Fix MaxVertexW returned by GetDeviceCaps().

The game does not like MaxVertexW of 1.0 which Wine d3d9 currently returns from
GetDeviceCaps(). I am attaching a proof of concept patch which fixes the issue.

The value of 1e10 is what I get on Windows 7 machine. Somehow the same value is
returned in VirtualBox Win7 guest on my Linux host, while VirtualBox uses
wined3d as its host d3d driver.

The game directly transfers the value of MaxVertexW to shader constant
(const_idx 1, component z). This value is used in shaders to limit the w value
of some computed coordinate. The game does not necessarily wants 1e10 in this
constant, it is also happy with 100, 1000 or FLT_MAX, but not with, e. g., 10.
So it just has to be big enough.

[Bug 23863] The Bard's Tale (2005): unplayable due to almost completely black screen

https://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=23863

--- Comment #32 from Paul Gofman  ---
I additionally googled for some values people have seen for MaxVertexW, and saw
some device caps dumps with this value of 0. I checked that The Bard's Tale is
happy with 0 either. In this case it sets a constant of 1.84467e19 for shader
instead.

[Bug 23863] The Bard's Tale (2005): unplayable due to almost completely black screen

https://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=23863

--- Comment #33 from Béla Gyebrószki  ---
(In reply to Paul Gofman from comment #31)
> Created attachment 63296 [details]
> Fix MaxVertexW returned by GetDeviceCaps().

The patch works here as well , thank you.

[Bug 23863] The Bard's Tale (2005): unplayable due to almost completely black screen

https://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=23863

sveinelo  changed:

What    |Removed                     |Added
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                 CC|[e-mail]      |

[Bug 23863] The Bard's Tale (2005): unplayable due to almost completely black screen

https://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=23863

Béla Gyebrószki  changed:

What    |Removed                     |Added
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
         Resolution|---                         |FIXED
          Component|-unknown                    |directx-d3d
      Fixed by SHA1|                            |91b43bca94750baf683cdb5852e
                   |                            |9bc259a81e1db
             Status|UNCONFIRMED                 |RESOLVED

--- Comment #34 from Béla Gyebrószki  ---
Fixed by
https://source.winehq.org/git/wine.git/commit/91b43bca94750baf683cdb5852e9bc...

[Bug 23863] The Bard's Tale (2005): unplayable due to almost completely black screen

https://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=23863

Alexandre Julliard  changed:

What    |Removed                     |Added
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             Status|RESOLVED                    |CLOSED

--- Comment #35 from Alexandre Julliard  ---
Closing bugs fixed in 4.2.

[Bug 23863] The Bard's Tale (2005): unplayable due to almost completely black screen

https://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=23863

Michael Stefaniuc  changed:

What    |Removed                     |Added
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
   Target Milestone|---                         |4.0.x

[Bug 23863] The Bard's Tale (2005): unplayable due to almost completely black screen

https://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=23863

Michael Stefaniuc  changed:

What    |Removed                     |Added
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
   Target Milestone|4.0.x                       |---

--- Comment #36 from Michael Stefaniuc  ---
Removing the 4.0.x milestone from bug fixes included in 4.0.1.