Video problems with Matrox G550

[Jopeknoop]

System: Shuttle PB51G, 1Gb RAM, video Matrox Millenium G550. Windows XP SP2 with all the latest updates and latest video drivers.
Installed Myst V, no problems.
Started the game first time: intro OK, but when I started to play there were large flickering triangles with different colors on the screen. System halted and rebooted automatically.
Now when I try to start again: I get the startup screen, I chose "Play", and I get an error message saying: "There was an error initializing the video card, Try lowering your graphics settings".
I am running 1024x768 32 bit color. I tried all the different color settings and lowere the resolution to 800x600 but I still get the same error message.
What can I do to play this game?
Any suggestions?
Thanks.

[Heimdall_G]

Unfortunately, Matrox video chipsets are NOT supported by Myst V. See the back of the Myst V slipcase under "*Supported Video Cards at Time of Release:" and/or Myst V: System Requirements and Posting Guidelines (http://forums.ubi.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/3471054943/m/4941067943) for details.

So, unless you install a supported video card, you won't be able to satisfactorily play the game.

[Jopeknoop]

Thanks Heimdall.
In my naivity I thought that this game would play on my machine, but appearantly the number of accepted video cards is pretty limited.
Well, I need to get one of the accepted cards installed.

Thanks again.

Joop

[Ctein]

Dear Heimdall,

Now that I've got the demo running properly (vis my thread "Deleting Myst V demo custom video preferences?") I can say definitely that Myst V *will* run on a Matrox Parhelia-grade AGP card. That currently means a P650, P750, Parhelia 128, or Parhelia 256. Dunno if it will run on the PCI versions; ain't tried.

It won't run on a G series card because they lack the hardware rendering support of the P series.

Note that performance with a mere P650 (which is what I have) is going to be sluggish. At best, 4-5 frames per sec rendering speed. So it's playable, but herky-jerky.

(Small caveat: I haven't had time to go anywhere, yet. I'm still in the first scene with the arched bridges and the soap-bubble force shields. I've confirmed that I can move and look around, switch the gates open and closed, and climb onto the bridges, but I haven't jumped to another scene yet. So I suppose it's possible something might break when I do that.)

pax / Ctein