Problem with "tears" in the screen

[Sokrates89]

Hi all,

Now, I bought the game yesterday and only now started to play it. During the very first part of the game I saw some glitches involvin black "windows" and "objects" popping up all over the screen.

Seeing as how they didn't show up during the cut-scenes I thought it was just a fluke of some kind. But when I stood on the ferry, these things popped up ALL THE TIME. At some points half the screen quickly turned black with some green/yellow lines around the characters.

They don't stay long, they take like 0.5 seconds to appear and then disappear again, but it's enough to bother the hell out of me. I have no idea what to do and in my oppinion this game is unplayable at the time being.

Now... I'd really like to play the game, it looks awesome and the gameplay seems to be really fun. But the "boxes"/"objects" are ruining the entire experience! What should I do? I haven't tried reverting to a checkpoint yet, but I doubt it will work. IF it doesn't do I need to get myself another copy... update it or what?

Help quickly please, because this issue is driving me insane.

-Update-

I found someone that wrote about the "tears" in the screen I was having issues with. I´ll try playing the game in 720p instead of 1080p and tell you if it works.

-Update-

Hi again,

I tried to turn the settings down to 720p with 50MHz and it worked A BIT better, the problem wasn't gone though so I tried running the game in 520p, this also made the problem a bit more managable but still not making the game playable. There were no minor tears anymore, but the half screen tear was still an issue.

Please advice me of my next move. I also posted this info in another thread, but it looked dead so I thought I'd re-post it.

//Christian

[djshauny1]

New xbox maybe?? lol

Seriously though i have no idea what to suggest.

Ive never had them problems with the game

[MikkiRMD]

Well, clearly, that's not how it's supposed to work! I can only suggest you return your copy to the store you bought it from and ask for a new one -- hopefully, the problem is with the disc instead of your console.

[Sokrates89]

Hi again, to awnser your questions or "statements" rather, there is nothing wrong with my console as far as I know. All the other games I have run without any glitches or tears in the screen/graphics so the copy I recieved is most probably malfunctioning.

But have you recieved complaints about this issue before? Or am I the first?

-Update-

I read that I wasn't the only one having these issues, and mind you I wouldn't care if the tears took up like 1/30:th of the screen, but we're talking about ½ the screen at some points. And 1/4 of the screen turning black from tears over and over again. So my tears aren't small, which is why this is so terribly annoying.

[MikkiRMD]

I read that I wasn't the only one having these issues, and mind you I wouldn't care if the tears took up like 1/30:th of the screen, but we're talking about ½ the screen at some points. And 1/4 of the screen turning black from tears over and over again. So my tears aren't small, which is why this is so terribly annoying.

If you're getting black sections on the screen, that's not screen tearing. (You may want to check out the Wikipedia article on the subject (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screen_tearing).) I don't know what's causing it, but your first step should be to get a replacement copy from the retailer and see if that fixes it.

[Sokrates89]

If you're getting black sections on the screen, that's not screen tearing. (You may want to check out the Wikipedia article on the subject (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screen_tearing).) I don't know what's causing it, but your first step should be to get a replacement copy from the retailer and see if that fixes it.

Alright, then yes that's not my problem. I wouldn't care about such things anyway... but it rather looks like big chunks of the picture disappears over and over again. (constantly) Sometimes it's half the picture, and other times it's not as much (as mentioned before).

Sorry about the mis-information, but if it's not screen tearing as I thought it was called then there must be something wrong with the copy I purchased.

[MikkiRMD]

Hey, come to think of it, you may also want to make sure that the game disc isn't very badly smudged or something; in that case simply cleaning it might do the trick! I've sometimes seen very odd behavior from games if the disc is dirty or if there are scratches on it.

I hope you can get this sorted out with a minimum of hassle!

[Demite]

Now thats technical support for you - and Mikki's a writer!

[Sokrates89]

Hey, come to think of it, you may also want to make sure that the game disc isn't very badly smudged or something; in that case simply cleaning it might do the trick! I've sometimes seen very odd behavior from games if the disc is dirty or if there are scratches on it.

I hope you can get this sorted out with a minimum of hassle!

I checked the disc, that was actually the first thing I did. It's not scratched and there are no smudges on it, but I cleaned it a little while ago so I´ll test running the game again. I´ll also try installing it on to my Xbox harddrive and see if that removes the issue, if it doesn't I have to pay the same amount of money I spent on the game traveling to the store I bought it at. (Don't have drivers license so I have to take a bus.) It's 200 SEK (swedish crowns) one way to the store, yes, it's quite far away and the game itself cost me 400 SEK. xD

[MikkiRMD]

It's 200 SEK (swedish crowns) one way to the store, yes, it's quite far away and the game itself cost me 400 SEK. xD

Geez, that sucks. Could you perhaps call them up and explain the situation, and ask them for an address you could mail your copy to? Even if they make you pay for the return postage, I'd imagine it'd still be cheaper!

[Sokrates89]

Geez, that sucks. Could you perhaps call them up and explain the situation, and ask them for an address you could mail your copy to? Even if they make you pay for the return postage, I'd imagine it'd still be cheaper!

Yes, I will call them up tomorrow and ask them if I can mail the game back to the store and then have them mail me a new copy.

Also, I removed all my save files, installed the game, ran it in 720p, cleaned the disc and changed settings on my TV. The issue still persists, but I gave it a shot thinking it might just be when you first arrive to the town.

However, the problem persists, and it actually gets worse the further along I go. I'm currently in the forest after the thing with the car occurs trying to make my way to the Gas Station. The old problem is still there as I mentioned, but several other things happen as well. The framerate drops REALLY low when it's foggy in the game, the screen jitters while climbing ladders/walking on piles of logs and when the fog is infront of something the background doesn't blur, it gets pixelated. There are NO COMPLICATIONS while watching the cutscenes, also the very first part of the game does not have these problems.

So there is obviously something wrong with this copy, which is why I will send it back and try to get a new one. Because so far I really like the game, jittering, pixelation and black objects put aside.

[MikkiRMD]

Wow. There's no avoiding the occasional technical glitch, but what you're describing is just way wrong. I don't blame you for being frustrated. All I can tell you that this is not the way it works for just about anybody else!

(Oh, and the cutscenes are played off the disc, so something that affects the way the game world is rendered wouldn't affect them.)

Still, I'm glad to hear that you like the game despite everything.

[Sokrates89]

Wow. There's no avoiding the occasional technical glitch, but what you're describing is just way wrong. I don't blame you for being frustrated. All I can tell you that this is not the way it works for just about anybody else!

(Oh, and the cutscenes are played off the disc, so something that affects the way the game world is rendered wouldn't affect them.)

Still, I'm glad to hear that you like the game despite everything.

Alright I thought I'd tie this thread together by saying that I contacted the people at the GAME store where I bought Alan Wake. I got in touch with the store manager and described my problem to him, and while we were talking I found out that he is a BIG fan of the game and he was shocked to hear about me having such difficulties with it.

So he told me to mail it back to the store, which I did. Just a day later (today) I recieved a package from the store manager and in it was the Collectors Edition of Alan Wake and a note. Now I hadn't bought the collectors edition, but in the note he said that "I was really sorry to hear about the problems you experienced with the game, I'm a big Remedy fan myself and as I said on the phone I really love Alan Wake. So I thought I'd compensate you for the issues you've had by sending you the Collectors Edition, and even though I have no affiliation with Remedy I'm sure they would have done the same."

It blew me away. And I couldn't be more greatful to the store manager for doing something like this for a customer he's never even met. So thanks to him I now have the gorgeous case, the wonderful soundtrack and a PERFECT copy of Alan Wake which is without a doubt one of my favorite games I've played on the Xbox 360 so far (and I'm an avid game collector).

First of all, thank you for the assistance when I was having my issues with my first copy of the game. And incase the store manager reads this, thanks a lot! (he said he was active on the forums)

I´ll be reviewing the game soon at my own website as well as on GameTrailers (my blog) and you´ll get nothing but high marks from me.

Sincerely,
Christian J.

[MikkiRMD]

That guy has to be one of the coolest store managers in the history of mankind. What a nice thing to do.

[Sokrates89]

That guy has to be one of the coolest store managers in the history of mankind. What a nice thing to do.

Also, don't worry about the money disappearing. He didn't give it to me for the same cost of the normal game... no, he went above and beyond. He actually paid for the difference (about 200 SEK) between the regular and the Collectors Edition from his own pocket. He also paid an extra 100 SEK to ship it to me.

So I´ll have to call him tomorrow and say "thank you" because, as you said, he's probably the best store manager in history.

[dermetor]

i have the exact same problem as this dude is talking about, but it never worked for me when I changed my disc! funny thing though i bought the new xbox a little while ago and the problems only occur when im playing on that instead of my older xbox. could that have somethign to do with it?

[MikkiRMD]

i have the exact same problem as this dude is talking about, but it never worked for me when I changed my disc! funny thing though i bought the new xbox a little while ago and the problems only occur when im playing on that instead of my older xbox. could that have somethign to do with it?

Well, I can't really troubleshoot hardware problems, but if you have changed discs and the problem only occurs on one Xbox out of two, then I would have to hazard a guess that the problem is with the Xbox, not the game. I can't, of course, be sure, but if I were in your place, I would be talking to Xbox support about this.