Can not see NPC/Story-progression ghosts

DogFaceInBananaPatch

I can barely make out ghosts that are purple.



Yet, blue ghosts are fine.



I have tried changing every setting for days now but nothing makes the purple ghosts show more visibly. With that said, though, the purple ghosts are as clear as the blue ghosts for the first couple seconds after loading into the zone (if they so happen to be in front of me, of course) then they fade/dim to alpha level shown in the top picture.

Any way to fix this?

Edit: fixed title for clarity

DogFaceInBananaPatch

Oh additionally if I have just one ghost in view my GPU temperature rockets, from an average of 75-77c, to 95-103c. Looking away from a ghost and the temperature plummets back to ~76c. I turned on temp monitoring (Afterburner/RivaTuner) because my computer is silent until I face a ghost and then it sounds like a V8 engine revving up for a drag race (all fans kick into overdrive).

Seravi

I was coming to the forums to post about this as well. Just started a new alt and was doing the very first Fighters Guild quest and the vision that shows up wasn't there. I saw a little blue smoke like patch but she was invisible just like your pic of Abnur.

DogFaceInBananaPatch

Just found this post though all the "fixes" there are what I already have for my settings.

One more quick note is this started happening recently. When, or which patch, I have no clue (if it's even related to a patch at all, may not be) but I remember when I started a subscription for this game (three weeks ago) purple ghosts always showed up vividly. My best guess would be 7 to 10 days ago this started.

I have tried:
- updating my GPU drivers to the latest, reverted back since then (hoping it was something w
- Run in Admin, set back to not running in Admin
- Compatibility Mode "XP" (i'm running Win7)
- Turning off every single video setting (or low) and bumping them up one at a time. That's a lot of permutation btw lol
- UserSettings.txt: SET GraphicsDriver.7 "D3D11"
- Windowed mode, Fullscreen(window), Fullscreen
- Vsync [on/off]. Sidenote: On, obviously, lowers my GPU temp by 2c. Yeah!
- Messed with every setting directly with video card (not that I ever changed it for the last two years owning this computer)
- Ate keyboard

Epona222

I have the same issue with not being able to see certain ghosts/projections since the v3 update. It's not all ghosts, just certain ones like Abnar Tharn's projection - as you say, they show up all glowing and then fade to invisible. I'm certain it's to do with the lighting changes in that update. I hadn't noticed my gpu going into overdrive at any point though.

Out of interest, it might be helpful to compare graphics cards to see if there is a common factor, I use a GTX 670.

DogFaceInBananaPatch

GTX 560Ti

Seravi

I have the NVIDIA bug that has been around since Beta. I have to run DX9 (D3D9 in the usersettings file) or my game crashes every five seconds, literally. I have to run with vsync on and windowed full screen.

DogFaceInBananaPatch

@Seravi Never had to do that workaround to make the game operational so it doesn't seem like any of your settings are doing it. When I started this game around 20 days ago the ghosts would always show up clearly (D3D11, Full Screen, everything on Ultra/High/On). Haven't changed a thing from my first day of my subscription to now; so @Epona222 may be right, and it has to do with the "lighting changes."

Seravi

Yeah this started after the big update this month. Before they were fine. I sent a bug report in game but haven't heard anything so when I saw the ghost issue again today I decided to post on the forums.

Ugh so something has changed with the August update then..

DogFaceInBananaPatch

Seravi wrote: »

Yeah this started after the big update this month. Before they were fine. I sent a bug report in game but haven't heard anything so when I saw the ghost issue again today I decided to post on the forums.

Ugh so something has changed with the August update then..

Being I don't pay heavy attention to the patch days and versions would you say the change happened after a patch roughly 7 to 10 days ago [for you]? Around that time is when I noticed it but my accuracy is somewhere in between.

Epona222

matt3k wrote: »

Seravi wrote: »

Yeah this started after the big update this month. Before they were fine. I sent a bug report in game but haven't heard anything so when I saw the ghost issue again today I decided to post on the forums.

Ugh so something has changed with the August update then..

Being I don't pay heavy attention to the patch days and versions would you say the change happened after a patch roughly 7 to 10 days ago [for you]? Around that time is when I noticed it but my accuracy is somewhere in between.

Yes, update 3 was iirc 3rd August on the NA server, and 4th August on the EU server, so that is about the right timeframe.

Seravi

Yes it started after Update 3 the first week of August. Just did the fighters guild quest on another alt I started. The ghost should be quite visible yet she is now a blob ghost.

According to the patch notes 8/4 is when the NA server got the patch for 1.3.3 so I am wondering if color correction is the problem since it was added with this patch.

http://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/discussion/124010/patch-notes-v1-3-3#latest

Epona222

Right I've had a look through the patch notes for 1.3.3 and it gives a way of turning off the new lighting and colour correction.

I don't suggest that this is a permanent fix, but it should help those of us who are experiencing the issue to determine whether the post-processing introduced in that update is indeed the culprit, and give as much info about the problem to Zenimax as possible.

What I suggest is that next time you encounter an invisible ghost and are in a safe spot, quit the game and make the following changes to your config file, then restart and see if the ghost is now visible. Post the results back here, and if I am correct and it is the lighting changes causing it, we can then submit bug reports to Zenimax with that information and in theory that will help them find a fix quicker, if we've already narrowed down the cause.

Quote from Zenimax in the patch notes for update 3 about the lighting changes:
Color Correction
Brightness, contrast, and color curves throughout the game are now adjusted via post-processing. In some locations, the effect will be subtle, but it will be more noticeable in others. We’ve done this to improve the visual quality of the game by increasing contrast in scenes, balancing overall color values, and reducing the influence of yellow in the sunlight and interior lighting. You’ll notice more color depth and a more realistic look in the world. We don’t anticipate these changes having any effect on performance, since we were already making a post-processing pass, but you can disable color correction by setting the COLOR_CORRECTION value in your UserSettings file to “0.”

DogFaceInBananaPatch

@Servari Ugh, that's even worse then what I'm getting. It's just a blur-smudge for you. My ghosts do show some detail of their features (when very very close lol).

DogFaceInBananaPatch

I wonder what SOFT_ALPHA does? Mine's set to "1"

Edit: but will try that @Epona222, with the COLOR_CORRECTION (next time I find a ghost). We should all join Ghostbusters.

Seravi

I just tested color correction off. When the ghost came up she was normal, aka as she should be then she went a little blurry. While she is better now with color correction turned off, she still isn't normal.

Seravi

I found a video of the quest and took a screen shot of the ghost as she SHOULD be showing and DID show until the 1.3.3 update.

DogFaceInBananaPatch

Yup! That's how I remember them just 10+ days ago.

SirenofEntropy

My purple ghosts still look the same as they did before the update.

My GPU is Nvidia 660 ti.

That's a bizarre issue.. I wonder what could be causing it.

SirenofEntropy

Seravi wrote: »

I have the NVIDIA bug that has been around since Beta. I have to run DX9 (D3D9 in the usersettings file) or my game crashes every five seconds, literally. I have to run with vsync on and windowed full screen.

I had to do the same thing, DX11 to DX9 otherwise my driver would crash and cause the screen on the game to just freeze up. No client crash, just a solid freeze. The issue still persists even after the most recent Nvidia driver update. I wonder when/if Nvidia will ever get around to sorting that out.

DogFaceInBananaPatch

SirenofEntropy wrote: »

My purple ghosts still look the same as they did before the update.

It's not all of them [purple ghosts] either. It's usually the ghosts that show up to progress (during), or end, a quest. If it's a quest giver, for instance The Prophet in the beginning tutorial, it's fine and shows up with detail and not faded.

Seravi

Yeah the Prophet is fine and as you say it's the ones that show up for progression of a quest, not to start or end it. Very odd indeed.

Epona222

Seravi wrote: »

Yeah the Prophet is fine and as you say it's the ones that show up for progression of a quest, not to start or end it. Very odd indeed.

This^
It is an odd issue, because it is not consistent, or perhaps better phrased as consistently odd.

For example, I can see the prophet whenever he shows up at the city gates to give me the next part of the main storyline quest. I can see the projection of Abnar Tharn when using the speaking stone in "Chasing Shadows" quest, and I can see his projection in the Harborage at the start of the next quest.
I CANNOT see Abnar Tharn's projections in the part of Coldharbour I am in during "Castle of The Worm" quest, they are invisible, I just have to aim myself at the quest marker until I get the "E to talk" prompt show up.

Hmmm, now I am wondering if it is specific to Coldharbour, or parts of it that you visit on the Main Quest.

DogFaceInBananaPatch

Epona222 wrote: »

I CANNOT see Abnar Tharn's projections in Coldharbour during "Castle of Worms" quest, they are invisible, I just have to aim myself at the quest marker until I get the "E to talk" prompt show up.

Funny story: I don't use a compass or quest markers (all off with addons) so I literally spent a few hours ONLY trying to find Abnar for that quest.

Hmm, guess that wasn't much of a story... anyways, I have had it multiple times too before and after this "funny" instance. Sometimes the *purple* ghosts will be part of a quest but I don't have to talk to them; they just move the story along. I can't see them.

Yet, the Ghost Serpent in the swamps of Deshaan showed up fine... Oh he's a blue apparition. So the answer is to change all the code for all ghosts to blue. ~laughs~

Seravi

Well my alt is just beginning the Fighters Guild quests and that is where I first noticed it after the 1.3.3 update. One was in the AD the other in Davons Watch.

I took my V1 into Direfrost Keep and I cannot see the projection in there either. That is in Eastmarch.

DogFaceInBananaPatch

Seravi wrote: »

Well my alt is just beginning the Fighters Guild quests and that is where I first noticed it after the 1.3.3 update. One was in the AD the other in Davons Watch.

Great, so "pics or it didn't happen!" ...wait, nevermind, they don't show up so it doesn't matter. ~laughs~

Seravi

LOL I do have pics of the AD and Glenumbra above. My projections are just blue blobs now.

DogFaceInBananaPatch

So, last night, out of a few more ghosts/projections/memories that were either white, gold, blue, or purple only purple ghosts were the ones too faded to see clearly.

Zone: Deshaan
--
Seeks-the-night


Aspera

Seravi

Yeah I have noticed a pattern as well that the purple ones are being shy now and won't show their face.

SirenofEntropy

This is what they look like for me. As you can see these ghosts are just enemies tied to a quest (on Auridon in this particular quest), not npcs that start or complete a quest.

Could it be tied to having a particular graphics setting set to low/medium? As you can see from the images my purple ghosts are fine and my settings are all on High with the exception of water which is Medium.

DogFaceInBananaPatch

All attackable mobs I can see just fine also. Never had a problem with them.