At Launch, Cursor Disappears, Game In Windowed Mode

[DEATHLOK]

One of the kids just downloaded the game from the Warframe site.

Running on an Acer Aspire notebook:

• Intel Core i5-2430M 2.40GHz

• 6GB DDR3

• NVIDIA GeForce GT 540M

• 1GB DDR3 VRAM

• Windows 7 Home 64-bit

Double-clicking the game icon, the splash screen appears, there's some drumming in the background, but nothing else. Seems to be locked-up. The mouse cursor is no where to be found. The game is obviously stuck in some kind of windowed mode, not taking up the whole screen. The game has to be shut down through Task Manager.

I downloaded my copy through Steam, and so did my other kid--we haven't had any of these problems.

Anyone seen this before, maybe know what's happening?

Edited March 30, 2013 by DEATHLOK

[DEATHLOK]

OK, I figured it out.

The laptop's graphics chip doesn't support DirectX 11.

Click the gear icon at the top right of the Warframe launcher, uncheck "Allow DirectX 11," or whatever it's called.

The game starts right up.

[Athros]

Wait a min. Isn't GT 540M is DirectX 11 enabled?

http://www.geforce.com/hardware/notebook-gpus/geforce-gt-540m

Maybe it's because the Optimus, the GPU switch thingy. It doesn't always work, so maybe when you started it, it runs using your Intel GPU...

How about the gameplay? is it smooth or lagging?

[DEATHLOK]

It's pretty bad. We had to uncheck all the effects and turn shadows down to Low. Even then, it's slow.

OK, I've just read the GeForce GT 540M is supposed to support DirectX 11.

Maybe that Optimus is causing the game to run with the integrated Intel video, instead. I'll look at it when she gets off that silly Minecraft game.

Thanks.

[DEATHLOK]

Athros, you were right on the money.

That chip supports DirectX 11.

The problem was that lousy Optimus power management nonsense. While nVidia advertised it as being able to detect and adjust to the needs of 3D gaming, it doesn't. It was trying to run the game with the Intel HD 3000. I had to track down the game executables and associate them with the nVidia chip, instead of the Universal switch-when-needed setting.

We switched it, turned all the effects back on, and it's running better than before.

I'm gonna try to jump in her game now.

Thanks for your help!

[Athros]

Athros, you were right on the money.

That chip supports DirectX 11.

The problem was that lousy Optimus power management nonsense. While nVidia advertised it as being able to detect and adjust to the needs of 3D gaming, it doesn't. It was trying to run the game with the Intel HD 3000. I had to track down the game executables and associate them with the nVidia chip, instead of the Universal switch-when-needed setting.

We switched it, turned all the effects back on, and it's running better than before.

I'm gonna try to jump in her game now.

Thanks for your help!

You're welcome! :)

Edited March 31, 2013 by Athros

[DEATHLOK]

Freaks me out how fast kids learn. They're already running circles around me.

[Athros]

Freaks me out how fast kids learn. They're already running circles around me.

How old exactly your kids are?

Not that I'm a parent (still 22, and a kid myself >_<), but considering how far the differences between kids today with, lets take, 5 years ago, its like whoa~

Kinda OOT, huh?