UE3 - UT3 UT3ED (Unreal Editor) - All 4 viewpoints are black!

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deadman_uk

New Member
Jul 6, 2009
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I wanted to mess around with Unreal Editor but when I open it, all 4 viewpoints are black... I cannot do anything. I'm expecting 2 or 3 of the viewpoints to be a grey grid. Obviously something is wrong here... I have turned off Anti-Aliasing and Anisotropic but it didn't help. Anyone know? I spent ages looking on the Internet for help but could only find this:

http://forums.beyondunreal.com/showthread.php?t=36809&highlight=viewpoints+black

Which is no help to me because that was posted in 2001 about Unreal Tournament 1.

Thanks
 

deadman_uk

New Member
Jul 6, 2009
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UT3 patched to latest version? System specs look ok, have you tried updating your drivers already?

I am using patch 2.1 (UT3 patch 5). Yes, running Catalyst 9.6

Tried removing the various UnrealED ini files in My Games folder, and nothing... still the same.
 
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Cr4zyB4st4rd

I make awesome ©
Aug 8, 2008
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Above each 4 of the windows you have this bar:

uedbar.jpg


Make sure that one of the bits highlighted in green are check, 3rd in fro the left will show unlit mode, if you have no lights that will work, the first two are wireframe modes, the 4th in is lit mode. And then make sure a view mode perspective/top/front/side is chosen.

Sometimes the editor likes to forget what it was last using and as a result doesn't load any on start up.

If that fails, delete your config files for Engine and Editor, if that fails. Delete them all. Don't forget to back up before you do that, because you might lose something useful if you have ini tweaked.

If all else fails, a screenshot could help.
 
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deadman_uk

New Member
Jul 6, 2009
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As I said above, I already deleted the ini files to do with Unreal Editor but now I have deleted the whole config folder and forced Unreal Editor to create a new one. Same thing... nothing has changed. My windows is a fresh install, Unreal Tournament 3 was installed 2 weeks ago and I never launched Unreal Editor until today so I am running default settings. I tried opening a map in the editor too, it opens but all 4 viewpoints are black still.

Below is a screenshot:

http://img198.imageshack.us/img198/986/unrealeditor.jpg

The game itself works perfectly, it's just the editor that I cannot get to work.
 
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Odedge

Keeper of Tutorials
May 26, 2009
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I can only suggest 2 things.

1st.. In the editor, select the "View" menus, then "Viewport Configuartion". Select something like "1x1 Vertical Split". The previous editors had a similar problem, but it was white viewports, not black.

2nd... I am guessing it's most like related to your drivers, so you might want to try a previous version. I have had the "newest drivers" cause problems that weren't there in the previous ones (BF 2142 for example).
 

deadman_uk

New Member
Jul 6, 2009
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Odedge, your first suggestion did not help. Your suggestion about trying different drivers I will try once Catalyst 9.7 are out (I do not want to go through the hassle of using older drivers just to see if Unreal Editor works, which I'm sure it won't still)
 

deadman_uk

New Member
Jul 6, 2009
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It doesn't look like anyone here can help me with my problem, so how do I contact the developers of Unreal Editor directly? I know you can purchase a 12 month subscription for the Unreal Engine and get free technical support from the developers but I don't want to do that, I paid extra money for the Collector's Edition of UT3, and can't even use the engine... what a waste of money.
 

Cr4zyB4st4rd

I make awesome ©
Aug 8, 2008
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You could try over at the Epic forums if you haven't already.

It appears to be a hardware issue though, UT3 and ATi aren't the greatest of friends. You could always try some older drivers and see if anything changes.
 

deadman_uk

New Member
Jul 6, 2009
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You could try over at the Epic forums if you haven't already.

It appears to be a hardware issue though, UT3 and ATi aren't the greatest of friends. You could always try some older drivers and see if anything changes.

Already have: http://utforums.epicgames.com/showthread.php?p=26623063#post26623063

As I said before, I don't want to use older drivers just for this, I am happy with Catalyst 9.6 and don't want to use older drivers. I will wait for 9.7 to come out before I change drivers.
 

deadman_uk

New Member
Jul 6, 2009
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After some playing around and help from another forum, I now know the cause of this is desktop composition. With desktop composition enabled, I cannot see my viewpoints, they are all black, but with it disabled, Unreal Editor works fine.

Now the question is, why is it doing this? I actually use desktop composition because I want my Windows to look stylish, and having it disabled removes some of the visuals. I know I can disable desktop composition for just Unreal Editor by right clicking on the shortcut, going to properties and ticking "disable desktop composition" in the compatibility tab. This is good because I'd be annoyed if I had to manually disable desktop composition all the time. I'd be interested though to hear Vista users who can actually use Unreal Editor with desktop composition enabled.
Anyway problem sorted!
 
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Cr4zyB4st4rd

I make awesome ©
Aug 8, 2008
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If you're talking about Aero effects, like the transparent windows. Ill have to say your ATi card is hating on something, because if that's what it is. It is running perfectly on my system.

Q6600@3GHz
4GB RAM
GTX275 (previous 8800GTX worked fine too)
 

deadman_uk

New Member
Jul 6, 2009
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If you're talking about Aero effects, like the transparent windows. Ill have to say your ATi card is hating on something, because if that's what it is. It is running perfectly on my system.

Q6600@3GHz
4GB RAM
GTX275 (previous 8800GTX worked fine too)

Desktop composition basically changes my theme from Aero to Vista Basic. If you go to system properties, advanced tab, performance, is desktop composition ticked or unticked? I have to untick it for Unreal Editor to show me the viewpoints. A bit of a pain but at least it's working.
 

Cr4zyB4st4rd

I make awesome ©
Aug 8, 2008
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Yes it's enabled.

The only time it happens on my system is if i run older games such as UT99, or quake live/BFH from Firefox. UT3 and UnrealEd both run fine with it.
 

Zethell

New Member
Oct 25, 2009
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Just had to register and say, Thank you!
This thread has solved the exact same problem for me. :)

Was just about to give up on the editor.

Unreal Editor </3 Desktop Composition.
 

Zethell

New Member
Oct 25, 2009
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Lol this is why I am a Nvidia man.. Nvidia for life.

Hey fanboi, this has nothing to do with ATi/nVidia, if you like your overpriced ****, then keep that to yourself.

My main pc may have an ATi card, but my laptop has an nVidia 7000m, and it had the same problem.
 

Bazzwano

Hi, I'm Bryan
Jan 20, 2008
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Hey fanboi, this has nothing to do with ATi/nVidia, if you like your overpriced ****, then keep that to yourself.

For a new BU member your off to a rocky start with posts like that. Show some respect to those in the community.

Allot of people here don't know what the problem is.. So my bad for thinking it was hardware issue but there's no need for posting like that here.
 

Bi()ha2arD

Toxic!
Jun 29, 2009
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Hey fanboi, this has nothing to do with ATi/nVidia, if you like your overpriced ****, then keep that to yourself.

My main pc may have an ATi card, but my laptop has an nVidia 7000m, and it had the same problem.

UT3 had problems with ATI cards in the beginning. Mostly because they suck at creating decent drivers. nVidia has ****ed theirs up lately too tho.