Video card: Nvidia fx5200

Starter kit was started from templates and I have tried reinstalling and running different projects. Same error each time.

Could not find a part of the path 'C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\My Documents\Visual Studio 2005\Projects\MyRacingGameWin1\MyRacingGameWin1\RacingGame\bin\x86\Debug\Content\Audio\RacingGameManager.xgs'.

pointing to this line in code:  audioEngine = new AudioEngine(Path.Combine(dir, "RacingGameManager.xgs"));

Error    1    Errors compiling C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\My Documents\Visual Studio 2005\Projects\MyRacingGameWin1\MyRacingGameWin1\RacingGame\Content\Shaders\PostScreenMenu.fx:
(1): error X5608: Compiled shader code uses too many arithmetic instruction slots (117). Max. allowed by the target (ps_2_0) is 64.
(1): error X5609: Compiled shader code uses too many instruction slots (120). Max. allowed by the target (ps_2_0) is 96.
C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\My Documents\Visual Studio 2005\Projects\MyRacingGameWin1\MyRacingGameWin1\RacingGame\Content\Shaders\PostScreenMenu.fx(661): ID3DXEffectCompiler::CompileEffect: There was an error compiling expression
ID3DXEffectCompiler: Compilation failed    C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\My Documents\Visual Studio 2005\Projects\MyRacingGameWin1\MyRacingGameWin1\RacingGame\Content\Shaders\PostScreenMenu.fx    1    1    Content

 Is this is video card problem or a different error all together.

I'm not sure about the Xact error but the 2nd error means that your graphics cards isn't quite up to running the shaders for this game. Try compiling it in 'release' mode as XNA GS will turn off the sahder debugging options and the shader may compile to slightly fewer instructions.

Racer game has been downloaded and run by thousands of people over the last 18 months so I'm pretty confident that there are no huge errors in it.

I tried that but it just hung my pc. The game says it requires pixel shader model 2.0 and vertex shader model 2.0. I went to Nvidia's site and my nvidia FX5200 ultra supports bot, so I don't know what the problem is. Maybe it's my xna build....2.0.11022.3. Not sure at this point.

It looks like the NVidia 5200 is one of those few cards that support Shader model 2.0 instead of the more common 2.0a or 2.0b (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Level_Shader_Language). This means you are stuck with tiny instruction limits.

I guess the docs should really say 2.0a but as I remember it 2.0 cards were pretty rare so the industry pretty much ignores that shader level! I'll see if the MS guys can update docs for that starter kit.

VERTEX SHADERS 2.0+
With CineFX, vertex-processing capabilities are greatly expanded while programming complexity is greatly reduced, giving game developers the power to achieve any effect imaginable. Fully generalized loops and branches can be data-dependent, giving the CineFX engine a much more straightforward programming methodology than previous architectures. One shader can be written to encompass all the skinning methods and operations, and since the shader can branch on a per-vertex basis, it is not required to break up the model. With these advances, CineFX shatters previous vertex shading limitations.

PIXEL SHADERS 2.0+
CineFX engine raises pixel shading to a first-class programmable citizen of the graphics pipeline, and gives developers a host of new capabilities for controlling pixels and producing effects that are only limited by the imagination.

I guess I will have to try my Radeon 9600 and see if that works! Thanks for the help

When i run the starter racing kit i get this [This device does not support 32-bit indices.  Use IndexElementSize.SixteenBits or a type that has a size of two bytes.]

Im using a intel chip thats most likely the problem...

ceej:

When i run the starter racing kit i get this [This device does not support 32-bit indices.  Use IndexElementSize.SixteenBits or a type that has a size of two bytes.]

what does this mean ?...

ceej:

ceej:

When i run the starter racing kit i get this [This device does not support 32-bit indices.  Use IndexElementSize.SixteenBits or a type that has a size of two bytes.]

what does this mean ?...

Hi Ceej, did you figure out this error?

Anyone else have any ideas. The actually error is System.InvalidOperationException was unhandled, and it appears when trying to run the demo racecar kit around

indexBuffer = new IndexBuffer(

BaseGame.Device,

typeof(uint),

BufferUsage.WriteOnly);

in landscape.cs file

Steve