black screen after updates (when using -image)

I am playing for over 50 months now (on almost a daily basis), so i have seen lots of updates. But since a week or so i have a strange problem with gameupdates (on my main pc only, the rest seems to work fine).

When there is an update, i usually wait till it is done, then close gw, then start another shortcut that runs gw using the -image switch. After that my gw.dat should be fully updated and i can play again.

Since apx a week i still do the same, but the loginscreen stays completly black. I can see the hud, i can even login, select a char, but then my screen becomes black again (only seeing the hud, chats, etc). The problems start when i use that 2nd shortcut (the one with the -image switch); before that the screen looks normal.

I also found a solution: when i minimize my window for some time (10 seconds?) and then maximize it, then everything is often normal again (sometimes i have to try this a 2nd time). But it seems i have to wait forever when i dont minimize (this way i never go my screen back). Even closing gw and restarting it doesnt help.

Another solution seems to be to restart my computer. After that everything seems to work normal again...

After "fixing" this screenproblem it doesnt come back... till next update

I have two pc's... this problem only happens on one of them (my main pc).

I really dont have a clue what's going on... afaik i didnt change anything on my pc (last update was apx 1-2 months ago, when i needed a new cooler on my graphics card).

Hopefully someone here knows a better solution than minimizing window or restarting pc. TIA

A quick question for you:
Does the black screen fix itself if you do Alt+Enter twice? (So you change to windowed and back) (Or to fullscreen and back)
If that's the case, it could be your video card dying on you, as that what my old laptop had, and it always happened after a -image.

I havent tried the Alt+Enter combination (only standard minimize icon on top right part of the screen), so i cant answer that. And i cant try that combination untill we get a new update

And ofcourse you can be right on my videocard dying (although i hope you are wrong), but i find it hard to see the relation between using the -image switch (downloading files, "fixing" gw.dat) and a videocard not showing everything it should show; unless this would happen all the time, not just after using -image...

Dont want to sound completely stupid here but..... did you change the start up by taking the -image off the command line and resetting it back to where it was in the first place? lol

It's a long shot regardless, I have no idea what the link is either, but I had the same problem and it was caused by a dying card.

No, i have two shortcuts for gw... 1 for playing and 1 for updating gw.dat (-image). With the 2nd one you cant login

I know... i just hope your dying videocard was a coincidence. I am still using a AGP8x videocard and getting a new one seems harder than it sounds (i fear problems with my powersupply, especially the connectors)

I can't help but ask why you do this? You are basically saying the game updates and then you update it again. It seems kinda pointless, but I don't see how doing that could cause your problem.

It is not pointless... i am not 100% sure on how it exactly works, but when you receive an update then you may not receive everything (especially with big updates). In that case you can have a "huge" delays when you enter a portal or mapmove, because gw starts to download missing files, and especially the decompressing files part can take a long time (this happend to me apx 4 years ago when i got a delay of more than an hour after running through a portal)

By using the -image switch gw checks the status of my gw.dat and fixes everything that needs a fix. Result: always fast connections and no more ingame delays

Sounds like a placebo to me.

Well, i didnt mean that it makes my connection faster or so... just not having to download files while ingame = best (fastest way to play).

And i also know (now) that the 1 time the decompressing files ook more than 1 hour was caused by a tool called refreshlock (i need that tool for some older games to prevent those games kept switching back to 60hz).

Well, 99% of the time all of the updated files are downloaded by the update at the time, there is no need to run -image after every update, but hey, it's your computer, so be my guest.

(I've never run -image after an update, and never had to load lots of files between areas after an update either. Lucky me, I guess.)

Ok, maybe it isn't necessary to do it after every update, but it should not hurt either...

And i see enough posts like this one (i have been there too).

games are a funny thing. they love to be stingy. if you alt-tab, minimize etc..etc..etc..
they get jealous. they will want to keep using resources but not display(black screen) after you try to re-open them, too sometimes being that grumpy, they will just lock themselves up (making you kill them via task manager, if you can get into it lol [ctrl-alt-del / ctrl-shift-esc]). Sometimes they can even go as far as locking up your whole system (re-boot/reset button anyone?)

most of the times the symptoms will vary but the jealousy will remain.

never fear though. Most PC games have the option to use the Escape key(for various purposes). If, say, you were to hit the Esc key (or hard-coded key to enter an options menu), then alt-tab/minimize, Mr./Mrs. jealousy will take a back seat and act accordingly. Look at using this as saying to Mr./Mrs. Game "hey there, I'm the boss..SIT DOWN, do as you're told"

however there are games that are ported/coded very crapily. Assassins creed just popped into my skull. I think I hit alt-f4 more times in my life then ever before playing that game. lol.