Multiple Extremely Strange Graphics Bugs

[Pippin]

Since around .24, my Steam install of KSP has been experiencing really weird and sometimes game-breaking graphics bugs. Here is a full Imgur album of all the issues I get. These issues usually occur after around a half-hour to an hour of gameplay, and then all occur together in quick succession. Mods do make them slightly more common, but it still happens regularly in Vanilla. The only way I have found to solve them so far is to restart the game, which, in mid atmospheric flight is not an option. I run an extremely powerful iMac desktop. I'm not sure of the specifics, because I'm just not that kind of buyer, but I can tell you that other than these glitches, I've always been able to run pretty much any game at max quality at 40-60 FPS. No one else on the internet that I've seen, after hours of searching, seems to have these issues. Seriously, PLEASE HELP. It's practically impossible to play this game with these bugs, since I have minor OCD. It's bad enough that these make the game nearly impossible to play when this happens.

Update: 1.0.2 seems to not have fixed these glitches but at least made them much more uncommon. They don't tend to always happen every game anymore, but they still do happen.

Edited May 17, 2015 by Pippin

[AlexinTokyo]

First step should be a complete, clean reinstall of the game.

First make a copy of your save game files (they should reside in the 'saves' folder of your KSP install, but I'm not sure of the file/folder structure on a Mac. Put this copy in a safe place.

Then delete the KSP root directory entirely.

Then go to Steam and download the game again.

To eliminate issues at this stage I would then create a new test game and play for a while to ensure that the stock install is not experiencing any problems.

After that, try adding your mods back in, one at a time. If the issue suddenly starts again, you should then have a good idea what caused it.

Finally, once you're happy that the game's working, move the copy of the save game you made back to its initial location.

If this doesn't help (which it should) then you'll need to read this thread and make a post in the support forum.

Hope you're able to get it working.

[Pippin]

Thanks, but I already tried all the obvious solutions. Uninstall/reinstall, delete key files then verify with Steam, triple-check all mods are removed, change GFX settings, etc. Nothing seems to help.

[Xannari Ferrows]

Could be the result of a bad sector on your drive unit. Only partial data is being extrapolated, while any gaps either remain exposed or only partially filled. As far as I can tell, there isn't a fix for this, other than to install a new main drive unit.

[AaronLS]

I would not suggest replacing your hard drive as a fix for this, unless you actually performed a test the confirmed a problem with the hard drive. Sometimes data gets corrupted silently, but a reinstall should fix this, which you've done. If you had a bad sector on the other hand, that would not result in silent corruption, as most modern hard drives are very good at detecting the problem and throwing an error to the application, simply refusing to read/write to that sector. So without further diagnostics, I wouldn't jump to replacing your hard drive.

If you haven't already, try running on absolute lowest graphics settings. Sometimes an overheating graphics card can cause some strange issues. If it works better with lower settings, then you might want to open it up and make sure you clean dust out of any fans/heatsinks.

Also run a memory diagnostic tool. Sometimes a bad memory module will cause silent corruption.

If you haven't, make sure you update your graphics drivers. I don't know anything about Mac's, so not sure if that' something that is usually updated automatically or not.

[SRV Ron]

If you suspect overheating and have had your computer for a while, it is time to pull the cover off and blow out all of the accumulated dust and hair that collects in there. Be sure to clean any screens on the fan ports. Be careful blowing the dust out of CPU and graphic card fans. You don't want to damage them. Verify that all fans are working before putting the cover back on. Be sure that cooling ports are not being blocked by your desk or other nearby objects.