Backgroud not displaying correctly, and other display issues

[Andthebrain]

Hello,

I am trying to create my first presentation in Impress. I wanted a different look from the stock templates, so I found one online I liked and am using it. My issues is:

The presentation looks just fine while editing it in the "normal' view on both of my computers (specs below). However, it seems to never display consistently on either computer. The issues I am seeing include:
- presentation coming up completely black, even through switching pages.
- background image not showing around boarder while viewing slides.
- animation (slide 6) shows up but the white background is hidden, so the animation appears directly on-top of the background image.
- the rendering glitches are not consistent if one transitions to a slide forward or backwards. i.e., from slide X-1 forward to X may show slide X differently than from X+1 backward to slide X.

Furthermore, the above glitches seem to change randomly by making innocuous changes to the presentation. And, the exact same file displays different subsets of the above glitches on each of my computers. At the moment, the file shows blank on my laptop, but with background errors (background not showing....) on my desktop. Before, the opposite was true.

So, there seems to be no consistent or reliable way to track down the error. I have read that transparent, semi-transparent, or gradients cause problems. I therefore changed the white overlay infront of the background image to be non-transparent, non-gradient (which is was), but this seems not to improve things. If one does not see the above issues, perhaps try changing the white to 10% transparent on the master slide.

I tried switching to the stock template "Dark blue with Orange". It still shows up correctly while editing, but incorrectly while in a slide show. For example, the blue background is not showing up on slides, etc. Playing with the background settings (changing to none, and back to blue on the master slide) made the slideshow come up all black.


The file is at:
http://www.sendmefile.com/00563076


I am running OO 2.2.1 on each of the following two computers:
Desktop Computer:
Pentium 4, 3GHz, 3 Gig ram
Main display: GeForce 6600GT, driver version 6.14.0010.8198 (Dec 2005)
Running multi-monitor.

Laptop Computer:
Toshiba Qosmio G3, 2ghz intel, 1gig ram,
Display: GeForce Go 7600, Driver 6.14.0010.8328 (June 2006)

(Note, saved in powerpoint, the the presentation seems OK, except that many things don't save well (like the semi-transparent things, or the animation.)

So, does this file perform poorly for others? Is this a known issue? What is the best work around?
Brian.

[keme]

On my computer (WinXP, OOo 2.2.1, HP/Compaq desktop with single, onboard display adapter) the presentation seems to be consistent, even when jumping backwards, and when changing transparency or coloration on the background.

Upon opening it complains about resources (folders for graphics?) being unavailable, though, and some of the graphics mentioned in your post are missing. I guess you have linked to them instead of embedding them into the presentation. If so, you need to copy the entire directory structure (or access the files directly over the network) to have a consistent view on different computers. To embed graphics instead of linking to them, make sure the "link" box is not checked when you insert images from file.

[Andthebrain]

I think that I have found the solution to the problem:

I upgraded the video drivers on both computers to the latest.
(Desktop to 6.14.0011.3218 - July 2007)
(Laptop to 6.14.0010.8605 - July 2006)

Now, the presentation seems to display correctly on each machine. With luck, this was the real problem. I guess Impress was just using some features of the NVidia driver which where not quite right.

Which brings up the question of: Why does it render correctly in the editing-mode, but not correctly in full-screen? If this is a common issue, then might it be possible to use the same routines and graphics modes to generate a full screen presentation? That way what one sees while editing is what one gets while doing a slide show?

Thank you, Keme, for looking at the slide show and replying that it works for you!
Brian.

[dcmeagle]

We are having the exact same issue on multiple machines in our computer lab. It seems to be completely random as to what the problems are and is only affecting a few presentations. I have not been able to narrow done why. Has anyone else found a solution other than video card drivers?

[acknak]

I've heard that there have been some graphics bugs fixed in the very latest snapshots. You can try the snapshot now, or the next stable release is due out in the next two weeks. I'm not saying it will definitely fix the problem, but it's always a good idea to at least try the latest version.

[dcmeagle]

Ok, thanks I'll check out the latest snapshot. I'm using the latest stable release currently.