I'm wondering if anyone has seen this one. I've seen it on just about every 3D card I've owned, and the new 5900 is no exception. I'm trying to figure out if it's a driver bug, a common game bug, or what. (I'm up to date on all my drivers by the way.)

Let's say you've got a scene with a lot of "mist" or "fog" effect to it. In other words, distant objects recede into the fog until there's nothing visible in the distance. The more distant the object, the more it is overlaid by the color of the mist.

Sometimes there will be one object in the scene that doesn't "obey the fog". If it is a distant object, it can be seen clearly through the fog even at a great distance. If the graphics engine was using the fog to reduce polygon counts for distant objects, you will often see this "rogue object" pop into existence as you approach it, instead of fade into place with the other objects.

Examples where I've seen this:

- The later levels in Unreal 2 where you're onboard a V'Ger-style cyborg planet. Some of the wall panels have this problem.

- In the 3DMark2003 "Nature" demo. There is a distant set of polygons representing mountains or something, and instead of being fogged, they are sharp and clear. Also, when the scene fades in and fades out (to black) the distant mountains stay fully lit during the fade, allowing them to be silhouetted against the black trees.

Doesn't happen very often, it's pretty rare. But when you see it, you'll recognize it. Anyone else seen this?