DH Article: Farcry Patch 1.2 Performance And IQ investigation

***Veridian3*** · Jul 5, 2004, 02:51 AM

"In a few hours Ubisoft/Crytek will be releasing the much anticipated patch for Farcry which upgrades the game to version 1.2. As per most game updates there are various performance tweaks and bug fixes however in FarCry 1.2 we have the addition of Shader Model 3.0 features for Geforce 6800 series cards.

<img src="http://www.hardwareheaven.com/articles/farcrypatch/6800U/6800_For_Comparesmall.jpg" width="300" height="225" border="1">

Today we are going to take a short look at what performance increases you can expect from the patch, and how IQ is impacted …if you’re a Radeon user the IQ section especially makes for interesting reading."

Full Article

UPDATE 05/07/04

We have been in discussions with ATI/Crytek today over the issues we discovered with Radeon X800 rendering as detailed in the above article. Crytek have confirmed that the FarCry 1.2 build released today will no longer have these issues and that X800 IQ will be just as good in Patch 1.2 as it was in 1.1.

IamLakota · Jul 5, 2004, 03:18 AM

Wow nice artical veridian3, the way you had the page laid out with all the comparison graphs all together was a treat way better than having to scroll through several pages to see all the comparisons.
Now though I wonder if the issues which I assume your saying hurt the radeon cards,are caused by shader3.0 and the because the radeons will only due 2.0 there in lays the problem.
I'm thinking Ati needs to ad support for shader 3.0 or they are gonna loose some customer base,
I mean FarCry came out of know where and blew a lot of us away with it's great graphics and in my oppinion is the game of the year, but if other upcoming games are gonna beable to or use shader3.0 then the radeon cards are gonna be left in the dust.Is support for this shader hardware derived or can it be implimented through a driver update for radeon cards??? Are HL2/Doom3 goning to support shader3.0??? or are they goning to be released with shader2.0 but possibly have shader 3.0 activated
at a later date through a patch like farcry, if so I'm thinking it's time for a new card a 6800 ultra.

No_Style · Jul 5, 2004, 03:30 AM

I don't own an X800 PRO, so what does this mean for me? All good? If this patch delivers texture issues across all Radeon boards, it's developer bias at an all time high.

As for SM 3.0. It's great to see a game start to use it. Problem is, at the present moment SP2 is not out and DX9.0c is not officially out. And how many people own a 6800? I think this "performance" increase is targetted towards the enthusiast crowd. (Small percentage of the market) The general user will find more gratification with the bug fixes and gameplay tuning. Will ATI lose customers due to lack of SM3.0? Simply, no. So far this is the only game where SM 3.0 shows moderate improvements in certain situations and quite frankly Far Cry isn't the only game I play

P.S - I like the image in the background of the graphs. Nice affect. I also agree with the graphs in one page thing. If it were a little bigger, it would be easier on the eyes.

TyrionX · Jul 5, 2004, 03:59 AM

This smells like foul play. Crytek said that the reason they were delaying the patch so long was so that there would be absolutely no bugs in it; if there is indeed texture problems on X800 with the 1.2 patch, then they definitely screwed up and lied to us.

Chaos · Jul 5, 2004, 04:29 AM

Nice article Stu, and thanks for the ATi related issue feedback. It pisses me off that they would release a patch that benifits the nvidiots and cripple ATi cards, that is just pond scum, sand sucking, bribery i say

dpagan · Jul 5, 2004, 05:27 AM

it is disapointing but in my opinion ati should take a more active roll with developers and i mean newcomers and small development houses not just the big dogs i have to give nvidia credit they support all, who knew cry tek would come out with something this big nvidia took a gamble and it paid off, i also read that they are many new releases coming out that will support ps3.0, many will be pissed at nvidia but those who purchase there hardware won't due to fact that nvidia is taking an active roll in making sure there hardware runs great in any game they support can we blame them for doing that, hell no, it's not only good for there comsumers it's also good for business which in my eyes makes sense.

*update*
just in case i don't agree with the patch messing up ati's IQ, maybe it has something to do with the patch running in ps3.0 since the x800's support long shader codes it might be trying to run the x800's in ps3.0 also and thats where the corruption is coming from, hell who knows

TyrionX · Jul 5, 2004, 05:40 AM

But Dpagan, the guys at Crytek said that the reason why the patch was taking so long was due to them making sure there was no problems..there's no reason why there should be such a huge problem as that, it's too huge for them to just have ignored...

dpagan · Jul 5, 2004, 05:49 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by TyrionX
But Dpagan, the guys at Crytek said that the reason why the patch was taking so long was due to them making sure there was no problems..there's no reason why there should be such a huge problem as that, it's too huge for them to just have ignored...

i agree they should had made sure IQ was up par with all hardware regardless of brand, this would be a low blow that can stain there PR and hurt them in the long run, but who knows maybe they'll get feedback from those who had the patch for review and hold on release till this issue is resolved, but then again i haven't seen too many patches released for review before they go official maybe they where waiting on feedback, i guess we'll find out soon enough

Omegadrive · Jul 5, 2004, 06:03 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Chaos
It pisses me off that they would release a patch that benifits the nvidiots and cripple ATi cards, that is just pond scum, sand sucking, bribery i say

Well said, developers are getting TOO EASY to buy ($$$$) these days.

~~Helios_D~~ · Jul 5, 2004, 07:26 AM

I think too many people are making quick judgments on Ubisoft/CryTek even before they have the necessary information on why the texture corruption is occurring. And the author doesn't help this situation by using phrases like "complete disgrace."

Who knows? Maybe the problem is just confined to the X800 series of cards. Or, maybe ATI needs to fix something with their Catalyst drivers. The Catalyst drivers are known to fix some and break some--what's the surprise here? I had to revert back to the v4.4 just to play Thief 3. I'm not bitching about it. That's just ATi for you.

Wait till there is more info.

Dom · Jul 5, 2004, 07:33 AM

Kick booty article, V, and nice design, Z.

Danhill · Jul 5, 2004, 07:43 AM

Nice article V, I will stay away from 1,2.

mike2h · Jul 5, 2004, 08:15 AM

ati screwed up by not adding any NEW tech to their new gen of cards. they ARE going to pay the price. i also believe they will have an awnser this fall. this little war between them is GREAT. you fanboys need to get a life.

mike2h · Jul 5, 2004, 08:20 AM

of course the flip side to the awful iq for ati is maybe they disabled some sort of ati cheat so both cards would be on an 'equal' footing?
just playing devils advocate.

snake · Jul 5, 2004, 09:19 AM

At least

***Veridian3*** · Jul 5, 2004, 10:45 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Helios_D
I think too many people are making quick judgments on Ubisoft/CryTek even before they have the necessary information on why the texture corruption is occurring. And the author doesn't help this situation by using phrases like "complete disgrace."

Who knows? Maybe the problem is just confined to the X800 series of cards. Or, maybe ATI needs to fix something with their Catalyst drivers. The Catalyst drivers are known to fix some and break some--what's the surprise here? I had to revert back to the v4.4 just to play Thief 3. I'm not bitching about it. That's just ATi for you.

Wait till there is more info.

Farcry 1.1 with a X800 and cat 4.6 or a beta version = perfect IQ. Change the patch to 1.2 and both drivers show this concern. Thats not a driver bug, thats the patch breaking things...Crytek are responsible for releasing a patch which works, especially so when previous versions of the same game worked fine. They have chosen not to fix such an obvious and serious bug and i stand by my statement...its a complete disgrace, regardless of the reason.

~~Helios_D~~ · Jul 5, 2004, 10:55 AM

Does anyone know if the v1.2 patch will also mess up the IQ on the ATI 9800 Pro??

I don't want to find out the hard way.

Ev!L-aLphA · Jul 5, 2004, 11:25 AM

Very Very nice article

when i get back to america ill be d/ling the patch :P
and i got a 9800 pro and i dont think it does to image curruption or any thing like that .. only on the x800

Bart1987 · Jul 5, 2004, 01:37 PM

in the artical it says

Quote:

If you are a Radeon user the IQ section in particular makes for interesting reading

. It's not specified as a x800 specific corruption. But an ati specific corruption. I'm not sure if it will work well on any ati based card.

Zardon · Jul 5, 2004, 01:54 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Bart1987
in the artical it says . It's not specified as a x800 specific corruption. But an ati specific corruption. I'm not sure if it will work well on any ati based card.

thats because we arent sure if it is a X800 specific corruption. ill try on a 9800XT later.

ToP3koms · Jul 5, 2004, 02:11 PM

I just can not believe CryTek and ATI could not get together on this issue,how long have they been working on this patch ? and there just gonna let it out like this ? If it does affect all radeon users just think how many gamers they will have alienated with their patch.I'm just amazed that they would even release this patch given the obvious issues it has,what nobody at CryTek even has an ATI card or something? What a joke

Bart1987 · Jul 5, 2004, 02:15 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Zardon
thats because we arent sure if it is a X800 specific corruption. ill try on a 9800XT later.

I hope to hear those results soon.

dipstick · Jul 5, 2004, 03:02 PM

Damn, ATi needs pay developers like nVidia does. They are making the big $$$ now supposedly so why are they not sending some X800 boards their way? I think some of the blame for this goes to ATi too..

***Veridian3*** · Jul 5, 2004, 03:06 PM

Crytek have X800 boards.

Zardon · Jul 5, 2004, 03:08 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by dipstick
Damn, ATi needs pay developers like nVidia does. They are making the big $$$ now supposedly so why are they not sending some X800 boards their way? I think some of the blame for this goes to ATi too..

its a little more complex than that.

Zardon · Jul 5, 2004, 03:33 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Bart1987
in the artical it says . It's not specified as a x800 specific corruption. But an ati specific corruption. I'm not sure if it will work well on any ati based card.

looks like its a X800 specific problem... the 9800XT is fine with the patch. certainly has been in my testing for the last hour.

Bart1987 · Jul 5, 2004, 03:39 PM

That's good news for ati users who don't have an X800 card, like me

dipstick · Jul 5, 2004, 03:47 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Zardon
its a little more complex than that.

I'm sure it is but ATi needs to jump in the game. It's always ATi that gets the short end of the stick. Not sure why but its definitely true from what I've seen in the last few years. I will give nVIdia credit though, they push their cards/features right down everyones throat. ATi needs to do the same

***Veridian3*** · Jul 5, 2004, 04:14 PM

I've just finished speaking to Crytek, they will be releasing a build of patch 1.2 today which does not cause issues on the X800 . The flower issue may not be fixed though.

ToP3koms · Jul 5, 2004, 04:44 PM

I have to agree with what dipstick is saying ,ATI should stop taking all the hits and show a little might of their own.I can tell you if Doom 3 comes out and has issues with my X800XT and ATI's drivers and we have to wait for a driver update I'll be seriously considering e-baying it and going Nvidia.The game has been in development for so long there should be no excuses.

On the other hand it's good to hear that CryTek will be offering an X800 friendly patch as well.

Jul 5, 2004, 02:51 AM	#1
*Veridian3* Administrator Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Cloaked Posts: 4,835 Rep Power: 174	DH Article: Farcry Patch 1.2 Performance And IQ investigation "In a few hours Ubisoft/Crytek will be releasing the much anticipated patch for Farcry which upgrades the game to version 1.2. As per most game updates there are various performance tweaks and bug fixes however in FarCry 1.2 we have the addition of Shader Model 3.0 features for Geforce 6800 series cards. <img src="http://www.hardwareheaven.com/articles/farcrypatch/6800U/6800_For_Comparesmall.jpg" width="300" height="225" border="1"> Today we are going to take a short look at what performance increases you can expect from the patch, and how IQ is impacted …if you’re a Radeon user the IQ section especially makes for interesting reading." Full Article UPDATE 05/07/04 We have been in discussions with ATI/Crytek today over the issues we discovered with Radeon X800 rendering as detailed in the above article. Crytek have confirmed that the FarCry 1.2 build released today will no longer have these issues and that X800 IQ will be just as good in Patch 1.2 as it was in 1.1.

Jul 5, 2004, 03:18 AM	#2
IamLakota HardwareHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Viriginia Posts: 552 Rep Power: 0	Wow nice artical veridian3, the way you had the page laid out with all the comparison graphs all together was a treat way better than having to scroll through several pages to see all the comparisons. Now though I wonder if the issues which I assume your saying hurt the radeon cards,are caused by shader3.0 and the because the radeons will only due 2.0 there in lays the problem. I'm thinking Ati needs to ad support for shader 3.0 or they are gonna loose some customer base, I mean FarCry came out of know where and blew a lot of us away with it's great graphics and in my oppinion is the game of the year, but if other upcoming games are gonna beable to or use shader3.0 then the radeon cards are gonna be left in the dust.Is support for this shader hardware derived or can it be implimented through a driver update for radeon cards??? Are HL2/Doom3 goning to support shader3.0??? or are they goning to be released with shader2.0 but possibly have shader 3.0 activated at a later date through a patch like farcry, if so I'm thinking it's time for a new card a 6800 ultra. __________________ Harley Davidson: If You Have To Ask You Wouldn't Understand!!! System Specs: Mobo:Asus P6T Deluxe V2,intel i7 920,2x BFG GTX 250 oc in SLI,Corsair 6gigs tri channel pc12800CL8 2xWD Velociraptor's 2x74gig WD Raptor , X-Fi Fatal1ty Titainium,HANNS-G HG281HD 1080p 28" monitor,Coolermaster HAF/922,PC-PWR&Cooling Sliencer 750,CoolerMaster V8 HSF

Jul 5, 2004, 03:30 AM	#3
No_Style Styleless Wonder Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Ottawa, Ontario Posts: 6,034 Rep Power: 0	Good Work I don't own an X800 PRO, so what does this mean for me? All good? If this patch delivers texture issues across all Radeon boards, it's developer bias at an all time high. As for SM 3.0. It's great to see a game start to use it. Problem is, at the present moment SP2 is not out and DX9.0c is not officially out. And how many people own a 6800? I think this "performance" increase is targetted towards the enthusiast crowd. (Small percentage of the market) The general user will find more gratification with the bug fixes and gameplay tuning. Will ATI lose customers due to lack of SM3.0? Simply, no. So far this is the only game where SM 3.0 shows moderate improvements in certain situations and quite frankly Far Cry isn't the only game I play P.S - I like the image in the background of the graphs. Nice affect. I also agree with the graphs in one page thing. If it were a little bigger, it would be easier on the eyes. __________________ "The Best Style Is No Style" Specifications Here

Jul 5, 2004, 04:29 AM	#5
Chaos Number Nine Join Date: May 2002 Location: Nova Scotia Posts: 5,269 Rep Power: 165 System Specs	Nice article Stu, and thanks for the ATi related issue feedback. It pisses me off that they would release a patch that benifits the nvidiots and cripple ATi cards, that is just pond scum, sand sucking, bribery i say __________________

Jul 5, 2004, 05:27 AM	#6
dpagan DriverHeaven Lover Join Date: Apr 2004 Posts: 249 Rep Power: 0	it is disapointing but in my opinion ati should take a more active roll with developers and i mean newcomers and small development houses not just the big dogs i have to give nvidia credit they support all, who knew cry tek would come out with something this big nvidia took a gamble and it paid off, i also read that they are many new releases coming out that will support ps3.0, many will be pissed at nvidia but those who purchase there hardware won't due to fact that nvidia is taking an active roll in making sure there hardware runs great in any game they support can we blame them for doing that, hell no, it's not only good for there comsumers it's also good for business which in my eyes makes sense. update just in case i don't agree with the patch messing up ati's IQ, maybe it has something to do with the patch running in ps3.0 since the x800's support long shader codes it might be trying to run the x800's in ps3.0 also and thats where the corruption is coming from, hell who knows Last edited by dpagan; Jul 5, 2004 at 05:37 AM.

Jul 5, 2004, 03:59 AM	#4
TyrionX DriverHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Apr 2004 Posts: 44 Rep Power: 0	This smells like foul play. Crytek said that the reason they were delaying the patch so long was so that there would be absolutely no bugs in it; if there is indeed texture problems on X800 with the 1.2 patch, then they definitely screwed up and lied to us.

Jul 5, 2004, 05:40 AM	#7
TyrionX DriverHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Apr 2004 Posts: 44 Rep Power: 0	But Dpagan, the guys at Crytek said that the reason why the patch was taking so long was due to them making sure there was no problems..there's no reason why there should be such a huge problem as that, it's too huge for them to just have ignored...

Jul 5, 2004, 07:26 AM	#10
~~Helios_D~~ Banned Join Date: Jun 2004 Posts: 34 Rep Power: 0	I think too many people are making quick judgments on Ubisoft/CryTek even before they have the necessary information on why the texture corruption is occurring. And the author doesn't help this situation by using phrases like "complete disgrace." Who knows? Maybe the problem is just confined to the X800 series of cards. Or, maybe ATI needs to fix something with their Catalyst drivers. The Catalyst drivers are known to fix some and break some--what's the surprise here? I had to revert back to the v4.4 just to play Thief 3. I'm not bitching about it. That's just ATi for you. Wait till there is more info.

Jul 5, 2004, 07:33 AM	#11
Dom DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Jun 2002 Posts: 12,940 Rep Power: 0	Kick booty article, V, and nice design, Z.

Jul 5, 2004, 07:43 AM	#12
Danhill DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: May 2003 Location: Sweden Posts: 4,112 Rep Power: 0	Nice article V, I will stay away from 1,2. __________________ MOBO: [color=white]ASUS A8N-SLI Premium[/color] CPU: AMD 64 3200+ (Venice) @ 2,50 Ghz MEM: 2 x 512 DDR 466, VGA: 2 x 6600 GT in SLI, HDD1: WD Raptor HDD2: Maxtor Diamond Plus 9, Case: Antec Plus View 1080, PSU: ThermalTake PurePower 500W, MX 1000, Dell 2001 FP, Aud. 2 SZ

Jul 5, 2004, 08:15 AM	#13
mike2h DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: norcal Posts: 6,483 Rep Power: 89 System Specs	ati screwed up by not adding any NEW tech to their new gen of cards. they ARE going to pay the price. i also believe they will have an awnser this fall. this little war between them is GREAT. you fanboys need to get a life. __________________

Jul 5, 2004, 08:20 AM	#14
mike2h DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: norcal Posts: 6,483 Rep Power: 89 System Specs	of course the flip side to the awful iq for ati is maybe they disabled some sort of ati cheat so both cards would be on an 'equal' footing? just playing devils advocate. __________________

Jul 5, 2004, 09:19 AM	#15
snake HardwareHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: France Posts: 421 Rep Power: 60 System Specs	At least __________________ i7 930@4Ghz-DFI T3EH6-6Go OCZPC12800-GTX480+8800GT Barton 2600+@2.16 (188x11.5) # GeForce 6800 GT@Ultra 1.5Go PC3200 #Asus A7N8X Deluxe Bios 1008 26397 3DMark06/ 57736 3DMark01/163152 Aquamark3

Jul 5, 2004, 10:55 AM	#17
~~Helios_D~~ Banned Join Date: Jun 2004 Posts: 34 Rep Power: 0	Does anyone know if the v1.2 patch will also mess up the IQ on the ATI 9800 Pro?? I don't want to find out the hard way.

Jul 5, 2004, 11:25 AM	#18
Ev!L-aLphA \| n f e c t e D Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: California Posts: 4,111 Rep Power: 60	Very Very nice article when i get back to america ill be d/ling the patch :P and i got a 9800 pro and i dont think it does to image curruption or any thing like that .. only on the x800 __________________ R.I.P 8/8/04 4/21/08

Jul 5, 2004, 02:11 PM	#21
ToP3koms Respect Human Rights Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: MD. US Posts: 149 Rep Power: 0	I just can not believe CryTek and ATI could not get together on this issue,how long have they been working on this patch ? and there just gonna let it out like this ? If it does affect all radeon users just think how many gamers they will have alienated with their patch.I'm just amazed that they would even release this patch given the obvious issues it has,what nobody at CryTek even has an ATI card or something? What a joke

Jul 5, 2004, 03:02 PM	#23
dipstick HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: May 2002 Location: USA Posts: 3,609 Rep Power: 70 System Specs	Damn, ATi needs pay developers like nVidia does. They are making the big $$$ now supposedly so why are they not sending some X800 boards their way? I think some of the blame for this goes to ATi too..

Jul 5, 2004, 03:06 PM	Thread Starter #24
*Veridian3* Administrator Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Cloaked Posts: 4,835 Rep Power: 174	Crytek have X800 boards.

Jul 5, 2004, 03:39 PM	#27
Bart1987 DriverHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: The Netherlands Posts: 634 Rep Power: 0	That's good news for ati users who don't have an X800 card, like me

Jul 5, 2004, 04:14 PM	Thread Starter #29
*Veridian3* Administrator Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Cloaked Posts: 4,835 Rep Power: 174	I've just finished speaking to Crytek, they will be releasing a build of patch 1.2 today which does not cause issues on the X800 . The flower issue may not be fixed though.

Jul 5, 2004, 04:44 PM	#30
ToP3koms Respect Human Rights Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: MD. US Posts: 149 Rep Power: 0	I have to agree with what dipstick is saying ,ATI should stop taking all the hits and show a little might of their own.I can tell you if Doom 3 comes out and has issues with my X800XT and ATI's drivers and we have to wait for a driver update I'll be seriously considering e-baying it and going Nvidia.The game has been in development for so long there should be no excuses. On the other hand it's good to hear that CryTek will be offering an X800 friendly patch as well.