Catalyst 4.1

Junk · Jan 20, 2004, 03:49 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by mike83wvu
Madden 2004 looks very nice. Had little hiccups with the 3.10's.

even with AA enabled? i've had problem with madden and AA since the 3.8 set. i'll post screenshots later, but i've gotta run to class..

strop · Jan 20, 2004, 04:25 PM

Some personal considerations: from what I have seen, the main features of Cat. 4.1 are Overdrive temp monitor for XT series and OpenGL Shading Language improvements.
I have a 9600XT (not Built By ATi) that hasn't overdrive support (maybe no thermal diode on PCB) as for (I think) the 80% of the - no BBA - 9600XT on the market.
I will not use OpenGL Shading Language in near future and until now don't exist games that use this library.
With Cat. 4.1 I have lost 200 points in 3DMark01, no improvements in 3DMark03 and I have lost 2fps in NFSU.
I haven't ever had one problem of stability or others with 3.10.
I back to 3.10

Anyway good job and keep up the good work!

~~Crash Override~~ · Jan 20, 2004, 05:03 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by strop
Some personal considerations: from what I have seen, the main features of Cat. 4.1 are Overdrive temp monitor for XT series and OpenGL Shading Language improvements.
I have a 9600XT (not Built By ATi) that hasn't overdrive support (maybe no thermal diode on PCB) as for (I think) the 80% of the - no BBA - 9600XT on the market.
I will not use OpenGL Shading Language in near future and until now don't exist games that use this library.
With Cat. 4.1 I have lost 200 points in 3DMark01 and no improvements in 3DMark03.
I haven't ever had one problem of stability or others with 3.10.
I back to 3.10

Anyway good job and keep up the good work!

But did you check with games if your experience has improved?

3DMark01 really is more CPU bound than anything else.

I can pretty much guarantee if you were to reboot with all of the items in your taskbar disabled youd get that 200 points back

strop · Jan 20, 2004, 05:14 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Crash Override
But did you check with games if your experience has improved?

With NFSU I have lost exactly 2fps with 4.10. I'm back to 3.10 and now I have those 200 points more in 3DMark01 and those 2fps more in NFSU.

I have tried SW:KOTOR and it's all the same (I think because this is an OpenGL game, not DirectX).
I haven't tried other games...

~~Crash Override~~ · Jan 20, 2004, 05:16 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by strop
With NFSU I have lost exactly 2fps with 4.10. I'm back to 3.10 and now I have those 200 points more in 3DMark01 and those 2fps more in NFSU.
I have tried SW:KOTOR and it's all the same (I think because this is an OpenGL game, not DirectX).
I haven't tried other games...

then i definitely agree a rollback was in order

you need ever frame you can get in underground

im just lucky that my laptop actually seems to perform well in this game for some reason

BWX · Jan 20, 2004, 05:18 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by strop
I'm back to 3.10 and now I have those 200 points more in 3DMark01
I haven't tried other games...

I lost 200 pts in 3dmark 01 also- exact same background apps running, and after several rns- all after fresh reboot... (no background apps)

I'm still using the 4.1's though- they seem to be smoother in games and in the benchmarks.

BWX · Jan 20, 2004, 07:47 PM

Just tested out DX:IW real quick- I think these drivers made a big difference- the game seems much faster. It still has the problem with big huge spots all over the place when trying to enable antialiasing, which it didn't until the patch, and the 3.10 drivers.. I wish they would fix that, because it's actually fast enough now to run AA.

Junk · Jan 20, 2004, 08:22 PM

these screens were taken with 4x AA and 2x AF enabled using my radeon 9600 pro. i have a p4 @ 1.6ghz and dx 9.0b installed.

this is with the 3.7's.

and this is with the 3.8's-4.1's.

(note, the problem isn't the darkness, it's strictly the AA jaggies)

i believe the 3.9 release notes claimed to have fixed the problems with madden..

BWX · Jan 20, 2004, 08:31 PM

I have a question, how do I make a shortcut that will open directly to the 3D tab in the control panel of the 4.1 cats? Is there a file in: C:\ATI\SUPPORT\wxp-w2k-catalyst-7-97-031212a-013118c\CPanel

Or maybe somewhwere in: C:\Program Files\ATI Technologies\ATI Control Panel
that I can link to in order to make a shortcut to do this?

It would be cool if it were that easy.

Robert McClelland · Jan 20, 2004, 10:32 PM

Hey Terry I still have issue with the nirtro with full detial everthing on with trail glow and motion blur screen still goes dark? Does anyone get this? I just leave it off for now either that NFS UG runs great

wolfran · Jan 20, 2004, 11:34 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by rgreen83
I get an error on every reboot "unable to open the file c:\windows\system32\Atmenuxx.CNT." I used driver/cab cleaner in safe mode. Is this the same error others are getting? and is this an old problem or a new one?

Was using Omega 3.10 before
BBATI 9800xt
2500+
NF7-S

That's a problem related to the driver cleaner in the omega driver. It seems to delete this file. However I think that the file "Atmenuxx.cnt" is only related to the ATI help menu. I could be wrong though.

Mac Daddy · Jan 21, 2004, 01:46 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Hellbent
4.1 drivers seem to work well on my 9800Pro. SmartGart appears ok too. I don't see the overdrive tab, though. Is it not supported on the 9800Pro?

Thank in advance for any suggestions

As Dyre mentioned(And I was corrected on by Shadowlady) These features are only available on the 9600ProXT and 9800ProXT !!

Quote:

Originally posted by Dyre Straits
So far, people seem to have better luck if they just install over the top.

I strongly disagree with that comment !!
In fact I recommend removing the current drivers using "add/remove programs" as well as running a driver cleaner. There are several available here on DH as well as those mentioned by CM.
This type of software is the only type that ensures the registry entrys for that driver are removed before installing the new one.

I am very sticky on this (running Official Cats for 24 hours again lol) now back to work and the New release here ..

As mentioned in several reviews here .. proper defraging and system maintenence goes a long way on preventing problems

BetrayerX · Jan 21, 2004, 05:00 AM

I have been installing over old drivers since I got my 9700 back in march03 and I haven't experienced an issue never.........

....until now. This is the first serious issue I had:

I was playing KOTOR and I just beat the Sith governor and when I got out of the Sith Base, the game crashed giving me some really corrupted textures. I managed to move a bit and jumped to my headquarters and saved before I couldn't move it anymore.

System specs:
P4 2.4@2.88GHz It has been running perfectly stable for months in a room with A/C and someserious cooling. It can be stable with no a/c so I personally discard it.
512MB DR 400
9700Pro
DX 9b
WinXP w/all patches available

KOTOR is 1.01 (updated)
Game res: 1280*960
no AA
8x AF

Jst FRAPS running.
I just opened the door of the base....I imagine a short movie was going to show...dunno (someone who passed that can tell if there really is one) then the crash. I managed to send the VPU report.

Another thing...I'm still running without rebooting and everything seems to run perfect (used explorer mozilla, Photoshop, messenger), so if you still think of the cpu....leave it.

Davidgt · Jan 21, 2004, 05:08 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Mac Daddy
As Dyre mentioned(And I was corrected on by Shadowlady) These features are only available on the 9600ProXT and 9800ProXT !!

I strongly disagree with that comment !!
In fact I recommend removing the current drivers using "add/remove programs" as well as running a driver cleaner. There are several available here on DH as well as those mentioned by CM.
This type of software is the only type that ensures the registry entrys for that driver are removed before installing the new one.

I am very sticky on this (running Official Cats for 24 hours again lol) now back to work and the New release here ..
As mentioned in several reviews here .. proper defraging and system maintenence goes a long way on preventing problems

I couldnt run mine for 24 hours....... I submited my dxdaig logs and screen shots to Zardon to give to terry. The 4.1`s just refuse to run on my system without constant vpu recover errors and If i disable vpu recover i get total bsod within 5 mins. Hopefully this is a bug that can be worked out.

dijidiji · Jan 21, 2004, 05:20 AM

Quote:

these screens were taken with 4x AA and 2x AF enabled

My issue is very similar to Junk's. With 3.8 Cats and below, AA is applied correctly to Madden 2004. With any Cats since, AA is not applied *unless* I switch resolutions once the game has start (anytime after the coin toss works). The resolution change will also work if i just change the bit depth (from 1024x768x32 to 1024x768x16, for example).

I would like to be able to run the newer Cats, as they are supposed to have fixes related to face masks not being textured when players are past 15 yards out or so. But switching resolutions every time I load a game gets to be a rather large hassle.

The corresponding Omega's behave in the same manner as any given set of Cats.

Junk · Jan 21, 2004, 05:39 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by dijidiji
My issue is very similar to Junk's. With 3.8 Cats and below, AA is applied correctly to Madden 2004. With any Cats since, AA is not applied *unless* I switch resolutions once the game has start (anytime after the coin toss works). The resolution change will also work if i just change the bit depth (from 1024x768x32 to 1024x768x16, for example).

I would like to be able to run the newer Cats, as they are supposed to have fixes related to face masks not being textured when players are past 15 yards out or so. But switching resolutions every time I load a game gets to be a rather large hassle.

The corresponding Omega's behave in the same manner as any given set of Cats.

i haven't tried changing the screen res in game to see if that fixes my problem. i've been extracting the files from the ati .exe file and replacing the ati3duag.dl_ file with one from the 3.7's.

HolyAvenger · Jan 21, 2004, 10:15 AM

For all who got performance losses, wait for the Omegas. I've lost around the same figures posted here going from Cat 3.9 to 3.10. The Omegas based on 3.10 were up to speed again.

p0rChM0nK3y · Jan 21, 2004, 10:21 AM

These drivers seem to of cured most of Halo's BSOD's.

razor74 · Jan 21, 2004, 10:32 AM

I tried Jedi Academy and DINAMIC GLOW works fine again.

Thanks Terry.

BWX · Jan 21, 2004, 12:10 PM

Antialiasing in TOCA PRO Race Driver does not work- It works up until you select a race, then when you go into the "garage" the AA quits working throughout the race and back into the menu- until you exit game. Basically antialiasing only works in the "office".

I am enabling 4xAA through ATI CP- Strange that a driver would let the game decide whether to have AA on or not- It seems like the driver would override it.

Mac Daddy · Jan 21, 2004, 01:20 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Davidgt
I couldnt run mine for 24 hours....... I submited my dxdaig logs and screen shots to Zardon to give to terry. The 4.1`s just refuse to run on my system without constant vpu recover errors and If i disable vpu recover i get total bsod within 5 mins. Hopefully this is a bug that can be worked out.

I hope so too bro .. Sorry to hear you are having so much trouble

I had no such problems here myself ..........

Bane the ECF · Jan 21, 2004, 01:37 PM

I'm playing America's Army (UT2003 engine) and I'm getting fine lines in my game screen, almost like I'm playing the game through a TV instead of a monitor and I can see refresh lines though my monitor. With the 3.10 drivers I don't get this, and the textures have a nice solid feel in them. I also don't notice any screen problems when I'm in Windows and browsing, etc.

Bane

*CATALYST maker* · Jan 21, 2004, 09:55 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Junk
these screens were taken with 4x AA and 2x AF enabled using my radeon 9600 pro. i have a p4 @ 1.6ghz and dx 9.0b installed.

this is with the 3.7's.

and this is with the 3.8's-4.1's.

(note, the problem isn't the darkness, it's strictly the AA jaggies)

i believe the 3.9 release notes claimed to have fixed the problems with madden..

Guys Madden 2004 does not support AA through the control pane. I.E. there is no way to force it on. NV cards dont do it either. In our earlier driver we did try and force it on but that caused other problems in other games. So we took away the force on AA code.

I dont recall if the game supports AA in the menu but if it does then that is the way to do it.

Thats the update...

BWX · Jan 21, 2004, 10:53 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by CATALYST maker
Guys Madden 2004 does not support AA through the control pane. I.E. there is no way to force it on. NV cards dont do it either. In our earlier driver we did try and force it on but that caused other problems in other games. So we took away the force on AA code.

I dont recall if the game supports AA in the menu but if it does then that is the way to do it.

Thats the update...

Is it the same with Pro Race Driver? If so, is there any way to mod the 4.1 Cats to force AA on in games?

nana · Jan 21, 2004, 10:54 PM

just downloaded FarCry Demo - loads of problems, got wierd shadows and these odd squares appear on my 9800XT 256MB - although from some post at least i can see what is going on and it generally looks ok.

and i am not alone, seems like a general problem:

http://www.rage3d.com/board/showthre...eadid=33737435

http://forums.ubi.com/messages/messa...neral&id=zzfih

http://forums.ubi.com/messages/messa...neral&id=zzfoa

looke like this for the wierd shadoe effect (see last thresd for more info)

NANA

[edit] added another link and pics

*CATALYST maker* · Jan 21, 2004, 10:54 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by BWX232
Is it the same with Pro Race Driver? If so, is there any way to mod the 4.1 Cats to force AA on in games?

yea... forcing on AA through our control panel is not a good idea.

If the game does support it always use the game menu to turn it on

BWX · Jan 22, 2004, 12:10 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by CATALYST maker
yea... forcing on AA through our control panel is not a good idea.

If the game does support it always use the game menu to turn it on

Wow that does suck, so there is no way to play toca race driver with antialiasing? Even though it works in the game until the game loads the "garage area"? Which is the last driver set from ATI that will force AA on in gamnes?

easyrider · Jan 22, 2004, 12:17 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by CATALYST maker
yea... forcing on AA through our control panel is not a good idea.

If the game does support it always use the game menu to turn it on

Ok, just curious here.....correct me if I'm wrong
Your saying we should always use fsaa within the game, instead of the cp slider?

BWX · Jan 22, 2004, 12:24 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by easyrider
Ok, just curious here.....correct me if I'm wrong
Your saying we should always use fsaa within the game, instead of the cp slider?

I think so- but man, that means I'd be stuck with no or just 2x AA in most games... Antialiasing is why I spent 300 dollars on a video card. It really bugs me I cannot force AA on on games anymore.

easyrider · Jan 22, 2004, 12:41 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by BWX232
I think so- but man, that means I'd be stuck with no or just 2x AA in most games... Antialiasing is why I spent 300 dollars on a video card. It really bugs me I cannot force AA on on games anymore.

Well I'm just trying to get things straight before I assume anything.
I to would want to do my preference of aa in games, and that goes for any game, because I had thought that was were ati surpassed nvidia at one time, because if I remember right nvidia did have the better fsaa at one time.
If I am forced to use the games fsaa, that means alot of times there will be no setting for fsaa, and no aa at all, same goes for aniso. I have yet to see an aniso, or fsaa setting in most games, because I had thought that was what the driver control slider in cp was for, to force it to a specific fsaa and aniso level, not leve it up to the game. If things are leaning towards the "game" setting the fsaa and aniso levels, then I won't other spending my hard earned cash on a high end card, becuase it will not do much good.

Again, if I am mistaken, please set me on the right path here.

Jan 20, 2004, 04:25 PM	#92
strop DriverHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Nov 2003 Posts: 29 Rep Power: 0	Some personal considerations: from what I have seen, the main features of Cat. 4.1 are Overdrive temp monitor for XT series and OpenGL Shading Language improvements. I have a 9600XT (not Built By ATi) that hasn't overdrive support (maybe no thermal diode on PCB) as for (I think) the 80% of the - no BBA - 9600XT on the market. I will not use OpenGL Shading Language in near future and until now don't exist games that use this library. With Cat. 4.1 I have lost 200 points in 3DMark01, no improvements in 3DMark03 and I have lost 2fps in NFSU. I haven't ever had one problem of stability or others with 3.10. I back to 3.10 Anyway good job and keep up the good work! Last edited by strop; Jan 20, 2004 at 05:06 PM.

Jan 20, 2004, 07:47 PM	#97
BWX unplugged Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: USNY Posts: 19,665 Rep Power: 109 System Specs	Just tested out DX:IW real quick- I think these drivers made a big difference- the game seems much faster. It still has the problem with big huge spots all over the place when trying to enable antialiasing, which it didn't until the patch, and the 3.10 drivers.. I wish they would fix that, because it's actually fast enough now to run AA. __________________

Jan 20, 2004, 08:31 PM	#99
BWX unplugged Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: USNY Posts: 19,665 Rep Power: 109 System Specs	I have a question, how do I make a shortcut that will open directly to the 3D tab in the control panel of the 4.1 cats? Is there a file in: C:\ATI\SUPPORT\wxp-w2k-catalyst-7-97-031212a-013118c\CPanel Or maybe somewhwere in: C:\Program Files\ATI Technologies\ATI Control Panel that I can link to in order to make a shortcut to do this? It would be cool if it were that easy. __________________

Jan 20, 2004, 10:32 PM	#100
Robert McClelland PAX Tweaker, PAX Expert. Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Somewhere in Wood County Ohio Same Town :) Posts: 10,248 Rep Power: 193 System Specs	Hey Terry I still have issue with the nirtro with full detial everthing on with trail glow and motion blur screen still goes dark? Does anyone get this? I just leave it off for now either that NFS UG runs great __________________ "XTREME AUDIO IS CRAP!" "There no support for it. It's crapist card on face of the earth it should be throw into the sun" http://valid.canardpc.com/show_oc.php?id=2242746

Jan 21, 2004, 05:00 AM	#103
BetrayerX DriverHeaven Lover Join Date: Oct 2003 Posts: 111 Rep Power: 0	I have been installing over old drivers since I got my 9700 back in march03 and I haven't experienced an issue never......... ....until now. This is the first serious issue I had: I was playing KOTOR and I just beat the Sith governor and when I got out of the Sith Base, the game crashed giving me some really corrupted textures. I managed to move a bit and jumped to my headquarters and saved before I couldn't move it anymore. System specs: P4 2.4@2.88GHz It has been running perfectly stable for months in a room with A/C and someserious cooling. It can be stable with no a/c so I personally discard it. 512MB DR 400 9700Pro DX 9b WinXP w/all patches available KOTOR is 1.01 (updated) Game res: 1280*960 no AA 8x AF Jst FRAPS running. I just opened the door of the base....I imagine a short movie was going to show...dunno (someone who passed that can tell if there really is one) then the crash. I managed to send the VPU report. Another thing...I'm still running without rebooting and everything seems to run perfect (used explorer mozilla, Photoshop, messenger), so if you still think of the cpu....leave it. __________________ Are you wise enough to admit your own ignorance?

Jan 20, 2004, 08:22 PM	#98
Junk DriverHeaven Addict Join Date: Nov 2002 Posts: 395 Rep Power: 0	these screens were taken with 4x AA and 2x AF enabled using my radeon 9600 pro. i have a p4 @ 1.6ghz and dx 9.0b installed. this is with the 3.7's. and this is with the 3.8's-4.1's. (note, the problem isn't the darkness, it's strictly the AA jaggies) i believe the 3.9 release notes claimed to have fixed the problems with madden..

Jan 21, 2004, 10:15 AM	#107
HolyAvenger DriverHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Dec 2003 Posts: 83 Rep Power: 0	For all who got performance losses, wait for the Omegas. I've lost around the same figures posted here going from Cat 3.9 to 3.10. The Omegas based on 3.10 were up to speed again.

Jan 21, 2004, 10:21 AM	#108
p0rChM0nK3y DriverHeaven Lover Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Oceanside, CA Posts: 179 Rep Power: 0	These drivers seem to of cured most of Halo's BSOD's. __________________ Intel Pentium 4c 2.6 @ 3.1ghz (27c idle, 34c load) Asus P4P800 Corsair XMS 2x512mb DDR400 Maxtor MaXline III 250gb SATA150 Plextor DVD-RW PX-716A Samsung Syncmaster 17" Antec Sonata II w/ Antec SmartPower 2.0 Windows XP Pro

Jan 21, 2004, 10:32 AM	#109
razor74 DriverHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Bucharest, Romania Posts: 34 Rep Power: 0	I tried Jedi Academy and DINAMIC GLOW works fine again. Thanks Terry.

Jan 21, 2004, 12:10 PM	#110
BWX unplugged Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: USNY Posts: 19,665 Rep Power: 109 System Specs	Antialiasing in TOCA PRO Race Driver does not work- It works up until you select a race, then when you go into the "garage" the AA quits working throughout the race and back into the menu- until you exit game. Basically antialiasing only works in the "office". I am enabling 4xAA through ATI CP- Strange that a driver would let the game decide whether to have AA on or not- It seems like the driver would override it. __________________

Jan 21, 2004, 01:37 PM	#112
Bane the ECF DriverHeaven Lover Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Phoenix, AZ Posts: 220 Rep Power: 0	I'm playing America's Army (UT2003 engine) and I'm getting fine lines in my game screen, almost like I'm playing the game through a TV instead of a monitor and I can see refresh lines though my monitor. With the 3.10 drivers I don't get this, and the textures have a nice solid feel in them. I also don't notice any screen problems when I'm in Windows and browsing, etc. Bane __________________ ASUS K8N-E Motherboard Athlon 64 3200+ 10x200MHz Zalman CNPS7000A-Cu Heatsink & Fan 2x512MB Mushkin Black Level 2 PC-3500 ATi Radeon X800 SE 256MB 100GB Western Digital SE 8MB 7200RPM 320GB Seagate 8MB 7200 RPM Sound Blaster Audigy 2 Sony 19" E400 Trinitron Thermaltake Xaser III V2000A All-Aluminum Logitech Z-5300 5.1 Surround Sound

Jan 21, 2004, 10:54 PM	#115
nana DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Oct 2003 Posts: 8 Rep Power: 0	just downloaded FarCry Demo - loads of problems, got wierd shadows and these odd squares appear on my 9800XT 256MB - although from some post at least i can see what is going on and it generally looks ok. and i am not alone, seems like a general problem: http://www.rage3d.com/board/showthre...eadid=33737435 http://forums.ubi.com/messages/messa...neral&id=zzfih http://forums.ubi.com/messages/messa...neral&id=zzfoa looke like this for the wierd shadoe effect (see last thresd for more info) NANA [edit] added another link and pics Last edited by nana; Jan 22, 2004 at 09:35 AM.