Could Omega be the answer?

jmh78 · Oct 28, 2004, 02:08 PM

Please Help!

I am running a Dell 8500 laptop with Radeon Mobility 9000, and MS Flight Simulator 2004 won't run. I'm met with the following message:

"The drivers currently installed for your video card may cause your computer to stop responding when Flight Simulator is running. Click Yes to search for newer drivers, or No to continue in software mode. Some graphical features may not appear in software mode."

When I run DXDIAG, the option to enable 3D acceleration is greyed out and unavailable.

IS THE ANSWER TO UPGRADE TO THE NEW OMEGA DRIVER based on the Catalyst 8.07 drivers?

I read somewhere that the Mobility 9000 card wasn't compatible with DirectX9, but my older laptop running GeForce2 was very happy with Flight Sim 2004 and DirectX 9!

Thanks

JMH78

YAYitsAndrew · Oct 28, 2004, 02:47 PM

You may wanna try updating your motherboard's chipset drivers. I know on my old socket a board if I didn't have the latest nforce drivers installed I couldn't enable AGP.

There's a difference between having directx 9 installed and being able to use it. Some card just can't use it. I have an old laptop with a mobility 7500 in it that isn't dx9 compliant, and no dx9 games will work on it. They'll run, but everything will be shades of black and transparent. I'm not sure if your mobility 9000 would fall in this category, you'll have to wait for someone more knowledgeable to answer.

OldBuzzard · Oct 28, 2004, 03:15 PM

There is a file "display.cfg" located in the FS9 main folder that you can edit to see just what that 9000 is capable of in FS9.

Back it up first, and then open it in NOTEPAD, and comment out (they use the ; for that) all entries for the 9000. That should allow you to get past the error notificatio and alow you to run the sim.
I did something similar with CFS3 when I was on my old system that had a (shudder) Savage 2000 and forced the game to allow me to use it. It was 'barely playable' and then only at absolute minimum settings, and had horrible (even for CFS3) frame rates. Don't be suprised if you see the the same thing with FS9. That puppy needs a LOT of CPU/GUP power and a lot of memory. Even with my current system, I can't max out the vid settings in FS9. I just don't have enough GPU for that.

jmh78 · Oct 29, 2004, 09:10 AM

Thanks for the tips, but I just can't believe FS9 simply won't play because of the graphics card's incompatibility. My older laptop played it fine, and DirectX was only on version 7 back then!!

Has anyone else got any thoughts?

Thanks

OldBuzzard · Oct 29, 2004, 10:39 AM

I just looked at my installed flight sims, CFS1,CFS2,CFS3, FS2002, and FS9/FS2004. CFS1 is the only one that does not have that DISPLAY.CFG file (except that in CFS3 it's named CFS3CONFIGDATABASE.TXT). They use those files to 'look' at your vid card, and also compare what driver version you are using. In their testing of the game, someone has determined that your card is will not be able to display the game properly. If you want to TRY to play the game on your current setup, you will have to edit that file in the way that I have previously stated. I did that with CFS3, and found that they DID know what they were doing as regards to vid card capabilities vs. game requirements.

If you ran a MS flight sim in the Dx 7 days it was most likely FS98 or FS2000, as FS2000 came with DX7 on the installation CD. You certainly did not run FS9 on that system, and there is a world of difference between FS2000 and 2004.

Like I said, you can modify that file and TRY to run FS9 on that system, but I'm betting that it will be a slideshow with FPS in the 8-10 range IF you are lucky. I doubt that it would help, but have you also installed the FS2004 patch?

jmh78 · Oct 29, 2004, 11:09 AM

On my old Dell Inspiron 8100 I was running FS2004 with a GeForce2 I think it was. So DirectX9 was developed well after my laptop had been.

I think there's a subtle difference between 1. being able to play Flight Sim 2004 and 2. being able to access its advanced DirectX9 features including some of the fancy rendering and graphics. For the latter, I accept that you do need a DirectX9 compatible card, but given that these have only been around a short while, I simply cannot believe that Microsoft would alienate all users with pre-2003 pcs/laptops by demanding Direct9-designed graphics cards for FS2004. Anyway, the fact that my Inspiron 8100 (2001 vintage) was happy with FS2004 (yes, 2004, as well as 2002 and 2000) proves this.

So the issue really is getting the Radeon Mobility 9000 to simply work with Directx9, rather than access the most advanced features of Directx9 games.

Really I need to speak to someone senior at ATI/Dell, but it's so hard to get hold of them...

jmh78 · Oct 29, 2004, 01:56 PM

Also, here's a Directx9 game but it lists Radeon Mobility as supported:

http://www.gamershell.com/news/9716.html

OldBuzzard · Oct 29, 2004, 10:48 PM

OK...I just looked at my FS2004 install CD #1 and in the README.RTF file they do mention the 9000 as having issues with resolutions greater than 1024 x 768. So, it does appear to be supported.

That leaves the driver version as your next step. You never did say just what driver version you are using. I'd suggest that you start with the latest CATs first and see what happens. Some games like the latest driver versions, and others don't. I know that at one time IL2 FB ran better on drivers that were about 3-4 generations older than the current ones.

I know that on my system I did get a pretty decent increase in FPS in FS2004 with the CAT 4.10's, but I had to go back to the 4.9's because I could not view videos in WMP with the 4.10's installed.

Oct 28, 2004, 02:47 PM	#2
YAYitsAndrew Anti-Piracy Poster Boy Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: NJ Posts: 2,605 Rep Power: 79 System Specs	You may wanna try updating your motherboard's chipset drivers. I know on my old socket a board if I didn't have the latest nforce drivers installed I couldn't enable AGP. There's a difference between having directx 9 installed and being able to use it. Some card just can't use it. I have an old laptop with a mobility 7500 in it that isn't dx9 compliant, and no dx9 games will work on it. They'll run, but everything will be shades of black and transparent. I'm not sure if your mobility 9000 would fall in this category, you'll have to wait for someone more knowledgeable to answer. __________________ "It is because the resistance to paying for copyrighted material, although often characterized as arising from a supposed technical burden or principled concern for the public interest, arises rather from exactly the same segment of the brain that is dominant in shoplifters." - Mark Helprin, Digital Barbarism In other words, it's never okay to steal even if you think you have a good reason! www.yayitsandrew.com

Oct 28, 2004, 03:15 PM	#3
OldBuzzard DH's oldest Geek Join Date: May 2003 Location: Oberlin, OH Posts: 2,783 Rep Power: 145 System Specs	There is a file "display.cfg" located in the FS9 main folder that you can edit to see just what that 9000 is capable of in FS9. Back it up first, and then open it in NOTEPAD, and comment out (they use the ; for that) all entries for the 9000. That should allow you to get past the error notificatio and alow you to run the sim. I did something similar with CFS3 when I was on my old system that had a (shudder) Savage 2000 and forced the game to allow me to use it. It was 'barely playable' and then only at absolute minimum settings, and had horrible (even for CFS3) frame rates. Don't be suprised if you see the the same thing with FS9. That puppy needs a LOT of CPU/GUP power and a lot of memory. Even with my current system, I can't max out the vid settings in FS9. I just don't have enough GPU for that. __________________ When looking for a reason as to why things go wrong, never rule out sheer STUPIDITY

Oct 29, 2004, 10:39 AM	#5
OldBuzzard DH's oldest Geek Join Date: May 2003 Location: Oberlin, OH Posts: 2,783 Rep Power: 145 System Specs	I just looked at my installed flight sims, CFS1,CFS2,CFS3, FS2002, and FS9/FS2004. CFS1 is the only one that does not have that DISPLAY.CFG file (except that in CFS3 it's named CFS3CONFIGDATABASE.TXT). They use those files to 'look' at your vid card, and also compare what driver version you are using. In their testing of the game, someone has determined that your card is will not be able to display the game properly. If you want to TRY to play the game on your current setup, you will have to edit that file in the way that I have previously stated. I did that with CFS3, and found that they DID know what they were doing as regards to vid card capabilities vs. game requirements. If you ran a MS flight sim in the Dx 7 days it was most likely FS98 or FS2000, as FS2000 came with DX7 on the installation CD. You certainly did not run FS9 on that system, and there is a world of difference between FS2000 and 2004. Like I said, you can modify that file and TRY to run FS9 on that system, but I'm betting that it will be a slideshow with FPS in the 8-10 range IF you are lucky. I doubt that it would help, but have you also installed the FS2004 patch? __________________ When looking for a reason as to why things go wrong, never rule out sheer STUPIDITY

Oct 29, 2004, 10:48 PM	#8
OldBuzzard DH's oldest Geek Join Date: May 2003 Location: Oberlin, OH Posts: 2,783 Rep Power: 145 System Specs	OK...I just looked at my FS2004 install CD #1 and in the README.RTF file they do mention the 9000 as having issues with resolutions greater than 1024 x 768. So, it does appear to be supported. That leaves the driver version as your next step. You never did say just what driver version you are using. I'd suggest that you start with the latest CATs first and see what happens. Some games like the latest driver versions, and others don't. I know that at one time IL2 FB ran better on drivers that were about 3-4 generations older than the current ones. I know that on my system I did get a pretty decent increase in FPS in FS2004 with the CAT 4.10's, but I had to go back to the 4.9's because I could not view videos in WMP with the 4.10's installed. __________________ When looking for a reason as to why things go wrong, never rule out sheer STUPIDITY

Oct 28, 2004, 02:08 PM	#1
jmh78 DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Oct 2004 Posts: 4 Rep Power: 0	Could Omega be the answer? Please Help! I am running a Dell 8500 laptop with Radeon Mobility 9000, and MS Flight Simulator 2004 won't run. I'm met with the following message: "The drivers currently installed for your video card may cause your computer to stop responding when Flight Simulator is running. Click Yes to search for newer drivers, or No to continue in software mode. Some graphical features may not appear in software mode." When I run DXDIAG, the option to enable 3D acceleration is greyed out and unavailable. IS THE ANSWER TO UPGRADE TO THE NEW OMEGA DRIVER based on the Catalyst 8.07 drivers? I read somewhere that the Mobility 9000 card wasn't compatible with DirectX9, but my older laptop running GeForce2 was very happy with Flight Sim 2004 and DirectX 9! Thanks JMH78

Oct 29, 2004, 09:10 AM	Thread Starter #4
jmh78 DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Oct 2004 Posts: 4 Rep Power: 0	Thanks for the tips, but I just can't believe FS9 simply won't play because of the graphics card's incompatibility. My older laptop played it fine, and DirectX was only on version 7 back then!! Has anyone else got any thoughts? Thanks

Oct 29, 2004, 11:09 AM	Thread Starter #6
jmh78 DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Oct 2004 Posts: 4 Rep Power: 0	On my old Dell Inspiron 8100 I was running FS2004 with a GeForce2 I think it was. So DirectX9 was developed well after my laptop had been. I think there's a subtle difference between 1. being able to play Flight Sim 2004 and 2. being able to access its advanced DirectX9 features including some of the fancy rendering and graphics. For the latter, I accept that you do need a DirectX9 compatible card, but given that these have only been around a short while, I simply cannot believe that Microsoft would alienate all users with pre-2003 pcs/laptops by demanding Direct9-designed graphics cards for FS2004. Anyway, the fact that my Inspiron 8100 (2001 vintage) was happy with FS2004 (yes, 2004, as well as 2002 and 2000) proves this. So the issue really is getting the Radeon Mobility 9000 to simply work with Directx9, rather than access the most advanced features of Directx9 games. Really I need to speak to someone senior at ATI/Dell, but it's so hard to get hold of them...

Oct 29, 2004, 01:56 PM	Thread Starter #7
jmh78 DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Oct 2004 Posts: 4 Rep Power: 0	Also, here's a Directx9 game but it lists Radeon Mobility as supported: http://www.gamershell.com/news/9716.html