Catalyst 4.3 out!

  • Thread starter Thread starter Chubben
  • Start date Start date
The work-around to this is to disable AA. Sucks, because I play at 1024x768,
which for me, almost necessitates AA. In far cry I'm forced to do 1600x1200
with no AA, but them I'm stuck with 60hz refresh on the monitor. There seems
no escaping shitty graphics quality with the far cry demo and current ATI
drivers.
 
I haven't been able confirm that my "install-std-vga-first" procedure is REALLY
running a VGA driver. I can't install the ATI drivers if I set "VGA mode" in the
"safe mode" boot procedure. Can you spell out exactly how you did your install?
Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...

System restore to bring CAT 4.2 back (win xp pro sp1), uninstalled 4.2's
AGAIN...which seemed to go right the second time. Then reboot, clicked
cancel for both "found new hardware" prompts and installed 4.3's...no
problems this time.

I doubt it actually is a problem with std-vga drivers, since those are
obviously in use already (how do you think you're getting a picture on the
screen if not via std drivers) but something else entirely.
 
George said:
The Far Cry demo has corruption with the 4.1 as well (at least on my
machine). I hope they fix it, I'd really like that game.
Click to expand...

If not with 4.3 then I'm sure it will be fixed soon.

However remember that the FarCry Demo is also there to enable the
developers to learn of such problems and it may well be that the
problems is not really the drivers but in fact in the game.

Kind regards

Bruno
 
LOL... I wondered about that until these test failed to do anything to a full
floppy disk!

Floppy stuck to refrigerator door with magnet overnight.
Used a high power head demagnetizer. (pet hair trimmer sized)
slid over a high power magnet (+100lbs pull) 4x2 directions.

btw: My high power magnet will pick one up! :))

Trip hugh.

Dan
 
John Schuler said:
I haven't been able confirm that my "install-std-vga-first" procedure is REALLY
running a VGA driver. I can't install the ATI drivers if I set "VGA mode" in the
"safe mode" boot procedure. Can you spell out exactly how you did your install?
Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...

Don't do it the hard way, John. I usually upgrade by uninstalling all ATI
software, finishing up with the Display driver last - but don't run the
TI - Software Uninstall Utility (if you had an all-in-one driver installed)
at this point. You're then given the option to reboot, and when you do, it
should boot with the appropriate VGA driver installed. Then run the ATI -
Software Uninstall Utility, or the cat-uninstaller.exe (from
http://www.ati.com/support/drivers/misc/catalystutils.html) if you had
separate driver modules installed, and this seems to clear the old stuff off
your system quite effectively. Now you should (hopefully! ;-)) be able to
install another driver without problems.

Incidentally, if you have a VIVO or AIW card, it can be a good idea to
remove all the card related devices in Sound, video and game controllers in
Device Manager. This probably isn't necessary for upgrades, but can help to
prevent multiple instances of these devices when going back to older
drivers.

Works for me.HTH patrickp
 
LOL, I'm so proud of myself...I stuck with the Catalyst 4.1 drivers and
skipped a driver set completely for the very first time (the 4.2's). And
guess what? My world didn't come to an end because of it. :-)
Click to expand...

Same here. I'm still runing 3.7's on my 9800pro. I've yet to have any problems.
 
In
Lithurge said:
9700Pro, but like I said I'm not overly concerned about a 6%
improvement, and whilst they state these are only things
they've noted and clearly don't test every game when updating
them, I'd be surprised if anything I do play sees a radical
improvement.

If it ain't broke then don't fix it.


Couple of scenarios to illlustrate my thought process:

Game X runs at 100FPS (keep maths easy is my motto) - 6%
improvement = 106FPS.

I am not really going to notice that.

Game Y runs at 15FPS (Come out of hiding Morrowind & your
damn overdraw in towns) = it isn't even going to improve to
16FPS.

Again I'm not going to spot the difference, and I should
point out I don't feel the need to sit here with the FPS
counter sat in the corner of my screen all the time.

The question I ask, especially after the NVidia 3dmark
expose, (and we all know ATI are as gilty of pulling dirty
tricks from time to time) is how did they achieve those
improvements?
Click to expand...

I have the 9800xt (I like to brag) and I look forward to more optimized
drivers because I know its a new card I can get more speed out of it.
 
In
Danny Greaves said:
LOL... I wondered about that until these test failed to do anything
to a full floppy disk!

Floppy stuck to refrigerator door with magnet overnight.
Used a high power head demagnetizer. (pet hair trimmer sized)
slid over a high power magnet (+100lbs pull) 4x2 directions.

btw: My high power magnet will pick one up! :))

Trip hugh.

Dan
Click to expand...

cool, with one of those you could make a "predator" weapon and spin the
floppy off at a million miles per hour. I wonder if it would shear off metal
pipes and stick into concrete walls....
 
Idbbs01 said:
Same here. I'm still runing 3.7's on my 9800pro. I've yet to have any problems.
Click to expand...


And that's really the most important thing. I used to be hung up on the
notion that I just had to have the latest drivers all the time (a personal
thing), but I came to the decision about a month ago or so that I'm simply
only going to update every three releases or so, or if I have a specific
problem with the drivers I'm running now. The 4.1's are fine for what I'm
doing right now, so I'm going to stay with them for the time being. I'm
really working my way through Dungeon Siege Legends of Aranna at the moment
and haven't encountered any issues.
 
Ps. Weird rotation options added, meant for people with weird displays I
guess...
Click to expand...

It's for people with LCD's that rotate to display in portrait mode for
working in desktop publishing or photoshop etc. My LCD swivels to
portrait mode. But I switched back to CRT so can't use it any more.
 
Highlandish said:
I have the 9800xt (I like to brag) and I look forward to more optimized
drivers because I know its a new card I can get more speed out of it.
Click to expand...

How do you know that?

Ben
 
In
Ben Pope said:
How do you know that?

Ben
Click to expand...

it goes without saying that new drivers for new cards are better optimised
than the previous drivers. of course I am not set up for bench marks like
fraps, but doom3 alpha shows a marked improvement.
 
Highlandish said:
it goes without saying that new drivers for new cards are better
optimised than the previous drivers.
Click to expand...

That is not always the case. Later drivers can become bogged down with
workarounds and fixes that can result in a net slowdown even when
additional optimization work is done.

-a
 
That's certainly what appears to have happened in my case.

Was using last pre cat drivers, now Cat 4.3 and it's a noticable slowdown on
my Radeon 7200.
 
That's nothing. I once spent two
weeks downloading a playable demo
of Splinter Cell on a 56K modem, and
2 days after the download was complete
it appeared on the cover CD of a
PC magazine I subscribe to.

I should of guessed really...

Mart
-----
 
That's nothing. I once spent two
weeks downloading a playable demo
of Splinter Cell on a 56K modem,
Click to expand...

Blimey, you must really have wanted to play that one, the
largest file I could ever bear to download on 56k was 100mb
especially with the two hour cutoff limit.
 
Lithurge said:
Blimey, you must really have wanted to play that one, the
largest file I could ever bear to download on 56k was 100mb
especially with the two hour cutoff limit.
Click to expand...

I get the two hour thing too. Thank god for Download
Accelerator and its resume feature! :-)

It looks like there's a second Far Cry demo doing the rounds.
Oh hum. If it's not on on the next PC Format disc then I'll just
have to buy myself another Shaun Hutson novel.

Mart.
------
 
I get the two hour thing too. Thank god for Download
Accelerator and its resume feature! :-)
Click to expand...
I used to use getright a lot, but as soon as BT decided to
roll out RADSL I upgraded to broadband. It really does make
using the net a much more pleasurable experience, and is well
worth the cost. Although I wouldn't complain if BT decided to
make it less expensive :)

Of course the trouble is now I want faster speeds but can't
get them as I'm too far from the exchange :(
It looks like there's a second Far Cry demo doing the
rounds. Oh hum. If it's not on on the next PC Format disc
then I'll just have to buy myself another Shaun Hutson
novel.
Click to expand...

There is a hacked version out there where all you need to
download is the map, which is much smaller than the full
download. Not sure how stable it is though, it worked fine
for me for a while, then suddenly started locking on load.

The full download version states it's in conjunction with PC
Gamer, so it may be on either their current or next issue
(about the cost of a paperback book these days).
 
There is a hacked version out there where all you need to
download is the map, which is much smaller than the full
download. Not sure how stable it is though, it worked fine
for me for a while, then suddenly started locking on load.

The full download version states it's in conjunction with PC
Gamer, so it may be on either their current or next issue
(about the cost of a paperback book these days).
Click to expand...

Cheers, I'll look out for that issue before I do any downloading.

I've ordered broadband, but my exchange isnt
activated till 5th May. It seems a long way off!
 
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