A computer components & hardware forum. HardwareBanter

If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Go Back   Home » HardwareBanter forum » Video Cards » Ati Videocards
Site Map Home Register Authors List Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read Web Partners

CATALYST™ Release Notes Version 3.8



 
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old October 8th 03, 06:47 PM
Pluvious
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default CATALYST™ Release Notes Version 3.8



http://www2.ati.com/drivers/Catalyst...ase_Notes.html





--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

CATALYST™ Release Notes Version 3.8

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


These release notes provide information on the latest posting of ATI's industry
leading software suite, CATALYST™. This particular posting updates the ATI
Display Driver to version 7.94. This unified driver has been further enhanced to
provide the highest level of power, performance, and reliability. The ATI
CATALYST™ software suite is the ultimate in performance and stability. The
CATALYST™ 3.8 Release Notes provides information on the following:

The CATALYST™ 3.8 Release Notes provides information on the following:

Web Content
Desktop product family support
Operating systems supported
New Features
Performance Improvements
Issues Resolved in CATALYST™ Version 3.8
Known Issues
Web Content
The CATALYST™ software suite 3.8 contains the following:

RADEON™ display driver 7.94
MULTIMEDIA CENTER™ 8.7
HydraVision™ 3.21
HydraVision™ Basic Edition 3.25
Remote Wonder 2.1
WDM version 3.09
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Note: These release notes provide information on the 7.94 display driver
only. For information on the ATI MULTIMEDIA CENTER™ 8.7, HYDRAVISION™ 3.21,
HYDRAVISION™ 3.25 Basic Edition, or the REMOTE WONDER™ 2.1, please refer to
their respective release notes found at: http://ati.com/

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Desktop product family support
The CATALYST™ software suite is designed to support the following ATI desktop
product family:

RADEON™ 9800XT
RADEON™ 9800 series
RADEON™ 9700 series
RADEON™ 9600 series
RADEON™ 9500 series
RADEON™ 9200 series
RADEON™ 9100 series
RADEON™ 9000 series
RADEON™ 8500 series
RADEON™ 7500 series
RADEON™ 7200 series
RADEON™ 7000 series
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Note: ATI All-In-Wonder variants based on the above are also supported.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Note: All ATI PC Graphic cards are optimized for Microsoft's Media Center
Edition when coupled with a supported video capture card.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Operating systems supported
The latest version of the CATALYST™ software suite is designed to support the
following Microsoft Windows platforms:

Windows XP
Windows 2000
Windows Millennium Edition (ME)
Windows 98/98SE through the ME driver
New Features
This section provides information on new features found in this release of the
CATALYST™ Display Drivers. CATALYST™ 3.8 adds new features to the ATI Control
Panel. Game play, multimedia, and 3D applications are extended with new
technologies and customizable environments. CATALYST™ 3.8 features upgrades,
expansions and innovative solutions to 3D applications, multimedia, game play
and home entertainment that deliver the ultimate in visual experiences. New
features include:

OpenGL and D3D tabs combined into one
Game Profile Feature
CATALYST™ Uninstaller
MULTIMEDIA CENTER™ Update
New ATI 3D Tab Layout
SMARTSHADER™ Effects
VPU Recover
ATI OVERDRIVE
HYDRAVISION™ Basic Edition
TV Overscan
OpenGL and D3D tabs combined into one
CATALYST™ 3.8 introduces a new user-friendly 3D control panel. The 3D control
panel combines the current D3D and OpenGL tabs into one tab called ATI 3D.

Game Profile Feature
CATALYST™ 3.8 provides users with the ability to create 3D profiles so that
every game can have its own unique settings. The custom sections of the control
panel can now be used to individually configure 3D settings such as
Anti-Aliasing, Anisotropic filtering and SMARTSHADER™ effects. These additions
allow gamers to activate exciting pixel shader effects in any Direct3D or OpenGL
application.

CATALYST™ Uninstaller
CATALYST™ 3.8 introduces a new simple application that removes the CATALYST™
software from the system.

MULTIMEDIA CENTER™ Update
The latest version of the ATI MULTIMEDIA CENTER™ now provides the following new
features:

Teletext support within EAZYLOOK™
Fast TVTV™ for PC Integration
File Player Enhancements
MULTVIEW™
EAZYLOOK™ On Screen Information Enhancements
For more information on these new features within the ATI Multimedia Center 8.7
visit: http://www2.ati.com/drivers/mmc87_Release_Notes.html

New ATI 3D Tab Layout
CATALYST™ 3.8 now provides a single slider within the new 3D tab that allows
users to select from different ATI recommended 3D settings. Benefits include the
flexibility to adjust the overall performance/quality experience with the main
slider.

SMARTSHADER™ Effects
SMARTSHADER™ allows gamers to enable an exciting pixel shader effects in
Direct3D or OpenGL applications. SMARTSHADER™ effects delivers the amazing
rendering techniques found in pre-shader 3D applications.

VPU Recover
VPU Recover (patent pending) allows the CATALYST™ display driver to reset the
graphics accelerator when it is no longer responding to the display driver.
Without VPU Recover, a reboot of the system would be required when the graphic
accelerator is not responding to the display driver. Depending on the state of
the system when VPU Recover is activated, applications that are running may be
able to fully recover from the graphics processor reset. If this is not
possible, the active application may be closed and the system will return to the
desktop. VPU Recover will significantly reduce the number of system crashes
caused by graphics hardware hangs. This allows for fewer interruptions and
virtually eliminates situations where work can be lost, as well as increasing
system stability.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Note: When the CATALYST™ display driver cannot activate the VPU Recover
feature a message is displayed indicating the following: A severe graphics error
has occurred. Please save your work, and restart your system.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


ATI OVERDRIVE
The new ATI OVERDRIVE (patent pending) tab, currently available for the RADEON™
9800XT only, provides a safe and intelligent graphics processor clocking
utility. ATI OVERDRIVE is constantly monitoring the graphics processor and
pushing the graphics frequency to its maximum, while always ensuring that the
processor temperature stays at a safe level. If the temperature of the graphics
processor were to become too hot, ATI OVERDRIVE automatically decreases the
clock speed until a safe temperature is reached. ATI OVERDRIVE never reduces the
graphics processor speed below the pre-set factory default clock speed.

HYDRAVISION™ Basic Edition
HYDRAVISION™ Basic Edition provides users with the ability to configure and
operate a multiple display setup. HYDRAVISION™ allows for applications to be
moved between displays using the application taskbar and restoring minimized
applications to any display. HYDRAVISION™ basic edition provides full control
over how many displays an application should expand across. It also allows the
user to have full control where dialog boxes should appear.

TV Overscan
TV Overscan supports full screen TV display on devices connected to a RADEON™ or
MOBILITY™ RADEON™ product. This feature is supported under the Windows 98SE, ME,
2000, XP and XP MCE operating systems. In normal mode, the video image is scaled
down so that the complete picture is always visible. This is necessary when
displaying the Windows desktop on a TV. In Overscan mode, the video image is not
scaled and uses all available scan lines of the TV. This results in a slightly
bigger picture but the outer edges of the picture will be lost. This is the
normal mode for TVs playing a standard video source such as live TV or DVD using
a consumer electronics DVD player.

Performance Improvements
As with most CATALYST™ releases, the performance has increased. The HyperZ
enhancements in CATALYST™ 3.8 provide performance improvements to applications
that use the Z-buffer in certain ways. Tomb Raider frame rates improve as much
as 20%. Giants - Citizen Kabuto also runs significantly faster. Other titles may
also be improved.

Issues Resolved in CATALYST™ Version 3.8
The following section provides a summary of the issues that have been resolved
in the latest release of CATALYST™ 3.8. These include:

Resolved Game Issues
Resolved Application Issues
Resolved Benchmark Issues
Resolved CATALYST™ Driver Issues
Resolved Game Issues
This section provides information on game issues that have been resolved in the
latest release of CATALYST™.

Setting the Landscape details to Perfect in the game IL2 Stumovik Forgotten
Battles no longer results in the system not responding during the track playback
Playing the game Tiger Woods with the game options set to 1280x1024 32bpp and
graphic parameters set to high, no longer results in the game failing to respond
after the scorecard is displayed
Setting the game Flight Simulator 2004 to display at 1024x768 or 1280x1024
followed by starting a new flight results in the menu being flipped just before
the new flight is about to begin
Setting the display to 800x600 32bpp 100Hz followed by enabling triple buffering
no longer results in display corruption when playing CounterStrike
The correct ATI board name is now display in the configuration window of the
game Serious Sam 2
A dark screen image and texture corruption is no longer seen when playing the
game Project A3
Running the game eRacer with clone mode enabled no longer results in corruption
on the secondary display during the opening introduction
Playing the game Midnight Club 2 with the default setting no longer results in
the texture coordinated being corrupted. This issue occurred under Windows XP
with an ATI RADEON™ 7500 installed
Fog issues have now been resolved in the game Neverwinter Nights
Image corruption is no longer noticed in the game Tomb Raider: Angel of
Darkness. This issue was known to occur under Windows XP with an ATI RADEON™
9000 series installed
Playing the demo game Midnight Club 2 under Windows XP with the default modes
enabled for the game no longer results in the fog being missing from the game
Playing the demo game XIII under Windows XP with an ATI RADEON™ 9500 or 9800
series card installed no longer results in texture corruption when moving the
mouse around the game area
Resolved Application Issues
This section provides information on Application issues that have been resolved
in the latest release of CATALYST™

The ATI RADEON™ 7500 series card no longer experiences texture and geometry
corruption in GL application samples
Resolved Benchmark Issues
This section provides information on Benchmark issues that have been resolved in
the latest release of CATALYST™.

Setting the display size to 1600x1200x32 bpp under Windows ME with a 256Mb
RADEON™ 9700 series card installed and running 3D Mark2003 no longer results in
the system failing to respond
The CodeCreatures benchmark score dropping by approximately 10-12% on DX8-class
hardware (RADEON™ 9200, 9000, and 8500) is now resolved
Resolved CATALYST™ Driver Issues
This section provides information on CATALYST™ driver issues that have been
resolved in the latest release of CATALYST™.

When updating to current or future CATALYST™ releases your current color control
panel profiles are no longer lost
Setting the main OpenGL slider in the ATI 3D tab to quality no longer results
causes games to run in 16bpp mode
Disabling Extended Desktop when two display adapters are connected to four
Displays no longer results in corruption on one display
Help file is now available for brightness of TV under Windows XP with a RADEON™
9800 series card installed
The large desktop resolution setting are no longer displayed in the Setting tab
once large desktop has been disabled
Selecting the 3D screen saver during DVD playback when the display resolution is
set to 1280x1024x16bit no longer results in display corruption being noticed on
the overlay
Repeatedly switching between a Full Screen DOS session and the window desktop no
longer results in corrupt horizontal red lines on the CRT
Entering the screen saver tab in the display properties and selecting 3D Flying
Objects followed by entering standby mode no longer results in the Windows 2000
operating system rebooting
The ability to extend the desktop while playing an MPEG file is now resolved
The system no longer reboots when playing NEC dvd4 after changing the display
from extended mode to clone mode
The ATI Problem Report Wizard is now functioning properly under Windows XP
The ATI RADEON™ 8500 no longer suffers from a Direct 3D performance decrease
when the Windows XP desktop resolution is set to 32bpp
Setting the display resolution to 1152x864 32bpp under Windows XP and playing an
MPEG or AVI file no longer results in display corruption on the TV output
Texture banding issues under OpenGL is now resolved
Known Issues
The following section provides a brief description of known issues associated
with the latest version of CATALYST™.

The main menu screen of Blade of Darkness displays a flickering pink horizontal
strip of corruption. This issue will be resolved in an upcoming CATALYST™
Release. Further information regarding this issue can be found at:
http://www.ati.com/support/infobase/4277.html
Flashing on boat texture when playing Morrowind on specific system with specific
board. This issue will be resolved in an upcoming CATALYST™ Release. Further
information regarding this issue can be found at:
http://www.ati.com/support/infobase/4276.html
ChameleonMark shows some display corruption on DX8-class products. The issue is
already resolved and a fix will be released in CATALYST™ 3.9
Home World 2 experiences poor performance and possible system hangs with
CATALYST 3.7. This issue will be resolved in an upcoming CATALSYT™ release.
Quake III or Half-Life engine games remap the arrow keys to the shift key when
the Num Lock is enabled. This issue will be resolved in an upcoming CATALYST™
release.
Jedi Academy hangs when enabling 4x or 6x Anti-Aliasing. This issue will be
resolved in an upcoming CATALYST™ Release. Further information regarding this
issue can be found at: http://www.ati.com/support/infobase/4271.html
The help files for the new VPU Recover feature may still reference to that
feature as smartsave. Smartsave was the internal engineering name of the feature
and we were unable to update the help files with the proper name of VPU Recover.
This issue will be resolved in an upcoming CATALSYT™ release.
CATALYST™ CREW Feedback Program
This driver release incorporates suggestions received through the CATALYST™ CREW
feedback program. Please refer to http://apps.ati.com/driverfeedback/ and
provide us further feedback.

Customer Care Service
The ATI Customer Care Center is focused on delivering accurate, up-to-date
product support for optimum usability and performance. Should you require
assistance with your ATI product visit,
http://www.atitech.com/support/index.html


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ATI Technologies Inc.
http://www.ati.com
Voice: (905) 882-2600
Fax: (905) 882-2620


  #2  
Old October 8th 03, 06:55 PM
Strontium
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

Wow. An attempt to get rid of the 'infinite loop'. Might be interesting...

-
Pluvious stood up at show-n-tell, in
, and said:

http://www2.ati.com/drivers/Catalyst...ase_Notes.html





--------------------------------------------------------------------------

------

CATALYSTT Release Notes Version 3.8

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

------


snip
VPU Recover
VPU Recover (patent pending) allows the CATALYSTT display driver to
reset the graphics accelerator when it is no longer responding to the
display driver. Without VPU Recover, a reboot of the system would be
required when the graphic accelerator is not responding to the
display driver. Depending on the state of the system when VPU Recover
is activated, applications that are running may be able to fully
recover from the graphics processor reset. If this is not possible,
the active application may be closed and the system will return to
the desktop. VPU Recover will significantly reduce the number of
system crashes caused by graphics hardware hangs. This allows for
fewer interruptions and virtually eliminates situations where work
can be lost, as well as increasing system stability.


snip
Customer Care Service
The ATI Customer Care Center is focused on delivering accurate,
up-to-date product support for optimum usability and performance.
Should you require assistance with your ATI product visit,
http://www.atitech.com/support/index.html


--------------------------------------------------------------------------

------
ATI Technologies Inc.
http://www.ati.com
Voice: (905) 882-2600
Fax: (905) 882-2620


--
Strontium

"It's no surprise, to me. I am my own worst enemy. `Cause every
now, and then, I kick the livin' **** `outta me." - Lit


  #3  
Old October 8th 03, 07:41 PM
Sam
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

On Wed, 08 Oct 2003 17:47:21 GMT, Pluvious wrote:

http://www2.ati.com/drivers/Catalyst...ase_Notes.html

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CATALYST™ Release Notes Version 3.8
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Where are the drivers? I only can find the 3.7 version on their website.

Sam
  #4  
Old October 8th 03, 07:55 PM
Thomas Jarboe
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

Supposed to be released around 3pm EST today (wed, 2003/oct/10)
Tom

"Sam" wrote in message
.. .
On Wed, 08 Oct 2003 17:47:21 GMT, Pluvious wrote:

http://www2.ati.com/drivers/Catalyst...ase_Notes.html


--------------------------------------------------------------------------

------
CATALYSTT Release Notes Version 3.8


--------------------------------------------------------------------------

------

Where are the drivers? I only can find the 3.7 version on their website.

Sam



  #5  
Old October 8th 03, 08:16 PM
Tim Miser
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

It's there now...

"Thomas Jarboe" wrote in message
...
Supposed to be released around 3pm EST today (wed, 2003/oct/10)
Tom

"Sam" wrote in message
.. .
On Wed, 08 Oct 2003 17:47:21 GMT, Pluvious wrote:

http://www2.ati.com/drivers/Catalyst...ase_Notes.html



--------------------------------------------------------------------------
------
CATALYSTT Release Notes Version 3.8



--------------------------------------------------------------------------
------

Where are the drivers? I only can find the 3.7 version on their website.

Sam





  #6  
Old October 8th 03, 08:15 PM
Earth Angel
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

Thomas Jarboe wrote:
Supposed to be released around 3pm EST today (wed, 2003/oct/10)
Tom


Just downloaded em - about to install!


  #7  
Old October 8th 03, 08:15 PM
leon
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default


"Sam" wrote in message
.. .
On Wed, 08 Oct 2003 17:47:21 GMT, Pluvious wrote:

http://www2.ati.com/drivers/Catalyst...ase_Notes.html


--------------------------------------------------------------------------

------
CATALYSTT Release Notes Version 3.8


--------------------------------------------------------------------------

------

Where are the drivers? I only can find the 3.7 version on their website.

Sam



Link he
http://www.rageunderground.com/

"Sam" wrote in message
.. .
On Wed, 08 Oct 2003 17:47:21 GMT, Pluvious wrote:

http://www2.ati.com/drivers/Catalyst...ase_Notes.html


--------------------------------------------------------------------------

------
CATALYSTT Release Notes Version 3.8


--------------------------------------------------------------------------

------

Where are the drivers? I only can find the 3.7 version on their website.

Sam



Link he
http://www.rageunderground.com/


  #8  
Old October 8th 03, 10:47 PM
patrickp
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

"Sam" wrote in message
.. .
On Wed, 08 Oct 2003 17:47:21 GMT, Pluvious wrote:

http://www2.ati.com/drivers/Catalyst...ase_Notes.html


--------------------------------------------------------------------------

------
CATALYSTT Release Notes Version 3.8


--------------------------------------------------------------------------

------

Where are the drivers? I only can find the 3.7 version on their website.

Sam


Refresh the page, Sam - press Ctrl/F5.

patrickp


  #9  
Old October 8th 03, 11:36 PM
Sam
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

On Wed, 8 Oct 2003 22:47:26 +0100, patrickp wrote:

"Sam" wrote in message
.. .
On Wed, 08 Oct 2003 17:47:21 GMT, Pluvious wrote:

http://www2.ati.com/drivers/Catalyst...ase_Notes.html


--------------------------------------------------------------------------

------
CATALYSTT Release Notes Version 3.8


--------------------------------------------------------------------------

------

Where are the drivers? I only can find the 3.7 version on their website.

Sam


Refresh the page, Sam - press Ctrl/F5.


patrickp


Nope, that wasn't it... I just checked before they were put up on the web
page. They were apparently put up about an hour after I originally looked.

Sam
  #10  
Old October 9th 03, 08:36 AM
patrickp
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

"Sam" wrote in message
.. .
On Wed, 8 Oct 2003 22:47:26 +0100, patrickp wrote:

"Sam" wrote in message
.. .
On Wed, 08 Oct 2003 17:47:21 GMT, Pluvious wrote:

http://www2.ati.com/drivers/Catalyst...ase_Notes.html



-------------------------------------------------------------------------

-
------
CATALYSTT Release Notes Version 3.8


-------------------------------------------------------------------------

-
------

Where are the drivers? I only can find the 3.7 version on their

website.

Sam


Refresh the page, Sam - press Ctrl/F5.


patrickp


Nope, that wasn't it... I just checked before they were put up on the web
page. They were apparently put up about an hour after I originally looked.

Sam


LOL! Too eager, Sam! ;-)

patrickp


 




Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Machine seems slow. [email protected] General 12 January 20th 04 01:13 PM
FIC or HIS for a 9600Pro? Phrederick General 8 December 16th 03 01:17 PM
How to determine the version of an Abit mobo? *Vanguard* General 2 December 10th 03 02:53 AM
Athlon XP 3000+ 400 mhz -- Is there a Retail Box Version? Photon Overclocking AMD Processors 0 December 8th 03 02:49 AM
How to tell if my usb is version 2.0? gotmail? General 0 August 11th 03 07:08 AM


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 03:08 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.6.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©2004-2024 HardwareBanter.
The comments are property of their posters.