Far Cry Demo and 56.56_WHQL driver... ouch !

The 56.56_WHQL driver is now up on the eVGA web-site and recommended
for download (WinXP/2000 only) . Here is the text:-

================================================== =======
Driver Version: 56.56 - eVGA.com Suggested Download
Auto Installer: Yes
WHQL: Yes
Driver File: 5656XP_WHQL.exe
Notes: These drivers are Microsoft WHQL certified for Windows 2000
and Windows XP. They contain a significant number of updates.

Corrected the following issues:

Corrects problems with custom Direct3D profiles
Corrects problems with custom OpenGL profiles
Corrects problems with the game Tomb Raider Angel of Darkness
Corrects problems with Dualview secondary montior support
Corrects OpenGL issues with 3D Paint 2001, Maya 5.0, and Studio Tools
11
Corrected problem with setup where users could see the error message
"error loading nview.dll; access is denied"
Corrected texture corruption issues with RenderWare Studio
Corrected problems with Command and Conquer Generals
Corrected problems with Armies of eXigo
Corrected problems with Command and Conquer Zero Hour
Corrected system crash problem with Final Reality
Corrected problems with full screen spanning in Windows 2000
Corrected antialiasing issues in Flight Simulator 2004
Corrected font problems in Jedi Knight 2
Corrected performance issues with NASCAR 2003 Season
Corrected various rendering problems on Digital LCD monitors
Corrected problems with Big Mutha Truckers
Corrected performance issues with Splinter Cell
Corrected image problems with Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic
Corrected overclocking/auto overclocking through the control panel

================================================== ===========

56.56_ WHQL.

A wonderful driver ??? Hide under a pier in the Far Cry demo, look up
and you can see a nice blue silhouette of anybody standing on top
through the deck. Seems as if nobody bothered to test the driver fully
with the Far Cry Demo. The problem in 53.03 of seeing enemies in the
mid-far distance momentarily disappearing as the view-angle changes
slightly has gone away. However the problem that replaces it is far
more serious since it is a built-in and irritating cheat...... I have
not bothered testing it further to see if the visibility of enemies
through intervening surfaces is repeated elsewhere in the demo.

Now maybe the root-cause is with Far Cry and not the driver, but I
have also found problems with some other games that used to Alt-Tab
cleanly to the Desktop now fail to do that operation cleanly, either
not doing it at all, or just flashing the Desktop and returning to the
game.

In 56.56 nVidia has added an Auto-overclock button to the Clock
Frequencies frame, but fail to display anywhere the values of
overclock achieved. Also, the Auto Detect under Manual settings now
seems to be wildly pessimistic as far as GPU overclock frequencies is
concerned. - it used to be wildly optimistic. However, Memory
overclock under Auto Detect now seems to be closer to reality.

Back to 53.03 for the time being. For me at the moment, of the items
on the fix-list only KOTOR is relevant, and I have not noticed any
particular "Image problems" in the game..............at least
whatever they are has not impeded my enjoyment of the title.
( FX5900 ).

John Lewis

"John Lewis" wrote in message
...
The 56.56_WHQL driver is now up on the eVGA web-site and recommended
for download (WinXP/2000 only) . Here is the text:-

================================================== =======
Driver Version: 56.56 - eVGA.com Suggested Download
Auto Installer: Yes
WHQL: Yes
Driver File: 5656XP_WHQL.exe
Notes: These drivers are Microsoft WHQL certified for Windows 2000
and Windows XP. They contain a significant number of updates.

Corrected the following issues:

Corrects problems with custom Direct3D profiles
Corrects problems with custom OpenGL profiles
Corrects problems with the game Tomb Raider Angel of Darkness
Corrects problems with Dualview secondary montior support
Corrects OpenGL issues with 3D Paint 2001, Maya 5.0, and Studio Tools
11
Corrected problem with setup where users could see the error message
"error loading nview.dll; access is denied"
Corrected texture corruption issues with RenderWare Studio
Corrected problems with Command and Conquer Generals
Corrected problems with Armies of eXigo
Corrected problems with Command and Conquer Zero Hour
Corrected system crash problem with Final Reality
Corrected problems with full screen spanning in Windows 2000
Corrected antialiasing issues in Flight Simulator 2004
Corrected font problems in Jedi Knight 2
Corrected performance issues with NASCAR 2003 Season
Corrected various rendering problems on Digital LCD monitors
Corrected problems with Big Mutha Truckers
Corrected performance issues with Splinter Cell
Corrected image problems with Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic
Corrected overclocking/auto overclocking through the control panel

================================================== ===========

56.56_ WHQL.

A wonderful driver ??? Hide under a pier in the Far Cry demo, look up
and you can see a nice blue silhouette of anybody standing on top
through the deck. Seems as if nobody bothered to test the driver fully
with the Far Cry Demo. The problem in 53.03 of seeing enemies in the
mid-far distance momentarily disappearing as the view-angle changes
slightly has gone away. However the problem that replaces it is far
more serious since it is a built-in and irritating cheat...... I have
not bothered testing it further to see if the visibility of enemies
through intervening surfaces is repeated elsewhere in the demo.

Now maybe the root-cause is with Far Cry and not the driver, but I
have also found problems with some other games that used to Alt-Tab
cleanly to the Desktop now fail to do that operation cleanly, either
not doing it at all, or just flashing the Desktop and returning to the
game.

In 56.56 nVidia has added an Auto-overclock button to the Clock
Frequencies frame, but fail to display anywhere the values of
overclock achieved. Also, the Auto Detect under Manual settings now
seems to be wildly pessimistic as far as GPU overclock frequencies is
concerned. - it used to be wildly optimistic. However, Memory
overclock under Auto Detect now seems to be closer to reality.

Back to 53.03 for the time being. For me at the moment, of the items
on the fix-list only KOTOR is relevant, and I have not noticed any
particular "Image problems" in the game..............at least
whatever they are has not impeded my enjoyment of the title.
( FX5900 ).

John Lewis


And people say ATI have buggy drivers !!!

On Sat, 28 Feb 2004 08:57:14 +0000, NDF wrote:

And people say ATI have buggy drivers !!!

Slowlier, man. We're talking about a demo here. A demo is not always the
best method to compare drivers, since they contain development stuff to
some extent.

"John Lewis" wrote in message
...

Corrected performance issues with Splinter Cell

*ROFLMAO*. They just "forgot" to write there're no shadows and light beams
in shadow buffer mode :-) The bug has been present since the 45.xx drivers,
but apprantly NVIDIA still refuse to acknowledge it.
---
Anders

On Sat, 28 Feb 2004 08:57:14 -0000, "NDF" wrote:



And people say ATI have buggy drivers !!!



Well at least nVidia releases buggy drivers only every 3 months.

Ati does it every 2 weeks.............

Actually 53.03 has been an excellent and crash-free driver.
Excellent compatibility with Direct X legacy titles too. I have a
large collection and have not seen any obvious problems.

John Lewis

"John Lewis" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 28 Feb 2004 08:57:14 -0000, "NDF" wrote:



And people say ATI have buggy drivers !!!



Well at least nVidia releases buggy drivers only every 3 months.

Ati does it every 2 weeks.............

Actually 53.03 has been an excellent and crash-free driver.
Excellent compatibility with Direct X legacy titles too. I have a
large collection and have not seen any obvious problems.

John Lewis


Only because they are too lazy to provide end-users with the most recent
build available.

On Sat, 28 Feb 2004 19:13:01 -0000, "NDF" wrote:


"John Lewis" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 28 Feb 2004 08:57:14 -0000, "NDF" wrote:



And people say ATI have buggy drivers !!!



Well at least nVidia releases buggy drivers only every 3 months.

Ati does it every 2 weeks.............

Actually 53.03 has been an excellent and crash-free driver.
Excellent compatibility with Direct X legacy titles too. I have a
large collection and have not seen any obvious problems.

John Lewis


Only because they are too lazy to provide end-users with the most recent
build available.


Please explain how any effective QC can be done on builds
released every two weeks. And adding people to a QC department
does not help. Read the classic "Mythical Man-month" for
clarification of the issues.

Take a look at how (in)frequently Intel provides BIOS and
driver updates. They have a formal and effective QC process.

Releasing untested drivers for public consumption
is extremely bad public relations.

John Lewis