ATi Catalyst 3.2 available

[Tempest]

The topic says it all, as usual get them here: http://www.ati.com/support/driver.html

# CATALYST™ 3.2 corrects a problem with 2D applications running in the background that can cause a momentary reduction in framerate (i.e."stuttering") in fullscreen Direct3D and OpenGL games. Specific instances of "stuttering" have also been addressed (e.g. Rallisport Challenge when the sun enters or exits the scene).
# Dungeon Siege framerates are improved as much as 24% across multiple products, especially when running at higher resolutions.
# Framebuffer read-back performance has improved dramatically (500% or more) in CATALYST™3.2. This feature allows an application to retrieve a fully rendered frame from the graphics adapter and manipulate it or store it in the system RAM or on the hard disk.
# Vertex Shader performance has improved dramatically (as much as 100% in some situations) for our DX8.1-class products such as RADEON™ 8500, 9000 and 9100. This brings significant gains to Vertex Shader intensive scenes such as the Battle of Proxycon and the Troll's Lair (both up 15-25% on RADEON™ 9000 PRO).
<small># Playing a video using the RealOne Player no longer results in display corruption and an error message being displayed by the RealOne Player
# Running the game Combat Flight Simulator 3 with 4x Anti-Aliasing enable no longer results in texture corruption being displayed.
# Running the demo ATI-9700-NPRHatching with Anti-Aliasing enabled at 2x and the display set to 1024x768 32bpp no longer results in corruption being displayed on screen
# Selecting D3D 8.1 renderer in Nascar 2003 followed by selecting Replay Studio in the main menu no longer results in the car having missing textures.
# Setting the display to 1024x768 32bpp followed by changing the AGP speed from 8x to 4x no longer results in the AGP speed not retaining its setting
# Setting the Hardware Acceleration slider to None no longer results in a reboot of the system and the settings not being retained
# A reboot is no longer required when making changes to the Wait for Vertical Sync under the ATI Direct3D Tab
# Running the game Myth 3 with the display set to 1600x1200 and Full Screen Anti-Aliasing set to 2x no longer results in corruption being displayed when entering the Save game screen window
# Running the application There no longer results in segmentation violation occurring when Pbuffer is enabled in the application
# Selecting a Daytona single race in the game Nascar 2003 beta with OpenGL enabled no longer results in the system not responding.
# Running the OpenGl test found in Nascar 2003 Beta no longer results in the system not responding.
# Running the 3D Winbench 2000 v1.1 Quality test for Anisotropic and Linear Mipmap Anisotropic no longer reports the tests as Not Capable.
# The Windows 2000 display driver no longer requires two reboots of the system to load
# Connecting a TV and enabling the TV as a secondary CRT with the display set to 1024x768 16bpp no longer results in the DVD overlay not being displayed on either the CRT or the LCD
# The 3D Pipes (OpenGL) screen saver no longer renders incorrectly in preview mode when the display is set to 16bpp and FSAA is enabled
# Setting the display to 1024x768 32bpp and setting the TRUFORM option to Application Preference in the ATI OpenGL tab no longer results in the game Myth III not responding
# Switching between OTM Theatre Mode Settings in Clone Mode Options no longer results in the apply button not becoming active
# Setting the display to 1024x768 32bpp and enabling Anti-aliasing to 4x and running the game Harry Potter II no longer results in the system not responding</small>

[Topha]

Hope they also fixed the crashes in JK2 with very high texture detail...

But more important is that MMC 8.1 is out, has been out for a couple of days I think (MMC, not the drivers)

Thanks

[3dfx]

Quite nice drivers tbh

[Tempest]

Indeed. I had stuttering problems in GTR 2002, Rally Trophy and 3DMark 2003... All gone now! Card is 64MB Hercules 8500LE.

Edit: And I get 200 3DMarks more... Doesn't sound like much, but it's actually almost +20%.

[Paddy]

# Vertex Shader performance has improved dramatically (as much as 100% in some situations) for our DX8.1-class products such as RADEON™ 8500, 9000 and 9100. This brings significant gains to Vertex Shader intensive scenes such as the Battle of Proxycon and the Troll's Lair (both up 15-25% on RADEON™ 9000 PRO).

ATI have really got the hang of driver releases now

[lindberg]

Originally posted by Tempest
Edit: And I get 200 3DMarks more... Doesn't sound like much, but it's actually almost +20%.

Wow, aint that something I run Hercules 8500LE 128MB and I think I'll just have to update drivers then , again

[ayoub_ibrahim]

thanks for the heads up!

[Umfriend]

I had tremendeous problems upgrading to 3.1. To 3.2 went like a charm though. Could also be caused by the fact that I did a format c: two weeks ago though.
Umf

[Gurm]

The stuttering problems were cured. Actually, this is a problem with a lot of cards, and ATI found it first! Here's what happens:

- You are running a fullscreen 3D app.
- You are running tray icon programs like messenger or whatnot.

When the messenger apps update, a call is made to the 2D driver. Normally it ought to be ignored if the screen is in 3D mode. But it isn't! ARGH! The 2D driver fires, and windows has to resync the 2D and 3D. I've seen this on nVidia cards as well.

Catalyst 3.2 has special code:

if (screen_mode = 3D_FULLSCREEN) {
2D_Request --> /dev/null
}

- Gurm

[Chrono_Wanderer]

Finally... some good drivers from ATI

[Nuno]

And for an extra boost and smoothvision 2.1 on your R9700 get the special ati2mtag.sys file on http://www.tommti-systems.de/main-Da.../catalyst.html

*warning* - innapropriate pop-ups alert

And hack your 9700 into a 9800 (well, sort of )
You may get some problems, as it isn´t fully tested with the R9700 and it should be available for the R9700 only with cat´s 3.3, but if it woks for you, great.

[YngwieM]

Thumbs up to ATI...

I'll test @ night with Splinter Cell, to check if the Zone Alarm Icon doesn't appear anymore while I'm playing..

[Nuno]

Dadinho o C@$@lh$, meu nome agora é Zé Pequeno

he he

[The PIT]

What can I say Manual update under XP cos dumbfart stuffs everything up. I'd wish they'd remove that garbage. No problems otherwise and then the dreaded ME upgrade. Never was problem until cats 3.0a.

Uninstalled everything rebooted and of course the ATI setup program fell over. Well at the least Ikernal and inf messages have disappeared. You just get program has stopped responding.
Since the program fell over it's borked the standard drivers that windoze installs.
Reboot safe mode edit the registry reboot again so it picks up the standard drivers. Back to safe mode and then manually update and bingo the drivers are installed.
One of these days ATI will learn to write good drivers.

[Jon P. Inghram]

Strangely enough, people with Celeron Tualatin processors (like me) aren't getting the vertex shader boost with their 8500. Hopefully it's just a driver bug or something... I don't know if I can continue living knowing that I'm not getting a higher score in 3DMark03.