Philo046 Posted February 16, 2004 Share Posted February 16, 2004 this new driver for nvidia cards fixes the AA probs with combat mission,game now looks and runs great new drivers are 56.55 version. I'm running on a windows XP pro with gainward 5600Fx card hope this helps some of you. Philo 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jim crowley Posted February 17, 2004 Share Posted February 17, 2004 Where is this driver? It doesn't appear to be on the Nvidia site. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schrullenhaft Posted February 17, 2004 Share Posted February 17, 2004 Here's one source, NVPlanet. It's only for Win 2000/XP though (on the upper right hand side). I'm not seeing it on the Guru3D site, Gainward's site or NVidia's site. It supposed to be a WHQL release once it does get released. It's performance is a bit lower than the 53.04's according to reports, but they're apparently a bit better in other regards. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hpt. Lisse Posted February 18, 2004 Share Posted February 18, 2004 Confirmed, the 56.55 driver does (finally) fix the AA Alt-Tab problem with CMAK. I run XP Pro with a eVGA FX5900 (non-ultra). It seems a tad slower perhaps, but very hard to tell - the 56.55 seems to be a keeper. Hpt. Lisse 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Watson & Crick Posted February 19, 2004 Share Posted February 19, 2004 A person a NVplanet recommends uninstalling old drivers and rebooting prior to installation of any new drivers. Is this what you do? Do you use the add/delete program w/in windows xp? If so, I see that I have the following files from nvidia:a display driver, an ethernet driver, a Gart driver, and the nvidia system utilities. Which of these file(s) should be removed? Thanks Edited to add that I'm running windows xp and I have a FX 5600 card. This is my first PC (I had macs). After reading various message boards, I'm thoroughly confused. Some people recommend using Driver cleaner to remove reminants left from an uninstall while others say XP does not require this step. [ February 19, 2004, 12:06 AM: Message edited by: Watson & Crick ] 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hpt. Lisse Posted February 19, 2004 Share Posted February 19, 2004 Schrullenhaft can walk ya through it. From the sounds of it, you have an Nvidia NForce chipset motherboard - so the display driver is the only one you want to change. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schrullenhaft Posted February 19, 2004 Share Posted February 19, 2004 Htp. Lisse is correct; only remove the video driver and leave the others intact. Download and extract the new driver first before removing the old one. Also make sure that you're running DirectX 9.0b (from the Run command type 'dxdiag' and in the lower part of the System Information section it should tell you the version of DirectX). If you don't have DirectX 9.0b installed, then you will need to do this before removing your video drivers. You can get it from either the Windows Update or from Microsoft's DirectX site. The Add/Remove Programs control panel should be sufficient to uninstall these drivers. Reboot your computer after this (you'll possibly be prompted for this in a dialog box), but don't install another driver immediately. Windows may or may not detect your video and attempt to provide a driver. If it does, refuse to install it (if given the option). At this point you can install the new drivers (which will require a reboot); however disable any anti-virus programs and possibly any other utilities and programs that may be running (to reduce the chances of something messing up the install). After installing the new video drivers you may have to reselect your monitor driver (since it may come up as 'default' or 'plug and play') - though a 'Plug and Play Monitor' definition is common and may have been the actual previous driver. You can do this from the System control panel > Hardware tab (assuming Windows 2000 or XP) > Device Manager button > double-click the Monitors item and then double-click the listed monitor > Driver tab > Update Driver button (though it might be possible that 'Rollback Driver' button may work too). You may have to point to a location for a new driver (if you downloaded one from the monitor manufacturer) or you may install it automatically (pick from a list, etc.). Make sure that your desktop resolution is set to what it once was (or at least at or higher than what you run CM at) and that your color depth is 16-bit or higher (which is often the default for NVidia driver installs). If things don't work the first thing to check is the DirectX Diagnostic. Go to the Run command in the Start Menu and type in 'dxdiag'. Go to the Display tab and in the DirectX Features section there will be three buttons. The bevelled buttons should say 'disable' on them, indicating that the three features are enabled. If not, then enable the disabled features (this may require a reboot). Next test DirectX by pressing the Test Direct3D button, which will take you through three tests (a spinning cube in each). If this fails, then something probably isn't right with the driver install. If it does pass, but CM refuses to work, then more troubleshooting will be necessary. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stikkypixie Posted February 19, 2004 Share Posted February 19, 2004 I'm using a Geforce 5600 and I checked the NVIDIA website, the latest driver i could find is Version: 53.03. I'm a missing something? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apache Posted February 19, 2004 Share Posted February 19, 2004 I am on Win XP Home and with a Ge-Force Ti 4200. I'm still using the 3.0.8.7 driver at the moment - primarily because of a wish not to screw up my system as a result of changing vdeo drivers which, from looking at threads here over the years, they seem to do with a marked degree of regularity! Is this driver suitable for my system/card and is it stable enough to use. More to the point I suppose is there ANY benefit to installing it? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GJK Posted February 19, 2004 Share Posted February 19, 2004 It's been so long since I tried it, but is the AA "problem" the fact that text doesn't show in some menu's or does the game lock up? I'm running the 53.03's and just tried turning on 4xAA and 4xAF and the game ran fine. Everything was noticeabally "smoothed" - almost to a point that it looked a little bit blurry to me. But then, when exiting the game (pbem turn) the box before the name the turn (whatever that thing says) and then the next screen where you give your next turn a name were just blank. I'll wait for other's feedback on the "unofficial" drivers before I give them a try. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snarker Posted February 19, 2004 Share Posted February 19, 2004 FWIW - From 3d Guru's site - Today NVIDIA should have released an official release of their ForceWare drivers. The release should have been 56.56 yet for whatever reason they are not live on nvidia.com; I think NVIDIA is delaying the release. Although WHQL certified these drivers had a bug with the Unreal Tournament 2004 Demo. Performance was really low and NVIDIA confirmed this bug yesterday, they want to fix this issue first I'm sure. I think that's the reason the driver release is pulled for today. The new drivers have serveral new options, among them (and I find this funny) a pop-up blocker. NVIDIA, what in Gods name is a popup-blocker doing in graphics card driver software ?! Really, spend time and resources on stable and faster drivers. Other enhancements are application/game profiles that allow GPU settings for things like antialiasing, texture filtering, vertical sync, and such to be saved in a profile. Some press documents we received also showed some improvements on performance over the GeForce FX range; NVIDIA states up to 108% better performance in F1 Challenge on the GeForce FX 5200 and 5900XT, 48% more FPS in Neverwinter Nights on a 5950 Ultra. Run to the store and get a GeForce FX 5200 now!! Joke joke ... ! Next to that driver has a better context system, this basically means better help & explanation in the form of mouse-over info -> You see something, you point your mouse at it, and a context balloon will pop up explaining the setting. Anyway; next to that some other new options can be found. We'll discuss them when the driver is actually released. If the driver indeed wil be delayed then it's likely it will still be send out to the manufacturers/partners and thus be on-line soon anyway. As always we'll keep you posted. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hpt. Lisse Posted February 19, 2004 Share Posted February 19, 2004 GJK, what you are suffering IS the AA/AF bug - missing text within boxes when AA is enabled. That should no longer occur with the 56.55 driver, which (as stated earlier in this thread) is available from NVplanet. Snarker's commentary comes from 3dGuru's site. If Unreal Tournament 2004 is high on your wish list (I sorta doubt it is for most wargamers), you may want to wait a couple of weeks. I haven't seen any problems with any other applications on my box. Follow Schrullenhaft's instructions on how to properly install any video driver, also located in this thread. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack Carr Posted February 19, 2004 Share Posted February 19, 2004 This is great news! They finally have a driver that doesn't require you to alt-tab to see text and use all of the cards features? Am I reading this correctly or have I read something into it? This may allow me to come into the 8X AGP world and upgrade my video card. Thanks 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snarker Posted February 19, 2004 Share Posted February 19, 2004 It works. I still prefer to play with AA off and AF on. Everything looks clearer. 3dGuru also has the driver, but it's in some funky '7zip' or sumfink format that chokes winzip, so I do recommend getting it from NVPlanet. The comment from 3dGuru is just a warning for you FPS twitchies out there. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GJK Posted February 19, 2004 Share Posted February 19, 2004 Originally posted by Snarker: NVIDIA states up to 108% better performance in F1 Challenge on the GeForce FX 5200 and 5900XT, 48% more FPS in Neverwinter Nights on a 5950 Ultra. Run to the store and get a GeForce FX 5200 now!! Joke joke ... !I've got a 5200 that I bought on a spur of the moment thing when my 4600 crapped on me. I really should of done my homework first I guess after seeing that it actually benchmarks lower than the 4600. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hpt. Lisse Posted February 19, 2004 Share Posted February 19, 2004 Well, a 128MB FX5900 non-Ultra can be had for $185 on pricewatch.com. Sports all of the good stuff, 256 bit pipeline, etc. and is only slightly slower than the Ultra (but much cheaper). I would think the card would OC very close to Ultra specs, if need be. The ability to render fog in CM is what has kept me on the Nvidia train the past couple years. Pretty sad. Oh yeah, I didn't realize when I bought it that the FX series vid cards will not run on pre 40's series drivers, so the 'ol standbys (30.87) were no longer accessable to me. Do'h! Apache - win XP will allow you to roll back drivers if you don't like the new one. I suggest installing it, see how CM plays with them, and benching them using 3DMark to see what performance gains (if any) you experience. You'll need 3DMark2001 SE (330 build) if you are running DirectX 8, or 3DMark2003 for DX9. Sound like a plan? [ February 19, 2004, 04:38 PM: Message edited by: Hpt. Lisse ] 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foamy Posted February 20, 2004 Share Posted February 20, 2004 Just installed the 56.55 Nvidia drivers on my Win 2K system with Samsung SyncMaster display Wow !!- the increase in picture quality in Combat Mission game is really significant with AA and AF both at 4X. Now it is even more fun sneaking around at ground level.. Dare I try higher than 4X ?? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hpt. Lisse Posted February 20, 2004 Share Posted February 20, 2004 It all depends on your vid card/CPU and how many buildings/trees you're displaying on the battlefield. Trying a higher level of AA/AF won't hurt anything, you'll just notice a framerate slowdown when panning the battlefield. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apache Posted February 20, 2004 Share Posted February 20, 2004 HL - Thanks for suggestion. With Shrullenhafts walk through of driver install though, will the old driver still be there. Also, I just wonder if the Ti4200 will benefit from the new driver? I am a great fan of the 'If it ain't broke' school of thought. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schrullenhaft Posted February 20, 2004 Share Posted February 20, 2004 With the uninstall instructions above the driver will no longer be installed in Windows. The original installation location of the files will remain untouched, so you could reinstall the old drivers. I've never personally used the Rollback feature of Windows ME & XP, but it may work if it captures and restores the system to the point before the driver uninstall. The latest driver will work for the GeForce 4 Ti 4200 that you have. If you're currently using the 30.82/30.87 drivers I'm not absolutely sure of all the benefits that you'll see. It is easier to access some more antialiasing and anisotropic filtering features of the drivers now with the latest version. I don't know what other bug fixes may exist between the latest and the 30.8x drivers (which may exist primarily for other games) - a number of the fixes are for problems introduced by drivers after the 30.8x's. I haven't compared the image quality of the latest drivers with the 30.8x's, but that is something worth checking out since image quality can change quite a bit with video driver releases (speed increases are often at the sacrifice of image quality). From what I've seen, they seem comparable. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Watson & Crick Posted February 20, 2004 Share Posted February 20, 2004 Schrullenhaft, Thanks for the clear instructions. Since this beta driver will be replaced at some point with another version, I will wait. Other than the alt-tab issue w/ CMAK, everything is fine w/ my 53 version driver. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schrullenhaft Posted February 20, 2004 Share Posted February 20, 2004 Beta drivers are actually OK to use (at least in the case of NVidia's unofficial releases - it's not universally true for all drivers). On occasion they are even better than some official WHQL releases (which end up getting bugs too). As mentioned earlier the only notable problem seems to be with the Unreal Tournament 2004 Demo. Be aware that fixing that issue could potentially re-break the code that got fixed for CM (a bit far-fetched, but a possibility). 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hpt. Lisse Posted February 20, 2004 Share Posted February 20, 2004 I played CMAK all night with the 56.55's and had no issues. This morning I looped 3DMark a few times, with no crashes. I scored 5180, when the 53.03's would turn in 5140, so no loss there. I've been waiting for a decent driver for some time now. Like Schrullenhaft said, with our luck, they'll screw 'em up with the offical release... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brooktrout Posted February 21, 2004 Share Posted February 21, 2004 Grabbed these right after Phil046 posted and they work great for me as well. I also decided to try the install w/o a uninstall first and all has gone well. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monty Posted February 21, 2004 Share Posted February 21, 2004 Installed the 56.55 too and im pleased with them. Its great to play CM without alt tabbing all the time. In 3dMark 2003 i scored 5596, with my last drivers 52.16 i had 4724 so a nice improvement ! I use 4x AA and 2x AF btw in most games btw. Monty 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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