New ForceWare for Oblivion

[Cabages]

Im downloading the drivers right now. Im running some pretty old drivers right now, so it will probably be a pretty big boost for me.

Awaiting your test results...

 

[BFG10K]

The following are changes made and issues resolved since driver version 84.21:
? General compatibility fixes"

I might give them a try - that generic release note might potentially fix some of the driver bugs I've encountered.

 

[smut]

Okay, i'd say they did a good job with the drivers as I can notice improvements in frame rates. I set up a test in an area in the first dungeon that would drop my frames to 25FPS. Lots of polys in the scene and some lighting effects. With these new drivers in the exact same spot its now at 41FPS. Framerates are way higher then that in dungeons but I found that one spot that would drop them low! I'd say thats definetely an improvement. The HDR seems smoother for me as well and overall frame rates have jumped up. I'd say definetely upgrade to these new BETAs if you are playing Oblivion. I highly doubt Nvidia would have even publicized the fact they were dropping new drivers with improvements to Oblivion if they didnt get better results in house as well. BTW I am using a 7900GT with no AA (b/c im using HDR) and 16xAF. All sliders are to the max and shadows as well. Back to playing. If any questions I can answer, please ask and I will try to answer them as best as I can.

 

[mrkun]

These drivers seem to be behaving strangely with Oblivion. On the Elder Scrolls forums, most people have reported no change at all in FPS, while some have reported very large gains (like smut has), and a few have even reported FPS drops. Hopefully a review site can test these drivers out.

 

[smut]

Originally posted by: mrkun
These drivers seem to be behaving strangely with Oblivion. On the Elder Scrolls forums, most people have reported no change at all in FPS, while some have reported very large gains (like smut has), and a few have even reported FPS drops. Hopefully a review site can test these drivers out.

Hmm that is weird. I will be heading over to oblivion forum to see what they are saying over there. The huge gain was in that one part of the dungeon where I found the FPS was low for some reason so I figured I would test the exact spot when the new drivers came out which I did and seen that nice improvement. Maybe its dependent on the gfx card your using. They may not optimize for the older cards, who knows? It would have been nice if NVidia did mention in the driver notes exactly what was worked on. Some of those people may have not correctly un installed old drivers before putting new ones on. Going to check it out. But yeah Ive noticed an overall smoother experience with 16x AF on and smoother FPS when HDR is in the scene. I didnt get huge gains everywhere (as I havent played everywhere in the game yet) but I definetely feel an improvement. Cant speak for others.

 

[BFG10K]

Well, that was a waste of time. OpenGL performance still appears to be hosed and none of my issues have been fixed. :disgust:

 

[Cabages]

Well, I have tried two computer now. On both, the download gets about %15 done, and then it just stops. Does absolutely nothing.

Anyone know a different site that I could download this from?

 

[smut]

guru3d.com should have them too. Nzone.com has them if you are already DLing them from guru3d.com!

 

[Gstanfor]

Originally posted by: BFG10K
Well, that was a waste of time. OpenGL performance still appears to be hosed and none of my issues have been fixed. :disgust:

I've said it before, and I'm going to say it again, BFG10K, you need to carefully check your system out. The problem isn't with the drivers or the graphics card.

I can run any game I like problem free, with tons of programs busy in the background too. I normally have 7-10 browser windows open, Outlook Express open and downloading emails, Norton Internet Security 2005 running on maximum security setting, the proximitron running, and tons of other stuff happening besides that. current process list.

 

[Cabages]

Well, I get about %25 on that one, and my ****** wireless connection goes out for five seconds, so the whole thing just stops. Happens all the time trying to play counter strike. I need a new wireless card or something.

Thanks for the link, I will just have to get the driver tommorow on the other computer and transfer it over to this one.

 

[BFG10K]

I've said it before, and I'm going to say it again, BFG10K, you need to carefully check your system out. The problem isn't with the drivers or the graphics card.

I strongly disagree; there's nothing wrong with my system or setup, the problem is nVidia driver bugs.

I'm an experienced gamer and benchmarker and hence user error is very unlikely. This is also why I have a tendency to find bugs that a lot of people can't find.

As for lowered OpenGL performance, it's trivial to prove this. Just benchmark 84.21 compared to 81.98 and observe the results. I observed the biggest performance drops in Call of Duty, Quake 4 and Star Trek Elite Force 2.

With regards to the Star Trek Elite Force issue, the problem appears to be linked to nVidia's drivers applying /forceSW to the OpenGL string. In light of that fact it's rather strange you claim to not have the issue, wouldn't you say?

 

[Gstanfor]

I can't find any evidence of /forceSW being appended to the OpenGL string on my system BFG10K. It's not as if Star Trek Elite Force is even a game that stresses video cards for goodness sakes. I've been mucking with 3D cards since 1997 and playing with home computers since 1981, had my first "game console" (hanimex ball games machine) back in 1977.

I have had 81.98 on the system and play tested it extensively like I do most drivers. It's utter garbage compared to 83.xx and up.

Just out of interest have you tried opening the side of your case and blowing air in with a household pedestal fan or similar (you seem keen on quiet and fanless operation) to see if you have any heatspots in your case?

 

[smut]

owned

 

[Cabages]

Just got the drivers installed, and I am very happy with the improvement.

Its amazing what such a little thing can do.

I immediatly tried running the game in 1280x1024, as everytime I would try with the old driver it would crash, and it actually ran better and faster than 1024x768 with the old drivers.

Thats not all either. I tried running FEAR. That was the biggest improvement. The only thing I cant do is turn AA up, but everything else is at max and I am loving it.

 

[BFG10K]

I can't find any evidence of /forceSW being appended to the OpenGL string on my system BFG10K.

Perhaps you have magic pixie dust sprinkled on your drivers that makes them special.

Meanwhile there are now about eight people in total that can all replicate the issue that you still claim not to have.

It's not as if Star Trek Elite Force is even a game that stresses video cards for goodness sakes

This is a total dodge of the issue and has absolutely nothing to do with the discussion.

Just out of interest have you tried opening the side of your case and blowing air in with a household pedestal fan or similar (you seem keen on quiet and fanless operation) to see if you have any heatspots in your case?

LOL, now it's heat-spots causing the texture filtering option to reset itself to bilinear, is it? :roll:

Honestly, your excuses for nVidia's driver problems are beyond comical now.

And actually, Gstanfor, it's a very clean case because it's brand new along with two brand new 120mm case fans installed in it.

Regardless, I ran a passively cooled X800 XL in my previous ancient case that hadn't been cleaned for years (with pretty poor cooling too I might add) and the X800XL turned out to be the most stable and compatible gaming card I've ever used.

 

[BFG10K]

owned

If you don't understand the issue it generally pays to keep quiet.

 

[Gstanfor]

I'm not making any excuses whatsoever for nVIDIA's drivers BFG10K. You are the one coming up with non-existant problems...

If it were possible I'd be more than happy for you to see my system running, in person, so you could see with your own eyes and experience for yourself that there isn't a problem (at least, not for me) in the games you've mentioned.

 

[BFG10K]

You are the one coming up with non-existant problems...

Like those other people in the nvnews thread? They're also making up the same problem are they?

If it were possible I'd be more than happy for you to see my system running, in person,

Can we conclude I made up the DEP issue because you weren't affected by it?

 

[xtknight]

Just for the hell of it I benchmarked 84.12 Beta vs. 84.21 WHQL OpenGL performance. I had thought I had something earlier than the 84 drivers before then realized I didn't so it's essentially pointless but I'll post them anyway since I wasted so much time doing it.

Q3 averaged out of 5 consecutive runs, Q4 averaged of second and third runs
84.12 Beta: Q3 { 207.58 FPS }, Q4 { 59.75 FPS }
84.21 WHQL: Q3 { 207.64 FPS }, Q4 { 59.90 FPS }

So at least with this small revision from 84.12 to 84.21 I can say there were no OpenGL performance decreases.

 

[smut]

Originally posted by: BFG10K

owned

If you don't understand the issue it generally pays to keep quiet.

Lol so now your a mind reader and you know what I do and don't know? Good try.

And how do you know I was even talking to you when I said that? Good try again.
Im done with this.