"The 81.85 and 81.87 are specially for the GAME F.E.A.R.!"

[imported_BikeDude]

I experienced some rather bizarre problems with 81.85 and 81.87 and thought I'd send an e-mail to support@gainward.de.

This is their response:

Hello!


Please contact the GamePublisher which driver is the best for the games!

The 81.85 and 81.87 are specially for the GAME F.E.A.R.!

If you don't have problems with 77.77, then use this driver for the games!


Regards
Support

Oh goodie, I bought their 7800 GTX card on Monday, and already I'm told to stick with the older drivers. Nice. Good thing I don't own F.E.A.R., for otherwise I'd have to switch between drivers... (never mind that 81.85 simply doesn't let me use Windows at all and 81.87 doesn't let me run any games)

As it stands, I suspect the driver has issues coping with 4GB memory. I'll try to remove some and see if 81.85 behaves better then... But if it does -- who do I report my findings to? Obviously not Gainward.

 

[Keysplayr]

I'm running 81.85's on a 7800GTX.

I play: HL2, CoD, CoDUO, CoD2, FEAR, Painkiller, FarCry, Doom3, CS:Source, and various game demos like Serious Sam2 and others I can't recall. No problems whatsoever.

It may help to tell us your system specs.

 

[imported_BikeDude]

Tyan K8WE motherboard
Dual Opteron 244
4GB memory
and a 7800 GTX. (also tried a 6600GT)

81.85 is terrible with 32-bit Windows 2003 (can barely manage to uninstall it again -- missing many pieces of the GUI). With 64-bit Windows it works OK with the desktop, but immediately bluescreened when I tried to fire up FarCry.

81.87 is stable in 2D, but both BF2 and B&W2 refuses to load (BF2 switches to a black screen and then terminates, B&W2 only displays an empty/black window)

77.77 works perfectly fine. (Battlefield 2, Black&white 2, etc...)

I wasn't actually looking for tech support though. Just venting after that feeble response from Gainward. I doubt I'll buy any products from them in the future.

 

[Keysplayr]

Originally posted by: BikeDude
Tyan K8WE motherboard
Dual Opteron 244
4GB memory
and a 7800 GTX. (also tried a 6600GT)

81.85 is terrible with 32-bit Windows 2003 (can barely manage to uninstall it again -- missing many pieces of the GUI). With 64-bit Windows it works OK with the desktop, but immediately bluescreened when I tried to fire up FarCry.

81.87 is stable in 2D, but both BF2 and B&W2 refuses to load (BF2 switches to a black screen and then terminates, B&W2 only displays an empty/black window)

77.77 works perfectly fine. (Battlefield 2, Black&white 2, etc...)

I wasn't actually looking for tech support though. Just venting after that feeble response from Gainward. I doubt I'll buy any products from them in the future.

Windows 2003? Do you mean the server operating system? or did you mean XP 32 bit?
Even though your not looking for support, you're having issues and maybe they can be resolved by resourceful people in here.

If you're running a Server Operating system such as Windows 2003, expect anomolies because they were not intended to run games. Even though they can run them, they may not behave the way it was designed to.

 

[fbrdphreak]

Yeah, that's your problem right there: Windows Server 2003. That's not designed for gaming slick

 

[Genx87]

I am assuming the XP drivers work in 2003 but their website doesnt list any 32 bit 2003 drivers.

When you use a server OS to play games you are looking at a whole slew of new issues, primarily the thing isnt designed for game compatibility in mind.

I suggest using WinXP is gaming is your goal.

 

[imported_BikeDude]

Uhm, guys... I've been using this server OS since its release. There are no issues.

Until now.

Again: 77.77 works fine. 81.85 and 81.87 have issues.

At the moment I suspect the driver can't handle memory addresses above 2^32. I have memory hole activated, and almost 1GB worth of memory has been remapped above 4GB. Again, not an issue with previous driver releases, all problems vanish when I install 77.77.

 

[BrokenArrow]

Doesn't matter if you have been using it up to now. The fact is that the drivers and games were not written to run in it. You just lucked out before, and now its come back to bite you in the butt. Its not gainward, or nvidia, its your OS.

 

[imported_BikeDude]

Originally posted by: BrokenArrow
Doesn't matter if you have been using it up to now. The fact is that the drivers and games were not written to run in it. You just lucked out before, and now its come back to bite you in the butt. Its not gainward, or nvidia, its your OS.

Rubbish. The kernel is identical (a few new functions are available to drivers in the 32-bit version, but you're not required to use them - and the 64-bit version of XP uses the 2003 kernel all the way, there isn't a separate XP-64 DDK) and everything else is there too. If you knew what you're talking about, you would be able to point to where the difference is...

In any case, I disabled the memory hole, and the games work fine now (with 81.87). But I'm missing 768MB worth of memory. Just like I would be with WinXP.

If you're curious, the issue is explained here: Execution protection (NX) and PAE

This is important because we?ve found that many devices and device drivers, especially in the consumer space, happily assume they?ll never have to address memory at an address over the 4GB boundary

This wasn't the case with 77.77, but something changed between then and 81.85. So I either stick with 77.77 forever, or dismiss 768MB memory.

But this thread isn't about that. It's about how I would go about reporting this to nVidia. Gainward are just plain unhelpful.

 

[TerracideDK]

When running an operating system not supported by driver or the platform that games where designed for, don't whine if problems begins to show.

The different "measures" you have to take in order to get games/drivers to work, shows you that you are on the wrong path.(read: bad OS for gaming)

Dosn't matter how well it ran in the past, it dosn't do the job problem free now anymore, now does it?

Either change OS or live wtih the fact that your OS is not supported.

But please don't whine about unsupported software...It's called an "Error 40"...

Terra - Located 40 cm's from the screen...

 

[JonnyBlaze]

Originally posted by: TerracideDK
When running an operating system not supported by driver or the platform that games where designed for, don't whine if problems begins to show.

The different "measures" you have to take in order to get games/drivers to work, shows you that you are on the wrong path.(read: bad OS for gaming)

Dosn't matter how well it ran in the past, it dosn't do the job problem free now anymore, now does it?

Either change OS or live wtih the fact that your OS is not supported.

But please don't whine about unsupported software...It's called an "Error 40"...

Terra - Located 40 cm's from the screen...

the only way its 'not supported' is that you have to trick programs to think its xp. people complain all the time about the same thing when games wont work in 2000 just because they are told not too.
2003 is a great os, for gaming or anything else.

 

[Ackmed]

How is it not supported? 2003 server is listed in NV site in the download driver page.

 

[imported_BikeDude]

Originally posted by: TerracideDK
The different "measures" you have to take in order to get games/drivers to work, shows you that you are on the wrong path.(read: bad OS for gaming)

Look, one more time, slowly: XP can't handle 4GB of memory. 2003 can. Or rather: It could until nVidia messed up their driver.

Yes, I could downgrade to XP and wave goodbye to almost one fourth of my memory, but I could also (as I have done now) do the same with 2003. I don't see the difference. (there is no difference!) Or I could revert back to 77.77.

As I said, you can't point out what the difference between XP and 2003 is. Because there is no difference. If you had ANY clue, you'd realise this. This is a driver bug, and one that nVidia can easily resolve. It doesn't make sense to not report this.

(BTW: I've used NT since 1993, I kinda know what I'm doing)

 

[lifeguard1999]

THG Review of 81.85 drivers

 

[Fallengod]

Originally posted by: lifeguard1999
THG Review of 81.85 drivers

Nice review. I want to see some others not done by THG though. Any more around?

 

[BrokenArrow]

Originally posted by: BikeDude
If you had ANY clue, you'd realise this.
(BTW: I've used NT since 1993, I kinda know what I'm doing)

Shh... better just let him vent. We don't have ANY clue. (but at least I know how to spell realize).

 

[JMag]

BikeDude: Why do you care about 4GB and gaming anyway? If you are using 4gb for something business related then just Dual Boot...

 

[Keysplayr]

Originally posted by: BikeDude

Originally posted by: TerracideDK
The different "measures" you have to take in order to get games/drivers to work, shows you that you are on the wrong path.(read: bad OS for gaming)

Look, one more time, slowly: XP can't handle 4GB of memory. 2003 can. Or rather: It could until nVidia messed up their driver.

Yes, I could downgrade to XP and wave goodbye to almost one fourth of my memory, but I could also (as I have done now) do the same with 2003. I don't see the difference. (there is no difference!) Or I could revert back to 77.77.

As I said, you can't point out what the difference between XP and 2003 is. Because there is no difference. If you had ANY clue, you'd realise this. This is a driver bug, and one that nVidia can easily resolve. It doesn't make sense to not report this.

(BTW: I've used NT since 1993, I kinda know what I'm doing)

I'm sorry I ever tried to help you. Turns out your just another nasty in the forums.
Flinging insults is not the right path brudda. From your "Rubbish" comment on, I knew the cranial cap was thick and I would advise everyone here, except Ackmed who even though he didn't say these exact words, implied that its perfectly fine to run games on a server operating system because nvidia has a 32 bit driver for it, to ignore you as I now will. /thread

 

[otispunkmeyer]

nvm

4Gb is a whole bunch of memory though!

 

[CPlusPlusGeek]

81.85 give me no problems on any games (no i didnt read the whole thread)

 

[otispunkmeyer]

Originally posted by: CPlusPlusGeek
81.85 give me no problems on any games (no i didnt read the whole thread)

bit pointless posting then

hes having problems since hes using a server OS and has more memory than these new drivers know what to do with

 

[Ackmed]

Im having problems with F.E.A.R. and the 81.85 drivers. Im getting bad banding on the floor, and from smoke. And it just froze up on me. Thought for a second that my PC froze.. but ctrl-alt-del promoted me with a end task option for F.E.A.R. Ive played it fine the las few times, with the same drivers. Ill chalk it up to a freak occurrence for now. The banding issue bothers me, but its probably because my drivers are set to Quality, and not High Quality. That doesnt excuse the problem though.

 

[IntelHydralisk]

The only problems I get from 81.85 is Guild Wars ground texture misrendering. This seems to be a common problem. Otherwise, there are no issues that I'm experiencing.

 

[imported_BikeDude]

Originally posted by: keysplayr2003
Flinging insults is not the right path brudda. From your "Rubbish" comment on, I knew the cranial cap was thick and I would advise everyone here, except Ackmed who even though he didn't say these exact words, implied that its perfectly fine to run games on a

What have I said to insult Ackmed? I thought his answer was top notch!

I disagreed with the one I quoted, not Ackmed's. I tend to not post "I agree!" postings when it is blindingly obvious.

I apologise to Ackmed if he thought I was directing my comments at him.

The problem isn't just games. 81.85 barely lets me start Win2003.

 

[stnicralisk]

Originally posted by: BrokenArrow

Originally posted by: BikeDude
If you had ANY clue, you'd realise this.
(BTW: I've used NT since 1993, I kinda know what I'm doing)

Shh... better just let him vent. We don't have ANY clue. (but at least I know how to spell realize).

Actually both spellings exist on dictionary.com and wikipedia.org...