Wanted: A driver fix for the HORRIBLE Nvidia shadow IQ in Farcry...

[dug777]

Originally posted by: Janooo

Originally posted by: BFG10K
I thought that DST was just nVidia's way of inflating 3DMark; it's concerning if they're applying it to games as well.

Both companies have issues with IQ but it's generally agreed that ATI is better in this department. NV wants to beat ATI in speed so badly that it made trade off - higher speed for less IQ. It's up to us if we take it or we leave it.

We'll here's to hoping they fix this particular IQ problem, if it was some game that had long since past it's prime i'd understand them not bothering to fix it, but this game is one of the most commonly benched and played games out there, and runs on an engine that is arguably one of the best looking even now...

 

[niggles]

I have an ATI X800XL and I have the same blocky shadow issue in BF2... it's pretty nasty. Anyone else notice this? Is it just me, is it an ATI issue, or is it all GPUs?

 

[dug777]

Originally posted by: niggles
I have an ATI X800XL and I have the same blocky shadow issue in BF2... it's pretty nasty. Anyone else notice this? Is it just me, is it an ATI issue, or is it all GPUs?

afaik the patch fixed that...

 

[BFG10K]

The BF2 shadow issue is a game problem.

It's up to us if we take it or we leave it.

Yes but DST isn't common knowledge. Even less is the fact that it's (apparently) being used in games.

 

[Topweasel]

Originally posted by: dug777

Originally posted by: niggles
I have an ATI X800XL and I have the same blocky shadow issue in BF2... it's pretty nasty. Anyone else notice this? Is it just me, is it an ATI issue, or is it all GPUs?

afaik the patch fixed that...

So a patch for the game (as opposed to drivers) solved the problem for ATI video cards. Why wouldn't it be a needed software patch for the same problem on Nvidia cards.

 

[Tanclearas]

Originally posted by: BFG10K
The BF2 shadow issue is a game problem.

It's up to us if we take it or we leave it.

Yes but DST isn't common knowledge. Even less is the fact that it's (apparently) being used in games.

I can't be absolutely certain that DST is responsible for the blocky shadows being seen in FarCry. A page that I visited indicated that DST support was added to FarCry in patch 1.2. However, I have tried rolling back to patch 1.1, and the blocky shadows persisted. Although the problem definitely looks like the DST issues experienced by 3DMark05, I can't say for certain that it is DST causing the blocky shadows in FarCry.

Has anyone tested the new BF2 patch on an Nvidia card yet? I haven't had a chance to actually load up the game with the new patch yet (although I have applied the patch). Just been a busy week and I probably won't be able to try it out until tomorrow (Saturday). I'm curious if the blocky shadows remain.

Edit: A PDF that makes reference to games using DST. Search for DST in the PDF. This file is dated April 26, 2005.

 

[Janooo]

Originally posted by: BFG10K
The BF2 shadow issue is a game problem.

It's up to us if we take it or we leave it.

Yes but DST isn't common knowledge. Even less is the fact that it's (apparently) being used in games.

My idea of take it or leave it is simple and that's what I had in mind when I mentioned it. You can buy NV cards or leave them. NV wants faster benchmarks in order to sell more cards and it appears IQ has to be compromised. Personally, I think it's cheating and I don't like it. That's why I bought X800XL a few days ago.

 

[Tanclearas]

Just for "completeness" of this thread, it does not appear the BF2 1.03 patch fixed the blocky shadows.

 

[dug777]

Originally posted by: Tanclearas
Just for "completeness" of this thread, it does not appear the BF2 1.03 patch fixed the blocky shadows.

does that affect both ati and nvidia cards? is it similar the farcry IQ problem?

 

[BFG10K]

I can't be absolutely certain that DST is responsible for the blocky shadows being seen in FarCry.

Yes, it's all speculation at this point. However it's concerning if it does turn out to be true.

 

[dug777]

Originally posted by: BFG10K

I can't be absolutely certain that DST is responsible for the blocky shadows being seen in FarCry.

Yes, it's all speculation at this point. However it's concerning if it does turn out to be true.

to me it seems strange that such a large IQ difference between the companies exists, and this is certainly quite a plausible explanation...more digging needs to be done

 

[niggles]

so that this isn't simply between ATI and Nvidia I just wanted to try this out with my laptop. It's running an Intel GMA 900 integrated card, nothing special at all, but it will do all the things that Farcrt does, just at low FPS. Anyway I tested out the shadows and there is no difference between my ATI x800XL and my Intel GMA 900. Obviously this is simply an nvidia issue.

 

[dug777]

Originally posted by: niggles
so that this isn't simply between ATI and Nvidia I just wanted to try this out with my laptop. It's running an Intel GMA 900 integrated card, nothing special at all, but it will do all the things that Farcrt does, just at low FPS. Anyway I tested out the shadows and there is no difference between my ATI x800XL and my Intel GMA 900. Obviously this is simply an nvidia issue.

cheers for that mate

 

[dug777]

bump

 

[MBrown]

in Farcry when press F12 to take the screenshot does it automatically save? if so where does it save it to. Is it suppose to save to "C:\Program Files\Ubisoft\Crytek\Far Cry\Pb\scrnshot" ?

 

[MBrown]

Originally posted by: MBrown
in Farcry when press F12 to take the screenshot does it automatically save? if so where does it save it to. Is it suppose to save to "C:\Program Files\Ubisoft\Crytek\Far Cry\Pb\scrnshot" ?

 

[CP5670]

It just puts them in the main game directory for me (c:\games\farcry in my case).

 

[dug777]

Originally posted by: CP5670
It just puts them in the main game directory for me (c:\games\farcry in my case).

yeah, as nice shiny jpegs

 

[fierydemise]

I'm getting ready to pull the trigger on a new video card in a couple months and the 6800GT is on my shortlist, bump to see how this turns out.

 

[lavaheadache]

I just wanted to confirm to you guys that my bfg 6800 gt shadows on far cry look like Poo-Poo as well!

 

[lifeguard1999]

81.85 BETA fixes for Far Cry:

* GeForce 7800 GTX / GeForce 6800 Ultra/ GeForce 6600: There is intermittent glowing corruption around the edges of the screen in Far Cry patch 1.33 when HDR is enabled.
This has been partially fixed in driver version 81.85. An upcoming patch for Far Cry fixes the issue completely.

* GeForce 6 Series: With the latest FarCry patch, the application profile breaks the HDR functionality. This has been partially fixed in driver version 81.85. An upcomng patch for Far Cry fixes the issue completely.

No mention of fixing the soft shadows in Far Cry, though it does mention fixing them in F.E.A.R.

 

[TerracideDK]

Originally posted by: lifeguard1999
81.85 BETA fixes for Far Cry:

* GeForce 7800 GTX / GeForce 6800 Ultra/ GeForce 6600: There is intermittent glowing corruption around the edges of the screen in Far Cry patch 1.33 when HDR is enabled.
This has been partially fixed in driver version 81.85. An upcoming patch for Far Cry fixes the issue completely.

* GeForce 6 Series: With the latest FarCry patch, the application profile breaks the HDR functionality. This has been partially fixed in driver version 81.85. An upcomng patch for Far Cry fixes the issue completely.

No mention of fixing the soft shadows in Far Cry, though it does mention fixing them in F.E.A.R.

It does mention a future FarCry patch, as this could be a game-engine problem, and not an NVIDIA(read driver) problem.

Terra - Time will tell...

 

[Fern]

Hmm.. Been following this a while. I've gone back and checked, yet the shadows on mine look to me like THIS ATI screenshot.

I am very concerned about IQ, and when upgrading to the 6800GT from a 9800p I did notice some IQ difference. The most stricking seemed to me the variation in the color "red".

I have a question, but first must note that since losing my precious 22" professional monitor I'm am stuck with a cheapy 17" and thus only practicably able to use a rez of 11 x 8. Further I don't use winXP and wonder if the nVidia driver would behave differently under win98se (which uses a driver) or win2kPro (which seems to use the same driver as XP)? In other words, does the "DST optimization" work across the board on all OS's?

Oh, my question - since posted screenshot images generally don't appear as good as what's on the monitor, will I need to post my screenshots and compare those to the ATI ones to see any real IQ differences? (I.e., apples to apples).

Fern

 

[Qbah]

Greetings!

First post. I have a Club3D 7800GT. Using the newest 81.85 betas. The terrible blocky shadow bug is still here. Looks really bad. Each shadow in the game is drawn this way! Will link to some screenies in a sec.

EDIT: Screenies:
http://img370.imageshack.us/my.php?image=farcry00139ai.jpg
http://img370.imageshack.us/my.php?image=farcry00126dw.jpg
http://img370.imageshack.us/my.php?image=farcry00111bg.jpg

First two are helicopter shadows and the third one is a jeep shadow. Had the same with the x64 77.77 ones. Dunno with the 32bit drivers, didn't run FarCry on an 32bit OS. But I recon it is the same.

Btw. I have the 64bit patch and the AMD64 ECU patch. The game version is 1.32. There isn't a 1.33 64bit FarCry patch out...

As a side note, had an ATi card before that. After switching to nVidia I noticed the shadow thingie after 0.5 second... But I never read about them in ANY review (think once on xbitlabs). If I could spot it sooooo easily, why can't the professional reviewers, eh? Also, just look what nVidia did to my lovely Painkiller!

http://media.putfile.com/test185

Tried on 32bit WinXP and on 64bit WinXP. With all the driver sets from 77.77 up. Official/beta. Bloody blinking! Happens in Riddick too. And NOTHING about it mentioned in ANY of the reviews... Sorry for the off-topic.

 

[dug777]

Originally posted by: Qbah
Greetings!

First post. I have a Club3D 7800GT. Using the newest 81.85 betas. The terrible blocky shadow bug is still here. Looks really bad. Each shadow in the game is drawn this way! Will link to some screenies in a sec.

EDIT: Screenies:
http://img370.imageshack.us/my.php?image=farcry00139ai.jpg
http://img370.imageshack.us/my.php?image=farcry00126dw.jpg
http://img370.imageshack.us/my.php?image=farcry00111bg.jpg

First two are helicopter shadows and the third one is a jeep shadow. Had the same with the x64 77.77 ones. Dunno with the 32bit drivers, didn't run FarCry on an 32bit OS. But I recon it is the same.

Btw. I have the 64bit patch and the AMD64 ECU patch. The game version is 1.32. There isn't a 1.33 64bit FarCry patch out...

As a side note, had an ATi card before that. After switching to nVidia I noticed the shadow thingie after 0.5 second... But I never read about them in ANY review (think once on xbitlabs). If I could spot it sooooo easily, why can't the professional reviewers, eh? Also, just look what nVidia did to my lovely Painkiller!

http://media.putfile.com/test185

Tried on 32bit WinXP and on 64bit WinXP. With all the driver sets from 77.77 up. Official/beta. Bloody blinking! Happens in Riddick too. And NOTHING about it mentioned in ANY of the reviews... Sorry for the off-topic.

welcome to AT and thanks for taking the effort to post all that mate