ATI Mobility Radeon 9000 AGP - made working

[Mart]

Ok, so after initial problems I got it running.
edit: Please note Mobility Radeon 9000 AGP
Please write what version you have when writing here the result of trying the stuff below.

Hardware
Fujitsu N3010, notebook
1400x1050 flat panel display
SXGA+ TFT active matrix
ATI Mobility Radeon 9000 AGP (0x4C66)

Initial setup
I checked driver in:
>> Properties (on the desktop by right click)
>> Settings (Tab)
>> Advanced (Button)
>> Options (Tab)
>> Details (Button)

Then you will probably need to scroll down the listbox and there the second paragraf from the bottom:

Driver file 		... etc.
2D Version 		6.14.10.6.....
Display Driver Version 	7.29.... (it was smth like that)
Control Panel Version 	6.14....

Initial attempts that failed
I initially installed civ4,
and also installed DirectX 9.0c that was on install disk.
I tried ATI newest drivers but for some reason (INF file not found error) I could not instal the newest one.

What worked
Following advice by hanZ:

http://apolyton.net/forums/showthread.php?postid=4087445#post4087445

I went to the page:

http://www.omegadrivers.net/

and there are then 2 clicks on the menu on top of the page:
"ATI Radeon"
"Win 2k/XP"

Then you have a list like over 10 locations of
Radeon Omega Drivers 2.6.75a (Catalyst 5.10a)
of various providers. I took just the first one by NGOHQ
this is like 20.4 Mb, file name:
rad_w2kxp_omega_2675a_7z.exe
which is just self-extracting zip (archive file)
this unzips to a new folder, and there is just installation file:
rad_w2kxp_omega_2675a.exe


After I started installation I got a warning, that I should remove the ATI catalyst control console, coz the new file is an integrated one.

So I went to:
>> Start
>> Control Panel
>> Add or Remove Programs

Over there I found the :
ATI Catalyst Control Console
and just removed it from the machine.

Then installed the file:
rad_w2kxp_omega_2675a.exe

Restarted the computer

I already had installed civ4 and DirectX 9.0c
And game started ok.

Final Settings of the display driver
And this is what I read now in:
>> Properties (on the desktop by right click)
>> Settings (Tab)
>> Advanced (Button)
>> Options (Tab)
>> Details (Button)

Driver file 		... etc.
2D Version 		6.14.10.6575
Display Driver Version 	8.183-051013n-027321E-ATI...etc.
Control Panel Version 	6.14.10.5168

Some final notes
- The new driver very clearly works a bit different, like before I had maximal resolution 1600x1200. Now, I have only the same as my TFT screen(1400x1050), which really does not matter for me, since I never used 1600x1200 anyway.
- just testing the game, my hardware is at minimal requirements, so it works kinda slow, but I will have more observations later.

[warlordship]

Will try that tomorrow morning. I believe I have heard from someone somewhere here that the omega driver did not fix his computer. Aw well, back to the drawing board.

like I said, I WILL try that though.

[The Blargh]

Omega driver didn't fix the problem here.

[Mart]

It might be specific to Mobility Radeon version.
Mine is 2-year-old, ver. 9000 AGP

[Eccles_Bremen]

Installing these latest Omega drivers got Civ4 working on my Dell D600 with its ATI Mobility 9000.

[brill]

That f'ed my computer pretty bad at first, but then I booted in safe mode, and uninstalled. I let windows do it itself, and now its great.

On the other hand, the game still does not work. I like the new ATI drivers though. Much better in all respects

[Mart]

Originally posted by brill
That f'ed my computer pretty bad at first, but then I booted in safe mode, and uninstalled. I let windows do it itself, and now its great.

What Radeon version do you have?
Go to:
>> Start
>> Run
type:
dxdiag
that should show what kind of chipset you have

[Kinjiru]

I am running the Omega drivers on my laptop (Dell Inspiron 9100, ATI Mobility Radeon 9800, 256 meg) and am still getting the renderer problem.

I started out with the latest dell drivers initially and had the problem. Upgrading to the Omega ones did not help, although B&W2 does run a little better now!

[Inverse Icarus]

I did all of that last night, and it did not work for me.

[57%]

Didn't work for me either...Radeon 9550.

[Mart]

Well, I still have ATI Hydravision too, if that effects anything here too.

It might be also important, that after getting the all drivers you then reinstal DirectX again.

Also I am not sure all the WinXP updates. There is a bunch of them. I think I am still on SP1, as some time ago there was an issue with some software not running with SP2, so I avoided it. Though some "hotfixes" say (SP2)

And what is your Radeon version? Please write this, so it will be easier to find the problem - specific to ATI chipset or rather the way the driver is installed.

[Sydney_Bristow]

didnt work here

omega drivers didnt work here, radeon x600 pro

[Evil Robot]

Eccles_Bremen: How is the performance? I have a Latitude D600 as well and the game is extremely sluggish. Have you found any way around that?

[didz]

FIX FOUND

The problem has NOTHING to do with the drivers

refer to this thread: http://apolyton.net/forums/showthrea...hreadid=140859

[Eccles_Bremen]

Originally posted by Evil Robot
Eccles_Bremen: How is the performance? I have a Latitude D600 as well and the game is extremely sluggish. Have you found any way around that?

After I applied the Omega driver I still had hard crashes (reboot required) and when not crashing gameplay was VERY choppy.

Even though I've not had the 'render creation' error, I followed the instructions to fix that problem and - one reboot later - I'm playing with no lag. I'm still running with low video settings and no audio but playing the game is so much more interesting that trying to push it