NVIDIA Driver Woes with a Happy Ending

[Flip McWho]

Flip - I find that the texture issues (and 4 - 5 FPS issues) are worked around by alt_tab out then alt_tab back in...

Still, I think 71.89 drivers are a must_have...

Really, thats interesting, never thought alt-tab would fix it, must give it ago.

I tried 81.87 beta drivers that I found on the nvidia website somewhere, but they seem to be just as bad, if not worse. Now I must find the 71.89 drivers. Pity, bf2 runs nicer on these new drivers.

[Flip McWho]

http://downloads.guru3d.com/download.php?det=1038

Ahhh excellent

[ulyanov]

Originally posted by Flip McWho
Really, thats interesting, never thought alt-tab would fix it, must give it ago.

I tried 81.87 beta drivers that I found on the nvidia website somewhere, but they seem to be just as bad, if not worse. Now I must find the 71.89 drivers. Pity, bf2 runs nicer on these new drivers.

yeah, Alt-tab. who'da thunk it. I'm not sure how I figured it out, but it's saved my sanity a few times.

I know the 71.89 driver link has been posted, but you still can get it from NVIDIA. Use the wizard to get to the latest version, then in the links column on the left there is a link to the bottom called driver archive...

Or, you can use this Driver Archive

[SkalTur]

Allo!

Just to report: 71.89 worked fine here.



Daniel Vilela.

[Raion]

I just read the forum for overclocking an ATI or Nvidia Geforce Graphics card, and you will probably need heat sinks and added cooling for the card. Since my FX5200 is actually the only card with a passive type cooling (no fan actually) that overclocking may not work until anyone has better cooling for their video card. Yes, people have done it, and it will work, and there is another program there at:

http://www.guru3D.com

called RivaTuner that actually helps more with all of that.

But cooling is usually needed first to overclock a video card.

But as stated by the program that can be also downloaded there:

nVHardPage se which I also downloaded and is not a big program after reading some more there at the place:

Turning down Pixel Shading to 1.1 version of the game with nVHardPage se program may be more effective to play the game.

I have not tried it, but I did change it down to 1.4 from 2.0 version, and the game looked okay and all of that.

Also, Antialiasing being set to '0' only makes the distance background be not quite as sharp as it would be if anyone used Antialiasing set to '2x' or '4x' or even '8x' for that, but '0' remains the best setting to use with all previous Geforce cards because it is a bottleneck that will slow down performance so bad with any game because it really is not needed, so cuts are made somewhere to make cheaper video cards respond better --- at least before newer games came out.

So, that is all I can say, and I probably will try Pixel Shading down to 1.1 version which is easy to set, along with anything else using the nVHardPage se program.

There are also other programs out there and articles and a forum discussing exactly what to do if you do intend to overclock your video card. Beware that heat wil build up, and stress the video card out, if not providing proper cooling along with any of that.

For now, I think a patch is more important for the game, and setting the Pixel Shading down to an earlier version of it, because the game will still work, and does work, so actually if the graphics are not quite as sharp, I really do not care in this game, until anyone out there may buy a new computer, or the patch solves some of the problems, players with older computer are complaining about.

I guess the game did not promise anyone a rose garden when it came out, it just stated that a certain computer could play it, they just did not point out how well a slightly more than 2 year old computer like mine will play it ----- though!

All that stuff is presenting a bottleneck into the video card though, so until the new technology came out, games probably were not made to present that type of response from the video card -- and maybe with a patch Civ IV won't either. But then newer games and the future --- probably == new computer if the player wants to keep up with it all.

Otherwise buying newer technology that still works in an AGP slot or a PCI 2.0 version slot probably all are backwards compatible but do not expect the video card to shine because it was actually made to be used with the newer hardware technology like PCIe and whatever it is for the AGP advancements.

Still, also mentioned is that 128mB if fine for a video card of all the FX Geforce type, because there is no time to use all 256mB of a video card anyway. It really does not help, if any, at all.

So one has to find out sometimes what the heck is going on with all the stuff.

I see the 71.89 drivers do not support OpenGl version 2.0 like the newer drivers in emulation mode, but then the newer Geforce card the FX5500 also only supports OpenGL 1. 5 version yet.

But do not worry, it may take programmers even a couple of years before really newer games take advantage of it all anyway. So Civ IV probably should be playing better than it is, so I await the patch first, and drivers and changing the Pixel Shading down to even 1.1 if necessary, then the game may be easier to play in the late game.

All has to be tried to find out, but it is simple to do with the video card, once anyone downloads the programs, like nVHardPage se (or if really trying overclocking the actual Nvidia Forceware CoolBits 2.0 version).

There are also other programs at that website -- guru3D.com that can be looked up, and articles and a lot there.

If overclocking or trying it, --- the card has to be set in 3D mode for that overclocking -- that is a must, and I know, since both 2D and 3D is listed in a drop-down list box.

So the fastest rate probably for any Geforce video card will be at Refresh Rate of 60Hz.

That even may work better also.
??

That also means that anyone who bought a new computer but kept their old technology video card will have the same problems with the game, unless both were upgraded to the new technology that recently came out for computers.

Still, I doubt if Sid's games do that, so I think a patch is more important, and just be beware that in the future if a game takes advatage of the newer technology that just came out, that a new computer is the only thing that will run it better, and that includes using a PCIe type graphics card with the new technology, because mismatching either the computer or the video card will not work since the technology has just changed in the last year or so.

[Raion]

I just tried Pixel Shading down to version 1.1 for Direct X and Vertex whatever to also the same version -- 1.1 for the game, and I doubt if I see any difference in the game's graphics for Civ IV. Maybe a slight decrease but not enough for me to even think about, and I think the game will play fine with those settings set that way for Direct X version whatever, but I will have to play it more to find out.

Until more time to play the game to test it, I think I will keep those settings for Direct X that can be set with the nVHardPage se program, which is simple to do with any Geforce card, until looking at the other program -- RivaTuner, which is suppose to give more info and be probably better, if one wants to tweak a video card so it plays quicker in Civ IV.

Otherwise overclocking will require additional cooling for the video card, and all of that also found at:

http://www.guru3D.com/

along with a lot of other programs for just about anything concerning a computer!

Civ IV worked fine with those reduced settings for the game so far -- see later -- as I play it more after work!

[Cambo67]

BTW, folks, www.guru3d.com now have the latest nVidia drivers available - 81.94 ;-)



Cambo

[Markgraf]

Be nice if someone with graphic issues using the previous nVidia drivers (81.85) reported on whether these latest ones work as well as 71.89. I just switched to 71.89 and they cleared up all slowness and CTD problems I had!

[Cambo67]

81.94 seem to be very nice with 3dmark03 and 05 on my FX5700LE. Faster than all previous 81s. About to start testing with Civ4....



Cambo

[nathanebht]

81.94 Release Notes

Nvidia released the 81.94 drivers today and I wondered if the release notes had anything on the Civ 4 problems being fixed.

Release Notes

A search will show you 3 sentences containing the word "civilization". They are all found under the open issues part of the document so I wouldn't expect this version to solve any of the problems.

• GeForce 7800 GTX/GT, GeForce 6800/6600: Ground and water textures are corrupted when zooming out in Civilization 4.

• GeForce 6600, SLI: Blue-screen crash occurs when starting a new game in Civilization 4 with antialiasing enabled in the NVIDIA
control panel.

• GeForce 7800 GTX/GT, GeForce 6800/6600: Ground and water
textures are corrupted when zooming out in Civilization 4.

[Cambo67]

And still get occassional CTD with 81.94



Cambo

[Balderdash]

Re: 81.94 Release Notes

Originally posted by nathanebht
• GeForce 7800 GTX/GT, GeForce 6800/6600: Ground and water textures are corrupted when zooming out in Civilization 4.

• GeForce 6600, SLI: Blue-screen crash occurs when starting a new game in Civilization 4 with antialiasing enabled in the NVIDIA
control panel.

• GeForce 7800 GTX/GT, GeForce 6800/6600: Ground and water
textures are corrupted when zooming out in Civilization 4.

Bullet 1 == Bullet 3

Are you sure that both were found in the same "Open Issues" section?

Well, regardless, I'm glad to know this is something nVidia/Firaxis knows about as I have never seen it reported and it's a problem I have experienced since the get-go. (Not to say that it hasn't been reported... I just haven't noticed it reported. )

[ElvisMonster]

I'm having trouble with my Geforce 4mx 420. Says it supports T+L, but I've got the black tiles, shiney faces, and a lot of other symptoms that folks without T+L are reporting. Any idea on what the hang-up might be?

[Raion]

Might just be the video card, otherwise there are others having similiar problems. But the video card is getting kind of old, but the new Geforce 4000mx will actually not work at all.

I was using Nvidia Drivers version 56.72 before to play Pirates! which ran fine, and another earlier game the year before that had similiar problems but patches tended to help that game out, and the 56.72 drivers for my FX5200 Geforce card were not working all that badly for that game, while ATI card owners were having crash problems and all of that -- that someone finally solved with a different version or the ATI drivers or the Omega Drivers.

I may even download the 56.72 drivers for my Geforce card again, since the latest greatest video card I do not have. However with the new UFO game I think they are trying to get the bugs out before releasing it in the USA probably in January or so, because of the issues with the previous UFO game. But still those earlier drivers were all I used for Pirates! and that game played perfectly, but I did a wipe-out on my logical drive partition with Partition Magic by cross-linking all the files when shuting it down early through Task Manager-- which meant to re-install everything again game--wise -- and also download all the patches again, from Civ III and some other games. Well, I might download those again, just to try again, since previously anything I was playing was working with those drivers since that is all that is needed for my graphics card -- until -- perhaps a new computer with PCIe slots may be bought sometime in the future.

??
The only drivers needed for a video card actually are the drivers that work with the video card. Newer versions may support more through emulation only and then -- maybe I just don't need those drivers yet anyway until I get a new speffie computer with a decent new PCIe video card that ------ Zooms, zooms, varooms, to new speed heights with the graphics capability!

Thousands of units to move, Huge maps bigger than what can be imagined and a 10gHz computer that HDTV look -- like ancient technology!