Please send all questions and comments related to this gallery to Danil Gridasov.

Testbed

Games are checked on a testbed based on Pentium 4 2.4GHz (533MHz FSB), ASUS P4GE-V (i845GE) and 1024MB PC2700.

The checking is performed only under Windows XP Service Pack 1 (+ tens of Windows Updates from Service Pack 2) and DirectX 9b.

The following cards were used in making of this material:

• ATI Radeon 9000 Pro
• ATI Radeon 9600
• ATI Radeon 9800 Pro
• NVIDIA GeForce4 Ti4600
• NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200
• NVIDIA GeForce FX 5600 Ultra
• NVIDIA GeForce FX 5700 Ultra
• NVIDIA GeForce FX 5900

The latest changes are marked light-red.

Games are checked with the latest reference drivers (53.03 for NVIDIA GPUs, 4.2 for ATI GPUs) coupled with the latest patches. When a bug is found, it's tested on the next reference betas. Exceptions prove the rule :-)

Attention! Some bugs that we noticed might occur only in our test configuration. If you do not have some of the mentioned bugs or, vice versa, you have one that we don't write us providing maximum details on your configuration (CPU, chipset, graphics card and drivers, OS, DirectX version, game version). Besides, you can send in a screenshot, but not more than 100Kb in size - we pay for our traffic :-)

News

• Removed a number of bug descriptions fixed in January issue.

• The following drivers were released in March:
  ATI:
  • Catalyst 4.3 (6.14.10.6430), another ATI's official reference driver that thoroughly saved all the bugs.
  NVIDIA:
  • ForceWare 56.64, NVIDIA's new official reference driver that fixes some bugs, but compensates it with new ones.

  • ForceWare 56.82, leaked beta of the next reference driver without anything distinguishing. If you don't like FW 56.64 it would be better to use 53.03.

• The following updates for the games listed below were released in March:
  • Patch v1.2 for Deus Ex: Invisible War;
  • Patch v1.03 for Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic.

Games

1. AquaNox 2: Revelation
2. Battle Engine Aquila
3. Colin McRae Rally 3 v1.1
4. Command & Conquer Generals Zero Hour v1.02
5. Conan
6. Deus Ex: Invisible War v1.2
7. Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind v1.6
8. Enclave
9. Far Cry
10. Halo: Combat Evolved v1.04
11. Homeworld 2 v1.1
12. Mafia v1.2
13. Need for Speed Underground v1.4
14. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time v1.81
15. Return to Castle Wolfenstein v1.41
16. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic v1.03
17. Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell v1.2b
18. Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness v52
19. IL-2 Shturmovik: Forgotten Battles v1.22
20. Silent Storm v1.2

AquaNox 2: Revelation

Graphics card	Drivers	Bug description and solutions	Screenshots
GeForce4 Ti 4600 GeForce FX 5200 GeForce FX 5600 Ultra GeForce FX 5700 Ultra GeForce FX 5900 Radeon 9000 Pro Radeon 9600 Radeon 9800 Pro	56.64 56.82 4.3	Judging by artefacts on distant objects, the game utilizes 16-bit Z-buffer.
		It's not clear whether it's a driver bug or a game feature, as such artefacts show up on all cards tested.	-

Battle Engine Aquila

Graphics card	Drivers	Bug description and solutions	Screenshots
Radeon 9000 Pro Radeon 9600 Radeon 9800 Pro	3.7 3.8 3.9 3.10 4.1 4.2 4.3	Tree textures are surrounded by some snow, if anisotropic filtering is forced.
		The only solution for now is to disable anisotropic filtering.

Colin McRae Rally 3 v1.1

Command & Conquer Generals Zero Hour v1.02

Graphics card	Drivers	Bug description and solutions	Screenshots
Radeon 9000 Pro Radeon 9600 Radeon 9800 Pro	3.9 3.10 4.1 4.2 4.3	When you force AA from driver and enable Heat Effects ingame, the screen goes black (except for some bitmaps) when these effects are used (e.g. during production at Microwave Tank).
		When patch 1.02 is applied, Heat Effects make the screen go black. If you move the camera away, the image restores, but FSAA is disabled independently on the Heat Effects. With Catalyst 4.3 screen doesn't go black anymore, instead FSAA disables and the performance drops unless you move the camera away. FSAA still isn't enabled anymore.	-

Conan

Graphics card	Drivers	Bug description and solutions	Screenshots
GeForce FX 5200 GeForce FX 5600 Ultra GeForce FX 5900	56.64	Seems like problems with fog. Doesn't show up on FX 5700.
		Fixed in FW 56.82.

Deus Ex: Invisible War v1.2

Graphics card	Drivers	Bug description and solutions	Screenshots
Radeon 9600 Radeon 9800 Pro	4.1	Multisampling (AA) and Bloom together produce gray dots on some objects.
		Fixed in Catalyst 4.2.	-

Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind v1.6
(with Tribunal and Bloodmoon)

Graphics card	Drivers	Bug description and solutions	Screenshots
GeForce4 Ti 4600 GeForce FX 5200	56.64 56.82	Water shader bugs again: a part of water is frozen still. And FX 5200 makes water so transparent, so it's barely visible.
		Use ForceWare 53.03.	-
Radeon 9000 Pro	3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8 3.9 3.10 4.1 4.2 4.3	Water shader bug (see screenshots).
		None solutions so far. Each graphics card actually draws this long-suffering shader in its own way :-) But if the error isn't so noticeable on some cards, it immediately draws the attention on R9000Pro. (R9800Pro screenshots to the right).

Enclave

Graphics card	Drivers	Bug description and solutions	Screenshots
GeForce FX 5600 Ultra GeForce FX 5700 Ultra GeForce FX 5900	52.16	Pixel shaders look very strange.
		Fixed in ForceWare 56.56.
GeForce FX 5200 GeForce FX 5600 Ultra GeForce FX 5900	56.64	Problems with fog. Doesn't show up on FX 5700.
		Fixed in FW 56.82.
Radeon 9000 Pro	3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8 3.9 3.10 4.1 4.2 4.3	Shader problems. The bug occasionally disappears to appear again next run. The source of it is unknown.
		It periodically disappears to occur next time the game is run. Even when this doesn't occur, it seems the water shader is "overpixelated". Hard to say whose fault it is...

Far Cry

Graphics card	Drivers	Bug description and solutions	Screenshots
GeForce FX 5200 GeForce FX 5600 Ultra GeForce FX 5900	56.64 56.82	Problems with distant sprite fogging.
		Should be fixed in the first patch for this game. (Screenshot made on GeForce FX 5700 Ultra is to the right.)
Radeon 9000 Pro	4.3	The game is AWFUL on Radeon 9000 Pro (if it runs at all). You witness massive triangles shedding that finishes with a lock-up on exit. And they state Radeon 8500 is a minimal requirement!
		It runs more or less with everything set to "Low". But still locks up on exit.	-

Halo: Combat Evolved v1.04

Graphics card	Drivers	Bug description and solutions	Screenshots
Radeon 9000 Pro	3.9 3.10 4.1 4.2 4.3	Shader bugs.
		None solutions so far.	-
Radeon 9600 Radeon 9800 Pro	All versions	Radeon's "selective" trilinear filtering shows up again. It works on all texture layers, when anisotropic filtering is selected by application. But it's disabled on some layers, when aniso is forced from the control panel. Note there's almost no difference between Perfomance and Quality AF, but MIP levels are clearly seen even when AF 16 is forced.
		You can enable trilinear filtering for all texture stages at anisotropy using rTool.

Homeworld 2 v1.1

Graphics card	Drivers	Bug description and solutions	Screenshots
Radeon 9600 Radeon 9800 Pro	4.1 4.2	Forced FSAA causes great performance drop and artefacts.
		Catalyst 4.2 fixed artefacts but saved performance drop for the future. Still the latter can be fixed by disabling dynamic shadows. Fully fixed in Catalyst 4.3.	-

Mafia v1.2

Graphics card	Drivers	Bug description and solutions	Screenshots
GeForce FX 5200 GeForce FX 5600 Ultra GeForce FX 5700 Ultra GeForce FX 5900	52.16 53.03 56.64 56.82	Only 4x or even 2x are forced when trying to force 8x anisotropic filtering. New Detonator 50 "optimizations" coupled with Mafia rendering traits. New NVIDIA drivers clearly reduce the anisotropic filtering on all levels, except the first and Mafia performs main rendering on levels higher than the first, so the primary textures are filtered less then it should be.
		The only way to get normal anisotropic filtering on GeForce FX for now is to use the previous 45.23 or 45.33.
Radeon 9600 Radeon 9800 Pro	All versions	Trilinear filtering is disabled when any anisotropic filtering level is forced (be it Perfomance, or Quality). Such a trait or ATI drivers coupled with Mafia texturing peculiarities. When Quality anisotropy is forced, Catalyst enables trilinear filtering for the first level only to perform main texturing. But in Mafia primary textures are processed on the next levels disabling trilinear filtering.
		You can enable trilinear filtering for all texture stages at anisotropy using rTool.

Need for Speed: Underground v1.4

Graphics card	Drivers	Bug description and solutions	Screenshots
GeForce FX 5600 Ultra GeForce FX 5700 Ultra GeForce FX 5900	53.03 56.64 56.82	Headlights give "discrete" light switching from darker to lighter (on fencing and houses). This doesn't occur on other maps.
		It seems the headlights are made using a pixel shader that causes problems on FX cards (funny, but FX5200 doesn't have this bug).	-
Radeon 9000 Pro	3.10 4.1 4.2 4.3	Headlights don't work.
		Hasn't been fixed yet. Headlights are drawn correctly if you disable road reflections ingame.Radeon 9800 Pro screenshots are to the right.
Radeon 9000 Pro	3.10 4.1	When AA is forced and Light Trails and/or Motion Blur are enabled the screen goes littered.
		Fixed in patch 1.4. Now FSAA is forced off if Light Trails / Motion Blur are enabled. But the game performance drops anyway.	-
Radeon 9600 Radeon 9800 Pro	3.10	Screen goes black, when AA is forced and Light Trails and/or Motion Blur are enabled.	-
		There wasn't such bug in game v1.0 - AA just couldn't be forced with these effects enabled. Fixed in patch v1.4. But with FSAA and Light Trails / Motion Blur enabled, the game is really slow (FSAA doesn't work though.)

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time v1.81

Graphics card	Drivers	Bug description and solutions	Screenshots
Radeon 9000 Pro	4.1 4.2 4.3	When forced AA causes artefacts, including black rectangle in the upper left corner, garbaged water. Besides, instead of AA you get a dithered whole image.
		Catalyst 4.2 fixes artefacts, but still dithers image instead of applying AA.	-
Radeon 9600 Radeon 9800 Pro	4.1 4.2 4.3	Forced AA smears, and water starts to shine through walls.
		For now just don't force AA (Screenshots taken with GeForce FX 5900 with forced FSAA).

Return to Castle Wolfenstein v1.41

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic v1.03

Graphics card	Drivers	Bug description and solutions	Screenshots
Radeon 9600 Radeon 9800 Pro	4.1 4.2 4.3	Antialiasing can't be controlled ingame anymore and is off independently on its level selected.	&#151
		Normally forced from the control panel. AA is controlled correctly ingame with drivers older than 4.1.
Radeon 9600 Radeon 9800 Pro	4.3	Problems with enabling Soft Shadows. If it's enabled before level loading, the PC locks up. If Soft Shadows are enabled when the level is loaded, you witness a whole bunch of artefacts.
		Soft Shadows were enabled for Radeons by patch 1.03. It seems it was in vain.	&#151

Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell v1.2b

You should remember that for NVIDIA GF3+ the game utilizes shadow mapping for increased shadow details. On GF4 MX and all RADEON cards it utilizes projected textures of considerably lower resolution. The difference is clearly seen on screenshots. . But what's the most interesting, SC's shadow mapping causes GF3+ cards to increase ingame "light amount". On the same screenshots you can see the different light meter values.

Graphics card	Drivers	Bug description and solutions	Screenshots
GeForce4 Ti 4600 GeForce FX 5200 GeForce FX 5600 Ultra GeForce FX 5700 Ultra GeForce FX 5900	44.03 45.23 45.33 52.16 53.03 56.64 56.82	FSAA can't be forced. According to NVIDIA, this what game developers asked for to avoid rendering errors (see below about Radeon).	-
		Not a bug, but a feature. This feature can be bypassed by renaming SplinterCell.exe into, say, SplinterCel.exe. This enabled FSAA, but might also produce bugs similar to those observed on Radeons.
GeForce FX 5200 GeForce FX 5600 Ultra GeForce FX 5700 Ultra GeForce FX 5900	53.03 56.82	Various drivers and NV3x GPUs have different Shadow Buffer results. The later drivers hide some shadows and light sources.
		In the Projected Shadows mode (for all non-GF cards) everything is drawn correctly. To enable this mode uncomment the "ForceShadowMode=0" line in "Splinter Cell\system\SplinterCell.ini". Projected Shadows mode will reduce shadows quality, but will restore their initial number and add a number of other light effects absent in the Shadow Buffer mode for some unknown reasons (see screenshots). Shadow Buffer bugs were fixed in FW 56.64. But some lighting effects are still missing.
GeForce FX 5600 Ultra GeForce FX 5700 Ultra GeForce FX 5900	56.64 56.82	Water shader bugs seen as frozen still areas.
		Use ForceWare 53.03.	-
Radeon 9000 Pro	3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8 3.9 3.10 4.1	FSAA forcing problems again.
		Just don't force AA. AA doesn't force in Catalyst 4.2.
Radeon 9600 Radeon 9800 Pro	3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8 3.9	Forced FSAA causes overbrighting when enabling/disabling nightvision.
		Just don't force AA. From Catalyst 3.10 AA can't be forced anyway. Renaming the exe-file doesn't help either.

Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness v52

Graphics card	Drivers	Bug description and solutions	Screenshots
GeForce4 Ti 4600	45.23 45.33 52.16 53.03 56.64	Some Louvre guards lack textures.
		No sources of this have been found so far.	-
GeForce4 Ti 4600	56.64	NVIDIA Shadows turned buggy again.
		Rollback to 53.03.	-
Radeon 9000 Pro	3.7 3.8 3.9 3.10 4.1 4.2 4.3	Some Louvre guards lack textures.
		No sources of this have been found so far.	-

IL-2 Shturmovik: Forgotten Battles v1.22

Silent Storm v1.2

Graphics card	Drivers	Bug description and solutions	Screenshots
Radeon 9000 Pro	3.7 3.8 3.9 3.10 4.1 4.2 4.3	Serious texturing problems.
		This doesn't occur, if you reduce quality down to "Low" or "Average" ingame. To the right - screenshots from GeForce4 MX.

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