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

Testbed

Games are tested on Pentium 4 2.4GHz (533MHz FSB) testbed with ASUS P4GE-V motherboard (i845GE) and 1024MB PC2700.

The test are run only under Windows XP Service Pack 1 (plus 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 tested with the latest reference drivers (56.72 for NVIDIA GPUs, 4.5 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 may occur in our testbed only. So if you don't witness them, or witness previously unwitnessed :), please email us providing most details about your PC configuration (processor, chipset, graphics card and drivers, OS, DirectX version, game version). Besides, you can send us a screenshot not more than 200KB in size ('cause we have to pay for traffic:).

News

• Removed a number of bug descriptions fixed in March issue

• Removed Z-Buffer bug of AquaNox 2: Revelation, because it seems more like a feature.

• Removed Heat Effects bug that occurs on Radeons with AA forced. It seems ATI isn't going to fix it.

• The following drivers were released in May:

  ATI:

  • Catalyst 4.5 (6.14.10.6444), new reference drivers.

  NVIDIA:

  • ForceWare 61.11 and 61.12, two betas of the future reference drivers.

• The following updates were released in May for games listed below:

  • Patch v1.03 for Conan;
  • Patch v1.2 for Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Pandora Tomorrow multiplayer.

Games

1. Beyond Good & Evil v1.01
2. Conan
3. Dungeon Siege v1.11.1 / Legends of Aranna v1.50
4. Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind v1.6
5. Enclave
6. Far Cry v1.1
7. Halo: Combat Evolved v1.04
8. Mafia v1.2
9. Need for Speed Underground v1.4
10. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time v1.81
11. Return to Castle Wolfenstein v1.41
12. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic v1.03
13. Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell v1.2b
14. Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Pandora Tomorrow v1.2
15. Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness v52
16. IL-2 Shturmovik: Forgotten Battles v1.22

Beyond Good & Evil v1.01

Conan

Graphics card	Drivers	Bug description and solutions	Screenshots
GeForce FX 5200 GeForce FX 5600 Ultra GeForce FX 5900	56.64 56.72	Seems like problems with fog. Doesn't show up on FX 5700.
		Fixed in FW 56.82, 60.72 and 61.12 betas.

Dungeon Siege v1.11.1 / Legends of Aranna v1.50

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 56.72	Water shader bugs again: some water is frozen still.
		Use ForceWare 53.03. Fixed in ForceWare 60.72 beta.	-
GeForce FX 5200	56.64 56.72 61.12	Exteremely transparent water comparing to that produced by other GPUs.
		Use ForceWare 53.03.	-

Enclave

Graphics card	Drivers	Bug description and solutions	Screenshots
GeForce FX 5200 GeForce FX 5600 Ultra GeForce FX 5900	56.64 56.72 61.12	Problems with fog. Doesn't show up on FX 5700.
		Fixed in FW 56.82, but FW 61.11/61.12 get the bug back..

Far Cry v1.1

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.
		Fixed in the first patch. (Screenshot obtained with GeForce FX 5700 Ultra is to the right.) 61.12 beta introduces fog-over-grass-sprites bug into Far Cry v1.1 as well.
GeForce FX 5200 GeForce FX 5600 Ultra GeForce FX 5700 Ultra GeForce FX 5900	56.64 56.72 61.12	Clear banding on light source reflections.
		Either aggressive optimizations, or CryTek programmers' mistake. For now fixed only by not using patch 1.1. (Far Cry v1.0 screenshot obtained on FX5900 is to the right).
Radeon 9000 Pro	4.3 4.4	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!
		Most problems are fixed by Catalyst 4.5. Just water shaders artefacts remain. They are fixed by setting water detail to Medium though.	-

Halo: Combat Evolved v1.04

Graphics card	Drivers	Bug description and solutions	Screenshots
GeForce FX 5200 GeForce FX 5600 Ultra GeForce FX 5700 Ultra GeForce FX 5900	All versions	Thermal camouflage effect with GeForce FX cards becomes like that on Radeons, if you make Halo think it runs on Radeon 9600 (with 3DAnalyser). It's interesting that frame rate doesn't reduce after that at all. (Screenshots obtained with GFFX5900 with Radeon 9800 Pro's DeviceID are to the right.)
		It seems like very aggressive optimization for GeForce FX. We doubt it will be fixed, even despite the arrival of Geforce 6800. (Screenshots obtained with GFFX5900 with native DeviceID are to the right.)
GeForce FX 5200 GeForce FX 5600 Ultra GeForce FX 5700 Ultra GeForce FX 5900	61.12	Lighting and texturing problems when trying to force anisotropic filtering.
		Use the latest official reference drivers (56.72 at the moment).	-
Radeon 9000 Pro	3.9 3.10 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5	Shader bugs.
		None solutions so far.	-

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 56.72 61.12	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.

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 56.72	Headlights give "discrete" light switching from darker to lighter (on fencing and houses). This doesn't occur on other maps.
		Fixed in ForceWare 61.12 beta.	-
Radeon 9000 Pro	3.10 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5	Headlights don't work.
		Not fixed yet. Headlights are rendered correctly, if you disable road reflections. (Screenshots obtained with Radeon 9800 Pro are to the right.)

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 4.4 4.5	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.
		Artefacts ceased with Catalyst 4.2, but water image remains dithered. Can be completely fixed by disabling Water Effects (alongside reducing water quality).	-
Radeon 9600 Radeon 9800 Pro	4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5	Forced AA smears, and water starts to shine through walls.
		Can be completely fixed by disabling Water Effects (alongside reducing water quality). (Screenshots obtained with GeForce FX 5900 with FSAA forced are to the right.)

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 4.4	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.
		Fixed in Catalyst 4.4.	&#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
GeForce FX 5200 GeForce FX 5600 Ultra GeForce FX 5700 Ultra GeForce FX 5900	53.03 56.72	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 artefacts in Shadow Buffer mode are fixed in FW 56.64 and 61.12. Some lighting effects are still missing though.
GeForce FX 5600 Ultra GeForce FX 5700 Ultra GeForce FX 5900	56.64 56.72 61.12	Water shader bugs seen as frozen still areas.
		Use ForceWare 53.03.	-

Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Pandora Tomorrow

Graphics card	Drivers	Bug description and solutions	Screenshots
Radeon 9000 Pro	4.4	Some game objects sometimes either go black or disappear.
		Disappearing fixed in Catalyst 4.5. Occasional blackouts continue though.	-

Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness v52

Graphics card	Drivers	Bug description and solutions	Screenshots
GeForce4 Ti 4600	56.64	NVIDIA Shadows turned buggy again.
		Use drivers 56.72.	-
GeForce FX 5200 GeForce FX 5600 Ultra GeForce FX 5700 Ultra GeForce FX 5900	61.12	PS2.0 Shadows setting worked for the first time with GeForce FX family. Not without artefacts though: the shadow had a pixel-wide border.
		No solutions so far, as there have been no shadows with GFFX before.	-

IL-2 Shturmovik: Forgotten Battles v1.22

Article navigation: