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

Testbed

Games are tested on Pentium 4 2.4 GHz (533 MHz FSB) PC with ASUS P4C800-E (i875P) motherboard and 1024 MB 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
• ATI Radeon X800 Pro
• NVIDIA GeForce4 Ti4600
• NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200
• NVIDIA GeForce FX 5600 Ultra
• NVIDIA GeForce FX 5700 Ultra
• NVIDIA GeForce FX 5900
• NVIDIA GeForce 6800 Ultra

The latest changes are marked light-red.

Games are tested with the latest reference drivers (61.77 for NVIDIA GPUs, 4.7 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 May issue

• Removed a number of irrepairable bugs.

• The following drivers were released in July:

  ATI:

  • ATI Catalyst 4.7 (6.14.10.xxxx), official reference drivers.

  NVIDIA:

  • NVIDIA ForceWare 61.76/77, new reference drivers. 61.77 supports shaders 3.0 of GeForce 6800.

  • ForceWare 61.80, 62.01, 62.11, 62.20, etc. , reference beta.

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

  • Patch v1.2 for Far Cry (recalled by Ubi Soft due to stability issues, so we provide it's build - 1325).

  • Patch v1.31 for Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Pandora Tomorrow multiplayer.

  • v2.04 for "IL2-Shturmovik: Aces".

Games

1. Beyond Good & Evil v1.01
2. Command & Conquer Generals v1.7 / Zero Hour v1.02
3. Delta Force Black Hawk Dawn Team Sabre v1.50
4. Deus Ex Invisible War v1.2
5. Dungeon Siege v1.11.1 / Legends of Aranna v1.50
6. Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind v1.6
7. Far Cry v1.2 b1325
8. Halo: Combat Evolved v1.04
9. Mafia v1.2
10. Need for Speed Underground v1.4
11. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time v1.81
12. Thief Deadly Shadows v1.1
13. Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell v1.2b
14. Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Pandora Tomorrow v1.31
15. Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness v52
16. Tron 2.0 v1.042
17. "IL2-Shturmovik: Aces" v2.04
18. "IL2-Shturmovik: Forgotten Battles" v1.22

Beyond Good & Evil v1.01

Command & Conquer Generals v1.7 / Zero Hour v1.02

Graphics card	Drivers	Bug description and solutions	Screenshots
GeForce 6800 Ultra	61.77	Incorrect water shader rendering
		None solutions so far. (GFFX5900 screenshot is to the right)

Delta Force Black Hawk Dawn Team Sabre v1.50

Deus Ex Invisible War v1.2

Graphics card	Drivers	Bug description and solutions	Screenshots
Radeon 9600 Radeon 9800 Pro Radeon X800 Pro	4.5 4.6 4.7	Lighting and shadows problems
		None solutions so far.	-

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
GeForce FX 5200	56.64 56.72 61.77	Exteremely transparent water comparing to that produced by other GPUs.
		Use ForceWare 53.03.	-

Far Cry v1.2 b1325

Graphics card	Drivers	Bug description and solutions	Screenshots
GeForce4 Ti 4600	61.34	Incorrect water rendering at Ultra High and High detail levels.
		Fixed in 1.2, but it's hard to find, as the patch is recalled.
GeForce FX 5200 GeForce FX 5600 Ultra GeForce FX 5900	56.64 56.82	Problems with distant sprite fogging.
		Fixed in 1.2 b1325 + ForceWare 61.77.
GeForce FX 5200 GeForce FX 5600 Ultra GeForce FX 5700 Ultra GeForce FX 5900	All versions	Clear banding on light source reflections. Banding changed, but remained in Far Cry 1.2 b1325.
		Seems like aggressive optimizations for GFFX. Avoidable by reverting to Far Cry v1.0, but the stability is questionable. (GF6800U screenshot is to the right)
Radeon 9000 Pro	4.7	Older problems fixed, while new introduced: water and ground texturing.
		Water problems can be fixed in medium quality. None solutions for ground problems so far.	-

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 GeForce 6800 Ultra	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.
		Fixed in ForceWare 61.77.	-
Radeon 9000 Pro	3.9 3.10 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7	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.
		New filtering optimization algorithms of ForceWare 61.77 allow disabling optimizations for full anisotropy and trilinear filtering in Mafia on GeForce FX.

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 61.77.	-
Radeon 9000 Pro	3.10 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5	Headlights don't work.
		Fixed in Catalyst 4.7. Radeon 9800 Pro screenshots 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.
		Antialiasing can't be forced with Catalyst 4.7. Bugs naturally vanished alongside.	-
Radeon 9600 Radeon 9800 Pro Radeon X800 Pro	4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5	Forced AA smears, and water starts to shine through walls.
		Antialiasing can't be forced in Catalyst 4.7. (GeForce FX 5900 screenshots with FSAA forced are to the right)

Thief Deadly Shadows v1.1

Graphics card	Drivers	Bug description and solutions	Screenshots
Radeon 9600 Radeon 9800 Pro Radeon X800 Pro	4.5 4.6 4.7	Lighting and shadows problems
		None solutions so far.	-

Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell v1.2b

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	NV3x GPUs introduce changes in shadow buffers mechanism with various drivers. Some shadows and effects are not seen with newer drivers.
		Effects are correct in the Projected Shadows mode. Uncomment "ForceShadowMode=0" line in Splinter Cell\system\SplinterCell.ini to enable. Projected Shadows mode decreases shadow quality, but restores quantity and adds some effects absent in shadow buffers for some reasons (see screenshots). ForceWare 61.77 seems to have no problems with shadows and effects on GeForce FX in the shadow buffers mode (see screenshots).
GeForce FX 5600 Ultra GeForce FX 5700 Ultra GeForce FX 5900	56.64 56.72 61.77 62.20	Water shader bug causing flat spots.
		Use ForceWare 53.03.	-
GeForce 6800 Ultra	61.77	No shadows in shadow buffers mode.
		Mentioned in release notes of ForceWare 61.77. According to NVIDIA, it's an application bug. GeForce FX 5900 screenshot is to the right)

Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Pandora Tomorrow v110035.1

Graphics card	Drivers	Bug description and solutions	Screenshots
Radeon 9000 Pro	4.4	Some game objects sometimes either go black or disappear.
		Fixed in Catalyst 4.7.	-

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.
		Fixed in ForceWare 61.77.	-

Tron 2.0 v1.042

Graphics card	Drivers	Bug description and solutions	Screenshots
GeForce 6800 Ultra	61.34	Levels have no textures at all.
		Fixed in ForceWare 61.77.	-

"IL2-Shturmovik: Aces" v2.04

Graphics card	Drivers	Bug description and solutions	Screenshots
GeForce 6800 Ultra	61.34 61.71	Incorrect water shader rendering.
		Fixed in Patch v2.04.	-

"IL2-Shturmovik: Forgotten Battles" v1.22