Forceware 185 and GT215

[soundood]

got the same issue with the vista 64bit version looks like a no go. i'll just wait until it comes from nvidia directly.

yeah just tried again, and same winrar issues

How are you measung temps?

i water cool my GTX260, and when i was attaching the Razor block i attached a thermal sensor, i take reading from this straight from GPU

Vista 64bit installed fine here.....

did you download it from the links above? or another source? if so can you post a link?

edit: i am such a nana, maybe i should have downloaded from the OP's original link,

im getting the 64 bit driver from here, vista 64 bit 185.20

[yaddam205]

did you download it from the links above? or another source? if so can you post a link?

Vista 64 worked for me , got mine from Xfastest: http://pic.xfastest.com/z/NVIDIA%20%...%20Vista64.exe

[trinibwoy]

So, how does a driver add support for AO in games that dont have that proverbial AO pixel shader in them?

That's a good question. Maybe they just apply their own AO shader to all pixels in the scene. Unless you have evidence of Source games supporting AO natively.

And, yes, AO is an old feature.

In off-line rendering yes. Real-time in games? Ummm, no.

[mele]

Downloaded form xfast, link above.
AO screwed COD4 all up....very jerky. Turned it off.

[Eastcoasthandle]

That's a good question. Maybe they just apply their own AO shader to all pixels in the scene. Unless you have evidence of Source games supporting AO natively.



In off-line rendering yes. Real-time in games? Ummm, no.

It is my understanding that screen space ambient occlusion mods have been out for HL2 for some time now. Here is one example specifically for G80 (according to the author) but there are plenty more. Also, I recall that this can be implemented without having to alter .dll info.

Downloaded form xfast, link above.
AO screwed COD4 all up....very jerky. Turned it off.

This confirms my inital opinion. This option appears to be similar to having the option to enable EATM in some games using a radeon video card (foilage, etc). My only question is if this has any negative impact to IQ and/or increase in frame rates if AO is disabled for games that use AO by default?

[zerotol]

god i hope these drivers fix flat panel scaling for me in vista 64

[trinibwoy]

It is my understanding that screen space ambient occlusion mods have been out for HL2 for some time now. Here is one example specifically for G80 (according to the author) but there are plenty more. Also, I recall that this can be implemented without having to alter .dll info.

Yeah I saw that. My copy of HL2 is not modded however so it seems the drivers are doing something similiar to what the mod did.

This confirms my inital opinion. This option appears to be similar to having the option to enable EATM in some games using a radeon video card (foilage, etc). My only question is if this has any negative impact to IQ and/or increase in frame rates if AO is disabled for games that use AO by default?

Don't think it works like that. AO isn't an API or hardware feature. It's just a pixel shader. Don't think the driver can "disable" a shader submitted by the application. And even then, how would it know which shader to disable?

[trinibwoy]

god i hope these drivers fix flat panel scaling for me in vista 64

What's not working for you with fat planel scaling in vista 64? Been working fine for me without a hitch - I usually have it set to "do not scale" but the default scaling works fine and scaling with fixed aspect is good too.

[Sr7]

"Ambient Occlusion" is a DX feature that has being used for long already. The driver just has an option to disable it.
Looks like it's just a performance hack that once enabled sacrifices LOD.

This takes the cake. You're just plain wrong here. There is no "feature" for this in DX. The control panel has an option to enable a proprietary AO implementation in the NVIDIA driver.

It's not a "performance hack", it's adding workload for better IQ, not taking away.

So, how does a driver add support for AO in games that dont have that proverbial AO pixel shader in them?


And, yes, AO is an old feature.

Driver has final say prior to the hardware on what is rendered. It is the last step in the chain before hardware does processing. Of course anything can be injected at this point ..

In off-line rendering yes. Real-time in games? Ummm, no.

You're right. In realtime graphics this isn't really utilized yet, so a blanket method in the CP would be cool.

Crysis is one of the only games to use AO in realtime, where it is NOT pre-baked into the textures. This gives it the ability to be dynamic (when light sources change position/size, or are added/taken away, etc).

[mikeyakame]

i'll do some benchmarks between 181.00 and the 185.20s when I boot back over to my Vista SP2 partition, kinda playing around with the newest wddm 1.1 drivers from NV on Windows 7 B1. 179.xx set, but seems performance level/clock domain switching for power saving isn't working on these drivers. Wasn't completely broken on the initial 178.16 release from August.

[Eastcoasthandle]

Yeah I saw that. My copy of HL2 is not modded however so it seems the drivers are doing something similiar to what the mod did.



Don't think it works like that. AO isn't an API or hardware feature. It's just a pixel shader. Don't think the driver can "disable" a shader submitted by the application. And even then, how would it know which shader to disable?

When I noticed this post showing what it "suppose" to do or doesn't is when I have to ask the question. In all a review of this feature would benefit all of us as so it's clear how this feature functions in AO games.

[Eastcoasthandle]

If anyone is interested in how AO works watch this video

[trinibwoy]

I think those images are just showing Crysis' native AO implementation which is turned on at High/Very High settings. Haven't seen any screenies of AO being forced by the driver. I tried HL2 and my framerate tanked but I didn't notice any striking difference in IQ. Either it's not working but still killing performance or it's working and I didn't have a good scene or don't know what to look for.

[Eastcoasthandle]

If you look at photos 3 & 4 they appear to be pics of HL2: Ep 2. Photo 3 looks like there is no AO. Photo 4 (looking in the corners) appears to use AO. However, how the AO is implemented doesn't look right to me. I've read that this does tank frame rates for whatever reason.

[Cybercat]

If you look at photos 3 & 4 they appear to be pics of HL2: Ep 2. Photo 3 looks like there is no AO. Photo 4 (looking in the corners) appears to use AO. However, how the AO is implemented doesn't look right to me. I've read that this does tank frame rates for whatever reason.

I actually think that looks really good. This is a very cool feature NVIDIA is adding and I'd like to see ATI do similar quality additions to their drivers.

[Eastcoasthandle]

I actually think that looks really good. This is a very cool feature NVIDIA is adding and I'd like to see ATI do similar quality additions to their drivers.

To me it makes the scene look different. As to it being good, that's subjective. What I take noticed to is how AO is being applied and to me it detracts from the developer's intent. In all I hope that AMD doesn't use this type of technique.

[Cybercat]

To me it makes the scene look different. As to it being good, that's subjective. What I take noticed to is how OA is being applied and to me it detracts from the developer's intent. In all I hope that AMD doesn't use this type of technique.

Well I wouldn't fret too much about AMD doing something similar. Right now they've got their hands full just optimizing performance and swatting bugs, let alone actually adding anything new.

I'd agree with you in TF2. It adds next to nothing in those shots and can even create artifacts, such as the pixelation under the pipe.



But in the other two games where the art direction leans towards more realism, it's my opinion that the addition is a positive one.

[Eastcoasthandle]

Well I wouldn't fret too much about AMD doing something similar. Right now they've got their hands full just optimizing performance and swatting bugs, let alone actually adding anything new.

I'd agree with you in TF2. It adds next to nothing in those shots and can even create artifacts, such as the pixelation under the pipe.



But in the other two games where the art direction leans towards more realism, it's my opinion that the addition is a positive one.

Driver improvement is not something found from just one competing company. So that comment is a bit skewed. AO isn't really something new and it's best left with the developer as to how it should be implemented in a game.

[Cybercat]

As you said, that's subjective.

[Eastcoasthandle]

As you said, that's subjective.

Actually I said, "As to it being good, that's subjective". But to each his own.

[Sr7]

Crysis isn't such a good example unless you disable the screen space AO built into Crysis first. Otherwise the NV control panel AO is layering on top of the existing AO in Crysis. It would be better to compare the techniques instead of comparing Crysis' technique with Crysis + NVIDIA's technique lol.

[T_Flight]

Well I wouldn't fret too much about AMD doing something similar. Right now they've got their hands full just optimizing performance and swatting bugs, let alone actually adding anything new.

I agree, and would add they seem to be adding new more efficient bugs. I've got a buddy down the raod selling off two of his 4870x2's. He said he's had it fighting them. That and the e-mail he got telling him the driver issues he was having was a game issue and he needed to contact the game developer. "Ummmm, heeeellloooooo, Bethesda and Fallout 3 is a brand new title that needs driver support, and it's not a game issue...please try again." That's what I told him to tell them. Like that wasn't already obvious. Swat one add two kinda thing going on there.

That's the area that has kept me using Nvidia for years is driver development. It's going on 12 years. That's a long time. They do it right. Nvidia just keeps them coming, and they always seem to keep improved drivers flowing. It's good to see that I got my money's worth and the little bit extra I put into my purchase is actually being used. Nvidia definitely has it together with their driver development.

[revenant]

these made FO3 crash on loading a saved game no matter what I did every time.. hard crash with system reboot. rolled back to 181.00 for now..

[BababooeyHTJ]

I agree, and would add they seem to be adding new more efficient bugs. I've got a buddy down the raod selling off two of his 4870x2's. He said he's had it fighting them. That and the e-mail he got telling him the driver issues he was having was a game issue and he needed to contact the game developer. "Ummmm, heeeellloooooo, Bethesda and Fallout 3 is a brand new title that needs driver support, and it's not a game issue...please try again." That's what I told him to tell them. Like that wasn't already obvious. Swat one add two kinda thing going on there.

That's the area that has kept me using Nvidia for years is driver development. It's going on 12 years. That's a long time. They do it right. Nvidia just keeps them coming, and they always seem to keep improved drivers flowing. It's good to see that I got my money's worth and the little bit extra I put into my purchase is actually being used. Nvidia definitely has it together with their driver development.

Um, Fallout 3 just crashed to desktop twice on me today. I have a GTX280. The drivers were a nightmare for the first few monthes that I had a GTX260 as well. Nvidia could use some improvement with their drivers too. Although their drivers are much better than ATI's drivers at the moment. I just sold off my 4870s because of that.

[largon]

Looking at what AO does in Crysis I can tell it makes the scene look less realistic. Deep, dark shadow under every patch of grass & shrub? Come on.

AO off is totally looking best.