New ATI Radeon Drivers

[dleon]

Yesterday, ATI posted the new 4.4 edition of their Radeon drivers. If you are a Radeon 9800 user (as I am) you will probably want to download immediately. The focus of this update was on reliability/durability/dependability/stability and glitch fixing, so it is somewhat doubtful that performance will increase. Here is a quotation from a news site:

 

Resolved CATALYST™ Driver Issues

This section provides information on CATALYST™ driver issues that have been resolved in the latest release of CATALYST™. These include the following:

 

Connecting a secondary CRT and enabling VPU Recover no longer results in the operating system failing to restore itself. The new rotation implementation no longer fails to update the desktop when doing a mode set on exit. Setting the display resolution to 1024x768 32bpp and switching the DVI connector for HDTV to 480i no longer results in the HDTV device not working within the ATI Control Panel. Setting the display resolution to 1152x864 32bpp under Windows XP and playing an MPEG or AVI file using the Windows Media Player no longer results in display corruption on the TV output

Setting the display resolution to 1920x1080 on an ATI RADEON 9700 PRO when connected to a specific monitor no longer results in the image not being display. The file version and the product version information is now correct. Resolved Game Issues

This section provides information on game issues that have been resolved in the latest release of CATALYST™. These include the following:

 

Worms 3D no longer fails to properly play. Launching in game movies no longer results in only the sound being heard with the display being corrupted or black

Intermittent texture corruption and flashing is no longer seen when playing the game Battlefield 1942

The shadow of the characters in the game Splinter Cell Pandora Tomorrow are now being displayed properly

Display corruption is no longer noticed when switching between 2D and 3D modes in the game Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004

The performance of the game Tomb Raider AOD is no longer compromised when running the game at the display resolution of 1600x1200

The brightness option found in certain games is now working properly when extended desktop is enabled and both monitors are set to 1280x1024 32bpp

Configuring the game RACER version 0.50 to run at full screen, 1600x1200 32bpp, no longer results in the game failing to respond

Setting the display resolution to 1600x1200 and running the game Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy no longer results in display corruption being noticed at a specific point in the game

Display corruption is no longer seen when playing the demo version of the game Far Cry

Known Issues

The following section provides a brief description of known issues associated with the latest version of CATALYST™. These include the following:

 

Playing the game Nascar 2003 with the display resolution set to 1280x1024 32bpp results in display corruption being seen. This issue will be resolved in an upcoming CATALYST™ release. Further information on this issue can be found at: http://www.ati.com/support/infobase/4388.html

Setting the graphics quality to anything higher than Fastest in the game Virtual Skipper 3 results in the operating system failing to respond when the game menu loads. Further information on this issue can be found at: http://www.ati.com/support/infobase/4466.html

Playing the game Desert Rats vs. Afirka Korps with the game resolution set to 1600x1200 and the desktop display set to 1024x768 32bpp along with Anti-Aliasing set to 4x results in flashing and or corrupt shadows. Further information on this issue can be found at: http://www.ati.com/support/infobase/4468.html

Missing polygons on the satellite within the main menu is noticed in the game Hegemonia. Further information on this issue can be found at: http://www.ati.com/support/infobase/4467.html

Enabling multi-monitors at different display resolutions results in Direct3D or OpenGL game images appearing off center on the secondary display. Further information on this issue can be found at: http://www.ati.com/support/infobase/4406.html

Textures are not applied correctly in the game Silent Storm when setting the resolution to 1024x768 32bpp and the quality option set to high. Further information on this issue can be found at: http://www.ati.com/support/infobase/4522.html

Adobe Gamma and other colour calibration software no longer function. Further information on this issue can be found at: http://www.ati.com/support/infobase/4501.html

Enabling AF to 8x and running the game Battlefield Vietnam with the graphics set to high and the display set to 1280x1024 32bpp results in display corruption being seen at a certain point of the game. Further information on this issue can be found at: http://www.ati.com/support/infobase/4500.html

A performance decrease is noticed when setting the game option to Perfect in the game IL-2 Sturmovik: Forgotten Battles. Further information on this issue can be found at: http://www.ati.com/support/infobase/4524.html

While playing the game Halo, images that should be hidden behind solid foreground objects are showing through. Further information on this issue can be found at: http://www.ati.com/support/infobase/4502.html

The game Prince of Persia: Sands of Time fails to play under Windows XP with an ATI RADEON 9100 or 8500 series product installed. Further information on this issue can be found at: http://www.ati.com/support/infobase/4503.html