[Gregster2k]

Blue Screens of Death (BSODs) / Rebooting: --- > http://www.vgaforum.com/showthread.php?t=21035
The "CSA Patched" Catalyst 8.12 ATI3DUAG.DLL fixed my BSODing under Catalyst 8.12 (Radeon 9800 Pro AGP on a Socket A chipset).  If you're also on a Socket A chipset, "Symptom ERROR/BSOD 0x8E" (#2) is the section you want.


OpenGL issues:
Try finding other Catalyst drivers and stealing the following files from them, if they exist (take what you find).  Be sure to use the correct type (x32 or x64) depending on your OS.  The following list is based on the OpenGL drivers found offered as an option in DNA's Catalyst 8.12 modded driver set.

ATIOGLXX.DLL
ATIOGLX1.DLL
ATIOGLX2.DLL
ATIOK3X2.DLL
ATIO6AX2.DLL 64-bit only
ATIO6AXX.DLL 64-bit only
ATIOKAX2.DLL 64-bit only

When fishing for OpenGL drivers, they may come in ".DL_" form.  Navigate to the directory in Command Prompt and type the following to get usable DLLs out of them.

Code: [Select]

expand -r *.dl_

ATI OpenGL drivers:
Catalyst 7.11 32-bit (FileFront)*
Catalyst 7.11 64-bit (FileFront)*

* Source: The DNA (Do Not Argue) Catalyst Drivers, which still to this day include these in their pack as an alternative OpenGL set.
WARNING:  I have not yet personally tested these in FreeSpace.  Use at your own risk.  I can't fully test them because my card can't do normal mapping.


Remember that ATI driver notation is year-based in Y/M format.  "Catalyst 6.12" (December 2006) is newer than "Catalyst 6.3" (March 2006).

Cheers


See also:
ShivanSps' thread.

[Canelhas]

Have you tried the 9.1 drivers yet? (released a couple of days ago)

[Gregster2k]

Not yet, but I will be testing them soon.

[ShivanSpS]

I tried them... 9.1 work with my HD4670 card under OpenGL, i still getting the same "white textures" when a damage flash/lightning apear, that i have with older drivers.

On my X1650 card, 9.1 are broken, same issues with any other 8.X drivers, the game just hangs entering in weapon loadout or a second after starting the mission.

The drivers will NEVER get fixed, i have NO idea of why OpenGL is broken on older cards with newer drivers... I bet it has something to do when shadder tech changed from VP/SP to unified shadders...

Also i wast able to use any cat 7.x opengl driver on my HD4670... the override does not work, it gives a error. (does the override work on x64 system?)

The funny thing is, Quake 4 indeed work on my X1650 and cat 9.1 so whats up ppl?

[Gregster2k]

First post updated.

I'm on a Radeon 9800 Pro, that's even older than you...but know that you are not alone.  The ATI official forums have a ton of angry users right now...

I'm using the 7.11 OpenGL's on a 32-bit system - just updated the first post with a download link to the 64-bit version.  I have not, however, tested 7.11 with FreeSpace Open yet.

[ARSPR]

...

On my X1650 card, 9.1 are broken, same issues with any other 8.X drivers, the game just hangs entering in weapon loadout or a second after starting the mission.

The drivers will NEVER get fixed, i have NO idea of why OpenGL is broken on older cards with newer drivers... I bet it has something to do when shadder tech changed from VP/SP to unified shadders...

...

Zacam found the exact reason and posted it. Read this thread (http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php/topic,58371.0.html) or just this post (http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php/topic,58317.msg1181101.html#msg1181101)

It's something about X1XXX not having proper hardware support for some kind of transformation although they were supposed to have it as a SM3.0 capable GPU. This transformation is done by software (ie. atioglxx.dll). This way of working has been dropped in newer drivers and then, as FS2 shaders use it, the game cannot work. Nevertheless because of that lack of hardware support, shaders and normal mapping can have a great performance impact in X1XXX cards. So even working, maybe you can be forced to use -no_glsl anyway.

Newest cards are fixed. You can't use old drivers with them because you need a driver which DOES recognize your card. But as these cards are not affected by the issue, why should you want to use an old Atioglxx.dll?

The only problem, (which I don't know if it is already solved), arises with Vista (new OS which needs a more or less recent driver) and these cards, because maybe the available drivers have dropped the old software method. Then you could be in a blind alley.

First post updated.

I'm on a Radeon 9800 Pro, that's even older than you...but know that you are not alone.  The ATI official forums have a ton of angry users right now...

I'm using the 7.11 OpenGL's on a 32-bit system - just updated the first post with a download link to the 64-bit version.  I have not, however, tested 7.11 with FreeSpace Open yet.

Hey 9800 is not SM3.0 capable so you won't be able to use glsl (and normal mapping). Maybe it's support has been completely dropped in current Catalyst.

So:

Xxxx or older cards. You cannot use glsl in any way because they are SM2.0 cards, not SM3.0.
X1xxx. They should have been working fine, but they don't. Blame ATI and use the Atioglxx.dll trick.
HD 2xxx or newer. IIRC they are fixed and working fine.

[ShivanSpS]

thats why FSO looks better on my HD4670...

The issues im having with my HD4670 is that i get a "White texture" when a damage lightning/ray apears... i cant get a screenshoot because im having a very strage issue with vista x64 and i only getting "blackscreen screenshoots".

[taylor]

The issues im having with my HD4670 is that i get a "White texture" when a damage lightning/ray apears...

I posted some updated vertex shaders which supposedly fix the problem for ATI users here.

[Gregster2k]

Hey 9800 is not SM3.0 capable so you won't be able to use glsl (and normal mapping). Maybe it's support has been completely dropped in current Catalyst.

Surprisingly, the 9800 PRO series is still officially supported by current Catalyst drivers.  Realistically, it's hit or miss...

[Skarab]

Ug it drives me crazy that my card/problem does not really apply to the problems & solutions in this thread.  Absolutely everything seems to work for me in 3.6.10 except normal maps, which are not visible at all.  I've tried every potential fix I could find, both from this thread and a couple of others, including one I started myself.  I am fairly certain that it is a driver related issue so I'd be rather surprised to find some kind of a vp file workaround.  The card at issue here is a Radeon 3850 AGP version.  I have no clue whether it being AGP or PCIe has anything to do with it at all, nor any idea what differentiates the AGP and PCIe drivers.  This post isn't as much a rant as it may seem... I'm hoping someone else might be using a similar setup and either having the same problem so I know I'm not crazy, or NOT having the problem so I can figure out what the difference is.  I'd really love to be able to see the normals, but honestly, even without them the game looks immesurably better than retail which is a testament to the talent of all the folks that work on it.