Delta Virtual Airlines Water Cooler | PC Support |
For David Schaum: How to configure the ATI Catalysts |
DVA043
Senior Captain, MD-11
OLP
Joined on June 10 2001
Event Half Century Club
Online Double Century Club
50 State Club
DVA Twenty-Year Anniversary
Everett 1500 Club
Bi-Millennium Club
Four Million Mile Club
"Col. Panic" Marietta, GA
2,241 legs, 8,967.3 hours
240 legs,
553.9 hours online 1,899 legs,
7,760.4 hours ACARS 75 legs,
196.3 hours event 2,277 legs, 9,102.2 hours total 91 legs dispatched, 66.4
hours
|
Posted onPost created on
November 03 2003 17:15 ET by Luke Kolin
|
David - here's how to configure the Catalyst drivers for the new Radeon. Here's what I did - I had a simple upgrade from an nVidia GeForce 2Ti.
0. Download the Catalyst 3.8 drivers from ATI's site.
1. Before you power down the PC, uninstall the nvidia drivers from the Control Panel and shut down.
2. Install the new video card into your PC.
3. When XP/2000 boots and detects new hardware, cancel it. You'll be in 640x480x16 VGA mode, but that's OK.
4. Run the Catalyst installer.
5. Restart when it's all done.
Once you're done this, you want to go into the driver tweaks. In Control Panel, go into Display, Settings, and click the Advanced button. You'll get a dialog much like this:
Click on the 3D tab, and you'll get this:
You'll see that I am using 4X anti-aliasing and 8x anisotropic filtering. You'll also see that your drivers allow different profiles for different apps and they can be switched from here. I use different profiles for BF1942 and FS. Next, click custom, and you'll get this:
At which point you can tweak to your heart's content. I suggest you leave the "Wait for Veritcal Sync" off, since that boosts frame rates a bit. The AA/AF settings are between you and your taste, although that 9800 Pro should be able to handle maxed in FS without too dramatic a loss, but ultimately it comes down to how much quality you want vs. performance.
Give me a shout if you need more help.
Cheers!
Luke
PS: On a side note I unearthed the Platronics headset from the days of my dot-com expense account. I managed to get the speakers and the heatset working, so I'm anxious to try it out next weekend.
Luke KolinSenior Captain, MD-11
|
|
DVA1190
Senior Captain, B777-200
OLP
Joined on April 21 2003
Everett 250 Club
Online Quadruple Century Club
Quincentenary Club
50 State Club
DVA Twenty-Year Anniversary
"Never try, never fail" Greenville, SC
524 legs, 1,777.8 hours
490 legs,
1,650.8 hours online 144 legs,
373.3 hours ACARS 35 legs,
89.2 hours event
|
Posted onPost created on
November 03 2003 17:52 ET by David Schaum
|
Thanks for the great information. The video card arrived today and I'm installing it now. Tomorrow, I'll take the computer to my brother-in-law at IBM, who will power it up for the first time, and begin loading the bios and operating system "XP Professional". I'm not sure how we will be able to download the Catalyst 3.8 drivers from ATI's site until after the computer is already up and running, with which I'll use the cd that came with the video card I guess?
Now, even though this card is brand new, the disc that came with it, probably has the Catalyst version prior to the new 3.8, so I guess I'll get started with the disc, then go to ATI's site and download 3.8. Does this sound right?
David SchaumSenior Captain, B777-200
|
|
DVA043
Senior Captain, MD-11
OLP
Joined on June 10 2001
Event Half Century Club
Online Double Century Club
50 State Club
DVA Twenty-Year Anniversary
Everett 1500 Club
Bi-Millennium Club
Four Million Mile Club
"Col. Panic" Marietta, GA
2,241 legs, 8,967.3 hours
240 legs,
553.9 hours online 1,899 legs,
7,760.4 hours ACARS 75 legs,
196.3 hours event 2,277 legs, 9,102.2 hours total 91 legs dispatched, 66.4
hours
|
Posted onPost created on
November 04 2003 05:52 ET by Luke Kolin
|
If you're going to be dealing with default drivers, I'd just use what came with XP for simplicity's sake, that should save you a restart or two.
Cheers!
Luke
Luke KolinSenior Captain, MD-11
|
|
DVA018
Senior Captain, MD-11
E-MAIL
Joined on June 15 2001
Six Century Club
"Keep yer wheels off the ground" Spokane, WA USA
984 legs, 1,958.5 hours
20 legs,
35.1 hours online 227 legs,
397.6 hours ACARS
|
Posted onPost created on
November 04 2003 10:35 ET by Larry Hart
|
Luke, David.....thanks for the info. I have the ATI 9700 Pro and had to do a couple additional things to make mine work right (9700 Pro is a very touchy card). I had to click on the Smartgart tab you saw on Luke's screenshot, and disable Fastwrite. Also I had to go to the motherboard site and download the latest motherboard accelerator drivers, and the latest INF files. Now it runs like a dream....except I'm getting a new motherboard in a couple days (an Asus P4P800 Deluxe) so I'll have to start all over
|
DVA018
Senior Captain, MD-11
E-MAIL
Joined on June 15 2001
Six Century Club
"Keep yer wheels off the ground" Spokane, WA USA
984 legs, 1,958.5 hours
20 legs,
35.1 hours online 227 legs,
397.6 hours ACARS
|
Posted onPost created on
November 04 2003 10:46 ET by Larry Hart
|
Luke, didn't know you use BF1942....ever try IL-2 Sturmovik Forgotten Battles?
|
DVA1190
Senior Captain, B777-200
OLP
Joined on April 21 2003
Everett 250 Club
Online Quadruple Century Club
Quincentenary Club
50 State Club
DVA Twenty-Year Anniversary
"Never try, never fail" Greenville, SC
524 legs, 1,777.8 hours
490 legs,
1,650.8 hours online 144 legs,
373.3 hours ACARS 35 legs,
89.2 hours event
|
Posted onPost created on
November 04 2003 18:15 ET by David Schaum
|
OK Gentlemen, computer is up and running.
Two things,
1. What is Anti Aliasinig and Anisotropic Filtering. I have them set the way you do Luke, but it would be good to know what each is so I can adjust them if I see the need.
2. The new software, if I see everything correctly, does not allow you to set different profiles like you can luke. No biggie.
I'm about to load FS9 now. I'll keep you posted.
David SchaumSenior Captain, B777-200
|
|
DVA1190
Senior Captain, B777-200
OLP
Joined on April 21 2003
Everett 250 Club
Online Quadruple Century Club
Quincentenary Club
50 State Club
DVA Twenty-Year Anniversary
"Never try, never fail" Greenville, SC
524 legs, 1,777.8 hours
490 legs,
1,650.8 hours online 144 legs,
373.3 hours ACARS 35 legs,
89.2 hours event
|
Posted onPost created on
November 04 2003 18:37 ET by David Schaum
|
Correction, I just downloaded the update 3.8 version of Catalyst and I now have the option to set different profiles. YEA, I'm getting it. Boy is this 3.06 GHZ processor faaaasssttttt. When I hit the power button, XP is there in less then a blink of an eye. Makes you feel better after spending all that money.
Next, on to the frame rates in FS9.
David SchaumSenior Captain, B777-200
|
|
DVA043
Senior Captain, MD-11
OLP
Joined on June 10 2001
Event Half Century Club
Online Double Century Club
50 State Club
DVA Twenty-Year Anniversary
Everett 1500 Club
Bi-Millennium Club
Four Million Mile Club
"Col. Panic" Marietta, GA
2,241 legs, 8,967.3 hours
240 legs,
553.9 hours online 1,899 legs,
7,760.4 hours ACARS 75 legs,
196.3 hours event 2,277 legs, 9,102.2 hours total 91 legs dispatched, 66.4
hours
|
Posted onPost created on
November 04 2003 18:41 ET by Luke Kolin
|
Anti-aliasing is what turns the "zig-zag" diagonal lines into smooth angles. Anisotropic filtering (as I understand it) gives a better perception of depth to the image. Bottom line, turn them both off in the driver and fire up FS9. Go into spot view and pan around your plan and see the image quality.
Then, set them to 4x (AA) and 8x (AF) and repeat. Notice a difference?
Cheers!
Luke
Luke KolinSenior Captain, MD-11
|
|
DVA1295
Captain, B737-800
Joined on August 08 2003
Southeastern United States
44 legs, 93.2 hours
37 legs,
84.1 hours online 12 legs,
21.0 hours ACARS
|
Posted onPost created on
December 04 2003 16:38 ET by Jason Colick
|
Aren't the 3.9 Catalyst drivers out? Why aren't you guys using the 3.9 instead of the 3.8?
|
DVA1295
Captain, B737-800
Joined on August 08 2003
Southeastern United States
44 legs, 93.2 hours
37 legs,
84.1 hours online 12 legs,
21.0 hours ACARS
|
Posted onPost created on
December 04 2003 16:43 ET by Jason Colick
|
Duh...I didn't even look at the date on the thread! The 3.9 drivers weren't out until the next day. Stupid me
|