Catalyst 4.9 brings support for Doom 3

Posted by: Newsfactory on: 08/02/2004 10:09 PM [ Print | 21 comment(s) ] · 5336 views

Computer Base are reporting that ATI will add suport for Doom3 in Catalyst 4.9, which are in an alpha stage and should be out in the middle of September ! as the sites in german here's a translation by Google

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someone Unregistered

#55629 Posted on: 08/02/2004 10:16 PM Havent had any problems with the 4.7s yet to be honest. Im guessing they will boost performance? Runs fine on my 9700pro/3200+ system.

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redsolar Unregistered Posts: 2 Joined: 2003-07-23

#55630 Posted on: 08/02/2004 10:30 PM I'll see it when I believe. Though this would be very welcome. It's sad to see a card that retails at $500 (X800 XT) to be on par with $300 card (6800 regular) in OpenGL. Hoping that this will bring some improvement to 9x00 series as well. PS. Not intended to start " card(s) is(are) better for " thread.

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Vegitto Unregistered Posts: 10 Joined: 2003-04-23

#55631 Posted on: 08/02/2004 11:10 PM ATI waits until a month after the game's release? What's up with that? It's not like Doom III appeared out of nowhere and not a surprise it would be a popular game.

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Sardaukary Unregistered

#55632 Posted on: 08/02/2004 11:15 PM If it's possible why didn't ATI start work on Doom 3 support a long time ago? It's not like it's an obscure title that took them by surprise. Hope the performance gains are significant as my 9700pro's not as nimble as it used to be

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El_Coyote Unregistered Posts: 503 Joined: 2002-12-18

#55634 Posted on: 08/02/2004 11:54 PM ID might have locked ATi out because of the alpha leak?

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mooninite Unregistered

#55635 Posted on: 08/03/2004 12:11 AM I can't believe this crap. ATi's drivers still blow. There's no sugar coating it.

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Domingo Unregistered

#55637 Posted on: 08/03/2004 01:26 AM They still blow? Other than Doom 3 they tend to best their nVidia equivalent in almost everything. You'll also notice that other than 1 or 2 random games there aren't any major issues either. I'd suspect they'll just make some tweaks to the their drivers SPECIFICALLY for Doom 3. We all knew Doom would be popular, but it's exploded to be front page new on Yahoo and the leaks are a bigger deal than anyone predicted. I'm sure before this they've been likely tuning the drivers for a host of new games like FarCry and HL2, but are now dedicating a team for Doom 3 specific tweaks.

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mooninite Unregistered

#55638 Posted on: 08/03/2004 01:36 AM ATi constantly introduces new bugs in every release. They constantly produce performance "enhancements" *MONTHS* after games are released. nVidia always has the speed when a game is released. Their bug count is significantly lower than ATi. Ever have Gamma problems with ATi? They fix it, then break it. They don't know when to fix it! Their beta tester team? A bunch of idiots! I told you not to sugar coat it. All of my words can be backed up by thousands of pages of forums and web site news.

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thomas997 Unregistered Posts: 11 Joined: 2003-04-21

#55640 Posted on: 08/03/2004 04:17 AM Possibly.. otherwise doom 3 support would have been in CAT 4.8s Dont see any other reason why they would have to wait until after its out.

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someone Unregistered

#55644 Posted on: 08/03/2004 07:29 AM Nvidias drivers are far from bug free these days. FAR from bug free.

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Garadd Unregistered

#55648 Posted on: 08/03/2004 11:55 AM It's OpenGL, see the word open (as opposed to locked out)? They could have started by making decent ogl drivers and then finetuning them to D3. But no, they always had sucky ogl drivers. And they bring "support" to probably the game of the year 1 month after its release? Are they stupid or something?

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Garadd Unregistered

#55649 Posted on: 08/03/2004 11:59 AM Errr ... to quote [H]: "Sadly, even with the power of the FX-53 behind it, the X800XT-PE has a hard time separating itself from the vanilla 6800 OC" A 12 pine, 128mb card which cost only half of the x800xt can keep up with ati's flagship. Where's that benefit?

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Garadd Unregistered

#55650 Posted on: 08/03/2004 12:05 PM Don't tell me ATI underestimated the impact of D3. You don't have to be einstein to know that D3 will be the benchmark game everyone will refer to in the future. Tons of mods will show up and the engine will be used in may other games. ID made Doom and Quake, doesn't that say enough? And what will these tweaks be? More cheats like John Carmack already discovered in the 4.8 betas?

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Garadd Unregistered

#55651 Posted on: 08/03/2004 12:09 PM That's because the 4.8 betas are cheating. Enable colored mip levels (like [H] did) and say goodbye to your 10 fps gain.

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hinkle Unregistered

#55652 Posted on: 08/03/2004 01:35 PM id has locked ATI out of the development as much as Valve has locked out nvidia of the HL2 development: they have not!

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mooninite Unregistered

#55653 Posted on: 08/03/2004 02:19 PM Did you read my post, idiot? "Significantly less" not "bug free" Open your damn eyes.

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mooninite Unregistered

#55654 Posted on: 08/03/2004 02:23 PM Of course they didn't underestimate, but maybe they did? Maybe this explains why you get a free HL2 key instead of a D3 key with a 9800XT purchase? ATi didn't feel like writing capable drivers so they could care less. You see it all the time from them. They get around to it when they feel like it. I know very well first hand what it takes to produce a program in a commercial environment, but when a competitor consistantly outperforms you and you do not improve after *years*, there is no excuse.

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someone Unregistered

#55662 Posted on: 08/03/2004 06:29 PM Um i guess you dont unerstand the workings of true english. A failing of non english people or the uneducated. If you dont understand why i said that, give up now.

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BetrayerX Unregistered

#55668 Posted on: 08/03/2004 07:05 PM It's called royalties...;)

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hinkle Unregistered

#55670 Posted on: 08/03/2004 08:22 PM wow, I heard that the Catalyst 7.13 driver will include the new control panel, fix all Thief3 and SC-PT shadow problem, include many OpenGL fixes and will have flawless support for Freedom Fighter and TOCA Race Driver. Catalyst 4.9? Those won't be available till September. Nice to see ATI is still fixing bugs but what about now? Why fix Thief 3 problems months after the game has been released when no one plays that game anymore? Why doesn't it just work right out of the box? Industry leading driver developing my a$$.

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Domingo Unregistered

#55673 Posted on: 08/03/2004 09:13 PM Having used both Nvidia and ATI cards in the last 6 months I can tell you that I've had an equal number of issues with both...which is almost NONE. I'm sure there are 10,000 ATI forum posts that agree with you and I'm sure you'll find the same number of posts in any Nvidia forum. It's a forum - you're only going to see posts when someone either posts the following: "I got 600 more points on 3dMark using XXXX driverz!!!1111!!!!" "Why don't you fix the (insert obscure game) problem that EVERYONE has!!!!1111!!!!" "Geeez...I lost 2 fps on Q3 Arena and gained nothing in 3dmark, these driverz suck!" In general forums posts lean in this dierction. There are obviously exceptions, but the average happy consumer isn't going to bother posting in a forum unless something is dramatically different. I use a normal Intel P4 chipset and I've played pretty much every major release in the last year on it and have have minimal issues that are driver related. It's too common for people to blame ATI or Nvidia when in reality it's likely either the program or possibly your configuration that's to blame.