//relic// 0 Posted April 19, 2003 I'd really like to be able to enable the w-buffer in OFP, because it allows far greater precision in the placement of objects in the z-dimension i.e distance from you and eliminates clipping errors and so forth.. Anyhow, by default I don't think that the cats have the w-buffer enabled, however I enabled the w-buffer through the registry and yet I can't change the option to enable the w-buffer in OFP. Â I've tried changing it in game - nothing happens - and changing it in the .cfg file which has similar effects. Does anyone know how to get the w-buffer working in OFP using a 9700pro & cat 3.2? Edit: *sigh* Apparently ati didn't include a hardware w-buffer or 32bit z-buffer in the 9700 pro. Great design choice considering that 9700 users see zbuffer problems of ranging severity in 90% of games thx to that. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
toadlife 3 Posted April 19, 2003 //relic//, I'm sorry you were duped into buying an ATI card. I too was fooled by the hype a long time ago but learned my lesson. Just now, I noticed that there are three threads related to ati cards on the first page of this board. ATI cards have allways been spotty at best and horrible at times when it comes to gaming. About 3 1/2 years ago, I bought an ATI Rage Fury Maxx card. The specs on it were amazing for the time - AGP/dual proccessor/64MB memory...sounds like a screamer right? NOT. The thing was slow as hell. My Voodoo3 16MB card gave better framerates in OGL and the equal performance with D3D. In the synthetic bencharks I ran myself, the card gave tremedous scores, but when I loaded up my games (X-Plane, Hidden and Dangerous, Half-life at the time), the card would show it's ugly face. Framerates were not up to par, and textures were frequently screwed up or didnt show up at all! BTW, There is a thread about the 9700 and textures on this board! All of the games I listed ran just as well or better with my old ass Voodoo3 16MB card, and with the voodoo the textures allways appeared like they should. Later on, when I decided to switch to Windows 2000, i found out that the Rage Fury maxx was incapable of suporting 3d acceleration under Windows 2000. This was due to some design flaw by the ATI engineers. Due to this design flaw, it was IMPOSSIBLE to write a driver that would make the card do 3D acceleration under Windows NT/2000/XP! I've had people argue with me and defend ATI cards repeatedly, but with every game I play I see problems pop up with guess what brand of video card? ATI manufactures their cards around synthetic benchmarks, and markets them around these benchmarks. They allways look good in the computer magazines with their fat benchmark scores, but they are too much trouble when you get them home. In my case teh card was an absolute disaster. Hopefully your 9700pro will not give you too many problems, but I'd advise anyone who is a serious gamer, not to buy ATI vid cards. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
//relic// 0 Posted April 19, 2003 I'll definitely be heading back to the Nvidia camp next time I get a video card, this 9700pro has just been a headache from day one. Virtually every game I own is plagued by one issue or another thanks to ATI's poor driver dev team and, as you said, the performance is hardly what I would have expected for a system that is close to the fastest you can buy. I'm using: 2400+ (running 12x200, so guesstimate 3000+ or higher) 512 XMS3200 9700pro at 330/350 8RDA+ And framerates in OFP suck ass much of the time. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
berghoff 11 Posted April 19, 2003 True,Toadlife. I switched from the GF3 to 9700pro and also noticed to driver problems.Hitman 2 crashes all the time,Battlefield1942 had corrupeted textures,and ofp had these ugly flashing textures but now with cat3.2 everything runs just fine,Well I have a slow processor... And about that w-buffer,N/A for the RADEON series.The cat team tries to fix this one day. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
GoOB 0 Posted April 19, 2003 I love the card and support it to max, driver problems come with it. It's like comparing the two main CPU manufacturers. ATi is AMD raw power, but less reliable. Nvidia is intel less powerful but more reliable. It's all about getting yourself the right drivers. I am having some problems but nothing terminal, i run operation flashpoint on regular D3D until the 3.3 CATACLYST arrives. And W-buffer is nothing to worry about, instead of W-buffer put your anti-aliasing to the top and roll with that instead. And the fact that 9700 beat Geforce FX just makes it all feel more worth while. Enjoy your card despite the troubles you are having. And i am truly amased that you aren't getting good FPS's with your 9700, i get perfect FPS rates on all games i have played. I am sure the Ti is good but i think you should re-phrase the words about the dev team. Operation flashpoint is the "only" game i have seen so far with flickery textures and other oddities. And if you are getting low FPS's with HL/RS dont forget to tweak the .INI helped me heaps. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
//relic// 0 Posted April 19, 2003 W-buffer has nothing to do with antialiasing. Â W-buffers are concerned with the placement of 3d objects and textures within a scene, in the z-dimension relative to the player. Â Thus if there are rounding errors, inaccuracies and so forth due to a low resolution z-buffer, you'll see objects being misplaced which leads to crap image quality because objects are poking through each other and so forth. Berghoff - Apparently the 9700 has no hardware support for 32bit z-buffers or a w-buffer. Â Both were implemented in the 8500 but dropped for the 9700 so it will never appear in future driver releases. I'd personally prefer a watercooled GeforceFX right now. Â No driver hassles to worry about and similar performance. The ATI driver dev team are assclowns. When I had a DDR/GF2 Ultra/Ti500, new drivers meant more performance generally. Since I switched to the ATI camp, new drivers just mean the possibility of running a few games flawlessly while the fixes implemented fuck a new range of games up. By the way, there is no difference in reliability between an AMD and an Intel chip. Â With the latest mobos, they can be set to power down instantly if the cpu temp exceeds 60c, so the only possibly difference in 'reliability' is eliminated. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
GoOB 0 Posted April 19, 2003 Well i have never experienced any trouble on the W-buffer thingie, and dude chill down a bit. Some have troubles with their ATi cards some dont. And i know what W-buffer does not a complete n00b, i was referring to setting your anti-alising high and shove the w-buffer thing. And i have not experienced games that have been "fucked up" by the card yet though just some texture probs that generally dont bother me all that much and are quickly resolved. And also i might not have such a fine eye for this graphics shite but i have never seen objects poking trough each other in OFP atleast. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
berghoff 11 Posted April 19, 2003 With the w-buffer disabled on the GF3 you could see flashing textures in the distance but with the radeon I can't see anything. You could try RAGE3dTWEAK where you CAN enable w-buffer... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
-SZ-Vladimir 0 Posted April 19, 2003 I have R9700Pro and no problem I can't enable "W-Buffer" but OFP work good since last drivers (T&L work ! and all others games too. I like this card ! Vladimir Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
benu 1 Posted April 19, 2003 I get z-range errors often (regardless of z- or w-buffer) when in cargo of a chopper and i have a nvidia card. And ofp is known for its clipping errors... how often did you run or see through walls or something similar? Maybe those problems are more related to ofp than to "faulty graphics drivers"?!? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
toadlife 3 Posted April 19, 2003 </span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (GoOB @ April 19 2003,04:18)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">It's like comparing the two main CPU manufacturers. ATi is AMD raw power, but less reliable. Nvidia is intel less powerful but more reliable.<span id='postcolor'> Huh? The whole AMD is 'less compatible' or 'less reliable' is an Intel stockholder's urban legend. I've used AMD exclusively since my ancient K6-266. The only issue with AMD chips is giving them a proper heatsink/fan setup - many people don't, which overheats the chip, causing stability issues, and sometimes meltdown. Even computer manufacturers make these mistakes with the AMD systems they sell, which perpetuate these myths. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
//relic// 0 Posted April 20, 2003 You can enable it in tweak progs or through the registry, but when it comes to *actually* enabling it through application support, it won't happen because it doesn't exist on the 9700pro That's why you can't enable it in OFP. I can't remember having near as many z-errors on my Ti500 - for example, I often see the windshields of trucks in front of their frames when the trucks are only 50m away, and I never saw crap like that with the Ti500 I have 4xAA and 8xAF on Goob, which is nice but no substitute when you can see errors like the above. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
