Anyone using Radeon 9700 Pro with FU3 ?

[Guest cornclose]

It's either the 9700 Pro or a 128mb Geforce4 Ti4800SE for me. Anyone recommend a specific card for FU3 please ? What performance and quality are you getting with your card ?Chris E, ENGLANDhttp://www.circle-software.co.ukAvoid AGP texturing = Better Performance ;)

[Christopher Low 5,332]

Chris,If you ask Tom Wunder, he will probably tell you that the Radeon 9700 Pro is an awesome graphics card for FU3.Chris Low,ENGLAND.

[Guest cornclose]

Thanks Chris, I thought as much. I seem to remember you used to use a Geforce2 GTS with FU3 ? If so, can you remember which driver version was the best/most stable with FU3 ? I am currently using 29.42.RegardsChris E, ENGLANDhttp://www.circle-software.co.ukAvoid AGP texturing = Better Performance ;)

[Guest jonpoint]

Chris,I really wanted a Radeon 9700 or GE4 TI4600 until I found out how expensive they were! I ended up with a GE4MX440 after discussing it with a real Nvidia designer! He concluded that the mix of software I used precluded benefit from a TI. Basically, unless the applications were specifically written for DX8 or later, the performance would not be affected! According to his analysis of FU3, CPU power would make more difference. He was right! Going to a ~1.5GHz CPU improved my framerates using a GE2MX by 3 times! The GE4 card has marginally improved my FU3 framerates but speeds-up newer apps more. In fact, using the MX440 card I can now play ALL my games with everything turned up :-)As far as drivers go, avoid anything that addresses DX9. 30.30 and 30.82 are both good, older drivers but using them with a TI may limit your options a bit (types of anti-aliasing and anisotropy, newer OpenGL and DX calls) but I'll be straight here - I set up my PC specifically for FU3 and 'put up' with the settings in other games. My rec. is 30.82 (I can send you a copy as I've done for others) as that's what I'm using now.PS The later drivers work OK sometimes - this PC here (not my home PC) has a cheapo TNT card but runs the new drivers (40.xx) AND DX9. Of course it's newer and runs XP Pro anyway. Certainly Win98 (fave game OS) has problems with DX9 (or mine all do) :-(Hope this helps. If you want to contact the Nvidia guy, let me know - I can pass your questions to him.:-waveJon Point*************************(effyouthree@hotmail.com)*************************

[Christopher Low 5,332]

Chris,I currently use a GeForce 3 Ti 200, and the Detonator 30.82 drivers. However, I will shortly be upgrading to Windows XP. That will require a formatted hard disk, and a complete re-installation of everything. Consequently, I might just try the Detonator 41.09 drivers, together with DirectX 9.......or is that just asking for trouble ?Chris Low,ENGLAND.

[Guest cornclose]

Thanks for your feedback chaps.The reason I ask about drivers because I am having a few issues at the moment :-1. Occasional system crashes, either a total lock up of the machine requiring a hard reset or FU3 bombing out to the desktop. I never had this using FU3 before on my older system. I know it is not the UK region because it happens in Seatle and Sanfran too.2. Odd visual artifacts such as a nasty flickering grid effect on the aircraft's shadow, roughly happens once every ten seconds or so.3. Occasional missing textures (just for a fraction of a second) where a small part of the scenery will turn white before returning to textured.I used the Geforce2 GTS before on my old system, but obviously with a much earlier driver.Has anyone seen these issues before ?Chris E, ENGLANDhttp://www.circle-software.co.ukAvoid AGP texturing = Better Performance ;)

[Guest CaptRolo]

Chris ; I have radion 8500 pro and had simular problems . I went to website and got latest drivers and control panel .that fixed the problem .Still experimenting with settings. CaptRolo

[JimmiG 244]

I'm using ATI Catalyst 3.2 and DX9 and have no problems with FU3. Running 6X FSAA and 16X Quality Anisotropic Filtering.#1 might not be videocard related at all. Have you installed any upgrade packages for SFO/Seattle? If so, try removing them and use only default and see if the problems go away.#2 and #3 has happened for me with every videocard I've used since I got FU3.The airplane shadows were never officially supported by LG. You have to edit the cfg file to even enable them. Every now and then I'll get a white square but it doesn't happen often and lasts for only a fraction of a second.I've used FU3 with these cards, and all have produced the same visual artifacts in FU3:Voodoo3 3000 AGPGeforce256 DDRVoodoo5 5500 AGPRadeon 64MB DDRGeforce3 Ti500Radeon 9700 Proand it has happened with all cards. Try messing with the fog settings and other settings in the FU3 cfg file.

[Guest cornclose]

>>#1 might not be videocard related at all. Have you installed any upgrade packages for SFO/Seattle? If so, try removing them and use only default and see if the problems go away.None installed, ever. Always used FU3 with the default installation of Seattle/Sanfran. Plus my UK installation is on a different hard drive with no Seattle or Sanfran, although I have installed all the packages for the UK now. When I first noticed the crashes, I had no addon UK packages at all, just the basic installation with Updates 1, 2 and 3.I am currently running nvidea 29.42 but willbe trying 30.82 this weekend.I have already tried various haze settings in the config file, settling at multipass for all options, as this seems to be the most stable - another reason why I think it's driver related.Is anyone using specular with Geforce cards ? If so, what cards ?Interesting that you say you always had the issues #2 and #3. I never had them with my Voodoo 5500, but do get them now with the Geforce2 GTS.CheersChris E, ENGLANDhttp://www.circle-software.co.ukAvoid AGP texturing = Better Performance ;)

[Christopher Low 5,332]

I have never used the aircraft shadows feature, since I suffered too many problems with it.Chris Low,ENGLAND.

[Guest cornclose]

Will also disable that and give it a try too, thanks.Chris E, ENGLANDhttp://www.circle-software.co.ukAvoid AGP texturing = Better Performance ;)

[Guest twsimfan]

Jimmi,"I'm using ATI Catalyst 3.2 and DX9 and have no problems with FU3. Running 6X FSAA and 16X Quality Anisotropic Filtering."I have the same configuration and settings... looks outstanding in FU3."I've used FU3 with these cards, and all have produced the same visual artifacts in FU3:Voodoo3 3000 AGPGeforce256 DDRVoodoo5 5500 AGPRadeon 64MB DDRGeforce3 Ti500Radeon 9700 Pro"My but you have had a lot of cards. I've done the V3-3000 and the V5-5500 and am currently using the 9700 Pro... but you have had twice as many as me. Well I had more earlier on... but not with FU3. :)

[Guest cornclose]

OK 30.82 did not fix the stability issues, but I found out that the problem of system hangs only occurs when I switch from cockpit to external views or back again. I can fly for hours using the F1-F3 views, but a soon as I started to use the F5 or F9 view, I had a hand within minutes. Anyone else seen this ?Chris E, ENGLANDhttp://www.circle-software.co.ukAvoid AGP texturing = Better Performance ;)