Sorry, Detonators for everyone!!!!

[Guest jonpoint]

Hi Folks,I'm posting this to apologise for leading anyone astray about Nvidia Detonator drivers. Seems a lot of people (including me) had problems with anything later than 3x.xx whilst people with new PCs were OK.Well, truth is, Detonator 4x.xx installations over 3x.xx installations doesn't work too well. There are some different filenames (and therefore registry entries) in the drivers. Simply installing the new drivers leaves some old ones there and corrupts the registry! Apparently, I should have known this and have received a couple of trout slaps for my ignorance ;)The solution is simple:1. Install the new 4x.xx drivers (I used 43.51 'coz the latest Rivatuner supports it) but DON'T REBOOT YET.2. Run the attached utility, following the instructions on-screen.3. Reboot (and enjoy immensly) :-) The utility (also available from www.3dguru.com, along with the Detonator drivers and many useful goodies) is here:http://forums.avsim.com/user_files/12416.zipPS 43.51 works very well with my GE4 MX440 and Win98. I now have more options available to me. In fact, my video has improved a lot - the FSAA (or MSAA??) is very smooth compared to 30.82 ;):-waveJon Point*************************(effyouthree@hotmail.com)*************************

[Guest jonpoint]

Chris,You mentioned in another thread about the Nvidia 3x.xx/4x.xx fix coming with the drivers. It doesn't - this is the problem. Niether Nvidia nor any card suppliers have said anything, hence the importance of this program.This is the same thing being done to us by other software companies. Did you know that Microsoft only wants DX9 installed on Internet-connected PCs? I just got off the phone to them. They suggest a 'free' version may be available on some magazine disks soon! I asked why. I was told that all new upgrades and releases are being done this way to encourage everyone to use the internet!What bloody cheek :-grrJon Point*************************(effyouthree@hotmail.com)*************************

[Guest]

VERY Important....What Nvidia and others will not tell you is that when you install their latest UDA drivers, the old .dll's, init's, registry entries and settings are not reset. Therefore, in order to get the newer/BETA drivers to work to their best capabilities, you must first completely wipe your system of any old references to these. The file is very small, and VERY effective. Go to the 3DGuru site and search for "Detonator destroyer" Read the instructions carefully!!!! Search for your new driver basing your choice on OS, System configuration, and Hardware...again, read all info VERY carefully. Eradicate the "OLD" drivers following the instructions for "Destroyer"; then load the "NEW" driver you previously selected and downloaded. If all goes well, you will be better able to utilize all the features of your card!!! Fly First...Play Later...--Noel

[Guest jonpoint]

Noel,Yes, I am aware of Detonator Destroyer and it works well however the advantage of this little ute above is that you don't have to:Reset your video to 640x480x16, reboot the PC, ignore the 'new device found' popup, run DD, reboot again and install your new drivers (phew!).You just install the new drivers, run the utility and reboot - simple ;)Again, one shouldn't have to do this at all however, according to an 'insider' view, Nvidia don't have much choice if they want WHQL. This means that Windows forces you to go through the uninstall/reinstall process every time :-grr ).This utility proves it can be done - wake up, developers :-(Jon Point*************************(effyouthree@hotmail.com)*************************

[Naji 5]

Thanks, Jon, for the info about that tiny utility. I've used it, but still I can't say that I'm getting good results with anisotropy in FS2002; it seems to be working fine in FU3 though. In FS2002, the landscape textures appear to crawl or creep in a very minor but still irritating way, so I only use the Trilinear option in the sim and none of the options in the driver itself.

[Guest jonpoint]

Naji,I must say here I'm a dunce when it comes to MSFS. I have found a similar issue however with 'MM2' and 'V8 Supercars'. In MM2, forcing FSAA makes the display all jaggy and speckly (!!?!). You have to leave it 'selected by application'. In V8 Supercars, turning anisotropic filtering on (haven't tried it yet with the 43.51 drivers) makes the road and scenery appear to move at different speeds e.g. you come over a rise on the track and, as you start going downhill, the track looks like it's coming through the front of the car. It doesn't affect gameplay but it looks BAD.I think, like MM2, Microsoft have decided to perform much of the texture smoothing and other display options within MSFS, not using the features of DX or OpenGL to their limits. This means that even people with lesser hardware can run the games, albeit with reduced settings to cope with the framerate. To get the most from it, you don't need the best video card, just a faster CPU.A secondary effect of this is twofold; people end-up leaving their cards set to 'dumb' and get poor performance in other applications (but doesn't MSFS look great, huh?) AND they quickly realise that simply upgrading video cards doesn't help much so, every 12-18 months, they buy a new PC, complete with new software.That leaves people like us to incessantly fiddle with our systems to gain the satisfaction we want. For most though, they're just the sheep who pay the buck$, year after year...PS Good to see you around - we haven't heard much from your part of the world for some time. :-waveJon Point*************************(effyouthree@hotmail.com)*************************