Nvidia 6800 ultra / NFSPU

[JeffR]

Has anyone that has a 6800 Ultra video card been able to get the menus to appear properly (the text in the menus is vertically mis-aligned) on NFS Porsche Unleashed, or to be able reduce the number of possible resolutions so that the x32 resolutions can be chosen?

[[RR]TriG]

HI Jeffr,

I have the eVGA 6800GT and all is working very well in PU. In fact PU's never looked or played better then it is now.

System software -

Win XP Pro SP2 Bluid 2600
DirectX 9.0c SDK
Nvidia 61.77 Drivers
RivaTuner v2.0 RC15.1
PU updated to Ver3.5 using normal "EA updater" by clicking "internet gaming" within PU.


Nvidia Performance and Quality settings =

1280x1024, 16 bit color
8xAA
16xAF
Image setting = High Quality
V-sync = on

PU in game video settings -

All set at highest quality.


I also applied the XP/PU fix NewWheel posted here -

http://www.racerplanet.com/forum/showthread.php?t=9532[/url]

My average frames per second are 85 at all times, and on all tracks. Text is fine, but I also can not get 32bit color choices at high screen resolutions :(. PU seems to think the 6800 is a TNT2 for some reason. Hopefully someone who knows how to fix this problem will post a link :).

Good luck Jeffr,

Garrett

[Bage]

Sounds good :)

I get around 68-72 with my ati 9500 pro

I also use the highest settings in PU, but it is a bit by chance if a can pick
1280*1024*32. Quite often it doesn't show anything higher than 1024*768*32 or 1280*1024*16.

It seems PU doesn't respond very well to high perfomance gfx cards
the fps difference between an ati 9500 pr and a 6800GT should be much more. The biggest difference i have noticed with my differnt cards is that
the picture looks a lot better with good cards. FPS does not improve as much
as in more recent games.

/bage

[[RR]TriG]

Hi Bage,

The frame rate in PU is limited by the Monitor's screen refresh rate. In my case my monitor's highest refresh rate setting in 1280x1024 is 85Mhz, and hence PU's frame rate is capped at 85FPS ( V-sync on ). But 85FPS with 8xAA and 16XAF is really quite good. Isn't it? :) Although I do wish I could select High Res 32bit color ( :help: ).

Some games also seem to be CPU capped (limited) also. Return To Castle Wolfenstein comes to mind here. It will only display at 90FPS no matter what IQ settings are selected. Doom3 also displays at 60FPS as a maxium, although that is clearly something to do with how the game was written ( crappy game anyway, so who cares )

Thanks for hosting earlier today Bage, was fun :),

Garrett

[JeffR]

Although I do wish I could select High Res 32bit color

PU just makes a sequential list of resolutions at 16 then at 32 bit colors. The issue is that the Nivida car has a lot of intermediate resolutions that make this list too long for PU to be able to pick up the x32 bit entries. I don't know if there's a patch for this. It would be nice to be able to turn off some of these intermediate resolutions in the Nvidia driver, but I couldn't find a way to do this.

If you don't mind some issues with the movies at the start, you could try DX7Z.DLL or DX8Z.DLL from the NFS High Stakes Spot Patch, these work with NFSPU as well. (Menu buttons get flattened when using DX8Z.DLL).

[LuC!FeR]

"Refresh rate overrides" springs to mind here.

http://www.satanicdreams.com/GFX/NVCP.jpg

just uncheck all the resolutions you don't want programs to access.

[[RR]TriG]

If you don't mind some issues with the movies at the start, you could try DX7Z.DLL or DX8Z.DLL from the NFS High Stakes Spot Patch, these work with NFSPU as well. (Menu buttons get flattened when using DX8Z.DLL).

Hi Jeffr,

I Googled the NFS-HS Spot patch, and it led me to your web site :wave:. I DL'ed the patch, unpack it, and replaced PU's dx7z.dll with the dx7z.dll file within your(?) patch. That fixed it, and there are no "issues" with the movies in PU using it. PU now lists all possible screen resolutions including 1800x1440x32. I also tried the dx8z.dll, but PU give a DirectX error with it.

Although the gauges are too small at 1800x1440x32 to be playable, the IQ is simply amazing! I fraps PU on Sch. at the settings I listed in my 1st post -

Frames Time (ms) Min Max Avg
9439 179856 29 61 52.481

My monitors max refresh rate at that resolution is 60Mhz so it's capped at 60FPS.

If the 6800GT can do that, I'd love to see what your 6800U is like JeffR ;). Congrats on that purchase :beer: !

Thank You,

Garrett

[nighttraveler]

pu runs fine in here:
1280x1024x32
75-70FPS on a Radeon 9600 SE
only in wald it goes down to about 58-62FPS

[JeffR]

I'd love to see what your 6800U is like JeffR.
I took it back. I also had an issue with NFS2SE which I look at every now and then since tracks have been imported from NFS2SE into NFSHS for online play now. Waiting for the ATI X800 XT instead, as it should have fewer issues with the games. It appears that both of these video cards are about the same speed, except the 6800U is faster for Doom3. ATI is releasing a Catalyst 4.10 driver which will cheat a bit on Doom3, and the pre-reviews show it to be about the same as the 6800u.

[Justin Martin]

TriG']Doom3 also displays at 60FPS as a maxium, although that is clearly something to do with how the game was written

My understanding is that Doom3 is capped at 60fps regardless of refresh settings. I downloaded and played the demo version last night, haven't had a chance to see what my fps is.

[[RR]TriG]

Waiting for the ATI X800 XT instead

If you are talking about the X800 XT PE ( APG Version ) I wish you luck finding 1 at a reasonable price Jeff. Clearly a very good card also :) .

Sincerely G

[Bage]

The frame rate in PU is limited by the Monitor's screen refresh rate.
Tnx Garrett, that explains a lot-^
I have better check that my screen is running on best possible refresh rate then. Now i just have to find the installation diskette&( (tried the LG site but the files wont extract, says they are corrupt) :mad:

edit/
managed to open it with winrar :) insted of Winzip.
Strange it says my LCD hav max 60Hz with digital conn. But i get 70 fps in PU...
And if i force it to 75 Hz:nono: i still get 70 fps...
70 fps might be just on the limit of my gfx card.

/bage

[JeffR]

TriG']If you are talking about the X800 XT PE ( APG Version ) I wish you luck finding 1 at a reasonable price Jeff.
The card hasn't been released yet by ATI. The ATI branded ones being sold now were evaluation copies that some who got them decided to make a few bucks from. ATI's own online shop, Best Buy, Fry's Electronics, all will sell the card for $499, which is the current MSRP, once the card is released. The "grey market" cards out there now are priced up over $650 in some cases.

The official release is supposed to be in a few weeks. My guess is late October or early November. Since there's a 30 day return policy on video cards, I could "borrow" another 6800u, and give it another try.