Is Matrox G400 5.50.010 beta driver stable? Having problems...

[ParaKnowYa]

In general you can uninstall the TurboGL drivers IF you are using Matrox' latest drivers 5.50.010. It seems they've implented some TurboGL code into the ICD which improved the speed!

[paulcs]

Matrox's uninstaller is not going to go looking through your game folders for the TurboGL file.

You can uninstall the TurboGL drivers with TurboGL Manager. I would have done this beforehand, but I suspect no harm is done. If you don't uninstall TurboGL from your game folders, you continue to use TurboGL.

Matrox drivers tend to begin with

g400 or
g200 or
mga

so they're easy to find if you decide to go looking for them.

I have seen the Uninstaller clear the registry of all Matrox entries and I have seen it leave a few in. It's best to do a search, particularly if you are having problems. (Remember, Matrox's tweak utility is a registered program, so if you don't uninstall it first, you will find references to Matrox in the registry after using the uninstaller.)

Paul
paulcs@flashcom.net

[antdude]

Paulcs, should I be using TurboGL for my HL, Quake2, Q3A, and UT with the lastest beta drivers?

I need some guidance. Thanks

[ParaKnowYa]

If they work for you I would use them as they still seem to be the fastest!

[antdude]

ParaKnowYa: Ah okay. I thought someone said the standard opengl drivers were faster and better than the TurboGL drivers. [shrug]

[paulcs]

I have found the new ICD (without TurboGL) to be faster than TurboGL, particularly at higher resolutions. If you like playing games at 1024x768, then I think you should at least try the new drivers without TurboGL and see if you like them.

You should not use TurboGL or the ICD for Unreal Tournament. You should use D3D, as the OpenGL implementation in UT is problematic (the manufacturer uses the word, "experimental"). If you are using D3D, then TurboGL or the ICD shouldn't make any difference at all. The fact that the new beta drivers support DirectX 7 might, however.

It's up to you, antdude. But if you don't like the new beta driver set, you can always uninstall them and reinstall PD 5.41 and TurboGL. Here are some of the benefits you might see:

Increased FPS in OpenGL games at higher resolutions.

DirectX 7 support

Fixes for System Shock2, the new Thief2 Demo and some other games

I have the 5.50.010 drivers installed on an extremely overclocked machine, running on a 129 MHz front side bus, and they appear very stable. Now, I don't use this machine for anything important, and I never overclock my primary system. However, I will probably install the new beta drivers on my primary system over the weekend.

What's the worse thing that could happen. If they mess up my machine, and I see no evidence that they will, I'll just uninstall them and go back to 5.41.

Again, if you intend to install the new beta drivers, run TurboGL Manager beforehand and have it remove the TurboGL files from your game folders.

Download and decompress (using Winzip if you like) the new drivers into their own directory.

I would uninstall the Matrox tweaking utility as well. Just reinstall it after you install the new drivers.

Run Matrox's uninstaller and reboot. When you return to Windows, you will be prompted to install new drivers.

Install the Standard VGA driver. Reboot. (When you get back into Windows in VGA mode, if you like, you can do a search for old drivers or registry entries.)

From Standard VGA mode, run the setup program in that new directory you made for the drivers. (Do not use the "inf" method.) The installation program will prompt you to reboot when it is finished.

Do not install TurboGL.

After you finish with your Windows display settings, run your games and see if you like the new drivers.

Paul
paulcs@flashcom.net

[This message has been edited by paulcs (edited 18 February 2000).]

[antdude]

Paul: I will try that idea. I will load up TurboGL manager and remove them. Umm, will I still be able to load my games after removing the TurboGL or will they reset back to software mode?

Thanks.

[antdude]

Hey people, has anyone noticed the beta driver is slower when playing back DVDs on WinDVD 2000, or am I just dreaming?

[paulcs]

In the absence of the TurboGL file, your games should use the ICD. You should be running in OpenGL. I suggest rebooting after TurboGL Manager removes the files. (When in doubt, reboot.) Open Quake3, go to Settings, and check to see what driver it is using. If it makes no mention of TurboGL, and everything looks fine, you're set.

I get the impression you have already installed the new betas. Is this true? (I just want to get an idea of where you are.)How are they working for you?

Paul
paulcs@flashcom.net

[This message has been edited by paulcs (edited 18 February 2000).]

[antdude]

Paulcs, I am using the lastest beta drivers right now (at home). No problems as far as I know. I did notice a little slowdown when playing DVD. I don't know if I am seeing things or not.

Games still work with TurboGL, but I will try to uninstall them with the manager program tonight.

[antdude]

Paulcs, I uninstalled the TurboGL drivers. I played Quake 2 and I got these annoying flickers on walls, ceilings, and floors. I remember this problem before TurboGL drivers existed. I put it back for Q2, and no more! I also noticed 2 FPS more with TurboGL drivers.

HL, UT, and Q3A seem to work. SOF has flicker problems, but I don't think there's a TurboGL for it yet.

Dunno how to fix Q2 and SOF. =(

[paulcs]

I haven't seen that particular problem in quite a while in Quake2. The old fix was to disable dynamic lights, which, incidently, should give you a nice speed boost. But if TurboGL is working for you in Q2, and the ICD is working for you elsewhere, we might want to leave well enough alone.

I don't know enough about SOF to be of much help.

Paul
paulcs@flashcom.net

[antdude]

Paulcs: Yeah, SOF uses Q2 engine, and I think it will need TurboGL fix. Turning off dynamic lights is no fun =).

Oh well.

[ParaKnowYa]

Well this is what I expected, there are some annoying problems with the ICD. Besides the newest ICD does not seem to like my K7 system but that's a different story.

AntDude: For SOF did you try to copy the OPENGL32.DLL (the TurboGL one) into the SFO game directory? It could be that this works and you won't need a special TurboGL release for SOF because it's Q2 engine based. Worth a try I'd say, I however do not yet own SOF nor a demo so I can't tell what the result looks like. This however will not damage anything, if it does not work, just delete the OPENGL32.DLL you copied into the game directory! =)

regards
PKY

[antdude]

Oh well, I copied Q2's opengl32.dll and it didn't work with SOF demo. It locked up .