TNT2 gone wrong

[marshahu]

Ages ago I asked a question about what can I do about da performance of my nvidia TNT2 when playing GTAIII - its terrible. I looked through my system and found my 41.xx drivers I got long ago nested in the C: Drive. I also remember using a Detanator Destroyer and I havent touched it since cos I think I did somethng wrong! I am currently using 21.83 Drivers

Basic rundown again:
- Installed 41.xx drivers on top of 21.83 drivers. No Direct3D would run, OpenGL also refused to run - my 3D Flower Box screensaver caused it to crash.
- Used Detonator Destroyer and it destroyed everything to do with my graphics card
- Installed my Sparkle Drivers from the CD that orignally came with my graphics card. Old games like Sega Rally Ran otherwise some would not load
- Installed 21.83 again and the Advanced Options dialogue box in Display properties is not the same as it was meant to be. Some of the tabs are missing, others have been added and are greyed out!! Direct3D apps show an nVidia logo which I cant get rid of. AGP texturing is not avalible in DirectX 8.1b Direct3D is so slow and has poor framerate even on 640 x 480, intense moments bring the game to a stand still with frames updating every 4 seconds. OpenGL is not so bad if the environment is not busy but at intense moments (e.g. Ohama beach level in MOHAA it is slllooooooow)
- Updated DirectX to 9 - all 3D tests were fine still no AGP texturing. Performance is as mentioned in previous bullet point.
- Downloaded 51.xx drivers but they are not installed

Where do I go from here. I have Detonator Destroyer but I dunno how to use it! Do I uninstall the detonator drivers, then graphcis drivers, choose a standard VGA Adaptor and then run detonator destroyer?

My chipset drivers (sis) seem fine, system spec is follows:

AMD Athlon XP 2000+
768Mb SDRAM RAM
10GB Hard Drive
Windows ME

Please give me detailed instructions on what I need to do in order to get good performance on my graphcis card. Thanks again guys!

The PC Guru knows all except combination to the safe! Check out my PC Guru website @ www.geocities.com/marshahu_cr - It's still under development

 

[Hunter_Killers]

Try 28.32, they seem to be working problem free for me with my TNT2, i've had them installed for quite a while now.

 

[marshahu]

I'll try those drivers but how should I install them. Should I just paste them over the top of my existing setup or should install them afresh. If I should install them afresh, how should I remove the old drivers. Luckily I have Detonator Destroyer handy.

Refer to my original post for details

The PC Guru knows all except combination to the safe! Check out my PC Guru website @ www.geocities.com/marshahu_cr - It's still under development

 

[Hunter_Killers]

I just overwrote my old 53.03 drivers.

 

[marshahu]

Can you guarantee that the 51.xx drivers will work with my TNT2 and not just ruin it like the 41.xx drivers. I reckon nVidia is making a poor atempt to market its new products buy dishing out drivers the corrupt your old card. I told them about this problem and they choose to ignore me for a whole month!!! Still no reply

nVidia said the drivers would work with TNT2 when they clearly don't! Then the only way to solve the problem is to purchase a new card which the drivers will support - a rather poor attempt to market its products.

Also I think I made a mistake by installing DirectX9 - What is the previous version before 9 - 8.1b? If so how I safely uninstall version 9 and install 8.1b or the version thats one down from 9? I heard you can get a DirectX Eradicator to remove. What is the link to that site and what damages will it do to my system.

Please answer these questions and the ones from the original post as well. Thanks a lot guys! For my system spec refer to original post.

Thanks once again!!

The PC Guru knows all except combination to the safe! Check out my PC Guru website @ www.geocities.com/marshahu_cr - It's still under development<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by marshahu on 02/06/04 10:06 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[coylter]

installing dx9 should not cause problem

Athlon 2700xp+ (oc: 3200xp+ with 200fsb) , Radeon 9800pro (oc: 410/370) , 512mb pc3200 (3-3-3-2), Asus A7N8X-X

 

[redface]

Bad Nvidia support when they are losing market share. Bad PR.
Will you buy Nvidia on your next ugrade?

A fine day!

 

[coolsquirtle]

wtf you people? nVidia have much much much better driver support than ATi

*cough* Unified Drivers *cough*

Only reason you can have problem is when ur not doing things properly

I just fixed a neighbour comp that had a TNT2, formated his comp and installed 53.03

not a single problem yet!



RIP Block Heater....HELLO P4~~~~~
120% nVidia Fanboy
never tried to go crazy when it comes to o/cing.
THGC's resident Asian and Graphics Forum's resident nVboy

 

[Hunter_Killers]

The problem I had with their 53.03 drivers is they made textures go missing in some older games.

 

[hogfather]

Yeah, these detonators are optimised for the FX cards. If file size of the drivers hasnt increased, surely something was left out to make room for the dx9 support :| In theory unified drivers are better, and at least all cards maintain tech support, but tnt cards work best on sub 30.xx drivers, while a gf4 mx works best on sub 45.xx drivers, or so I've found. Any newer than that, and I get no better performance - often worse.

XP2000, 256ddr 2100ram, GF4 MX440, XP Pro

 

[marshahu]

That sounds very reassuring that you have no problems with 53.03 drivers. However you shouldn't have to reformat the entire PC to install graphics drivers. Back in the days it was double click, wait, restart, game on!!!! Besides I am using Windows Me - Me being preinstalled, there is no backup disc for me to reinstall from.

Trust me I would go to Xp if it werent for my tight dad not being able to afford a new Scanner (Agfa have washed their hands of scanner support 1 month before XP was released - I mean thats just unbeatable PR!)

Back to the subject of graphics. Why do nVidia claim the 53.03 Detonator Drivers can support TNT2 cards when they blatently can't? If you are so sure that 53.03 is good then may I advise you to try the following and let me know how these tests went.

-Run Direct3D tests (If you have DirectX 9 even better)
-Try playing Medal of Honor Allied Assault (OpenGL) at 640x480 and let me know how the performance is on intense levels like Ohama Beach.
-Try playing GTA III (Direct3D)on 640x480 and let me know how the performance is:
when the trails are turned on
when the trails are turned off
when the draw distance is at maximum
when the draw distance is at minimum

If you dont have the OpenGL or Direct3D games mentioned above, try and find alternatives that are just as demanding as the above. If you can increase the resolution above 640x480 and get performance which is just as good then let me know.

I am not expecting top performance but I am expecting it to perform at a decent speed. If the results are rather crap then you'll know what I have been through with my current setup. If they dont run at all, my point of false claims by nVidia is proven.

I admit that I am not perfect on PCs and I coudl have well done something wrong. If the results of the above tests are very good and you can get AGP texturing turned on, would you do the honour of providing me a detailed step by step guide on how to install these drivers correctly for better performance?

Thank you!

The PC Guru knows all except combination to the safe! Check out my PC Guru website @ www.geocities.com/marshahu_cr - It's still under development

 

[marshahu]

I have managed to uninstall the faulty 21.83 drivers but now another problem has developed.

I installed 28.xx drivers and then I put on the latest 53.04 drivers. Slight Success. What I had to do afterwards though was actually tell the graphics card to use a different driver in the 53.04 folder. All games run at decent performance. However some other problems have developed within GTA III

Well now the game randomly locks up on either an illegal operation or nothing happens. I have tried adding the 1.1 patch but it does nothing. I haven't tested OpenGL yet but I reckon I could be in for another illegal operation. Any ideas on what to do now?

Thanks for your suggestions so far! You guys have been great!!!!<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by marshahu on 02/08/04 03:26 PM.</EM></FONT></P>