UT3 issues in Vista completely resolved by using the 169.28 drivers

Great news for all the UT3 gamers who have Vista and the 8800GT cards ... from a the thread I started on the official Epic Forums:

I usually stay away from Beta drivers but thanks to Flak bringing the issue up to me to try these other people reported that they noticed that the strange freezing bug that happens primarily on Gateway and Torlan Maps was gone when they started using these new Beta drivers.

People who have the 8800GT know this saga all too well. We couldn't use the 163.75 drivers so we had to deal with this strange, infuriating bug until now. The good thing was that even a couple of weeks ago Epic and Nvidia were aware of the bug and had been working on it.

However, AA is broken in these drivers and there were questions as to whether or not SLI worked properly because the profiles display erroneous information. So this is why I had been reluctant to switch from 169.13. Anyway I did install them and checked the SLI profiles (once I enabled SLI) and sure enough all the main apps said the SLI setting was set at Single GPU application controlled. So the first thing I did was run 3DMark06 to see if this was indeed the case ... well when I got my numbers back I knew that SLI was indeed working after all, not quite as efficiently based on my numbers but definitely working so that made me pretty happy.

Next I started up UT3 with the SLI indicator enabled and sure enough throughout my gaming sessions there was plenty of activity so I can definitely and confidently report that SLI still works as it should ... although I don't which SLI setting will yield optimal results ... perhaps someone else has figured that out and can add that information to this thread. I did notice that my performance was just a little off ... so it may be that there is some rudimentary AA is enabled through the driver, though visually you just won't see a noticeable difference as you should if you have 4xFSAA enabled. The drop in SLI performance wouldn't make sense imo if AA was also completely broken as was the case in earlier drivers.

At this point though for all practical purposes I would say forget about real AA for good if you are an XP user ... sorry but this is the truth ... there are plenty of technical articles about this on the net but the explanation that usually accompanies Gears of Wars explanation of why FSAA works under Vista but NO AA at all can work under XP is the clearest one to understand. Once UT3 is patched with actual DX10 code then just as in Gears fully working 4xFSAA should work properly and then the Multisample setting in UTEngine.ini will actually have some bearing if you change the values.

Okay so we have established some basic things here and now I was ready to see if the problem was really fixed or if some other people just got lucky or really had a different problem in the first place. The great news is YES it worked!!! And it worked flawlessly. I played Gateway and a Torlan map back to back for about 40-45 minutes and I did not have ONE single freeze up ... not even for a split second let alone 10-20 seconds. I had not been able to enjoy either of those levels fully until today and I know that if this worked for me then it will work for other Vista users who have the 8800GT and new GTS GPUs. It may work fine for XP ... I would expect it to but since I don't use XP I can't say for certain. Again maybe someone else can add info to this thread.

So yes folks once again Epic comes through with the help of Nvidia this time but yep all the major issues have been or are soon to be resolved. For me this solves all my problems and I sure hope other people get the results I and a few others who have taken the plunge with these newest betas. It is confusing about the SLI profiles but at least SLI definitely works as is and can probably be improved upon once someone determines which of the Alternate Frame rendering works the best.

Every 8800GT owner needs to know about this. It works and now Torlan is yours for the conquering. Man now Gateway is actually one of my favorite levels. Having a solution that really works is fantastic.


So definitely download these drivers now and have fun having a great playing experience in UT3.

 

I don't suppose that these drivers fixed the fact that UT3 is a piece of ass and sucks balls?

This coming from the most hardcore 99/2k4 player u can think of.

 

Wow, UT is my foavourite game ever and I think UT3 rocks. We must be playing a different game... unless you can be more specific.

 

cheers for the info on these, ive had them on my desktop since they were first posted.

ive installed them now since ut3 is my game of choice atm

 

Unfortunately, I've got aprox. 15% frames-per-second decrease in UT with these drivers. Lots of benchmarks report better numbers though, so this is kind of a mixed emotions driver.

 

These drivers also solved the random freezing issue for me that many people had. Preformence seems even better then the 169.25's. Also COD4, WIC and css seem very smooth so no issue yet!

 

UT is also my favorite game ever, which is why I'm horribly dissappointed with this game.

Reasons I find it crap:

- Maps are way too detailed and overall are very darkkkkkkk. Brightness at 10 for me is still way too dark.
- GUI is featureless. No crosshair menu, no really decent advanced graphics menu, server browser is junk.. I could go on.
- Practically no servers at all to play on. There are more servers in UT99 right now then there are in U3.. pathetic.
- The PC version is a port. Nuff said.
- Mouse feel is attrocious. Trying to play insta is a joke and the game all around does not feel precise. Yes I have patched it and adjusted every setting you can think of. I have always heavily modded my UT.INIs for best performance but this is a new low.

Epic has sold out their core fanbase for the console crowd. This would be a non-issue if they just released a game that was better optimized for PC but they did not. How do you release a game with less features as every other previous Unreal and consider it an improvement?

I've had this game since release day and can't even bring myself to play it really at all. I have way more fun playing CoD, Witcher, and I haven't even played Crysis yet, but I'd be willing to bet its better than U3.

I'm just really really dissappointed in Epic right now.

 

I dont find UT3 all that dark. I have not touched the brightness in the game either, maybe its just because I have a 37in monitor that it is brighter.

As far as preformence goes aside from the random freezing issue which nvidia and epic seemed to have fixed the engine is very smooth and I get excelent FPS, granted I have a high end video card but still the game feels well optimized.

As far as gameplay it feels very similar to the older unreal titles.

There aren't many server you are right about that which I was supprised about.

And where is it stated that this game is a port? As far as I know this game was designed for the PC and ported to the PS3?

 

If you dont want it , send it to me , I gladly take it.

 

I agree with some of your points for sure, however I do not find the game too dark (LG 22" LCD) and I just DO NOT agree that this game is a port...

It is very much a PC game and highly optimised for PC hardware. It was developed for both platforms and came out on the PC first.

Maybe our definition of a 'port' is different. :3eyes:

EDIT: I believe you just don't like the game and are using it's lack of features and an excuse to label the game a 'port'...

 

Nice Game, Nice Drivers.

btw, yes the freeze issue is gone! It wasnt only on 8800GT (g92) this issue happened on, about every card had the issue, atleast on all nvidia cards.

 

Sorry, I should have specified.

I know the game is NOT a port.. what I meant to say was that it feeeels like one. My bad
Reason I say that is because it looks and plays too much like a console game for my liking. Specially when talking about the lack of features.

I will give it credit for running well on PC hardware though.. the game is optimized, and overall plays very well on a wide variety of rigs. Koodos for that no doubt.

I don't know that I will be able to truly get into this game, so yeah.. if I find that its not floating my boat, I may have to officially and sadly bow out of the unreal series. Shame really..

 

I think it has something to do with the U3 engine. I have several friends who have played U3-based games on the PC and felt they played like they were designed for the console. An example that comes to mind was Rainbow Six Vegas. I havent personally played an U3 based game on the PC, but what Scooby describes is the same complaint I have heard before.

 

What AF rendering method are you folks using for your SLI profile or are you just leaving this setting alone like me and just glad that this works unlike AA. I definitely confirmed these bust AA COMPLETELY ... the jaggies I am seeing with 4xAA are just insane the same as with no AA forced so yeah I am not even going to think about AA until Epic releases the DX10 patch that will let Vista users enable 4xFSAA in game like Gears of War thus guaranteeing correct usage of AA and much better jagged edge reduction.

But yeah the main point again ... what SLI AR method are you seeing the best results with for this driver? Thanks ... I just got done playing Gateway and now that it is fixed I can definitely say that is my favorite map ... it has a little bit of everything.

 

Very good driver indeed.
Solved the UT3 freeze issue and my COD4 BSODs

About the SLI:
Just choose: single gpu
Then it will use nvidia recomended settings wich ar almost always the best.

 

vista still needs lot improvement.
for example there lot certain spots you should be able to get 20 more fps on vista wich you get on xp so hoping for another driver soon.
apart from that finaly able to play without freezing issues