ATI FireGL/FireProSoftmod - Discussion Thread for new members

Discussion in 'Rivatuner Statistics Server (RTSS) Forum' started by schoko, Jan 11, 2010.

  1. roocoon

    roocoon Active Member

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    An update on the softmod.

    The patch works fine as far as it goes but I'm not sure if it's trouble-free. At least in Windows 7.

    Maybe somebody with a real Firepro/FireGL card and somebody with a softmodded one (any version based in any patchset) can verify in a Windows 7 installation (x32 or x64).

    Can you activate DXVA mode in a player, say the latest Media Player Classic - Home Cinema 1.4.2499.0?

    Instructions are all over the net but the basic setting is:
    Options -> Playback -> Output, where you select 'EVR Custom Pres.'.

    Open and play some BluRay-compliant file. The bottom left status bar of the player should show 'DXVA', your CPU load should stay low and the GPU should get high.

    Does it play or do you get a green screen instead?

    For reference, the same driver level (8.773 in Catalyst 10.9 hotfix) instead of the softmodded one, behaves properly.

    Detailed instructions for player setup and links to videos are here:

    http://imouto.my/watching-h264-videos-using-dxva/

    Please post any results.
     
  2. CADCAT

    CADCAT Guest

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    I don't know about any 8.773 patchscript from shoko, so I guess you tried to modify an older one for the new driver..??

    If you post SPEC ViewPerf 10 results I can tell if your softmod is working as it shows clearer differences between modded and unmodded..

    If this is working I would go back to XP from 7 ;)
     
  3. roocoon

    roocoon Active Member

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    OK. I'm downloading v10 and will reinstall the softmodded driver.
    I'll post results a bit later.

    In the meantime, since you seem to have an earlier version of the modded driver, could you tell me if DXVA is working or you?
    If it is, I could go back to the older version too.

    Thanks.
     
  4. roocoon

    roocoon Active Member

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    Here's my results for 8.773 using SPECViewperf 10 (not multi-thread) at 1280x1024.
    Not much of a difference except in the last test.

    Original 8.773 (Catalyst 10.9 hotfix) in HD 4670 mode:


    [​IMG]

    Softmod 8.773 (Unified 8.773) in Firepro V7750 mode:

    [​IMG]
     

  5. roocoon

    roocoon Active Member

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    I just saw this.
    Is that still your experience? No difference if you swap the digits of the device ID?

    I hope you're wrong and there's a difference.

    The digits should be swapped so they refer to the proper device ID. You can see this if you look at the disassembled code of the driver.
    If they're not flipped, they would refer to a completely different device ID.
    e.g. my HD 4670 has device ID 9488.
    In the patchscript it should be entered as 8894.
    If it was entered unflipped, it would be treated as device ID 8894.
    No idea if such a device exists but by fluke, it could.

    If there's no difference, this part of the patched code would have some undefined result and probably has nothing to do with device ID substitution.

    schoko should be able to clarify this since he knows more about this driver's structure.
     
  6. CADCAT

    CADCAT Guest

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    Thanks looks like the patch isn't working or only some parts.. I get much higher scores with Mobility HD4670 GDDR3 and modded 8.723 driver.. Maybe improvements in your case are just through changed DEV ID like stated in this post:

    http://85.12.17.139/showpost.php?p=3721524&postcount=397

    As I'm no programmer, are you able to make a proper mod for the newest driver?
     
  7. smile_gerard

    smile_gerard Member

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    Originally i did it without flipping the ID but by fluke it worked. And so i just left it as that until about a month later or so when i was told my ID was supposedly wrong. But i was already having improvement when it was "wrong". I re did it with it flipped and got the same results. Currently i'm not using the softmod.
     
  8. roocoon

    roocoon Active Member

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    For sure my 8.773 patch doesn't work for most of the tests.

    I'm certain the patch matches the 8.723 one but there have to be some major changes between the drivers that render the patch useless (the 8.773 includes OpenCL support and maybe this has something to do with it).

    In addition, all the softmods I've tried, kill video hardware acceleration (DXVA).
    This is the reason for the green screen some people mentioned.

    Since I don't have any tools to debug 64-bit drivers, I'm sort of stuck.
    Either I use 8.723 without DXVA and OpenCL, or switch to the normal drivers for the HD 4670 and get both but with lousy OpenGL.

    The 8.723 drivers behaved properly in my system (with the above shortcomings).

    For reference, it seems that the patch line with the reversed device ID in it, has some unknown effect, not necessarily bad.

    Right after it in the code, there's a branch tree based on device ID ranges. The range seems to concentrate on workstation IDs (the first test is for the ID I'm trying to emulate - 949C (Firepro V7750)).
    So using an ID for an HD-xxxx card, could have some unknown result. It would eventually match some workstation ID range. If the chips matched, all's fine. If they didn't, there might be some crash if some function was activated and not supported by the real chip.

    I thought it would make better sense to use in the patch, the device ID of the card I want to emulate, so I tried it.

    The results were almost he same. No idea why but probably a fluke. I was hoping it would work better but it didn't.
    In any case, it made more sense to me so I kept this change.

    The instructions are exactly the same as posted in the beginning of the thread.
    The only difference is in a line of the patchscript.

    e.g.
    Code:
    Look at the original INF you modify. Write down the real device ID of the FireGL you want to emulate. Then replace this ID in the INF by the ID of your real card (otherwise the driver will not be installed).
    
    In the patch script, use the reversed ID you wrote down.
    And here's my results in ViewPerf10 at 1280x1024 standard mode (HD 4670 emulating a Firepro V7750):

    [​IMG]
     
  9. CADCAT

    CADCAT Guest

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    The last result with 8.723 driver?
     
  10. roocoon

    roocoon Active Member

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    Yes, 8.723 but using the change in the patch I mentioned above. Not that it makes a difference if I use it as described originally.
    My 8.773 improves only the last score and for now it's useless.
     

  11. jproach

    jproach New Member

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    roocoon thank you for posting some new methods and a patchscript to try.

    I noticed when trying your latest patch script (8.773), that my atikmdag.sys file had reverted to an older date after install (windows, virus scanner? or maybe just wrong file date info). I manually overwrote it and restarted.

    I tried 8.773 with simple inf edit, patch with radeon ID, patch with firepro ID, and results were all about the same in solidworks2010 (9/14fps). Specview10 results were very close to what you posted.
     
    Last edited: Oct 14, 2010
  12. roocoon

    roocoon Active Member

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    9/14fps is good or bad?
    I'm under the impression that my 8.773 patch only works for the last test in Viewperf10 (ugnx). All others clock at about the same as my HD4670.

    As for atikmdag.sys reverting to the older version, I can guess why.
    Most probably, on the first boot after installing the new driver, you haven't restarted the system with F8 and selecting the apropriate boot option (disable driver signature enforcement). The patched driver is not allowed to load and the old one takes its place.

    Here's the sequence:

    1. Disable Windows auto-update. Have it notify you first of what updates it will apply. Ignore any graphics driver updates.

    2. Run the gpedit.msc to disable code signing for devices. (this reverts to 'enabled' after Windows security updates so keep an eye on it).

    3. Modify the INF (your real device ID replaces the ID of the FireGL you want to emulate -- their chips should match, RV730 or whatever).

    4. Run the *.rts (in the rts, use the FireGL ID, not your real one) and point Rivatuner to the proper atikmdag.sy_
    Put the latest atiogl.xml into the same folder with the sy_ file.

    5. Change your current display to Standard VGA and uninstall all ATI software through the Control Panel.

    6. Reboot

    7. Open Task Manager and stop any leftover ATI programs (CCC, MOM etc)

    8. Run Driver Cleaner NET, or whatever, and delete all ATI graphics stuff.

    9. Reboot.

    10. Driver Cleaner NET misses a lot of the Unified Driver entries. You'll find some ati*.dll in \Windows\System32. Also some entries in Program Files (and Program Files (86) under an "ATI xxx" folder as well as in the Common folder. Delete them.
    There's the registry too but you get the idea.
    You don't necessarily have to do step 10 but it wouldn't hurt.

    11. Run dseo and enable Test Mode.

    12. Update the Standard VGA driver using the Have Disk way. Point it to the modified INF.

    13. Reboot and press F8 to select disable driver signature enforcement

    14. Run dseo and select 'signa system file'. Insert in the field the path to atikmdag.sys (c:\Windows\System32\Drivers\atikmdag.sys).

    15. If you want, add CCC, AVIVO, etc. by running their individual setups from the driver distribution files.

    That's it. I hope I haven't forgotten anything.

    --- Question ---
    Does anybody get an improvement in Cinebench 11.5 after softmodding?
    No matter what version I use (even the working 8.723), I get the same results with my original HD4670.
     
  13. ptr1aa

    ptr1aa New Member

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    First of all excuse my spelling , english not my native language.
    And here it goes , another one of those how do i do it ? :)
    I have a HD 4850 1gb video card and i want to turn it into a firegl/firepro something , i need it for some video editing plugins that seem to benefit from a pro opengl card , i don't even find the drivers on the amd page i need to modify , please someone help me a little , point me in the right direction.
     
  14. CADCAT

    CADCAT Guest

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    Try searching "amd legacy firepro", can't give you exact link as I only got very slow mobile network connection atm.. You need to get 8.723 driver for best possible softmod..
     
  15. jproach

    jproach New Member

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    Its ok, but no different than changing name string (comparison here). I don't think solidworks has that much interaction with the modded FireGL driver, so my tests may be a bit pointless :).

    I tried 4870 on a better PC with 8.771 (normal radeon driver) with simple name change to fool solidworks and got 20/24 fps. In a PDF review I found V7750 has 18/28fps on a faster PC. So I think its respectable.

    Thanks for the instructions


    I hesitate to mention this, but has anyone tried editing their BIOS with a FireGL device ID? I've read some discussions saying its pointless but no mention of results.

    I tried changing my 4870 device ID (using RBE) from 9440 to 9456 (v8700). But could not get either catalyst or firegl drivers to work. Possibly because my 4870 is 512mb, and v8700 is 1gb.
     
    Last edited: Oct 15, 2010

  16. roocoon

    roocoon Active Member

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    Maybe because the 4870 is based on RV700 and the V8700 on RV770XT.
    I think the chips should be an exact match.
     
  17. SUPERKAMES

    SUPERKAMES Member

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    Autodesk® AutoCAD® and 3ds Max® Performance Plug-ins

    [​IMG]

     
    Last edited: Oct 20, 2010
  18. SUPERKAMES

    SUPERKAMES Member

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    GPU:
    Gigabyte HD4850@V8700
    My PC : AMD 1055T 2.8ghz@3.640ghz , Giga HD4850@V8700firepro(driver firepro 8.773) , 2*2gb DDR2 800@1040ghz.

    3ds_Max_Performance_Plug-in double the viewport speed , great news for 3dsmax's users :D

    [​IMG]

    AutoCAD_Performance_Plug-in great performance in 3D:

    [​IMG]

    No mod
    [​IMG]

    And modded:
    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Oct 20, 2010
  19. maxpoz

    maxpoz Active Member

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    doesn't work why?

    Who can post correct script for 8700?
     
    Last edited: Oct 22, 2010
  20. SUPERKAMES

    SUPERKAMES Member

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