Ive got a 128mb Medion Radeon 9600TX card and would like your opinions should i upgrade my drivers to the new Catalyst 4.11 i’ve always been of the opinion if it ain’t broke don’t fix it, So since both il2 and Hl2 seem to run ok im undecided 
.
S! Meako! 
I just upgrader my PC about 3 weeks ago, including ATI RAdeon 9800 Pro.
I decided to intall new drivers while patching FB+AEP+PF
I just installed 4.11 and they work fine also in “perfect”.
WARNING: When you download the drivers, be careful what you do, otherwise you can run into trouble, as I did… I tell you the whole story, cause I think it would be useful for all. 
I downloaded the new Catlist 4.11 from a link on the French website Check Six. I installed them, and suddenly all the ATI related controls stop working! 
After a series of different attempt, I went to ATI Tecnologies website http://www.ati.com/ and I discovered there are two different ATI controller for WinXP :eek:
-
Version 4.11 with CATALYST™ Control Center (30MB) - - > filename has a _eng extension
-
Version 4.11 with ATI Control Panels (26MB) - - > filename does NOT have _eng extension
SO be careful and check before which kind of ATI controller you have on your PC (you can easily check going to control panel / applications). If yo install the wrong drivers (as I did initially: I installed Control Center version instead of Control Panel) you get a message saying the application has been not initialised correctly, and when you restart your PC Win XP collapse … :mad:
If you already installed the wrong drivers - poor guy! - restart WinXP from last working inatallation. Then go to Control panel / Applications, and remove the wrong control center. Now restart your PC and install the correct driver version. It should work (at least in my cae it did!) :w00t:
There is also a very interesting post on Check Six explaining how to set 9800 Pro optimized for FB.
http://www.checksix-forums.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=46578
I did not - YET - tryed it, because it seem to work fine as it is now, and I fear having more trubles than benefit…
I had 4.11 working fine, as do the 4.12 betas, But some people have reported odd things with FB/PF with the 4.11’s.
I am a born fiddler, so I try things out because they are there a lot of the time, but the “if it aint broke …” line does make sense
TBH If you have a bit of time to try another set, grab the 4.12 betas and see how they do for you, you can always go back if they don’t work out.
I may be teaching grandma how to suck eggs … but in case you dont know, I have always found the best way to install new ATI drivers is to remove the old ones from add/remove programs, firstly the ATI control panel, no reboot, then the drivers, no reboot and finally any other ATI utilities, reboot in safe mode and run drivercleaner for each ATI listing, reboot and make sure modem is unplugged, disable antrivirus, and install new drivers.
This seem long winded, but I have used this method since I have had ATI, and never had problems
Of course, if you already knew of this, I apologise.
You didn’t say which version drivers you currently have ?
I’ve not been too happy with the 4.11 drivers. In a mission last Friday, the textures were missing from the aircraft and were all black.
This might have been the “quick exe”, as all was ok when I swapped back.
However since installing the 4.11, I’m no longer able to ALT-TAB out of the game and return safely. This is the same even with FB+AEP 2.04…
Going to give those Beta’s a go Majik, thanks…
BTW what are all those settings on the new control centre for and what should I have them set to? Things like Catalyst AI, TRUFORM…?
Also since installing this new control centre, the refresh rate has been going back to 60Hz… Before I didn’t need to use a Refresh Tool :mad:
Hmm well Catalyst AI is supposed to be a feature that can improve specific game performance by recognising the exe of programmed games, and utilising specific ATI routines to improve performance, in this case IL2 or PF exe (Iam pretty certain) is not a listed exe, but having said that, I personally disable it to eliminate possible problems anyhow.
By default it is set to enabled on low/basic mode.
Truform is supposed to improve curves by increasing polygon count to look more natural, again I turn this off as I can’t see any difference, and its another possible cause of issues.
By default this is disabled.
As for alt-tabing … do you run the game in a different resolution to your desktop ?
I had a few issues alt-tabbing with the 4.11 beta’s (before the official 4.11’s came out) when I had different game and desktop resolutions, now I run both in 1280x1024 I dont have a problem (thanks to someone telling me about the keepaspectratio in the FB/PF ini :)).
There are settings in the new CCC for overiding refresh rates, I set it to the refresh rate I need for desktop in the display properties/monitor settings, and for game in the CCC display options (under advanced view for CCC).
Of course, Having a TFT these are both set to 75hz anyway.
No, all the same resultion. All has been well for much of this year until I put in 4.11.
Installed 4.12 and all is well again… (cue banana) 
My TFT is 75Hz max, windows always wants to dispaly it at 60Hz, so I use the ATI force and it works ok. With the 4.12 Beta’s I’ve got rid of the new console and gone back to the old and its back to how it used to be…
Got some pics I want to display with testing on Water=1 and Water=2 with the fast.exe. Interesting because it doesn’t like water 1. I’ll stick them up once my webspace is back again. Missing textures with water 1, and the fast exe seems a common problem…
I’ll be using the slow exe as I prefer water=1, its less like a mirror.
Thanks anyway mate, you’ve sorted out two of my probs that caused me major headaches on Friday. (looks for virtual beer smilie) You’ll have to do with an Afro… :afro:
Yep I prefer 1 over 2 as well
Afro ? ahhh, what it would be to have that much hair 
I use the old (slow) exe anyhow, what with new drivers and a new patch , I didn’t want to throw to much into the mix at once, add to that you have to use the original rts file hence have the cd in to run the game, and all that for 2fps, I think I will live without it