bikerdude
04-27-2007, 03:06 AM
Afternoon
I have done a lot of testing with both the 8800GTS and the 8800GTX and the problem as far as I can see it is the 8800 card, changing driver version make no difference. As we all know for a while now 8bit sky rendering in T2 has been par for the course. But now with the upgrade to an 8800 series card, the 8bit rendering problem has grown to include everything else (all textures etc) On a 8800 Thief 2 now looks like Thief 1, ie. low bit depth on all textures and shadows. This is the same for both WinXp and WinVista.
# For example remember how much more detail T2 has in shadows compared to T1, now T2 looks as bad as T1 in that regard.
# The quality of the dithering is bad (I assume as the game is now rendering in 8bit rather than 16bit)
The images have the gamma is all the way up @ 100% so you can see the problem..
8800GTX 8bit and then My laptop (intel gfx) 16bit
http://img516.imageshack.us/img516/135/8bitfo2.jpghttp://img265.imageshack.us/img265/2728/16bitcp3.jpg
Ok, I have found two work arounds....
I got to thinking, windows supports multi gfx cards in one machine and as most monitors these days have dual inputs I thought I should be able to play Thief on the second video card and then just flick the input on the monitor. The configurations as follows:-
8800GTX(PCI-E Slot 1) & FX5200(PCI Slot 2)
1. Installed the 158.19 (Z-tweaked) for the 8800GTX & 7900GT
2. Installed the 61.21 driver the FX5200 and click 'no' to replace files (when the installer ask's if u want to replace old with new)
3. Then in display properties change the primary display from the 8800 to the 5200.
4. Fire up thief and eureka lovely textures and sky again. (nb. the sky is much better under the 61.21 driver btw)
5. As the Z-tweaked driver used the old control panel - you can overclock the 8800 again from the CP, no need for Ati tool or riva tuner.
6. dont forget to change the primary card back to the 8800 when you want to use that one for your newer games.
8800GTX(PCI-E Slot 1) & 7900GT(PCI-E Slot2)
1. Installed the 158.19 (Z-tweaked) for the 8800GTX
3. Then in display properties change the primary display from the 8800 to the 7900.
4. applied the 'safe texture' fix via user.cfg
5. Fire up thief and eureka lovely textures
6. As the Z-tweaked driver used the old control panel, both cards can be configured and you can overclock the 8800 and the 7900 from the CP.
7. The old control panel limits the amount of AA to x4 you can apply on the 8800, this may be a problem for some.
8. dont forget to change the primary card back to the 8800 when you want to use that one for your newer games.
8800GTX(PCI-E Slot1) & X800XL(PCI-E Slot2)
# Wont work, Ati driver wont install when the ati card is in the second slot (this maybe card/model issue)
8800GTX(PCI-E Slot1) & PCX5900(PCI-E Slot2) - WIP
# The FX5900 was the last good nVidia based card for Thief - perfect tectures etc. When I manage to get my hands on one I will test this configuration.
8800GTX(PCI-E Slot1) & 7300(PCI-E Slot0) - WIP
# This only just dawned on me, as most of us have one or two (x1 speed) pci-e slots on our mobo that arent being used -this could be perfect for this application, Whatch this Space....!!!
Biker
I have done a lot of testing with both the 8800GTS and the 8800GTX and the problem as far as I can see it is the 8800 card, changing driver version make no difference. As we all know for a while now 8bit sky rendering in T2 has been par for the course. But now with the upgrade to an 8800 series card, the 8bit rendering problem has grown to include everything else (all textures etc) On a 8800 Thief 2 now looks like Thief 1, ie. low bit depth on all textures and shadows. This is the same for both WinXp and WinVista.
# For example remember how much more detail T2 has in shadows compared to T1, now T2 looks as bad as T1 in that regard.
# The quality of the dithering is bad (I assume as the game is now rendering in 8bit rather than 16bit)
The images have the gamma is all the way up @ 100% so you can see the problem..
8800GTX 8bit and then My laptop (intel gfx) 16bit
http://img516.imageshack.us/img516/135/8bitfo2.jpghttp://img265.imageshack.us/img265/2728/16bitcp3.jpg
Ok, I have found two work arounds....
I got to thinking, windows supports multi gfx cards in one machine and as most monitors these days have dual inputs I thought I should be able to play Thief on the second video card and then just flick the input on the monitor. The configurations as follows:-
8800GTX(PCI-E Slot 1) & FX5200(PCI Slot 2)
1. Installed the 158.19 (Z-tweaked) for the 8800GTX & 7900GT
2. Installed the 61.21 driver the FX5200 and click 'no' to replace files (when the installer ask's if u want to replace old with new)
3. Then in display properties change the primary display from the 8800 to the 5200.
4. Fire up thief and eureka lovely textures and sky again. (nb. the sky is much better under the 61.21 driver btw)
5. As the Z-tweaked driver used the old control panel - you can overclock the 8800 again from the CP, no need for Ati tool or riva tuner.
6. dont forget to change the primary card back to the 8800 when you want to use that one for your newer games.
8800GTX(PCI-E Slot 1) & 7900GT(PCI-E Slot2)
1. Installed the 158.19 (Z-tweaked) for the 8800GTX
3. Then in display properties change the primary display from the 8800 to the 7900.
4. applied the 'safe texture' fix via user.cfg
5. Fire up thief and eureka lovely textures
6. As the Z-tweaked driver used the old control panel, both cards can be configured and you can overclock the 8800 and the 7900 from the CP.
7. The old control panel limits the amount of AA to x4 you can apply on the 8800, this may be a problem for some.
8. dont forget to change the primary card back to the 8800 when you want to use that one for your newer games.
8800GTX(PCI-E Slot1) & X800XL(PCI-E Slot2)
# Wont work, Ati driver wont install when the ati card is in the second slot (this maybe card/model issue)
8800GTX(PCI-E Slot1) & PCX5900(PCI-E Slot2) - WIP
# The FX5900 was the last good nVidia based card for Thief - perfect tectures etc. When I manage to get my hands on one I will test this configuration.
8800GTX(PCI-E Slot1) & 7300(PCI-E Slot0) - WIP
# This only just dawned on me, as most of us have one or two (x1 speed) pci-e slots on our mobo that arent being used -this could be perfect for this application, Whatch this Space....!!!
Biker