Disabling Catalyst AI

[Soulie]

Hey I'm having the same problems with my HD 6950. The sky bug really spoils the game to the extent of being unplayable for myself, so I've been putting it off for a few months now.

 

Is there any update on fixing this issue? Like a workaround? Or just some AMD whippings?

[Baddcog]

@Soulie,

 

You can turn off Catalyst AI in 10.11. But not in newer versions of the control center. That fixes the sky.

 

I just test 1.08 in which we have thedarkmod.exe and the sky was fixed WITH catalyst ai turned on (10.11). So I think once 1.08 rolls out we will be fine, untill then using an older version of the control center is the best way.

(you should still be able to use a newer driver for the card, just not a newer control center)

[Soulie]

Thanks for the quick reply. I'll give it a go!

[Xarg]

Failing that, try turning off "Surface Format Optimisation". That *should* give the same effect.

[Xarg]

Just tested with 11.12 and 11.11, they both work fine with Surface Format Optimisation turned off.

[AluminumHaste]

Excellent, I am probably upgrading my laptop with 2 AMD 5870s and I was worried about AMD driver issues. If this is fixed then that is good news.

[Bikerdude]

Im seeing rubbish frame rate on a card (R9-290) that should eat TDM for breakfast. Im running cat verion 14.4, does this version even have Cat.Ai anymore..? and what setting can I apply to the Radeon pro profile to get some descent FPS from this card..?

[HMart]

Try the new 14.8 beta drivers perhaps they improve things, the problem with AMD was always OpenGL support and coupled with new cards, problems are more probable to arise, that's because they need time to mature their driver support.

[Bikerdude]

Hmmm, AMD only list 14.7 RC3 for the 290 and I cant find 14.8 anywhere on their own bloody site. yet google it and 14.8 is everywhere.

[nbohr1more]

Tried Guru3d ?

 

http://www.guru3d.com/files-details/amd-catalyst-14-8-whql-%2814-201-1008-august-12%29-download.html

[Bikerdude]

Just doiwnloaded 14.8 and then did a complete de-install, clean, re-install. The perf is actually worse! Im seeing FPS as low as 26...FFS!

[nbohr1more]

Time to try an older driver. (Or sell that "bleeding edge" card and get a more mature model...)

[Bikerdude]

Time to try an older driver. (Or sell that "bleeding edge" card and get a more mature model...)

Will have a look at see how far back i can go version wise, and in the meantime I'm give AMD a few days to come back with a response. Are regarding changing to a mature model, SteveL will let me know if he has the same FPS drop on his HD7800 series, this will determin if its a s/w ot h/w based issue.

[SteveL]

I PM'd you a set of results Biker. Seems I do get better perf on my 3-ish year old HD7800, if you can get it to drop as far as 26. I get 40+ even in the trickiest spots.I have the latest release Catalyst CC installed, 14.4 ( 14.10.1006-140417a-171099C )

 

I wondered if it was a game software issue instead but if you can get full fps using a different card, that's not it.

 

Forgot to mention in the PM, I play with 1920x1080 res and with most graphics settings set to max.

[Bikerdude]

Forgot to mention in the PM, I play with 1920x1080 res and with most graphics settings set to max.

Yeah the FPS is resolution and setting indipendant, the only silver lining to this on the 290 is I can have the AA at 16 on the highest setting @1650*1080 and the FPS remians unaffected. This is looking more and more like a shitty OpenGL implmentation in the driver and whats worse this issue will effect every AMD/ATi player who plays the Darkmod.

[SteveL]

Yeah the FPS is resolution and setting indipendant, the only silver lining to this on the 290 is I can have the AA at 16 on the highest setting @1650*1080 and the FPS remians unaffected. This is looking more and more like a shitty OpenGL implmentation in the driver and whats worse this issue will effect every AMD/ATi player who plays the Darkmod.

 

I didn't know that. I will try again later with more average settings to see whether it makes a difference on my card.

 

I've not noticed any problems playing TDM, but then I've never compared it with another card. Shame if AMD cards at the same price level as other types go slower with openGL.

[Bikerdude]

Im gonna test it on my GT 640 card which I had been using for physx when I had my GTX670, I wont be suprised it also shows up AMD's poor OpenGL support.

[nbohr1more]

Does performance improve if you rename TheDarkMod.exe to DarkAthena.exe ?

Does performance improve if you rename TheDarkMod.exe to Doom3.exe ?

 

Does performance improve if you disable AA and AF in TDM and force it via driver options?

 

Have you updated your motherboard chipset drivers too?

[Bikerdude]

• Does performance improve if you rename TheDarkMod.exe to DarkAthena.exe ?
  
• Does performance improve if you rename TheDarkMod.exe to Doom3.exe ?
  
• Does performance improve if you disable AA and AF in TDM and force it via driver options?
  
• Have you updated your motherboard chipset drivers too?
  

• will try
  
• will try
  
• No differnce with no AA or 16AA, either in-game or via CCC.
  
• Will see if there are any.
  

[Bikerdude]

• will try
  
• will try
  
• Will see if there are any.
  

All of the above made no difference

[nbohr1more]

Also, I think TDM has a few shadow methods in the r_useShadowMethod category, you might try changing the method used

and compare performance (not sure if this is true outside the SVN build?).

 

I know that Revelator had trouble with his AMD R9 card and the arbmapbufferrange extension so that may be related?

[Bikerdude]

All of the above made no difference

I take that back, renaming to Darkathena.exe actually gave me 10FPS in the worst location and improved overall FPS. I need to test this some more to verfy it. How is renaming the game .exe getting around the OpenGL issue in the driver..?

 

• Also, I think TDM has a few shadow methods in the r_useShadowMethod category, you might try changing the method used and compare performance
  
• I know that Revelator had trouble with his AMD R9 card and the arbmapbufferrange extension so that may be related?
  

• that command dosent appear to do anything.
  
• I assume thats something to do with the engine code..?
  

[nbohr1more]

DarkAthena.exe is Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Athena (OpenGL game). There is an optimized driver profile for it.

Edited September 11, 2014 by nbohr1more

[Bikerdude]

Hmm, cant see ANY game profile, where are they located in the 14.4 CCC?

[nbohr1more]

Yeah, it's been awhile since I tangled with ATI\AMD drivers. The last I recalled, there was a dedicated setup area in Catalyst Control Center for setting up

profiles and there were regular profile updates that were independent of the drivers. Now I can't find those profile updates and there's nothing about

profile management at rage3d.com except for the 3rd party "RadeonPro" tool... They have a history of having internal profiles that detect the executable

name and that's why I guessed the old trick would work.