ATI's FireGL™ cards are designed to accelerate 3D workstation applications based on OpenGL and Microsoft DirectX 9.0. With full certification on the leading computer aided design (CAD), architecture/engineering/construction (AEC) and digital content creation (DCC) applications, ATI FireGL™ is the high performance choice for graphics professionals working in Windows. These release notes provide information on the ATI FireGL™ Unified Driver version 8.163.1.
These release notes provide information on the following:
- Workstation family support
- Minimum System Requirements
- API and Operating system support
- What's New
- Resolved Issues
- Known Issues
- ATI Customer Care
Workstation family support
The ATI FireGL™ Unified Driver version 8.163.1 software included in this package is designed to support the following ATI FireGL™ products in systems running either the Windows XP or the Windows 2000 operating systems:
- ATI FireGL™ V7100
- ATI FireGL™ V5100
- ATI FireGL™ V5000
- ATI FireGL™ V3200
- ATI FireGL™ V3100
- ATI FireGL™ X3-256 (AGP)
- ATI FireGL™ T2-128 (AGP)
The ATI FireGL™ Unified Driver version 8.163.1 software included in this package is designed to support the following ATI FireGL™ products in systems running the Windows XP Professional x64 operating system.
- ATI FireGL™ V7100
- ATI FireGL™ V5100
- ATI FireGL™ V5000
- ATI FireGL™ V3200
- ATI FireGL™ V3100
- ATI FireGL™ X3-256 (AGP)
Minimum System Requirements
This section provides information on the system requirements for successful installation and operation. The following is a list of minimum system requirements:
- Intel Pentium 4/Xeon™, AMD Athlon/Opteron™ or compatible CPU
- PCI-Express x16 Bus for PCI-Express products
- AGP bus for AGP Products
- 128MB of system memory (256MB or more recommended)
- Installation software requires CD-ROM drive
- 300 watt or greater power supply (recommended)
API and Operating system support
- OpenGL 2.0
- OpenGL Shading Language
- Microsoft® DirectX® 9.0
- DX9 HLSL
- Windows® XP/Windows XP Professional x64 Edition/Windows 2000
- Linux® 32/Linux 64
Note: Linux users can obtain the software display driver at: http://www.atitech.com/support/driver.html
Note: Pre-unified drivers (7.88 or older) should be un-installed before installing the ATI FireGL Unified Driver.
What's New
This section provides information on new features introduced in the ATI FireGL™ unified software driver version 8.163.1. This release introduces large desktop support for dual output FireGL™ products. This support allows for the operating system to see the display output as a single large display. This allows for the operating system's task bar to stretch across both of the connected display devices.
Resolved Issues
This section provides information on issues that have been resolved in this release of the ATI FireGL™ Unified Driver. These include the following:
- Solidworks 2005: Corruption is no longer noticed when dragging the mouse cursor on the front plane when using the rectangle tool. This issue is noticed when SmoothVision is set to Always On
- Maya 7.0CG: The image is no longer distorted when it is rendered in hardware
- CATIA V5R14 SP3: Enabling Quad Buffer Stereo support no longer results in the application failing to respond when attempting to capture images under Windows XP
- Maya 7.0 Renders are no longer incorrect in the HWrenderer and high-quality viewport
- Maya: Intermittent application crashes no longer occur when the dirver attempts to manage the proram store to reload a program
- SolidWorks 2005 SP3.1: The application no longer fails to respond under Windows XP when using the default profile configuration
- CATIA 5: The application no longer fails to run when the /3GB switch is used
- Using either the Windows Media Player version 9 or 10 to play an audio file no longer results in a black screen when using the ATI FireGL V3100 under Windows XP
- GLPerf: Running the application under Windows XP no longer results in an exception error being displayed
- emSimulate: Poor performance is no longer noticed when setting the em-Engineer Graphics option to byte normals
- Starting a VolFog.exe window on the secondary display device, while running another OpenGL application on the primary display device no longer results in corruption being noticed within the VolFog.exe window
- Running the SPECapc 3dsmax R6 benchmark no longer results in the the Sphere Array - Wireframe test having missing objects
- ICEM Surf v4.4.1: The application no longer fails to respond and ATI VPU Recover is no longer activated when enabling Self Shadows in the display options of the program
- Redbook: Starting all of the examples within the application and toggling the application windows between tile horizontally, tile vertically, and finally cascade mode, no longer results in one of the windows failing to enter cascade mode. Attempting to drag the window that fails to enter cascade mode around the desktop, no longer results in display corruption being noticed, requiring a reboot of the system
- A PowerPlay warning message is no longer displayed when warm docking a system with a CRT connected and the AC adapter connected to the docking station
- The details button found in the ATI Option tab is now available under Windows XP Professional x64 Edition
- Hypermesh 7.0: Display corruption is no longer noticed in Performance mode of the model
- The Battery and Ambience visulazations are now working in fullscreen mode when using the Windows Media Player to play a CD, WAV, or MP3 file
- Proto5a_MFC: Launching Proto5a_MFC no longer results in the error message Proto5a_MFC has encountered a problem and needs to close
- Display corruption is no longer noticed when Quad Buffer Stereo is enabled and display is rotated by 90 degrees under Windows XP with an ATI FireGL V3200 installed
- Setting a hot key of Ctrl+Alt+A for Standard Landscape (0 degree), and Ctrl+Alt+B for Rotate 90 degree right, followed by enabling extended desktop on the CRT monitor no longer results in the display locking up when using the hotkey to set standard landscape
- The memory leak found in ATIDDC.dll is now resolved
Known Issues
The following section provides a brief description of known issues associated with the ATI FireGL™ software driver version 8.103. These include the following:
- UGS Visualization Test Suite 6.1: Setting the display resolution to 1280x1024 followed by opening the HullColorPerVertexEnvMap.jt file from the SFXTest folder, may result in shader and texture problems on models. Further details can be found in topic number 737-20751
- UGS Visualization Test Suite 6.0: Opening the Bumpmap.jt file found in the SFXTest folder no longer results in poor image quality when using the mouse to hold and rotate the model. Further details can be found in topic number 737-20751
- MSC.Marc 2005: Display corruption maybe noticed when switching from Wireframe mode to Solid mode. Further details can be found in topic number 737-20753
- Pro/ENGINEER 2001 SPECapc: Shaded graphics performance may decline with Intel DEP enabled. Further details can be found in topic number 737-20754
- The Shared Extended FrameBuffer (SEF) currently requires a second system reboot to become enabled under Windows XP Professional x64 Edition. Further details can be found in topic number 737-20755
- Softimage XSI 4.2: Using the mouse to zoom in on an image may result in texture loss being noticed. Further details can be found in topic number 737-20756
- ArchiCAD: Enabling Optimize Drawing Method and Display Text with Font Outlines Only in a new project, followed by placing text into the floorplay may result in characters containing small gaps within their outlines. Further details can be found in topic number 737-20757
For further information and general help on driver or software installation, and more, visit the ATI FAQ website.
ATI Customer Care
ATI Customer Care website provides a high level of technical support and easy of navigation. The ATI Customer Care website provides accurate and up-to-date product support for optimum usability and performance. Technical issues are categorized and personalized to enhance user experience. The ATI Customer Care Website can be found at: support.ati.com
To view a known or resolved issue, do the following:
- Go to: support.ati.com. The ATI Customer Care web page is displayed.
- In the top left hand pane, click Advanced Search. The Advanced Search pane is displayed.
- Under Search Type: Select the By: ID option.
- Enter the Topic number.
- Click Go.
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