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 8.223.
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 8.223 software included in this package is designed to support the following ATI FireGL™ products in systems running either the Windows XP or Windows 2000 operating systems:
- ATI FireGL™ V7350
- ATI FireGL™ V7300
- ATI FireGL™ V7200
- ATI FireGL™ V7100
- ATI FireGL™ V5200
- ATI FireGL™ V5100
- ATI FireGL™ V5000
- ATI FireGL™ V3400
- ATI FireGL™ V3300
- ATI FireGL™ V3200
- ATI FireGL™ V3100
- ATI FireGL™ X3-256
- ATI FireGL™ T2-128
The ATI FireGL™ Unified Driver version 8.223 software included in this package is designed to support the following ATI FireGL™ products in systems running the Windows XP Professional x64 Edition operating system:
- ATI FireGL™ V7350
- ATI FireGL™ V7300
- ATI FireGL™ V7200
- ATI FireGL™ V7100
- ATI FireGL™ V5200
- ATI FireGL™ V5100
- ATI FireGL™ V5000
- ATI FireGL™ V3400
- ATI FireGL™ V3300
- ATI FireGL™ V3200
- ATI FireGL™ V3100
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 8.223. New features include:
Large Desktop Support
This support, first introduced in Driver version 8.163.1, 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.
Quad Buffer Stereo Support for ATI FireGL Products
Quad Buffer Stereo support is available on many FireGL products. On these products, the Advanced Setting tab provides a checkbox allowing selection of this feature.
Quad Buffer Stereo is supported in Extended mode (dual screen with monitors using perhaps different resolutions, and with the taskbar appearing only on the primary display)
Quad Buffer Stereo functionality is only available on the display that is identified as primary display device. If a stereo application is launched on the secondary display device, the application window must be dragged onto the primary display device in order for the application window to have a stereo image.
If a stereo application is dragged to the secondary display device, the user would see visual corruption which can be corrected by dragging the window back to the primary display device, followed by clicking the mouse anywhere within the application window.
Stereo must be set before selecting Extended Mode, i.e. disable one of the displays, check the Quad Buffer Stereo checkbox, reboot, and then enable the second display (Extended Mode) since the Quad Buffer Stereo checkbox would be unselectable (i.e. it is grayed out) once Extended Mode has been enabled.
Note: Quad Buffer Stereo is not supported in large desktop (dual screen with the taskbar running across both screens).
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:
- Houdini: Running the game under Windows XP no longer results in the virtual memory size increasing in value
- Inventor R11: The application no longer exits to the desktop unexpectedly when closing the second document
- Petrel_2003:Simulation: Enabling the Seismic Data and 3D Seismic Lines no longer results in the operating system failing to respond and the display becoming blank
- Softimage XSI 4.2: Using the mouse to zoom in on an image no longer results in texture loss being noticed
- Studio Tools R13: An error no longer occurs when using specular and transparency mappings on a single object
- StudioTools R13: The gl_ClipVertex is now supported when it is written by the StudioTool R13 application into its own shaders
- StudioTools V13: Display corruption is no longer noticed when enabling the Per Pixel shaders found in the application
- UGS Visualization Test Suite 6.0: A variety of issues found within the application are now resolved
- CATIA v5r14: 3GB Honda model now loads in /3GB mode CMM/QS
- AutoCAD 2006: The application no longer draws with few primitives and vertices resolving a performance issue experienced with the FireGL V5000 products
- CATIA V5R14: Using the application to draw a circle no longer results in the circle being drawn as an ellipse shape
- Inventor: Running the application under Windows XP Professional x64 Edition and launching Keyboard.iam within the application, followed by opening 3 or more windows, no longer results in an application error
- 3dsmax 6 or 7: Corruption is no longer noticed when D3D mode is enabled and the viewport is maximized on the 2560 x 1024 Apple panel
- Solidworks 2006: Setting the display resolution to 3840x2400 and enabling OpenGL hardware acceleration no longer results in the application failing to respond
- Discovery Studio 1.5: Using the selection tool to click on a corner of a 3d window no longer results in the corner not being highlighted in yellow
Known Issues
The following section provides a brief description of known issues associated with this release of the ATI FireGL™ Unified Driver. These include the following:
- UGS Visualization GDr: Rotating a model or zooming in or out on a model may result corruption being noticed within the model
- XP64/Studio Tools 13: Display corruption may be noticed when running the application with extended desktop mode enabled
- 3dstudiomax8: Running 01_FullPirate01.max may result in the head on the right hand side of the application window displaying incorrectly
- Inventor R11: Placing the mouse cursor over an assembly may result in the red highlight outline not appearing properly
- Tecnomatix: Poor performance may be noticed in the Wireframe when running the application
- Overlaytext.exe: Connecting two display devices may result in a program error dialog box appearing when running the application
- UG NX3: Running the subtests on a system containing an ATI
- SOAP.exe: Running the application may result in poor performance being noticed
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.
ATI Technologies Inc. http://www.ati.com Voice: (905) 882-2600 Fax: (905) 882-2620 |