Nvidia Beta 185.20 with Ambient Occlusion?

[HonestJohn]

Just saw these new betas circulating around the net today. It's Beta 185.20 and they have a new option in the NV Control Panel called "Ambient Occlusion"? Haven't a clue what this does but below is a comparison with it tuned on and off in Crysis. Some are reporting profile issues if you use them. I don't so my systems running so well at the moment I think I'll screw it up by trying these. Download is slow as hell.

Original Source:
http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=80520


Guinea Pigs:
http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=283367


Ambient Occlusion

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambient_occlusion

Ambient occlusion is a shading method used in 3D computer graphics which helps add realism to local reflection models by taking into account attenuation of light due to occlusion. Ambient Occlusion attempts to approximate the way light radiates in real life, especially off of what is normally considered non-reflective surfaces. For example, in the way light through a small crack in the curtain in an otherwise darkened hotel room can slightly illuminate the entire room, and not just the path of light passing through the crack itself.

Ambient Occlusion - Off




Ambient Occlusion - On





XP 32-bit
http://rapidshare.com/files/17875743..._20WinXP32.exe


XP 64-bit
http://rapidshare.com/files/17875912..._20WinXP64.exe


Vista 32-bit
http://rapidshare.com/files/17875651..._20Vista32.exe


Vista 64-bit
http://pic.xfastest.com/z/NVIDIA%20%...%20Vista64.exe

[HonestJohn]

Hummm, just examined the nv_disp.inf setup file and they appear to have everything listed which is currently on Nvidia's roadmap for 2009 except for the GT300 40nm beast...

; 10DE.05E0 " GT20x GT200 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 295
; 10DE.05E1 " GT20x GT200 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280
; 10DE.05E3 " GT20x GT200 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 285
; 10DE.06A0 " GT21x GT214 NVIDIA GT214
; 10DE.06B0 " GT21x GT214 NVIDIA GT214
; 10DE.0A00 " GT21x GT212 NVIDIA GT212
; 10DE.0A10 " GT21x GT212 NVIDIA GT212
; 10DE.0A30 " GT21x GT216 NVIDIA GT216
; 10DE.0A60 " GT21x GT218 NVIDIA GT218
; 10DE.0A70 " GT21x GT218 NVIDIA GT218
; 10DE.0A7D " GT21x GT218 NVIDIA GT218
; 10DE.0A7F " GT21x GT218 NVIDIA GT218
; 10DE.0CA0 " GT21x GT215 NVIDIA GT215
; 10DE.0CB0 " GT21x GT215 NVIDIA GT215

[Ryan]

LOL - stupid NVIDIA.

[HonestJohn]

LOL - stupid NVIDIA.

Elaborate Please Ryan as they have been stupid in a number of ways before?

My results were not good with these at all. Tried these with FarCry 2, although that game really needs no help with light or shadows. Using Ambient Occlusion on High literally killed my Far Cry 2 performance. Putting it on Medium, FPS dropped from 45-60 FPS to 35-45 FPS with some graphic anomalies appearing in the grassy areas, so there is a definite impact on my system. Drivers seem to work fine with Ambient Occlusion set to off however, so I'll be playing with these until the next official release comes along I guess.

[Ryan]

I was just laughing at them for the INF file screw up.

As for the ambient occlusion - I haven't heard about this AT ALL from NVIDIA so the feature is news to me. Likely a way to justify this kind of processing power: http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=651

I'll quiz some people and see what I can learn.

[python134r]

Tried it and my performance took a hit, rolled back to previous driver 180.XX something-something. Ah-well so it goes...........

[GTwannabe]

Work great for me... AO cranked to max on COD4 with no noticeable drop in frame rate or visual glitches. Crysis does take a pretty hard hit, but lighting is more realistic in the jungle. It's a new feature though, so it may improve after more driver optimization.

[Poci]

Does this only work in DX 10 games?

[HonestJohn]

Does this only work in DX 10 games?

As far as I know.

Also a few comments from Chris Ray / AMD Game Forum Admin and Beta Tester regarding these....

These drivers aren't even close to ready. They were leaked way before their time. I strongly advise against using them unless your just interested in seeing the SLIAA modes. The ambient occlusion feature is partially broken and these are alpha level drivers. And alpha texture AA is broken as well. They were never meant to be released. They only give you an idea of what Nvidia has been working on.

I would like to point out that these drivers not being ready is not just my opinion. But Nvidia's as well. Use at your own risk.

[TheGlasMan]

Thanks HJ, Interesting stuff all round. I'm glad you always follow up!

looks by realist they are giving the baddies more places to hide!!

[Dave_H]

been using these for a couple of days now, Fallout3 crashes seem to be gone

[HonestJohn]

Thanks HJ, Interesting stuff all round. I'm glad you always follow up!

looks by realist they are giving the baddies more places to hide!!

Thanks Glas.

More Graphic anomalies in Far Cry 2 and one of my sons games Spider-man Web of Shadows crashed with a BSOD which never happened before and the crash referenced the Nvidia Driver. No choice but to revert I guess.

I wish the new ones would come out though to save me from switching twice in a week. Oh well.

[Poci]

Great a new way to make your system be raped even more by Crysis

[notdrugged]

I don't see any difference that couldn't be performed by the monitor's color temperature and the application's gamma correction combined. I mean, I am looking at it hard, and I don't see anywhere that a shadow had been changed except to darken it.

The entire picture has changed color temperature, and some sort of brightness setting has increased ever-so-slightly as evidenced by the atmosphere.

And the purpose of making this the job of the video card is what?

Oh, yeah, but the driver is in it's alpha/beta stage. Not trying to trash the report. Are there any other pictures that show what they're talking about?

It's not like you can screen shot what your monitor is showing, but I imagine it could benefit software companies who want their graphics shown the way they would look with correct monitor settings. People can be fierce about the games they love. Above is raw image of game (A), lower is game (B) with software simulated corrected monitor+gamma settings. ROFL!!!!!! Game B is teh UUUBERRRZZZ

BTW the plants look more real in the top image to me. It gets a little cartoony there in game B. If you were using actual gamma correction, it would literally be perfect. You need to correct the gamma still.

[HonestJohn]

Are there any other pictures that show what they're talking about?

See page 2 of the thread link I posted at top of page for a few more user screenshots ...

http://forums.techpowerup.com/showth...t=80520&page=2