NVIDIA GeForce GTX 285 (and 200 series in general)

[YoungGrognard]

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen.

I've tried a lot of different driver versions over the months since ETW was released up to and including the 195.39 beta drivers, and I thought that for the benefit of folks with the same or similar card, I would "publish my results" as well as ask for feedback, suggestions and opinions.

I have an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 285.
Also:
Core i7 920
6 GB RAM
Vista 64-bit

Also, I had a GTX 280 before (which died and I replaced with the GTX 285) and had similar results, the GTX 280 being from the generation before. Therefore I would imagine that the results would be similar in all other single-GPU 200-series cards.

I've had all sorts of graphical glitch / crash / performance problems with ETW, and it's been fairly consistent in ETW 1.0, 1.1, 1.2, 1.3 and 1.5 (I never tried 1.4).

My conclusion so far is this: the only one that's reliable for me is 181.22, and by the way, that is the one which was released by NVIDIA specifically to introduce support for the GTX 285 and GTX 295. It is my belief (which is supported empirically - see the Empiricism technology description in ETW) that all of the drivers since then have introduced problems for the GTX 285, at least as far as ETW is concerned (ETW is the only game I play at the moment and so I am not considering other games for this). My hypothesis is that 181.22 is the one which NVIDIA tested thoroughly and specifically for the GTX 285, and so that is the one without bugs and glitches creeping in for that card. I know that the 181.22 drivers may have other issues for other games/applications, but from my point of view I recommend them (they are available from www.nvidia.com). I have heard differing reports as to which version of the drivers was used by CA for their original testing, I have heard 181.22 from some sources and 182.06 from others. It does not really matter though, because I have done my own testing.

My settings are mostly on high, although I lower some of them to make the framerate smooth.
E.g. unit size -> medium (I also do this to make the battle AI a bit better, and things like battefield defenses and platoon fire function properly with medium unit size), depth of field off, AA/AF off, grass off, building detail low, tree detail low, sky medium. This gives me decent frame rates in a big land battle at 1680x1050 resolution which is fine for my tastes (I love high frame rates).

More specific opinions on driver versions:

181.22 - No glitches for me. Also, I have not had a crash since rolling back to these drivers several days ago (although I'm bound to have some later that are ETW itself, not drivers). Runs well.

182.06 - Some rare glitches (esp. campaign map). From memory, slightly better performance than 181.22 but not reliable, so it's not worth the loss of reliability. Probably second best next to 181.22.

182.50 - Significantly worse than 182.06 - more glitches.

185 / 186 series, similar to 182.50.

191.07 - Much worse than 182/185/186. Major graphical corruption - made me worry about my video card.

195.39 - Awful. I could not believe it but it was even worse than 191.07. The worst of the bunch. Terrible glitches. Campaign not playable. Buildings on campaign map even disappear which I have not seen happen until now - disastrous. Avoid like the plague.

I don't know why it's gone this way, it may be because ETW is so demanding on the video card, or maybe it's bad programming on CA's part, I don't know. Anyway, those are my results and I am quite happy to stay with 181.22 as long as they are reliable for ETW, until NVIDIA / CA fix their issues with the more recent drivers.

Anyhow I hope that helps. If somebody has different results, by all means let us know.

Best regards,
YoungGrognard

[Totalheadache]

That's why I changed from nvidia to ati. Or part of the reason. Much much better with a 5800 series. No glitching, I cant use volumetric effects but thats no biggie and fps is great. Looks great and empire really gives you the feel of the period. Ok some animations and effects could be a bit better and sieges are a bit crap but am loving it.

I too found 181.22 or 185.85 worked fine. (i think 185.85 def 181.22).

[YoungGrognard]

That's why I changed from nvidia to ati. Or part of the reason. Much much better with a 5800 series. No glitching, I cant use volumetric effects but thats no biggie and fps is great. Looks great and empire really gives you the feel of the period. Ok some animations and effects could be a bit better and sieges are a bit crap but am loving it.

I too found 181.22 or 185.85 worked fine. (i think 185.85 def 181.22).

After this suggestion, I went tried going to 185.85 again for a while.
The performance was fine (maybe a bit smoother) but eventually the graphical corruptions start showing up on the campaign map.

Back to 181.22 it is.

[johnm]

I literally have the exact same set up as you, and I can only run the game on min settings.

Do you have the same problem?

[YoungGrognard]

No I don't have the same problem, I can run with most things on high and still have a decent frame rate, and it starts to drop with ultra settings, especially unit size.

It seems like you have a problem somewhere in your system, perhaps hardware or perhaps software.

For a decent starting point, I recommend going through the system guides on this excellent site: http://www.tweakguides.com/System.html

There's a downloadable guide for optimizing windows vista systems, and I can't recommend it highly enough.

Otherwise, if that doesn't help, or you don't have the patience for it, you can take your PC to a local computer shop, explain the problems to them and leave it there and they can find the problem for you (hopefully). I find that the really small computer shops with like only 2 or 3 people in them can provide an excellent service (better than big stores in my opinion) as they will usually have plenty of time and dedication and expertise to take your PC apart and find out what's wrong with it, and then recommend a course of action such as buying a new component or reinstalling windows, or whatever.

[OSDEA7]

For me running my 2xgtx285ftw in sli the 186.18 are really smooth.I usually play ETW for hours sometimes 12 or more before i finally get some video corruption.I tried the 181.06 and 181.22 and had no luck with them.

186.18 has been the best for me so far.And i run all ETW settings on ultra with the DMUC 5.3 mod.
I think the different CP variables will make it different for everyone.Certain drivers are better for different PC setups.Apparently with the numerous variations in computers these days it seems all video card manufacturers are having difficulty getting drivers to work for everything.I believe CA of ETW never really got together with the video card industry enough to make sure the game ran smooth.As always.

The 186.18 driver was supposed to be fixed for ETW as stated in the CA forums.

[carlitobrigante]

Hi my friend.

Everything you say is correct. Im on a gtx 260 and if i want to play ETW I have to roll back my drivers to 181.22. Any other driver since just locks up my game and gives me loads of polygon garbarge on the screen.

I play pretty much every decent pc game going and have had NO problems with any other game using the latest drivers with my gtx 260.

Despite constant moaning at Nvidia & CA to actually get their heads together and help out both their customers, they are both silent on the issue and seem to be blaming each other.

I dont give a toss whether its CA or Nvidias fault, 100's of their customers are affected by this issue so you'd think they would want to help regardless.

Lost faith big time in nvidia and ca products.