Anyone with problems with ATI drivers read this.

[dduff442]

Originally Posted by rakinroll

Mate, i will try this file too but do not know where to i put it.

Just drop it in your main il2 directory.

[DB605]

Originally Posted by dduff442

While you're right to complain about the bugs, I did manage to get acceptable performance after a lot of painful experimentation. My system has an i7/920 CPU with an ATI HD5870 GPU, but the settings here should be useful to anyone with a recent ATI card.

The simple solution is to use DirectX with the latest Catalyst driver update. I haven't tested this extensively but it delivered excellent FPS performance. The only problem I noticed was that the landscape tended to momentarily break up into black squares whenever the viewing angle was shifted suddenly.

The other problems with DirectX in il2 are one that the water is flat and not nearly as pretty as in OpenGL and two that 'perfect' graphics mode is unavailable. 'Perfect' mode doesn't matter except in clear weather (apparently) when it doubles the draw distance. I did manage to get both these features working in OpenGL as I'll explain.

With the latest ATI drivers (10.2), il2 is pretty much unplayable in OpenGL mode due to the problems of text corruption etc. Dropping a copy of version 9.1 of the ATI OpenGL driver into your il2 directory will allow you to use 9.1 for il2 (which works fine) and 10.2 for everything else.

So... after a lot of messing around, I finally arrived at what I consider the optimal settings:

Thank you for these settings, unfortunately it still won't work with my system. Framerate is probably about 1-5fps and even menus are painfully slow. I have Ati HD4850 1gb card, catalyst 10.2 and 9.1 opengl driver in il2 directory, OS is xp32. Any thoughts what could be wrong?

[=PF=Coastie]

Hi guys,

Terry Makedon(head of the ATI Catalyst driver program) replied to my email and said this problem will be looked into.

As for the atiogl.dll, you guys should be using the 9.10 file (nine point ten) not the 9.1. Especially if you are using a 5xxx series card.

I am currently still tweaking my settings with my brand new rig (5770/amd Phenom II x 4 955BE/win7). I plan on creating a full tweak thread about my findings soon.

Real quick though, I am running 1920x1080 with 4x SSAA(Supersampling AA gets rid of the crawly rivers in the distance!), max Aniso, perfect, with water=0 and I am getting 62fps avg, 27fps min in TBD track.(V-synch off).

I have also found a work around for the Blocky text issue if you do not have the 9.10 atiogl.dll file.

Start the game/go to tracks/choose The black Death track/let play until the text clears at exactly the :21 second mark. Close track and you can play all you want with no more blocky text as long as you do NOT close the game. You can go online using direct IP too. But if you use HL, this will not work.

More later guys, Thanks!

[maclean525]

You are correct about the driver version, I looked at the version number which is: 6.14.10.9026 this is associated with the 9.10 catalyst release.

[dduff442]

9.1 and 9.10 are (how you say) the same number?!

Flanker's tip about disabling UseVertexArrays is spot on. Checking back, I find my original settings were based on a post of his at the ATI forums. Small world, eh?

Water=1 or higher still kills my system. I was able to improve performance a bit by setting the priority for the Il2fb process to 'high'. If you try this and it messes up your sound, just open Hardware>Sound Settings and click 'Apply and Back' which will reset your sound without changing anything else.

I actually overclocked my i7 to 3.2GHz and got a small improvement but decided it wasn't worth it and reset it to the default values. Fast core-duo machines will beat i7s in Il2 because Il2 only uses one core anyway.

[=PF=Coastie]

If you think of it as a decimal, yes, it is same number. But when describing ATI's driver versions, that is a big nono and can cause big problems. Think of the decimal as a simple separator for two whole numbers. The first number signifies the YEAR and the second number signifies the MONTH. The 9.10 drivers were released in OCT 2009 and the 9.1 drivers were released in January 2009, ten months before the 9.10 drivers.

Hope this helps you understand the ATI driver numbers now.

[dduff442]

Originally Posted by =PF=Coastie

If you think of it as a decimal, yes, it is same number. But when describing ATI's driver versions, that is a big nono and can cause big problems. Think of the decimal as a simple separator for two whole numbers. The first number signifies the YEAR and the second number signifies the MONTH. The 9.10 drivers were released in OCT 2009 and the 9.1 drivers were released in January 2009, ten months before the 9.10 drivers.

Hope this helps you understand the ATI driver numbers now.

Fair enough. The file attached to the earlier post is the correct 9.10 version, though.

[=PF=Coastie]

Sorry, but I still dont see where you posted your card. I must be missing a post or something.

Glad you found something you are happy with. Your right, Nvidia is perfect in every way and ati is the devil. Thanks for your contribution to this thread.

You are 100% correct in all aspects.

Thank you and sorry for my blaring ignorance Sir.

[13th Hsqn Protos]

S~!

Its all good. Ignorance is Bliss. Sir.

Looking forward to those new drivers.

[Flanker35M]

S!

Protos, maybe you should cool down a bit. My cards have been both ATI and nVidia, since day one or whatever you refer to. And I can say this 5870HD rapes the face of my previous 280GTX bar none. ONLY game where nVidia has been even close challenging this card or even topping it is..tadaaaaa..IL-2. So cut the crap and stop saying your 275GTX beats my ATI. And that is a FACT. Do not need to be a fanboi even to state it

As of the drivers. 10.1's have no memory leak. Before they had as you said, no arguments there. Was easily spotted when trying to build a mission in the FMB, the game crashed after a while. Now nothing, zilch, nada! It works like it should. IL-2 is an old game, nearly 10 years and it shows. If ATI is looking into the driver issue and IL-2 bug it is a good thing, a benefit for all.

I do not test and tinker IL-2 with ATI to promote myself or prove something. Just to provide information what makes what if changed in settings. Those with knowledge of the internal workings of IL-2 like TD or MG MIGHT read this msgboard and take a look and possibly even do something about it.

It would be very nice of you if you stopped spewing the nVidia stuff in a thread supposed to give hints and tips for ATI users. And if you are such a guru with ATI, since day one, then maybe you could contribute as well rather than poop out nVidia supermacy or propaganda. It serves no-one.

So back on track here...Testing and seeing what does what