LL vs ATI

got an ATI graphics card? Forgetaboutit. It appears that LL is only going to support the Nvidia card. Nothing but problems using the ATI
cards, believe me, this is my 5th graphics card in less than 2 years, and the only card that works is the Nvidia. I have an older system, stuck with a PCI buss, and unless I use Nvidia, I am outta luck.

It is not possible for me to run 1.20.xxxx with the ATI card, but
switching back to the Nvidia, things are back to normal.

I just deleted a bunch of ranting about Dell, and suggest this:

I you want to continue using SL, you are gonna need a Nvidia card.

Period.................

I believe your bitch is with ATI. I sincerely doubt LL would limit SL to just one graphics card manufacturer.

But, if history repeats someone will come up with something that will make nVidia users will be on the outside looking in.......like you ATI users are now.

I have an ATI card. Works fine and isn't anywhere near top of the line. *shrug*

I was joking Ann.............I had a computer that had an ATI Radeon 9250 with 128 megs onboard and it worked fine too.

Yeah Id say ATI is the cause of this, because older ATI drivers work fine. I think Im running 6-5 Catalyst drivers. If I install the newer drivers I cant move at all.

I saw a post around here lately about another alternative driver for ATI cards as the newest ones wont run SL at all.

If I were to come up with a conspiracy theory Id say perhaps ATI is partnered with a wannabe SL clone in production. Doesnt really make any sense.

LL doesnt have any control over what ATI drivers are released. Looks to me like ATI is hating on LL, but why.... or is it just weird coincidence that new ATI drivers are completely useless with SL?

lol, I was responding to the OP.

I don't believe LL has a beef with open GL . just the way the code was wrote.

Live with it or bye bye.

Did you use the ATI cleanup tool before installing the newer version? Sometimes thats all it needs.

I installed after a fresh format and found the current drivers unusable, luckily I had old drivers laying around on an old HD.

Thats just my experience that old drivers work fine but the new ones dont, I see an awful lot of posts though about problems with new ATI drivers and SL

From what I remember reading, ATI deviated from the standard OpenGL code, which causes the problems.

Hmmm. That may be why updating my drivers causes SL fits. I have an x300 and with the BE-W Viewer it runs pretty well. But several times, I've updated the drivers, Catalyst and Omega, and SL never works the same. I roll back to the original drivers and all is fine.

Yrrek, as others have stated, your beef here is with ATI, not with Linden Lab. It's not that "LL is only going to support the nVidia card"; it's that ATI's drivers don't work the way they're supposed to.

I'm pretty sure Tod is correct as to the reason behind the problem(s). From what I've read (which admittedly is not a lot), it seems ATI hasn't been following standards for a while now. That's a big problem, which only ATI themselves can solve.

In the Windlight townhall meeting a couple months ago, Pastrami Linden has this to say on the subject:



Basicaly, LL is doing all any software developer can do to 'help' ATI comply. But ultimately, it is ATI who either will or won't make their drivers work properly. LL has no direct control over that.

So be careful next time, before you go assigning blame. At least do a little research first.

I'm running an ATI x1650 pro and not having a single problem with SL. I've also go the most up to date drivers, which I couldn't use with my x300.

So, if you're having problems with the updated drivers, your beef is with ATI, not LL.

dude.....

There's plenty of people with nvidia issues. The problem is a convergence ofa lot of changes in the way things are built, and software drivers are having teh worst time keeping up. Hardware is dictated by Moore's Law. Software is dictated by huge messy groups of software programmers. Now that everything's gone multi-processor and multi-core, software has to be essentially re-written to handle all that mad management. AMD's acquisition of ATI probably didnt help the logistics.

I have 4 systems that are capable of running SL, 1 ATI, 2 Nvidia, 1 intel onboard video. The ATI & Intel are the best-running (the intel one isnt even supported).

i strongly doubt that they had a discussion to not support ATI. Quite the opposite--they're looking for engineers to hire who are capable of fixing the problem.

Christ, I'm running an ATI x1300 on my system ... with the most recent drivers.

Guess what? It runs just fine thankyouverymuch.

don't go taking a flying leap off into the realm of absurd assumption without having all of the facts.

I'm surpised the Providers haven't made a deal with one of the Video Card makers to come up with a good SL recommended card that they could then sell off the website, next to the headsets and First Bling.

*snerks* Because the video card makers prefer to encourage sales? I mean, a card labeled "For Second Life Use" or even, "Best used for Second Life" isn't exactly going to encourage buyers in other markets.. and the rest of us are doing just fine with cards that aren't specifically tailored for Second Life

I don't mean it would be advertised to the public as such. What I meant was they get together, and design one that in general would be most effective for SL, and LL sells it through their site. A lot of people don't use their computers for anything too intense besides SL, I don't. I might be more inclined to by a SL ready Video card rather than searching and comparing and figuring the differernce betwen 7600 this and 8900 that and do I get ATI, Nvidea, ATT&T or Nivea......it all makes my brain hurt.

My mistake, :[

With the introduction of 1.20 my perfectly usable system became a graphical nightmare. I have always been a loyal supporter of LL and the ATI issue just became too fustrating.

I noticed the Minimum System Requirements were leaving the older ATI cards off the list, it was becoming worrisome to say the least.

Gee, I had to go back to a nearly year old driver, 7.12 to get anything to work properly.

As you well know, a clean install of ATI drivers is a 45 minute job and several reboots. Spending an entire Sunday trying different driver versions, as suggested by LL only to find the next release doesn't like that version is maddening.

I have learned a bit from this post, and I have spent many months trying to discover why ATI gfx cards work so poorly. Up until now, the only suggestions were to update the drivers.

Now I know.

/me blows kisses to LL

/me does not know that

It takes me about ten minutes and two reboots.

1) Download new drivers
2) Remove old drivers
3) Reboot
4) Install new drivers
5) Reboot

Also depends a LOT on which OS you are running. With Windows, I'll agree Nvidia is the card of choice. But if you run Mac OS, you'll get far better compatability and performance from an ATI card!

If your system only takes PCI video cards, video card compatibility is only one of many problems you'll face in SL. SL works fine on current ATI and NVIDIA cards assuming you have working drivers (which are the manufacturer's concern, not LL's), a newish computer, and a supported operating system.