ATI Driver Issues

[AngryEeyore]

 

The only problems I am having is very low FPS (followed instructions to a T and reverted back to the 12.3 Catalyst drivers which used to give good performance) and I get a weird sword sound when I collect flowers and certain goods. The low FPS is something that I may need to figure out on my end (IE perhaps it is time for a new PSU and GPU) but the sound is kind of odd.

 

 

Check the latest update, precisely here:

 

-Added the “ICS Possible Fixâ€optional addon for Improved Combat Sounds, which fixes the previous bug.

 

Install that addon, enable it and you should be fine with the sword sound.

 

About the low fps, you should try reducing graphics setting, disabling AA etc, unless it's a driver issue.

 

 

I honestly think it is a driver issue... but when I revert back to 12.3 it is like I can't shake the curse of the 12.4 off. I use driver sweeper and delete all things AMD/ATI related and I still get the same old bad performance. Not to mention it is near impossible to play in crossfire. It drops my FPS by an extra 5 - 10 if I turn it on. AMD is just dead to me. But I will say this... the results look fantastic and I find it is worth putting effort into getting my system on track to play it.

[z929669]

I honestly think it is a driver issue... but when I revert back to 12.3 it is like I can't shake the curse of the 12.4 off. I use driver sweeper and delete all things AMD/ATI related and I still get the same old bad performance. Not to mention it is near impossible to play in crossfire. It drops my FPS by an extra 5 - 10 if I turn it on. AMD is just dead to me. But I will say this... the results look fantastic and I find it is worth putting effort into getting my system on track to play it.

 

Don't use Driver Sweeper. That is very outdated and no longer maintained. Use the following process instead (if I recall correctly, you have an AMD motherboard?? If so, you should do the following and be prepared to do a clean reinstall of your chipset drivers, as DS likely already blasted & that could be one of your problems):

 

• Uninstall AMD Catalyst Suite from Control Panel. Don't Express Unintall if you have an AMD chipset motherboard.
• Reboot in safe mode
• Open Device Manager (Control Panel> System and Security> System> Device Manager). Uninstall all devices in "Display adapters" class. Tick "Delete the Driver Software for this Device" also if available. DON'T right-click "Scan for hardware changes" afterward (do it later, want the Display adapters class to be empty for now). Minimize Device Manager window.
• Run AMD Catalyst TwL Cleaner 3.9.2.cmd (yes to all) and follow the on-screen instructions.
• Reboot normally, open device manager, and you should see "Standard Display Adapter" as the display. If not, update the driver to that manually & reboot.

ATI display drivers should be better about uninstalling completely these days, but this will ensure that nothing lingers.

 

---

@Fri, we may want to add this to the Skyrim Installation Guide or the Troubleshooting Guide.

[jcooper138]

Nvidia has a forum post on updating drivers as well:

 

https://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=169555

[jcooper138]

Might be a good idea to rename this Video Driver Issues for the purposes of tagging it as a FAQ. Just a thought from someone who's spent entirely too much time in the support/tech writing world :)

[frihyland]

@Z

Short and sweet solution, I say troubleshooting guide.

[AngryEeyore]

 

I honestly think it is a driver issue... but when I revert back to 12.3 it is like I can't shake the curse of the 12.4 off. I use driver sweeper and delete all things AMD/ATI related and I still get the same old bad performance. Not to mention it is near impossible to play in crossfire. It drops my FPS by an extra 5 - 10 if I turn it on. AMD is just dead to me. But I will say this... the results look fantastic and I find it is worth putting effort into getting my system on track to play it.

 

Don't use Driver Sweeper. That is very outdated and no longer maintained. Use the following process instead (if I recall correctly, you have an AMD motherboard?? If so, you should do the following and be prepared to do a clean reinstall of your chipset drivers, as DS likely already blasted & that could be one of your problems):

 

• Uninstall AMD Catalyst Suite from Control Panel. Don't Express Unintall if you have an AMD chipset motherboard.
• Reboot in safe mode
• Open Device Manager (Control Panel> System and Security> System> Device Manager). Uninstall all devices in "Display adapters" class. Tick "Delete the Driver Software for this Device" also if available. DON'T right-click "Scan for hardware changes" afterward (do it later, want the Display adapters class to be empty for now). Minimize Device Manager window.
• Run AMD Catalyst TwL Cleaner 3.9.2.cmd (yes to all) and follow the on-screen instructions.
• Reboot normally, open device manager, and you should see "Standard Display Adapter" as the display. If not, update the driver to that manually & reboot.

ATI display drivers should be better about uninstalling completely these days, but this will ensure that nothing lingers.

 

---

@Fri, we may want to add this to the Skyrim Installation Guide or the Troubleshooting Guide.

 

Alright, that is all done and 12.3 installed. Now, I fired it up while in crossfire and it started just fine but low FPS as usual. So I took it out of crossfire and now the game wont start at all. I just get the little black box in the corner of my screen and then a steam error.

 

Did some research, turns out the 12.3 Cap 1 profiles can kill your Skyrim. I uninstalled them and I can fire it up. On the downside my FPS is still lousy. I think I might really need a new PSU. As you can see by my signature, mine is a lump of 30 dollar feces that was just chucked into my rig. Lesson learned, never ordering a rig from a website again. Totally building them myself from now on.

 

Also, does anyone know if following the directions to a T and using the medium 1024 textures on all mods can hit a 1gb cards Vram wall?

[frihyland]

Yes in certain areas it will max out your VRAM if you install every mod, even at lowest available resolution. Use GPU-Z and check for yourself.

[Neovalen]

If I recall correctly for ATI cards there is no method of checking VRAM usage. This is because ATI disabled that feature in their drivers awhile back.It's basically a guessing game for us.

Sadly it's one of the reasons I'm thinking of going with the 680 this time around instead of the 7970 and I run in eyefinity right now.

That and Boris has stated he can no longer support ATI for ENB (read top of his ENBDev news page), apparently his current ATI card doesn't support the features he needs.

[Vond]

You could try

https://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=6491

Changelog for v2.25 shows: - Added VRAM monitoring support for ATI video cards.

[z929669]

If I recall correctly for ATI cards there is no method of checking VRAM usage. This is because ATI disabled that feature in their drivers awhile back.It's basically a guessing game for us.

Sadly it's one of the reasons I'm thinking of going with the 680 this time around instead of the 7970 and I run in eyefinity right now.

That and Boris has stated he can no longer support ATI for ENB (read top of his ENBDev news page), apparently his current ATI card doesn't support the features he needs.

 

 

You can check ATI VRAM using GPU-z, so not sure where you got your info ....

[Neovalen]

If I recall correctly for ATI cards there is no method of checking VRAM usage. This is because ATI disabled that feature in their drivers awhile back.It's basically a guessing game for us.Sadly it's one of the reasons I'm thinking of going with the 680 this time around instead of the 7970 and I run in eyefinity right now.

That and Boris has stated he can no longer support ATI for ENB (read top of his ENBDev news page), apparently his current ATI card doesn't support the features he needs.

 

You can check ATI VRAM using GPU-z, so not sure where you got your info ....

Hrm interesting. It has a bar for it, now to do a little testing. I actually got that info by looking up "ATI VRAM Monitoring" on Google awhile back. Several sources reported (and I just verified this data is still out there from mid 2011) that you can't monitor physical vram on ATI, only Nvidia. I'll definetly be giving this a shot, perhaps ATI fixed the issue.

[z929669]

 

If I recall correctly for ATI cards there is no method of checking VRAM usage. This is because ATI disabled that feature in their drivers awhile back.It's basically a guessing game for us.Sadly it's one of the reasons I'm thinking of going with the 680 this time around instead of the 7970 and I run in eyefinity right now.That and Boris has stated he can no longer support ATI for ENB (read top of his ENBDev news page), apparently his current ATI card doesn't support the features he needs.

 

 

You can check ATI VRAM using GPU-z, so not sure where you got your info ....

Hrm interesting. It has a bar for it, now to do a little testing. I actually got that info by looking up "ATI VRAM Monitoring" on Google awhile back. Several sources reported (and I just verified this data is still out there from mid 2011) that you can't monitor physical vram on ATI, only Nvidia. I'll definetly be giving this a shot, perhaps ATI fixed the issue.

 

Indeed they did, as the entire DDSopt guide is dependent upon that fact... and I actually have been doing on my box for awhile now ;)

[Neovalen]

Wow, it's reporting 982MB Memory Usage (Dedicated) during the starting sequence in Helgen (Execution) with NO mods except for the DDSOpted HDDLC and Vanilla Textures.

 

That is pretty shocking considering the DDSOpt guide's highest was Windhelm @ 900MB.

I'm running full screen but have 2 side monitors. Maybe I need to disable Aero to get more VRAM savings. Running a OC'ed 5870 1GB card.

Edit: Looks like 932MB with Aero disabled.

[z929669]

you are not running Xfire are you?

 

Note that I include Win baseline in the guide, so Aero has little effect. Also, consider your combined VRAM. Helgen is a bad compare. Go to the position at top of steps in whiterun. Lastly, HRDLC (or any texture overhaul affecting terrain) will account for about (guess) 80%+ of VRAM. Most other installs are simply overwriting or overriding those.

 

Also consider your shadows, AA, AS, view dist, uGrids, etc. I run at 4x AA and 8X AS, High and 5 respectively (will add that to the guide if it is not already)

[Neovalen]

you are not running Xfire are you?Note that I include Win baseline in the guide so Aero has little effect. Also, consider your combined VRAM. Helgen is a bad compare. Go to the position at top of steps in whiterun. Lastly, HRDLC (or any texture overhaul affecting terrain) will account for about (guess) 80%+ of VRAM. Most other installs are simply overwriting or overriding those.Also consider your shadows, AA, AS, view dist, uGrids, etc. I run at 4x AA and 8X AS, High and 5 respectively (will add that to the guide if it is not already)

No I'm running single card XFX 5870 1GB. I really want to get an upgrade soon, just waiting for those 4GB 680's then I might buy 2.Running Ultra with High Shadows from launcher (haven't tweaked ini at all this install), 4xAA, 16xAF, 1920x1080 on the center monitor only (have 3 connected).

---

Started a new game, went from Helgen to the top of the steps in Whiterun. GPU-Z shows 958MB usage looking out over the city.

Saved game, exited to desktop and waited 5 minutes.

Loaded game, GPU-Z shows 942MB after waiting 30 seconds for stabilization. Either it's my side monitors or the AF being 16 instead of 8 like yours.

---

Just ran with 8x AF and no change in mem usage.

[frihyland]

Where have you seen a 4GB 680? I been looking all over for one.