Modded 197.16 Hybrid Graphics Driver for UL30/50/80VT

The following is a step-by-step guide on how to create and install a modified hybrid driver for the UL30/50/80VT notebooks based on the latest Nvidia 197.16 notebook driver. This driver is for Windows 7 64-bit ONLY, and it only updates the Nvidia drivers, not the Intel integrated drivers.

DISCLAIMER: This procedure is only an exercise out of curiousity for those interested in tweaking their UL30/50/80Vt. Those who care about getting work done on their notebooks should NOT do this. The best problem-free and stable driver is the original Asus 186.88 hybrid driver, and know that if you decide to perform this following procedure, things can go horribly wrong on your notebook. If you don't know your way around computers and Windows, do not perform this procedure. This modified hybrid driver is provided as is, and is far from being a well-tested piece of software. It's currently working just fine on my notebook, but it may ruin yours. I claim no responsibility if the procedure ruins your notebook somehow.

If the procedure is successful on your notebook, you will have an updated 197.16 driver with OpenCL, CUDA, PhysX, and DirectCompute perfectly working. However, none of those features are actually useful at the moment. You will also supposedly get hardware-acceleration on Flash HD movies, but this has not been confirmed for certain (UPDATE: I have confirmed hardware-accelerated Flash HD movie support with Flash 10.1 Release Candidate). You may get increased performance in some games, but don't expect any miracles. I can tell you that after updating from 186.88 to 197.16, my 3DMark06 score has jumped from 3460 to 3650 (no overclocking involved), but YMMV.

NOTE: To those who've used my previous versions of the INF file from my posts in the UL30VT Owner's Lounge, this latest one (version 3) is significantly different from my previous versions. Other than adding (now working) OpenCL and PhysX support (thanks to PeteNatas for PhysX support hack), I've synchronized the registry settings with the regular 197.16 INF file so that's why I can now get 3650 in 3DMark06 with this new modified INF which is a 100 point increase from my previous attempts. However, since it is significantly different from the previous versions, it may also cause more problems as I have not fully tested it. You have been warned. I can say that it's currently working perfectly fine on my notebook though, but I make no guarantees that it will work fine on yours.

At the moment I have no problems with the modified 197.16 driver, but reported problems with 197.16 from other people who have tried my previous versions include:
- Non-standard resolutions which work just fine in 186.88 will not work in 197.16
- Possible stability problems during restore from sleep/hibernation
- Possible problems with switching between integrated and discrete using the GraphX boost button
- Possible that it just will not work on your notebook, and there's a chance you may have problems uninstalling it to go back to original Asus hybrid driver

If after reading all the above you're still set on updating to 197.16, read on.

Preparation: Make sure you have downloaded the original Asus hybrid driver from Asus download page and the 197.16 notebook driver package from Nvidia. Make sure you also have a currently working hybrid driver. As a precaution, create a system restore point so that if things go wrong, you can perform a system restore. If you don't know how to create a system restore point, then you should stop right now as the following procedure is too risky if you don't know what you're doing. Finally, download the nvmvam_inf_v3.zip file attached below this post which contains modified INF file to perform the proper installation of files. UPDATE: Download the ASUS VGA Patch from Asus download page in order to clean out and reset the graphics cards.

Here's the procedure (for Windows 7 64-bit version):

UPDATE: If you don't want to create your own modified hybrid drivers, Nautis has created a driver package which has the necessary modifications done to update the drivers to 197.16. By using Nautis' driver package, you can skip steps 1 through 8 and go directly to step 9 to install the driver package. Thanks goes to Nautis for putting the driver package together and hosting it on his site. I haven't personally tested it yet, but I believe it works. If it doesn't work on your notebook, please blame Nautis and let him know.
Here's the download link and his original notes:
Unofficial Win 7 64bit [Nvidia: 197.16 | Intel: 1855 ] for Asus_UL3/5/80VT
- Full Package
- INF based on Itarus v3 with additional extras by Nautis
- DriverVer still same as the original for compatibility sake
Note: Due to DriverVer being the same as the original the device manager and some software may identify the drivers as 8.15.11.8688. Check Nvidia Control Panel System Information for correct driver versions.

1. Extract the 197.16 notebook driver package to a new folder, let's call it Nvidia. I used Winrar for extraction, but any method is fine as long as you get all the files extracted correctly. And make sure you use the notebook version of the 197.16 driver, not the desktop version. The filename should be 197.16_notebook_winvista_win7_64bit_international_whql.exe.

2. Extract the original Asus hybrid driver package to a new folder, let's call it Hybrid.

3. Copy the following 35 files (please do count them) from Nvidia folder to Hybrid\Display folder, replacing any existing ones if they exist: DPInst.ex_, nvapi.dl_, nvapi64.dl_, nvcod.dl_, nvcompiler.dl_, nvcompiler32.dl_, NvCplSetupInt.exe, nvcuda.dl_, nvcuda32.dl_, nvcuvenc.dl_, nvcuvenc64.dl_, nvcuvid.dl_, nvcuvid32.dl_, nvd3dum.dl_, nvd3dumx.dl_, nvdecodemft.dl_, nvdecodemft32.dl_, nvencodemft.dl_, nvencodemft32.dl_, nView.cab, nviewsetup.exe, nvinfo.pb, nvinit.dl_, nvinitx.dl_, nvlddmkm.sy_, nvoglv32.dl_, nvoglv64.dl_, nvudisp.exe, nvumdshim.dl_, nvumdshimx.dl_, nvwgf2um.dl_, nvwgf2umx.dl_, OpenCL.dl_, OpenCL64.dl_, modes.txt

4. Copy the PhysX_9.10.0129_SystemSoftware.msi file from the Nvidia folder to the Hybrid\Display folder.

5. Extract the nvmvam.inf file from the downloaded nvmvam_inf_v3.zip attachment to the Hybrid\Display folder, making sure to replace/overwrite the existing original file.

6. Extract content of hdaudio_1.0.9.1_nforce_8.34_xp_vista_win7.exe in the Nvidia folder to a new folder, let's call it Audio.

7. Delete the HDAudio folder in the Hybrid folder.

8. Copy the HDAudio folder from the Audio folder to the Hybrid folder.

9. Make sure you're in Nvidia discrete graphics mode.

UPDATE:
Before proceeding to the next step, it might be a good idea to uninstall and clean out the current graphics driver. You can use the following steps (thanks to cloveky for the procedure):

a) Use the Uninstall a program from the Windows Control Panel to uninstall NVIDIA Drivers and NVIDIA Display Control Panel, then do a restart.

b) Extract the ASUS VGA Patch to a folder, and run the silent.bat file which will remove and reset the graphics cards from the Windows registry. Don't forget to restart afterwards.

c) If you want to really clean out everything first, use DriverSweeper and Ccleaner. Google them both for links. If you've never installed any other modified hybrid drivers before, then this step is not necessary and you can go to step 10. If you have, this step may be important to clean out the junk from previous modified hybrid driver installations.

10. When you're ready to install the modified 197.16 hybrid driver, run setup.exe from the Hybrid folder, NOT from the Display folder.

11. Check both boxes for Nvidia Display Driver and Nvidia HD Audio Driver installation, and complete the installation. Make sure to choose Install Anyway (the bottom choice) if prompted when Windows complains that the drivers are not signed.

12. After installation is complete, do a manual reboot immediately (it may not ask for a reboot but you should reboot as soon as possible). If after the reboot you get 1366x768 resolution, then congratulations you have successfully updated to 197.16. If you get 800x600 resolution, then the procedure failed and you need to go back to original Asus hybrid driver. I recommend using the system restore point you created in the beginning.

13. If all goes well, go to Nvidia Control Panel and enable PhysX there. It is not automatically enabled because the G210M officially doesn't support PhysX, but my modified INF file adds the necessary setting to allow enabling GPU-accelerated PhysX but you still have to enable it manually from the Nvidia control panel.

14. Use GPU-Z to confirm that all 4 features are enabled, and driver version is listed as 8.17.11.9716. Perform your own testing on the driver, and please report back here if you encounter problems so that other people will think twice about doing what you've just done.

15. Finally, once you have a working modded hybrid driver, it's a good idea to zip/rar/archive the Hybrid folder so if you decide to try other hybrid drivers or need to reinstall Windows, you won't have to repeat the entire procedure all over again to install the modded 197.16 driver. After archiving it, you can safely delete the Hybrid, Nvidia, and Audio folders.

Good luck, and happy tweaking!

UPDATE 1:
Seems like sometimes the PhysX runtime doesn't install automatically during the driver install. If GPU-Z says that PhysX is not supported even though you have already enabled PhysX in the Nvidia Control Panel, you need to install the PhysX runtime manually. Just go to the Hybrid\Display folder and double click the PhysX_9.10.0129_SystemSoftware.msi file to install it manually. If you want to install the latest version of PhysX, download it from http://downloads.guru3d.com/nVIDIA-PhysX-System-Software-9.10.0222-download-2490.html and install that one instead. Afterwards everything should be supported.

UPDATE 2:
If after following the above procedure you still get the 800x600 resolution after reboot, there's one thing you can try to get it working. Edit the nvmvam.inf file in the Hybrid\Display using notepad, and look for the following line:

DriverVer = 03/16/2010, 8.17.11.9716

which should be near the top. Replace that line with the following line:

DriverVer = 08/28/2009, 8.15.11.8688

Save the file and repeat the procedure from step 9 to install the modified driver. Hopefully that will do the trick. Credit goes to AL008 for this fix. The only downside to this fix is that Device Manager will list the drivers as 186.88 but the driver files are updated properly.

 

any possibilities to update intel integrated graphics driver as well? seems original one is quite old

 

If feedback is good on this modified driver, I may get around to that. I want to take a short break first since for the moment I've had enough of poring over INF files and sifting through registry settings, not to mention doing the testing which involves uninstalling and reinstalling a gazillion times. My poor UL80VT and I need to take a break. If someone else is willing to do the testing and modifying to update the Intel integrated graphics, please feel free to contribute here.

Speaking of testing, I did some testing of the hardware-accelerated Flash HD movie support. I played http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfWXRybZS4A&fmt=22 using Flash 10.1 Release Candidate with CPU at 1733MHz and I got average CPU usage of 25%. To disable Flash hardware acceleration, I uninstalled Flash 10.1RC and then installed regular Flash 10 which lacks hardware acceleration for HD movie, and I got average CPU usage of 45%. Conclusion: modified 197.16 does have real support for hardware-accelerated Flash HD movie with Flash 10.1RC.

 

Great work Itaru.

Thank you!

 

very nice write up, thanks for the info... I don't have this laptop, but do have a M11x with hybrid graphics, so very interesting information.

 

I can confirm that OpenCL is indeed supported now, great job Itaru (and thank you PeteNatas). I did not run the registry integration, but simply added the keys and dword values manually. Nonetheless, I can run the OpenCL demo in gpuCaps @ a blistering 11FPS

Excellent work. I am going to see how stable this is... then I may very well "repackage" my hybrid drivers using all of the information at hand, the new modded .inf (version 3_Itaru) and run a driver sweep to clean all defunct or confilicting registry entries. We will see.

But great work nonetheless. Hats off!

 

Hi Itaru, thanks for your detailed post. I am still gettin an error after i used your guide, the resolution is still 800 x 600. But i have tried changing your .inf file inside, changing the line where it has the date and also the driver version, back to the old asus .inf file line. This process has worked by just changing this line, I don't know why this would be so. Any ideas. Thanks.

 

Not that I have an Asus UL**vt laptop to try this on or anything [as I almost bought one till I found out the jt's should be coming out soon] but have you guys checked out the download section for the UL80jt and UL30jt? They have newer drivers up, not sure if they might be compatible?

Just an idea....

http://www.asus.com/product.aspx?content=specifications&P_ID=dh1loes9V1IGKwCA

 

The results I obtained using Performance Test 7.0 (64 bit) version with the new 197.16 was:

2D Graphics Mark: 181
3D Graphics Mark: 257.3

However when compared with the previous driver, my results were:

2D Graphics Mark: 198.1
3D Graphics Mark: 278.6

With the new driver;

2D Graphics Mark decreased by 9.5%
3D Graphics Mark decreased by 8.3%

Anyone else have any benchmarks?

 

Idea is cool but those laptops are with nVidia Optimus - and that means drivers are different for the hybrid graphics and for the optimus (for the last - they need a bit special but very close to original drivers)

some other laptops - like dell alienware m11x and some new sony vaio z models also have hybrid graphics and I tried to adopt them to work with UL-VT but they are not working
(the version 01/19/2010, 8.16.11.8880 for NV and 12/14/2009,8.15.10.2021 for the Intel )

 

Fantastic detailed instructions itaru, nice job.

v00d00ley or itaru, I have been modding Hybrid Graphics drivers for a while now, the latest set for testing is in my sig. Drivers above the 191 series have issues with switching on other HG notebooks. I can teach you more if you'd like.

Note: Intel drivers above 1994 do not output properly to the LVDS.

I am also looking for a people to test Optimus on the UL30/50/80VT. Got it working on the new Vaio Z and M11x so far. (with a couple issues)

 

Welcome Nautis! Glad to have your input. Several of us have been toying with modded drivers for the last few months with various levels of success, so your experience will be appreciated. Speaking of Optimus, before seeing your post, I was under the impression that it required both specific software/drivers and hardware to work.

 

This is strange indeed. My guess is that Windows somehow is checking the integrity/version of the nvmvam.inf file and comparing to the nvmvam.cat file, and upon discovering that they do not match, Windows refuses to use it. But other people including myself have no problem with with the updated date and version string, so it's very odd indeed. I'm glad reverting the date and version string to the original fixes the problem for you. I'll update my detailed guide to reflect this possible fix for others who have the same problem as you when installing the modded 197.16. Thanks for the tip!

I can confirm that the new modded driver does score lower in PerformanceTest 7 64-bit. Anyway, this supports my claim in the guide that original Asus driver is still the best. Enabling all features in the modded 197.16 is a nice curiousity, but I doubt it's usable in actual games. The modded driver does have almost 200 point increase in 3DMark06 compared to original driver, but I think that's Nvidia cheating in the 197.16 driver. They most likely did optimization and lowering image quality to get the boost in 3DMark06. However, I'm also sure Nvidia did the same optimization for some newer games so those games should have some performance increase, but non-optimized games most likely suffer performance drop. IMHO, the only usable feature in 197.16 for the G210M is hardware accelerated Flash HD movie support which I have confirmed to be working. The G210M is just too slow to support all the advanced features like OpenCL, PhysX, DirectCompute in actual games.

Glad to have you aboard, Nautis. Please do share your tips and tricks in creating modified hybrid drivers so that we can create the perfect hybrid driver.

One thing I have noticed while creating the updated 197.16 hybrid driver for the ULxxVT notebooks is that there is one key file in the original Asus hybrid driver that must not be replaced: nvBridge_int.km_. If I replace that file with the 197.16 version, the installation always fails and the notebook is stuck in 800x600 resolution with no switching ability. So, that file is the ONLY file I did not update to 197.16. Another thing is that in the regular 197.16 package, the file is called nvBridge.km_, not nvBridge_int.km_ as in the original Asus driver. I assume int is short for international and the name doesn't matter. If Nautis or anyone can shed some light on what that file actually does, please share it here. All I know is that it must be a very important file (a kernel mode driver) since it is placed in the same folder as the nvlddmkm.sys file in the system32\drivers folder. I'm thinking maybe Asus customized the nvBridge.kmd file which is why replacing it with the regular 197.16 version will break the switchable graphics feature.

I was also under this impression. If Optimus can somehow work on the Asus ULxxVT notebooks, please sign me up!

 

Just a quick question, where exactly can you enable the PhysX in the nvidia Control Panel? I have looked under the Manage 3D settings section but could not find an option that would allow me to enable PhysX.

 

It should be below the Manage 3D settings called Set PhysX configuration. If it's not there, then you didn't install using my latest version 3 of the INF file. If you don't want to reinstall the modified 197.16 driver, you can enable PhysX by following the instructions at http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=6119926&postcount=3120

 

Seems like you've got it. nvbridge_int.kmd is in fact the key file to Hybrid Graphics working properly. My assumption is that _int stands for Intel.

You can check out my epic " My discoveries on Vaio Z’s Hybrid Graphics" thread for a lot more info. Most of the critical info I have gathered in the first post there. You can also download my Hybrid Graphics Master Set drivers below and pull em apart. They should work for almost all Hybrid Graphics Notebooks.

There are two issues currently that I am running into:

1.) I can not get Nvidia drivers above the 191 series of drivers to switch properly. They initially work fine but when switched to Intel and back the Nvidia part stops working.

2.) On the Intel side what I like to call the 2000 series (that is Intel drivers ending in 2###) and up have an issue where they do not display using the LVDS only the VGA connector. (Probably a Mux issue.)

See my optimus section over at laptopVideo2go for a bit more info on optimus. Also screenshots an pictures of it working on the new Vaio Z and M11x.

I also just posted a hugely detailed explanation on optimus here. Give it a read it should explain everything.

EDIT: BTW a crucial modders tool IMHO is a file compare utility like Winmerge or Beyond Compare.

 

Ah, now I understand that all the magic of switchable graphics happens in that nvBridge.kmd file. Yeah, makes sense that int is short for Intel. However, it can also be short for integrated.

Thank you for the explanation and the wealth of resources that you've listed. It will take a while for me to go through all that, and I hope that others will join in and contribute. And I certainly need a diff-like program (like WinMerge that you mentioned) if I want to get serious about comparing files especially INF files. I used plain-old notepad the entire time while modifying the INF file for the Asus hybrid driver and that was tedious.

 

Hey!... You're not allowed to make more sense than I do. (You are right it probably is "Integrated". I guess I decided Int= Intel and never thought about it again.)

Yeah sorry about the barrage of info. I can go through it step-by-step here if you'd like. It seems like you have got it pretty well figured out though.

The INF and information needed to get Optimus to work is in hat LaptopVideo2Go link.

It is very impressive that you were able to do all of that through notepad. Something like winmerge will basically highlight all the differences between the two files.

Anyways I am looking forward to contributing.


EDIT: It will take me a little while to learn the ins and outs of Asus' Hybrid Graphics configuration(s). Its interesting if 197.16 is working properly for you. You may want to check Device Manager -> Display Adapters -> Either Video Device -> Driver Tab -> Driver Details. This will give you the "actual" file versions of each file that is installed. Make sure that it is not keeping old drivers or driver files and just replacing the driver version information.

 

Since I didn't mess with the Intel drivers, the Intel files are still version 1855. However, the nvlddmkm.sys is listed in the Intel driver file details which I find odd since it's an Nvidia driver file. Version of nvlddmkm.sys is 197.16. There's also a file called oemdspif.dll with version 186.88 listed in the Intel driver details. The file is located in syswow64 and identifies itself as NVIDIA OEM Display DLL Version 186.88. No such file exists in the regular 197.16 driver. It's another oddity in that it claims to be an Nvidia file yet is listed in the Intel driver file details, and it's not listed in the Nvidia driver file details at all.

In the Nvidia driver file details, all the Nvidia files listed there are version 197.16 (or versions from the 197.16 driver package) except of course the nvBridge.kmd which is still 186.88. Seems like all the proper 197.16 files have been copied to the correct system32 or syswow64 folder. So far all features in 197.16 are working and my system has been absolutely stable, not a single crash/reboot/BSOD in more than a week. The Windows reliability history report also indicates it's been rock stable.

Oh, no problem with the barrage of info. I just need to find the time from work and RL to go through them is all. Thanks again and I'm looking forward to your contribution.

 

Hey Itaru and Nautis, thanks for all your info you guys have supplied. One question irrelevant to the NVIDIA drivers, from what background did you guys come from to understand drivers and how to mod them? I'm just quite interested in how you learnt about all these things . Thanks.

 

Hi all,
when I install this modded driver at first time, after restart I got the 800x600 problem, then I got an idea that the ASUS VGA PATCH is a tool to fix this problem and I follow these step and its work correctly.
After step 1-9.
10. Uninstall the NVIDIA Driver and the NVIDIA Control Panel.
11. Restart.
12. Run the silent.bat which included in ASUS VGA PATCH.
13. Restart.
14. Install the modded driver.
15. Restart and everything going well.
If use the above method to install the modded driver, it will show the correct driver version 6.14.11.1976 in windows control panel.
I hope this may help who got the 800x600 problem.

 

the white paper http://www.nvidia.com/object/LO_optimus_whitepapers.html has good info about the old switch tech and the new Optimus.

keep up the good work itaru!

save this into a batch file say name docopy.bat and save it in folder of official driver, then run it with argument of the modded display folder

Code:

for %%a in (DPInst.ex_ nvapi.dl_ nvapi64.dl_ nvcod.dl_ nvcompiler.dl_ nvcompiler32.dl_ NvCplSetupInt.exe nvcuda.dl_ nvcuda32.dl_ nvcuvenc.dl_ nvcuvenc64.dl_ nvcuvid.dl_ nvcuvid32.dl_ nvd3dum.dl_ nvd3dumx.dl_ nvdecodemft.dl_ nvdecodemft32.dl_ nvencodemft.dl_ nvencodemft32.dl_ nView.cab nviewsetup.exe nvinfo.pb nvinit.dl_ nvinitx.dl_ nvlddmkm.sy_ nvoglv32.dl_ nvoglv64.dl_ nvudisp.exe nvumdshim.dl_ nvumdshimx.dl_ nvwgf2um.dl_ nvwgf2umx.dl_ OpenCL.dl_ OpenCL64.dl_ modes.txt) do copy /y %%a %1

also the 3dmark06 if ran with external monitor at 1280x1024 like most other desktop, then the number became 3105. internal panel is 1280x720 and it can get 3617.

 

I have a degree in computer systems engineering so I have a pretty solid background in computer technology. They don't teach you about this stuff in college though. For me it involved lots of reading and learning from the Internet, some experimentating to figure out how things work logically, and a good dose of intuition. You showed some intuition by reverting the date and version string in my INF file back to the original so that you can install the modded driver. It's that kind of intuition that can mean the difference between having a working modded driver and producing a dud.

Thanks for the useful script, o8x8. This will make it easier and less error-prone for people when copying the driver files from the original 197.16 to the Hybrid\Display folder. By the way, your original INF for the modded 195.62 was what inspired me to create mine. By studying the differences between your INF with the original Asus one and the regular Nvidia one, I learned a lot about how to modify it to make it work with 197.16. So, thanks again.

 

OK thanks for the reply.
Have decided to save some money and buy the laptop that will do 99% of what I need rather than spending extra money since I don't play games that much, so went for the UL30a in the end as its the best price at this moment in time here in the UK compared to the VT and a couple of months away I bet for the JT to be released here.

 

We have gotten Optimus partially working on the new Vaio Z and M11x which are Hybrid Graphics notebooks. I am looking for people to test on the UL30/50/80VT to see if you get the same result. You can find instructions and my modified INF for Optimus on my section at LV2G. Screenshots and photos are also there.

 

Nautis, just a couple of questions:

1. By partially, what exactly do you mean? Have you witness anomalous behavior other than longer boot/resume times? I understand that the graphix boost switch will be disabled, but that really is of no concern. My bigger question would be the impact it would have on P4G hybrid (asus' power management snap-in).

2. Intel has released a newer Media driver for integrated graphics for the 4500hd, .2104... I have not looked at the .inf, but would it require editing to accomodate for the version change in integrated graphics... or should one just stick with the 2086 to avoid introducing more variables?

I have downloaded all three drivers (2 intel, including latest realease and the optimus package) as well as you modded .inf I am going to image my primary partition so if something goes wonky and a system restore does not return me to a functional state... I can just flatten the install and restore the image. Since it is a primary work machine for me, the inherent risk needs to be mitigated by some failsafe work before I plunge in.

 

Sorry I should have explained things a bit better. Let me preface this by saying that I do not have a notebook that Optimus will work on. Believe me I wish I could test this myself as I may be able to work out all of the issues much quicker. (I have an old Vaio Z which has Hybrid Graphics and a GPU that doesnt support Optimus.)

1.) Until someone actually tests it, it is impossible to know exactly how the Asus UL30/50/80VT will handle Optimus if at all. There are however two common issues on the new Vaio Z and M11x notebooks. The Nvidia part seems to always be on which would drastically affect battery life. There is an overlay when the nvidia part is used as seen on the new Vaio Z here and the M11x here. The new Vaio Z has a 30 to 60 second delay when booting and resuming from sleep/hibernate that the M11x does not have. Unknown about P4G hybrid if you are going to test it please let everyone know. We are in territory no one else has been yet.

2.) I would assume the new Intel drivers would work fine. The version of the Intel drivers shouldn't really matter because of how Optimus works. But yes less variables would be good as 2086 is known to work fine with it.

Wish I had more info or could be more help. There have been many people who have been excited to see it working on their Hybrid Graphics notebooks and I don't even get to try it.

 

No worries, you answered exactly what I wanted to know. I will try and image my disk in the next day or two... (always busy with work), and then will try and see if I can get the package installed and operating. Should it install, I could care less about the overlay (which I don't think will be laptop specific, but rather driver bundle specific...so I full well expect to see it)... but given that its my work book, battery life is critical. I will run some benches... play some 1080p (output via hdmi) and do some gaming to get a feel for its stability and effectiveness *if* I can get it installed. But then I will revert back to my modded 197.16 bundle. I wish I could contribute more than just guinea piggery... but I just dont have the time to pour over the white papers, and collected data (nor enough know how to implement suspicions).

Thanks for all your work... you, Itaru & o8x8 have done some great think-tanking and your efforts seem to be paying off nicely.

 

Hello,

as I have explained to Nautis, I have already tried his INF file with Optimus 189.42 on ASUS UL80VT.

I can confirm that it works the same way as on Alienware M11x:
- no delay problem
- Nvidia and Intel graphics seems always on
- overlay in 3D is there

I have tried to run 3D Mark '06 successfully for both cards with these modded drivers.
All seemed stable, but I did not try to do anything with Power4Gear hybrid...

So if you have time, go ahead and try it. Just take care when signing the drivers

 

Indeed. Thanks again Sedlo for your detailed report.
I will be posting some more stuff to try to fix the power & overlay issues on my Optimus thread on LV2G. Supposedly connecting an external monitor may make the overlay disappear.

EDIT: Itaru have you tried the new 197.44/197.45 drivers that were released yet?

 

Ok package up for testing.
EDIT:NEVERMIND>

Make sure to sign them after installing.

 

Nautis, I made a fresh 32-bit win7 on ul30vt, installed 2104 intel driver, then installed 189.42 with your inf, and I can see nvidia optimus demo watermark on screen when watching a downloaded youtube 1080p mp4 through media player. Also power usage can drop to about 11 watt which means gpu is off.
Looks promising!

 

So when nothing is using the nvidia gpu it drops to 11watts? Do you still see the nvidia part in device manager when its powered down?

 

Device manager still shows Nvidia there, but power consumption is same as gpu is off.
List of things will trigger the watermark:
3dmark06 (3446 for 1280x768)
media player playing 1080p mp4
crystal mark d2d

things not able use nvidia:
windows experience index
cinebench r10 opengl
crystal mark gdi, open gl
gpu cap view (can only run open gl 2.x)

 

you can always use the profile editor or rightclick the icon before running those programs to use the discrete gpu.

From the whitepaper:

So no detection for OpenGL. Seems odd to me.

 

I want to upgrade but is it worth the trouble?

I'm pretty tech savvy and I have played with modded graphic card driver before but this new hybrid graphic card drivers are scary me a bit..

 

What is scary Tas?

EDIT:Editing in an explanation on Hybrid Graphics drivers.

The Hybrid Graphics drivers are basically standard Intel and Nvidia drivers. There is really only one file that is different and that is the nvbridge_int.kmd. AFAIK the existing nvbridge.kmd is for Hybrid SLI (two nvidia gpus) and nvbridge_int.kmd is for Hybrid Graphics (intel + nvidia gpus). The rest of the magic is done in the INF. (SIDE EDIT: Two files actually because there is a uninstall file that includes entries for the intel drivers)

This is new:

Code:

[Section###]
AddReg = nv_HelperGUID_AddReg

[nv_HelperGUID_AddReg]
HKLM, "System\CurrentControlSet\Services\NVLDDMKM", NVIDIAHelperGUID, %REG_SZ%, [COLOR="SeaGreen"]{9A516B97-E7C1-451B-9165-C5035994A3F5}[/COLOR]
HKLM, "System\CurrentControlSet\Services\NVLDDMKM", SecondaryHelperGUID, %REG_SZ%, [COLOR="SeaGreen"]{6C4BE3D5-831A-42ED-AA62-2AEB34C8CBA4}[/COLOR]

This has been changed:

Code:

[nv_commonBase_addreg__##]
HKR,,UserModeDriverGUID,%REG_SZ%,"[COLOR="Red"]{5F507F20-AEB0-4C37-A10C-FFBDF3269C76}[/COLOR]"

[CoInst.AddReg]
[COLOR="Red"];[/COLOR]HKR,, CoInstallers32, %REG_MULTI_SZ%, "igfxCoIn_v1994.dll, CoDeviceInstall"

[CoInst.CopyFiles]
[COLOR="Red"];[/COLOR]igfxCoIn_v1994.dll,igxpco64.dll,,0x00000010

[igfx_SoftwareCommonSettings]
HKR,, UserModeDriverGUID,%REG_SZ%,"[COLOR="Red"]{5F507F20-AEB0-4C37-A10C-FFBDF3269C76}[/COLOR]"

[igfx_Service_Inst]
ServiceType    = 1               ; SERVICE_KERNEL_DRIVER
StartType      = 3               ; SERVICE_DEMAND_START
ErrorControl   = 0               ; SERVICE_ERROR_IGNORE
LoadOrderGroup = Video
ServiceBinary  = %12%\[COLOR="Red"]nvlddmkm.sys[/COLOR]

In the standard drivers those entries are:

Code:

[nv_commonBase_addreg__##]
HKR,,UserModeDriverGUID,%REG_SZ%,"[COLOR="SeaGreen"]{9A516B97-E7C1-451B-9165-C5035994A3F5}[/COLOR]"

[CoInst.AddReg]
HKR,, CoInstallers32, %REG_MULTI_SZ%, "igfxCoIn_v1994.dll, CoDeviceInstall"

[CoInst.CopyFiles]
igfxCoIn_v1994.dll,igxpco64.dll,,0x00000010

[igfx_SoftwareCommonSettings]
HKR,, UserModeDriverGUID,%REG_SZ%,"[COLOR="SeaGreen"]{6C4BE3D5-831A-42ED-AA62-2AEB34C8CBA4}[/COLOR]"

[igfx_Service_Inst]
ServiceType    = 1               ; SERVICE_KERNEL_DRIVER
StartType      = 3               ; SERVICE_DEMAND_START
ErrorControl   = 0               ; SERVICE_ERROR_IGNORE
LoadOrderGroup = Video
ServiceBinary  = %12%\[COLOR="SeaGreen"]igdkmd64.sys[/COLOR]

Now if you have been paying attention you will will have noticed that the standard GUIDs are now calling whatever is attached to the HelperGUID (most likely all the Hybrid Graphics voodoo) and the HelperGUID has the original IDs. You will also have noticed that the Intel drivers call nvlddmkm.sys rather than their original igdkmd64.sys. The Intel coinstaller dlls have also been disabled.

And that is the basics to Hybrid Graphics drivers in a nutshell. There are of course extra settings specific to the different notebooks these are just the changes specific to Hybrid Graphics.

So what is scary? The benefits are the same as using any unofficial newer driver really. My test drivers are TEST drivers though. Not even sure if they work. The ones in my sig should work fine along with the optimus stuff I posted.

 

How do you measure the power consumption?
I mean how can you confirm Nvidia is being switched off?

 

When you running on battery and using tools like this one http://batterycare.net/en/index.html it will show the battery drain rate. With old hybrid driver and you force gpu on, the drain rate should be >= 15w
with gpu off, it's <= 11w for idling cpu.

Optimus driver is only useful if it can provide on demand gpu, provide long battery life when gpu is not needed, no watermark, and sleep/hibernation working. Having the boost key to switch between forced gpu on/off/on-demand will be even better. So we still have more work ahead...

 

Well. I have your v2 version installed (which seem to be working quite well actually[*]), and I can add one more benefit for using them. CoreAVC can use CUDA with these drivers.

Now I'm just wondering whether or not to install the drivers again with new v3 inf..

[* Explorer.exe has crashed a few times (once or twice every two days or so), and I don't remember it doing that previously. However, I also updated all the drivers from asus-webpage, and I'm running in Turbo33 as well, so I'm not blaming your drivers quite yet.]

 

The Alienware M11x users just got 197.16 working on their Hybrid Graphics notebooks using a very similar method to yours itaru.

 

I have a UL80vt, which drivers should I use for running games? The 191 drivers from Nautis, the 197 drivers or the Dox 195 drivers?

I've been using the Dox drivers and games run much faster than with the stock drivers but it sucks having broken hybrid graphics because I like having the battery life when I need it.

It seems like everyone here just makes comparisons to the stock drivers but at this point we have several options and I'm guessing for games that the Dox ones are still the best but what do you all think?

 

Regarding OpenGL. I most recently tried 197.16 hybrid via itarus method (UL80Vt) and noted the same. No support for OpenGL above 2.x either (Per GPU caps viewer anyway). Also ran into a few other problems: Seems that sometimes when waking from sleep, it would wake using the nvidia driver even if it was put to sleep on the Intel driver...I also had a bluescreen twice when waking, and when cold booted my machine would take an extra 30-45 seconds longer than normal to boot into windows (all the while looking at a blank, black screen). Funny, but once it finally got to windows, all seemed OK.
I am currently rolled back the stock Asus Drivers, but may soon try 197.16 with the latest .inf. I'll keep ya posted.

Thx to all involved for all of your input and hard work-you're getting there!

 

When using Itarus method do the drivers need to be signed before they work?

 

No, you are given a warning but can click thru it.

 

Very interesting. I am really confused at how this is working honestly. If driver files are changed, as they clearly are in this case, and they do not match the certificate windows 64bit should not even be loading the drivers.

 

There are few components for windows driver signing:
inf (tells which cat and sys files to use)
cat (contains checksum on both inf and sys)
sys (has its own signature embedded in the file, this is what windows used to check at boot time)

in the mod inf case, sys file is not changed, so only a warning shows because cat file not matching with inf.

whql process takes inf and sys files and return a cat file.

 

As for optimus, I plan to give asus driver for u30jc a try on ul30vt. Just saw they put up intel 2102 and nvidia 189.64.
188.71 and intel 2104 didn't work for me, just getting blank or flickering screen when nvidia suppose to be on.

 

Ah indeed, that makes sense. I forgot that you guys are keeping the regular Intel drivers so the signature of course still works. Changing the intel drivers to 1994 of course breaks it.

08x8 do the 2000 series Intel drivers work on your Asus? EDIT: Nevermind you have already confirmed that it does.

 

Sorry for missing in action these last few days. I've been busy with work this week but I still lurk here. Quite a lot of development going on with the hybrid and Optimus drivers. Keep up the good work guys!

I haven't had a chance to do anything more with updating the Nvidia part, but I did try updating the Intel drivers to the latest 2104. I've managed to install my modded Nvidia 197.16 + Intel 2104 on my UL80VT, but whenever I switch to Intel I just get a black screen and can't switch back. I guess it's due to the LVDS Muxing problem that Nautis mentioned a while back. Oh, I didn't have to sign the drivers to get Windows to install the modified driver even with the Intel updated. All I did was use the igdlh.cat file from Intel driver 2104 instead of the original nvmvam.cat file in the modified INF and that did the trick.

I tried reverting just the igdkmd64.sys file to the original driver (1855) while keeping all the rest of the Intel files from version 2104, and I could switch to Intel and back again to Nvidia successfully. Unfortunately, the Intel graphics lost all hardware acceleration (no Aero, DirectX, Direct3D, etc.). At the moment I've given up on getting the Intel 2104 drivers to work on my UL80VT, and have gone back to my stable modified 197.16 hybrid driver.

As for lotsabs non-working OpenGL using my modified 197.16 hybrid driver, it seems to be working on mine. GPU Caps Viewer detects OpenGL 3.2 and GLSL 1.50 when using Nvidia, and I can run all the OpenGL demos there just fine. When in Intel mode, it detects OpenGL 2.1 and GLSL 1.20, and it can only run a little less than half of the OpenGL demos, and much slower than the Nvidia of course. I'm not sure why OpenGL was not working on lotsabs' notebook, but it should work unless the OpenGL files weren't copied properly. A clean installation (uninstall old drivers and run DriverSweep, etc.) with version 3 of my modified INF will hopefully fix that if you still want to try updating to the modified 197.16 driver.