Dox's modded drivers/inf for clevo laptops 177.92 re-launched

hello all!

After some weeks of getting a new tweakcode together I've re-released a new INF for vista 32bit and 64 bit (XP has been out a while now- with the new tweakcode).

At one point I dropped support for vista due to not having the os anymore to test on. The re-newed interest came when i poped into this forum and saw rossdaddy enjoying the inf so I asked him to beta test a new more stable build of the inf (thanks mate!)

so since its passed the testing with good results you can grab it from:

http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=19675&st=0#entry82391

there have been lots of other previous releases but this latest one is the most stable and solid (the older ones were beta)

any problems or feedback please let me know, either here or over at laptopvideo2go, if u like to beta test PM me (looking for users with any supported OS


************
whats different to my inf to clevo's?

misc tweaks includes but not limited to:

1. Powermizer Hack -turn off powermizer (XP only)
2. Removed Nvidia startup items and services in the "alternative INF" only
3. Nvidia system tray tools in the "default INF" only (XP)
4. Addtional resolutions added
5. Physx to install on cards that support it (only if physX installer comes with the driver, geforce 8 series and up)
6. Much more optimised INF compared to Clevo's

D3D tweaks includes but not limited to:

1. Lossless Z compression- reduces framebuffer bandwidth
2. Z-Occlusion Culling- do not render unseen pixels
3. MipMap optimisation off-Improves image quality
4. MipMap LOD to optimum perf and image quality
5. DX7 & DX8 texture formats: enables all texture formats, older games should render correctly

OGL tweaks includes but not limited to:

1. Intellisample tweak to performance
2. All optimisations off- improves IQ
3. 32Bit depth of textures by default
4. Higher quality compression to DXT3

my inf's/Drivers are NOT for 3D marks but REAL WORLD GAMES



[UPDATE - Hotfix]
If you are getting erros in Enemy Territory Quake wars and other openGL games read on:

error: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=3911324&postcount=27

fix: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=3911433&postcount=28

This potential error (rare) will be fixed in the next driver release to ensure max stability in game, IQ will be lower though.

 

Great work Dox!
I love the work you do for laptopvideo2go but I have one question:
Why don't you include the modded info. directly into the drivers and save us a few steps.
Look I am not being lazy or anything it's just that there are new people that do not know how to install the drivers even with your Have disc method.
I am not exactly the most computer savvy person and even following your instructions step by step it took me about 4 hours to finally get them installed and to work.
Please do not think I am being critical for all your great work and help it's just that it would be really much easier if possible.
THANKS for all your hard work, I will always update my drivers from your site and always recommend your drivers to other PC users.
THANKS AGAIN! You are the best.

 

thanks for the feedback!

I know it can be confusing with how to install the drivers

I would love to put the modded inf into the driver and have users just download the drivers, but the server provided free to me by laptopvideo2go only has so much bandwidth and it would take 20 mins to download a 40mb compressed driver file (takes me 20 mins to upload each one)

by providing just the modded inf, users can download the main driver from elsewhere such as from the main server at laptopvideo2go (very fast downloads there) and install the drivers in minutes with my modded inf.

since thats all thats provided to me, I'm restricted to what I can do
I have already made installers (betas) for each driver to save a few steps but with small bandwidth to host the drivers its frustratingly slow.

 

Dox, man i love ur work!! LV2GO is my main and only source of drivers that i can trust!! all credit goes to u man!!

just like IKAS V said! u r the best!!

 

Question:

After extraction, there's two infs, one in the main folder, and one in a folder labeled Alt INF. Which one am I supposed to use?

 

Your choice.

 

if you read the included "IMPORTANT".txt file it tells you that the alt inf has the nvidia display driver service disbaled and a startup item disabled.
This optimises the system because less service will run in the background taking up resources and boot time is slightly faster because 1 less thing for windows to load on startup

gains maybe minimal but everylittle helps

the defualt inf showing (the one not in the alt inf folder). Up to you what you use

 

that issue should be fixed with the release now.
thanks for the testing

 

Doesn't seem to install with the 9800M GTX in vista x64.

Gives the standard "The NVIDIA Setup program could not locate any drivers that are compatible with your current hardware. Setup will now exit." Tried the have disk method too.

 

Will test for ya anytime.

 

could you give me your pci id for 9800GTX?
I know there are two different PCI ID for that card
will add it and send u it

 

Sure thing! But I have no idea where to find the PCI ID

 

before i tell u:

100% make sure you have put my inf into the 177.92 driver folder and replacing the original? because 9800MGTX is def supported in there

here's how u find pci id.

remember the have disk method? right click your display adaptor (9800MGTX/VGA) and choose properties, details tab, scroll down to compatible ids

thanks!

 

I've done it properly for sure.

Heres what I have in my Compatible IDs:

PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0608&REV_A2
PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0608
PCI\VEN_10DE&CC_030000
PCI\VEN_10DE&CC_0300
PCI\VEN_10DE
PCI\CC_030000
PCI\CC_0300

 

ahh thought it might be that one

basically in older clevo drivers they had ID 608 but in the newer drivers clevo removed that and added 617, so I thought that ID was obsolete.

will reupload all drivers with the new IDs (I'll still include 617 id)

gimme 10 mins

 

Wow! Dox you really go out of your way for people. +rep +rep
I told you guys he was the real deal lol.

 

k done, start downloading now mike.

 

So let me get this straight. If you are in the same number of driver IE 177.xx
and there is a update say from .92 to .98 you don't have to uninstall you just update the .inf with the have disk install?

Or is that for same driver just updated .inf? IE say I have 177.92 and a better .inf comes out have disk install that and no need to uninstall and reinstall the whole driver package.

 

hello,

what I mean is there is no need to use driversweeper/ driver cleaner all the time if updating 177.xx -> 177.xx (as long as the one you are updating to in newer eg 177.85 - 177.92).

EDIT: but always make sure you uninstall drivers before updating to a new one

 

k cool thanks for the quick reply

 

Thanks for doing these Dox. I was sad when you said you weren't going to do Vista anymore, but I'm glad you found a tester. If I had more time at the moment I would volunteer to help as well with Vista64, but I'm getting ready to move and wouldn't be all that useful at the moment. Perhaps after

In any case, your work is much appreciated!

 

That worked that time. Thanks for the inclusion!

 

anytime you want you are free or willing to beta test PM me

 

you welcome

 

Dox, I've found a major bug when running with your INF. How would you like bug reports submitted?

 

just post it in this thread please.

 

Hi Dox's, I've got a little problem with this driver when I started enemy territory quake wars.
I'm not an expert so maybe you know what this error message means
Thank you

This is the error message I've got:

 

hello erico,

That error is related to the DXT3 texture tweak.
Its forcing DXT1 to be compressed to DXT3.
This is usually fine and arguabally improves image quality but as you can see can cause problems with games that like DXT1

to fix that you'll need to re-install the driver with my modded inf but change a few lines.

go into my modded inf (open with notepad)

scroll to [nv_SoftwareDeviceSettings]
and delete:

Code:

HKR,, OGL_S3TCQuality,                %REG_BINARY%,01,00,00,00

or change to

Code:

HKR,, OGL_S3TCQuality,                %REG_BINARY%,00,00,00,00

I'll be sure to fix this issue in the next release
thanks for the feedback erico

 

Ok thanks, I’ll try that.
I've got 12 games installed on this rig.
I'll test them and report to this forum if there are any issues or something like that... I hope this will help everyone over here.
So far I tested Crysis, mass effect, and ETQW.
The first two ran fine with this driver.
By the way... I've used the alt. inf.

edit: Yep, ETQW works fine now... loading times increased a little bit bud that's normal with this driver I’ve understand from earlier posts over here.

 

good!

did you delete the line or changed it to zero?

 

thats a good job mate, keep it up, peeps like you really do the community good by bringing in alternate options to test and work with *THUMBS UP*

Jack. H
Rock Team

 

did you delete the line or changed it to zero?
Changed it to zero.

I’ve tested the following games with this driver, don’t take the FPS readings to seriously cause it’s not recorded by a benchmark tool… maybe next time( still have to figure out how that works), now I’m going to shoot some people in ETQW.
I just made a few notes and did some quick testing, the FPS readings are done with Fraps, pen and paper… the old fashion way.


-ETQW : Runs fine
(note: Can’t check if SLI is working with this game, no in game SLI indicators… I suppose this is cause of the game and not the driver. Bud who cares… game runs great! …my favorite First Person Shooter.)
(1920/1200 all high)FPS @ screen refresh rate 61 FPS (no V-sync)

-Crysis : Runs fine
(1280/1024 all high, no AA) I prefer playing Crysis playing @ this res. Cause of the higher FPS (average in game FPS between 42/50, lowest FPS 34).

-Mass Effect : Runs fine
(1920/1200 all high) FPS @ screen refresh rate 61 FPS(no V-sync).

-Bioshock : Runs fine
(1920/1200 all high)FPS varies in this game between 38/ 62(V-sync enabled cause of screen tearing) (without V-sync FPS went up to 180+ sometimes).

-Hellgate London: Runs fine
(1920/1200 all high/very high, no AA) FPS between 34/ 52.

-Devil May Cry 4 (DX 9) : Runs fine
(note: Can’t check if SLI is working with this game, no in game SLI indicators)
In game benchmark test (1920/1200 all high) Rank A (Scene1: 69.13 FPS, 2: 51.76 FPS, 3: 88.55 FPS, 4: 49.06 FPS).

-Devil May Cry 4 (DX 10) : Runs Fine
(note: Can’t check if SLI is working with this game, no in game SLI indicators)
In game benchmark test (1920/1200 all high) Rank B (Scene1: 65.29 FPS, 2: 50.19 FPS, 3: 78.56 FPS, 4: 43.87 FPS).

-Stalker Shadow of Chernobyl : Runs fine
(note: Can’t check if SLI is working with this game, no in game SLI indicators)
(1920/1200 all max) (average in game FPS between 60/80).

-World in Conflict : Runs fine
In game benchmark test :
(1920/1200 basic settings very high), FPS average : 29, min : 15, max : 62
(1920/1200 basic settings high), FPS average : 42, min : 24, max : 83.

-Command & Conquer 3 Tiberium Wars : Runs fine
(note: Can’t check if SLI is working with this game, no in game SLI indicators)
(1920/1200 all max) average FPS around 30 FPS. .+/- 2 FPS.

-Command & Conquer 3 Kanes Wrath : Runs fine
(note: Can’t check if SLI is working with this game, no in game SLI indicators)
(1920/1200 all max) average FPS around 30 FPS.+/- 2 FPS.

**Installed Physx 8.08.18 before the following tests.**

-Unreal Tournament 3 : Runs fine graphically, but my audio stutters… don’t know why?
(1920/1200 all max) average 95 FPS.

-Gears of War : Runs fine
(1920/1200 all max) average around screen refresh rate 62 FPS.(with or without V-sync)
This game stutters a little bud that’s with all drivers I’ll try’d.
It’s not really stuttering, it’s more like screen tearing… normally solved by enabling V-sync… bud not with this game. Maybe it’s just a Vista (SLI sync)problem, it’s ok in XP I heard.

Edit: GPU temps where fine during the test without max fans enabled.

 

thanks for the benchmarks enrico
I'm glad issue is fixed, thanks for your bug report.

Jack@rock: I'm keeping my eye on the xtreme 620 if you know what i mean
thanks for the kind words.

 

so i have a 9600m GT and am currently using the 177.92 drivers from laptopvideo2go. i am using the modded inf from http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=20269

is this inf different? if so, would i notice a performance difference? i have a sager np2096, i know thats a compal and not a clevo but i would like to get as much performance as i can.

thanks in advance!

 

I didn't read all of the responses, but is there any thoughts of doing a release for the 64-bit Windows XP?

 

Edit of the old message

 

hrmm..

just installed 177.98 with the .inf file you posted here - now I can't open UT3!

Anbody know the issue?

 

It was designed for 177.92 perhaps? I ran it with 177.98 and I got all sorts of display initialization errors. Wasn't in every app, but in some.

 

yeah I just re-installd it with 177.92 and still no go - weird

 

that is being worked on since last friday and is being beta tested

 

if you could give me th error displayed or more info (be specific I can try and help you.

 

Thanks! I am still working between XP x86 and x64, but I am leaning more towards x64 since I found all of the drivers for it.

 

baconcow: I'm glad you did find all drivers for it
Clevo don't officially support XP 64 for some reason, may take sometime for the XP 64 build of my drivers to come out

Update: Next release is being worked on.

Resolution 1680 x 1050 will be added for M860TU users with that native res
Will contain the OpenGL hotfix.
XP 64 debut

and other stuff that only beta testers will know
Hopefully the "secret" features will make it publically.

for now enjoy the current release!

 

Dox,

I appreciate the effort you're putting into this, and I'll certainly be watching for your INF mods in the future.

In case it might be helpful to you, I can say that my experience with the 177.92 mod was mixed. Curiously, it gave the highest 3DMark06 graphics scores I've ever recorded (SM2=6321, SM3=6702), and it produced a decent Crysis benchmark score (over 32 FPS, 1920x1200, high). However, rendering in Crysis wasn't very good (tearing and artifacts), and my machine became quite unstable, with frequent freezes when just surfing the net.

 

This is great work Dox. Thank you

On XP 32 everything seems fine, but on vista 64 i can't get the physics driver to install. Nvidia corporation wont turn up in start menu..

Is this something that happened to others? I'm doing something wrong? I've followed your installation guide..

 

I'm the one beta testing the 64bit XP INFs.
After class tonight (finally free time after work till Sunday) I'll be testing them both with Crysis and UT3 on my SLI 8700M GTs. I can test Crysis Warhead later this week.
If these drivers cause BSODs galore its better I test them on my non-critical XP environment before you guys do.
I'm also a pro driver tester as I've been a mod at LV2Go for a long time.

If you guys want me to test any particular games please tell me now.
I also have orange box, COD4 and some other semi-recent games.
It may take a while to get steam setup on my second OS to recognize the games I installed on my primary one though...

 

I don't know if anybody asked this but can this new modded info. be used for any driver version?Like the new 179.98.

 

Didn't work for me, but maybe I did something wrong. The original inf for 177.98 worked fine though. I went back with 177.92..... better numbers.

 

Sweet, I cant wait to get my gaming rig fixed so I can put these drivers in. Great work!

 

wobble: hope the next release will fix issues you have

Deodot: the physX installer must be in the driver folder.

IKAS: no it cant

Rossdaddy: expect some betas next week, about 3, LOL