Latest VPC-Z1/330M Drivers for the BIOS Hack People

I tried again with Driver Fusion but with no success. Even reinstalling the old 306.97 doesen't help, there must be something wrong with the Windows brightness control now.

Too bad, I can live without brightness control. Anyway any suggestion is welcome

 

Are you using the VGA patch or the 3D Vision Patch?
I've never had any problem when using the 3D Vision patch


Perhaps you want to try re-installing the Sony drivers and programs...

 

Looks like a known issue with 310.70 and affects a lot more than just us: https://forums.geforce.com/default/topic/525087/geforce-drivers/brightness-problem-/

 

I tried both.

You're right, I should do that.

Good to know, hopefully the issue will be addressed in the next release.

 

Do you guys want me to add this as part of the patching routine?

also, I put the latest drivers up in the first post, and the windows 8 instructions

 

Currently it only replaces the one under [nv_miscBase_addreg__14], correct? Has anyone definitively tested that this is the only place it needs to change?

 

It's not always in the [nv_miscBase_addreg__14] section.

For me it always worked by replacing the first instance, even if it was before or later.

 

so do you guys want me to add this to the patch program?

Also wouldn't it be sweeet if we figured a way to patch it so 3D vision worked and VGA worked and the backlight worked...

 

Well, that would be great!

 

Right... so who is really good at figuring out what the difference is between the 3D Patch method and the VGA Patch method? What lines make the VGA work? What lines enable 3D Vision controls in the control panel. I really don't know much about the INF files, not compared to the guys that make custom hybrid drivers and that sort of thing.

Also as far as the DDIBacklightControl I reviewed the code and that tweak is already built in to both patches. So everything is good to go there.

On the VGA Patch it deletes only the one instance of it, on the 3D Vision Patch it aggressively deletes every single instance it finds

 

How did you determine that? Is there a way to check for sure?
I have been messing around with DevManView but I haven't gotten very far with it yet.

I have been trying to make sense of the INF that I extracted from DevManView but I don't know how to compare it to the INFs in the install directory, it seems like it is much shorter than any of those files. 3,123 lines on the extracted file my nvts.inf file is 4,786 lines

My goal is to get a patch together that enables 3D Vision and VGA. The brightness control seems to be an issue with 310.70 so I am not going to worry about that until we get the next release.

Thanks for the notes, have you made any more progress with this?

Do you know what lines in the nvts.inf make the 3D Vision work? If we could just add those to nvszc.inf and delete more of the bad lines we should be good to go with VGA, 3D Vision and brightness

I have rotate on my control panel using the old brute force method.
Do you VGA patch guys have it?
I wish I know what the key like this was for 3D Vision, then we'd be golden



EDIT: So I've been trying to follow the AddReg settings in nvts.inf and I have followed it down to [nv_miscBase_addreg__21]
this section has a line like this
HKR,,HDMI_3DCtrl,%REG_DWORD%,0x1

so now I'm thinking that if we do the VGA patch then add

HKR,,HDMI_3DCtrl,%REG_DWORD%,0x1 to [nv_miscBase_addreg__14] we should have VGA and and 3D working


I'll try it out and see what I come up with

 

Well that didn't work, I did the VGA patch with the one added line, no 3D Vision, no brightness
then I uninstalled and did the other patch, No 3D Vision no brightness

meh, I am going to go back to a slightly older driver i think

OK, now my system is totally wonky, no 3D vision, no brightness control, the brightness slider is stuck at one cube
so I am very annoyed and wish I had not even messed with it, now I want to go back up to 310.70 to see what I can get

 

OK so I went back up to the 3D Patched 310.70 and now the 3D Vision Controls are back YAY!

Brightness controls are NOT working now though. I should have left it alone.

Anyway, moving forward, fingers crossed that Nautis or someone who know something will step up and help us figure out what lines we need to get everything to play nice.
I read through that thread about brightness at the GeForce forum last night and it looks like they are gonna fix the brightness in a release next month.


Oh yea and I had one other thought, If I merge everything from nvts.inf section 21 into nvszc.inf section 14 then maybe we'll get both 3D and VGA working.

 

Happened the same to me, but the Windows brightness control was working.
Now I have the Sony brightness control squares moving but no brightness control... Anyway I'll wait for the next release to see if they fix the issue.

 

Yea, me too, but what about my post at the top of the page? any thoughts on that?
I want to make a better patch, one that works for everyone's needs and does everything.

We need Nautis back, I feel like we were getting some where then I sort of got busy with other things. Basically I just need to know how to add the right lines to svzc.inf to enable 3D Vision. We already know what lines to patch in that file in order to enable the 330M, enable rotation, remove DDIBacklight etc.

 

Well I am happy to report some major progress today

First thing I have figured out for sure is that my brute force patch method causes nvct.inf to be used. I compared the inf from DevManView and I can say without a doubt that nvct.inf is the file that gets used when all files are patched.
Ok, so now I am not on a wild goose chase trying to track everything down in nvts.inf which is what I though it was using.

Second thing, I am using a patched nvct.inf right now and using VGA at 1900x1200 on my Dell U3011 display, also I have the 3D Vision control panel
So VGA does work with a patched nvct.inf. The thing is that it doesn't work as well as it does with nvszc.inf, when using a patched nvszc.inf I can run a higher resolution off the VGA port 2048x1536 or something like that.

Anyway, there are two ways to move forward with this, bring the stuff that makes the VGA work accross all resolutions back over to nvct.inf, or try to figure out how what it is in nvct.inf that makes 3DVision work and port it over to nvszc.inf.
I have been reading through the inf files and figuring out how they work and they are pretty simple, but there is a ton of information, and no documentation.

I have traced how nvszc.inf gets down to [nv_miscBase_addreg__14]
I have also found the equivalent section in nvct.inf which is [nv_miscBase_addreg__06]

in the nvct.inf (once it is patched) it uses Section017 under [NVIDIA_SetA_Devices.NTamd64.6.2] (that is the string for Windows 8)
which links to [nv_miscBase_addreg__06]

Also Section016 (for Windows 7) links up to [nv_miscBase_addreg__06]
Section15 (for Vista) doesn't link up to the same registry settings, or copy files routine, but, um who cares? Vista sucks

the [nv_CplInstaller_copyfiles__02] routine that is linked from both Section016 and Section017 contain these two files at the top (perhaps this is the control panel applet, these lines are not present in the routine that gets run in nvszc.inf)
Nv3DAppShExt.dll
Nv3DAppShExtR.dll


also in the nvct.inf file the line that enables screen rotation is already correct HKLM,"Software\NVIDIA Corporation\Global\NVTweak",NoPages,%REG_DWORD%, 0x40120558

I did see some strings in there for the default monitor resolutions so perhaps that is the key to getting VGA to work correctly for the VGA guys while still having 3DVision working for me.


So I have a few more tests to run to see if I can get everything to play nice, I am going to try bringing the copy files stuff over to nvszc.inf and I am going to try to bring the default timings and resolutions over to nvct.inf


Goal is to have a single patch, that does exactly what it is supposed to, no brute force, and enables all the features for everyone.

I also made a nice little batch file with a menu so that you can turn driver signing off and on easily.

More updates soon

EDIT: A little update on some of the differences I have found
nvszc.inf (the one that works for the VGA guys) has this for display modes

Code:

[nv_commonDisplayModes_addreg__18]
HKR,, NV_Modes, %REG_MULTI_SZ%,  "{*}S 720x480x8,16,32,64 1400x1050x8,16,32,64 1440x900x8,16,32,64=1;720x576x8,16,32,64=8032;HV 1920x1440x8,16,32,64=1F;640x480x8,16,32,64 800x600x8,16,32,64 1024x768x8,16,32,64=1FC4;1920x1200x8,16,32,64=3E;1600x900x8,16,32,64=3FF;1600x1200x8,16,32,64=44;1280x800x8,16,32,64 1280x1024x8,16,32,64=7C4;1600x1024x8,16,32,64=7F;1280x768x8,16,32,64 1360x768x8,16,32,64=7FE;1280x960x8,16,32,64=7FF;1152x864x8,16,32,64=FFF;"
HKR,, NV_Modes, %REG_SZ_APPEND%, "SHV 1280x720x8,16,32,64 1280x768x8,16,32,64 1360x768x8,16,32,64 1680x1050x8,16,32,64 1920x1080x8,16,32,64 1920x1200x8,16,32,64 2048x1536x8,16,32,64=1;640x480x8,16,32,64 800x600x8,16,32,64 1024x768x8,16,32,64 1280x800x8,16,32,64 1280x1024x8,16,32,64 1600x1200x8,16,32,64=3B;1366x768x8,16,32,64=7FF;"

nvct.inf (the one that gets used in the 3D patch) has this

Code:

[nv_commonDisplayModes_addreg__02]
HKR,, NV_Modes, %REG_MULTI_SZ%,  "{*}S 720x480x8,16,32,64=1;720x576x8,16,32,64=8032;SHV 1280x720x8,16,32,64 1680x1050x8,16,32,64 1920x1080x8,16,32,64 2048x1536x8,16,32,64=1;1920x1440x8,16,32,64=1F;640x480x8,16,32,64 800x600x8,16,32,64 1024x768x8,16,32,64=1FFF;1920x1200x8,16,32,64=3F;1600x900x8,16,32,64=3FF;1600x1024x8,16,32,64 1600x1200x8,16,32,64=7F;1280x768x8,16,32,64 1280x800x8,16,32,64 1280x960x8,16,32,64 1280x1024x8,16,32,64 1360x768x8,16,32,64 1366x768x8,16,32,64=7FF;1152x864x8,16,32,64=FFF;"

I have traced the device Id down to those addreg sections

So I am thinking that if I bring this and other sections over from nvszc.inf to nvct.inf that maybe we can get a perfectly working VGA setup along side the 3D Vision

 

OK, I've been working hard on this but my two major ideas didn't pan out

I tried bringing Nv3DAppShExt.dll and Nv3DAppShExtR.dll over to nvszc.inf and VGA still works but 3D still is not there
I tried bringing the longer NV_Modes reg settings over to nvct.inf but that didn't get a better result on VGA and the VGA is still a little wonky, sometimes it will just disconnect.

the answer lies somewhere in these two INF files, further study of these 8,200 some lines in these files will likely eventually reveal the answers

I feel like I am getting close to a solution

I have done some major work on the patch program, it now makes backups of the INFs it patches so that you can roll them back with another button, or switch back and forth between patch types. The 3D patch only edits nvct.inf now not everything. I have also incorporated command line control over BCDEDIT so that you can disable/re-enable DRIVER_TEST_SIGNING with ease.

There is also a little log list that shows you stuff that the program does when you click the buttons.

I'll release this new version of the patcher soon.

 

Hi ComputerCowboy,
I have one quick question.
If I do the bios hack on my Z13 with the graphic cards gt 330m, and apply your method. Will I still be able to use the switch key or I have to go to bios all the time whenever I want to switch the graphic card?
Yes, I just upgrade to windows 8 and the gt 330m is unstable.

 

The switch works, with a reboot. You only have to go to the BIOS once to set it to static.

To go from nVidia to Intel, switch the tri-selector to stamina, reboot windows, that's it
To go from Intel to nVidia, switch the tri-selector to speed, reboot windows

 

The 310.90 are out, someone tried them yet? I didn't see anything about the brightness issue in the release notes.

ComputerCowboy is your new patch ready?

 

I can put up a beta

 

Here is a BETA, I've added some new features to it, I need to work on the UI and make it look nicer.

http://computercowboy.com/Downloads/VAIO_Z1_330M_INF_Patcher.exe.v4..zip

 

Great, thanks! I'll try it right now.

 

Awesome, the brightness controls work again! It's like before, with the Sony control stuck on the first square, but the Windows control working fine.

I deleted the first HKR,,DDIBacklightControl,%REG_DWORD%,0x00000001 line I found in the nvszc.inf.

Just one question: I turned on the test mode from the patcher (great function btw) because I was to lazy to restart without the driver signature, but now how do I get rid of it? I'm stuck with the "Test Mode" on my desktop...

P.S. the patcher is great! The interface is clear enough as well.

 

I have the code to turn it back off, but I never got around to putting a button in it.
You shouldn't have to delete DDIBacklightControl, the patch does that. It only deletes the one in Section-14 or whatever, that is the only one that matters.

One thing that is improved about the new patcher is that you can reverse the patch. This is good when testing things. I got sick of re-extracting all that stuff to get one INF. The patcher also shows you a little log of what it is doing, which I plan to improve even more.

I eventually want to make the program look really sweet. I am good with XAML, I can make a nice UI, but it takes time.

 

Can I turn it back off using the prompt then? Can you explain me how, please?

There was still a DDIBacklightControl in Section 13, which was the first one to appear (I checked the backup inf). Deleting the first one is the trick, right?

 

Use this batch file, for the signing issue

DriverSigning.bat

section 13 doesn't matter, it doesn't use it

 

It worked, thanks a lot!

 

Glad you liked it, I put it in a batch file to make it easier for people. I am planning on just implementing it all in the WPF program though.

 

I've updated the first post in this thread with the latest Patch Utility Version 4 BETA 2

If you guys that are still running Windows 7 could test it for me that would be great.

VAIO_Z1_330M_INF_Patcher.exe.v4_BETA2.zip


Also the latest driver 310.90 is pre-patched and available for download

 

Newest patcher worked great here in Win7 64-bit. Brightness controls working again with 310.90 as well. Hooray!

I did not need to use test mode, BTW, never have for some reason.

 

Test mode is an absolute must for Windows 8

can you try the Test Mode procedures and tell me if they work on 7?

EDIT: I tested it a bit on Windows 7 x86 in Hyper-V and found that it has a bug where it won't load if you don't have a C:\NVIDIA folder, so I fixed that, but it still doesn't run

I am going to install Windows 7 x64 and see how it goes. I don't really care if it doesn't run on x86, I just want to make sure there aren't some other problems with it.

 

UPDATE 1/18/13: Version 4 BETA 3
VAIO_Z1_330M_INF_Patcher.v4_BETA3.exe.zip
New Features in Version 4

• Enable/Disable Test Mode with the click of a button
• Automatic INF backup
• Patch removal
• Switch from 3D to VGA patch and back with ease
• Launch nVidia Setup from the UI
• Better looking UI
• Console style log of everything you've done while running the program

KNOWN ISSUES / NOTES:

• This patch doesn't support Vista at all, it won't attempt to patch any INF sections related to Vista.
• Version 4 requires Administrator privileges to run, this shouldn't be a problem

 

Firstly I would like to thanks ComputerCowboy who made a wonderful patch for all Vaio owner.

My is Vaio VPCZ129GG | Win8x64 | i7 | 8 GB Ram | Bios Hacked | G330M

I try to patch using V.4 Beta 3 with 310.90 (3D vision) everything seems to be just fine but Graphic driver failed to install on my system. I've also tried to use command as your guideline in 1st post and UI but no success. Do I miss any procedure?

 

It sounds like you did everything right. Can you post a screen shot of the error you get when the driver fails to install?

 

It's all my fault. Last night I shutdown my vaio after a few times, today I open it up and driver can be installed without any further procedure. so I think I may missed one reboot.

Thank you once again ComputerCowboy

 

No problem, hit me up with some likes, and reps, and rate this thread. Keep it going.

 

I have done the BIOS hack and updated my NVIDIA to 310.90. My question is about on the stamina and auto switching.. if i switch to stamina nothing happens also with auto mode.. is this normal?

 

You have to reboot to switch from the NVIDIA to Intel graphics with the Static VGA Switching Policy set in the BIOS. A small price to pay for driver freedom IMO.

 

One thing that I do that makes it a little easier is throw the switch before the reboot. So for example you have been working at the desk in speed mode. Throw the switch to stamina, shut down, then when you boot back up on the train or the plane the computer will boot in stamina/Intel mode.

I also agree with Blahman, it is a small price to pay for drivers that actually work, and lets face it the Sony hybrid drivers never worked all that well even when they were brand new in 2010. I need the latest drivers to watch 3D blu-ray on my 3D Vision projector, I need the latest drivers to run Windows 8. I need the latest drivers so that I have the control to make hacked up INF files so I can run my 2560x1600 DELL monitor at full resolution from my Z1.

The reality is I am usually near a power source and I rarely even need to use stamina mode.

 

Quick question here for ComputerCowboy. Can you tell me what mode your 330m runs in for PCIE? Was messing around on my laptop redoing a few things and noticed in GPUZ that it states its a PCIE 16x 2.0 running in 1.1x mode however. Seeing if you see the same results or if I am missing a chipset driver or something here.

 

Is that what you are seeing?

 

Yup. thats what I was curious about. Thanks for the info!

 

Hi would like to thank you as well.
Was already using the BIOS Hack and your Nvidia solution, was a little afraid as last time it was a little bit confusing (US version versus European version).
BUT today I installed the 310.90 driver and afterwards your bcdedit8 patch which works like a charm.
AND YES: brightness control WORKS ;-)
And yes: both screens are working in parallel with HDMI and without
And yes: test modus (which I never deactivated, because I feared it wouldn't work afterwards) is deactivated as well.
So again, thanks from Europe.

 

We are all glad you liked it. Keep an eye on this thread for updates. I dream of one day having an INF patch that does everything for everyone, we aren't there yet but what we've got is pretty good.

 

Does the patcher works with the new 314.07 drivers? I tried both the new one and an older version with both VGA and 3D Vision patching method, but it says "0 lines patched" and the installer then says that there's no compatible hardware.

Something changed with the new drivers?

 

I'll have to check it out. The latest patch looks for some pretty specific lines, if they changed something I could see it breaking pretty easily.

 

Something did indeed change, they added the letter "N" to the end of all the inf files, I have updated the patch program to account for this, but it will still work on the older drivers for now also. I will probably eventually remove the support for the older drivers.
Download below, I also updated the first post in this thread.



UPDATE 2/19/13: Version 4 BETA 4
VAIO_Z1_330M_INF_Patcher.v4_BETA4.exe.zip
New Features in Version 4 BETA 4

• Patches New Driver Version 314.07 (and older drivers)
• Enable/Disable Test Mode with the click of a button
• Automatic INF backup
• Patch removal
• Switch from 3D to VGA patch and back with ease
• Launch nVidia Setup from the UI
• Better looking UI
• Console style log of everything you've done while running the program

KNOWN ISSUES / NOTES:

• This patch doesn't support Vista at all, it won't attempt to patch any INF sections related to Vista.
• Version 4 requires Administrator privileges to run, this shouldn't be a problem

 

I have a question for ComputerCowboy.

My VPC Z118 fell off the table and cracked the screen. When I tinker with the screen, I broke the interface on the motherboard; so I left the interface dangling and plan to use two external monitors.

I connected both of them with the VGA and HDMI(via a HDMI to DVI adapter) respectively in the SPEED mode; but in NVIDIA Panel, It says this GPU(GT 330M) only supports one monitor; in Window 7 64bit Display Settings, I can't save the settings if I choose extend or duplicate display.

If I update the driver, is it possible to support two external monitors?

Thank you.

 

No the Z only supports one external monitor.
There are a few ways to run multiple external monitors but they will all require more hardware.

1. ViDock and desktop graphics card
2. DIY eGPU and desktop graphics card
3. DisplayLink USB adapters
4. Matrox DualHead 2 Go box

The first two options are basically the same, just that one is expensive and one is DIY. You plug into the express card slot and use a desktop graphics card with the outputs you want.
The USB option is pretty cheap and easy but the performance is poor and the resolution is limited (1600x1200 if I recall correctly)
The Matrox option is interesting and if you use and EDID override driver with the BIOS hack and hacked drivers you should be able to come up with some interesting combinations. You should for example have enough bandwidth to do an EDID override that would allow you to run dual 1920x1200 monitors off the Matrox box. Keep in mind the Matrox option plus hacked drivers, EDID and BIOS should work in theory, but I've never actually seen anyone do it. I figure it would work because I drive my WQXGA 2560x1600 monitor over HDMI with these hacks, that is about the same resolution/bandwidth as dual 1080P or dual WUXGA 1920x1200.