8-Bit Paletted Textures

Dreakon · Mar 1, 2004, 09:02 PM

I noticed this is something that Nvidia graphic cards are capable of and ATI cards are not. This is a feature used to smooth out textures in some older PC games, specifically Final Fantasy VII and it'd be really nice if ATI included this feature in a driver update if at all possible.

Is there any where I can request this be used in future drivers where ATI may actually listen to my comments, or would it be possible for Omega Drivers to add this is future driver releases?

Thanks, any help is appreciated

Rayder · Mar 2, 2004, 07:45 AM

Well, you can request it here:

http://apps.ati.com/driverfeedback/index.asp

Good luck getting it implemented though. I've seen a few posts by some members of the Catalyst team that said, in no uncertain terms, that you can forget about ever seeing that feature in ATI drivers. Why? Well, that's a good question, now isn't it? Something about the drivers not passing the MS certification if they used it (which seems like BS if nVidia manages to do it), or because there are too many varying implementations of that feature to include them all or some such thing like that.

Though I don't see why they couldn't just make it a "compatibility" option for us to use, especially on Final Fantasy 7....seems reasonable to me. But apparently it doesn't to ATI. You are just supposed to either throw the game away or build a "special" system with ancient hardware to play games that use 8-Bit Paletted Textures if you have a Radeon in your main rig, either that or just play it in software mode. Isn't that nice?

There were many threads debating this a few months back.

For whatever the reason, it's a sore subject between ATI and their user base.

I have a game that I suspect uses 8-Bit Paletted Textures ('Incoming' retail version, can anyone confirm that?), and the last time it worked right was with the old Catalyst 2.5 (DX8) drivers. But it stinks to install old drivers just to play one game.

Dreakon · Mar 2, 2004, 02:33 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Rayder

I have a game that I suspect uses 8-Bit Paletted Textures ('Incoming' retail version, can anyone confirm that?), and the last time it worked right was with the old Catalyst 2.5 (DX8) drivers. But it stinks to install old drivers just to play one game.

So they had it in older drivers, but took them out? Well that's just great... nice work ATI

Dreakon · Mar 10, 2004, 05:53 PM

Is 8-bit palletted a drivers feature or a 3d card feature? If its a drivers feature maybe Omega drivers could add it?

Just a thought...