A noobie question - driver installation and softmod

MagpiesDH

This is the first time I've used the omega drivers after reading about them in a local magazine, and I would like some pointers. I have an ATI 9500NP 128Mb card, running WinXP wz SP1 and have no experience with softmod-ing or video card overclocking (I have overclocked my CPU, thats about it).

As advised during the setup, I uninstalled the ATI control panel (but not the ATI display drivers) and proceeded to install the omega drivers 2.4.78a. I understand that I can install a hacked driver which will enable my card to become a 9700 card (Pro or NP, I'm not sure). The only option I got during the installation was the Radeon 9500 (omega v2.4.78a) option, nothing else.

What I want to know is, to install the omega drivers and also softmod-ing my card to a Radeon 9700, what are the correct steps. I'm guessing somewhere down the line I should follow the Sticky: Driver Installation for n00bs thread, but I don't think it mentions anything about softmod-ing. I don't want to make any incorrect steps as the above driver installation guide looks complicated itself (editing the registry, etc). I would greatly appreciate any assistance on this. Thank you.

ToshiroOC

The best way in my opinion is to use Driver Cleaner by Spike (http://www.driverheaven.net/cleaner/), then install the Omega drivers on top. To do the softmod, simply select the correct option during install (I haven't done this in a bit, so I don't recall the exact wording, but it should be something akin to two buttons, one for the softmodding drivers and one for the standard omega drivers). That stickied thread is a bit dated, so it doesn't need to be followed to a T.

Just out of curiousity, what magazine did you hear about the omegas from?

MagpiesDH

I will try the driver cleaner. For the softmod part, the setup will only offer Radeon 9500 omega drivers, and I don't see any option with softmod or wording that is even close to that. Can you please give me precise instructions? Please treat me as the idiot noobie that I am!!

BTW, I live in Hong Kong. The magazine where I read about Omega drivers is called PC Market.

Zardon

Welcome to the forum !

I dont know if you followed the guide for installing the omega drivers with soft mod here but the flash or step by step images should give you step by step instructions.

MagpiesDH

Zardon, thanks for your post. I already installed the Omega drivers once, but I'm certain I didn't get any the hacked drivers option. In fact, I remember only getting the ATI display driver screens. Maybe I do need to remove the previous drivers completely with Driver Cleaner. Do you or anyone know if I can use the driver cleaner to remove the omega drivers first.

MagpiesDH

In case I may have jumped the gun a bit, ok...I see the softmod option and selected that. I continued installing with all the default options. When checking the display settings, I see the following adapter information:

Adapter Type: Radeon 9500 (Omega 2.4.78a)
Adapter Information
Chip Type: Radeon 9800 AGP (0x4144)
DAC Type: Internal DAC (400Mhz)
Memory Size: 128Mb
Adapter String: Radeon 9500 (Omega 2.4.78a)
Bios Information: BK-AMI VER008.004.008.00

Is this correct? I was under the impression that the adapter type should show Radeon 9700, but maybe I'm wrong. Hope this extra info helps.

Omegadrive

Do you have a copy of that magazine?
Can you do a scan of it and send it to my DH e-mail?

BTW, to answer your question, yes, the hack is installed, but in case you experience graphics problems using the 9800 mod, just re-run the installer and select the 9500->9700 mod, that should exclude the 9800 optmizations and only use the 9700 pipeline.

MagpiesDH

Thanks for all the advice. BTW, if for any reason I want to uninstall all the Omega drivers, what is the best way to go about it?

The magazine was from a few weeks back. If it hasn't already been thrown away, I'll see if I can get a hold of it.