August 20, 2008
This releasenote provides information on the latest posting of AMD’s industryleading software suite, Catalyst™. This particular software suiteupdates both the AMD Display Driver, and the Catalyst™ Control Center.This unified driver has been further enhanced to provide the highestlevel of power, performance, and reliability. The AMD Catalyst™software suite is the ultimate in performance and stability.
This release note provides information on the following:
- Web Content
- AMD Product Support
- Operating systems supported
- New Features
- ATI’s Folding@Home
- Resolved Issues for the Windows Vista Operating System
- Resolved Issues for the Windows XP Operating System
- Known Issues Under the Windows Vista Operating System
- Known Issues Under the Windows XP Operating System
- Known Issues Under the Windows XP Professional x64 Edition
- Installing the Catalyst™ Vista Software Driver
- AMD Customer Care
- Catalyst™ Crew Driver Feedback
Web Content
The Catalyst™ software suite 8.8 contains the following:
- Radeon™ display driver 8.522
- Multimedia Center™ 9.16 (Windows XP only)
- HydraVision™ for both Windows XP and Vista
- HydraVision™ Basic Edition (Windows XP only)
- Remote Wonder 3.04 (Windows XP only)
- WDM Driver Install Bundle
- Southbridge/IXP Driver
- Catalyst™ Control Center Version 8.8
Caution: The Catalyst™ software driver and the Catalyst™ Control Center can bedownloaded independently of each other. However, for maximum stabilityand performance AMD recommends that both components be updated from thesame Catalyst™ release
Caution: The Catalyst™ Control Center requires that the Microsoft .NET Frameworkversion 2.0 be installed. Without .NET version 2.0 installed, theCatalyst™ Control Center will not launch properly and the user will seean error message.
Note: These release notes provide information on the Radeon™ display driver only. For information on the ATI Multimedia Center™, HydraVision™, HydraVision Basic Edition, WDM, Remote Wonder™, or the Southbridge/IXP driver, please refer to their respective release notes found at: https://support.ati.com/
AMD Product Support
TheCatalyst™ Vista driver for both the 32bit and 64bit versions of theMicrosoft Windows Vista operating system is supported on the followingATI Radeon™ products.
Note: ATI All-in-Wonder™boards operate with AMD’s Windows Vista ready display and capturedrivers under the Windows Vista operating system. However, the WindowsVista Media Center application does not support TV/Capturefunctionality provided by the ATI All-in-Wonder™. TV/Capturefunctionality is qualified to function with Snaptream’s BeyondTV 4.6for Windows Vista. Other third party solutions (such as Arcsoft’s TotalMedia 3) may support TV/Capture with the ATI All-in-Wonder™, but theseapplications have not been fully tested by AMD.
Operating systems supported
The latest version of the Catalyst™ software suite is designed to support the following Microsoft Windows platforms:
- Windows Vista (32 and 64 bit versions)
- Windows XP Professional
- Windows XP Home Edition
- Windows XP Media Center Edition
- Windows XP Professional x64 Edition
Note: When installing theCatalyst™ Vista driver for Windows Vista, the user must logged on as anAdministrator or have Administrator rights in order to successfullycomplete the installation of the Catalyst™ Vista driver.
New Features
Catalyst™ 8.8 introduces the following new features:
Catalyst™ Control Center: New Avivo video features
This release of Catalyst™ introduces new Avivo video features:
- DynamicGamma/Contrast correction, available on the ATI Radeon™ HD 4800 Series,improves video image quality by delivering more vivid color in contentwith sharp contrasts and scenes with low and bright images.
- Improvedvideo presets, available for the ATI Radeon™ HD 3000 and ATI Radeon™4800 Series, delivers a newly optimized video presets that users canselect depending on what kind of video content they are viewing.
- WindowsXP support: Edge enhancement, which adjusts the level of sharpness ofvideo content and Noise Reduction, which removes ghosting artifactswhile preserving details of the original video. The new slider controlscan be found in the All Settings page of the Avivo Video tab found inthe Catalyst™ Control Center
Hybrid Graphics Support for Windows XP
Thisrelease of Catalyst™ introduces Hybrid Graphics support. HybridGraphics delivers a significant 3D performance boost for systemsfeaturing an AMD 780G/780D integrated graphics motherboard and an ATIRadeon™ HD 3400 Series or ATI Radeon™ HD 2400 Series graphicsaccelerator. It also provides support for up to four independentdisplays
ATI’s Folding@Home
Folding@Homeis a distributed computing project designed by the Stanford University.The application performs intensive simulations of protein folding. Thissimulation will help researchers uncover how certain diseases develop.Folding@Home uses distributed computing to simulate protein folding,the workload is broken up into small work units and distributed acrosshundreds of thousands of computers over the internet. You can help findthe cure to many different diseases! To join Folding@Home, follow thesesteps:
- Download ATI’s Catalyst™ software suite
- Download the Folding@Home GPU client application
Note: The latest GPU client supports the ATI Radeon™ HD 3xx0 series of products only.
- Enter the ATI team number 51394 and start folding!
For more information on Folding@Home visit: http://ati.amd.com/technology/streamcomputing/folding.html
Resolved Issues for the Windows Vista Operating System
Thissection provides information on resolved issues in this release of theATI Catalyst™ Software Suite for Windows Vista. These include:
- Setting the language option to Greek no longer results in cropped text being noticed in the Catalyst™ Control Center->Component Video page
- Adobe After Effects:Exiting the application no longer results in the Windows Vista (64 bitversion) operating system intermittently failing to respond
- Call of Duty 4:Corruption is no longer noticed when having Quad CrossFire™ enable andan HDMI 1080p display device connected. Further details can be found intopic number 737-35112
- Devil May Cry 4: Anti-Aliasing no longer fails to function when playing the game with CrossFire™ enabled
- Dirt:Playing the German Crossover track (Rally World Event) no longerresults in the grand stands and chain link fences not being displaycorrectly when CrossFire™ is enabled and MSAA is disabled
- Hellgate London: Setting the display resolution to 2560×1600 no longer results in the game failing to respond
- Linage II:Switching between the game and the Windows desktop no longer results inthe desktop appearing brighter than its original setting. Exiting thegame and restarting the operating system may also result in the desktopbrightness failing to be restored to its original setting. Furtherdetails can be found in topic number 737-35108
- Lost Planet(DX9): Enabling CrossFire™, AA to 4x, AF to 8x, and having all of thein-game options set to high no longer results in the game failing torespond when running the performance test
- Mahjongg Artifacts: Flickering is no longer noticed when playing the game on pre-configured name brand systems
- Mass Effect: Playing the game with CrossFire™ enabled no longer results in corruption being noticed on the AA menu
- NASCARdemo: Setting all the in-game options to the highest levels no longerresults in corruption being noticed on systems containing an ATIRadeon™ HD 2400 series of product and running Windows Vista
- Quake 4:Corruption is no longer noticed when starting a new game on systemsrunning either Windows XP or Vista and containing an ATI Radeon™ HD48x0 series of product
- Second Life:Playing the game on a CrossFire™ configured system (ATI Radeon™ HD 2400and above) no longer results in corruption and slow performance beingnoticed
- Unreal Tournament 3:The game no longer intermittently fails to launch when a map hastexture detail set to maximum. Further details can be found in topicnumber 737-31189
- World In Conflict: Setting the video quality to high no longer results in corruption being noticed
- Installinga newer version of the Catalyst™ Control Center without removing theolder version no longer results in a windows error message appearingwhen attempting to launch the Catalyst™ Control Center
- TheReduce DVI frequency on high-resolution displays is no longer missingin the Catalyst™ Control Center->Digital Panel (DVI) page when hotun-plugging and then hot-plugging a display device using the HDMI porton systems containing an ATI Radeon™ HD 3100/3200 series of product
- TheDisplay Management options are no longer missing or corrupted whenswitching between profiles in the Catalyst™ Control Center
- ClickingStart->All Program->Catalyst™ Control Center->Restart runtimetwice no longer results in the two ATI Restart icons appearing on theWindows taskbar
- Settingthe DPI to 120 or 144 no longer results in cropped text being noticedthroughout various pages of the Catalyst™ Control Center
- Makingchanges to the default values in the Avivo color page and closing theCatalyst™ Control Center without applying the changes no longer resultsin the default values failing to be restored
- Cropped text is no longer noticed in the VPU Recover message when the DPI is set to 144
- Checkingthe Use application settings in Avivo Video->Basic Color no longerresults in the preview failing to be updated with the default colorsettings
- Corruptionis no longer noticed when entering the Catalyst™ ControlCenter->Basic Quality page on systems containing an ATI Radeon™ HD4800 product
- Settingthe language option to German and the Catalyst™ Control Center skin toATI_Crimson no longer results in text appearing cropped within theCatalyst™ Control Center
- Catalyst™Control Center: Enabling the option for Always on Top no longer resultsin dialog boxes failing to appear on top of the Catalyst™ Control Center
- Runningthrough a custom install of the graphics driver and installing thedriver to a directory of choice no longer results in a C++ errormessage when right clicking on the Windows desktop
- The pulldown menu options found within various pages of the Catalyst™ Control Center are no longer mis-aligned
- Setting the language option to Russian no longer results in cropped text being noticed within the Catalyst™ Control Center
- Usingthe Catalyst™ Control Center Setup Assistant no longer results in theCatalyst™ Control Center Advanced View text is appearing greyed out
- A restricted number of HDTV custom modes no longer occurs after deleting all of the custom modes that were previously added
- Catalyst™ Control Center: The online help links for Color->Full Screen3D are no longer missing
- Catalyst™Control Center->Help->CrossFire™: The help file no longer statesthat CrossFire™ is enabled by default under the Windows XP operatingsystem
- Incorrect help hardware configurations are no longer described for CrossFire™ in the Catalyst™ Control Center->Help contents
- Settingthe language option to any of the supported languages now results inthe translated language web pages being displayed (if in existence)when clicking on the Welcome link
- Corruption is no longer noticed in the lower portion of the HDMI display when using certain display modes
- Disabling the graphics driver while clone mode is enable no longer results in corruption being noticed on the display devices
- Connectingan HDMI display device and entering an S3 state no longer results inthe operating system failing to respond or VPU Recover to activate
- Connectingan HDMI display device to the DVI port using an HDMI to DVI dongle nolonger results in the display mode of 720×480 failing to be in thedisplay mode list after hot-unplugging the HDMI display device andhot-plugging a DVI display device. Further details can be found intopic number 737-35105
- Screenflashing no longer occurs when connecting a display device that hasincorrect Extended Display Identification Data information (EDID)
- Anerror message indicating that the display driver stopped responding andhas recovered is no longer displayed when playing a DVD title using theWindows Media Player on systems containing an ATI Radeon™ 3100/3200series of product
- Connectinga dual link display device to a system containing an ATI Radeon™ HD36x0 series of product no longer results in the display device failingto display an image when enabling the option to reduce DVI and settingthe display resolution to 1280×1024 60Hz 32bpp
- Connectingan HDMI display device and setting the display resolution to 1600x1024or higher with a refresh rate higher than 60Hz. no longer result in thedisplay device failing to display an image
- Loggingoff one user and logging on as another no longer results in CrossFire™failing to be enabled or disabled when logging back on as the originaluser
- ACCCPrev.exe has stopped working error message no longer appears whenselecting any 3D settings in the Catalyst™ Control Center when extendeddesktop mode is enabled
- Connectinga CRT as the primary and a DFP as a secondary display device followedby enabling extended desktop mode no longer results in clone modebecoming active when hot-unplugging the DFT and the hot-plugging itback on
- Connectinga TV as a secondary display device and attempting to enabled extendeddesktop mode no longer results in the TV format failing to change
- Connectinga secondary display device and enabling it as the primary display nolonger results in the resolution being set to it maximum displayresolution when enabling CrossFire™
- Clickingon the seek slider when playing a DVD title using the PowerDVD playerno longer results in corruption being noticed on the playback window
- Switching from h.264 to MPEG2 video titles no longer results in the operating system intermittently failing to respond
- Playing VC1 video clips no longer results in green corruption being noticed in the player window
- Seekingor fast-forwarding in a media player application no longer results incorruption being noticed on systems containing an ATI Radeon™ HD 3600series of product and running Windows Vista (32 bit version)
- EnablingBOB de-interlacing no longer results in a green line being noticed onthe bottom of the playback window when playing a 1080i clip
- Playinga standard definition DVD using the Windows Media Player no longerresults in the player window flashing when closed captioning is enabled
- Playinga DVD title using the PowerDVD player no longer results in the PowerDVDplayer failing to respond when DXVA is disabled, closed captioning isenabled and the user is fast forwarding the DVD title anywhere from 4xto 32x
Resolved Issues for the Windows XP Operating System
Thissection provides information on resolved issues in this release of theATI Catalyst™ Software Suite for Windows XP. These include:
- 3 Kingdom OL:Playing the Asian game with CrossFire™ enabled on a system runningWindows XP no longer results in texture corruption being noticed duringthe fight preparation menu
- Assassin’s Creed:Setting all in-game options to 3 and the display resolution to 1024x768no longer results in flashing being noticed around the character
- City of Heroes:Character stretching and double character reflection is no longernoticed when the in-game resolution is set to 2560×1600. Furtherdetails can be found in topic number 737-35757
- Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts:Enabling CrossFire™ no longer results in the displays flashingcorruption when setting the in game graphics options to off or theirlowest settings. Further details can be found in topic number 737-35118
- Enemy Territory Quake Wars:Intermittent corruption is no longer noticed when playing the game on asystem containing an ATI Radeon™ HD 48×0 series of product
- Fear Perseus Mandate Demo:Launching the game on a system running Windows XP and containing an ATIRadeon™ HD 2600 series of product no longer results in the systemfailing to respond
- Just Cause:Setting the in-game display resolution to 1280×1024 and all of theother game options to their maximum levels no longer results incorruption being noticed in the lower portion of the display
- Lost Planet:Task switching between the game and the Windows XP desktop no longerresults in texture corruption being noticed when switching back to thegame. This issue was known to occur on systems containing an ATIRadeon™ HD 36×0 series of product
- Witcher:Enabling AA and setting the in-game options to their maximum levels nolonger results in background colors being missing and the game playback being choppy. Further details can be found in topic number737-35898
- Witcher:Game corruption is no longer noticed when setting all of the in-gameoptions to their maximum values and having CrossFire™ enabled alongwith AA set to 16x and AF set to 8x
- Witcher:Enabling CrossFire™ on a system containing an ATI Radeon™ HD 48x0series of product no longer results in game failing to respond
- Usingthe WinDVD player (versions 14.x, 11.10x, or 9.xx) to play VC1 videocontent no longer results in corruption being noticed when hardwareacceleration is enabled. This issue may also be experienced under theWindows Vista operating system. Further details can be found in topicnumber 737-35293
- Installingthe HDMI audio driver and the VIA audio chipset driver no longerresults in a compatibility issue being noticed and a yellow exclamationmark showing up in the Sound, Video and Game Controllers. Furtherdetails can be found in topic number 737-35119
- Connectinga display device to the display port no longer results in the Catalyst™Control Center->Advanced View detecting the display device as aDigital Panel (DVI)
- Hot-pluggingan HDMI display device to a system that has a CRT connected to it nolonger results in the CRT becoming disabled after the system reboots
- ChoppyDVD playback is no longer noticed when enabling the option cinemaenhancement and closed captioning within the WinDVD player
- Corruption is no longer noticed in the lower third of the WinDVD player window when cinema enhancement is enabled
- Hot-plugginga display device while the system is in standby state no longer resultsin the display device failing to be detected
- Hot-plugging a display device no longer results in the display device failing to display an image
- ATI icon corruption is no longer noticed on systems running Windows XP and containing an ATI Radeon™ HD 48×0 series of product
- Resumingfrom a standby state and right clicking on the Windows desktop nolonger results in menu items appearing corrupt when moving the mousepointer over the drop down menu
- Playing a Blu-ray DVD title using the WinDVD player no longer results in only audio being heard
- Playinga DVD title and selecting the option to use basic color setting todefault in the Catalyst™ Control Center now results in the option beingapplied. Further details can be found in topic number 737-35803
- A green tint is no longer noticed around the closed captioning when playing a standard definition DVD using the Cyberlink player
Known Issues Under the Windows Vista Operating System
Thissection provides information on known issues that may be experiencedunder the Windows Vista operating system with the latest version ofCatalyst™. These include:
- Call of Duty 4 or Crysis:Color corruption may be noticed when running the games in full screenmode with Quad CrossFire™ enabled. Further details can be found intopic number 737-35115
- Company of Heroes:Setting the in-game options to maximum levels may result in the gameexiting to the desktop after the game has completed loading. Furtherdetails can be found in topic number 737-32600
- Crysis:Playing the game at a display resolution lower than the native displayresolution of a connected 30″ display device may result in corruptionbeing noticed when CrossFire™ is enabled and having the Catalyst™Control Center scaling the image to full screen. Further details can befound in topic number 737-35111
- Hellgate London:Pressing Alt-Tab to return to the Windows Vista (32 bit version)desktop while playing the game may intermittently result in atranslucent image of the game appearing on the Windows desktop. Thisissue may be experienced on systems containing either an ATI Radeon™ HD4870 X2 or ATI Radeon™ 4800 product
- Lost Planet(DX10 version): Some of the in-game display resolutions may fail to beavailable when using a CRT display device. Further details can be foundin topic number 737-35872
- Quake 4: Corruption may intermittently be noticed during the new game introduction
- Thesecondary HDMI Display may turn off when resuming from an S1hibernation with an HDMI display connected. Further details can befound in topic number 737-31146
- Settingthe desktop resolution to 1600×1200 or greater may result in greenpixel corruption being noticed when playing certain games. This issuemaybe noticed when using a system running Windows Vista and containingan ATI Radeon™ HD 2600 or HD 2400 series of product. Further detailscan be found in topic number 737-31150
- Attemptingto play the HD-DVD title Harsh Times, School for Scoundrels using theCyberlink player may result in block corruption being noticed. Furtherdetails can be found in topic number 737-31155
- Anerror message may appear when installing the display driver packagethrough setup.exe. Further details can be found in topic number737-31577
- Installingan ATI Radeon™ X1600 series of product into a system containing an ATIRadeon™ HD 2600 series of product with the display driver alreadyinstalled may result in the operating system entering a continuousreboot. This issue may be averted by removing the ATI graphics driverprior to the installation of the ATI Radeon™ X1600 series of product.This issue may also be experienced with the ATI Radeon™ X1300 and 1550series of products. Further information may be found in topic number737-33471
- Enablingclone mode followed by switching to extended desktop mode may result inthe Windows Vista (64 bit version) failing to respond. Further detailscan be found in topic number 737-34125
- Performingan express install of the Catalyst™ Control Center may result in anerror message being displayed when rebooting the system. Furtherdetails can be found in topic number 737-29532
- Enablingextended desktop mode and setting the color depth below 16bpp mayresult in the secondary display device failing to redraw properly.Further details can be found in topic number 737-35114
- Agreen or black screen may be displayed when configuring MCE to ATSCmode. Further information may be found in topic number 737-27622
- EnablingBOB de-interlacing may result in a green line being noticed on thebottom of the playback window when playing a 1080i clip. Furtherdetails can be found in topic number 737-35895
- Playinga Blu-ray DVD title may result in corruption being noticed when usingcertain display resolutions such as 1360×768, 1360×1024, or 1600×1200.Further details can be found in topic number 737-35896
- Enablingclone mode followed by switching to extended desktop mode may result inthe Windows Vista (64 bit version) failing to respond. Further detailscan be found in topic number 737-35766
- Restoringthe factory defaults for the Catalyst™ Control Center may result in theCatalyst™ Control Center title bar intermittently failing to be redrawnwhen dragging the interface around the Windows Vista (64 bit version)desktop
- Videoplayback may occasionally appear shaky or jerky when playing a recordedvideo file using a Webcam to record and Quickplay to playback the file
- Playinga Blu-ray DVD title may result in corruption being intermittentlynoticed when using certain display resolutions such as 1360×768,1360×1024, or 1600×1200
- Enablingextended desktop mode and setting the color depth below 16bpp mayoccasionally result in the secondary display device failing to redrawproperly
- Playingcertain Blu-Ray DVD titles using the Cyberlink player mayintermittently result in color corruption being noticed. This issue maybe experienced under the Windows Vista (32 bit version) operatingsystem when using an ATI Radeon™ HD 4870 X2 product
Known Issues Under the Windows XP Operating System
Thefollowing section provides a summary of open issues that may beexperienced under the Windows XP operating system in the latest versionof Catalyst™. These include:
- Lord of the Rings: Return of the King: Flickering may intermittently be noticed when changing chapters
- Stranglehold:Setting the in-game options to 1024×768, and Decals off mayoccasionally result in the game failing to respond after a short periodof game play
- Connectinga CRT display device as the secondary display and playing a Blu-ray DVDusing a Cyberlink player may result in no video playback if extendeddesktop mode is enabled. Further details can be found in topic number737-30587
- Connectinga Dual Link Panel to the on-board DVI port, followed by hot plugging aDVI display to the add-on DVI card may result in clone mode becomingdisabled when rebooting the machine and the secondary display deviceremaining blank. Further details can be found in topic number 737-31166
- Settingthe display resolution to 1440×900 or lower may result in corruptionbeing noticed when playing a DVD title. Further details can be found intopic number 737-31168
- Thedisplay may be come corrupted with 4 bit color depth after hotunplugging the rotated primary HDMI/DFP display. Further details can befound in topic number 737-35116
- Connectinga Dual Link Panel to the on-board DVI port, followed by hot plugging aDVI display to the add-on DVI card may result clone mode becomingdisabled when rebooting the machine and the secondary display deviceremaining blank. Further details can be found in topic number 737-35117
- Catalyst™Control Center: Configuring a system with multi-adapters may result inan error message being displayed when running the Test Custom Clocks737-29953
- Enablingpull down detection in the Catalyst™ Control Center may result inflickering being noticed when playing a video clip using the CyberlinkPowerDVD player. Further details can be found in topic number 737-35121
- Connectinga CRT display device as the secondary display and playing a Blu-ray DVDusing a Cyberlink player may result in no video playback if extendeddesktop mode is enabled. Further details can be found in topic number737-35122
- Settingthe display mode to 1080p50 and rebooting the system may intermittentlyresult in the display mode failing to be retained
- Avivo Video color settings may occasionally fail to be applied in the video when played using PowerDVD
- Enablingpull down detection in the Catalyst™ Control Center may intermittentlyresult in flickering being noticed when playing a video clip using theCyberlink PowerDVD player. Further details can be found in topic number737-35121
Known Issues Under the Windows XP Professional x64 Edition
Thefollowing section provides a summary of open issues that may beexperienced under the Windows XP Professional x64 Edition operatingsystem in the latest version of Catalyst™. These include:
- Runningan OpenGL application and attempting to rotate the desktop may resultin corruption being noticed. Further details can be found in topicnumber 737-29556
- Momentaryscreen flicker may intermittently be noticed when launching or exitinga D3D or OpenGL application. This issue may be experienced on systemsrunning the Windows XP Professional x64 Edition operating system andcontaining an ATI Radeon™ HD 4870 X2 product
For further information and general help on software driver installation, game issues, and more, visit ATI Customer Care.
Installing the Catalyst™ Vista Software Driver
Installation information can be found at: ati.amd.com
AMD Customer Care
TheAMD Customer Care website provides a high level of technical supportand ease of navigation. The AMD Customer Care website provides accurateand up-to-date product support for optimum usability and performance.Technical issues are categorized and personalized to enhance userexperience. The AMD Customer Care Website can be found at: support.ati.com
To view a known issue or find troubleshooting information, do the following:
- Go to ati.amd.com. The AMD home page is displayed.
- Click on Support & Drivers. The AMD Support and Drivers web page is displayed.
- In the left hand pane, select Graphics Support.
- Inthe top right corner of the Graphics Support page, enter the topicnumber or a general description of the issue you are experiencingwithin the search field.
- In the Select Site field, select ATI.
- Click the SEARCH symbol.
The information requested (if available) is displayed.Catalyst™ Crew Driver Feedback
Thisdriver release incorporates suggestions received through the Catalyst™CREW Driver Feedback program. To provide us with your feedback, visit: Catalyst™ Crew Driver Feedback.
<a href="http://ati.amd.com/"> Advanced Micro Devices Inc.</a><br /> http://ati.amd.com<br /> Voice: (905) 882-2600<br /> Fax: (905) 882-2620<br />
Author Details
Linus Lee aka y1sh former ATiMania.com sysop during 2001-2012.
DevSecOps Engineer who likes tech, science, programming and solving problems 🙂