ATI Rage 128 – Picking The Right Driver

Introduction

This guide will assist you in chosing the right driver for your Rage 128 card. Since Windows 98SE and (if you so desire) ME are the only operating systems suitable for gaming with these cards, I will solely focus on Win9x drivers. The following tests and recommendations apply to all Rage 128 cards, that are built by ATI (those have a 109-xxxxx-xx on the PCB). If you have a third party card with a Rage 128 chip (most likely some "Ultra" card), this guide is probably not going to help you. These cards can be a pain to install and it is impossible to give general tips for these - other than to get another card maybe. Using these isn't worth your time in most cases anyway, as 3rd party cards are all low cost models with a 64-bit memory interface.

Performance Numbers

Let's start with possibly the most interesting part for all of you. For the test, I used my Slot 1 benchmarking system, which contains the following parts and software:

• Intel Pentum III 850 MHz
• Asus P3B-F
• 256MB SD-RAM, 100 MHz, CL2 2-2-X
• Windows 98SE, DirectX 8.1

I used Unreal for testing the Direct3D performance and Quake 2 for OpenGL. Both benchmarks were run at 1024x768 in both 16-bit and 32-bit modes, as these are the most relevant resolutions for these cards. Furthermore, I did the benchmarks with both a Rage 128 GL as well as a Rage 128 Pro card to have seperate listings for each generation of chips.

I tested every official driver version that I have knowledge of for each chip. As both generations use the same drivers, the GL is obviously supported by every version. The Pro is supported from version 4.11.6263 and up.

All charts are sorted by the 32-bit results.

Rage 128 GL: Unreal 225f (Castle FlyBy)

Rage 128 GL: Quake 2 3.20 (demo1.dm2)

Rage 128 Pro: Unreal 225f (Castle FlyBy)

Rage 128 Pro: Quake 2 3.20 (demo1.dm2)

Summary: Performance

From a performance standpoint, I think it should become pretty obvious by looking at the graphs, that version 4.12.6292 is the best driver to pick. It is the top performing driver for both chips in both benchmarks. What comes on top of that, is that it is also one of the most recent when looking at the driver history of the Rage 128 series. Therefore, many important bugfixes are already included, thus compatibility should be pretty good in games.

What also stands out, is that the performance took a notable hit with the most recent 4.13.7XXX drivers, especially in Direct3D.

A quick word on "the zeroes" in the graphs above: The latest beta driver is the only driver version I found, that is not compatible with the first Rage 128 generation, represented by the Rage 128 GL in this test. Which I think is not a huge problem, since it's a very slow driver, that has nothing going for it anyway.

The other zero to discuss here is the 32-bit Unreal result for the Rage 128 GL with driver version 4.12.6269. I'll cover this driver in more detail below, but just be informed that it has broken visuals with both chips in Unreal and would freeze in every run with the Rage 128 GL in 32-bit mode.

Driver Overview

4.11.6060 *Interesting For Older D3D Games*

Fixes/Changes

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Known Issues (Games)

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Experience

This is a pretty interesting driver, as its visual output differs the most from that of all the later drivers. It has a visible grain to it and the rendering has a rather "rough" appeal. In some cases, this is subjectively a visual upgrade, but especially the OpenGL rendering really looks rather poor compared to later drivers. There are also no controls for Direct3D and OpenGL features in the display properties, so you have to use an external tweak utility to turn off VSync, for example.

Half Life Opposing Forces Demo (OpenGL); 4.11.6060 on the left, 4.12.6292 on the right. Crops enlarged by 300%. Have a look at the wall and floor textures, the newer driver provides a notably better visual quality.

Moreover, there are of course some of issues in this early developement stage of the driver, which even I came across with my very limited set of games and benchmarks used. For example, in Shadows of the Empire, the whole screen is just blue throughout the benchmark, there are texture errors in the adventure scene of 3DMark2000 and also some 3D features seem to be not working correctly, as two of the 3DMark99max image quality tests ("addiditive alpha" and "multiplicative alpha") show incorrect results.

3DMark99max image quality tests. The respective images to the left show the reference images, to the right is the rendering output of driver version 4.11.6060

But it's not all bad. I didn't come across a game that wouldn't at least start and the majority of games were definitely playable with this driver. Just be prepared for some rendering errors and some performance problems in certain games (Unreal for example has a very unsteady framerate).

Conclusion

Interesting driver for early Direct3D games because it provides a rough rendering output that may suit well for certain titles. However, expect bad performance in newer Direct3D games. Also, don't use it for OpenGL games, as the performance and visual quality is poor compared to newer driver versions.

4.11.6076

Fixes/Changes

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Known Issues (Games)

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Experience

Nothing special to this driver version. Unfortunately, there are still no changelogs provided in regards of fixed issues. The 32-bit rendering speed is definitely improved and the 3DMark99max image qualiy tests render correctly now. The image quality in OpenGL is also improved and comes closer to that of later driver versions. However, the Shadows of the Empire benchmark still displays a blue screen throughout the whole run and 3DMark2000 still looks the same as well.

Controls for Direct3D and OpenGL are now integrated into the driver properties, so VSync can be turned off without additional software or registry hacks. This driver also "introduced" the ugly stipple pattern in 16-bit alpha blending, but is also the first version where dithering can be turned off with external tweak utilities to get rid of this problem.

Alpha Blending comparison: driver 4.11.6060 to the left, version 4.11.6076 with stock settings in the middle and version 4.11.6076 with disabled dithering on the right. Image is scaled by 200%.

Conclusion

No hidden gem - there are lots of other options to pick from.

4.11.6114

Fixes/Changes

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Known Issues (Games)

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Experience

ATI still doesn't include changelogs in the driver release notes. The obvious change is the support for the All-In-Wonder 128, but just the 16MB version of it. There is an explicit warning not to use it with the 32MB version of the card:

*WARNING: Do NOT install this driver on 32MB versions of the ALL-IN-WONDER 128.

Overall performance remains largely unchanged, also the issues in Shadows of the Empire persist. However, the adventure scene in 3DMark2000 now renders correctly. Rendering quality-wise this driver is a slight downgrade compared to the previous one, at least when OpenGL is considered. We get visible color banding in the Half-Life Opposing Forces test scene, as can be seen in the example below.

Visible step up in quality from .6060 to .6076. The latter looks very similar to later drivers, represented by version 6292 on the right. Version 4.11.6114 has notably worse image quality compared to its predecessor. Image is scaled by 150%.

Conclusion

Another driver without anything going for it. No need to try this version out.

4.11.6216 *Image Quality Pick*

Fixes/Changes

• fixes TV OUT being randomly enabled at boot, even with no TV attached

Known Issues (Games)

• Half-Life - numbers and some symbols flicker or corrupt in OpenGL mode
• Homeworld - Nebula effect is solid multicolored surface in OpenGL mode
• Homeworld - sections of textures missing or flicker in Direct3D mode
• Jane's USAF - terrain textures overlap areas of the cockpit image
• Messiah Compatibility Test - randomly exits to desktop
• Messiah Compatibility Test - some textures appear black or corrupted
• Moto Racer II - hangs at the start of a race
• Need for Speed High Stakes - dash board is dark
• Revenant - main character's body becomes transparent or flickers on and off
• Special Ops II: Green Berets - display is shades of grey and most objects are invisible

Experience

This is one of the most interesting drivers for the first generation of cards. Firstly, this one provides the best texture filtering quality of all Rage 128 series drivers. I have a 300% scaled crop of the upper left corner of 3DMark2000's helicopter scene below for comparison. Please note how much more detail the trees have in the older driver, the tree in the foreground looks more like a shadow with the newer driver version.

The second noticeable difference in the above comparison is the fog. Which brings us to another advantage of this driver: it is the last version that supports disabling dithering (which is the case in the above example). Ultimately, this means you get some of the best image quality possible for Rage 128 cards in 16-bit alpha blending situations like fog and smoke, for instance.

The next example below is taken from the same 3DMark2000 scene and showcases the difference even better, just look at the blue orb or the shadow of the truck. The superior filtering of the older driver is also well visible on the ground textures.

To be fair, the 3DMark2000 helicopter scene isn't actually rendered completely correctly, the helicopter itself is missing its textures. In exchange, the 3DMark adventure scene now displays correctly. Yay!

There is also an issue in 3DMark2001SE, which has "a little more black than necessary" in the lobby scene screenshot. But the latter benchmark (in the SE version) was released as late as February 2002, so this seems forgiveable. And in the end, these are just synthetical benchmarks.

The image quality in OpenGL received some futher improvement and is identical to that of all subsequent driver versions. Moreover, and most importantly, all the essential retro-gaming features, such as table fog and paletted textures, are supported. In fact, this is the latest driver to support paletted textures, aside from the final reference driver 4.13.7192 (which has broken support for table fog).

The only downsides of this driver is the missing support for second generation cards and the overall performance, which is one of the worst of all versions. Seems like image quality has its price.

Conclusion

4.11.6263 *Image Quality Pick*

Fixes/Changes

• fixes ATI Overlay brightness control having no effect
• fixes an issue where Device Manager shows exclamation marks beside ATITuneP and ATIXBar under Windows 98 SE, AIW128
• fixes fog effect not being visible on "City" benchmark in Final Reality 1.01
• fixes sections of textures missing or flickering in Direct3D mode in Homeworld
• fixes hangs accessing some web pages at 32bpp under Windows 98 SE in Internet Explorer 5.0
• fixes button images on web pages having thick black borders in Internet Explorer 5.0
• fixes terrain textures overlaping areas of the cockpit image in Jane's USAF
• fixes Messiah Compatibility Test randomly exiting to the desktop
• fixes some textures appearing black or corrupted in Messiah Compatibility Test
• fixes Moto Racer II hanging at the start of a race
• fixes remnants of the mouse pointer being left on the display
• fixes the dash board being dark Need for Speed High Stakes
• fixes the main character's body becoming transparent or flickering in Revenant
• fixes Special Ops II: Green Berets displaying in shades of gray and most objects being invisible
• fixes SiSoft Sandra v99.4.5.0 going to black screen attempting to collect graphics details
• fixes toolbar icons being corrupt or blank in some applications
• fixes TV OUT being enabled randomly at boot, even when no TV attached

Known Issues (Games)

• Homeworld - Nebula effect is solid multicolored surface in OpenGL mode
• Myth II: Soulblighter - screen goes white after using ALT-TAB
• Need For Speed: High Stakes - hesitates when running in 32bpp mode

Experience

Yet another driver with very good image quality, certainly the best for second generation cards. It is the first version to support the Rage 128 Pro and the driver team obviously put big effort into it. It includes a long list of bugfixes and provides the best out-of-the-box 16-bit alpha blending quality. On a still picture, most of the time it doesn't quite reach the quality of older driver versions with dithering disabled in this regard, but in-game it looks just as good.

There is also a slight return of a grainier look in alpha blending situations, which sometimes even looks superior to preceding versions with dithering set to disabled. One example of this would be Viper Racing, where the smoke looks fantastic in version 4.11.6263.

Images scaled by 200%. Some grain of the first driver (.6060) returns in version 4.11.6263, but the overall image quality is much better. The smoke looks just as good or even better than in version 4.11.6216. Later drivers like 4.12.6292 on the right have an ugly stipple pattern in 16-bit alpha blending. On the other hand, the bilinear filter works better on distant objects with the latter driver, as can be seen on the "START" flag and the brown tree in the background, for example.

A further striking example of the driver's excellent 16-bit alpha blending quality is the lobby scene of 3DMark2001SE, where the gun's muzzle flash looks nice and stipple-free in contrast to later drivers. The reflection on the sunglasses is also still rendered correctly, version 4.12.6277 and up render these completely black for some reason.

Conclusion

This is a solid overall driver with a great combination of image quality and performance. Which is especially true for the Rage 128 Pro, where this is the second-best performing driver overall.

A little downer for some people might be the removed support for paletted textures, but other than that, this is unquestionably a driver worth trying out.

All in all, unless you specifically need the latter feature or perhaps bugfixes found in later versions, this driver is a very good choice.

4.12.6269

Fixes/Changes

• fixes hangs when accessing stock quote/portfolio features in America OnLine 4.0
• fixes system hangs when displaying "flash" message in BackWeb
• fixes the nebula effect being a solid multicolored surface in OpenGL mode in Homeworld
• fixes GPF in ATI2DRAA.DRV error when using IPhone
• fixes an issue where the monitor would lose sync when attempting to adjust size or position
• fixes "MS Office Shortcut Bar caused a general protection fault in module ATI2DRAA.DRV" error
• fixes an issue when running Myth II: Soulblighter where the screen would go white after using ALT-TAB
• fixes general protection fault in module ATI2DRAA.DRV error when using Ulead Photo Explorer 4.2

Known Issues (Games)

• F-22 Lightning 3 - red, green, and blue lines cover the display
• Falcon 4.0 - black or brown patches on landscape
• Need For Speed: High Stakes - hesitates when running in 32bpp mode
• Star Wars Episode 1: Racer - engine smoke is a solid block
• Full screen DOS games out of sync on some systems

Experience

This driver has lots of issues with games and benchmarks, even the official list of "known issues" is rather long in this version. Seems like ATI had some troubles porting their driver code to DirectX 7. On first generation Rage 128 cards, the Unreal castle flyby timedemo in 32-bit froze every single time I tested it. With the Pro I got results, but performance was the worst of all drivers. Moreover, both generations of cards do not display the main menu, it is covered by a broken texture mess.

It seems to do ok with older titles, as Viper Racing and Shadows of the Empire had no visual glitches (the latter was missing fog though, as in any other driver version). On the plus side, we have working table fog in Thief II, as well as paletted textures in Final Fantasy XIII. But performance isn't great overall and the driver tends to have problems with more modern games and benchmarks, as visible in the following examples of Unreal, the Max Payne Demo, as well as 3DMark 2000 and 2001SE:

Conclusion

This driver has nothing going for it. It is very likely to experience issues in games with this driver and even if not - it is still one of the worst performing drivers overall. I even wonder how in the world this is an official release driver, this seems more like an experimental beta release.

4.12.6277

Fixes/Changes

• fixes system hangs running the ATI TV Player on systems using the VIA APOLLO MVP3 chipset
• fixes black or brown patches appearing on the landscape in Falcon 4.0
• fixes engine smoke being a solid block in Star Wars Episode 1: Racer
• fixes constant display updates/flickering in Windows 95 which occurred with driver version 4.12.6269

Known Issues (Games)

• Daikatana - hangs going to menu to save game
• Homeworld - hangs at black screen or invalid page fault in ATIO9XAA.dll launching mission in OpenGL mode
• Need For Speed: High Stakes - hesitates when running in 32bpp mode
• Soldier of Fortune - hangs at black screen or invalid page fault in ATIO9XAA.dll after dieing or completing a level
• Full screen DOS games out of sync on some systems

Experience

There isn't much I could tell you about this driver. I didn't experience any issues with the games and benchmarks I used. Performance is also among the fastest, but slightly worse for the Pro than in version 4.11.6263, which also has better image quality. The Rage 128 GL performs about identical with both driver versions.

Conclusion

All in all, there is nothing wrong with this driver. The problem is, there is a driver (which we'll get to in a second), which is faster and more recent and there is a slightly older driver, which has better image quality (4.11.6263). So overall, there is really no reason to use this driver version.

4.12.6292 *Performance Pick*

Fixes/Changes

• fixes hangs when going to the menu to save games in Daikatana
• fixes hangs at black screens or invalid page faults in ATIO9XAA.dll launching mission in OpenGL mode in Homeworld
• fixes hangs at black screens or invalid page faults in ATIO9XAA.dll after dieing or completing a level in Soldier of Fortune

Known Issues (Games)

• Full screen DOS games out of sync on some systems

Experience

If you are looking for the best performing driver for any Rage 128 card, look no further. This final DirectX 7 driver is the fastest driver for the whole Rage 128 series of cards. It has good image quality, working table fog support and should include all important bugfixes for "relevant" games for theses cards.

Quality-wise the older 4.11.6263 has the advantage of smooth, unstippled alpha blending. On the other hand, texture filtering seems to have improved for some games in version 4.12.6292.

Both aspects can be compared in Viper Racing:

• The smoke looks better in version 4.11.6263 and shows a stipple pattern in version 4.12.6292
• The better filter of the newer driver is seen best on the increased detail of the trees and rocks in the background and also looking at the road and the "START" flag

The crops above are scaled by 200% for easier comparison. The image below is left at 100%, so you can compare the overall impression of the rendering outputs.

Conclusion

This is a really good driver. If you can live with the stippled alpha blending, this one is the best combination of performance and image quality. Especially the 32-bit performance of the Rage 128 pro in Unreal is a notable step up from any other driver version. While the Rage 128 GL doesn't benefit as much overall, it is still the fastest driver for the first Rage 128 generation, too.

The only missing feature relevant for some older games is paletted textures. But if you want to get the latter working on a Rage 128 Pro card, the only way is using the latest reference driver (which has some other disadvantages). Alternatively, you can use a first generation card with older driver versions up to 4.11.6216.

Other than that, I can only recommend this driver. It is my general go-to driver for any Rage 128 series card, unless I am after a specific aspect of an older driver for certain scenarios.

4.13.7078

Fixes/Changes

• fixes an issue which causes "No One Lives Forever" to exit to the desktop

Known Issues (Games)

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Experience

ATI's first DirectX 8 driver mostly brought decreased performance. Not only compared to its preceding version, but also in the big picture.

Second-generation cards are affected the most, losing performance in both Direct3D and OpenGL. First generation cards generally suffer a smaller overall performance hit, but 32-bit performance in Unreal is about the worst of any driver version, surpassed only by the Rage 128 GL's release driver!

On top of that, table fog support is also broken in this driver. It can be enabled in the driver properties, but doesn't work correctly. Below is an example of Thief 2, showing the output of version 4.12.6292 compared to this driver:

Conclusion

Do not use this driver. Image quality is identical to preceding versions, table fog is broken, performance is bad (especially for 2nd gen cards).

4.13.7192

Fixes/Changes

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Known Issues (Games)

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Experience

Unfortunately, ATI didn't provide changelogs for this final driver version, so I can't list any "official" bugfixes or changes for this driver. What I can report, is that this final reference driver brings back support for paletted textures. If you want to use the latter feature with a second generation card, this driver is the only one supporting it.

With a first generation card, you might be better off with an earlier driver, as the performance of this driver is just as bad in comparison as it was in the previous version. Furthermore, it shares the same broken table fog implementation, that got "introduced" in version 4.13.7078.

Conclusion

Performance is still lacking, as it was in the previous version. Table fog is also still broken. We get back paletted textures, which makes it an potentially interesting driver to people who want to use the latter feature on a Rage 128 Pro card. For everyone else, I recommend using an older driver.

Summary / Recommendations

First Generation (Rage 128 GL/VR)

Since all driver versions support the first generation of cards, there is a huge selection of usable drivers. If you are after a very polished driver with overall good image quality and/or the best performance (or purely benchmarking), your choice has to be version 4.12.6292.

But if you are using a first-gen Rage 128 card, you will probably mostly play early D3D / OpenGL titles, so there might be some better choices available.

Version 4.11.6060
This one has a unique, raw look that might suit very old 3D titles better, with its grainy, dirty rendering. Performance is notably lower than with later drivers and it may have bugs, but early titles should run just fine.

Version 4.11.6216
Table fog and paletted textures are working, dithering can be disabled for nice-looking alpha blending. Texture filtering is the best among all driver versions. Performance is lower than with most other drivers, but should suffice for older titles.

Version 4.11.6263
One of the overall fastest drivers, provides very good image quality, including stipple-free alpha blending. Paletted textures don't work anymore, table fog does.