NVIDIA ForceWare 67.02 (HL2)

NVIDIA has discreetly released on line the new ForceWare, the 67.02 (not yet WHQL certified ). You can download the download the drivers here.

Here is the list of new features included to these drivers:

Added new Performance and Quality option-Negative LOD bias:

This control lets the user manually set negative LOD bias to "clamp" for applications that automatically enable anisotropic filtering. Applications sometimes use negative LOD bias to sharpen texture filtering. This sharpens the stationary image but introduces aliasing when the scene is in motion. Because anisotropic filtering provides texture sharpening without unwanted aliasing, it is desirable to clamp LOD bias when anisotropic filtering is enabled. When the user enables anisotropic filtering through the control panel, the control is automatically set to "Clamp".

Unified Compiler optimizations

Bugs Fixed:

- GeForce FX 5950 Ultra: Operating system failure with the game Flat Out.
- GeForce FX 5950 Ultra, Windows XP: Shadows in the game Angel of Darkness render incorrectly in a room with two light sources.
- GeForce 6600, Windows XP Media Center: HDTV 1080i display corruption occurs when underscan mode is enabled.
- GeForce FX 5200, Windows XP: Character model shading in the game Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness is rendered red instead of gray
- GeForce 6 series, Windows XP Media Center 2005: Live TV audio stutters when viewed in Clone mode using the NVTV Tuner card.
- GeForce 6800, windows XP: Video smears once you toggle WMP10 to fullscreen mode while playing a WMV HD clip

It also has to be said that the main reason of this driver release is the release of Half Life 2. In practice, we noticed performances gains of 8% with the GeForce 6800 GT in 1600*1200 with anti aliasing 4x and anisotropic filtering (from 51 to 55 fps).