Anyone here SLI with CFS3?

[OldCrow]

Hey all, I just added a 2nd 880GTX to my system to finally SLI my system and had huge amounts of problems with CFS3 crashing along with some other games including BF2, FSX, and RFactor.

After many many attempts to fix it, the 5th Display Driver I tried ended up fixing it for the most part. Although, i'm still getting some weird texture problems..it seems to be fixed for now.

Does anyone her SLI this sim? If so,
1...what Display Driver version are you using?
2...what SLI mode works best for you?

Any other info would be greatly appreciated.

[popsaka]

Was everything working smoothly w/ all sliders on 5 when ya had just the one card?

It seems I heard somewhere pulling the link helps w/ backward compatability... (seems dumb ta me tho')

[OldCrow]

Yeah it was smooth almost all the time. Sometimes too many aircraft or airfields and factories could cause some stuttering.

I'm now able to use the "Insane Rings"(Terrain and Scenery at approx. 7 on sliders) mod which is really an improvement to the terrain.

[popsaka]

I'm jealous!... Its kinda a trip how technology is catching up to 2002 CFS3, tho'!

[OldCrow]

I'm jealous!... Its kinda a trip how technology is catching up to 2002 CFS3, tho'!
Yeah it is. CFS3 is a pretty inefficent game engine, but it has a boatload of potential to look a lot better than it did. At the time it came out, hardly any PCs out there could run it a full settings.

[rouge34rtw]

Old Crow, I don't have a pair in SLI yet (working on it though), but my XFX 9800GTX 512Mb GPU runs like a raped ape with Forceware version 185.20 for Vista X64. I will be updating to 185.66 this morning....The 185.20 include the PhysX 8.0.xxx drivers, ambient occlusion adjustment, and they support 6, 7, 8, 9, and 200 series nVidia GPUs. This version made a huge improvement in my visuals and frame rates and has been running rock solid for 2 months now... the 185.66 version ( 32bit Vista 185.66 here: http://downloads.guru3d.com/Forceware-185.66-Vista---32-bit-Beta-download-2237.html and 64bit Vista 185.66 here: http://downloads.guru3d.com/Forceware-185.66-Vista---64-bit-Beta-download-2236.html ) includes PhysX drivers 9.09.0203, all the goodies from 185.20, and enough extra performance improvements that the big dogs at guru3d.com are strongly reccomending this beta driver....it supports SLI in any combination you want to try as well..... Make sure you get the NFR (nasty file remover) program from the downloads section at guru3d, uninstall your current nVidia drivers, reboot into safe mode, run NFR to remove all the leftover nVidia files (they can cause endless BSODs and poor performance) reboot normally and install the new drivers...
I also use RivaTuner for overclocking the core and memory on my 9800GTX, and nHancer to dial in the 3D settings (AA, Aniso-filter, transparency AA, LOD, mip-maps, texture filter, etc) each of those two applications gives you much more precise control of the options than the nVidia control panel or nTune does...and they explain the options and how to use them....which nTune doesn't do at all......If your 8800s are the ones that use the same G92 core as my 9800 does....you are only running at about 75% of full speed if you leave them at stock clock settings....the G92 overclocks like a wild beast....ecspecially on water cooling....
You might take an hour or two and browse the forums at www.guru3d.com (http://www.guru3d.com) while you are there. You will find info from some of the biggest and best individuals in the 3D community, and from a wide variety of gamers all striving to push their systems to the limit, and squeeze every last 1/2Mhz or 1/2FPS they can get out of it....I learned more there than at every other forum I ever visited online put together.....

Ok, I'm done windbagging now...time for me to update my own drivers, and get some windscreen time in myself...

Watch your six.....or lose it!!!

[rouge34rtw]

I forgot to mention that RivaTuner and nHancer are available in the downloads section of Guru3d.com..... and for any ATI users reading this, or GeForce 4,5,6,7,8,9, and 200 series users....there is a full compliment of driver files, tweaking apps, benchmarks, and more for ATI and nVidia video cards alike.....all freeware, no account needed.....

[ndicki]

Rouge, if you can figure out how all that stuff works!

[rouge34rtw]

What? I haven't figured out how anything works yet.......

By the way....anyone considering the 185.66 forceware drivers I just mentioned should take note that nHancer is not working properly with them yet....I just spent 5 hours reinstalling drivers and nhancer and chasing my tail untill it accidentally started halfway working together....the guy who codes nHancer is working on the fix, and should have it in a few days. untill then....don't install the 185.66 drivers if you want to use nhancer too...its a real battle if you do....

[OldCrow]

I updated my MotherBoard BIOS and am now able to run the latest Nvidia Driver....and it is running amazing now!

Thanks for the advice rouge34rtw, I'll look into those sites a bit more.