AMD Catalyst 8.7 Linux Driver Released

[grantek]

I don't see anything obviously wrong with any of the files, but those mtrr's still seem really wrong. I would probably try a fresh install of Ubuntu 32-bit, get the 8.7 download, then use the installer to build a package for Ubuntu and try that.

OK, I installed Ubuntu 8.04 32-bit on a new partition, didn't update any packages (although I would have got the latest build-essential etc. packages as part of the driver install process), built the fglrx packages, and they seemed to install OK. When I rebooted, compiz was enabled and seemed to work fine, but I disabled it before doing too much testing.
Loaded up ET:QW, and it got into the game OK. There were some moments of video tearing, but the main problem was occasionally the screen would freeze, alternating between two frames (half-torn as well) with the game still running fine. Pressing esc to get to the menu then resuming the game occasionally fixed it, but after a while it got to the point where even that wasn't working. What did work was looking directly up or down - looking horizontal caused the graphics to freeze, but I could run around with no problems looking at the ground or sky.

I also tried installing TrackMania Nations Forever in the latest Wine, but got full-screen corruption when loading the laucher window. I checked the mtrrs, and they were perfectly sane - one at base 0x0, size 2047MiB, one at base 2047MiB, size 1MiB. I tried adding an uncachable range at 0xd000000 size 256MiB, then one more at 0xe000000 size 256MiB (I have a 512MB card, but lspci etc. shows a range from 0xd000000-0xdfffffff), but neither step helped.

What was odd, was what happened when I rebooted into my normal 64-bit system - I checked the mtrrs, and they were perfectly normal, just like in the 32-bit install (before I had something like 15-terabyte ranges that were mostly overlapping). It didn't seem to have any effect on my problems in the 64-bit install though. I don't remember if I tried it with a cold boot or just a warm reboot, but I definitely don't understand enough about how the mtrrs are detected.

Things I'm thinking I should try:
- play with user limits (someone mentioned it helped wine screen corruption)
- take a closer look at adding a card-specific non-cachable mtrr
- other apps, both in and out of Wine/Cedega
- uninstalling fglrx, updating the OS, reinstalling fglrx
- fresh install of Ubuntu 64-bit on the spare partition
- fresh install of CentOS, since Red Hat is supposed to be supported

Any other ideas? If anyone wants some specific testing done, let me know

If I can get my problems sorted in Ubuntu32 I'll be much happier with a dual-boot system with two Ubuntus than Ubuntu and Windows

[legume]

compiz was enabled and seemed to work fine, but I disabled it before doing too much testing.

Loaded up ET:QW, and it got into the game OK. There were some moments of video tearing, but the main problem was occasionally the screen would freeze, alternating between two frames

This probably won't help at all, but -

make sure echo $LIBGL_ALWAYS_INDIRECT doesn't say 1 after disabling compiz as if it does it can really hurt game performance.

Once I got ETQW into a state where it would display corrupt graphics on loading some maps - the solution was to delete ~/.etqwcl, so you could try back up / delete that.

I don't think you are alone in having problems with wine games - nexuiz may be a better test.

[reavertm]

looking horizontal caused the graphics to freeze, but I could run around with no problems looking at the ground or sky.

same problem hereon ati x1950 pro agp with 8.6 and 8.7 catalyst

[mega_mike]

same problem hereon ati x1950 pro agp with 8.6 and 8.7 catalyst

Hey, I have a Mobility x1400 and I was wondering if this issue affects your system too:

After about 6 hours of usage your cpu usage spikes to around 50% (i have a dual core) with gnome-system monitor and xorg processes being marked as culprits. Memory usage is at 27%

Trying to restart the x server results in a system hard lock once this behavior is exhibited.

[grantek]

make sure echo $LIBGL_ALWAYS_INDIRECT doesn't say 1 after disabling compiz as if it does it can really hurt game performance.

Once I got ETQW into a state where it would display corrupt graphics on loading some maps - the solution was to delete ~/.etqwcl, so you could try back up / delete that.

I don't think you are alone in having problems with wine games - nexuiz may be a better test.

$LIBGL_ALWAYS_INDIRECT wasn't set, and changing the stack ulimit to unlimited didn't help ETQW or wine. After reading the thread again, I believe bridgman now that the mtrrs aren't a problem with 2GB memory (the graphics card sits out at past the 3GB mark, and I believe if it isn't explicitly set it defaults to uncachable).

I downloaded Nexuiz and played it for a while with no problems - great fun, I hadn't bothered with it before since I already have Quake 3 [Team] Arena, and tend to play Unreal Tournament as the "old game" at the LAN parties I go to

Playing ETQW again, it seemed to be a deterministic thing, depending on where I am in the map and/or what I'm looking at (ie. there's specific zones on the map where the screen freezing happens). I didn't have too much time to think about what was happening in the graphics, but it didn't happen so much indoors, or when looking out over vast spaces. The only theory I have is that it's to do with the number of polygons being rendered / processed - I don't know how modern games do polygon-culling on the Z axis, but I know they use lower-quality models at long distances, so the "vast open spaces" situation is probably similar to indoors.

Next up I'll try some similar games with Linux clients (Quake 4, Doom 3), and try patching the system to the latest kernel/libraries to see if that breaks anything.

[enzobelmont]

There is no direct 2.6.26 support, but you find the patch here:

http://phorogit.com/index.php?p=fglr...da869c529cafe4

applied Kano solution but now my screen blinks every 90 seconds...

any idea?

PS: using gentoo ebuild and patch from post on 7th page

[grantek]

Ah ha! - I updated my 32-bit install to the latest kernel/libraries etc., and all was fine, so I figured I was looking in the wrong place.

I went back to the start, trying to figure out what was different about my setup, and found it - a workaround from my previous hardware. I had an nVidia card and was suffering the black window bug, so I'd added a configuration option somewhere to force indirect rendering. I disabled that, and now compiz works in my 64-bit system (I don't know how I lived without it )

I still get segfaults trying to play my native linux games, but I've got my 32-bit install for that. Seems to always get a laugh when I tell people about my "dual-boot setup for gaming":
"oh, so you boot into winxp for games"
"nah, I have Ubuntu as my main system, and boot into Ubuntu when I want to play Quake Wars "

[Inkaine]

ok, on gigabyte's 780 mobo i don't get the black screen anymore, the system jest hangs! quit outsourcing to india, seriously!

Well, apparently maybe you should go to India? What you report could be caused by ANYTHING... I also got "gigabyte's 780 mobo" (there are 4 different one's atm, I got the GA-M78G-DS3H) - and 8.7 has been the best release driver for me so far. On my Radeon 3200 I used to have the reported crashes at the ends of videos until the 8.5 release. With 8.6 however I had segmentation faults trying to run opengl, so I had been using 8.5 until recently. Now switching to the latest release both are working for me. More stable (and IMO faster) 2D and working 3D. Thank you, AMD!

Now if just Wine worked ... I had the iPixel error, some people had been reporting, until 8.6. This is now gone but I get the "famous" screen corruption. Strangely I got that with a fullscreen opengl app also. Switching to window mode fixed it there (even an immediate in game switch). I wonder if that worked with wine too? Anyone knows how to prevent windows games from starting up fullscreen?

[mirak63]

why isn't video tearing with xv not a top priority ?

[roberth]

why isn't video tearing with xv not a top priority ?

I ask my self the same question.