AMD hotfixes Catalyst for Bioshock

Doesn't 'hotfix' mean that it's installable without rebooting?

 

A 97MB hotfix with all the SM2 card's inf's Hmmph...

 

That depends, do you consider a full catalyst update as "installable without rebooting"?

Treat it as a full new driver set, that's what it seems to think it is. I thought it'd just be some little patch too, but it did a full driver re-install on me....even my 550 tv card.

On the plus side, it didn't break anything. Even me TV still works and it can be quite fickle at times about driver changes.

Haven't noticed any difference in the demo, still can't get AA to work no matter what I try.

NOTE: I am a dinosaur who still uses XP, so please bear in mind that this could have very little to do with that new fancy-shmancy OS that M$ put out.

Anyone know how to get a hold of Chuck? I needs to talk to him....

 

Well that was kind of my point. They call it a hotfix which implies that you can 'fix' it whilst 'hot'. Of course I wouldn't consider doing that with a full Catalyst install.

Not tried enabling AA yet, but at 12x10 with everything else set high I'm getting surprisingly smooth performance out of an X1900XT512 + AMD64 3700+ @2.8. That was pre beta/hotfix install so I'm hoping for even more after I give these a go.

So, single core and last gen graphics seem to be faring quite well with UE3 in this incarnation. Far better than Rainbow 6 : Vegas performance-wise, (if that was ever UE3 in the end).

 

I agree why call it a hotfix ,when nV calls it beta drivers...

I mean, I call it VPU and you call it GPU ,sheesh....

It a driver release not a hotfix, AMD PR guys...

 

ATi guys just want to show them selfs as a disciplined run-on-schedule team, not spilling a tons of leaked beta releases.

 

Or could it just "possibly" be that...

Nvidia Drivers contain beta code for things other than "just" Bioshock? Thus being a BETA of things they are working on that aren't in their WHQL driver?

And that AMD/ATI drivers are basically just 7.8 with the hotfix for Bioshock? Or it could be that the hotfix contains the same BETA code as 7.9 cats in which case it'd certainly be a BETA.

I suppose you could use the terms interchangably if you'd like, but it seems fairly clear cut to me.

I swear people now days are far too quick to start pointing fingers, moaning, whining, bitching and complaining.

Regards,
SB

 

A hotfix is a fix for a hot issue. In this case, the hot issue is Bioshock and how well it does or doesn't make AMD's hardware look, with the fix presumably trying to move it from doesn't to does in this case.

Seriously though, hotfixes are that. Fixes. Improves or fixes certain bits of code for a specific purpose, prior to a new release or update because it involves an important fix that users can't wait for. Betas contain unfinished/untested code with new features (that users can't wait for ... ).

 

? It is a hotfix, what part is so hard to understand. It isnt a WHQL set. So its not a "driver release". As for the size, since AMD has taken over, the non Official drivers..(hotfix/beta) are always full to the brim with every choice ATi has, 90% of the time.
"Hotfix" as a non whql driver has been around longer than some posters here have owned there own Computer... since the early 8500/cat 2.1 days.
Newbies... go figure

 

When we release "Beta" drivers (which does happen occasionally) this usually tends to mean that they have been fully internally qualified. The Hotfix drivers here are released in a qualified package, but contain an update to the DirectX porition of the driver.

 

I always thought that hotfixes meant solutions that could be applied without interrupting normal workflow. I've not seen anyone but ATI use this term to describe fixing a 'hot issue', though I'll concede that I'm not aware of everything.

 

Hotfix works great in Bioshock with HD2K based card in DX10, all texture and lighting problems gone, hopefully AMD release hotfix often for blockbuster games when its released

 

I learn something new everyday, and it seemed this thread could use some clarification

Hotfix as defined by our beloved Wikipedia: "A single, cumulative package that includes one or more files that are used to address a problem in a software product (aka. a software bug)."

Wikipedia: Hotfix

Kudus to both AMD and nvidia for getting these out just as the demo arrived.

 

Is it hotfix so I mean it requers previous drivers installed or is simply new pack of drivers?

 

It is a MFking driver. No matter what anyone wants to call it. I personally would call it Daisy, but I don't have a call in this Dave explained above what's the difference between a Hotfix driver and a Beta driver, but it's still a driver package, just like any other. Has ATi ever released any hotfix that was different?

The famous Chuck-patch that everyone was inventing arcane ways of installing(install official driver, then install chuck, then pick your nose and kill a goat etc.) was still a driver package, which you could nicely install without any prior Catalyst install and use. You had to get the CCC separately though(which is not the case here).

 

That describes a fix. I described a hotfix ...

 

Who cares, it works good, Crossfire and single.