Nvidia Geforce Drivers Release Announcement thread

An operating system that also contained nvidia drivers.
The reason they are so big is not because of the new features it's because the driver contains a massive case statement (switch in C I believe)
that says :
If game_exe = unrealtournament.exe then
do something
If game_exe = avp.exe then
do something
If game_exe = mohaa.exe then
do something

ect, ect, ect
And every time a new game comes out nvidia optimise for the case statement gets bigger
I am pretty Sure the way NV does things now requires much more Code. All their legacy Code for ogl or pre dx11 essentially is a wrapper, not native calls.
 
Which is the best approach performance wise? Wrapper or native calls?
I think you just have to look at the performance of modern GPUs across vendors in DX9 and OGL games and I think you would see which driver approach does better.

It came a bit up in my recent The Witcher 2 video - the RX 580 performed oddly there. We will be covering it again I think soon though in relation to another video on DXVK. The RX 5700 (XT) apparently performs worse in that game than the RX 580, which is also odd.
 
It came a bit up in my recent The Witcher 2 video - the RX 580 performed oddly there. We will be covering it again I think soon though in relation to another video on DXVK. The RX 5700 (XT) apparently performs worse in that game than the RX 580, which is also odd.
In my experience NVIDIA GPUs tend to do a LOT better in these older games, with better GPU utilization and better fps in general, the difference sometimes amount to almost two folds in favor of NVIDIA (eg, Far Cry 2), AMD GPUs also tend to experience a wiered fps limit in several titles. There was also that incident where some drivers outright refused to launch old titles (but was quickly patched up).
 
TechPowerUp Releases NVCleanstall 1.3.0
February 3, 2020

TechPowerUp today released the latest update to NVCleanstall, our lightweight utility that lets you heavily customize your NVIDIA GeForce software installation, letting you choose not to install a lot more components than what NVIDIA's installer allows. You can disable installation of components you probably don't need, such as telemetry.

Version 1.3.0 introduces the ability to install the NVIDIA Control Panel app from Microsoft Store without needing to log-in with a Microsoft account, for the DCH version of GeForce Software. This is particularly useful for those using the DCH version of GeForce software without wanting to log into Microsoft Store.

https://www.techpowerup.com/263536/techpowerup-releases-nvcleanstall-1-3-0
 
GeForce 442.19 WHQL Game Ready Driver

Version: 442.19 WHQL
Release Date: 2020.2.3
Operating System: Windows 7 64-bit, Windows 8.1 64-bit, Windows 8 64-bit, Windows 10 64-bit
Language: English (UK)
File Size: 528.85 MB

Game Ready for Zombie Army: Dead War 4

The new Game Ready Driver provides the latest performance optimizations, profiles, and bug fixes for Zombie Army: Dead War 4. In addition, this release also provides optimal support for Apex Legends Season 4 and Metro Exodus: Sam’s Story.

Maximum Framerate
In the last Game Ready Driver, we introduced a new Maximum Framerate Setting into the NVIDIA Control Panel which allowed gamers to set the max framerate a 3D application or game can render. With the latest Game Ready Driver, we’ve incorporated community feedback asking for the limits to be extended. As a result, framerate limits can be as low as 20fps and can be raised as high as 1000fps.

Software Module Versions
 nView - 149.77
 HD Audio Driver - 1.3.38.21
 NVIDIA PhysX System Software - 9.19.0218
 GeForce Experience - 3.20.2.34
 CUDA - 10.2
 Standard NVIDIA Control Panel - 8.1.940.0
 DCH NVIDIA Control Panel - 8.1.956.0

Fixed Issues in this Release
 [The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Blood and Wine]: The game may crash when a user reaches a specific cut scene. [2726931]
 [Maxwell GPUs][OpenCL]: SETI@Home shows driver TDR occuring on Maxwell GPUs using OpenCL. [2739609]
 [Call of Duty Modern Warfare]: Streaming of gameplay using OBS will randomly stop. [2743477]
 [Battleye][Low-Latency Mode]: Launching Battleye with NVIDIA Low Latency Mode set to Ultra may cause DWM to reset. [2775906]
 [SLI+G-SYNC Stutter]: User may experience minor stuttering when using NVIDIA SLI in combination with G-SYNC. [2778783]
 [Doom (2016)]: The game crashes when launched on GeForce 600/700 series (Kepler) GPUs [2791124]
 [NVENC]: Memory leak occurs. [2805384]
 [Multiple Apps][SLI][G-SYNC]: Stuttering and drop in frame rate occurs during gameplay with SLI and G-SYNC enabled [200566678]

Windows 7 Issues
 [World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth][DirectX 12]: The game crashes when switched from DirectX 11 to DirectX 12 mode. [200574934]

Windows 10 Issues
 [Mortal Kombat]: The game may randomly crash to the desktop without error [2813996]
 [Zombie Army: Dead War 4][Ansel/Freestyle]: The Ansel & Freestyle tabs are unselectable. [2810884]
 [Zombie Army: Dead War 4][Vulkan][HDR]:Corrupted flickering occurs when in-game HDR is enabled. [200585136] To work around, either disable HDR or use DirectX 12 mode.
 [Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege][Vulkan][G-SYNC]: When playing the game in Vulkan mode with G-SYNC enabled, flickering occurs after switching the game between full-screen and windowed mode.[200578641] To work around, either disable G-SYNC or play using an API other than Vulkan.


Game Ready Driver Release Notes (v442.19)
https://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-uk
 
This is particularly useful for those using the DCH version of GeForce software
Who would be using the dch version?
ps: nvidia's website used to provide 2 versions of the geforce drivers standard and dch, now they provide game ready drivers (standard) and studio drivers
"If you are a content creator who prioritizes stability and quality for creative workflows including video editing, animation, photography, graphic design, and livestreaming, choose Studio Drivers."
are studio drivers the new name for dch ?

ps: noob question does the nvidia control panel thats available on the windows store contain the drivers ?
edit : I dont think so the store says its under 40mb
If it's just the control panel (it looks identical to the standard control panel) whats the point of installing this ?
 
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"If you are a content creator who prioritizes stability and quality for creative workflows including video editing, animation, photography, graphic design, and livestreaming, choose Studio Drivers."
are studio drivers the new name for dch ?
No, just different release cycles, and I believe the driver installer has bundled different components. At the time of writing this, all of Quadro ODE, GRD and SD bundles are the same driver version. (Quadro QNF was forgotten once more.)

If it's just the control panel (it looks identical to the standard control panel) whats the point of installing this ?
There is only DCH now. Control panel is no longer included.

Just for completeness, that's the quadro driver changelog. The same patches/changes are also integrated in the GeForce drivers, just not included in the changelog.

What’s New in Version 440 U5

  • Provides optimal support and bug fixes for the latest Studio applications including Redshift Renderer, Blackmagic DaVinci Resolve, Foundry MODO, and more.
  • Beginning with version 442.19, NVIDIA no longer provides Quadro drivers for Windows 7.
  • Application Profiles
    Added or updated the following application profiles.
    • Adobe (beta variants)
    • Siemens Star-CCM+ apps
    • Siemens Star-CCM+ VR apps
    • VRED - added VREDGo.exe to profile
    • Modo - updated 'Luxology Modo' app profile name to 'Foundry Modo'
    • Modo - enabled "Threaded Optimization"

Fixed Issues in Version 440 U5

  • [Quadro P1000][Notebook][OpenGL quad-buffered stereo]: The screen turns black after enabling quad-buffered stereo.
  • [Creo 6]: Models are not textured properly.
  • [Creo]: The driver crashes while drawing lines using glDrawArrays (GL_LINE_STRIP).
  • [Catia]: The system crashes {error 7 code 3) when using Vulkan-OpenGL interoperability.
  • [DaVinci Resolve Studio]: Shared memory of the non-Display GPU is not flushed when switching Resolve projects multiple times.
  • [Redshift][CUDA]: CUDA memory leak with cuMemHostAlloc/cuMemFreeHost occurs when there is more than one device/context active in the app.
  • [Modo]: The application crashes when monitors are connected to separate GPUs in a dual GPU system.
  • [Optix 6 Denoiser][HDR]: Artifacts appear in HDR mode when tiling is in effect.
  • [Optix][Demand Load] Artifacts appear in non-square, non-mipmapped textures.
  • [RayTracing]: V-Ray intersection artifacts appear when 2D displacement is enabled in a scene.
  • [Quadro RTX/P-series][OpenGL]: Image Copy does not work between different GPUs.
  • [Maya]: The application locks up during clFlush() call when using OpenCL / OpenGL interoperability.
 
Control panel is no longer included.
Hang on your saying the control panel available on the windows store does not contain the control panel. I doubt it contains the drivers since it's less than 40mb in size
so what does it contain?

No, just different release cycles,
So currently there are 3 different types of driver GRD, DCH and STUDIO
 
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Hang on your saying the control panel available on the windows store does not contain the control panel. I doubt it contains the drivers since it's less than 40mb in size
so what does it contain?
No, he meant the control panel isn't included in the DCH driver package.

Who would be using the dch version?
ps: nvidia's website used to provide 2 versions of the geforce drivers standard and dch, now they provide game ready drivers (standard) and studio drivers
"If you are a content creator who prioritizes stability and quality for creative workflows including video editing, animation, photography, graphic design, and livestreaming, choose Studio Drivers."
are studio drivers the new name for dch ?
No, the "standard" Game Ready drivers offered are DCH-drivers. The Studio-drivers are also DCH-drivers, but they include some optimization work towards creative/productive applications the normal consumer gaming oriented GeForce-drivers don't.
The old "standard" drivers are no longer a thing on Windows 10
ps: noob question does the nvidia control panel thats available on the windows store contain the drivers ?
edit : I dont think so the store says its under 40mb
If it's just the control panel (it looks identical to the standard control panel) whats the point of installing this ?
The NVIDIA Control Panel in Windows Store is the one that one is supposed to use with DCH-drivers. Not sure if they automatically download it during driver installation, or are they saving the old control panel (assuming user has it from previous drivers)
 
The NVIDIA Control Panel in Windows Store is the one that one is supposed to use with DCH-drivers. Not sure if they automatically download it during driver installation, or are they saving the old control panel (assuming user has it from previous drivers)
They automatically download it during driver installation. I believe this is a DCH requirement; you can't bundle the control panel with the driver.
 
Developer Beta Driver Downloads
February 17th, 2020


Windows 442.36, Linux 440.58.01

  • New:
  • Fixed:
    • Fixed a regression which caused some Vulkan titles to crash on swapchain recreation. This was known to affect the following Vulkan titles [Linux]:
      • F1 2017
      • Rise of the Tomb Raider
      • DiRT 4
    • Fixed a visual glitch of Vulkan applications when falling out of flipping (such as when doing alt-tab) [Linux]
      • We are still investigating a glitch that reproduces with the GNOME desktop

Windows 442.36

Linux 440.58.01
https://developer.nvidia.com/vulkan-driver
 
GeForce 442.50 WHQL Game Ready Driver

Version: 442.50 WHQL
Release Date: 2020.2.27
Operating System: Windows 7 64-bit, Windows 8.1 64-bit, Windows 8 64-bit
Language: English (US)
File Size: 529.92 MB

Requirement for Obtaining NVIDIA Drivers for Windows 7
Microsoft now provides only SHA-2 signed drivers. If your Windows 7 system is NOT equipped to detect SHA-2, you need to install the SHA-2 update support patches.
For details as well as access to SHA-2 update support patches, see the Microsoft KBA "2019 SHA-2 Code Signing Support requirement for Windows and WSUS".


Game Ready for Apex Legends, Division 2, and ARK
The new Game Ready Driver provides optimal support for Apex Legends: Season 4, The Division 2 – Warlords of New York expansion, and ARK: Genesis Part 1.

New Features and Other Changes
 Added security updates for driver components. See the NVIDIA Security Bulletin 4996 for details.
 VRSS profiles added for the following VR applications to enable VRSS.
• VRChat
• Budget Cuts 2: Mission Insolvency
• The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners
• Doctor Who
• PokerStarsVR


Software Module Versions
 nView - 149.77  HD Audio Driver - 1.3.38.21
 NVIDIA PhysX System Software - 9.19.0218
 GeForce Experience - 3.20.2.34
 CUDA - 10.2
 Standard NVIDIA Control Panel - 8.1.940.0
 DCH NVIDIA Control Panel - 8.1.956.0

Fixed Issues in this Release
 [Apex Legends]: The game may crash with error DXGI_ERROR_DEVICE_HUNG 0x887A0006. [2679551]
 [Mortal Kombat]: The game may randomly crash to the desktop without error [2813996]
 [Zombie Army: Dead War 4][Vulkan][HDR]:Corrupted flickering occurs when in-game HDR is enabled. [200585136]
 [Battleye][Low-Latency Mode]: Launching Battleye with NVIDIA Low Latency Mode set to Ultra may cause DWM to reset. [2834199]
 [Twitch Studio]: The app shows corruption when Image Sharpening is enabled globally from the NVIDIA Control Panel [2811830]
 Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed crashes when playing in a water level. [2826669]
 [Zombie Army: Dead War 4][Vulkan]: Game may flicker when in-game HDR is enabled. [200585136]
 [Red Dead Redemption 2][Vulkan]: Random crashes occur during gameplay on Pascal and older GPUs.[2822927]

Windows 7 Issues
 [World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth][DirectX 12]: The game crashes when switched from DirectX 11 to DirectX 12 mode. [200574934]

Windows 10 Issues
 [Zombie Army: Dead War 4][Ansel/Freestyle]: The Ansel & Freestyle tabs are unselectable. [2810884]
 [Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege][Vulkan][G-SYNC]: When playing the game in Vulkan mode with G-SYNC enabled, flickering occurs after switching the game between full-screen and windowed mode.[200578641]
To work around, either disable G-SYNC or play using an API other than Vulkan.

Game Ready Driver Release Notes (v442.50)
https://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-uk
 
Now I'm confused Ryan Smith said the control panel cant be bundled with the drivers
That's for DCH drivers which is the new package type.
The standard ones still come with the control panel.
Which coincidentally is the main difference between them from a user perspective.

Added security updates for driver components. See the NVIDIA Security Bulletin 4996 for details.
This one is online now: https://nvidia.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/4996
 
GeForce 442.59 WHQL Game Ready Driver

Version: 442.59 WHQL
Release Date: 2020.3.10
Operating System: Windows 7 64-bit, Windows 8.1 64-bit, Windows 8 64-bit
Language: English (UK)
File Size: 528.67 MB

Game Ready for Call of Duty: Warzone
The new Game Ready Driver provides the latest performance optimizations, profiles, and bug fixes for Call of Duty: Warzone.

New Features and Other Changes
 Added security updates for driver components. See the NVIDIA Security Bulletin 4996 for details.
 VRSS profiles added for the following VR applications to enable VRSS.
• VRChat
• Budget Cuts 2: Mission Insolvency
• The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners
• Doctor Who
• PokerStarsVR

Software Module Versions
 nView - 149.77
 HD Audio Driver - 1.3.38.21
 NVIDIA PhysX System Software - 9.19.0218
 GeForce Experience - 3.20.2.34
 CUDA - 10.2
 Standard NVIDIA Control Panel - 8.1.940.0
 DCH NVIDIA Control Panel - 8.1.956.0 What’s New in Version 442

Fixed Issues in this Release
 [NBA 2K20]: The game crashes with some flashing. [200568482]
 [Notebook][VR]: Blue-screen crash occurs when connecting a VR headset to the notebook. [2879605/2867038]
 [Windows 7]: Implemented a check in the installer to verify that the Microsoft SHA2 support patches are installed on the user system. If the patches are not installed, then the driver installation will not continue. This is to prevent potential issues during or after the driver install. [200592190].

Windows 7 Issues
 [Call of Duty - Warzone]: ShadowPlay and Screenshot capture does not work with Windows 7 (200593494)
 [World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth][DirectX 12]: The game crashes when switched from DirectX 11 to DirectX 12 mode. [200574934]

Windows 10 Issues

 [Call of Duty - Warzone]: Freestyle does not work. (200593020)
 [Forza Motorsport 7]: The curb may display a black strip during a race on certain tracks. [2781776]
 [Zombie Army: Dead War 4][Ansel/Freestyle]: The Ansel & Freestyle tabs are unselectable. [2810884]
 [Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege][Vulkan][G-SYNC]: When playing the game in Vulkan mode with G-SYNC enabled, flickering occurs after switching the game between full-screen and windowed mode.[200578641]
To work around, either disable G-SYNC or play using an API other than Vulkan.

Game Ready Driver Release Notes (v442.59)
https://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-uk
 
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