nVidia puts early driver releases behind a registration wall.

[ninelven]

Even the previous version required it... but you could bypass it by giving it fake credentials. Sadly, that no longer works.

 

[Razor1]

hmm weird I didn't get that last night when updating. The day before updated GFE too.

 

[Deleted member 2197]

I'm using win7 and don't have to give any credentials .... are u downloading and installing software manually or through GFE?

 

[Razor1]

I'm doing it through GFE. Win 10,

Actually ninelven do you have the beta updates checked off for GFE and GF driver?

 

[ninelven]

I'm not sure, and I can no longer tell you because I can't see the settings.... I think yes.

 

[Razor1]

That's probably what it is, cause if those are checked GFE will update automatically to the latest beta.

 

[Miksu]

It's for drivers. A first time for drivers.

First time for GPU drivers but Razer did this with their mouse drivers few years back. You can imagine my amusement when I couldn't install mouse drivers because Razer's server was down...

For my next mouse the only actual requirement was "not Razer".

 

[Deleted member 2197]

Meh .... to me it's no different that having to register at forums before you post. Email address/verification and your done. DOB (any fictious date will do) is required if you opt-in to receive game materials.

 

[Grall]

Razer did this with their mouse drivers few years back.

They're still doing it. I returned a Razer mouse (and even made a thread so I could gripe about it) just a few weeks back.

Never buying anything I have to sign in to use. Luckily, GFE isn't mandatory - I prefer if software keeps a hands-off attitude towards the settings of my games - but it's still a shitty thing to do.

 

[Florin]

Might be headed towards a platform of sorts. Maybe share some games between devices, offer some Twitch-like Shadowplay video hosting space or access your home GPU from a mobile device etc. I could see them co-opting the PC Master Race thing and extending TWIMTBP and the Geforce Experience to not just any PC Gamer but an Nvidia Gamer. Team Green and proud.

Companies love the idea of that kind of direct engagement. Consumers not so much unless there's freebies.

We'll see where it goes. If it's a success then AMD will try it too no doubt (and suck at it).

 

[Sinistar]

I wonder why a certain group of people are allowed to turn threads that have nothing to do with AMD into AMD sucks threads.

We'll see where it goes. If it's a success then AMD will try it too no doubt (and suck at it).

 

[Malo]

Weird, I've never been prompted by GFE to register for anything. I see a Log in button but it's never prompted me to do so. I also have it check for Beta drivers, but not beta GFE. I really wouldn't care if I had to register either, just my opinion though.

 

[CarstenS]

So, it's the GFE beta, not early drivers as indicated in thread title?

 

[BRiT]

So, it's the GFE beta, not early drivers as indicated in thread title?

Perhaps Nvidia changed how their program is implimented now that they've had over 6 months of complaints?

The thread title is based off the initial news article reporting on this in October 2015 that is linked in the original post. The title of that article is "Nvidia: future game-ready drivers will require registration" @ http://www.extremetech.com/gaming/2...-game-ready-drivers-will-require-registration

Here is the main information from that article:

The company is making several new changes to the application today, and announcing a major change to how it distributes driver updates that could have far-reaching implications.

Future “Game-Ready” drivers will require registration

By far the biggest announcement today is a fundamental change to how Nvidia distributes its driver updates. One of the differences between Teams Red and Green is that Nvidia has often been faster off the block when it comes to Day 1 support for features like SLI. While DirectX 12 is expected to help level this difference, since it moves support for multi-GPU configurations to the developer (and allows for fewer driver-side optimizations in general), early driver support for DX11 remains important. Up until now, those game-ready drivers have been available to anyone with a GeForce card. Going forward, that’s going to change.


In the future, only GeForce owners who both install GeForce Experience and register the service by providing Nvidia with an email address will have access to Game-Ready driver downloads, which will be pushed exclusively through GFE. That doesn’t mean you won’t be able to download a driver from Nvidia.com — it just means that the drivers on the website will be updated periodically, not on a per-release basis. Nvidia has stated that it will push a new driver through its website at least once a quarter, but it hasn’t ironed out the exact timing details yet.

Nvidia was quick to reassure us that users could choose to stop providing an email address to GeForce Experience and opt-out of the program, but noted that you’ll lose access to Game-Ready drivers if you do. As a reviewer, I agree that the burden of providing the company with an email address is minimal and GeForce Experience is a well-behaved, useful utility. The only thing I dislike about it is that you have to have it installed in order to use Nvidia’s Shield controller with a PC, even if you’re connecting with a USB cable. Asinine as that is, it impacts a small number of people.

 

[Deleted member 2197]

It all depends on how them implement the process ... it will be interesting to see if Game-Ready drivers will still be available for manual download from sites like Guru3D, Geforce.com and even the Nvidia developer forums.

 

[CSI PC]

I am not sure how accurate this is from Guru3D, but it is recent news (6th July).

Nvidia today issues a new and sizable update to GeForce experience, what everyone dreaded slowly is now going into effect. To obtain certain features you'll need to register and login with your account name and password.

Not everything is tied towards the forced login, but if you like to use features like Ansel, ShadowPlay, Game Stream and driver updates you'll need to login with your personalized account or a Google account. The new update requires you to log in so that it can store your game preferences (and probably a lot of other undisclosed stuff if not now then later) onto the cloud.

http://www.guru3d.com/news_story/nv...nce_accounts_and_passwords_now_mandatory.html

Cheers

 

[CarstenS]

Perhaps Nvidia changed how their program is implimented now that they've had over 6 months of complaints?

No need for snarcastic remarks, i just wanted to make sure i got it right. Because registration has been mandatory for AMD's Raptr from the beginning as well and somehow this seems to be evil only in green - which struck me odd.

 

[BRiT]

No need for snarcastic remarks, i just wanted to make sure i got it right. Because registration has been mandatory for AMD's Raptr from the beginning as well and somehow this seems to be evil only in green - which struck me odd.

Oh, that wasn't sarcasm at all. I was just pondering maybe they revised things since last year.

I'm trying to sort it all out as well myself since I now have a system that isn't running integrated Intel Graphics. I didn't get basic drivers beyond what Windows 10 detected installed until last night. I still have yet to get Steam Games reloaded or other new titles installed. The Win10 drivers were a few minor level revisions behind what the 'Game Ready' versions is. I installed the GeForce Experience app and let it upgrade to 368.69. It hasn't prompted me to login at all, yet. Then again I haven't tried to use any of the fancy features like Game Optimization, Game Stream, ShadowPlay, or Ansel. I don't know if any of those trigger a login prompt.

So far the Nvidia Drivers requiring a Login seems to be a Unicorn, as it doesn't exist or I haven't encountered it yet.

I hadn't heard about Raptr either; I don't know if it's cause most didn't see value in it so never bothered to install anything beyond the basic drivers.

 

[CarstenS]

Raptr basically is AMDs community-driven profile tool for games. You can accumulate points there as well which you can redeem fot prices (in-game as well as physical). While of course the latter requires some form of registration, the former does not.

 

[Deleted member 2197]

Hmmm, could it be we are in for another title change since AMD's Raptr has had a "registration wall" all along?