“New” Beta NVidia Forceware for Final Fantasy XI
After reading a BG forum post and a bit of testing, the “new” beta drivers that NVidia has hidden away that directly target Final Fantasy XI (FFXI) players work GREAT!
You can download them (the 169.17 version, the .28 version doesn’t apply to FFXI) from ftp://download.nvidia.com/downloads/nZone/drivers/.
For direct download links:
12/05/2007 08:17PM 169.17 FFXI Beta Web Updates.doc
11/28/2007 12:34PM 169.17_forceware_winvista_32bit_international_beta.exe
11/28/2007 12:37PM 169.17_forceware_winvista_64bit_international_beta.exe
11/28/2007 12:32PM 169.17_forceware_winxp64_international_beta.exe
11/28/2007 12:30PM 169.17_forceware_winxp_32bit_international_beta.exe
I’ve tested in Campaign battles, Besieged, Whitegate with 390+ players, and camping Fafnir and Aspid and run steady 28–29.4 FPS at all times. Other drivers could get me up to those max FPS raitings, but these can do something better—they can render 29.4 FPS even in busy zones and 50+ character models.
I’m not sure when NVidia plans to wrap these updates into the main driver branch, so use them at your own risk if you play other games. I use them to play EQ2 and haven’t encountered any issues. For reference, I’m using the 64–bit Vista drivers. Good luck!
Ramblings of the Sleepy... 
Unfortunately this driver does not work for my card. I have a NVIDIA GeForce 8400M G. Any word on updating laptop mobile vid cards? This lag is killing me.
@Chris-
It’ll work if you can hack the .inf file and add a line in there for your make/model. Download some mobile drivers that do work, look at the .inf file and the line that specifies your card, and copy it into the .inf file for the FFXI drivers. From what I’ve heard on our linkshell forums, that’s worked like a champ for everyone.
i’ve used the updated .inf file and installed the .17 driver on my XP machine, as soon as I go to crowded areas (whitegate, dynamis), framerate drops to about 12-15FPS
any ideas?
@whisperwind_shiva-
What type of video card?
Depending on your video card and system performance, 12-15FPS in a Dynamis run is probably pretty good. We ran Dynamis-Xarcabard a week or so ago with a crazy number of people looking for clears and I noticed my normal 30 FPS drop down to about 17-20 on a GeForce 8800 GTX 768MB card. Compared to it dropping to 1-2 before, I’m pretty happy with 17-20. I’ve never had any trouble in WG or Lower Jeuno.
Hey David,
I’m running a GeForce 8800 GTS 512, on a quad core (2.4GhZ) system with 4 GB of RAM.
The only reason why I’m really complaining is that a friend of mine has more/less the same setup, except he has 2GB of RAM and an 8600 card, and he says he gets max FPS everywhere he goes.
Heh, yeah, I’ve heard that. System specs mean nothing to FFXI unfortunately… since it is basically a direct PS2 port. Yeah, the 8800’s are overkill and should just scream. The only other thing I can think of is resolution that you play in and whether or not you use the FFXI-approved Windower or “other tools” for your windowing needs (or just play full screen). 🙂
I play at 2560×1900 with my background resolution set to double that (fake anti-alias ftw) If I set it down, things go SUPER speed, but I prefer the clarity and accept a bit of performance hit for that. The FFXI-approved windower (that came out with WoTG) is HORRID on performance. Full screen or “other ways” works just fine.
I know there are those in my shell who play at like 800×600 and get “30fps everywhere they go, even dynamis”… but.. 800×600 should be illegal. Heh, maybe compare resolutions and background resolutions with your friend, set them the same for both of you, and compare. 🙂
“other tools” ftw 😉
I tried it at many resolutions actually, 1024×768, up to 1490×900, surprisingly the FPS was all the same. I used whitegate as the test setup, and in front of the MH it never dipped below 13fps, but never went above 18 either. anywhere else is a full 29 though.
I will try comparing settings though, perhaps that is it. thanks ^^
Hey David would you know of any issues specifically with the 8800 GT/GTS/GTX series? apparently the problem is with the 8X00 video card users but I find the people using the 8600 series are having far less issues than those using the 8800 series cards.
I’ve decided to just bite the bullet and bear through the odd times my FPS drops below 20 (most likely going to be in dynamis only or when I’m passing through the AH/MH, and pray that SE finds some sort of universal fix so people like me can stop b1tching and moaning >.>
@whisperwind_shiva-
I haven’t heard anything specific to the cards, but I’ve heard from shellmates that there are a few individuals that the drivers simply don’t work for (in Vista at least)–even though they have 8800 series cards.
As far as “fixing” it, I doubt it. They failed in their attempt to upgrade to DX9 with WoTG, which is why the SquareEnix Windower sucks so bad, and they can’t provide an ETA on upgrading. They’re stuck trying to keep the playing field EXACT between PS2, XBox, and PC… so we’re stuck dealing with the lowest common denominator–the PS2.
If SE ever gives up the PS2 (which, they won’t because their sales show PS2 to still be the highest used platform), then we might have a chance for improvement. Until then, FFXI is going to keep falling behind EQ2 and the other games out there. 😦
It kills me that I can log into EQ2 and see 50-60 FPS and resize the window at my whim without any burden on my computer.
I have a problem with the 169.17 drivers. After installation it works fine, but when i rebooted my pc, the menu screen in game will not display correctly. I’m using Vista with Nvidia GeForce 8600 GS card. What could be the problem?
Okay, I have a 8400M gs Card I tried changing the .inf file and accomplished, but for some reason I keep getting a message which says I am not running Windows Vista and clearly I know I am running Windows Vista 32 bit because I bought the computer myself. If anyone has a resolution to this problem that would be great.
Thank you
I am new to Final Fantasy XI and am having a very strange issue. When I go through the play online viewer and launch final fantasy , the video intro seems to pause every 1.5 sec or so then continues. When the title screen loads it does the same pauses every 1.5 secs or so. When in the game it also does that even though everything is rendered correctly, I can move about, but every step and a half it stops and skips a few frames.
The funny thing is that the benchmark 3 software works correctly giving me a score of over 5000.
I can not seem to find an answer to this issue anywhere even though I have seen other posts, maybe you can help , as it is a shame to stop playing it for such a silly reason.
I am runing the following system with the 169.17 drivers on my EVGA8800GT OC card:
——————
System Information
——————
Time of this report: 3/27/2008, 15:23:21
Machine name: R3D3Y3
Operating System: Windows Vista™ Ultimate (6.0, Build 6001) Service Pack 1 (6001.longhorn_rtm.080118-1840)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: System manufacturer
System Model: System Product Name
BIOS: Phoenix – AwardBIOS v6.00PG
Processor: Intel(R) Pentium(R) D CPU 3.20GHz (2 CPUs), ~3.2GHz
Memory: 2046MB RAM
Page File: 2433MB used, 1903MB available
Windows Dir: C:\Windows
DirectX Version: DirectX 10
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
DxDiag Version: 6.00.6001.18000 64bit Unicode
—————
Display Devices
—————
Card name: NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT
Manufacturer: NVIDIA
Chip type: GeForce 8800 GT
DAC type: Integrated RAMDAC
Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0611&SUBSYS_C8023842&REV_A2
Display Memory: 1246 MB
Dedicated Memory: 479 MB
Shared Memory: 767 MB
Current Mode: 1920 x 1200 (32 bit) (60Hz)
Monitor: SyncMaster 245B/245BW(Digital)
Driver Name: nvd3dum,nvd3dumx.dll,nvwgf2um,nvwgf2umx.dll
Driver Version: 7.15.0011.6917 (English)
DDI Version: 10
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
Driver Date/Size: 11/27/2007 12:52:00, 5263360 bytes
WHQL Logo’d: No
WHQL Date Stamp: None
Device Identifier: {D7B71E3E-4551-11CF-F740-09E802C2CA35}
Vendor ID: 0x10DE
Device ID: 0x0611
SubSys ID: 0xC8023842
Revision ID: 0x00A2
Revision ID: 0x00A2
@Swit – Can you post a screenshot? Be interested to see how it’s rendering. Out of everyone in our shell, I’ve never heard of a rendering snafu with the drivers.
@Mohamed-
A few others have reported this, but, so far, they’ve all been running software that has network interface intercepts, such as VPN solutions and Microsoft’s Virtual PC. Cisco’s AnyConnect works just fine (for me), but Virtual PC had to go and that fixed my problem. Are you running any of these softwares?
David
Thanks for you response. The only application I had that could possibly do that is Logmein software, which I have now removed, however it has made no difference, as I still get the same pause every 1.5 secs. I am at a bit of a loss now, since my other games , EVE-Online and Guild Wars run smoothly with 2 to 3 times the frame rates I get in Final Fantasy.
I am starting to think it might be a playonline viewer problem, as I have noticed that after I click on final fantasy xi, the scrolling ticker with final fantasy news also pauses.
I am greatful for the your input so far and for any other suggestions you might have.
@Mohamed –
That’s actually EXACTLY how my system ran when I had Microsoft Virtual PC installed–hmm. For me, though, EQ2 dragged to a halt as well. Here’s the original post I had back when I found the error:
I ended up “finding” the problem by performing a clean install of my computer (Vista x64 Ultimate), installing my Video drivers (because FFXI wouldn’t installed without ActiveX), then installing FFXI and testing–it worked at that point. I then installed an application, then checked FFXI, rinse/repeat. Finally, when I hit VPC and it started to stagger–I uninstalled VPC and it worked like a champ. I haven’t used it since (unfortunately).
It’s a lot of work, but worth a shot if you have some time and really want to nail down the culprit.
Hi David,
you probably thought I had given up, no, I worked day and night till I finally came up with the solution.
I took another aproach to the problem, I began thinking it must be a network issue, based on what other people on forums where saying. There were lots of red herring like quad core single processor affinity, windows index search issue etc..
The fix in my case was to go into network connections, then properties of the network connection using the internet, in my case was wifi connection, then in the networking tab untick “QoS Packet Scheduler” then okay it. You can do this while your in the screen on Playonline Viewer screen to Play final fantasy where you have that little ticker along the bottom that jitters just like it does in the game. As soon as the QoS Packet Scheduler is unticked and okayed, you notice no stutter, from then on it stutter free Final Fantasy XI.
I am running the 8800GT and Vista Ultimate 64bit, with 8GB ram no problem now.
I thought I would share my solution, since it really is a pain. long live Vista 64bit 😦
@Mohamed-
OH! That’s very interesting–I would have never even dinked with QoS since I have that disabled on my router. VERY interesting; thanks so much for sharing the information!
David and mohammed BROS! I can’t help it and i just needed to thank you guys on this forum! its been almost a week I’ve been researching about on how to run this FFxi on vista 64bit with 7300gt graphics card and with wireless router on with this freakin stutter problem … and this forum SOLVED IT! …. I too disabled the Qos Packet Scheduler and I was like HELLSYAH! …. it worked now and runs smoothly ….
hope that theres no other conflict on disabling the Qos tho…… will pls do post if theres any on my side thanks again!
hthorray
Hello~! ^^
I’m actually wondering if you might be willing to give me some advice regarding a problem I’m having that’s very similar, if not the same, as Mohamed’s.
I made a post about it in the NVidia forums, right here: http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=21265&st=520&p=377268&#entry377268
It’s posted under “Beeli”, near the bottom of the page.
I’d be very grateful for any help you could give. :3 Thank you~!
Hi David,
I know this is somewhat of an old post of yours but …
First I want to say thank you for all your helpful posts and replies.
I recently got a new laptop that has vista 64bit and nvidia geforce 8800m GTS.
I am getting the really bad lag that everyone has talked about. I’ve tried putting all of my setting on as low as they can go and that didn’t work. I tried taking the “QoS Packet Scheduler” off and that didn’t seem to work. Then I tried to upgrade my driver by how you explained above, editing the .inf file to put the model my card is in and I still get the message saying that it can’t find any compatible cards. I can’t believe nvidia doesn’t make any drivers for there laptop cards. =/
Any ideas?
Thank you,
Wynter.
@Wynter-
Let me ask tonight; we just had someone in our shell with that same card on a laptop and he got it working with the .inf editing. Maybe there was a certain key he changed.
That would be great! Thank you so much.
hi.
my fps go so low in areas with alot of ppl. that was usual in my old pc but sound like imposible in my new pc. i know about new drivers but looks the same in my computer. (sorry my english)
intel core 2 quad 2.40gh
4,00GB ram
Geforce 8600 gs
op Windows vista home
i don’t know how can i have problems with this pc and FFXI (i hate windows vista)
thank you.
SE just announced compatible drivers and what works. I’m using the new ones (175.16) listed for 8800 GTX’s in the post below and it works perfectly–30 FPS in WG, 25 FPS camping in Dragon’s Aery.
http://www.playonline.com/ff11us/envi/win/win01.html?pageID=win
yes, i try that drivers too like my last hope, but finaly the results was the same…. i dont know what to do ;_; maybe need a good configuration on nvidia panel or change somthing in the OS….
thanks
Your system is beefier than mine with the exception of the video card (8800 gtx vs. 8600 gs). I erased my NVidia settings when I installed the new 175.16 drivers and didn’t configure anything–it just worked.
One suggestion would be to NOT use the SquareEnix Windower… it… well, it’s horrid. Do your testing in standard full-screen mode.
i use windower 3.4 and did’t touch any nvidia panel control setting
what your resolution?
2560×1600; windowed at 2500×1400
i think that maybe is a problem for all “quad” computer i have a friend with same problem and geforece 8800 the only similar think we has is quad pc and nvidia graphic card
Hmm, try swapping the pol.exe affinity to a single CPU? If the quad is the problem, maybe that’d help. I just have a Core 2 X6800 Extreme, no quads.
i dont know how do that lol ;_;
Start POL > Open up task manager, right-click the pol.exe task, and set affinity. 🙂
i think is the same but i see somthing new, looks like the game is get more fps with SE pol. and less with windower
is there any way of getting these drivers working on a Gforce 9600 GT? it doesnt let me install the drivers ; ;
@Xe – I don’t think so. Have you tried using the drivers that SE just announced?
http://www.playonline.com/ff11us/envi/win/win01.html?pageID=win
Right at the top, it has:
Windows Vista Windows 2000/XP
GeForce 9600 GT OK (175.16) OK (175.16)
You can find the 175.16 drivers on NVidia’s home page. 175.16’s are what I’m running right now on an 8800 GTX and they’re BEAUTIFUL.
Any way for this to work on a 8800 Geforce M/GO?
i really hate 3-4 FPS camping and in whitegate
@Jon-
According to shellmates, if you take the indicator ID from one of the Mobile Go driver sets for your card and add it into the POL recommended drivers (175.16)
GeForce 8800 Series OK (175.16) OK (175.16)
then it should work. That’s how our “mobile” players are getting it going.
im having trouble installing them new drivers im on a GeForce 8400 GS with windows vista (32 bit) and basicly when ever i try to install them the computer basically says it does not recognize the video card so i donno what to do now guess im going to have to get used to a low framerate ><
hmmm sorry for sounding dumb not that big of a computer person and i do like the help but i dont understand what your saying. i looked around in my system and didnt see to much.
btw i hate my laptop ill be camping something and getting 2-3 FPS its freaken horrible. i cant claim shit so i just get on my PS2 and claim nidogg with 100+ ppl there lol
@Crazyjay-
Are you talking about the drivers that POL recommends? I can’t access POL’s site from here (firewalls), but is the 8400 GS listed? If so, did you grab the right version (32-bit vs. 64-bit)? Seems odd that it won’t recognize it if it’s the right drivers.
Also, is it mobile or desktop? An 8400 GS mobile (if it exists) would be different than an 8400 GS desktop.
@Jon-
Getting the drivers to work on the Mobile platform is anything but easy. From what I have heard from my linkshell, it requires:
1. Downloading “working” 8800 Mobile drivers.
2. Editing the nv*.inf file and finding the indicator ID that identifies YOUR mobile video card model.
3. Downloading the POL 8800 desktop drivers.
4. Editing the nv*.inf file and adding the indicator ID in so that the desktop drivers will recognize your mobile video card.
5. Installing the desktop drivers.
It’s not easy, but it does work–we have 6 or 7 that are running their mobile video cards at the full 30FPS–even at Niddy with 100+ people.
Remember though–due to SE’s.. uhh, lack of judgment(?), the computer will rarely outperform the PS2 due to limiters placed on the computer code (so computers don’t have an advantage over the PS2 players). Unfortunately, over time, those limiters (along with newer hardware) has given PS2 players the advantage.
wow thats nuts i love SE i really do… not. thanks for the info man ill be doing the drivers now. thanks man
Lushen(Caitsith)
hmmmm well it is hard im still trying to get this to work but its not working for me lol.
Another thing my linkshell mate was trying to help me out with this as well and hes stumped as well, we both cant find 8800M GTS driver updates…
i want to thank you man. been really stressed out lately and well i sat down read it clearly and figured out how to do it. id like to confirm that i am running at 29.4FPS everywhere thank for all your help.
Hi David. I’m having problems with the 8400M GS card.
I’ve done everything else I can to try and get it working, disabled this, that and the other, and everything inbetween that I’ve been recomended.
I have a HP pavillion dv2899ea notebook. my current driver version is apparantly 156.65 according to NVIDIA’s annalysis on the driver download site, and it directs me to HP to download the correct driver. After going to the HP site, and finding my way through, I tumbled upon the driver it reccomends I download, 175.19. I downloaded this, and it gives me a “could not locate any drivers that are compatible with your current hardware” message.
I also downloaded the 169.17 driver you have listed in the topic and am met with the same error message. The fact that the one HP tells me to download for my laptop doesn’t work has me worried enough.
I find myself now running in circles, getting more and more frustrated. Any help you can give would be great, thanks.
Hey, I have an Nvidia GeForce 8700 GT card [64 bit windows vista]
, and not a single patch has worked. Whenever I try it says that it cannot locate any drivers compatible with my hardware. This is really a problem since I get terrible lag no matter what I do. The only drivers that I’ve gotten to work at all are the ones from my manufacturers web site, but none of the patches for FFXI or forceware or anything of that sort will work. Any kind of help would be greatly appreciated, since the lag I get in any sort of populated area is disgusting.
@Rich-
Read a few comments up; there are special “steps” to get the 175.19 drivers working on a Mobile platform. Unfortunately NVidia seems to treat the Mobile Go drivers as the evil stepchildren.
@Bryan-
Is this a Mobile GeForce card? If so, as I mentioned to Rich, there are some steps you need to take to modify the 175.19 drivers to work on a mobile platform.
If not mobile, have you tried the “official” drivers that SE noted a few months ago? I haven’t heard of anyone (on here or online) having issues with these drivers if they’re grabbing the correct drivers for their chipset.
http://www.playonline.com/ff11us/envi/win/win01.html?pageID=win
Its on a laptop, so I guess thats mobile? I dont know, I have an ASUS G2SG gaming laptop, I really dont know how to properly modify the drivers, the inf file is mildly confusing to me since Im not that computer saavy.
David,
Ok my problem has had me at my witts end for 3 days now. I’m running Windows Vista Home Premium 64 bit with an Nvidia 9600 graphics card. I can run ffxi just fine in regular mode but if i use Windower 3.4 from Windower.net to run it here’s what happens. Pol launches in windowed enabled mode, when i get to the screen and click it the pol window closes ffxi window opens, then crashes. I recieve a message that forces me to close the program….. any ideas would be greatly appreciated.
@Jason-
Windower has to run as an Admin to work correctly, might try that if you haven’t. Past that… I haven’t heard of anyone having troubles like you’re describing. 😦
yeah i’ave even turned UAC off, run in administrator mode…. i can’t figure it out.
if your running on a laptop, if you disbale Infrared reciever via device manager it will fix that crash problem with windower it helped myself.
Hey i have been using windows vista lately when i got my new laptop and i have a NVIDIA 8400 video card and ive been trying to keep up with what is being discussed in this site but most of it goes over my head ^^;
Whenever i’m by myself in the game everything runs smooth but the second i come in contact with 5 or more players or npc’s the framerate goes soo slow and everything is hard to control.
I tried changing the display settings and resolution around but soo far nothing works, and from what i heard it most likely is my video card.
Is there anything i can do to make vista run ffxi properly with my video card or anything else to help me T-T Please reply, thank you ^.^
So I just want to say I have an HP laptop with a GeForce 8600M GS videocard. I went to Laptop Video 2 Go (search google), got the latest vista driver, and now my game runs like the butter on the chin of a fat woman eating fried chicken.
Hi,
I have just bought FFXI, i am unable to play it yet. When i go to create a player as it is about to load up the characters it freezes.
Has anyone got any tips to fix this?
I have vista to
hello all~
I have been having the same problem as everyone else with the 8800 GTS card. Its on a laptop 64-bit vista /// 8800M GTS 512MB card /// 4GB RAM /// 1.83GHz duo core. if anyone knows any solutions and could possibly explain to me in depth how to fix would greatly appreciate it. i honestly do not know much about pcs just thought i’d give the heads up
btw to david~
i read one of your earlier posts about the whole mobile thing is supposed to work about having to edit the .inf file. what im having a hard time with is that i have no idea what the file is and how to find it.
Having the same juttering problem every few seconds. Have tried turning off QoS, uninstalled LogMeIn and VMWare. Still the problem persists. I am on Vista 64bit with a quad core processor and using an ATI 4870 HD card.
Any help is much appreciated!
Mohamed, I could kiss you man! I tried to return to FFXI after four years and have been at wits end trying to get this stutter to end and I just happen to see this blog and read your comment about unchecking the QoS. By gosh, it’s the only thing that worked! Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Ok, Just purchased Asus g50 (laptop), w/ 512 mb nvidia 9800m GS. Everything seems to work fine except ffxi. The game runs but i get really bad fps. I’ve installed the newest of drivers and still no go. Even tried to QoS packet thing and i still get major lag running thru town or even just standing still. Is there a trick to getting this card to work with this game? Works on other games just fine ;/
Yeah im having the same problem understanding the ini file part changing, any guide or pointers would be appreciated
Im having the same problem of understanding how to change the ini file, ive tried to understand from your post, but i guess im not that computer freindly ;;
Sorry any help would be greatly appreciated