AMD Catalyst 11.9 Release Notes 

This article provides information on the latest posting of AMD’s software suite, AMD Catalyst™ 11.9. This particular software suite updates the AMD display driver and the AMD Catalyst™ Control Center / AMD Vision™ Engine Control Center. This unified driver has been updated to provide enhanced level of power, performance, and reliability.

AMD Vision Engine Control Center

 Package Content

 The AMD Catalyst™ software suite 11.9 contains the following: 

Important !

Caution ! 

·         The AMD display driver and the AMD Catalyst™ Control Center / AMD Vision™ Engine Control Center can be downloaded independently of each other. However, for better stability and performance AMD recommends that both components be updated from the same AMD Catalyst™ release.

·         The AMD Catalyst™ Control Center / AMD Vision™ Engine Control Center requires that the Microsoft® .NET Framework SP1 be installed for Windows XP and Windows Vista. Without .NET SP1 installed, the AMD Catalyst™ Control Center / AMD Vision™ Engine Control Center will not launch properly and the user will see an error message.

Notes.

·         When installing the AMD Catalyst™ driver for Windows operating system, the user must be logged on as Administrator or have Administrator rights to complete the installation of the AMD Catalyst™ driver.

·         The Catalyst driver requires Windows 7 Service Pack 1 to be installed.

·         These release notes provide information on the AMD display driver only. For information on the ATI Multimedia Center™, HydraVision™, HydraVision™ Basic Edition, Remote Wonder™, or the Southbridge/IXP driver, please refer to their respective release notes found at: http://support.amd.com/.

·         AMD Eyefinity™ technology gives gamers access to high display resolutions. As pixel count grows, the graphics horsepower required to drive the displays at a reasonable frame rate can increase dramatically. Depending on the game and system configuration, users may notice texture corruption and reduced frame rates when running games in multi-monitor Eyefinity modes.

·         Windows Driver Model (WDM) drivers are no longer bundled in the AMD Catalyst™ software suite. The WDM drivers install bundle can be downloaded independently through the AMD website

 AMD Product Compatibility

 The AMD Catalyst™ driver is compatible with the following AMD products. 

 AMD Mobility Product Family Compatibility

Catalyst™ Mobility is a notebook reference graphics driver with limited support for system vendor specific features. When used with Windows Vista or Windows 7, users may have unwanted experiences.

The Installation Verification Software will prevent driver download on certain notebook products. This is to protect against the installing of drivers that may disable features or functionality provided by the system manufacturer. If unwanted experiences occur while using Catalyst™ Mobility, it is recommended to revert back to the driver provided by your system vendor for your specific platform. Please contact your system vendor for the most recent drivers for your notebook. 

 Compatible Operating Systems:

The latest version of the AMD Catalyst™ software suite is designed to support the following Microsoft Windows platforms: 

• Windows 7 32-bit version
• Windows 7 64-bit version
• Windows Vista 32-bit version
• Windows Vista 64-bit version
• Windows XP Professional
• Windows XP Home Edition
• Windows XP Media Center Edition
• Windows XP Professional x64 Edition 

Highlights of the AMD Catalyst™ 11.9 Windows release includes:

New Features:  

AMD HD3D support enhancement

·         Enables AMD HD3D technology support on DisplayPort panels, such as Samsung 750 and 950 series 3D displays.

·         Enables existing Stereo 3D displays, such as the Viewsonic V3D241wm-LED monitor and 3D projectors.

Resolved Issues for the Windows 7 Operating System: 

This section provides information on resolved known issues in this release of the AMD Catalyst™ 11.9 software suite for Windows 7. These include:

• STALKER – Call of Pripyat no longer hangs randomly when launching a new game or opening a previously saved game.
• Scaling options are now correctly displayed when connecting a Digital monitor to the Display port on some video cards.
• The following games no longer experience random hangs during game loading :
• Call of Duty – Black Ops
• F1 2010
• Dungeon Siege 3
• The following games no longer hang intermittently during gameplay:
• Battlefield  - Bad Company 2
• Borderlands
• Dead Rising 2
• The following games no longer hangs while running the benchmark :
• Serious Sam 2
• Resident Evil 5
• HAWX 2
• HAWX 2 no longer displays random flashing black pixels
• Flashing pixel corruption is no longer experienced while playing F1 2010 and Dirt 2
• The Windows Event Log no longer reports unwanted Distributed DCOM errors.
• Negative Crossfire Scaling is no longer occasionally observed while playing EarthSim 2, Battle – Bad Company 2 , Metro and HAWX
• Video corruption is no longer observed while playing full screen HD WMV format files using PowerDVD with Windows Aero Mode turned off.
• Blank video playback is no longer observed when hardware accelerations is enabled in VLC 1.1.10
• Dawn of War II – Retribution no longer exhibits a black screen when alt-tabbing in and out of the game
• Random display corruption is no longer observed when playing WMV format files using Windows Media Player
• City of Heroes no longer experiences stuttering after excessive use if in-game Anti-Aliasing slider

Resolved Issues for the Windows Vista  Operating System:

This section provides information on resolved known issues in this release of the AMD Catalyst™ 11.9 software suite for Windows Vista. These include:

• The screen no longer goes black on when the Aero Desktop is enabled on some Radeon products.
• Lost Planet 2 no longer randomly crashes when running the benchmark

Resolved Issues for the Windows XP Operating System:

This section provides information on resolved known issues in this release of the AMD Catalyst™ 11.9 software suite for Windows XP. These include:

• Enemy Territory – Quake Wars no longer displays random screen corruption
• Cyberlink PowerDVD no longer hangs when attempting to play a BluRay disc.

Known issues under the Windows 7 operating system:

The following section provides a summary of open issues that may be experienced under the Windows 7 operating system in the latest version of AMD Catalyst™. These include: 

• The display may freeze after playing HD Videos over an extended period of time using Windows Media Center
• Random screen tearing may be observed while playing Portal 2
• Random screen corruption may be observed while playing Wolfenstein in multiplayer mode
• Random corruption may be experienced while playing Enemy Territory – Quake Wars
• Choppy playback may be experienced during playback of interlaced DVD content in full screen mode using PowerDVD 11

 Known Issues under the Windows Vista Operating System:

 The following section provides a summary of open issues that may be experienced under the Windows Vista operating system in the latest version of AMD Catalyst™. These include:

·         Windows Aero options may not be available after installing the driver

Installing the AMD Catalyst™ Software Driver:

For further information and general help on software driver installation, game issues, and more, visit AMD Customer Care.

Installation information can be found at: How to Install Your AMD Product.

AMD Catalyst™  Crew Driver Feedback:

This driver release incorporates suggestions received through the AMD Catalyst™  Crew Driver Feedbac program. To provide us with your feedback, visit Catalyst™ Crew Driver Feedback.