I wrote in this thread that I sent message to nVidia customer support and actually heard back from them :) Today I wrote them a reply. Please bear in mind that I am not native English speaker.
Quote:
On Jan 14, 2008 5:48 PM, Nvidia Customer Care <nvidia@mailca.custhelp.com> wrote:
> Thank you for contacting NVIDIA Customer Care.
> I understand from your email, that you have a GeForce 7300 GT
> graphics card and you are having issues with the older games like
> Thief 2.
>
Yes that is true. To be more precise - there are three games based on "Dark engine" (graphics engine: (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Engine) ), namely Thief, Thief 2 and System Shock 2. These games used to run perfectly on older nvidia cards and older drivers (up to FX5x00 series) but unfortunately the newer nvidia card (6,7 and 8 series) and newer drivers are no longer backward compatible with those games. Consequently, it is very hard to play those games at all (they crash while running) or if they run, the graphics quality is very poor, the sky is rendered incorrectly (there is no stars, for example) and color banding is visible on textures. If you want to see comparative screenshots please visit a thread on nvidia forum which I indicated in my original inquiry: (
http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=35500)
The problem is even more pronounced with newer cards (8x00 series) and newer drivers (169.x series). It is virtually impossible to play those games on those new cards. There are many old forgotten games that stop working on newer cards and no one cares about it, but as a matter of fact Thief series and System Shock 2 games have achieved a 'cult' or 'classic' status - they are perceived to be remarkable achievements in gaming and can boast a very strong fanbase to this day ((
http://www.ttlg.com/) is a good example). Those fans are very active and they are voicing their discontent of the current state of affairs far and wide on the Internet. That is why I strongly believe that nVidia should strive to make changes in its drivers that would allow gamers to run the game without problems and graphical anomalies. This way nVidia would show that it cares about its customers and does not forget even about those older games.
> I need additional information in order to suggest you some
> troubleshooting steps:
>
> (1) When did you start experiencing this problem with your NVIDIA
> based cards? Was it working before?
>
The games I mentioned worked on older cards (From Riva TNT to FX5x00) with older drivers used back then. The biggest problems are experienced by owners of 8x00 card. I myself own 8800GT but I temporarily switched to 7300GT because I was unable to run the game at all on 8800GT. I managed to run it on 7300GT (ironically on the exact same drivers that would not run it on 8800GT) but with visual artifacts I described earlier
> (2) Did you add or remove any software or hardware prior to this
> problem?
>
I tried install and run the game on a clean XP install - the result was the same. I strongly believe that the problem lies in changes in technology of nVidia graphic cards that resulted in lack of backward compatibility and also in neglecting to provide this compatibility through drivers.
> (3) Did you try a different graphics card driver?
>
Yes, I tried. It turns out that the newer the drivers, the worse the compatibility. Those games runs better on 163.x drivers but crashes on 169.x drivers.
> (4) Please let us know the name of the game? Are you having
> issues with other games and applications?
>
The name of the game is Thief 2: The Metal Age. Other games that suffer from this problem (based on the same graphics engine mentioned above) are: Thief: The Dark Project and System Shock2
> (5) What is the motherboard model number?
>
Gigabyte P35-DS3 although this problem is most certainly not motherboard related, as evidenced in the thread on nvidia forums. Everybody has this problem in those games, no matter what motherboard they use. The problems lies solely in graphics card and drivers
> (6) Please perform the following steps:
<...>
> e) Once the file has been saved on your hard drive, attach it to this
> support request so that we could review your system configuration.
>
I attached it but unfortunately it will be in Polish, as I am using a Polish Windows XP. But this does not invalidate my problem, because it is universal - it happens across the board and depends on graphics card model and version of drivers.
> Looking forward for your response.
>
I am also looking for your response, I hope that this problem will be taken seriously, investigated and fixed. I have read reports on nvidia forum of people who raised the same problem to nvidia support and they were put on infinite hold - noone ever got back to them about it. I hope this will not take place. I am long time nVidia user and I think nVidia graphics cads are superior to competition. To reinforce my case I provided a link to the petition explaining why those fixes are badly needed. There are also reports from many people stating on which cards and drivers the game works, and on which it does not. I hope you will take time to read it:
(
http://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1644993#post1644993)
I think I can safely say that I am writing on behalf of a large community of Thief fans and nVidia owners unhappy about the current state of affairs.
Looking forward to your reply,
