ATi Catalyst 8.1 Vista (64-bit)

Download the new Catalyst 8.1 drivers for Windows Vista x86, Windows Vista x64, Windows XP, and Windows XP Pro x64. They offer new OpenGL multiview support and fixes for issues with a number of games, including BioShock, Half-Life 2: Episode Two, F.E.A.R., Oblivion, World In Conflict, Call of Juarez, S.T.A.L.K.E.R., TimeShift, Enemy Territory: QUAKE Wars (albeit version 1.2), and World of Warcraft.

Meanwhile, AMD Customer Care is already offering a version 8.1 hot fix, which addresses issues with AGP cards and offers Crysis DirectX 10 Crossfire performance optimizations.

Highlights of the Catalyst 8.1 Windows release include:

New features

OpenGL: MultiView support

• This release of Catalyst™ introduces MultiView support.  This feature provides for full hardware accelerated OpenGL rendering across multiple graphics adapters setup in an extended desktop display configuration.

Resolved Issue highlights

• Bioshock: Flickering is no longer noticed during the cinematic introduction of the game.
• Half-Life 2: Episode 2: Playing the game on a system containing an ATI Radeon HD 3800 series of product no longer results in the game failing to the desktop when CrossFire™ is enabled.
• F.E.A.R.: A black screen no longer occurs when the display is set to 2048x1536 and the in-game AA option is enabled.
• Lightsmark 2007: Running the benchmark no longer results in the robot character not being drawn properly.
• Oblivion: Task switching between the game and the Windows Vista desktop no longer results in corruption being noticed when AA is enabled.
• Oblivion: Flickering is no longer noticed when first making a move if the in-game settings are set to maximum, CrossFire™ is enabled and AF is set to 16X.
• Oblivion: The game no longer fails and display corruption is no longer noticed when the game is minimized to desktop and then restored.
• World In Conflict: The game no longer fails to the Windows desktop when the display resolution is set to 1280x768 and AF is set to 16X.
• Call of Juarez and Stalker and Timeshift: Launching the games under Windows XP no longer results in intermittent corruption or flashing being noticed.
• Enemy Territories Quake Wars v1.2: Flickering is no longer noticed when enabling Triple Buffering, setting AA to 8X and setting the display resolution to 2560x1600.
• TianJi: Logging into the game no longer results in the function buttons not working and the system setting window failing to open.
• World of Warcraft: Launching two game windows and switching between the game windows on a system with an Apple 30 inch display device no longer results in the game image failing to be drawn properly.
• Google SketchUP: the application no longer fails to launch on systems running Windows XP and containing an ATI Radeon HD 2900 series of product.