Rage Pro Tweaker Help

Welcome to the Rage Pro Tweaker v1.2 Help

Whats New?
Installation
Uninstalling
How to use
The overclocker
Potential problems
Terms & Conditions of Use

Whats new?

This release has a bug fixed with the overclocker where the .pif file included a wrong path and hence the overclocker may not have worked on quite a few machines.

Also the overclocker page has provisional support for the Rage 128 GL / VR chips. I am unsure about the default clock speeds so I am assuming 100Mhz for RAM and 75Mhz for the Engine until I have a 128 to try it on.

Installation

To install the program simply run install.exe. I would advise using a program like WinZip to extract the files to a temp directory. It is advisable to have a directory path with no long filenames or the installer may prompt you for the location of the files

Should Windows request a disk from your manufacturer, simply use the browse option to go to the directory in which you extracted the install files.

Uninstalling To remove the Rage Pro Tweaker you should do the following 1) Open Display Properties and click the Restore all defaults button. This will reverse any changes made by the program. 2) Close display properties 3) Open the add / remove programs part of control panel and uninstall the Rage Pro Tweaker

How to use

After installation, a new property page should appear on the display properties dialog. This is the Rage Pro Tweaker. The main page consists of a few buttons which allow you to access the different parts of the program.

The 3D button gives you access to the 3D options as below.

Some of the options will only work with specific versions of the drivers. For example, the disable mipmapping option will not work with the DirectX 6 enhanced drivers. The disable wait for v-sync option may cause problems with the OpenGL drivers for GLQuake / Quake II. This does not occur with drivers v5.11 or with the DX6 drivers.

The 5-6-5 colour modes option may cause the background colour of icons on the desktop to be slighly wrong. It may appear very slightly darker than the rest of the desktop. This only occurs when the desktop is not a bitmap.

The OpenGL options dialog has options which let you decide if certain functionality should be supported by the OpenGL drivers

This program also comes with an overclocker. This can be accessed via the overclocking button.

The overclocker

The overclocker containing in this utility allows you to change the speeds of the memory and engine of your graphics card. You can only adjust your primary graphics card, so if you have 2 then only the first will be affected. If you have 2 cards and the 1st is not an ATI card then you may be unable to use this utility on your card. This is because unlike some other cards, the drivers do not have the ability to overclock the card. This utility deals directly with the card itself.

Before using the overclocker you should read rageclk.txt

The first thing you need to do is to identify your card. Your card may be based on one of the following chipsets. mach64, Rage, Rage II, Rage II+, Rage IIC, Rage Pro, Rage Pro Turbo.

If you do not know what type of card you have then you should first look at the drivers you are using. These may give you a clue. To do this you should open display properties and get to the adapter info page. This depends on your OS. Go to the settings tab of the display properties and it should be obvious where to go next

You should get a screen / dialog showing roughly the same infomation as below.

In the above picture I have drawn around the important information. This information shows you which chipset your card has. So the card above has a Rage Pro chip on it. You should probably ignore the actual driver name as it may well be wrong. For example you could install a Rage Pro driver on the Rage II and it will display the driver name as a 3D Rage Pro PCI

This information is needed as each chip uses different speeds. Only the Rage Pro series allow changing of the engine clock as well as the memory speed.

Potential Problems

If you have any problems please do not contact ATi Technical Support. They are busy people who do not want to be bothered with questions about the effects of certain options. If you have a problem then contact me. I will do my best to answer your questions.

This utility includes an overclocker. It is very important to note that the use of the overclocker can damage your hardware! Overclocking carries a risk and it will probably reduce the life of the components in your graphics card. You will be warned before the overclocker is used unless you directly run RageClk.exe. Please read RageClk.txt for more information about the overclocker.

You should only use this utility IF you accept the responsiblity for this and realise that any damage is not the fault of Neil Banfield, anyone who told you about this utility, the web master of the server you downloaded this software from, the company you bought your computer from, or ATI technologies.

Please note that most settings (except overclocking) will require Windows to be restarted before they come into effect

What does the Rage Pro Tweaker actually do?

The Rage Pro Tweaker allows you to alter settings that are hidden in the drivers or change some hardware feature directly (For example overclocking). By adjusting these settings you can tailor the drivers / card to whatever game you are playing.

I have also included some DOS only utilities that let you do some useful things. For example you can turn tv output on and off while in DOS. You can even turn it on and off in batch files. Please see TV.txt for information on the following file
Tv.exe
The above command does not work under Windows 95 or 98. Only it from MS-DOS mode under Windows 95 or 98, from MS-DOS, from DRDOS or some other compatible operating system. Also you must obviously have a TV out function on your card for it to work. The Xpert@Play and the ALL-IN-WONDER Pro both have TV out. The Xpert@Work does NOT have TV output.

You should note that the Rage Pro tweaker automatically applies the changed settings for the clock speeds when Windows starts. If you have changed the values and want to stop this then delete aticlock.ini from your Windows directory and turn off your computer. Next time your computer is powered up it will not be being overclocked.

If you want to stop the utility from being run then delete the following key from your registry (MAKE A BACKUP FIRST) HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run\Rage\"

Or simply choose the option from the overclocking page to stop it auto running on bootup

What about Rage II / II+ users?

This release of the Rage Pro Tweaker does not detect what type of card you have. Some of the 3D options will work, and the overclocker should work. You should ensure you have selected the right mode in the overclocker. To determine the default for your card try opening an dos prompt and running rageclk.exe (in the rage directory) with no parameters. It should display the default speed BUT bewarned it MIGHT be wrong! The opengl drivers do not work on the Rage II or II+ so the opengl options will not work.

You should note that the property page will show 100 & 75 for the defaults BUT this is not correct for any card but the Rage Pro. You should find out your values before using this utility. (NB. I believe the memory on the Rage II is 66 Mhz by default. This COULD be wrong though!)

I will try to ensure that the next release contains all the options from the Rage 2 Tweaker for the Rage II / II+ users. Currently you will have to use the previous release.

What Next?

Well, there are many more options in the drivers which I have not included. I have excluded the 2D options and some 3D ones until I am certain of the effects of them. It is easy to crash your machine by using incorrect options so I need a way to avoid this.

And when the Rage 128 is out I will release a Rage 128 Tweaker

If you see a need for something related to ATi graphics cards then e-mail me. If it can be done (& it is legal!) I will have a go. If you think there should be a Linux version of the overclocker, or you think an easy to use API for creating simple 3D demos is needed etc then contact me.

However, although a Glide->ATI3DCIF wrapper would be quite easy (for most commands) the answer is no so don't bother asking! (Unless it becomes legal). I have already been asked TWICE!

Terms & Conditions of Use

Distribution

The Rage Pro Tweaker MUST be distributed in it's original form. This means that you may not add / remove / edit files AND you must not recompress it. This should avoid problems with people infecting it with a virus. (A French hardware site did this to the Rage 2 Tweaker - They also made it over 1MB when it was only about 30k)

The following is a list of conditions that MUST be met before you can distribute this program from a web site

1) The site must be NON COMMERCIAL (I.e. If it brings in an income of GREATER THAN ONE THOUSAND UK POUNDS in a year then I consider it commercial)

2) The site must be about video cards - and in particular, ATi graphics cards

3) The copyright of the tweaker MUST be credited to Neil Banfield

4) AND a link to the Rage Pro Tweaker Home Page MUST be included in an obvious place. (The URL is http://studenti.lboro.ac.uk/~conb/rage/index.htm )

5) The site must not include the Rage Pro Tweaker on any CD's, Disks or any other physical medium without Neil Banfield's permission to do so

IF you meet ALL of the above conditions then you can distribute the Rage Pro Tweaker from your web site.
If you fail to meet any of the above conditions then you cannot distribute the Rage Pro Tweaker from a web site without first obtaining permission from Neil Banfield (wblinds@hotmail.com)

If you want to distribute the Rage Pro Tweaker by any other method then you should also contact me.

Any Screenshots of the Rage Pro tweaker must have a link to the Rage Pro Tweakers home page in an obvious place.

Please DO NOT link directly to the file on my web site.

Terms & Conditions of use

This software has NO Warranty, either implied or stated. As such the author has noliability to ensure that the software performs as intended or even runs at all.
If the user is not satisfied with the program then they should simply delete the programand installation files from their computer and any other media.
This software may not be distributed on any media in any form without the permission ofthe author. Please see above section of this file for distribution rules

The author must be credited with creating the software. The author does not grantanyone the right to modify the code or graphics or any other part of the software or tosell the software.
The author is only giving a licence to use the software, NOT the software itself.

The author is only granting a non-exclusive license to use the software.
The author can revoke this licence at any time.

You are not entitled to disassemble the software or copy parts of the code. All graphicsare (c)1998 Neil Banfield and may not be used for any activity other than for the use ofthe Rage Pro Tweaker.
Installation is strictly prohibited on any machines / networks that are either linkedto machines that are used for high-risk activities, or are actually used for high-riskactivities. Installation is also not allowed on any United States government machines.Failure to abide by these rules runs the risk of a lawsuit against the owner of the machine the software is installed on.

LIMITATION OF LIABILITY. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES AND UNDER NO LEGAL THEORY, TORT, CONTRACT, OR OTHERWISE, SHALL THE AUTHOR BE LIABLE TO YOU OR ANY OTHER PERSON FOR ANY INDIRECT, SPECIAL,INCIDENTAL, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OF ANY CHARACTER INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF GOODWILL, WORK STOPPAGE,COMPUTER FAILURE OR MALFUNCTION, OR ANY AND ALL OTHER COMMERCIAL DAMAGES OR LOSSES. IN NO EVENT WILL TEH AUTHOR BE LIABLE FOR ANYDAMAGES IN EXCESS OF THE AMOUNT THE AUTHOR RECEIVED FROM YOU FOR A LICENSE TO THE SOFTWARE, EVEN IF THE AUTHOR HAS BEEN INFORMEDOF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES, OR FOR ANY CLAIM BY ANY THIRD PARTY.

The name of the software may not be copied or used in any other product. The name of the software is "Rage Pro Tweaker"
This software remains the legal copyright of Neil Banfield.
Although this software was written in Visual C++ 5, The author states that MICROSOFTcannot be held responsible for any bugs in any part of this program.
The author respects all the copyrights of any companies/programs listed anywhere inthis document and in any documentation provided with this program.

You must not use or install this software unless you first agree to the terms and conditions listed in this document.

The author is Neil Banfield.

These terms and conditions are governed by the laws of the United Kingdom.

All trademarks are respected. The Rage Pro is made by ATi Technologies Inc

This program is NOT associated with ATi Technologies Inc