critical graphics engine update

[Lwood]

Hi everyone,

New guy here. Has anyone else noticed a performance hit from the recent graphics engine update?

My 3DMark 2001SE benchmark went down 50 points after I installed it. Went from ~6850 to ~6800 on my Presario 5005R, 1.1ghz Athlon, (generic) Ti4200 128MB with 8xAGP (running at 4x), 512MB pc133 SDRAM (Mushkin) running Windows ME, DirectX 9c and 56.64 nVidia driver (best driver I found).

I realize the difference isn't very much, but still. Any suggested remedies?

[LLXX]

Any suggested remedies?

Revert back to your previous gdi32.dll (I'm assuming it's that update). The vulnerability was never "critical", I've been using the original gdi32.dll since mid-2000 without any problems.

[Lwood]

Hi LLXX,

Thanks for the reply.

It's the most recent update issued by MS, the one that added KB918547.EXE to startup.

Not sure how to go about reverting gdi32.dll to a prior version.

My version of gdi32.dll is 4.90.0.3000, dated Thursday, June 08, 2000, 5:00:00 PM.

I may uninstall the update and see if things go back to normal.

I've been reading a bit here in the sub forum of this one, it seems there are "customized" versions of the KB891711 and KB918547 updates available. I'm a little confused by the process that needs to be followed to install them though. I'll read some more.

[EAT MY DUST]

Graphics are ok here......

Edited July 1, 2006 by EAT MY DUST

[LLXX]

@above: I don't think it's related to this. According to a quick Google, the above are from Yahoo Massager.

[Lwood]

Apparently, the KB918547 update can't be uninstalled via add/remove programs. I guess I'll have to live with the slight degradation of performance for the time being.

I'll make a backup of things and try the unofficial versions of KB891711 and KB918547 after, probably be a day or two before I can get around to it.

It seems U918547 uninstalls KB918547 before installing itself?

Thanks again and I appreciate any further input.

[LLXX]

Just extract original gdi32.dll from your Windows CD and put it in the system directory while in DOS mode.

File is in WIN98_30.CAB

[noguru]

Just extract original gdi32.dll from your Windows CD and put it in the system directory while in DOS mode.

File is in WIN98_30.CAB

Your right about the method to use, but wrong about the CAB file. He's using WinMe not Win98

[Lwood]

Thanks to all who replied,

I just did some maintenence; scan disk, Spybot Search and Destroy scan (removed usage tracks, setup logs etc.), defrag (only 6% fragmented), and scanreg /fix /opt and my 3dMark score is back in my normal range, so maybe this update didn't cause me any problems after all.

RESULTS

3DMark Score 6851

Game 1 - Car Chase - Low Detail 88.0 fps

Game 1 - Car Chase - High Detail 28.3 fps

Game 2 - Dragothic - Low Detail 137.7 fps

Game 2 - Dragothic - High Detail 77.2 fps

Game 3 - Lobby - Low Detail 84.8 fps

Game 3 - Lobby - High Detail 38.4 fps

Game 4 - Nature 43.5 fps

Fill Rate (Single-Texturing) 865.7 MTexels/s

Fill Rate (Multi-Texturing) 1904.4 MTexels/s

High Polygon Count (1 Light) 41.3 MTriangles/s

High Polygon Count (8 Lights) 10.2 MTriangles/s

Environment Bump Mapping 128.3 fps

DOT3 Bump Mapping 121.0 fps

Vertex Shader 81.5 fps

Pixel Shader 99.8 fps

Advanced Pixel Shader 71.2 fps

Point Sprites 25.4 MSprites/s

Still haven't tried the unofficial patches yet, but plan to do so in the near future.

Maybe I'll try extracting the older gdi32.dll also sometime.

Thanks again.

Edited July 2, 2006 by Lwood

[MDGx]

FYI:

One can use both GDI*.* files from WinME with Win98SE safely.

Example:

98SE2ME installs the unofficial fixed WinME GDI.EXE + GDI32.DLL as part of options 1 + 2:

http://www.mdgx.com/98-5.htm#KRM9S

* Unofficial Windows ME Graphics Rendering Engine (GRE) Windows MetaFile

(WMF) GDI32.DLL + GDI.EXE 4.90.3002 Security Vulnerability Fix:

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/...n/ms06-001.mspx

Direct download [399 KB, English]:

http://www.mdgx.com/files/ME912919.EXE

More info:

http://www.msfn.org/board/?showtopic=46581&st=193

MouseTrap WMF BUG detection tool (freeware):

http://www.grc.com/wmf/wmf.htm

More info:

http://www.kb.cert.org/vuls/id/181038/

BTW:

I have not noticed any video slow-downs while using WinME GDI files.

My 2 ¢ :

This probably depends on particular hardware + software combination, hardware video settings in BIOS/CMOS, video drivers, OS fixes, etc...

HTH

[Lwood]

Thanks MDGx,

My Compaq bios seems to lack a lot in the way of tweaking possibilities, I can't even change the AGP aperture size (default/unchangeable is 64MB).

I'm running a Compaq (Presario 5005R) version of WinME (came preinstalled), I don't know if there are any differences in it and a full retail version. I have used OppCom (older version), learned about it via your web site, to eliminate some of the unnecessary baggage.

The version of OppCom I'm using did not have the ability to eliminate wmiexe.exe, but I got rid of it manually (renamed it). I did not get rid of rpcss with it, my printer seems to need it, but it only starts up when I start a program that requires it. I also got rid of stimon.exe, doesn't seem to hurt anything, but I imagine that if one uses thumbnail view in Windows Explorer it might be a necessary process.

I've learned a lot from your web pages over the years, tremendous resource, and I'd like to thank you for it, so thanks a lot!

[Chozo4]

If you access the bios by using 'f1' then perhaps try using ctrl+f1? That tends to unlock some hidden options in the bios with some boards.

[EAT MY DUST]

Any secret bios on my board?

Chozo4 896MB of ram?.......

Edited July 5, 2006 by EAT MY DUST

[Chozo4]

Any secret bios on my board?

Chozo4 896MB of ram?.......

Might have to try it out and see. Works with some abit boards amongst others but only with boards that use f1 to enter it.

.. and 896mb of ram = 512 + 256 + 128 (I'd a mixed set). Need to update my sig though... got 1gb ram in it now. 2x512 OCZ

Edited July 5, 2006 by Chozo4

[Lwood]

I think my board was made by FIC. I'll give it a go, but I use F10 to get to the bios. I think Compaq bioses are very limited.

Not much cpu upgradeability either nor overclocking. I think I've upgraded this thing about as far as I can. It runs all my games fine, it's just that I can't play more modern games, can't afford them anyway.