Video card settings...

[wetcat]

I'm new to Aces High (and Windows, for that matter) so I wanted to ask about setting my video card for the game.
I have an AMD (ATI) Radeon HD6970M card with 9963 MB of 'Display Memory' and Windows 8.1
I found the Catalyst control panel for the card and there are a lot of options. I also found this on the AH web site "Help-Section - Video Options":

Also note, you should avoid, at all costs, the installation of the Catalyst Control Center. Use the ATI Control Panel instead.

It seems there is no longer an 'ATI Control Panel', ATI was bought by AMD 8 years ago.

So my question is, is it OK to run the Catalyst control panel, and are there recommendations for settings on this card?

Thanks in advance!

[The Fugitive]

I don't think it is the issue it was before. I think it was a resource issue but with today's memory, cpu gpu speeds it isn't a problem.

As for settings,  I haven't seen catalyst control panel for a long time. I would set everything you can to application controlled or game controlled, then adjust the settings in game.

[Bizman]

While doing a custom install of AMD/ATi Catalyst drivers you can opt out the Catalyst Control Panel. The AH game is optimized for the default settings so you won't actually need any control panel. If you like you can tweak the settings from within the game as much as your card will allow.

[wetcat]

While doing a custom install of AMD/ATi Catalyst drivers you can opt out the Catalyst Control Panel. The AH game is optimized for the default settings so you won't actually need any control panel. If you like you can tweak the settings from within the game as much as your card will allow.

Ah, OK - so there's no real need to change the video driver, just up the detail in the game?
I'm asking because I crashed while running on the deck over water - I couldn't see any detail, the water was just a solid blue and I couldn't (visually) see how high I was. I thought if I turned up the detail I might be able to see waves, whitecaps or something to give me an idea of my altitude.

[Blooz]

Ah, OK - so there's no real need to change the video driver, just up the detail in the game?
I'm asking because I crashed while running on the deck over water - I couldn't see any detail, the water was just a solid blue and I couldn't (visually) see how high I was. I thought if I turned up the detail I might be able to see waves, whitecaps or something to give me an idea of my altitude.

Sounds to me like Bump Map Terrain is off. Check in game to make sure Bump Map Terrain is ON. If it's off, you lose the ability to tell how far away things are. It's under Options, Graphic Detail, Advanced on the clipboard.

[wetcat]

Sounds to me like Bump Map Terrain is off. Check in game to make sure Bump Map Terrain is ON. If it's off, you lose the ability to tell how far away things are. It's under Options, Graphic Detail, Advanced on the clipboard.

Thanks, I'll check that. I appreciate everyone's help...

[Bizman]

Ah, OK - so there's no real need to change the video driver, just up the detail in the game?
I'm asking because I crashed while running on the deck over water - I couldn't see any detail, the water was just a solid blue and I couldn't (visually) see how high I was. I thought if I turned up the detail I might be able to see waves, whitecaps or something to give me an idea of my altitude.

Yes, that's what I'm talking about. If you make some settings in a control panel and alter the same settings in the game, something may easily go wrong. So starting from plain vanilla settings and doing things in the game is recommendable. The same can be done through the control panel by choosing "application controlled" but the panel itself uses some resources which are of better use in the game itself!

As for drivers, it's recommendable to use a driver cleaner especially if you've used an nVidia card before the AMD, or if you're installing an older driver. Also you might like to know that the latest drivers may not be the best for an older card! Although the latest Catalysts should be backwards compatible, the latest ones may try to accelerate features that don't even exist on your card. If you search the AMD driver site for your specific card, the results may be optimal. HD6970M says Mobile which I'm not too familiar with, only that their performance is a tad lower despite similar model names for desktops.