GFX Strings - How To

[blanktruth]

First of all I used Kalyway's 10.5.2 because whatever I tried I could not manage it with 10.5.4...

I installed Kalyway's 10.5.2 with NVinject 512 Mbyte support. After installation completed, I found the GFX String method explained here and put new com.apple.boot.plist to /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/ folder. Then deleted NVinject file in /system/library/extensions/. I put the necessary NVidia files (rapidshare.com/files/132285035/aquas_10.5.4_nv_files.zip.html) taken from 10.5.4 by Aquamac to /system/library/extensions/ folder. Repaired permissions with the disk utility in aplications/utilities/ and restarted...

[fergo]

Hello everyone.
Where exactly I should insert the memory of my card? I have a XFX GeForce 9800GTX 512MB. In the in.plist file there is:

<key>VRAM,totalsize</key>
<data>
AAAAIA==
</data>

I should replace AAAAIA to "512" or totalsize to 512?

Thanks in advance,
Fergo

[aquamac]

Hi Fergo,

Welcome to aquamac forums!

If you downloaded the 512 mb input file that I put up here, it is already set up for 512 mb so you do not need to change that part. If you had wanted to change it, you would not use text edit, you would have to download "Plist edit pro" or "Property list editor" that comes with apples developer tools. These will let you see the information as follows:

<00000008> - 128Mb
<00000010> - 256Mb
<00000014> - 320Mb
<00000020> - 512Mb
<00000028> - 640Mb
<00000030> - 768Mb

(the bit that is editable is the bit between the <arrowheads>, I put the values next to them)

As you can see, you do not enter in "512" or "768" anyway. Still this is not needed as you will only have to edit the PCI addresses as I already made this for the 9800 GTX anyway.

Good Luck.

[hasbaz]

thanks for this i tried it with my bfg 9800gtx and it worked first try everything enabled
my mbo is xfx 680i lt
and i used leo 4 all v3
thanks again

[aquamac]

Hi hasbaz,

Welcome to the forums!

Great Stuff! Really glad to hear it worked for you. Does sound and lan work on your 680i? Looks like a nice board.

[aforce]

works great but do you have to do anything special to use dual monitor?

[seanmcgpa]

Are there any advantages to using EFI strings over, say, Nvinstaller 0.2?

I have an nVidia 8800GTX with 768 megs. I have hardware acceleration enabled, Quartz Extreme, Quartz GL ... and games play fine (especially World of Warcraft) - but definitely not as fast as XP.

Would switching to EFI strings give me faster framerates at all?

What ARE the advantages of doing it this way?

[aquamac]

aforce,

Dual monitors should work out of the box.

The real advantage is slightly quicker boot up as your card details are added directly, 1 less kext to worry about. With 10.5.5 beta kexts, NVInject does not work whereas GFX strings do. It will not make games faster though as all it does is provide information about your card to the OS, it is not a driver.

[seanmcgpa]

Sept 4, 2008 4:29:10 GMT aquamac said:

aforce,

Dual monitors should work out of the box.

The real advantage is slightly quicker boot up as your card details are added directly, 1 less kext to worry about. With 10.5.5 beta kexts, NVInject does not work whereas GFX strings do. It will not make games faster though as all it does is provide information about your card to the OS, it is not a driver.

Hey thanks ... I am using your raid-0 hack, so bootup is ridiculously fast anyway.

[aquamac]

Glad to hear it worked for you, makes a worthwhile difference. When I get to used to the speed, I just go back to my powerbook. I used to think it was snappy when I first got it but man, it seems sooo sloooow now.

[dorons]

Hi Aquamac,

I'm very impressed with your dedication to us newbies and our G92 owes
Perhaps you can help me too.

I have a club3d 9800GT (not GTX) with 512MB.

I installed a new system from the JaS 10.5.4 image.
The problem is (i think i saw a capture you posted with the same problem) that all the menus show up as white with no text, probably due to a failure in rendering the transparency. Also, if i try to change the resolution of the screen, i get a blue screen (not of death... just a blue background) and that's it.

I went ahead and downloaded the files for 512 from this thread, pasted my id, created the hex and added it to the plist. I also made sure that nvkush was not in my extensions folder.

After reboot, in the profiler the card model is the one i entered in the plist but the problem persists.
Also, note that CI/QE are working perfectly - just this weird problems with the all-white menus and the resolution change hangup.

It would be great if you could help in any way!

Thanks

[aquamac]

Hi dorons,

Welcome to aquamac forums. I think there may be some older graphics kexts still from earlier versions included with Jas 5.4. Try downloading these 10.5.5 Graphics Kexts & Framework.

Let me know how it works. As you are using graphics strings, you should be OK.

[dorons]

Thanks for the reply, but it didn't help...

Downloaded and installed the package.
It broke the CI/QE support (although now i don't have the white menus anymore but that's no wonder since CI is software). Perhaps i need to update to 10.5.5?

BTW - with the kexts i had before i ran the opengl extensions viewer tests and got pretty good results (fps around 2500 for all except 2.1 which gave 130fps, and that's for 1600x1200), or does that only test the QE and not the 2d hardware acceleration (which i guess handles transparency of menus)...

Profiler output:

NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GT:

  Chipset Model:	NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GT
  Type:	Display
  Bus:	PCIe
  PCIe Lane Width:	x16
  VRAM (Total):	512 MB
  Vendor:	NVIDIA (0x10de)
  Device ID:	0x0614
  Revision ID:	0x00a2
  ROM Revision:	3172a
  Displays:
Display Connector:
  Status:	No display connected
DELL 2007FP:
  Resolution:	1600 x 1200 @ 60 Hz
  Depth:	32-bit Color
  Core Image:	Software
  Main Display:	Yes
  Mirror:	Off
  Online:	Yes
  Quartz Extreme:	Not Supported

This is a fresh install on a fresh machine (Gigabyte EP35-DS3L+Q6600+4GB@800MHZ+Club3d-9800GT-512MB). If you think there is a better way to prep up my machine (i mean, if there's a different approach to installing or a different image to use) let me know.

[dorons]

I'm seriously considering replacing the card, since i've been trying solutions for the past 2 days and came up with no success (i can't get rid of the white menu bug unless i install drivers that disable the QE/CI and that's not really a solution) and since the machine is brand new and was set up FOR leopard, so i see no point in having a problematic video card from the start.

I am considering a PALIT 8800GT Super 1GB (www.palit.biz/main/vgapro.php?id=517).
What do you think? should i give up? if i do, will this card work perfectly? is there another, more suitable card? (assuming price is not an issue)

[aquamac]

Seems a real shame, I have 3 hackintoshes all working with 9800 GTX or even GX2 cards. If you have an Apple 10.5 DVD, I would give Ritalins - make your own disk a go. This is a fairly unadulterated image compared to most others that try to be all things to all men! Either that or install the 600 meg combo 10.5.5 update. I suggested that to someone else over at Insanely Mac and it got their card working. You will have the same problem with a 8800 GT as it has the same graphics chip, so don't go down that route just yet.