This month AMD has released its latest update for the Catalyst video drivers, Catalyst 11.2. The new features in Catalyst 11.2 include some improvements and bug fixes for operating systems such as Windows 7 and Vista, and also some enhancements for some major games such as Call of Duty: Black Ops. A better version of the Catalyst Control Center software is also one of the main new features about this latest release.
0,1468,i=280716,00[1].jpg"AI texture filtering has gotten a boost from an improved quality setting that enables an optimization that limits tri-linear anisotropic filtering to areas surrounding texture mipmap level transitions, while doing bilinear anisotropic filtering elsewhere," according to an AMD press release.

AMD press continues to explain that the new release allows for ramping up filtering performance without visibly affecting image quality. The Performance setting has also been tweaked to address issues of sharpness in the default Quality setting: by providing a smoother filtering option that eliminates much of it while preserving detail attained through anisotropic filtering.

Changes have also been made to Blu-ray 3D playback. There's new support for video quality settings related to it on the 6000-series cards only—these controls become available inside the Control Center when the user is playing back a Blu-ray 3D disc.

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Release Notes

Package Content
The AMD Catalyst™ software suite 11.2 contains the following:

AMD display driver version 8.821
HydraVision™ for Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7
Southbridge/IXP Driver
AMD Catalyst™ Control Center version 8.821

Compatible Operating Systems
The latest version of the AMD Catalyst™ software suite is designed to support the following Microsoft Windows platforms:
  • Windows 7 32-bit version
  • Windows 7 64-bit version
  • Windows Vista 32-bit version
  • Windows Vista 64-bit version
  • Windows XP Professional
  • Windows XP Home Edition
  • Windows XP Media Center Edition
  • Windows XP Professional x64 Edition

New Features:

The new Catalyst Control Center features

Catalyst AI Texture Filtering updates
  • The Quality setting has now been improved to match the High Quality setting in all respects but one; it enables an optimization that limits tri-linear anisotropic filtering to areas surrounding texture mipmap level transitions, while doing bilinear anisotropic filtering elsewhere. This optimization offers a way to improve filtering performance without visibly affecting image quality
  • The Performance setting has been updated to address the sharpness of the default Quality setting causing shimmering in certain cases. It now provides a smoother filtering option that eliminates most shimmering while preserving the improved detail provided by anisotropic filtering.
Tessellation Controls
  • Supported on the ATI Radeon HD 5000 Series and the AMD Radeon HD 6000 Series
  • New settings give users full control over the Tessellation levels used in applications.
  • The default selection "AMD Optimized" setting is intended to set the best level of Tessellation on a per application basis. The "AMD Optimized" setting is designed to help users get the maximum visual benefit of Tessellation, while minimizing the performance impact associated with enabling Tessellation. Currently no applications have been profiled.
  • The "Use Application Settings" option gives applications full control over the Tessellation level.
  • Users can also manually set the maximum tessellation level used by applications with the slider control
  • Morphological Anti-Aliasing support for the ATI Radeon HD 5000 Series
  • AMD Catalyst now includes official support for Morphological Anti-Aliasing for the ATI Radeon HD 5000 Series

Support Video Quality settings during Blu-ray 3D playback
  • Supported on the AMD Radeon HD 6000 Series
  • Requires Blu-ray 3D player software, 3D supported display and 3D Stereoscopic glasses
  • Users can now enable the Video Quality settings within the Catalyst Control Center when playing Blu-ray 3D content
Performance Improvements:

Call of Duty: Black Ops:
Performance increases up to 11% on ATI Radeon™ HD 5000 Series single card configurations with anisotropic filtering and anti-aliasing enabled
Batman Arkham Asylum:
Performance increases up to 4% on ATI Radeon™ HD 5000 Series single configurations with anisotropic filtering and anti-aliasing disabled.

Resolved Issues for the Windows 7 Operating System
This section provides information on resolved known issues in this release of the AMD Catalyst™ 11.2 software suite for Windows 7. These include:
  • Corruption is no longer randomly observed running the Unigine Heaven benchmark.
  • Texture corruption is no longer observed when running the Unigine Heaven benchmark with Super AA enabled in the Catalyst Control Center.
  • HAWX no longer intermittently displays corruption when running in DirectX 9 mode.
  • Visual corruption is no longer seen when running Lost Planet in DirectX 10 mode.
  • Playing a 720p WMV format file no longer randomly causes laggy system performance.
  • Video corruption no longer intermittently affects the display when playing a SD format DVD using Windows Media Player.
  • Choppy video playback is no longer observed when playing a DVD with interlaced content using WinDVD 10.
  • 8x Anti Aliasing is now correctly listed as available with certain 3D applications.
  • The AMD Ladybug demo no longer freezes when viewed in camera mode.
  • DirectX 9.0 games no longer show intermittent corruption at the bottom of one of the cloned displays.