Tomb Raider patch released

By Ellie Gibson Published 10 April, 2006

But NVIDIA fans still out of luck.

Just days after Tomb Raider: Legend hit the shops, Eidos has released a new patch for the PC version of the game.

It addresses unspecified problems with performance, stability and the controller - but there's bad news for those who are having trouble with their spanky new NVIDIA cards.

According to Eidos, "The patch does not yet completely resolve the performance issues with the activated Next-Gen content on NVIDIA cards. NVIDIA actively works on an updated driver that should fully address the problems."

So, no word on when that driver will arrive, then - but in the meantime, you can download the patch from 3D Gamers.

Picture of Ellie.

About Ellie Gibson

Since joining Eurogamer in the mid 2000s, Ellie has written about subjects as diverse as the fall of Gizmondo, the rise of Hollyoaks actresses in Red Alert games and the noise a bear makes under NSFW circumstances.

Read more articles from Ellie by visiting the Ellie Gibson archive page.

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Comments (44) Latest comment 6 years ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Hunam85 #1 6 years ago

    I assume the reason is that the Next Gen Content is optimised for running under an ATI environment, ala Xbox 360.

    Anyway, far as i can tell, its not only performance, but also seems to have alot of problems with broken textures... maybe my 6600's dont have the right shader model though....

  • killyourtv #2 6 years ago

    pc games...

  • Carlo #3 6 years ago

    Last time this kind of thing happened was Civ4.

  • Rambaldi #4 6 years ago

    PC games: more trouble than they're worth. It's during that second hour of pissing around with drivers and patches that you realise that, y'know, you were supposed to be, like, having fun.

  • Furbs #5 6 years ago

    Yeah, downloading something is REALLY complicated :(

  • drumbaby #6 6 years ago

    :)

  • UncleLou #7 6 years ago

    The patch is a MASSIVE performance improvement. There's still slight stuttering occasionally, but the framerate is much better now on my Nvidia card.

  • #8 6 years ago

    What are these "NVIDIA fans" you speak of EG?

    Are they fans used to cool the graphics processor?

    Or just to deal with hot air?

    Yeah, downloading something is REALLY complicated :(

    It's not the complication man. It's just one more hassle you could do without. You know, like having things that just work. Like iTunes/iPod and Apple Macs.

  • UncleLou #9 6 years ago

    Complaining about patches for PC games is futile. It's part of the package, deal with it, or play console games. Just don't troll in every PC thread.

    I for one am glad I can play TR with next-gen visuals on the PC, for half the price, and , from what I've heard about the 360 version, possibly even a better frame rate than on the 360.

  • smelly #10 6 years ago

    PC games: more trouble than they're worth. It's during that second hour of pissing around with drivers and patches that you realise that, y'know, you were supposed to be, like, having fun.


    HANG ON A COTTON PICKING MINUTE Normally Id agree with you, but yet when a patch comes out for a 360 game, people seem to think it's a good thing. So which is it to be?

  • space_ace #11 6 years ago

    i can't believe people defend the dire situation pc games are in. i remember when pc games had no bugs at all! (the lucasarts adventures till 1993). it now sounds incredible.

  • Tyronne #12 6 years ago

    Some of the graphic flaws I have seen in the game have been pretty amusing so far,although I am rather pissed that it is happening.

  • Talha #13 6 years ago

    "PC games: more trouble than they're worth" - That IS the case MOST
    of the times. And I have just installed a 7900GT.

    What is it with NVidia's drivers? Granted, in the recent past NVidia cards have provided all the latest features on very reasonable prices, and I seriously think that they are responsible for the recent spate of full-featured, affordable cards (7600 GT is perhaps the best-value 3D card ever). But they ALWAYs have buggy drivers. I used to have a Radeon 9600XT and boy was it sweet!
    Edited by Talha at 10/04/06 @ 11:57

  • Heds #14 6 years ago

    "I assume the reason is that the Next Gen Content is optimised for running under an ATI environment, ala Xbox 360."

    I'd agree... but having played the first four levels on the 360, the framerate does tend to suck at times. I can forgive Oblivion for doing this, considering the amount of stuff it's doing... but a nice-ified version of an Xbox game??

    Are there framerate issues on the Xbox version too?

  • Furbs #15 6 years ago

    None that I saw playing the first level.

  • UncleLou #16 6 years ago

    i can't believe people defend the dire situation pc games are in. i remember when pc games had no bugs at all! (the lucasarts adventures till 1993). it now sounds incredible.


    It just looks that way because console gamers who don't know what they're talking about complain about PC patches all the time. If anything, games have become much more stable. To call the situation "dire" is, frankly, ridiculous. It's annoying how people fall for this exaggerated propaganda - form my point of view, the situation of console gamers in the past, where no patching was possible, was a lot more dire.

    And it's not about "defending" patches. It's accepting them as a reality. Yes, some games could be more thoroughly tested, but you'll always need patches for PC games, because the PC's greatest strength is also its weakness. That's what I meant when I said "part of the package". Don't like it? Fine, don't play PC games then. Just don't whine publically everytime a patch is mentioned if it's not even any of your business.


  • Talha #17 6 years ago

    @UncleLou : I appreciate your point of view, but as a PC gamer myself, I can testify that PC gaming has gotten problematic almost to the point of worthlessness. Whether that is because of more sophisticated programming required or tighter release schedules, I don't know. I do know that it's the way of technology and no single party can be blamed for this. Thankfully, due to the recent spate of releases from NVidia and ATI, now you can get an excellent card with all the latest features, for 200 quid, so at least that part of the problem is solved.

    Still, sometimes when I am juggling two patches and three driver upgrades, browsing tech websites, plugging and unplugging optical drives, playing endlessly with my BIOS or system settings, just to get a stutter-free play on my latest PC game, sometimes I do envy XBox 360 owners.

    That said, some publishers do look like they get their PC games right (from an ease-of-use point of view), most notably EA, Activision, Valve, id, etc. But that's just my limited experience.
    Edited by Talha at 10/04/06 @ 12:18

  • I_Have_The_Power #18 6 years ago

    "but having played the first four levels on the 360, the framerate does tend to suck at times"

    i never saw any framerate issues, that jumped out at me... i guess im just really lucky and have the bestest 360 in all the world :)

    I have 2 friends who are bringing the game back to the store, as they have 100% crashes on both PS2 and Xbox (original)...

    on a side note: I also have 4 friends who've all had faulty 360's as well :/

    still, back to my point - no framerate issues on 360, and ive finished the game twice (so far ;)

  • Heds #19 6 years ago

    "still, back to my point - no framerate issues on 360, and ive finished the game twice (so far ;)"

    Ok, ta. Maybe it's me then! Wonder if it's a PAL50/60 thing...

  • space_ace #20 6 years ago

    > it's not even any of your business.

    it's hardly anyone's "business" to comment on video games forums :)

    but since game devs also don't think it's their business to produce "no loading times, no bugs, no slowdown" games, yeah, who cares anyway...

  • mr_steve100 #21 6 years ago

    Good to see that PC games haven't lost their touch in not being fully complete at launch - games companies must have a tie-in with all the ISPs in the world.

  • Talha #22 6 years ago

    @mr_steve100 : Yes, if you don't have a broadband connection at home, you can pretty much forget running any kind of PC game on your rig. But that's high-end technology, what would you console paupers know about it?!!

    ;-)

  • smelly #23 6 years ago

    Good to see that PC games haven't lost their touch in not being fully complete at launch

    *cough* oblivion *cough*

    At least they're not charging you for the update.

    Look, how many different pc configurations are out there? Millions! How on hell do you expect them to test every platform?

    How many different config of 360's are there? But yet the 360 still gets patches?

    See?

  • Kingsadist #24 6 years ago

    Isn't this the patch that removes the cursed nipple? And nothing else?

  • asphaltcowboy #25 6 years ago

    Ahh, good ol' Rambaldi and his PC-trolling... never fails!

  • I_Have_The_Power #26 6 years ago

    "Ok, ta. Maybe it's me then! Wonder if it's a PAL50/60 thing..."

    actually it might be! - i had loads of problems with a few of my games (esp, the launch ones) until i slapped my settings in PAL 60

    give that a whirl and see what you think :)
    Edited by I_Have_The_Power at 10/04/06 @ 13:57

  • UncleLou #27 6 years ago

    Talha, I can honestly say that I simply don't have these problems. I buy 2 PC games on average per month, and play pretty much every major demo, but I can't actually remember the last time a game wouldn't run out of the box. Maybe I am just incredibly lucky. ;) That doesn't mean there aren't bugs , of course, but hardly any show-stoppers.

    Things were a lot worse before Windows XP, in my experience.

    it's hardly anyone's "business" to comment on video games forums :)

    Fair point. It's just that recently we don't have a single PC-related thread without comments from console owners with inferiority complex. ;p

  • asphaltcowboy #28 6 years ago

    "Talha, I can honestly say that I simply don't have these problems. I buy 2 PC games on average per month, and play pretty much every major demo, but I can't actually remember the last time a game wouldn't run out of the box. Maybe I am just incredibly lucky. ;) That doesn't mean there aren't bugs , of course, but hardly any show-stoppers.

    Quoted for agreement... although, I'm a student, I can't afford to buy 2 games a month!

  • kangarootoo #29 6 years ago

    I used to play PC games all the time. I don't think PC gaming in in dire straites, but I do think it is a pain in the bum somtimes (and that was the main reason I stopped bothering and moved to consoles).

    "Things were a lot worse before Windows XP, in my experience"

    I agree with that completely. I remember Win95 gaming (or the lack thereof, as running under DOS was a better option half the time). Win98 went through a period of major pain for 3D gaming, where updating drivers twice a month was very much the norm.

    I still think that PC gaming can be much more of a faff about than consoles, but that is never going to change because it is inherent when your platform isn't unified. Whether it is too much hassle to bother with is down to the individual though. No-one can really tell anyone else that they are getting "fed up with PC gaming" if they aren't. So you two are splitting hairs to some degree I would suggest :)

    EDIT: "You two" being UL [sic] and Talha.
    Edited by kangarootoo at 10/04/06 @ 14:18

  • UncleLou #30 6 years ago

    If you think of something more original to say, I'll think of something more original to reply. Until that, you'll have to live with the word "trolling" I am afraid. :)

  • asphaltcowboy #31 6 years ago

    lol, I hardly think "box room" and "small monitor" are inherent problems with PC gaming. Maybe you should move your PC to another room? What happens if you have a small TV? Stupid points :/

  • Whizzo #32 6 years ago

    Isn't this the patch that removes the cursed nipple? And nothing else?

    Full support for the 360 controller as well, the triggers and vibration are now working, presumably it incorporates the new way MS has of handling controllers.

    Works very nicely indeed.

  • jellyhead #33 6 years ago

    Cheers Disc, you've just settled me on the PC version.
    The fact it's £18 helped too.

  • Whizzo #34 6 years ago

    Mouse and keyboard is fine for a lot of games but playing Tomb Raider with anything other than a pad is just perverse!

    You don't need precision for shooting when you lock on anyway. The DS2 is hardly comparable to the 360 controller either.
    Edited by Whizzo at 10/04/06 @ 16:47

  • smelly #35 6 years ago

    Im getting teh cube version myself, once all the problems are ironed out, and no doubt extra features are added too :-P

  • smelly #36 6 years ago

    How can someone be an nvidia fan btw? I'm against all this "i own a ps2/nvidia/cube/soundblaster/etc so therefor im a fan of it" bullcrap.

  • kangarootoo #37 6 years ago

    @UncleLou

    Was that trolling accusation aimed at me? If so, I think that is kind of funny as I thought I was being reasonably objective on the whole "is PC gaming worth the effort" front. If not, errr.... nevermind I guess.

  • UncleLou #38 6 years ago

    It was not at all aimed at you. I don't mind a different opinion and point of view, or different experiences, what I do mind though are silly comments, especially when it's the same people over and over again doing them, and ignorance. None of which I would accuse you of. :)

  • asphaltcowboy #39 6 years ago

    Yeah, some other posts have mystically disappeared...

  • Rambaldi #40 6 years ago

    As if by magic: the shopkeeper appeared

    /lols at being rumbled:)

  • asphaltcowboy #41 6 years ago

    ;)

    Played the demo just now, it seems pretty fun - might get it once I finish uni in Summer!
    Edited by asphaltcowboy at 11/04/06 @ 01:30

  • Fozzie_bear #42 6 years ago

    Got a 6600gt and can't use the next gen content - just assumed my card wasn't good enough. Can run it at 1024 x 768 with all the options on and it looks fantastic anyway, i reckon.

    The one thing i hope this patch sorts out is the controls. Every time i reload i have to go and reset the controls and then configure them the way i want again. It remembers what i changed them too but then goes and adds the defaults back again so i end up with one button doing two different things! Pain in the arse.

  • kangarootoo #43 6 years ago

    @UncleLou

    Hmm, I thought it might not be aimed at me. Good job I checked before I went all bonkers on you :)

  • DjTrash #44 6 years ago

    I have a soundblaster live 7.1 24 bit and the sound crackles really badly does anyone else have this problem?
    Edited by DjTrash at 11/04/06 @ 18:48