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fuzzielitlpanda

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Mar 24, 2008
834
0
I've been having some problems with Starcraft 2 loading properly under bootcamp (screen kept flashing) and wanted to update the 320M nVidia drivers. The problem with the 320M drivers is that there are no official updates available from nVidia nor Apple, so you're left with using the stock bootcamp video drivers. I decided to make this guide from the bits and pieces of information I've found on the forum and because it doesn't look like anyone has posted an official guide. It took me a couple of hours of searching and testing, so I hope this guide will save time for others. Here goes!

1. If you've properly set up bootcamp, you probably have the Apple provided video driver installed. Before you do anything with new drivers, you need to uninstall the old ones. To do this:

Right click My Computer => Properties => Device Manager => Display Adapters => nVidia 320M => uninstall

2. After you've uninstalled the stock driver, you need to download the new driver you want to use, as well as the modified .inf file. The .inf file are instructions for your computer on how to install the driver. This file is necessary in order for you to install drivers that have not been officially released for the 320M. You can download the necessary drivers + modified .inf from here:

http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/drivers

I chose to use driver version 259.32 as it is the newest.

3. To set up the new driver, follow this guide:

http://forums.laptopvideo2go.com/topic/11997-have-disk-method-for-windows-7-vista/

NOTE: I found that a faster way to set it up is to extract the driver into a folder, put the modified .inf file into the folder and replace the stock .inf file, and then run the setup.exe file that is in the folder. You will get the same prompt that says "Windows can't verify the publisher of this software." From there, just click "install the driver anyways."


And you're done! You may have to try different drivers to see what works for you as there is no one correct driver, but I don't think there's anything wrong with going the newest available. By updating to version 259.32, Starcraft 2 now loads properly and without any flashing.
 
The newer games require updated drivers in order to run properly, but nothing has been officially released by nVidia nor Apple (hence the need for this guide). You can check by going to nVidia's site:

http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us

I tried Windows Update as well, but nothing new.

my starcraft 2 works great on stock graphics drivers, crysis works great too, as do many other games i play on steam.

never really needed a graphics card update, the guide is here now though if anyone is experiencing the same issues you are.
 
So the driver on NVIDIA's site (258.96) doesn't run StarCraft? That's a first...

Curious, never had to mess with homebrewed drivers since I've never had any problems with original drivers but do the homebrewed drivers offer better performance than the original drivers if the original drivers work?
 
my starcraft 2 works great on stock graphics drivers, crysis works great too, as do many other games i play on steam.

never really needed a graphics card update, the guide is here now though if anyone is experiencing the same issues you are.

interesting. so your starcraft 2 loading screen doesn't flash constantly with the stock drivers? mine does and the only way to get rid of it is to update.

So the driver on NVIDIA's site (258.96) doesn't run StarCraft? That's a first...

Curious, never had to mess with homebrewed drivers since I've never had any problems with original drivers but do the homebrewed drivers offer better performance than the original drivers if the original drivers work?

of course the latest drivers on nvidia's site will run starcraft 2. the problem is that if you try to download the drivers and install it on the 320M, it won't let you because the hardware is "incompatible." the only way to even install those drivers is to use the modified .inf.

with regards to the performance, i can't say if it offers better performance as i've yet to run any benchmarks, but they solved the primary problem of starcraft 2 not loading properly.
 
OK Thanks! Can't believe that Apple/Nvidia doesn't support this out of the box. I downloaded Crysis for ***** and giggles and it's actually playable. 40+ FPS with minimal settings. About 10 FPS with max settings. Enabling AA really kills the FPS. This is on a 13" MBP with 7200rpm drive. The 320m is so much better than the 9400m that was in my Mini which this game wasn't even playable on minimal settings.
 
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