02/15/08

On Screen Display.....

Here is my guideline on how to setup Rivatuner's On Screen Display (OSD) to show various features on your screen while gaming. We'll set up to display Core & Memory speeds, Core Temperature, Fan Duty Cycle and Frames per Second (FPS).

I'm using RC 16.1 for this guide. Unwinder has made some pretty nifty changes in the OSD portion that makes using and setting it up much easier.

Be sure to read and understand Rivatuner's FAQ.  Drive:\%RivaTuner v2.06%\Doc\RivaTuner.chm before proceeding.

Guides can be tweaked at any time to correct for errors or make clarifications, so check back.

On to the fun

Start Rivatuner and launch the Hardware Monitoring page as shown.

Click the Red Button in the lower left. Click the Setup button.

 Here is a Rivatuner tip for the Red Button.

Here is where you put a check next to the items you want to have show in the OSD. Since I have Core Speed checked I will click on that to highlight it then press Setup.

Check the box where shown. If you also want the tray info displayed, check those boxes accordingly.

Repeat the process for everything you want to display. For example, Memory speeds, Core Temperature, Fan Duty Cycle and Frames per Second (Framerate).

Once you've got those set up, you need to run RT's Statistics Server (SS). Before we do that, I like to set up hotkeys to turn the SS on/off with a keyboard hotkey.

To set up "Start Server Hotkey"

Locate the LAUNCHER tab, click the green cross, make sure Regular Item is selected and press OK.

  I used the name "Load Server", used the Num pad key "Num+" (choose what you want) and checked "Associated Application" box below as shown. Click the down arrow next to  Associated Application and select "Server Load". That's it, hotkey for turning on the OSD is done.

To set up "Unload Server Hotkey", click the green cross again in the LAUNCHER tab, make sure Regular Item is selected and press OK.

Give it the name "Unload Server", choose your keyboard hotkey (I chose Num-) check "Associated Application" box below as shown. Click the down arrow next to  Associated Application and select "Server Unload". That's it, hotkey for turning off the OSD is done.

Click the Settings tab and check the box.

Click the Settings tab and check the box "Send to tray on close", click Apply then OK to close Rivatuner to the tray.

Once Rivatuner is closed and in the tray, press your "Start Server" hotkey (mine is Num+).

Your system tray should look like this.

The orange icon on the left depicts the SS running.

Right click the SS icon in the tray and choose "Setup".

Here you can set up the OSD font size and position. You'll have to experiment with the "zoom ratio" to get the font size you want. I have chosen "3". I've left the X/Y coord at the default of "1" which shows your OSD info in the upper left hand corner. I also left the font color at default because it looks good to me. I made no other changes on this screen. Click the red X above to close this screen.

Normally when I'm ready to play a game and I want to utilize the OSD data, I start Rivatuner, click OK which sends it to the tray. Hit my Start Server hotkey (Num+) and then start the game I want to play. Here is a screen shot of F.E.A.R showing the OSD info.

While gaming you decide you've seen enough data or have seen what you wanted, hit your Stop Server hotkey (Num-) to close the SS. The SS can be toggled on/off this way without stopping your game.

Each application has a way for disabling some (or all) hotkeys. For example, games often use it to prevent user from Alt-tabbing, benchmarks -to disable all the keys but escape during benchmarking etc.
RT gives you an optional ability of emulating native hotkeys handling, which can help in such applications. In order for RT to emulate hotkeys check the box in the Settings tab.

If you don't want to set up Hotkey's to launch the SS the only way I know how to do it is press the Run Server button from this screen.

This happens to be the Core Clock setup screen but you can use any of the setup screen's for the items you selected to show in the OSD. But for me the Hotkey's are the only way to go.

Added in 16.1 is the ability to group the text in the OSD. To quote the FAQ "When grouping mode is active, values related to the same group are displayed in the same line marked with group name (e.g. "GPU"). Please take a note that currently OSD values grouping mode is power user oriented and disabled by default. You can enable it with EnableOSDGroups registry entry."

Sometimes the OSD does not work. As explained by Unwinder:

It is not supposed to work everywhere because OSD rendering requires application frame rendering routine to be intercepted and altered. Some applications use sophisticated renderers and require engine-specific workarounds for displaying OSD.

Enjoy!

Guides page 1 click HERE.

Return home

End of clock guide                                                        End of OSD guide

Plugins.....

Basics

Click the setup button.

NOTE: In order for Rivatuner to data poll what your programming, Rivatuner must be running in the background (system tray preferably) AND the button must be depressed in order for your settings to work.

 Click Plugins.

Highlite an individual plugin and read its explanation. If the plugin is applicable for your video card (or system), place a check to its left as shown. More plugins are available by scrolling down. The plugin data selected will appear on the Hardware Monitoring page.

Dual/Quad goodness

Here are some plugins for you Dual or Quad core folks to see CPU temperatures and more.

Download the plugins from HERE

Put the DLL file in your \RivaTuner\PlugIns\Monitoring folder.

Restart Rivatuner and follow the basic instructions above to get to the plugin location to turn it on. The picture below shows the Intel plugin. AMD's will say CpuCoreDiode.DLL. Check the mark to its left and press OK to exit.

Go to the Hardware Monitoring screen and press Setup. Activate those that you want. Such as: CPU0, 1, 2,3 temperature + usage + Clock.

I also setup the temperatures to be shown in the tray. The tray will only display two digits.

Plugin in action..........

D3DOverrider.....

Rivatuner Version 2.0 Final Release

Triple Buffering has been available for some time for OpenGL applications but required the use of special utilities for D3D Triple Buffering. (see link below for more info). Now users of Rivatuner can make use of D3D TB'ing with the final release.

"Just start the utility and it will automatically force Direct3D triple buffering in all subsequently started applications.

The utility is not limited to any OS or any graphics hardware, so it can be used for forcing triple buffering on the NVIDIA as well as on ATI graphics cards."

The executable can be found in Rivatuners folder> Tools\D3DOverrider.

Double click D3DOverrider.exe.

The program will be launched and sent to the system tray.

Right click then setup.

Some applications I've found will not work with forced D3D Triple Buffering. Rainbow 6 Lockdown Demo is one for example. I had to "Add profile" and browse for Lockdown.exe that launches the game and "Uncheck" the the boxes in "Global application settings" in order for it to launch.

Keep this in mind in case you use this utility and have problems.

When you launch a 3D application you will hear an audible short sound letting you know the Overrider has acknowledge the launch. Windows audio sounds must be on in the control panel.

Be sure to read Rivatuner's Version 2.0 Final Release notes for more information about this utility. A good explanation about Triple Buffering can be found here.