ATI 8500 128 strange graphics & crashes in UT2003

[Valour]

Been reading this forum for months and this is the first time I've had to post here. I've tried searching this forum and many others, tried Google searches, etc. and haven't even found a similar problem.

I have Gentoo 1.4RC4 installed with XFree 4.3 and a few different window and desktop managers. At first I couldn't get direct rendering to work even after downloading the correct Gatos driver and following the directions. I read all of the related documentation and still couldn't get DRI to go to enabled. My solution was to use the development kernel instead; with the built-in Xfree DRM in the 2.5 kernel I was able to get DRI enabled in XFree (even in 32-bit mode). The graphics look fine in Tuxracer and GLXgears, but when I run Unreal Tournament 2003 (both the demo, and the retail version with the most recent patch) the game will lockup the system just after the music loads. If I go to the settings menu and look at the weapons, all of them look fine except for the Redeemer; the rocket seems to streak off of the screen as though it were a flat graphic going into lightspeed. If I disable some of the performance-enhancing XFree config options I can get the level to load with the music, but all of the graphics on the screen are streaked into oblivion and if I start the level and try to move, the system locks up. If I stay in spectator mode I can walk blindly around the level, but once I start the match it locks up.

The game works fine in WinXP (both the retail and the demo) and the video card has been tested on two separate machines to verify that it is in working condition. I would never have bought a stinkin' ATI card if I hadn't gotten it at a serious discount.

So does anyone have a clue? I can paste my video options from XF86Config when I get home, but I've already tried enabling and disabling just about every option there with no success. I've also tried setting the game to the lowest detail settings, different resolutions and color depths, and disabling all of the optional detail settings like trilinear filtering, etc.

-Jem
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This sig is entirely too silly.

[Valour]

I guess I'll just get an Nvidia card; I hate restarting into Windows just to play a game.

-Jem
_________________
This sig is entirely too silly.