GeForce 331.40 Beta Driver Released

The new GeForce 331.40 beta driver is now available to download. An essential update for all GeForce GTX users jumping into the Battlefield 4 beta, 331.40 beta ensures maximum performance and system stability in the shooter’s eagerly anticipated pre-release test.

331.40 beta also includes a major update to our NVIDIA Control Panel Ambient Occlusion feature, which allows you to apply fidelity-enhancing, realistic shading and shadowing to games that do not natively support Ambient Occlusion. With a few simple clicks, you can greatly increase the image quality of your favorite games, and now, with 331.40 beta, the quality of the Ambient Occlusion shading will be significantly higher thanks to the introduction of HBAO+.

In this interactive comparison, note how the HBAO+ Ambient Occlusion shadowing is far more accurate, sitting correctly on and around objects in a non-uniform fashion. Also note the fence-like area towards the rear of the image. With HBAO, the technique’s poor sampling quality results in the area being uniformly shadowed.

Debuted in Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Blacklist, HBAO+ is a new, NVIDIA-developed Ambient Occlusion technique that utilizes the latest technologies to dramatically increase the precision, fidelity, and rendering speed of high-quality AO. For further details on HBAO+, please visit our HBAO+ technology page, and for more info on Ambient Occlusion itself, please head here. To implement HBAO+ in a DX9 or DX11 game, simply replicate the following settings in the NVIDIA Control Panel.

Please note that not all games support forced AO; whenever possible we release profile updates that explicitly enable or disable the option in the NVIDIA Control Panel. Enthusiasts can further change AO settings through the use of NVIDIA Inspector.

Rounding out 331.40 beta is a whole host of profile updates, adding new SLI profiles, updating existing SLI profiles, adding new Ambient Occlusion profiles, and updating other profile elements for optimum game experiences:

• Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag – Updated Profile
• Batman: Arkham Origins – Updated SLI Profile
• Battlefield 3 – Updated Surround Profile
• Battlefield 4 – Updated Surround Profile, Added SLI Profile
• Crisis – Added SLI Profile
• Crysis 3 – Added AO Profile
• Dirty Bomb – Added DX9 SLI Profile
• Dying Light – Added DX11 SLI Profile
• F1 2013 – Updated SLI Profile
• FIFA 14 – Added SLI Profile, Added AO Profile, Added 3D Vision Profile (Rated "Good")
• Natural Selection 2 – Added DX11 SLI Profile
• Outlast – Added DX9 SLI Profile
• Space Hulk – Updated Profile
• Splinter Cell: Blacklist – Updated SLI Profile
• State of Decay – Added DX9 SLI Profile
• Urban Trial Freestyle - Added 3D Vision Profile (Rated "Good")
• Watch Dogs – Added DX11 SLI Profile

You can download 331.40 beta directly from the Drivers page, or automatically through GeForce Experience. For the complete set of release notes please click here.

If you experience any issues with the 331.40 beta driver please post a full and detailed report on the GeForce.com Driver Feedback Forum, where our Customer Care team can better assist you.