NVidia just released official Forceware video drivers 77.72 [WHQL Candidate] for all Windows 95/98/ME OSes:
http://www.nvidia.com/object/win9x_77.72.html
Everybody who uses an NVidia video card should install this.

Enjoy.

Hi MDGx, really? I have read many times that new drivers are optimized for new video cards only and give worse results with older video cards and version like 45.32 are recommended. I never tried to investigate this topic in detail.

Petr

As far as I know [and I've been using various NVidia video cards for over 7 years] each new drivers do improve on newer video chipsets [GPUs as NVidia likes to call them] by debugging, adding, improving etc hardware supported functions, but at the same time all older GPUs that particular driver applies to are also 100% supported, and even further debugged/improved if enough bug reports are received from users.
To see exactly the entire list of supported GPUs, please open NVAGP.INF [or NVAML.INF depending on xx.xx Detonator/Forceware driver release, with various international/multilanguage versions having different INF names] in Notepad and scroll down to the [Strings] section.
Or view README.TXT after unzipping the files.
Or go to this page:
http://www.nvidia.com/object/77.72_9x_supported.html
This is the page with all NVidia officially supported drivers for Windows 9x/ME:
http://www.nvidia.com/object/win9x_archive.html

As you well know, NV drivers are all built using their "Unified Driver Architecture" (UDA) technology [ http://www.nvidia.com/object/feature_uda.html ], which means each driver release supports a huge list of GPUs, even several years old ones.

It is widely believed [especially in forums/blogs/bug report/support sites] that if a particular NV driver release is buggy, then allmost all related [same series, i.e. 5x.xx, 6x.xx, 7x.xx etc or subseries, i.e. 56.xx, 68.xx 77.xx etc] driver releases are also buggy.
That's not true.
And what adds more to this rumor, is the huge number of beta driver releases out there, which are posted by most news/hardware/support sites, and which by their nature [strictly for beta testing purposes] are inherently going to have bugs, after all that's why they are called beta releases.
But almost all "WHQL certified" or "WHQL candidate" NV drivers I've tested for the past 7 years [with few exceptions, 1 of which I've documented here: http://www.mdgx.com/newtip22.htm#D22BF ] are/were stable for the time of their release, which means their stability applied only to the GPUs on the market at that time.

Another known issue which might cause stability problems [especially when a new (sub)series is released, i.e. 68.xx, 77.xx = usually containing major changes in hardware functions and how those functions are implemented into the registry] is that most users just install new drivers over old releases, *without* 1st uninstalling the old ones, and which Nvidia strongly advises against:
http://www.nvidia.com/object/driver_installation_hints.html

NVidia also issues a new PDF document with each drive release, which gives full details on what exactly has been fixed/improved/added/etc since last release.
77.72 PDF [English]:
ftp://download.nvidia.com/Windows/77.72/

Another hint about NV official driver [theoretical only, of course] stability is the "WHQL candidate" seal that NV is allowed to post from MS WHQL labs. That means MS is in the middle of testing those drivers, and it's likely that they will award them the MS "WHQL certified" seal.

I've been using 71.84 drivers with 98SE since the day NV posted it, and never had stability problems.
I also use Windows XP and test a bunch of beta + WHQL NV drivers, and they seem pretty stable on my PC, most of the time.

Nvidia also recommends to install the newest official driver version no matter the GPU used [if that GPU is on the supported list], because it is likely more bugs were fixed, even for older GPUs.

Same here, just downloaded 77.72 for 9x/ME, so didn't have time to test them yet, but if I find any bugs/errors/glitches/etc, I'll post them here asap.

Hope this helps.

it's been so long since nvidia released win9x drivers,i wonder what changed there mind.

Tanks for the heads-up, MDGx.

Good to see that nVidia are now doing the decent thing by us w98 users. Wish they would be as conscientious about their nForce chipset drivers.

I have a Nvidia GeForce4 420 graphics card, which is listed as compatible with these drivers. I had just installed the last 71.84 drivers the other day and they would crash my PC when I tried to start a video game.
I was hoping these would work better with my card... well, they don't cause a crash, but now the games aren't detecting a video card at all. Device Manager shows that the card is installed and working properly, but the games say otherwise. Also, my fonts are all jacked up. They look like someone's been munching on them.

BTW, this is on a clean install of 98SE with directx 9.0c and all the updates from Microsoft. I guess it's time to start going backwards till I find a driverset that works right.

If anyone else has the GeForce4 420 card, I'm open for pointers.

i've pretty much tested all Nvidia drivers on 98se over the years,
so have a pretty good insight on this
45.32 are imo best for 4 series cards (they're what i used on my gf4 ti and my gf4 mx (nforce2 igp))

get them from Guru3d.com
hth
miko.

PS. thanks for the heads up MDGx
i tried out 71.84 out but they made Startopia almost all black
so went back to 61.21 WHQL, i'll give these a try on my gaming install...
(GeForce FX 5700)

I assume 77.72 are WHQL approved or candidate, but because MS doesn't support 9x/ME OSes anymore, they probably won't test them in these environments.
If it is of any significance, 77.72 drivers for Windows 2000/XP are WHQL certified:
http://www.nvidia.com/object/winxp_2k_77.72.html
You can view the 77.72 PDF documents for more info:
ftp://download.nvidia.com/Windows/77.72/

FYI:
If using Windows XP, have an SLI compatible PCI Express mobo *and* 2 GeForce 6600 or 6800 series PCIx video cards in SLI, 77.72 drivers enable SLI mode even without the bridge device that physically connects the 2 cards.
Or just get a new GeForce 7800 GTX if u have $600 to spare.

Edit:
Forget about NVidia PureVideo, it's 30 days trial, after which u have to pay for it.
Bummer.

Has anybody else noticed that after the installation of this driver (77.72), that everything works great, with the exception of anything viewed in Windows Media Player?

After I installed the latest driver for my eVga 6800 GT, I noticed that my video playback in Windows Media Player 10 is very contrasted and saturated. Nothing can correct this from what I have tried. I have installed and uninstalled numerous times going by nVidia's guidelines and even tired a few "out of the box" ideas.

Anybody else having this problem besides me?

This is probably due to NVidia INF file installer which resets all Video Overlay registry values to "factory" defaults every time it installs a new driver version.
What I do:
I keep a backup of the Video Overlay registry key + values, install the new drivers, and then run the REG file to restore my favorite settings.
Then if I'm not happy with the way it "looks", I play a DVD, reset the brightness +/- contrast from Display Properties or DVD/video player until looks ok, and then make a new backup of those reg keys + values.

Have you tried to:
right-click empty Desktop background spot -> Properties -> Settings tab -> Advanced button -> GeForce 6800 GT [name/model/type of your video card here] -> Color Correction -> "Apply color changes to:" -> select Overlay -> select All Channels -> make sure "Color Profile:" is in Standard Mode -> drag the Brightness + Contrast sliders to right/left until your video/DVD/movie playback looks satisfactory [play a DVD or video while doing this so u can see the changes] -> Apply -> OK -> OK.
This applies to all DirectX 7/8/9 compliant DirectShow/NetShow APIs driven tools, including WMP 6/7/9/10, Media Player Classic [MPC], Nero Player, DivX Player, Real Player/RealOne, Sonique, WinAmp, JetAudio, NVidia DVD/Video Player, WinDVD, PowerDVD, DVDPLAY.EXE [bundled with Win98/ME] etc.

I have done this in both 98SE and XP SP2 using 9x/ME + 2000/XP 77.72 drivers, and it works.

Hope this helps.

I stand corrected, unfortunately.
I found a bug in NVidia 77.72 video drivers for Windows 95/98/ME.
This happens in 98 FE, 98 SE + ME.
Trying to play any DVD movie [even region free (encoded as "region 0")] using PowerDVD 4.xx or 5.xx [any build] pops up this error message:

"Error Code F4D41436
The TV out port of your display card is not working properly."

And this is the Detailed button message:

"This copy protected disc cannot be played when the TV out function is enabled."

Say what? This never happened with any other driver build, and I tried them all.

Nothing I have tried fixed this.
WinDVD 4/5/6, WMP9, WMP10 [from XP SP2] + MPC [Media Player Classic] work ok though.
But PowerDVD is my favorite DVD player, so until I get to upgrade to a newer version, I reinstalled older NVidia 71.84 [corrected] drivers.

hey, any chance of a link (or a pm) to where you got 9x 61.84 drivers ?
i been using 61.21 WHQL and would like to try them out

My bad, was a typo, the next version down is 71.84, not 61.84.
I've been using 71.84 for ~ 4 months, since the day they released them [February 25 2005].
Never had any problems under: 98FE, 98SE + ME.
Tried them on: GeForce FX 6600, GeForce4 Ti 4200, GeForce 1st edition + GeForce FX 6800 Ultra.
U can get them from:
- NVidia [only WHQL certified/candidate releases]:
http://www.nvidia.com/object/win9x_archive.html
or all previous 6.xx + 7.xx releases, including beta:
- Station Drivers [if u don't mind French]:
http://www.station-drivers.com/page/nvidia%20forceware.htm
- Guru 3D:
http://downloads.guru3d.com/

Important:
Make sure u uninstall the older version first.
After the post-install reboot, make sure to open Desktop Properties and reconfigure all your settings.
To enable Desktop Properties GeForce "advanced" settings [including overclocking], merge this REG file into your registry [reboot not necessary]:Make sure Desktop Properties is closed when u run the REG file.

Have fun.

Yes, I have the exact same thing happening so I have sign up here for an account to let you know your not alone.

A buddy of mine and I have been working on this for a week now and to no avail. I have uninstalled, reinstalled forceware version, uninstalled reinstalled codecs, just about anything this veteran could think of. Already tried the color correction as the first thing to do. Nothing fix's it what so ever. Except for going to an older video driver. This problem seems isollated to WMP10 only as DivX, WinDVD5 do not have this symptom.

I play a lot of half life 2 and Counter Strike Source and Valve recommends these drivers. I did notice much improvement in gameplay with 77.72 with my eVGA 6800 Ultra PCI-Express video card. But, unlike most of you I am running Windows XP x64. I run a large Microsoft Certified community forum PlanetAMD64 where we are dedicated to this OS so I do not have the option of going back to XP 32-bit (I wouldnt even if I did have the option).

Anybody have any idea what is going on with the WMP10 video going to whiteout like this? It is like you just turned up the brightness to an extreme level and ALL of my video files types are played this way, but only in WMP10. No other player seems to be afected.

Thanks in advance...

Best Regards,
Rodney Gray
Administrator
PlanetAMD64

Looks like 77.72 NV4_DISP.DLL has a bug.
The only workaround I figured out so far [short of hexing the #$%& DLL] is to use a different version of NV4_DISP.DLL , which goes in %windir%\SYSTEM32 .
I use the newest available [Forceware 80.40 beta 32-bit for 2000/XP/2003]:
http://downloads.guru3d.com/download.php?det=1116

}SkOrPn--'
I see you're using XP Pro 64-bit, unfortunately 32-bit drivers don't work with your 64-bit OS.
But u can use the next one down to newest 64-bit driver, which is 76.80:
http://downloads.guru3d.com/download.php?det=1086
Please try NV4_DISP.DLL 76.80 and post here if it doesn't correct your WMP10 video issues.

Hope this helps.

Overrall, this is a myth, there are MANY benchmarks out there that show the performance of various drivers and overall the speed increases, although there are a couple dips here and there. The last round of benchmarks I've seen have shown the 77.xx drivers are the fastest drivers since many releases ago. The biggest reason why this is (partially) a myth is because the same driver doesn't install for every PC. It's actually a Nvidia pack of drivers that detects your card and installs the proper driver. So an optimization for a newer card will give that new card huge speed boosts but won't affect you negatively at all. And if Nvidia restructures their drivers, they replicate this change in the drivers for the older cards.

Of course I don't know how using a 9x kernel will affect this because all benchmarks now-a-days are on XP. I would love to see a proper driver comparison that compares the best driver of each series 22.xx, 33.xx, 44.xx, 55.xx, 66.xx and 77.xx and compared on 98 and XP.

Here are some older benches that show 71.x, 75,x and 76.x on a 6800 running XP SP1:
http://www.bleedinedge.com/forum/showthread.php?t=6055