Afterburner Developer, says Development of the App is "Abandoned" on the Guru3D Forums.

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erek

erek

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Updated official version of Afterburner (4/19/23) https://hardforum.com/threads/after...-guru3d-forums.2024729/page-2#post-1045630430

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Yeah, hasn't been updated in awhile kinda wondered why the releases were stalled

"War and politics are the reasons. I didn’t mention it in MSI Afterburner development news thread, but the project is semi abandoned by company during quite a long time already. Actually we’re approaching one year mark since the day when MSI stopped performing their obligations under Afterburner license agreement due to “politic situation”. I tried to continue performing my obligations and worked on the project on my own during the last 11 months, but it resulted in nothing but disappointment; I have a feeling that I’m just beating a dead horse and waste energy on something that is no longer needed by company. Anyway I’ll try to continue supporting it myself while I have some free time, but will probably need to drop it and switch to something else, allowing me to pay my bills."

https://forums.guru3d.com/threads/7900xt-power-usage-not-visible.446010/#post-6090142
https://www.reddit.com/r/nvidia/comments/106lgu3/unwinder_afterburner_developer_says_development/
 
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I assume MSI will bring out some replacement for it. Would be odd if they didn't have an official program to edit RGB settings, fan curve and OCing.
 
I can see them (and other OEM's) dropping most functionality and just focusing on a small app that only controls RGB lighting and fans.
I used to use the program a lot, but I haven't really needed to lately. Nvidia has their own FPS limiter now and the last 3 video cards I've owned haven't benefitted from OC'ing at all. At least beyond gaining like 50 points in 3DMark. The other stuff I used was in D3DOverrider, which stopped being supported forever ago.

For what it's worth, this isn't the first time Afterburner has development has been put on hold. 4-5 years ago development totally stopped, too. Eventually Unwinder and MSI apparently worked things out, so it could happen again.
 
Flogger23m said:
I assume MSI will bring out some replacement for it. Would be odd if they didn't have an official program to edit RGB settings, fan curve and OCing.
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Thru have dragon center for rgb and amd driver software works on my msi reference 6900xt for fan profiles and such.
 
Pardon my ignorance but is there any other utility that can do V/F curve editing for the GPU core like Afterburner? Is there any feature like this in Nvidia's first party performance tuning overlay?
 
Domingo said:
I can see them (and other OEM's) dropping most functionality and just focusing on a small app that only controls RGB lighting and fans.
I used to use the program a lot, but I haven't really needed to lately. Nvidia has their own FPS limiter now and the last 3 video cards I've owned haven't benefitted from OC'ing at all. At least beyond gaining like 50 points in 3DMark. The other stuff I used was in D3DOverrider, which stopped being supported forever ago.

For what it's worth, this isn't the first time Afterburner has development has been put on hold. 4-5 years ago development totally stopped, too. Eventually Unwinder and MSI apparently worked things out, so it could happen again.
Click to expand...

Afterburner could never cap framerates. It's Rivatuner that handles that.
 
Captain Newmackwa said:
Pardon my ignorance but is there any other utility that can do V/F curve editing for the GPU core like Afterburner? Is there any feature like this in Nvidia's first party performance tuning overlay?
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Pretty sure Precision X1 can edit V/F curve in recent versions. Of course that's going to be a dead-end too with EVGA out of the GPU biz.

Edit to add- ASUS' page for GPU Tweak III seems to show a V/F curve editor as well
 
Until we get games that weigh more than a bucket of shit sitting in a pail of piss, I won't be upgrading my gpus. Afterburner and all of that serves me not and makes no difference to me at this point. There is nothing good on market or horizon. No one makes games worth shit anymore. So why need to overclock or manage fans if my gpu is only used for watching YouTube and playing satisfactory which is a great game.
 
tangoseal said:
Until we get games that weigh more than a bucket of shit sitting in a pail of piss, I won't be upgrading my gpus. Afterburner and all of that serves me not and makes no difference to me at this point. There is nothing good on market or horizon. No one makes games worth shit anymore. So why need to overclock or manage fans if my gpu is only used for watching YouTube and playing satisfactory which is a great game.
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I mean you already own a 6900xt right? Not like that is outdated or low tier....
 
tangoseal said:
Until we get games that weigh more than a bucket of shit sitting in a pail of piss, I won't be upgrading my gpus. Afterburner and all of that serves me not and makes no difference to me at this point. There is nothing good on market or horizon. No one makes games worth shit anymore. So why need to overclock or manage fans if my gpu is only used for watching YouTube and playing satisfactory which is a great game.
Click to expand...

What are some games you like? If you don't think anything available right now or in the near future is good, gaming probably isn't your thing anymore.
On the Afterburner front, you can always set your fans as low as they'll go so at least your PC is quiet ;)
 
If Nvidia wanted you to get more performance out of the card they made than what they give you, then they'd just go ahead and do it.
They don't, and so what are we looking for here? Open-source firmware and drivers? Ha.
 
1337Goat said:
If Nvidia wanted you to get more performance out of the card they made than what they give you, then they'd just go ahead and do it.
They don't, and so what are we looking for here? Open-source firmware and drivers? Ha.
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NVIDIA supports automatic overclocking through GeForce Experience.
 
I highly doubt Russian dev will able come after msi over afterburner, U.S and Russia are on bad terms, so my guess msi will use it and keep using it. what is russian dev going to do? nothing.
 
My understanding is that Afterburner is little more than a front-end for RivaTuner.

Maybe it can be reworked such that Rivatuner on it own does the job.

Either way, anyone desiring to work with them are going to face the same problems MSI is, not willing to run afoul of Ukraine War sanctions against Russia.

Unless the dev is willing to leave Russia, and someone gives him an O-1 Visa. That way he can do his work over here, and sanctions won't get in the way.
 
Gulkor said:
I highly doubt Russian dev will able come after msi over afterburner, U.S and Russia are on bad terms, so my guess msi will use it and keep using it. what is russian dev going to do? nothing.
Click to expand...

The thing is Afterburner depends on RTSS and RivaTuner on the backend, which MSI does not own, and probably doesnt even have the source code for.

Without them, afterburner would be useless. It would have to be redeveloped from scratch, without relying on these external parts, which would be a pretty large task, and won't happen overnight.

I'd download the latest version of Afterburner now for your existing GPU's, and not plan on it working properly on new GPU's, and for there not being a good alternative for some time.

Get it here, so you don't fall victim for the fake versions with malware.
 
I can’t remember. What was the program that just popped up above the task bar? I remember smoking an EVGA 8500 gs with that software. I pegged the sliders to make it run GTA 4 sometime after the game launched. I overcooked the card. I still have it somewhere but it melted the stickers off of it. I use Afterburner for the rivatuner OSD and monitoring basically
 
matt167 said:
I can’t remember. What was the program that just popped up above the task bar? I remember smoking an EVGA 8500 gs with that software. I pegged the sliders to make it run GTA 4 sometime after the game launched. I overcooked the card. I still have it somewhere but it melted the stickers off of it. I use Afterburner for the rivatuner OSD and monitoring basically
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I used Coolbits before RivaTuner was a thing. I remember it showing up in the Nvidia CP. It was just a registry hack.
 
Ah Coolbits! That's taking it back, haven't thought about that in awhile.

An app that sat in the taskbar and let you merk tune GPUs with a mere right-click sounds like old-timey RivaTuner but I might be misremembering.
 
NattyKathy said:
Ah Coolbits! That's taking it back, haven't thought about that in awhile.

An app that sat in the taskbar and let you merk tune GPUs with a mere right-click sounds like old-timey RivaTuner but I might be misremembering.
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Coolbits, that brings back memories and also how you can disable dithering


“Section "Screen"
Identifier "nvidia"
Device "nvidia"
Option "AllowEmptyInitialConfiguration" "True"
Option "UseDisplayDevice" "none"
Option "Coolbits" "12"
EndSection”


——
Option "Coolbits" "integer"
Enables various unsupported features, such as support for GPU clock manipulation in the NV-CONTROL X extension. This option accepts a bit mask of features to enable.

When "1" (Bit 0) is set in the "Coolbits" option value, the nvidia-settings utility will contain a page labeled "Clock Frequencies" through which clock settings can be manipulated. "Coolbits" is only available on GeForce FX, Quadro FX and newer desktop GPUs. On GeForce FX and newer mobile GPUs, limited clock manipulation support is available when "1" is set in the "Coolbits" option value: clocks can be lowered relative to the default settings; overclocking is not supported due to the thermal constraints of notebook designs.

WARNING: this may cause system damage and void warranties. This utility can run your computer system out of the manufacturer's design specifications, including, but not limited to: higher system voltages, above normal temperatures, excessive frequencies, and changes to BIOS that may corrupt the BIOS. Your computer's operating system may hang and result in data loss or corrupted images. Depending on the manufacturer of your computer system, the computer system, hardware and software warranties may be voided, and you may not receive any further manufacturer support. NVIDIA does not provide customer service support for the Coolbits option. It is for these reasons that absolutely no warranty or guarantee is either express or implied. Before enabling and using, you should determine the suitability of the utility for your intended use, and you shall assume all responsibility in connection therewith.

When "2" (Bit 1) is set in the "Coolbits" option value, the NVIDIA driver will attempt to initialize SLI when using GPUs with different amounts of video memory.

The default for this option is 0 (unsupported features are disabled).
 
It's been pointed out but maybe to clarify Afterburner and RTSS (RivaTuner Statistics Server) are two separate apps developed by the same author. They are typically bundled together to give the end user the full experience, but they individually have different roles.

AB does the low level interfacing with the driver and sometimes hardware so the user can overclock, set fan curves, etc. This is the very thing MSI was paying Unwinder to attach their name to.

RTSS is mainly for DLL injection into 3D apps for displaying an overlay. It can do other things like cap frame rate which is just a by product of injection. Keep in mind that some online games (Easy Anti Cheat) don't like this type of injection and flag it as cheating. But RTSS typically has a good community standing with game devs so most anti cheats whitelist it.

Bottom line is AB and RTSS are independent of each other but together provide the full user experience. In fact other apps can interface with RTSS to feed it overlay data (HWiNFO can do this).
 
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Based off of the details on Twitter the problem here is the payment to the developer failed because sanctions on Russia right now. MSI are trying to keep it going and not trying to kill it off.
 
Isn't everyone using an older version of Afterburner anyway? I installed the newer version with the new UI couldn't figure out how to get it to do much and immediately went back to the old version.

Or am I dumb and theres a way to make the new one look and act like the old version?
 
Accursed said:
Isn't everyone using an older version of Afterburner anyway? I installed the newer version with the new UI couldn't figure out how to get it to do much and immediately went back to the old version.

Or am I dumb and theres a way to make the new one look and act like the old version?
Click to expand...

If you don't like the new default UI, you can change it to the old green one in the settings.

This way you get both your preferred UI and support for the latest hardware tweaks.
 
Accursed said:
Isn't everyone using an older version of Afterburner anyway? I installed the newer version with the new UI couldn't figure out how to get it to do much and immediately went back to the old version.

Or am I dumb and theres a way to make the new one look and act like the old version?
Click to expand...

Nah. I just installed the newest version over my old install from 4 years ago and it kept all of my settings just the way they were before.
 
Krenum said:
Why don't I just eat out of a toilet?
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After yesterday's vast number of assumptions/conclusions from many media, we're happy to release MSI Afterburner 4.6.5 (Beta 4). This release adds improved voltage support towards the latest graphics cards, among other things.

Download

Version 4.6.4


Added new MSI Windows 11 themed skins (Light and Dark editions) by Drerex design
Added voltage control for reference design AMD RADEON RX 6700 XT series graphics cards
Added experimental support for Intel 11th generation CPUs
Added experimental support for Intel 12th generation CPUs
Added experimental support for mobile AMD Ryzen CPUs
Fixed issue with missing memory temperature sensor on AMD RADEON 5700 / 5700 XT series graphics cards
Fixed issue which could prevent MSI Afterburner from opening from tray via main application icon after accessing properties via clicking monitoring tray icon
Increased memory overclocking limit for NVIDIA GeForce RTX 30x0 series graphics cards
Added workaround for internal DirectInput issue, which could cause hotkey handler to stop processing hotkeys correctly after locking/unlocking PC from keyboard with ++ or +. To bypass it MSI Afterburner is resetting hotkey handler state after lock screen transition now
Optimized monitoring profiles switching implementation for situations when profiles contain different sets of data sources displayed in monitoring tray icons
Application tray icon is DPI aware now:

OS level tray icons scaling is disabled now to prevent tray icon text distortion. Power users may revert back to the previous DPI unaware tray icon rendering mode via configuration file if necessary
Added new bigger tray icon fonts for >=150% and >=200% DPI scaling ratios. Power users may also select tray icon font independently of selected DPI scaling ratio via configuration file if necessary

Application installer is DPI aware now
RivaTuner Statistics Server has been upgraded to v7.3.3
 
erek said:
After yesterday's vast number of assumptions/conclusions from many media, we're happy to release MSI Afterburner 4.6.5 (Beta 4). This release adds improved voltage support towards the latest graphics cards, among other things.

Download

Version 4.6.4


Added new MSI Windows 11 themed skins (Light and Dark editions) by Drerex design
Added voltage control for reference design AMD RADEON RX 6700 XT series graphics cards
Added experimental support for Intel 11th generation CPUs
Added experimental support for Intel 12th generation CPUs
Added experimental support for mobile AMD Ryzen CPUs
Fixed issue with missing memory temperature sensor on AMD RADEON 5700 / 5700 XT series graphics cards
Fixed issue which could prevent MSI Afterburner from opening from tray via main application icon after accessing properties via clicking monitoring tray icon
Increased memory overclocking limit for NVIDIA GeForce RTX 30x0 series graphics cards
Added workaround for internal DirectInput issue, which could cause hotkey handler to stop processing hotkeys correctly after locking/unlocking PC from keyboard with ++ or +. To bypass it MSI Afterburner is resetting hotkey handler state after lock screen transition now
Optimized monitoring profiles switching implementation for situations when profiles contain different sets of data sources displayed in monitoring tray icons
Application tray icon is DPI aware now:

OS level tray icons scaling is disabled now to prevent tray icon text distortion. Power users may revert back to the previous DPI unaware tray icon rendering mode via configuration file if necessary
Added new bigger tray icon fonts for >=150% and >=200% DPI scaling ratios. Power users may also select tray icon font independently of selected DPI scaling ratio via configuration file if necessary

Application installer is DPI aware now
RivaTuner Statistics Server has been upgraded to v7.3.
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did they sort out things with unwinder? last i saw they said that it was because of payments being blocked that he hadnt been paid...
 
pendragon1 said:
did they sort out things with unwinder? last i saw they said that it was because of payments being blocked that he hadnt been paid...
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don't know, but they built a new version, Guru3D and MSI did
 
Was compiled back in November already though, so not that new:
1673497811017.png
 
pendragon1 said:
did they sort out things with unwinder? last i saw they said that it was because of payments being blocked that he hadnt been paid...
Click to expand...
erek said:
don't know, but they built a new version, Guru3D and MSI did
Click to expand...
cybrnook said:
Was compiled back in November already though, so not that new: View attachment 541127
Click to expand...

I read on the Guru3D forums thread that he is still casually working on the project, but since he is unable to be paid because of the Russia Ukraine War sanctions, he is forced to do other work to make ends meet, and is unable to dedicate the amount of time to the project it ideally needs.

he is also very clear that he doesn't blame MSI. They want to keep the project alive, and have been looking for ways to legally get him paid, but they also clearly do not want to wind up on some sort of sanctions list as a result.

I am hopeful they figure something out, but it sounds like they ahve been trying for a while, and the dude hasn't been paid in the 11 months since the invasion and follow-on rapid sanctions.

I still wonder if an O-1 visa would be appropriate. Move him over here, and pay him. MSI must have some sort of offices in the states, even if they are only Sales/Warranty processing, and they should be able to sponsor that kind of arrangement (if - that is - he is willing to move across the planet for a job :p )
 
Zarathustra[H] said:
I still wonder if an O-1 visa would be appropriate. Move him over here, and pay him. MSI must have some sort of offices in the states, even if they are only Sales/Warranty processing, and they should be able to sponsor that kind of arrangement (if - that is - he is willing to move across the planet for a job :p )
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I mean, that's just not going to happen. Our expectations would be he has to uproot his life (wife, kids maybe?) and move somewhere else just so he can get paid whatever he gets paid to develop Afterburner? I doubt that's a realistic option. I've seen that idea jokingly floated a few times now around the interwebz :cautious:
 
cybrnook said:
I mean, that's just not going to happen. Our expectations would be he has to uproot his life (wife, kids maybe?) and move somewhere else just so he can get paid whatever he gets paid to develop Afterburner? I doubt that's a realistic option. I've seen that idea jokingly floated a few times now around the interwebz :cautious:
Click to expand...

If those were the only aspects at play here, I'm sure you are right, but a lot of people are trying to leave Russia these days, especially educated ones with marketable skills.

Pay and lifestyle are much better in the west if you have marketable skills (which he obviously does), and the chances of being drafted and thrown into Ukraine with no training, Papier-mâché body armor and helmet, a gun from the 1890's, no food, and required to buy your own boots and clothing and other equipment are much much much smaller here than they are there. :p

Many Russians would absolutely jump at the opportunity to get a U.S. Visa. No idea if he is one of them or not. Everyone's situation is different, and I know absolutely nothing about the guy. At least we can tell from the forums that his English is pretty good.
 
LittleBuddy said:
Looks like a PR move, this version has been available for a month or two.
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no, it was complied a couple months ago but not release until now.

Zarathustra[H] said:
I read on the Guru3D forums thread that he is still casually working on the project, but since he is unable to be paid because of the Russia Ukraine War sanctions, he is forced to do other work to make ends meet, and is unable to dedicate the amount of time to the project it ideally needs.

he is also very clear that he doesn't blame MSI. They want to keep the project alive, and have been looking for ways to legally get him paid, but they also clearly do not want to wind up on some sort of sanctions list as a result.

I am hopeful they figure something out, but it sounds like they ahve been trying for a while, and the dude hasn't been paid in the 11 months since the invasion and follow-on rapid sanctions.

I still wonder if an O-1 visa would be appropriate. Move him over here, and pay him. MSI must have some sort of offices in the states, even if they are only Sales/Warranty processing, and they should be able to sponsor that kind of arrangement (if - that is - he is willing to move across the planet for a job :p )
Click to expand...
thats what i saw too.
dont think moving just for ab development is viable, i could be wrong though...
 
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