Re: Warcraft 2 on 486 66Mhz animations lag

Posted on 2025-01-16, 07:23

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by fix_metal

in Marvin \ Software

in Marvin \ Software

I've played it many years on my dx2/66 with onboard 2MB ATI Mach 64 VLB and 8MB or greater RAM The demo battle that plays if the title screen is left active would do as you say. Play for a second, pause for a second, the continue like normal but just that first time (as if it was still loading in …

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Re: Warcraft 2 on 486 66Mhz animations lag

Posted on 2025-01-16, 07:22

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by fix_metal

in Marvin \ Software

in Marvin \ Software

the game runs well on basically the same hardware in this video, better than i would have expected for an SVGA title: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9mgKH0giTU did you check if smartdrive has any effect? one difference is the chipset - look into whether sis 496/497 is said to perform better than …

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Re: Warcraft 2 on 486 66Mhz animations lag

Posted on 2025-01-15, 22:25

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by fix_metal

in Marvin \ Software

in Marvin \ Software

Yep. With a low to mid 486 the videos lag but the game is totally playable. I had a 486SX33 when that game got out. Thank god i got a pirated version that did not have the videos. They are really not that essential. It is not like it is CnC. I'm not talking about the videos, those are actually fine …

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Warcraft 2 on 486 66Mhz animations lag [SOLVED]

Posted on 2025-01-15, 21:23

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by fix_metal

in Marvin \ Software

in Marvin \ Software

Hello everyone, I've kept on tweaking and refining my old setup lately, and I've installed most of all my favourite old games to have some fun. Although I've just found Warcraft 2 being laggy in video. It's as if a bottleneck occours every 2 seconds or something like that, so animations will stop …

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Re: Incoming in Windows 98 SE very slow

Posted on 2025-01-11, 22:47

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by fix_metal

in Marvin \ Software

in Marvin \ Software

Have you possibly tried disabling hyper threading? I kind of remember some old games to actually slow down due to that, and by the clock of your P4 I'd say it has the feature (Northwood or Prescott?).

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Re: Serial mouse woes

Posted on 2025-01-11, 22:42

by

by fix_metal

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

UMC chip has blown voltage level translators. >6 (DSR): 2.44 VDC You could maybe bodge it to work by adding external MAX3232 and 3V voltage regulator. MAX3232 powered by 3V will recognize logic high from 2V up. That would fix output, but we dont know if receive is working, to test it you would need …

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Re: Serial mouse woes

Posted on 2024-12-23, 17:51

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by fix_metal

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

For further reference, when idle in DOS here are the COMs voltages from both I/O cards: COM1 (Prime2, working): PIN: VOLTAGE 1 (DCD) : 0.08 VDC 2 (RX): 0.08 VDC 3 (TX): -11.25 VDC 4 (DTR): 11.45 VDC 5 (GND): 0 VDC 6 (DSR): 0.08 VDC 7 (RTS): 11.45 VDC 8 (CTS): 0.08 VDC 9 (RI): 0.08 VDC COM3 (VLB, non …

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Re: Serial mouse woes

Posted on 2024-12-23, 17:43

by

by fix_metal

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I'm testing right now and I've got some interesting results. @Dave: The reason why I've asked for detailed instructions (again, thanks for that) about SDT is that by using the VLB COMs nothing appeared on the screen when typing, even with the loopback connected. On the other hand, COM from Prime2C …

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Re: Serial mouse woes

Posted on 2024-12-23, 17:14

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by fix_metal

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

FYI, with the VLB card set to COM3/4 it is kinda expected that COM1/2 will already be present in the machine. If COM1/2 are not present, then COM3/4 will become COM1/2 but on the addresses for COM3/4 which will complicate troubleshooting a little bit. My advice, leave it at COM1/2. Given that your …

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Re: Sound Blaster Pro 2.0 CT1600 broken channel

Posted on 2024-12-23, 15:45

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by fix_metal

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

From how the soldering looks around that replaced jack, first thing I would check with a multimeter is whether the left or right channels are connected directly to ground. If they are then try cleaning up the solder holes on the back of the card with some isopropyl alcohol and a Q-tip. Something …

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Re: Serial mouse woes

Posted on 2024-12-23, 08:04

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by fix_metal

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

You need to measure voltages. Here is similar 8 page saga and it turned out -12V wasnt reliably going to the card https://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?p=1174713#p1174713 On your Astral UMC UM8663 has build in voltage level translators for RS232. Those can go bad. Loopback test might work OK with …

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Re: Serial mouse woes

Posted on 2024-12-22, 22:59

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by fix_metal

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Sure thing, here they are: Astral VLMIO V1.4 Front (ISA + VLB) Astral VLMIO V1.4 Back (ISA + VLB) Goldstar Prime 2C MKII Front Goldstar Prime 2C MKII Back I've used the [0] for identifying the Goldstar - I guess mine is MKII as it differs somehow from the MK III shown at [0] Same applies for the VLB …

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Re: Serial mouse woes

Posted on 2024-12-22, 19:01

by

by fix_metal

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Update: this VLB COMs just don't seem to be working. Swapped it in any VLB slot, even with various HW cards removal, nothing changes. I've ended up putting back my Goldstar Prime 2C MKII card for using COMs, and jumper the whole setup for having COM1, COM2, COM3, COM4, LPT1, LPT2 coming from both …

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Re: Serial mouse woes

Posted on 2024-12-22, 17:56

by

by fix_metal

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Well, first thing first, I was not able to use SDT. I couldn't understand how to make the terminal actually work. I've ended up testing COM3/4 instead of COM1/2, disabling LPT+GAME+COM2/4. Tried ctmoues 1.9 (stable) instead of latest beta. I've also tried unplugging any card, but the I/O, floppy, …

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Re: Hook PC game problem

Posted on 2024-12-22, 16:25

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by fix_metal

in Marvin \ Software

in Marvin \ Software

Update: I've got rid of the Vibra16 card as a side effect of resurrecting my SBPro 2.0 (see Re: Sound Blaster Pro 2.0 CT1600 broken channel). Removed SB16 drivers, installed SBPRO drivers, now Hook simply works 😀

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Re: Sound Blaster Pro 2.0 CT1600 broken channel

Posted on 2024-12-22, 15:26

by

by fix_metal

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

Thanks guys, These are the best shots I have right now, and won't be able to check on the card for some time in the next days. But I will check as well. IMG-20241130-WA0000.jpg IMG-20241130-WA0001.jpg From how the soldering looks around that replaced jack, first thing I would check with a …

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Re: Serial mouse woes

Posted on 2024-12-22, 15:15

by

by fix_metal

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Thanks for the tips guys. I've just tested with both a loopback DB9 and the serial mouse attached with CheckIt PRO 1.11 and the serial just passes all tests (when loopback dummy plug is in, modem tests fails, of course). I've tested succesfully both by booting my environment, and from a vanilla DOS …

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Re: WFW 3.11 with RTL8019AS card doesn't close properly

Posted on 2024-12-21, 17:05

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by fix_metal

in Marvin \ Software

in Marvin \ Software

I've just checked and the realtek utility doesn't allow to disable auto sense. It seems like this is a wfw3.11 thing as ne2000.com isn't starting any blinking when loaded, whilst when starting wfw3.11 it does. I can't find any option in wfw3.11 to disable such behaviour. Pretty odd.

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Re: Serial mouse woes

Posted on 2024-12-21, 17:01

by

by fix_metal

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I'm pretty curious of how you've ended up in your testings as I've got the exact same problem: just swapped in a VLB I/O card and ctmouse (or even ms mouse.com for that matters) is not capable anymore to find my (perfectly working) mouse. If I switch back to my 16bit I/O it works just fine(Prime2C …

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Re: Sound Blaster Pro 2.0 CT1600 broken channel

Posted on 2024-12-04, 09:22

by

by fix_metal

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

Thanks guys, These are the best shots I have right now, and won't be able to check on the card for some time in the next days. But I will check as well. Filename IMG-20241130-WA0000.jpg File size 249.29 KiB Views 450 views File license Public domain Filename IMG-20241130-WA0001.jpg File size 214.65 …

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