Big thanks zeckensack!

What about a Post-0.82 roadmappery. Is there still something left to improve? 😊

HunterZ wrote:

I don't know if this is the place to post it, but he really ought to use CRC/MD5/whatever hashes of the EXE files to recognize them if he wants to distinguish to games with the same EXE filenames. That way it would be clean and easy to provide a wizard to help the user create profiles. The only problem would be if the user installs a patch for the game that alters the EXE file.

That's exactly the problem. And I don't think it would make this easier.
The current mechanism looks for related files or directories in the vicinity of the exe. If you're saying it's hard to get this information without having the game, you're right. But it's even a little harder to get CRCs, because there can be multiple (patched) versions. The file structure usually stays constant enough.

There is no wizard to create a profile, because empty profiles are generated automatically. You can try it out yourself. Delete the .ini from the wrapper's directory. The profile list will now be empty. Start a Glide game, then go into the configurator again. There'll be a profile.

The problem only arises when games have ambiguous names. I believe they are a minority, and some are already covered. If any of you knows of more such name clashes, I'd appreciate being told, of course 😉

0.82b is out. Fixes the mouse issues that have cropped up (again!) in Diablo 2 and Carmageddon 2.
It also works better with Project64 + Glide64 plugin.

Mipmap generation is faster by between 2 times (RGBA8888) and 4.5 times (8 bit luminance or alpha). And I had lots of fun writing these 813 lines of MMX assembly code 😅

Mysteriously, res switching in Dethkarz now works properly for the first time, like, ever, on Windows 2000. I really can't explain how that happened 😳

amano wrote:

Big thanks zeckensack!

What about a Post-0.82 roadmappery. Is there still something left to improve? 😊

Lots, including uncompleted items from older roadmappery.
Multitexturing would be great.
Support for more graphics chips would be great. I'd very much like to get some reasonable i865G support going.

And then I always wanted a "poke-through" solution for chroma keying, i.e. a software preprocessing step instead of a true per-fragment check, like the old glide wrappers did it. Comes at a CPU cycle and texture memory cost. But ...benefits:
1)You can properly emulate ck on low-end hardware like Geforce2MX or the aforementioned Intel stuff.
2)Shader performance. In the tier2 path, ck emulation costs 5 instructions and a temp, on top of (on average) just two instructions for the rest. I.e. per-fragment ck emulation cuts fillrate down to a third (worse on GeforceFX). The situation is similar for the two tier1 paths (NV20 and R200).
3)Control. ATI and NVIDIA don't seem to agree on texture format expansion, so there are sometimes numeric differences (Madtrax and Speed Busters come to mind). If I do the ck check in software, I get the same behaviour everywhere.

And then there's still this ...

Thanks Zeckensack. I'm still having a few issues with GlideWrapper + Glidos...

1. Chroma Key is a bit approximative in Tomb Raider: the transparent colour doesn't seem to be limited to 96-64-32 but extended to near values as well, leading to unwanted transparent spots here and there.

2. Custom PNG textures are totally funkalistic; Lara's mansion could be renamed 'Barbie House Reloaded' 😅

Just finished 3 days of testing 🤣, here's the results, including some fixes and information that might be useful!

GlideWrapper082b feedback:
On a Radeon 9800 XT with Catalyst 4.12 drivers, Windows XP Home.

GENERAL NOTE: often when games are installed as minimum install (as I tend to do) the procedure for detecting their .exe by searching for other files nearby won't work so the fixes are not applied. Examples include Need For Speed II SE and Speed Busters.

GAMES TESTED:

- Boss Rally (Southpeak Interactive) - perfect!

- Dethkarz (Infogrames) - perfect! (note: I am using a hacked German .exe file as the original game wouldn't even boot the config screen!).

- Driver (Infogrames) - perfect! Can't select above 1024x768 res in config.exe though.though.

- F1 Racing Simulation (Ubisoft) - not working: f1voo.exe doesn't seem to work on WindowsXP. There is a Voodoo patch for this game that might allow it to work better so consider it UNTESTED!

- Formula 1 (Psygnosis) - near perfect: original version installed from CD plays intro video then shows first 2 loading screens but hangs on a black screen. A newer f1win.exe (called "joystick patch" I think) removes the intro video and so works near perfectly: flickery shadow/racing line near camera, titles missing on game menu screens. Intro video doesn't play. Fog/alpha looks wrong in Monaco (only affects water).

- Formula 1 '97 (Psygnosis) - near perfect: flickery shadow/racing line near camera, titles missing on game menu screens. Fog/alpha looks wrong in Monaco (only affects water).

- GL Quake v0.97 (Quake v1.09) (Activision) - not working: the 3dfx miniport (opengl32.dll 1.1.0.1 from 3Dfx Interactive) gives "Quake Error: Could not initialize GL (wglCreateContext failed). Make sure you are in 65535 color mode, and try running -window.". Not really a good test as the readme advises you to only use this opengl32.dll if you have a 3Dfx card!

- Grand Prix Legends (Sierra) - bugs: use thread policy "use render thread" on "Gpl.exe". Mouse pointer leaves trails all over the place in the menus. Game looks fine (but slow, about 6fps!) however when you return to the menu screens from the in-game 3D the mouse won't work, despite highlighting the buttons when you roll over them.

- Ignition (Virgin) - near perfect: opening video clip shows nothing with sound breakup. In game some flicker on car shadow and when car passes under low cloud. Game stays in low res 640x400 resolution as noted in Glide Wrapper readme!

- Killer Loop (Crave Entertainment) - near perfect: game works and looks fine as long as you use no higher than 1024x768 resolution in the game's Screen Resolution menu. 1280x1024 shows a black screen when in-game. Note: don't use compatibility mode on killerloop_3dfx.exe or the game won't close down it's process after exiting so you have to use ctrl+alt+del and End Process killerloop_3dfx.exe. You WILL have to use compatibility mode (Win95/98/ME) on the regular Direct3D version (killerloop.exe) or the keyboard won't work in-game!

- Le Mans 24 Hours (Infogrames NOT Atari) - bugs: loading bar only shows white, lens flare (sunset) tracks crashes the game when the sun appears on screen (but audio continues), chroma key issues on several tree objects (but not all), audio commentary loops (doesn't in Direct3D version).

- Mad Trax (Rayland) - perfect!

- Monaco Grand Prix Racing Simulation 2 (Ubisoft) - near perfect: use thread policy "crazy" (edit the pre-defined Monaco Grand Prix Racing Simulation profile). The cockpit view is messed up though (partly visible, partly missing). Game doesn't close down it's process after exiting so you have to use ctrl+alt+del and End Process Mgprs_v.exe.

- Mortal Kombat 4 (Midway) - perfect!

- Motorhead (Gremlin) - near perfect: light glows/lens flares don't appear.

- Need For Speed II SE (EA) - bugs: random lock-ups (e.g. after skipping opening video, when loading a race if you keep changing locations/cars). Also exits to Desktop playing videos in the car showcases (does this sometimes on dgVoodoo too but DOESN'T do this on the non-accelerated version of the game or on my old Voodoo5 5500 AGP card Win98 machine). Graphically mostly good except for outlines on the edge of some textures (background and trees on Last Resort track for example). Note: using minimum install version.

- Need For Speed III Hot Pursuit (EA) - 3Dsetup doesn't detect Voodoo card so can't select it!

- Need For Speed Road Challenge (EA) - 3Dsetup doesn't detect Voodoo card so can't select it!

- Need For Speed Porsche 2000 (EA) - 3Dsetup doesn't detect Voodoo card so can't select it! Could be interesting if forced to work somehow as the Direct3D version shows the textures in really low resolution on my ATI Radeon 9800XT card.

- Newman Haas Racing (Psygnosis) - near perfect: shadow under car flickers in lower views.

- Official F1 Racing (Eidos) - perfect! However the game itself doesn't like Pentium4 + Windows XP as the menus run too fast and the sound breaks-up (does it in software version too, not a Glide issue!). You HAVE to use Win95/98/ME compatibility or it's even faster still!

- Pod Gold (Ubisoft) - near perfect: have to use Dege's Pod Patcher to make it work on Pentium4. Cars are not visible in car selection screen except briefly when switching to another car (as they fade out). In-game runs really fast, this can be helped by dropping refresh rate, however the dgvoodoo wrapper slows it down better using his "Always wait for at least one v-sync" option. Game often hangs on black screen when exiting, requiring a ctrl+alt+del End Process on PODX3Dfx.exe. This used to happen on my Voodoo5 5500 AGP card but doesn't happen on dgVoodoo. If you use render to: client window it WILL shut down properly but runs in the top-left corner of the screen cropped.

- Powerslide (GT Interactive) - not working: detects "Glide 1" in menu but has no race loading screens, then in-game has massive graphics corruption with lots of twisted brown polygons. Also hangs when exiting the game. NOTE: If you DON'T want to use Glide you HAVE to check -forced3d in the ps_clo.exe program or else the game is unusable as it won't detect Direct3D AND Glide; it defaults to Glide which doesn't work as described!

- Pro Rally 2001 (Ubisoft) - not working: a nightmare to install usually (requires a new installer on Pentium4 and Win95/98/ME compatibility settings on the RallySetupSound.exe file) - the Direct3D version always freezes when loading a race with the loading bar full then playing in-game audio but no 3D graphics appear. In the Glide wrapper (game uses Glide 3.0) set the thread policy on "Prorally.exe" to "use render thread" to see intro video. The game menu backdrops are black and the cursor/menu selections leave trails. Finally the game similarly stops with the loading bar filled when loading a track. Clicking the mouse on the menus shuts the game down and you have to use alt+tab to get back into it so only use keyboard to navigate!

- realMYST (Ubisoft) - near perfect: in-game is perfect, however the menu when you press Escape is shades of bright pink!

- Rollcage (Psygnosis) - near perfect: Graphics are fine but Rollcage.exe doesn't shut down when exiting so you have to use ctrl+alt+del and End Process it. If you use render to: client window it WILL shut down properly but runs in the top-left corner of the screen cropped.

- Rollcage Stage II (Psygnosis) - perfect! A minor glitch of a black line grid on the loading screen image (a 2D screen made from 3D textures I think), note: I'm using "try high-res".

- Sega Manx TT (Psygnosis) - perfect!

- Sentinel Returns (Psygnosis) - near perfect: use thread policy "use render thread" on "Sentinel.exe" to prevent atioglxx.dll from crashing when exiting the game. Some black lines are visible around elements of the main menu screen but these don't affect the gameplay.

- Speed Busters (Ubisoft) - near perfect: (using US patch) noted chroma key issues on trees as mentioned in Glide wrapper readme. Only "3Dfx renderer" works, choosing "3Dfx2 renderer" causes a black screen with looping sound of the opening video, requiring a ctrl+alt+del on SpeedBusters.exe. Game won't work if the "Speed Busters AddOn (Version 1.28 )" 24MB patch is applied (which adds all new cars, detailed textures and in-car cockpits) as it crashes when loading a race (does the same in standard Direct3D mode too with this patch).

- Sports Car GT (EA) - bugs: menu is unusable as it shows no text/buttons/loading screens and the cursor leaves trails - but I managed to start a game: in-game it's near-perfect with only a black outline around the backdrop graphic but the menu makes the game unusable!

- Star Wars Rogue Squadron 3D (Lucasarts) - not working: launcher doesn't detect 3Dfx Voodoo card.

- Test Drive 4 (Accolade) - near perfect: skid marks are made up of triangles not rectangles. I suggest gamma of 1.3 not 1.7 as it's a bit too bright currently.

- Test Drive 5 (Accolade) - perfect!

- Test Drive Off-Road 2 (Accolade) - near perfect: some grey shaded triangles on ground near the camera (best seen with in-car view, use F4).

- Thrust Twist + Turn (Carts Entertainment) - bugs: graphics look fine but a black flickering (strobing on/off) window appears over the screen, regardless of Configurator settings. Sometimes the window briefly shows static. The graphics look fine (better than dgVoodoo as underwater reflections are correct) but the flickering window hurts your eyes (note: on "try high res" flickering area is in top-left. If resolution is set "by app", whole screen flickers instead!).

- Ultim@te Race Pro (Microprose) - perfect!

- UltraHLE - perfect! Although mip-mapping looks too blurry. I recommend increasing "lod bias" or "ansiotropy". Biggest problem is nothing to do with Glide wrappers; Win95/98/ME compatibility is needed and the keyboard controls suffer with steering to the left being smooth and to the right being sharp = hard to control!

- Viper Racing (Sierra) - not working: I'm using the (fairly rare) 1.2.1 BETA patch which fixes audio break-up in WinXP. It doesn't seem to detect 3Dfx Voodoo though (the game's initial readme says the game will default to Voodoo if it finds it, however the Viper Racing.exe file never appears in Configurator so it can't be even trying to run using Glide.

- V-Rally (Infogrames) - near perfect: shadows under cars are missing.

Games that I tested and worked.

Need for Speed: Road Challenge: Works, but the performance depends of the settings.

Works better with high-res, mipmapping and shading on. Sometimes crashes without reason. But anyway, is FAR better than playing with D3D drivers.

I suggest to use the eVoodoo configurator. They included a registry patch on it that change the settings for a bunch of EA games, included NFS:RC.

Wing Commander Prophecy: Secret Ops; Works fine, performance near of the OpenGlide, but with some issues:

- The transparencies for some components is not working at all ( Works with OG )
- The briefing is too much slow ( Not happen with OG )

The transparencies missing are in the HUD and missile locking. Impossible to not notice. 😉

I'll do more tests and if they show significant differences, I'll post here.

Great work people! 😁

--
Micael

Ice,
You're a hero. Thanks, man.
*hug*

VirtuaIceMan wrote:

GENERAL NOTE: often when games are installed as minimum install (as I tend to do) the procedure for detecting their .exe by searching for other files nearby won't work so the fixes are not applied. Examples include Need For Speed II SE and Speed Busters.

NFS2: demo and full need different settings for me, so I separated the profiles. Unfortunately both exes are called NFS2SEA.exe.
For full, I search for fedata\pc\art\slides\sldblk.qfs (not present in demo)
For demo, I search for fedata\pc\art\slides\title.qfs (not present in full)

Speedbusters:
The profile is tied directly to spb.exe. No other files are looked for.

Any other suggestions?

___
Driver (Infogrames) - no resolution selection issues for me. I'm using the demo "driverdemo.zip". It claims to be "version 5.7m of the game" in its readme.

Formula 1/Formula 1 CE '97 (Psygnosis) - flicker issues are known. Thought I could fix it by implementing full software clipping (as of 0.80). Didn't work out. Titles seem to work okay for me. My demo versions don't include the Monaco track. I'll retest.

GL Quake v0.97 (Quake v1.09) (Activision) - known issue. The miniGL driver name clashes with the OpenGL driver. Both are called opengl32.dll. The wrapper, when it attempts to load the GL driver, gets the miniGL driver instead. Circular reference. Would be extremely hairy to work around.

Grand Prix Legends (Sierra) - can't get the demo to run at all.

Ignition (Virgin) - video issues confirmed. Will retest.

Killer Loop (Crave Entertainment) - I disagree about "near perfect". Keyboard controls are borked, the game only registers cursor keys and escape, but not SPACE or any letter key. Unplayable without a joystick.

Motorhead (Gremlin) - glow might require multitexturing. Never seen any lens flares. I'll hunt them down.

Need For Speed II SE (EA) - issues acknowledged, will retest.

Need For Speed III Hot Pursuit (EA)
Need For Speed Road Challenge (EA)
Need For Speed Porsche 2000 (EA)
Mark Bell sent me some inf files that he says will fix some game settings and allow selecting and actually using the Glide renderer. I'll start hosting them on my webspace soonish.

Newman Haas Racing (Psygnosis) - don't have it. Probably the same engine as the F1 games.

Pod Gold (Ubisoft) - completely unplayable for me, because controls work with ~20 seconds delay. In-menu fading issue is known. New vsync setting is underway.

Powerslide (GT Interactive) - works perfectly for me. Strange ...

realMYST (Ubisoft) - demo doesn't have any pink garbage. Will retest.
(NOTE: pink is the "magic" color used for detecting which pixels have been modified by the game during an LFB write lock. If a game unlocks the buffer, it is assumed that only non-pink pixels have been modified.)

Rollcage (Psygnosis) - stopped working for me two months ago. No idea why.

Rollcage Stage II (Psygnosis) - demo doesn't work for me ...

Speed Busters (Ubisoft) - 3Dfx2 renderer requires multitexturing. 24MB patch sounds like simply too much texture data.

Test Drive 4 (Accolade) - will change gamma setting. (Slight) flickering is known, but can't do much about it.

Test Drive Off-Road 2 (Accolade) - don't have it. Probably the same engine as Test Drive 4.

If I didn't reply on a game, it means I don't have it, and don't know enough about it to comment.
Some of the games you mentioned were new to me. I've been hunting for demo versions, and will, of course, use whatever I find for testing.

Miguel,
Can you give a rough outline of your system specs?
CPU family, graphics card and Windows version would be nice 😀

Some feedback from me...

zeckensack wrote:

Ice,
You're a hero. Thanks, man.

Ta! Though really you (and Dege) are heroes for continuing to develop Glide wrappers beyond their use in UltraHLE (as Glide wrappers were mainly originally developed for!)).

zeckensack wrote:

NFS2: demo and full need different settings for me, so I separated the profiles. Unfortunately both exes are called NFS2SEA.exe.
For full, I search for fedata\pc\art\slides\sldblk.qfs (not present in demo)
For demo, I search for fedata\pc\art\slides\title.qfs (not present in full)

I don't know if the fedata\pc\art\slides\sldblk.qfs file is installed with minimum install of the game, that's probably why it's not detecting it.

zeckensack wrote:

Speedbusters:
The profile is tied directly to spb.exe. No other files are looked for.

My Speedbusters exe (from US version as I bought the game on holiday!) is called Speedbusters.exe

zeckensack wrote:

Driver (Infogrames) - no resolution selection issues for me. I'm using the demo "driverdemo.zip". It claims to be "version 5.7m of the game" in its readme.

I *think* it's because I have try high res on in the wrapper so resolutions above 1024x768 fail as they try to run double which my graphics card doesn't like!

zeckensack wrote:

Formula 1/Formula 1 CE '97 (Psygnosis) - flicker issues are known. Thought I could fix it by implementing full software clipping (as of 0.80). Didn't work out. Titles seem to work okay for me. My demo versions don't include the Monaco track. I'll retest.

The titles missing are on the menu screens on the full version of Formula 1 ONLY. F1 97 works fine. As I said, the titles were also missing on my Voodoo5 card running the Glide version, so it might be a weird one to fix!

zeckensack wrote:

Grand Prix Legends (Sierra) - can't get the demo to run at all.

There are LOTS of patches for the full game. You could try the heavily patched version (which includes all the patches and *should* include all the renderers, plus has later car & track models so it looks better than the released version!) from www.bhmotorsports.com - follow the "GPL 2004 Demo" button at the top of the screen.

zeckensack wrote:

Killer Loop (Crave Entertainment) - I disagree about "near perfect". Keyboard controls are borked, the game only registers cursor keys and escape, but not SPACE or any letter key. Unplayable without a joystick.

As mentioned, Win95/98/ME compatibility is needed in XP or the keyboard misbehaves, however turning this on with the 3Dfx version (note different .exe name) means the process doesn't end properly. I was talking about the graphics in the game, controls are a WinXP conflict it appears!

zeckensack wrote:

Motorhead (Gremlin) - glow might require multitexturing. Never seen any lens flares. I'll hunt them down.

There are *lots* of lights/lens flare effects, on all car lights and every light around the track. Take a look at the D3D version to see what to expect. I *think* infrequently I saw car brake lights ahead but only for a frame or so of gameplay!

zeckensack wrote:

Need For Speed III Hot Pursuit (EA) Need For Speed Road Challenge (EA) Need For Speed Porsche 2000 (EA) Mark Bell sent me some i […]
Show full quote

Need For Speed III Hot Pursuit (EA)
Need For Speed Road Challenge (EA)
Need For Speed Porsche 2000 (EA)
Mark Bell sent me some inf files that he says will fix some game settings and allow selecting and actually using the Glide renderer. I'll start hosting them on my webspace soonish.

Brilliant news! I tried following guides from other sites on forcing better quality alone on my Radeon 9800XT (as it's detected as a low-end Direct3D card) but it gets too complicated! Glide mode should make Porsche NFS look a LOT better (I hope as the texture quality on D3D is a quarter of what it should be!). As for Miguel's comment, I can't recall NFS:RC looking much better on my Voodoo, but I guess it depends on how the game detects your graphics card (it might be disabling lots of detail if it thinks the card is lower-end than it actually is).

zeckensack wrote:

Newman Haas Racing (Psygnosis) - don't have it. Probably the same engine as the F1 games.

Yes, it is the F1 engine, developed a little bit. There's a demo of this game out.

zeckensack wrote:

Pod Gold (Ubisoft) - completely unplayable for me, because controls work with ~20 seconds delay. In-menu fading issue is known. New vsync setting is underway.

Hmm interesting! The controls didn't seem too bad, but it was running at a million FPS heh! I AM running a different patch .exe that's supposed to have force feedback (although I think force feedback isn't working on XP at all) so the patch may have fixed other things too. There's a LOT of different exes and patches for this game, maybe ask Dege about it as I helped him to locate some other versions of the game patches so he might have them stockpiled somewhere!

zeckensack wrote:

Powerslide (GT Interactive) - works perfectly for me. Strange ...

Is that patched? Again I've got the latest generation patches on the game.

zeckensack wrote:

realMYST (Ubisoft) - demo doesn't have any pink garbage. Will retest.

It's only on the save/load menu, I can't remember if the demo had this screen at all (I don't think it did).

zeckensack wrote:

Rollcage (Psygnosis) - stopped working for me two months ago. No idea why.

Weird! Tried any patches? I can't remember if their are any patches without digging out my patches CD...! Ask me if you need any patches in particular, I may be able to collect them together for you as I have them all backed up!

zeckensack wrote:

Rollcage Stage II (Psygnosis) - demo doesn't work for me ...

The demo's not likely to work; the full game doesn't work on WindowsXP unless you patch it and I guess the demo came out first. Incidentally it's a cool game and a lot more "controllable" than the first one, worth getting! I got my copy for only a few UK pounds second hand off Amazon! The patch takes a bit more tracking down, but again, I have it backed up!

zeckensack wrote:

Speed Busters (Ubisoft) - 3Dfx2 renderer requires multitexturing. 24MB patch sounds like simply too much texture data

The 24MB patch version would be interesting if it could be made to work, just for in-car cockpits and detailed ground textures! Currently, I install the game, then the 24MB patch, then the previous version game patch (which removes the cockpit/detailed textures (but lets the game work) yet keeps all the new bonus cars (which are also available in separate patches)). Most patches can still be found at www.speedbusters.com

zeckensack wrote:

Test Drive Off-Road 2 (Accolade) - don't have it. Probably the same engine as Test Drive 4.

I think it is similar (as the menu when you pause in-game is identical to either TD4 or TD5, however the frame rate is only about 15-20fps maximum which makes the game rather jerky. No idea why they capped the framerate so low as TD4/TD5 run much more smoothly! There's a demo of this game around too, but I don't know if the demo supports 3Dfx.

zeckensack wrote:

If I didn't reply on a game, it means I don't have it, and don't know enough about it to comment.
Some of the games you mentioned were new to me. I've been hunting for demo versions, and will, of course, use whatever I find for testing.

I might be able to supply you with CD rips of some of the games, if they are of particular interest, however if you fix what you have available then I can report on titles you don't have rather than send you GBs of CD rips heh!

I have a few demo games that use 3Dfx but they aren't installed at the moment. One that comes to mind is X-Car by Bethesda, so maybe another title to try if you haven't got it already!

Ice

Ok, Zeckensack. That's my machine specs:

CPU: Athlon XP, 1.3 Ghz
Video: GF 4 MX 440 -- 128 Mb
Memory: 364 Mb
Sound: SB Live
OS: Windows XP

I only notice a slowdown at the WCP:SO, specially in the briefing room. The rest of the emulation is fine, except by the transparencies in the HUD components.

If you want a more specific test or one screenshot, let me know.

Great work! I'm quite impressed and happy to play those Glide games again 🤣

--
Micael

Miguel Figueiredo wrote:

Ok, Zeckensack. That's my machine specs: […]
Show full quote

Ok, Zeckensack. That's my machine specs:

CPU: Athlon XP, 1.3 Ghz
Video: GF 4 MX 440 -- 128 Mb
Memory: 364 Mb
Sound: SB Live
OS: Windows XP

That's the reason for the transparency problems 😖
Chroma keying emulation isn't supported on Geforce 4MX.

Miguel Figueiredo wrote:

I only notice a slowdown at the WCP:SO, specially in the briefing room.

I'll look into it.

Remember kids, GeForce4 MX equals GeForce2 with extra memory and a faster AGP bus speed!! 😀

Ok ppl, lesson learned 😢

Time to change the video board.

Any suggestions in the Nvidia camp? I use Linux most of time, so ATI still is a bad option. But I'm tracking the evolution of ATI drivers.

I'm thinking an one FX 5900 or better. Good choice or no?

Thanks for any response

--
Micael

I have a GeForceFX 5900XT and it's awesome. You might want to go with a GeForce6 6600, though.

Hmmmm, I've heard about the 6600 too.

But my doubt is: This board is only for the new PCIXpress slot or exist one model that use the AGP slot.

The only time I saw one 6600, it is for PCIXpress slots.

Really there's a HUGE performance diference between AGP and PCIXpress models? If it's the case, probably I'll think better and make a bigger upgrade in my system.

Again, thanks for any response.

--
Micael

Not at the current time. Most chips don't pass enough through the AGP Bus to utilise its full capacity.

VirtuaIceMan wrote:

- Sports Car GT (EA) - bugs: menu is unusable as it shows no text/buttons/loading screens and the cursor leaves trails - but I managed to start a game: in-game it's near-perfect with only a black outline around the backdrop graphic but the menu makes the game unusable!

Logged it, traced it, turned it upside down. Then I found out why. This is one of those real f**in' stupid games.
*argh*

Glide allows two kinds of framebuffer locks. Read locks and write locks. Each return a pointer to the framebuffer to the application.
If it's a write lock, the application can write to the framebuffer. The mighty SDK manual states, in multiple places, that thou shalt not read through a pointer obtained by write-locking, because you will get totally bogus random data that has no resemblence whatsoever with actual framebuffer contents. Aka "undefined results".

And that's the problem. SPGT reads through a pointer obtained by write-locking.

It transpired that the SDK manual is not to be trusted on this matter. 3dfx made some provisions for f**in' stupid games, so that this actually works under special circumstances.
*sigh*

I've fixed it. At a hefty performance cost. 40fps tops on a Radeon 9800Pro. I'm still undecided on how to name the corresponding config toggle. How about "F**in' stupid lfb behaviour"?

"Non-compliant framebuffer locking"

🤣! those guys at EA (and ISI in the case of SCGT) know how to have fun!

I wonder if this "fix" will allow other games to work? I have been playing with NFS3/4/5 using information Zeckensack sent me and only got NFS4 to work in Glide mode (which doesn't offer much apart from improved intro video and menu quality), however NFS3/5 (which both look rubbish on my Radeon 9800XT due to being locking in 16-bit (NFS3) and ultra-low-res textures (NFS5)) don't start (black screen).

Ice