I don't see why you need both a Voodoo2 and a Voodoo3. Is there a specific game you actually want to run that is known to have compatibility problems with a Voodoo3?

Jinxter wrote:

With 384 MB RAM i decided to use 65MB for ramdrive and configured Windows and dos to use the ramdrive for swap and temp files.

It makes sense to use a ramdrive with more than 512 MB of RAM, but with 384 MB you're probably much better off leaving Windows to manage everything. There are many pages discussing the various complex reasons for this out there; http://freepctech.com/pc/002/XP_MYTHS_001.shtml contains a blurb. 65 MB isn't very much for both swap and temp files anyway.

When using uide.sys Windows98Se does not work.

Yes, I'm pretty sure Windows is supposed to take care of all of that.

You should get the Intel Application Accelerator for UDMA support.

I Also set ConservativeSwapfileUsage=0 (maybe this is already default?)

Yes.
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/223294

Jorpho wrote:

I don't see why you need both a Voodoo2 and a Voodoo3. Is there a specific game you actually want to run that is known to have […]
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I don't see why you need both a Voodoo2 and a Voodoo3. Is there a specific game you actually want to run that is known to have compatibility problems with a Voodoo3?

Jinxter wrote:

With 384 MB RAM i decided to use 65MB for ramdrive and configured Windows and dos to use the ramdrive for swap and temp files.

It makes sense to use a ramdrive with more than 512 MB of RAM, but with 384 MB you're probably much better off leaving Windows to manage everything. There are many pages discussing the various complex reasons for this out there; http://freepctech.com/pc/002/XP_MYTHS_001.shtml contains a blurb. 65 MB isn't very much for both swap and temp files anyway.

When using uide.sys Windows98Se does not work.

Yes, I'm pretty sure Windows is supposed to take care of all of that.

You should get the Intel Application Accelerator for UDMA support.

I Also set ConservativeSwapfileUsage=0 (maybe this is already default?)

Yes.
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/223294

There is a small number of games and demo or two that only work on the V2 for whatever reason but they are not memorable, the same goes for the V1 but no one plays those games/demos except once just to try out. OP is better off just using the V3.

Please tell us which games aren't working on your voodoo 3.
I will try to make them work and post the results (if I have the respective games)

I am sure I can run any glide game on the voodoo 3.
Challenge accepted 🤣

Nice machine by the way 😀

Arctic wrote:

Please tell us which games aren't working on your voodoo 3. I will try to make them work and post the results (if I have the res […]
Show full quote

Please tell us which games aren't working on your voodoo 3.
I will try to make them work and post the results (if I have the respective games)

I am sure I can run any glide game on the voodoo 3.
Challenge accepted 🤣

Nice machine by the way 😀

Mech warrior 2

Arctic wrote:

Please tell us which games aren't working on your voodoo 3.
Nice machine by the way 😀

Descent (1) and Tomb Raider (1)

Jorpho wrote:

You should get the Intel Application Accelerator for UDMA support.

The readme file for App Acc says it only workes for P3 and P4:
1. The system must contain the following Intel products:
* Intel(R) Pentium(R) III or Pentium(R) 4 processor
* Intel(R) 82801AA, 82801AB, 82801BA or 82801DB
controllers

I have a P2, is it worth a try?

Will Smartdrv (startet in autoexec.bat) have any effect in Windows98?

Jorpho wrote:

Jinxter wrote:

With 384 MB RAM i decided to use 65MB for ramdrive and configured Windows and dos to use the ramdrive for swap and temp files.

It makes sense to use a ramdrive with more than 512 MB of RAM, but with 384 MB you're probably much better off leaving Windows to manage everything. There are many pages discussing the various complex reasons for this out there; http://freepctech.com/pc/002/XP_MYTHS_001.shtml contains a blurb. 65 MB isn't very much for both swap and temp files anyway.

Thanks for the link to the Windows XP Myths. I am using Windows 98SE so i am not convinced that the myth regarding Ramdrive is accurate to use in my case.
i State that i am using a Ramdrive to :
1. Improve overall speed. My thinking here is that i am using the machine mostly for retro gaming. Those games does not utilize all available memory, and somehow "forced" windows to swap memory. As "evidence" i can see that my swapfile is created after running some games. Ex. after playing Quake2 i can see that windows has created a swapfile i ramdisk that is about 16MB - sometimes larger. One could argue that this would not have happened if i did not have a ramdrive, but then again why would 65Mb more ram, reduce swapfile when playing Quake2?

2. Reduce wear on my Compact Flash. This page discussed the life span issued on Compact Flash https://docs.oracle.com/cd/E19469-01/820-4893 … pact_flash.html: "A disadvantage of CF is its limited life span. The card’s life span is dependent upon the number of write/erase cycles it receives. A block of memory on a CF card can only sustain a limited number of write/erase cycles before it degrades, and the card becomes unusable (reading does not degrade CF). In this respect, an OS can place a high demand on a CF card, because it performs numerous write-intensive tasks such as logging and swapping."
I am therefor deducting that using a ramdrive for both temp/tmp files and swapfile will prolong the life of the CF.

Please give your opinion.

Jinxter wrote:

1. The system must contain the following Intel products: * Intel(R) Pentium(R) III or Pentium(R) 4 processor * Intel(R) 828 […]
Show full quote

1. The system must contain the following Intel products:
* Intel(R) Pentium(R) III or Pentium(R) 4 processor
* Intel(R) 82801AA, 82801AB, 82801BA or 82801DB
controllers

I have a P2, is it worth a try?

Whoops, I misread that. I suppose you probably shouldn't use that, then.

Will Smartdrv (startet in autoexec.bat) have any effect in Windows98?

I doubt it. I tried to find definitive reference stating that it won't do anything, but all I could find was http://www.computerhope.com/smartdrv.htm .

Please keep in mind that people have been running Windows 98 for almost twenty years now and if there was something to be gained from using smartdrv – or 65 MB RAM disks, for that matter – it would be very well-documented.

Those games does not utilize all available memory, and somehow "forced" windows to swap memory. As "evidence" i can see that my swapfile is created after running some games. Ex. after playing Quake2 i can see that windows has created a swapfile i ramdisk that is about 16MB - sometimes larger. One could argue that this would not have happened if i did not have a ramdrive, but then again why would 65Mb more ram, reduce swapfile when playing Quake2?

Yes, Windows 98 is pretty much designed to swap RAM. There is a blurb about this on the XP Myths page as well (see "Disable the Paging File"). That is also why I am pretty sure using less than 65 MB for your page file is probably going to cause problems.

Reducing wear on your CF card is an interesting argument, but I doubt you are actually likely to run up against the limit of write/erase cycles simply due to swap file usage.

Jorpho wrote:

Yes, Windows 98 is pretty much designed to swap RAM. There is a blurb about this on the XP Myths page as well (see "Disable the Paging File"). That is also why I am pretty sure using less than 65 MB for your page file is probably going to cause problems.

Reducing wear on your CF card is an interesting argument, but I doubt you are actually likely to run up against the limit of write/erase cycles simply due to swap file usage.

After reading the XP Myths, presuming it's the same in Windows 98, i think i will keep the swapfile on the c: drive. Keeping the ramdrive for temp files, could be a problem if a program would need more temp space than i allocated.

Also, i think i will try the Intel Application Accelerator. The readme file says it will work on Intel 82801AA Chipsset. I believe that I have this chip. I am not 100% sure, but i know it is a Intel 440BX motherboard. Don't think wrong drivers will destroy anything.
I'm planning to use CrystalCPUID 4.15.5.452e to test hdd/CF speeds before and after.

Jinxter wrote:

Arctic wrote:

Please tell us which games aren't working on your voodoo 3.
Nice machine by the way 😀

Descent (1) and Tomb Raider (1)

I played with Voodoo 3 Tomb Raider 1 without any problems years ago.

under linux i would use tmpfs, which would let me use physical memory for ramdisk up to a predefined point and then grow on disk if theres not enough memory - no such thing for windoze with all those ramdisks available?

From my experience compatibility issues between different Voodoo cards was most pronounced between the V1 and V2 as a fair number of early accelerated games were statically linked to the V1 and didn't always work on a v2 or later card out of the box. On the other hand adding appropriate environmental variables to the autoexec.bat cured most of the issues IIR. I don't know if a similar trick is possible with a V2/V3 setup.

Jinxter wrote:

Also, i think i will try the Intel Application Accelerator. The readme file says it will work on Intel 82801AA Chipsset. I believe that I have this chip. I am not 100% sure, but i know it is a Intel 440BX motherboard.

When trying to install the Accelerator i was denied due to "incompatible hardware"

Tiger433 wrote:

I played with Voodoo 3 Tomb Raider 1 without any problems years ago.

Could you maybe send me the glide.* files you are using in the Tomb Raider folder?
Also i got Descent working.

Jinxter wrote:

Tiger433 wrote:

I played with Voodoo 3 Tomb Raider 1 without any problems years ago.

Could you maybe send me the glide.* files you are using in the Tomb Raider folder?
Also i got Descent working.

I used patch file from Tomb Raider CD and I have there with Voodoo 3 AntiAliasing there even when I ran that game in pure DOS much years ago. I played that some about 10-12 years ago. I normally installed game and only I copied patch to game directory. But today I haven`t my Voodoo 3 and other things I used in that time and I miss all that every day.

And read that - Tomb Raider inventory hang with Voodoo3 3000 and Glide patch
So you can see that is possible to run Tomb Raider on Voodoo 3.

Tomb Raider is easy. There are 2 patches. One called 3dfx patch, the other one Voodoo Rush patch. 3dfx patch only works on V1, Voodoo Rush patch works on V3. Small differences, Laura won't have a shadow with Voodoo Rush patch.

I don't know about the other games though.

is the low level api documented anywhere anyway? i bet some skilled guy could fix that..

mrau wrote:

is the low level api documented anywhere anyway? i bet some skilled guy could fix that..

what are you talking about? the Voodoo Graphics Tomb Raider patch?

It's not a low-level API. As I understand it, it's still the standard Glide library (in this case, a version of the library compiled for Voodoo 1 cards). The library is just statically linked with the binary rather than dynamically linked. See tincup's post. Also see Voodoo 2 DOS Glide compatibility matrix

Yes, maybe someone skilled could maybe fix it. There's a reasonably sized list of statically linked games and patches.

@Stiletto, well Glide is one thing, a point where this problem can be tackled - maybe, depends on the drugs taken by 3dfx engineers;
what i meant - this statically linked software still works on newer cards, right? so the lowlevel way of doing things still i similar - or do i have to stop taking my pills?