I just tested Hellbender, Mechwarrior 2, Croc, Whiplash and Tomb Raider on the following:
Asus P3B-F v1.03 (Intel 440BX chipset)
Intel P3 1400mhz w/ Slot 1 adapter (10.5x133mhz)
1024MB SDRAM CL2
Techworks Aureal Vortex2 SuperQuad
Windows 98SE
Orchid Righteous Voodoo1

Hellbender works (Direct3D), Croc works (Glide), Mechwarrior 2 (Glide) works, but Whiplash and Tomb Raider crashes at the start when the 3DFX logo is supposed to show up. Seems Windows games works at 133mhz, but DOS crashes.

Also I would not recommend playing 800x600 in Mechwarrior 2 on the Voodoo 1.

First off, the increased resolution is not worth it tbh for what you loose out in drawdistance, image quality, less textures and fog on certain levels compared to the PowerVR version. (see comparison video linked below)
Secondly, the framerate is not steady, but varies between 16-18fps to 30fps on a Voodoo1, this is due to some strange torso turning bug on the 3DFX version which I've seen present on all my systems I've tested on (framerate drops when you torsotwist with the mouse, but if you turn the mech with the legs the framerate is stable). The PowerVR has a steady framerate no matter what. The performance is better on a Voodoo2 for this game if you absolutely have to play in 800x600 in the 3dfx version. You still have the performance hit while torsotwisting with the Voodoo2, but the lower framerate is then only 21-23 which is easier to live with and less noticable. To see the bug in action on a Voodoo 1 in 640x480 see 0:24 in my comparison video, the framerate drop will be higher in 800x600.

It is strange that the Voodoo version of MW2 is one of the least interesting considering it is the best hardware of the time. I wonder if it was the first port whereas the other ports benefitted from subsequent experience, or if it was simply a hasty creation for advertising purposes.

I personally prefer the original DOS version at 1024x768. Its look is very distinctive and not to mention, clear 😁

Great video vetz!

Wow vetz, that's a very professional looking video, nice job. I do agree with you about the PowerVR being the best looking version. I just wish it had higher res capability like you have with the PowerVR Tombraider 1 version. I run that at 800x600 all the time. As for the framerate bug with the Mech 2 Voodoo torso turn, I never really noticed it. I use a Microsoft sidewinder 3d pro joystick with the torso turn set to the rudder twist. I'll have to take a closer look now that you've pointed it out 😉

Thanks 😀

Yeah, it is too bad it don't have higher resolution options. It would be great to figure out what causes the torso twist framerate drop on the 3DFX version, but so far I've found out nothing. I did however see it less prevalent on my P166, so it could be a bug which only appears on quicker systems. Anyway, activating the framerate counter in Mech2 is a good way to keep track of it. You find info on how to do it here: http://www.geocities.ws/mechwarrior2_3d/ List of mission codes, I've written down here:
Re: Mechwarrior 2 ATi Rage edition runs super laggy on Rage Pro?

Over to another subject. I'm in the process of uploading the following PowerVR drivers to Vogonsdrivers:

PCX1:
Videologic Apocalypse 3D 4.1.1
Videologic Apocalypse 3D 4.1.2

PCX2:
Matrox m3D 4.0.1
Matrox m3D 4.1.1
PowerVR PCX1 & PCX2 Referencedrivers 4.1.2C1
Videologic Apocalypse 3Dx 4.0.0
Videologic Apocalypse 3Dx 4.1.1
Videologic Apocalypse 3Dx 4.1.2

Apocalypse 5D:
Videologic Apocalypse 5D 4.0.2
Videologic Apocalypse 5D 4.1.2

These are all I could find on the internet.

Does anyone have the installation CD for the PCX1 or the V3.1 driver? Would be very nice if someone could upload that to Vogonsdrivers!

I put my driver installation approach there:
ftp://78.46.141.148/driver/Matrox/m3D/
read howtoinstall.txt

I did this because the default install was rather troublesome with incompatibilities to certain games. The dll replacing and registry settings fixed this. I don't know how other cards behave though.

I wonder if there's any Nvidia friendly combination. If I run the PVR in D3D Hal with a Geforce host, system kernel crashes and the PVR drivers corrupt.

I don't have a GeForce card, only a RivaTNT, but I *think* the last driver version that works with a PCX2 is Detonator 3.90. It also has support for the GeForce 256 (not GeForce2). Any driver from 4.0 and onwards crashes.
I also noticed that the PowerVR D3D HAL doesn't seem to like KernelEx. Native SGL programs are fine though.

Yes, same happened to me on a AthlonXP 2800 + Quadro 2 pro(detonator 6.32) + PCX1. Try to reduce your fsb to 100 or 66, disable cpu to pci postwrite and use Agp 1x/2x without fastwrites or any of that fancy stuff

I don't know how many of you who have the PCX1, but I have problems getting the drivers to work on Windows 98

SGL games work without problems, but Direct3D HAL is just not working in any game if I install the PCX1 drivers that are available. I've been testing on three different systems with several types of host cards. If I switch it out with my PCX2 everything works as it's supposed to. I do have 3DCC installed.

The only way I've figured out something is to force install the generic PCX2 4.1.2 drivers even if the PCX1 is installed. Some games will then run, like Jedi Knight, Battlezone, Wipeout 2097, Terracide, Forsaken, Tomb Raider II, Urban Assault without any issues. Others like Shadows of the Empire (demo) and Die Hard Trilogy refuse to run in D3D. Hellbender, Monster Truck Madness and Moto Racer have huge issues with black boxes (For Moto Racer it's the background). Dungeon Keeper is just slow like hell and have UI text problems.

For Hellbender & MTM I tried to install the Videologic 4.0.0 drivers for the PCX2 and then they look normal. No other games work with these PCX2 drivers though. Seems PowerVR ruined D3D support for the older games in the new driver releases.

Btw I found the 4.0.0 and the 3.0 drivers for the PCX1 on some game CD's. I'll be uploading these as well.

After looking through the application settings for the PCX1 drivers they actually turn OFF PowerVR HAL on Hellbender, MTM and Agile Warrior! So if anyone have been trying these games out on the PCX1, most likely you were only seeing software.

There is at least one "Matrox M3D" video of Unreal on Youtube which actually shows it in software mode.

I tested the 4.0.0 drivers for the PCX1. Damn the performance drop is significant compared to the 4.1.2 in Direct3D in all games! The drivers certainly improved over time. With the 4.0.0 I could finally get Motoracer (demo) running without problems, but the framerate suffered. A patch was released for Motoracer retail, but I only got the Mystique enhanced version of the game and it doesn't work with that version.

Hellbender and MTM trial still didn't work properly with the 4.0.0 drivers. What is curious though is that I can't find any information on Google Groups about people really complaining about these two games in late 96/early 97. They were prime test candidates for D3D games. Only thing I find is that they run slow, which makes me think that PowerVR never bothered to fix these games, but just turned off acceleration on the PCX1 in the application settings.

Die Hard Triology still don't want to run in D3D mode. I have no clue what is going on there, as the readme states support for the PCX1.

Here's PowerVR 4.1.1c2 Reference drivers 😀

Also Apocalypse 3DX 4.1.0

Also isn't there a PowerVR patch for Die Hard Trilogy included on the Apocalypse CDs?

leileilol wrote:

Also Apocalypse 3DX 4.1.0

Also isn't there a PowerVR patch for Die Hard Trilogy included on the Apocalypse CDs?

Thanks for those drivers, I had the 4.1.1, but the 4.1.0 is new 😀

Patch on the Apocalypse CDs? I only got the CD that is on Vogonsdrivers, and that include no such patch. If you got it, can you upload that patch please?

Here are the driver compilation on Vogonsdrivers:
http://www.vogonsdrivers.com/getfile.php?fileid=415

I recently did some benchmark on PowerVR Kyro1 and Kyro2 in the same system:
ftp://78.46.141.148/pictures/PowerVR_Kyro/3dm … 001se_kyro1.png
ftp://78.46.141.148/pictures/PowerVR_Kyro/3dm … 001se_kyro2.png

It's a shame that Videologic leaned so heavily on the efficiency of their tile based rendering at the expense of raw rendering power or else the Kyro cards would have been real competitors at the high end with faster clocks on the core and memory. If they started out with the same pixel and texture fill rates as GF2 and then got the efficiencies of tile based rendering on top of that it would have been bad news for nVidia.

Yeah, I know a few of those 'what if's' too, except they're related to 3dfx. Don't go there, it'll hurt your heart. 😜