VOGONS


First post, by Expack3

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Tried out Riverworld's D3D mode (XWORLD.EXE) with dgVoodoo2 2.55, and it appears to be producing improper polygon coordinates, resulting in "stretched" polygons:

Riverworld_StretchedPolygons.png
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This behavior is the same on my integrated GPU when running in software mode (WWORLD.EXE). Also, despite software mode supposedly also supporting 3DFX, it's not hooking any of dgVoodoo2's 3DFX DLLs.

Reply 1 of 17, by ZellSF

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Does it happen all the time? Have you tried older dgVoodoo versions? It worked fine when I tried it (old screenshot):

XWORLD 2017-07-26 19-32-00-96.jpg
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Though I didn't actually play it, just walked around for a while.

Reply 2 of 17, by Expack3

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ZellSF wrote:

Does it happen all the time? Have you tried older dgVoodoo versions? It worked fine when I tried it (old screenshot):

XWORLD 2017-07-26 19-32-00-96.jpg

Though I didn't actually play it, just walked around for a while.

I haven't tried older dgVoodoo2 versions. Which one did you use when you created the screenshot?

Also, it happens as soon as anything 3D shows up on-screen, all the time.

Reply 4 of 17, by Expack3

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Dege wrote:

How could I reproduce it? When I tried the game then didn't experience any problems. Is it a special location?

It starts immediately upon starting a new game. Also, I'm using my laptop's only GPU: an Intel HD/UHD Graphics 620.

Reply 7 of 17, by Dfros

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thank you for the quick response, altough it still doesn't work for me, The path in Riverworld.ini is correct and I use the download from MyAbandonware. would you suggest another download?

I have tried to completely remove the game and all the files, re-download the game and install it all again for a clean cut. but it still has the graphics issue.

edit:
I do notice the difference between starting the game with mounted iso and without, with mounted iso I get the intro screens at startup (they look properly btw).

Reply 8 of 17, by ZellSF

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The MyAbandonware version should be good. However, as I've noted the graphics end up corrupt when the CD is not inserted, it's likely some sort of primitive copy protection, so what you do with the bin/cue matters. For fun I made a ISO image containing all the files on the disc and gave it the right label and what do you know, it shows movie files (it recognizes the disc), but graphics are corrupted (which means what fixes the corruption isn't something in the data files).

At any rate, if you're using virtual drive software, try something else. Daemon Tools and Virtual CloneDrive should work. Also try using a physical disc.

Reply 9 of 17, by Dfros

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Thank you very much, I'll try it in the morning!
before I used WinCDEmu-4.1 and I tried PowerIso. if Daemon or VCD won't work I'll try to burn the iso on a rom.

Do I need to do something with the Cue file as well? or leave it as it is and focus on the Bin File?

Reply 10 of 17, by Dfros

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ZellSF wrote on 2021-08-28, 18:02:

The MyAbandonware version should be good. However, as I've noted the graphics end up corrupt when the CD is not inserted, it's likely some sort of primitive copy protection, so what you do with the bin/cue matters. For fun I made a ISO image containing all the files on the disc and gave it the right label and what do you know, it shows movie files (it recognizes the disc), but graphics are corrupted (which means what fixes the corruption isn't something in the data files).

At any rate, if you're using virtual drive software, try something else. Daemon Tools and Virtual CloneDrive should work. Also try using a physical disc.

Thank you, Daemon tools works like a charm . seems that not every Iso mount device works equally.
The polygon displacement is gone, now only the ground textures are scuffed as on the image atachment (3d models are fine). I'll try to figure that out now. at least it is playable now 😁 thanks for helping me to get the yought memories back on track an finally being able to finish this game!

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Reply 11 of 17, by ZellSF

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Can't help you there, except say try both executables, WWORLD.EXE being Glide/3DFX and XWORLD.EXE being D3D with a fallback to software rendering. The GPU on that laptop doesn't support dgVoodoo2, so maybe try some other Glide wrappers for WWORLD.EXE.

Reply 12 of 17, by BitWrangler

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w00t, thanks for the bump, never knew this game existed, read the books, so think I'd be into it.

Unicorn herding operations are proceeding, but all the totes of hens teeth and barrels of rocking horse poop give them plenty of hiding spots.

Reply 13 of 17, by Dfros

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thanks for all the help.

It seems the game is kinda a lost cause for me 🙁 it crashes as soon as I load level 2 in to a black screen and does nothing, the WWORLD.EXE does that immidiately always when I launch the game, tried multiple kinds of Glide2 files (which it asks for) also tried Zeus, but either stays black or it asks for the Glide2.dll file

Might need to open Unity and try to create my own Riverworld 🤣

Reply 14 of 17, by ghotik2002

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We got some result: the scrambled polygons are a sort of game copy protection. The game performs a CD status check about the overall length in millisecond units and compares the returned value with the value 4788001. A good CD image and an accurate CD emulator (like Daemon Tools) makes the trick, but it is also possible to use DxWnd and the mci hack feature to force the CD length to the expected value.
The whole story here: https://sourceforge.net/p/dxwnd/discussion/ge … /b0817f74/#a864

Reply 15 of 17, by ZellSF

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Dfros wrote on 2021-08-30, 06:47:

thanks for all the help.

It seems the game is kinda a lost cause for me 🙁 it crashes as soon as I load level 2 in to a black screen and does nothing, the WWORLD.EXE does that immidiately always when I launch the game, tried multiple kinds of Glide2 files (which it asks for) also tried Zeus, but either stays black or it asks for the Glide2.dll file

Might need to open Unity and try to create my own Riverworld 🤣

If you can provide a save directly before transitioning to level 2, maybe someone can look at it.

XWORLD.EXE uses Direct3D and not Glide. You can force XWORLD.EXE to use software rendering using DxWnd's "No HAL Device" flag (in the Direct3D tab). It should look somewhat correct, but being software rendering it won't be pretty.

Reply 17 of 17, by xcomcmdr

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ghotik2002 wrote on 2021-08-31, 08:51:

We got some result: the scrambled polygons are a sort of game copy protection. The game performs a CD status check about the overall length in millisecond units and compares the returned value with the value 4788001. A good CD image and an accurate CD emulator (like Daemon Tools) makes the trick, but it is also possible to use DxWnd and the mci hack feature to force the CD length to the expected value.
The whole story here: https://sourceforge.net/p/dxwnd/discussion/ge … /b0817f74/#a864

I tried this game years ago. My goal was to make it run without the CD.

Thank you so much ! I will try this ASAP. 😀