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DgVoodoo 1 Discussion Thread

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Reply 220 of 341, by Dege

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Hi again,

sorry for the late respond. 😐
Well, you configured the settings for windows apps via the command line! (use /platform:dos!) 😀 And, you don't have to specify all of the options, only that you want to change. 😀

Anyway, once I come across this white-outlines-on-polygons glitch (but that was a more friendly case as I didn't have lost polygons) and didn't understand what causes it. I don't understand it even now. 😀 I just debugged the wrapper to see if it's a bug in it, but nothing found, studied all the commands coming from TR1 but they caused white outlines theoretically too... I thought it's a TR1 bug. Then I played with settings.dat file (I deleted it), or reinstalled whole TR1 (I can't remember which one) and that solved the problem.

Reply 221 of 341, by AlexDelPiero

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Hi Dege! Nice to ear from you again. 😀
I will follow your last suggestion and see if it helps. The reason for my configuration script to contain so many entries (I added ALL of them now) is to ease the testing. However, I can see that you were right when you warned "there are no magic option to set". The only settings who can really make the difference are [server/vdd] mode or [dos/win] platform. Anyway, changing the platform to dos doesn't solve my problem. But I have to try again after reinstalling.
I wonder if some conflicts may arise between dgv settings and the "Advanced" settings in the link properties (I'm talking about the TR1 link created by the advanced installer on the desktop). For example, one may enable "basic VESA support" or "CLI/POPF workaround" from there, and disable them from the dgv interface/cmdline. What if ?
Sorry, I won't bother you no more with silly questions like this!

EDIT: I've been trying to reinstall the app and making a lot of tweaks, but it's always the same. 🙁 Thanks anyway!

Reply 222 of 341, by arromdee3

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I'm trying to run Tomb Raider Gold with Windows 98 and an ATI Radeon 9200. Processor is an AMD 1800 XP running a little slow.

I am using the 1.40 version of dgvoodoo (with logging). I copied glide2x.dll, glide2x.ovl, dgvoodoosetup.exe, dgvoodoo.exe, and dgvoodoo.vxd to c:\tombraid, set it up to not work in VDD mode, and ran dgvoodoo.

The problem is I don't even know if I have a version of Tomb Raider with Glide support. If I run the main tomb.exe (768563 bytes), I get the non-Glide version. If I copy the version in updates\3dfx\voodoo\tombraid (1140735 bytes), and run that, I still get the non-Glide version; it looks exactly the same and the sunglass icon is for detail level, not disable mip mapping. The log file shows nothing at all, except for a single line "ExitDosNT: Successful" when I exit it--suggesting that dgvoodoo isn't being used at all.

If I copy and run the version in updates\3dfx\voodoorush\tombraid (873739 bytes), my computer immediately reboots. (In fact, if I do this without dgvoodoo installed, it does the exact same thing). Nothing is in the log file (though I don't expect anything, since it rebooted).

Am I even running a correct binary? If not, where can I get one? If so, what am I doing wrong?

Reply 223 of 341, by AlexDelPiero

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Hi arromdee!
If you're running TR1 under Win98 you don't need a Glide version of the executable (tomb.exe or tombub.exe), nor dgvoodoo at all, because Win98 has its own DOS environment. You can get some improvement using a 3dfx version instead, compatible with your hardware. But I might be wrong. Hopefully someone else can confirm my opinion. Anyway, you can get a glide version of the executable using the "TR1 Advanced Installer" (search google), including dgvoodoo 1.31 - you can upgrade to 1.40 later, extracting the zip archive in c:\tombraid and answering "yes" when overwriting duplicated files.

Reply 224 of 341, by arromdee3

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I don't see how that could be true. You're saying that because Windows 98 provides DOS, I don't need a Glide version, but Glide is an API used by Voodoo cards, not a form of DOS. The point of using a Glide version of TR1 is not just to run it, which I can do anyway, but to run it with special Glide-only features, which clearly DOS itself will not do.

Reply 225 of 341, by Zebius

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@arromdee3
Look for Tomb Raider Advanced Installer. It is designed to install the game under Windows XP, but it includes correct glide version of tomb.exe which will work on Windows 98 too.
I used to play Tomb Raider with dgvoodoo 1.31 on Win98 (with GeForce 6600GT). I installed dgvoodoo files into C:\tombraid directory, glide version of tomb.exe was in the same directory. Before starting the game you need to run dgvoodoo.exe. It should run in background while you are playing.

Reply 226 of 341, by AlexDelPiero

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Many thanks to both of you, now I know a little bit more of glide and its features. Evidently I was wrong, thinking it was just a sort of "trick" to run v.o.g.o.n.s.
However, my hint about the Advanced Installer was right! 😀

Reply 227 of 341, by Dege

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Hi arromdee,

The right exe is the 873739 bytes one, but as Zebius says, use Advanced Installer, it will install everything you need, and then you can update dgvoodoo if you want. I got immediate reboot on Win9x/Me when my first CD drive (I mean the CD drive with the first letter) was empty. It seems to be a bug in the TR exe along with Win9x, something gets called in the win kernel in that case that simply crashes the system. The point is that keep your TR1 CD (or any else, if you don't have it.. 🙄 😁 ) when you start TR1. 😀

I wonder if some conflicts may arise between dgv settings and the "Advanced" settings in the link properties (I'm talking about the TR1 link created by the advanced installer on the desktop). For example, one may enable "basic VESA support" or "CLI/POPF workaround" from there, and disable them from the dgv interface/cmdline. What if ?

It's not a silly question at all. Well, when you start VDMSound, its dlls get loaded, initializes and sets the local (dos-console) environment to the vmds settings. After it, dgvoodoo gets loaded (dgvesa via command line/batch and/or glide2x.dll from the server or the game itself) and it also does its own settings. So, if some settings conflits with vmds, dgvoodoo settings will override vdms settings. Or, at least, the last launched one wins I think. 😀 But there is no much common settings, only CLI/POPF (which didn't even seem to work for me...), timer boost and vesa support (but I don't know vdms vesa support, never used it).

Reply 228 of 341, by AlexDelPiero

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The point is that keep your TR1 CD (or any else, if you don't have it.. 🙄 😁 ) when you start TR1.

Under the same conditions, on XP systems there are no crashes but the game will ask for the CD. The bug in the CD-ROM (ISO Image?) detection remains. At last resort you can always rearrange the drive letters from Disk Manager. 😀 It works!

It's not a silly question at all.

I knew it! 😉 But I didn't want you to get pissed... This is the only place where I can find the answers to my hundred questions. So please be patient! Thanks.

Reply 229 of 341, by Miki Maus

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Dege, I have a question about dgvesa. Can it be used with non glide games? (Well i tried it, and it can, but very small number of games works with it 😉 Now for the question, will dgvesa be more compatible with non glide games in the future? I know it is not your priority but stll, it would be nice. 😁

Reply 230 of 341, by Dege

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Yes it can be used because Glide and VESA support are independent on each other. But indeed, vesa supp doesn't provide great compatibility, some dos apps use mixed x-mode with high res vesa modes, and dgvesa cannot emulate any vga functionality (only palette registers and vertical retrace register). But of course there are other bugs/problems too with it.

will dgvesa be more compatible with non glide games in the future?

Well, I don't know but, I'm afraid not. 🙁 1.50 can be considered to be the last (main) version, I think. Not that it's so perfect or sg like that, but I've really got tired of it. Even don't have a good mind to finish the beta, maybe in autumn. 🙁

Reply 233 of 341, by Zebius

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Hi Dege!
Are you still there? It's autumn already 😉

I made more testing with Tomb Raider and different versions of dgvoodoo and I noticed that newer versions 1.40+ and 1.50beta have some problems with crackling sounds and a gameplay seems to be a little jittery compared to 1.31. This crackling sound is most noticeable in Lara's mansion when she speaks. I tried everything - timer boosting on/off, changing timer boost value in hex editor, changing VDMSound settings and so on with no success. Maybe with timer boost value reduced this crackling/jittering is a little less but still do exist (but Lara runs too fast then). In dgvoodoo 1.31 everything is OK, just some cracklings in FMV but i always had that. Is there any chance to correct in next version of dgvoodoo?

I've bought a laptop recently, it has Ati Radeon X200M integrated chipset and I made some tests too - 1.31 usually crashes when trying to load a level, reducing resolution to 640x480 helped, but that's not what I wanted. 😉 I installed 1.40+ and 1.50b and both work great with any resolution I set, even with native resolution of LCD display 1280x800. But this crackling issue is here too 🙁 It's better than on desktop, but still hearable. So that's why I'd like to see new version of dgv which would fix this problem, please.

Another thing: savegame problem in TR1 is resolved, we found at tombraiderforums, that it happens on dual core or hyperthreaded processors only. Here is how to fix it (last post on that page):
http://www.tombraiderforums.com/showthread.php?t=30672

I hope you'll find time and motivation to continue developing dgvoodoo, it's so useful to so many people. Thanks once again. 😊

EDIT: I have a question: is there any way to make black lines between many textures dissappear (or become less visible)? It just looks to me that some textures are mis-aligned and depending on point of view these lines appear and dissappear. Is it connected with colorkeying somehow? Or maybe it is a fault of old TR1 engine and can not be corrected by a glide wrapper?

Reply 234 of 341, by gidierre

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Zebius wrote:

EDIT: I have a question: is there any way to make black lines between many textures dissappear (or become less visible)? It just looks to me that some textures are mis-aligned and depending on point of view these lines appear and dissappear. Is it connected with colorkeying somehow? Or maybe it is a fault of old TR1 engine and can not be corrected by a glide wrapper?

which btw seems to be precisely what we were discussing here
Tomb Raider on a Retro Machine

see f.i. my post there from 2006-9-20.
I guess it's very likely a TR1 engine issue.

Reply 235 of 341, by Zebius

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Oh yeah, I meant that. So those black cracks are visible even in software mode in DosBox? A pity. 🙁
I used to have Voodoo2 card and played Tomb Raider with it long time ago, but I don't remember these glitches. You know, graphics in TR1 was amazing at that time so maybe I just didn't pay attention to such small details. 😉 Especially in 640x480 resolution on 14'' monitor.

Reply 236 of 341, by Dege

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Hi again 😀 !

Well, yes, it's autumn already, but... 😀
Frankly, I still don't feel any inspiration to put new, serious developments into dgvoodoo, reasons are various, e.g. the Dos Glide emulation couldn't be solved in 64 bit environments (what is more, as far as I heard rumours, not even in 32bit Vista), it seems that moving it into full emulated dos environments like DosBox is needed, developing is very time-consuming, etc. 😐

As for dgv1.50, all the problem is the crackling sound? Tough I don't have the 1.31 source of dgv (so I can't compare changes to 1.50), I think I haven't changed anything in the timer boosting part. Except for one thing, 1.31 used 15ms for boosting, while it was raised to 40ms beginning with 1.40. Try 1.50 with 15 ms, it should give the same results! 😀 All in all, I'm glad it works for you, and OK, I should really release a final 1.50. 😀
I often feel that I should open up the source and let others do their modifications (if anyone would be interested in it at all), considering that I'm not about to touch it at all (nowadays). 😁 But I also feel I would rue it later. (BTW, I don't know if 'rue' is the right word here, dictionary is ambiguous...).

EDIT: I have a question: is there any way to make black lines between many textures dissappear (or become less visible)? It just looks to me that some textures are mis-aligned and depending on point of view these lines appear and dissappear. Is it connected with colorkeying somehow? Or maybe it is a fault of old TR1 engine and can not be corrected by a glide wrapper?

Yes, I think it's fault of the TR1 engine. It seems that polygons aren't adjusted correctly to each other, but it doesn't shows up with the software renderer.

Reply 237 of 341, by daljaxon

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Hi all,

Dege or someone else who has a suggestion, I have a question when using DGVoodoo. Have you ever had, while in game play, your graphics background partially blacked out. Kind of like there is not enough memory to display all of the graphics. It seems to be on the right or left side, mainly right.

You can see a few pictures of what I am talking about on this forum...

http://www.tombraiderforums.com/showthread.ph … ?t=76097&page=3

...listed in this forum is my pc specs also.

Have you seen this before and do you know of the setting to fix this. May be setting on my graphics software?

Thanks,
daljaxon

Last edited by daljaxon on 2006-11-05, 16:20. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 238 of 341, by Kolya

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Hi Dege,

some time ago I put together a small, portable version of System Shock by Looking Glass Studios.
The idea from the start was to provide the game in a way that it works out of the box, at least on most systems.
Now a few other System Shock fans pointed me at your glide wrapper and it really gives a smoother and more reliable performance. Well done.

My question is, can I add the necessary, preconfigured files from dgVoodoo1.40+ to System Shock Portable to make things as easy as possible for people who like this game?

Cheers, Kolya

Reply 239 of 341, by Dornkirk

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One more thing, there seems to be a universal problem with glide wrappers that hits the game Carmageddon. In a couple of races, the game craches back to desktop on random events. This problem has already been confirmed at the Glidos webpage. The first level I'm having the problem with is 'Fridge Racer'.

Well maybe not so random. If you or one of the other racers hit one of those red-white posts the games crashes.

Edit: It doesn't seem to happen in the level 'Pit Stop' which features the same red-white posts. After some testing I found two workarounds which seem to prevent the game from crashing in 'Fridge Racer'

For both workarounds you need to decrypt carmageddons .TXT files using the 'IWANTTOFIDDLE' cheat.

Workaround 1:
Open the file 'ICE.TXT', search for the string 'START OF PEDESTRIAN STUFF', delete all but the first ped and change the number of peds to 1. You will lose all peds, barrels and mines, but the posts will break if you hit them hard enough.

Workaround 2:
Open the file 'ICE.TXT', search for the string 'Non CarObjects', delete the line 'CONE.TXT' and set the number of non car objects to 3. You will keep all peds, barrels and mines, but the posts will be rocksolid.

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