Do you have Windows installed on this computer?

If no, then that explains your problems. If you have a Windows installation and you install the 3DFX driver it will automatically set up the glide2x.ovl files required for DOS play. Else you will need to do this manually.

The reason D2 original patch and Tomb Raider works is because these are statically linked patches. The D2_3DFX patch runs in DOS (but is dynamically linked to glide2x.ovl)

I'd love to help you with your time-machine, but I don't know enough about 3D cards 😵

vetz wrote:

Do you have Windows installed on this computer?

If no, then that explains your problems. If you have a Windows installation and you install the 3DFX driver it will automatically set up the glide2x.ovl files required for DOS play. Else you will need to do this manually.

The reason D2 original patch and Tomb Raider works is because these are statically linked patches. The D2_3DFX patch runs in DOS (but is dynamically linked to glide2x.ovl)

This is a pure DOS 7.1 machine as my original intent was to play all the old non-accelerated games and only a few DOS 3DFX/Glide games. So basically you are saying that without a Windows install, the only game that will work in pure DOS (out of the box) is Tomb Raider?

Is there an archive of the various versions of these Glide*.* files somewhere? Is there a way to know which version(s) are required by each game? Do the files just need to sit in the game directory?

Sorry for the barrage of questions, but I appreciate your help!!

Mau1wurf1977 wrote:

I'd love to help you with your time-machine, but I don't know enough about 3D cards 😵

You (and your videos) have helped me immensly already! It's amazing what you forget as so much time passes. I swear I was better at this stuff back in the day than I am now. I remember creating crazy multi-boot setups, tweaking autoexec.bat/config.sys files, etc with so much ease back then. Now we're just spoiled with how easy PCs are to get up and running.

I think all you need to do is manually place some Voodoo files and / or SET parameters.

Do you use a DOS navigator like X-Tree gold or Norton commander?

I'm thinking of using one...

Mau1wurf1977 wrote:

I think all you need to do is manually place some Voodoo files and / or SET parameters.

Do you use a DOS navigator like X-Tree gold or Norton commander?

I'm thinking of using one...

Never used those back in the day - perhaps I should to make things a little easier.

Artex wrote:

This is a pure DOS 7.1 machine as my original intent was to play all the old non-accelerated games and only a few DOS 3DFX/Glide games. So basically you are saying that without a Windows install, the only game that will work in pure DOS (out of the box) is Tomb Raider?

You had Windows95 back then which sorted out this problem 😜. Some patches and retail games include glide2x.ovl in the install/patch files, but generally only the statically linked games will work "out of the box" in a pure DOS system.

There are two ways to sort this problem manually;

1, Copy glide2x.ovl to the game directory. Most of the times this is with the executable file.
2. Use PATH command in your autoexec.bat file. See quoted text (SOURCE)

Copy the GLIDE2X.OVL file to a directory which is included in the PATH-Environment. In DOS you can check the PATH-Environment by typing PATH on the DOS prompt. It might look like C:\;C:\DOS;C:\SB16. If a program needs to access a file which is not in available in the current directory it will look in one of the directories entered in the PATH-Environment. This is exactly what we need with the 3dfx-files. Instead of copying the GLIDE2X.OVL file to the main directory of every game we just copy it to C:\DOS (in this example). Now the file can be accessed from everywhere since it's in the PATH-environment.

Of course it's possible to create your own directory for the 3dfx files. Just create a directory like C:\VOODOO and set the PATH-Environment to that directory. This can be done by entering PATH=C:\VOODOO

For the Voodoo 1 I do not know if any version of Glide2x.ovl breaks compatibility or not with any DOS games (as with the Voodoo 2 where version 2.50 is recommended for optimal compatibility). Just download any driver version, extract the glide2x.ovl file and give it a shot.

Just copy glide2x.ovl to each game's folder and try again. It should fix most games.

The procedure outlined above is what I've tried first - the copy method for glide2x.ovl - but it hasn't worked so far. I've tried this with Blood and Screamer 2 - both yield the same error message after the .ovl was copied to the root of the game directory where the main executable is located.

I believe Screamer 2 either uses the .ovl file in the HOTCGL folder or the file in the PATH folder (depending if you downloaded the new or older 3DFX patch). I remember having problems with this game when trying to figure out the old/new patches with the Voodoo2 and its use of the glide2x.ovl file.

Probably the same with Blood (expect .ovl file to be in a subfolder or PATH folder).

vetz wrote:

I believe Screamer 2 either uses the .ovl file in the HOTCGL folder or the file in the PATH folder (depending if you downloaded the new or older 3DFX patch).

Probably the same with Blood (expect .ovl file to be in a subfolder or PATH folder).

Ok, I will try the %PATH% method for these - probably a better method so I don't have to drop copies of the file all over my CF card.

Vetz is probably right, I have never used a 3Dfx card in a DOS only machine.

I would suggest looking away from that 3Dfx Blood patch. It was merely released in an alpha state and I tried it on a lot of PCs some years ago. Only once did I ever get to make it run successfully and that was on an MMX 200 with a Voodoo 1. And yet, it wasn't really all that impressive (IMO higher software resolutions look better) and most of the time all I got was weird colors and crashes. Shadow Warrior had a supported 3Dfx patch released and that one was far better.

F2bnp wrote:

I would suggest looking away from that 3Dfx Blood patch. It was merely released in an alpha state and I tried it on a lot of PCs some years ago. Only once did I ever get to make it run successfully and that was on an MMX 200 with a Voodoo 1. And yet, it wasn't really all that impressive (IMO higher software resolutions look better) and most of the time all I got was weird colors and crashes. Shadow Warrior had a supported 3Dfx patch released and that one was far better.

This is a QFT moment! The 3DFX Blood patch is a mess and looks terrible. Get a quick Pentium/K6 and rank up that software resolution instead 😉

vetz wrote:

F2bnp wrote:

I would suggest looking away from that 3Dfx Blood patch. It was merely released in an alpha state and I tried it on a lot of PCs some years ago. Only once did I ever get to make it run successfully and that was on an MMX 200 with a Voodoo 1. And yet, it wasn't really all that impressive (IMO higher software resolutions look better) and most of the time all I got was weird colors and crashes. Shadow Warrior had a supported 3Dfx patch released and that one was far better.

This is a QFT moment! The 3DFX Blood patch is a mess and looks terrible. Get a quick Pentium/K6 and rank up that software resolution instead 😉

My Time Machine is already a K6III+ so this is mainly for nostalgic reasons... AND because it's been a thorn in my side for a few days now. I've seen several threads about the texture quality being crappy, etc.. but I just want it to work.. just once.. using REAL 3dfx hardware! 😀

Yeah, I figured you were going to say something like that. And you're bloody right, fool around man, we all love to do stuff just for the shit of it!

from what I remember the build engine 3DFX patches only added bilinear filtering, correct?

keropi wrote:

from what I remember the build engine 3DFX patches only added bilinear filtering, correct?

That sounds right, and that looks to be the case from the screenshots I've seen.

IIRC there are two different 3dfx patches for Carmageddon. Not sure what the difference was exactly, but one of them should work with your card.

jwt27 wrote:

IIRC there are two different 3dfx patches for Carmageddon. Not sure what the difference was exactly, but one of them should work with your card.

Hmm... I found one for Splat Pack and one for the 'vanilla' game. Is that what you are referrig to? I think the zip was called 3DFXCARM.ZIP...