If I remember correctly the setup is speed sensitive. CPU could be too fast.

You can disable caches in the BIOS, run setup and then enable them again.

PhilsComputerLab wrote:

If I remember correctly the setup is speed sensitive. CPU could be too fast.

You can disable caches in the BIOS, run setup and then enable them again.

Hey Phil,
I tried disabling the caches and it still didn't work. I also just swapped in a P2 450mhz, which should work with a 1996 game, and it also didn't work.

But get this... I disabled my Vortex 2 and suddenly the game works. The 3dfx patch is still giving me an error that its unable to find the hardware, but I can now play the game.

🤣 The only game I documented on my website: http://www.philscomputerlab.com/screamer-2--bleifuss.html

😊

*moved to Marvin::Software*

PhilsComputerLab wrote:

🤣 The only game I documented on my website: http://www.philscomputerlab.com/screamer-2--bleifuss.html

😊

Hey Phil

There must be some differences between the GOG version and the official release because your process didn't work for me. 😢

Here are the things I've tried and how I eventually got it working:
- Installed your patch, but the game wouldn't launch.
- I read that Screamer Rally came with an official 3dfx patch for Screamer 2. I got an ISO for Screamer Rally and applied the official SC2 patch (attached to this thread if anyone wants it). Other card specific patches are included as well, such as Matrox Mystique, which you might find interesting. Anyway, the official patch wouldn't install because it couldn't find my 3dfx hardware. I switched my drivers from the Fast Voodoo drivers to the 3.0.2 reference drivers and the patch installed successfully. The new S2_3dfx executable looks the same as the executable on your website, except the patch also added a "HOTCGL" folder with some additional files. I still couldn't get the S2_3dfx file to work correctly - it hangs at a black screen.
- Then I heard there was a 3rd patch. Sure enough, I found a self-extracting "S2.exe" that is 1.3mb. Launching this executable gives a "3dfx chip not found" error.
- Finally, I tried creating a batch file to set the environmental parameters similar to a voodoo1. This also didn't work.

So I began to suspect it was my SLI setup. I tried removing one of my cards and then running the patched exe with the batch file. It worked! Obviously, I'm not going to break up my SLI setup every time I want to play old Glide games. I'm thinking it might be more advantageous to use a Voodoo 1 instead of dual Voodoo 2 cards, or build a system that is better tuned for older games.

Screamer 2 have 2 3dfx patches.
1) S2_3dfx.exe, 1031 kB. Uses glide2x.ovl. The only trouble with this patch - it not works with Voodoo2 (black screen freeze). V1 and V3 are ok (not sure about V4/V5). It is the known bug. More affected games are: Dreams to Reality, Prost Grand Prix, Tie Break Tennis.
2) s23dfx.exe, 1272 kB. Uses the static link. Works with V1 and V2. Needs environment variables for Voodoo2. Needs disabled SLI. And still can't detect the hardware if the CPU is too fast (similar to all others static linked 3dfx games).

P.S. Use "set SSTV2_SLIDETECT=0" to disable SLI by software.

Read here: Voodoo 2 DOS Glide compatibility matrix

I eventually got it working fine with sli (identical cards) on my k6-3+ setup.

parzival wrote:

Finally, I tried the voodoo2 3dfx patch (S2_3DFX.EXE) and that causes an immediate crash in windows and hangs on a black screen in DOS.

I have a similar setup with a Voodoo2 and encountered the same problem with GOG Screamer2 and S2_3DFX. The black screen in DOS is actually that the game initializes the Voodoo2 card and so the card flips from pass-through mode to its own signal, but then the game crashes. It outputs an error message about missing files and dumps you back to the DOS prompt but you can't see it because the Voodoo2 is still flipped to outputting its own nothing.

I thought at first the missing files error message was a problem with S2_3DFX but a little digging revealed that the files it identified as missing were in fact missing. On a hunch it was something with the GOG version, I found an original boxed copy online... tried that, and it worked like a charm. I guess GOG removed some files that aren't required for typical game play?

I use the GOG release, it's actually the full installation CD.

Because this game seems to keep causing issues I did write-up on my website: http://www.philscomputerlab.com/screamer-2--bleifuss.html

It has all the files, instructions and screen captures as evidence.

AFAIK you must not load EMS memory.