Con 2 botones wrote on 2021-10-06, 14:45:

All right, it is not the chipset then, since yours is SIS. Then it should be LithTech+K6-2 CPU […]
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Jasin Natael wrote on 2021-10-06, 14:11:

Something is up. I'm thinking it is a issue with the FPU in the K6 architecture and not the chipset, since I don't have the VIA […]
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Something is up. I'm thinking it is a issue with the FPU in the K6 architecture and not the chipset, since I don't have the VIA chipset in my rig it is SiS.
I do have a a Pentium MMX 166 I could install to test with but I'd rather not as I had serious pains getting the K6-3+ to work properly and I'd rather not fight that battle again.
I do have a few different PIII machines that I could test with. I don't have a PII 400 but I do have a PIII 450 Katmai somewhere that I can try to test with.
The main problem is finding the time. The only fully set up PIII I have right now is a socket 370 and it has a 1GHZ Coppermine installed, I'd have to dig out a slot 1 system to try the 450 one.
But I am curious....

All right, it is not the chipset then, since yours is SIS.
Then it should be LithTech+K6-2 CPU

I do have a couple slot1 (PII 450 and PIII 750) around to test it, but If I recall properly it ran more than ok in those.
Will check and post results when I find the time.

Yes I fully suspect that it will run just fine on a PII/PIII. Seems like it hates K6 for some reason, which is odd. I wonder what the latest patched release of blood2 is? Maybe they fixed it at some point?

Gmlb256 wrote on 2021-10-06, 14:54:

Jasin Natael wrote on 2021-10-06, 14:11:

I do have a a Pentium MMX 166 I could install to test with but I'd rather not as I had serious pains getting the K6-3+ to work properly and I'd rather not fight that battle again.

I share your pain considering that I had to deal with POST issues on several BIOS versions when installing the K6-2+ CPU on a Socket 7 motherboard with an Intel 430VX chipset.

Yes it can be a bit of a PITA. My board isn't officially supported but I was able to use a patch for a later revision that worked ok, but I could only get the voltage down to 2.2v, which is a bit of a over volt for my 2.0v chip.

It seems to be fine but I did have to run a oversized socket 370 cooler with a brass heatsink and direct a fan at the VRMs.

I did a thread on the saga if you care to read it.

PC Chips M571 K6-3+ Support - UPDATED WITH BENCHMARKS

Jasin Natael wrote on 2021-10-06, 15:13:

Con 2 botones wrote on 2021-10-06, 14:45:

All right, it is not the chipset then, since yours is SIS. Then it should be LithTech+K6-2 CPU […]
Show full quote

Jasin Natael wrote on 2021-10-06, 14:11:

Something is up. I'm thinking it is a issue with the FPU in the K6 architecture and not the chipset, since I don't have the VIA […]
Show full quote

Something is up. I'm thinking it is a issue with the FPU in the K6 architecture and not the chipset, since I don't have the VIA chipset in my rig it is SiS.
I do have a a Pentium MMX 166 I could install to test with but I'd rather not as I had serious pains getting the K6-3+ to work properly and I'd rather not fight that battle again.
I do have a few different PIII machines that I could test with. I don't have a PII 400 but I do have a PIII 450 Katmai somewhere that I can try to test with.
The main problem is finding the time. The only fully set up PIII I have right now is a socket 370 and it has a 1GHZ Coppermine installed, I'd have to dig out a slot 1 system to try the 450 one.
But I am curious....

All right, it is not the chipset then, since yours is SIS.
Then it should be LithTech+K6-2 CPU

I do have a couple slot1 (PII 450 and PIII 750) around to test it, but If I recall properly it ran more than ok in those.
Will check and post results when I find the time.

Yes I fully suspect that it will run just fine on a PII/PIII. Seems like it hates K6 for some reason, which is odd. I wonder what the latest patched release of blood2 is? Maybe they fixed it at some point?

I tried Blood 2 version 1.0, 2.0 and 2.1 to no noticeable difference.

The source code is out there. A part of me wonders if it was just compiled with some Intel preferential compiler. I'm curious how heavy a lift it would be to set up a dev environment for it.

BitWrangler wrote on 2021-10-06, 15:12:

On a hunch I googled for Blood 2 3Dnow patch and IDK if all roads leads to Vogons or something but it pulled up this which might be illuminating.. My K6-II machine

Very interesting. History repeating.

So it looks like there was a 3DNow! patch in the works but it was never finished. That stinks.
At least we know we aren't crazy, not the first ones to notice the crappy performance of this engine on K6 machines.

Namrok wrote on 2021-10-06, 15:17:

Jasin Natael wrote on 2021-10-06, 15:13:

Con 2 botones wrote on 2021-10-06, 14:45:

All right, it is not the chipset then, since yours is SIS. Then it should be LithTech+K6-2 CPU […]
Show full quote

All right, it is not the chipset then, since yours is SIS.
Then it should be LithTech+K6-2 CPU

I do have a couple slot1 (PII 450 and PIII 750) around to test it, but If I recall properly it ran more than ok in those.
Will check and post results when I find the time.

Yes I fully suspect that it will run just fine on a PII/PIII. Seems like it hates K6 for some reason, which is odd. I wonder what the latest patched release of blood2 is? Maybe they fixed it at some point?

I tried Blood 2 version 1.0, 2.0 and 2.1 to no noticeable difference.

The source code is out there. A part of me wonders if it was just compiled with some Intel preferential compiler. I'm curious how heavy a lift it would be to set up a dev environment for it.

Well now you are talking.
Way out of my league though.

Namrok wrote on 2021-10-06, 15:17:

The source code is out there. A part of me wonders if it was just compiled with some Intel preferential compiler. I'm curious how heavy a lift it would be to set up a dev environment for it.

Most developers used MSVC to make these games and this one is not different, so it's very unlikely that the Intel compiler is used.

Are my expectations, and memories, just totally off on this one?

Try Shogo: Mobile Armor Division. Same engine version. Should be 40-50fps average.

The Serpent Rider wrote on 2021-10-06, 17:25:

Are my expectations, and memories, just totally off on this one?

Try Shogo: Mobile Armor Division. Same engine version. Should be 40-50fps average.

He already tried it when I suggested this several posts prior.

Namrok wrote on 2021-10-05, 01:35:

Ok, Shogo ran great. First level was running about 20-30, but the second was a solid 60.

On a lark I rolled back to a clean Win98SE install, put on DirectX6.1 as I read somewhere it supported 3DNow instructions. I believe the Blood II cd installed vanilla DX6.0. Installed the rest of the drivers (8.05 GF2MX, 4.35 VIA, MSFN SBLive Drivers, VIA Latency Patch). I may have seen a very slight performance improvement. But I don't have a canned Blood II benchmark, and it's just loading up the second level and seeing if the framerate drops to 15 when I look directly at the first civilian you see.