Hello again.
Somebody is offering me a Diamond Monster Voodoo2, but he has no way to test it or the needed pass through cable.
I do own systems to test it, but no pass through cable.
Do you know if any female-male vga cable will do? or there´s a special pinout the cable must have?
Thank you in advance!
You don't need pass through cable. It's a convenience, not a necessity. Just reconnect VGA cable after launching a game or connect Voodoo to a separate input on your monitor.
I must be some kind of standard: the anonymous gangbanger of the 21st century.
Normal Female-Male Vga cable would work fine.
I used a cheap Chinese 1-Meter-long one for more than 1 year until I could find one for a reasonable price.
The output quality might not be the best, but I would consider the games to be playable at least.
The Serpent Rider wrote on 2020-01-23, 12:46:You don't need pass through cable. It's a convenience, not a necessity. Just reconnect VGA cable after launching a game or connect Voodoo to a separate input on your monitor.
My mind is blown... never knew I could do this! thanks
Thanks to you both!
I have read about what you, "The Serpent Rider" mention (just pluging the VGA cable to the Voodoo2 output after launching the game).
That´s a great advice to just test the card, that I have forgotten about.
However, I am looking for a more definite solution, so what you, "aaronkatrini" stated , is what I will be doing in the medium term.
Thanks again!
I am looking for a more definite solution
If it's not CRT or cheap and old LCD, your solution is to connect your video card and Voodoo into separate inputs.
I must be some kind of standard: the anonymous gangbanger of the 21st century.
Either connecting to separate inputs on your monitor, separate monitors (a bit extreme), or getting a VGA switch box that can switch one display between two sources is what you want. A passthrough is simpler but it's kind of disappointing just how much this degrades image quality on the desktop. Especially at 1024x768 or higher. I'm not sure if some cards have clearer pass-through than others, but any that I have seen left a lot to be desired. Seems crazy for how expensive these were back in the day. Also, by avoiding the passthrough, you will know 100% for sure which device is generating the image. The downside is that games that switch often between 2D and 3D (for example, to show a menu versus being in game) will require manual switching... only the card's passthrough will do this automatically unless you get some kind of automatic switch box but I doubt those work as well in this situation.
EDIT: Something like this would probably work:
Data Sharing Device DW-HD15AB VGA Manual Transfer Switch Box DE-15
VGA Manual Data Switch Box
Or an old KVM switch, though ideally you want something that isn't seen as a display device itself... you want something that is completely passive, yet shielded enough to not make things worse.
Now for some blitting from the back buffer.
If you want to switch externally, I heartily recommend the Extron VSW 2VGA A. Connect the 2d card to input 1 and the voodoo to input 2 and it will automatically switch just as seamlessly as the 3dfx factory passthrough. Quality is impeccable (Extron is professional tier equipment) and these things are going for pennies now on ebay as corporate surplus now that analog video is passe.
Thank you all for the suggestions and links!
Initially, I was not thinking about an external switching box solution. But since you have had positive experiences with those, I will consider it as a valid alternative.
