VOGONS


First post, by Ozzuneoj

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I've had this card for a while and I was intrigued by the interesting full-screen BIOS image it shows at startup. I couldn't seem to get it working properly with any drivers I found here.

I tried to get this card working over a year ago but gave up on it because none of the drivers worked. Today I pulled it out of the "needs diagnosing" box and decided to try again.

I tried the Graphics Blaster Exxtreme driver CD that is available on vogons driver archive but it doesn't detect it as a compatible card and even if I force it to install it never allows me to set the resolution properly... seems odd considering the BIOS startup graphic says exactly the same name as the card on the CD. But wait, this is Creative... they don't exactly have a good track record of putting out drivers that work with all the cards they appear to be made for.

I also tried what appear to be the latest Permedia 2 drivers on the archive, and they install and seem okay for desktop use on my test setup (440BX, PIII 850, 98SE), but the system actually reboots when I try to play any games. I thought maybe because this is a "Permedia 2V" model that it might need a different driver so I downloaded a driver on Driver Guide that said it was specifically for the 2v (at least according to the file name) and much to my surprise, it works much better and and actually allows some games to work! It seems to be a slightly older version than the .366 driver on the archive, but for whatever reason it works when the others do not.

The desktop looks beautiful at 1024x768 in 32bit color, and I'm amazed at how smoothly it runs some games. I have an old Jedi Knight: Mysteries of the Sith demo from a PCGamer CD and it runs the game very smoothly at 640x480 and decently at 800x600 as well. I know this isn't "first generation" 3d acceleration like the Virge or Laguna3D, but this runs so much faster and looks so much better that it feels more like an early Voodoo. Anyway, I've attached the drivers I used and a few pictures to identify the particular card in case anyone else is trying to get one working.

Also, here are the driver versions from the readme.txt

Display Driver Ver 4.10.01.2105-0358
OpenGL Driver Ver 4.10.01.2105-0409
Heidi Driver Ver 4.10.01.2106-x.62

EDIT: Somehow forgot to mention that this is the 4MB PCI version of the card. I have mainly come across AGP Permedia 2 cards, so maybe that's why this one is picky about drivers?

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Last edited by Ozzuneoj on 2020-05-07, 17:40. Edited 3 times in total.

Now for some blitting from the back buffer.

Reply 3 of 7, by The Serpent Rider

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Not going to lie...I'm jealous!

You shouldn't. It's horrible for DOS and mediocre for 3D games. 3DLabs cards are guilty pleasure.

I must be some kind of standard: the anonymous gangbanger of the 21st century.

Reply 5 of 7, by Ozzuneoj

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... don't get me wrong guys, I know these things aren't great, but the Permedia 2V was a breath of fresh air after testing first generation 3D decelerators.

I just tested an old reliable STB Velocity 4400 in the same situations (plus the ones that the Permedia 2V didn't like) and of course the TNT was much smoother... but that was expected.

When you've spent a few days\hours testing late '90s video cards with 3D "acceleration" that weren't made by nvidia or 3dfx you really grow to appreciate the ones that at least made games run better than software mode without horrendous image quality (Permedia 2V, PowerVR PCX2, ATi Rage 128, Rendition Verite, S3 Savage 4, to name a few).

Last edited by Ozzuneoj on 2020-05-08, 02:21. Edited 1 time in total.

Now for some blitting from the back buffer.

Reply 7 of 7, by Ozzuneoj

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imi wrote on 2020-05-07, 21:25:

well thank you for the thread anyways... you made me go out and buy one x3

...or rather... oh no you made me buy one D:

Oops, sorry! 🤣

And don't worry, I don't have any listed on ebay, so this wasn't an elaborate plot to increase their value.

Now for some blitting from the back buffer.