leileilol wrote on 2022-03-05, 08:03:
Probably a P4 3ghz or better. There'd also still be intense flickering, and it's way out of the scope for the early 94 (L7P/Lameduke) Build games regarding timing. The most difficult part would be sourcing a motherboard new enough for mid-2000s processors to put up the target speed necessary AND have ISA / DMA for a sound card, as Build games didn't like PCI sound cards because they'd crash whenever it tries to echo. Even then, there'll still be sharp frame drops from anything using lookup tables (smoke, glass etc)
I was kind of thinking that a P4 would be the way to go. I've noticed people talking about flickering, is this just a program limitation because the programmers never expected anyone to go above 800x600? I also wouldn't really be trying to run any Alpha or beta software at these resolutions considering the build engine is kind of fincky in nature.
Have any suggestions for a decent motherboard for a 3Ghz pentium 4 with ISA support? I think there is a echo fix patch from Ken Silverman available that is supposed to fix that echo issue in most games too.
Interesting bug re: lookup tables. Is this also why there is a massive FPS drop whenever you get close to a cluster of bullet holes on a wall?
Warlord wrote on 2022-03-05, 22:25:Build engine games are fincky with PCI sound cards. But that doesn't mean to say they won't work in Dos Box with WDM drivers th […]
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Build engine games are fincky with PCI sound cards. But that doesn't mean to say they won't work in Dos Box with WDM drivers that support emulation. Shadow Warrior is a good example of a game thats sound track is CDA. If you wanted to play that with music and not burn a disc but to use Deamon tools for example. Than thats the way to go. Since that feature of Deamon tools only works with WDM drivers. I've tested it with a PCI Yamaha XG with WDM drivers under win 98se and the game ran just fine that way.
While I haven't extensivly tested PCI cards with build engine games, my limited tested was using a XG. VXDs do not work and crash the games. WDM drivers on that card work fine. I havn't tested Creative cards at all, past VXDs in Duke3d. That seems to work, with SB live and audigy. The only other card I tested was A3D MX300 in duke 3d which worked fine, except the Midi is trash and you really need a wavblaster card attached to it for that.
TLDR
If you can find a P4 motherboard that has SB-Link header that would eliminate compatibility issues, with a PCI card with the header. You might have more luck finding one of those than finding one with ISA.
I am kind of trying to avoid using Dosbox here and make a PC to run the old DOS programs. It's mostly an experiment at this point but if it's just not feasible I'll be happy just running at 800x600 @ 60FPS because trying to play these at 320x200 looks like shit. I don't mind using my original Game Discs instead of Daemon tools as well, just trying to recreate a high-end authentic Retro experience rather than rely too much on emulation and what not. Appreciate the suggestions though.
Also thanks for the suggestion RE: the p4 mobo with SB-link header. I'll look into that.
infiniteclouds wrote on 2022-03-06, 08:56:What hardware could run Duke Nukem 3D at 1600x1200 on dos? […]
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What hardware could run Duke Nukem 3D at 1600x1200 on dos?
Asrock 939Dual-VSTA Late DOS/9x/XP Machine
Build Engine is a primadonna with later GPUs much more than later CPUs or other hardware. As mentioned you can get specific PCI soundcards working with in if they have reasonable DOS compatibility.
My Socket 939 Athlon 64 4000+ with a Geforce 3 and With WC (MTRRLFBE or FASTVID) enabled:
Blood
320x200= 274FPS
640x480= ~60FPS
800x600 = 4FPS ... lies, feels exactly the same as 640x480.
1024x768 = 24FPS ... more lies.. see above.
1280x1024 = 15FPS ... also lies but certain areas where it dips to 7FPS it feels like it is ~15.
1600x1200 = Locked 50 FPS, totally smooth
Duke3D @ 1600 x 1200 = 59/60FPS locked... perfectly smooth.
Tons of screentearing issues if I tried using my 5900 Ultra or 4200 ti instead of the Geforce 3
Very interesting results you posted with Blood! It's so strange why it varies so much! Does your Geforce 3 have good VESA support? It seems VESA is kind of the answer for playing these games at higher resolutions.
Cheers!