VOGONS


Share your 3D accelerator nostalgia here

Topic actions

First post, by Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t

Inspired by this thread.....

Well I just wonder; what are the 3D accelerators you ever owned besides Voodoo series and TNT2? Did you actually try such obscure things like Diamond Edge 3D (NVidia NV1) or Creative 3D Blaster (3D Labs Permedia)?

I still remember reading the July 1996 issue of Computer Gaming World tough.... I was actually more interested in Rendition Verite than Voodoo. I can still cite the paragraph:

RENDITION VERITE

Rendition is a new company focused on delivering a complete graphics solution for fast game play. We had the opportunity to see gameplay with VERITE, and what we saw looked good. Rendition was showing IndyCar 2, and the Quake graphics engine, both tuned for the Verite. IndyCar 2 played very well on a Pentium 100 with all rendering features enabled. Walls looked very good close up thanks to texture filtering and MIP mapping, and the cars looked great as well.

Of course, during that time, I was still completely ignorant (and too much optimistic) on how 3D accelerators actually work. Of course there are games specifically made for specific 3D processor, but magazine advertisements being put by S3 and the likes gives false impression that a 3D accelerator will accelerate every DOS and Windows title you have.

How stupid I was! I was mistakenly thinking that texture mapping calculations for games like Jane's ATF and Duke Nukem 3D was performed by video card instead of CPU --totally oblivious to the fact that games need to support particular 3D API or particular 3D chip in order to get accelerated. That's partly the reason why I was crazy about Rendition Verite, because I took the following paragraph the wrong way:

Mechwarrior 2 for Windows 95, which uses Microsoft's DirectDraw API, ran very smoothly on the Pentium 100 --easily comparable to a Pentium 133 runnning one of the quickest Windows 2D accelerators available.

But after I seen a friend's Rendition Verite (it was Creative 3D Blaster PCI) running games in Mode X, I changed my choice to Matrox Mystique. Again, I was still a fool here --mistakenly thinking that the smoothness of hi-res (640x480) 3D games is more influenced by the drawing speed of video card instead of the speed of texture mapping calculation performed by the CPU. Thus, I happily bought Matrox Mystique --hoping that it will boost my Pentium 100 when playing games like Top Gun: Fire At Will or Jane's ATF, while still not realizing that what I need is an upgrade to Pentium Pro!

Well, Mystique-bundled games like Mechwarrior 2 and Scorched Planet runs in 640x480 pretty smoothly, but not as smooth as I actually expected. There was absolutely no changes in non-supporting 3D games like Jane's ATF, of course. MDK is a non-bundled games, but it supports Microsoft Direct3D API, so I tried it as well. It ran pretty smooth, but no smoother than running with software renderer! Moreover, it actually looked worse than software rendering because Mystique does not support Alpha Blending, i.e, no transparency!

So that's how I learned how 3D accelerators actually work --the hard way.

I eventually upgraded the CPU while desperately looking for 3D games (especially flight-sims) that support Direct3D to make use of my Matrox Mystique. Too bad, most games were using GLide during that time, and Voodoo is still the only working 3D accelerator out there (the rest are decelerator. After several months, I eventually gave up and got a Voodoo 2. It was then I finally experienced all the glory of 3D accelerator. Whew!

But it actually marked a turning point in my life, because it was then when I decided to stop being a "layperson" and start to be an enthusiast. Well, at least to some degree (I was still a poor university student at that time so money was the biggest limiting factor).

Any stories to share?

Never thought this thread would be that long, but now, for something different.....
Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman.

Reply 1 of 40, by eL_PuSHeR

User metadata
Rank l33t++
Rank
l33t++

Can Trident 8900CL be considered a deccelerator? 😁

Anyway, my first accelerator card was an ATi 3D Rage (4MB) followed by a TNT2 with 8MB manufactured by Leadtek. Very good card.

Last edited by eL_PuSHeR on 2007-10-16, 19:22. Edited 1 time in total.

Intel i7 5960X
Gigabye GA-X99-Gaming 5
8 GB DDR4 (2100)
8 GB GeForce GTX 1070 G1 Gaming (Gigabyte)

Reply 2 of 40, by wildweasel

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member

The first 3D "accelerator" I ever used was an ATI 3D Rage, which came with copies of Mechwarrior 2 and a VR Soccer game. That card actually had more problems than it did features - it wouldn't run some VESA games like Warcraft 2, and it actually fried a few monitors in its day.

After that, I didn't bother with 3D cards until the Voodoo 2's started coming out and games were starting to require hardware acceleration (around the time of Quake 2, I recall).

wwsig2-button1.pngwwsig2-center.pngwwsig2-button2.png

Reply 3 of 40, by Zup

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie
eL_PuSHeR wrote:

Can Trident 8900CL be considered a deccelerator? 😁

No, I'm afraid it was more like a hand-brake. 🤣

I had an ATI Rage, also. The difference between Q2 software mode and Q2 open gl was shocking (at least for me at that time)... until I bought a Voodoo Banshee and Unreal (not the best card, but a true improvement).

Later, a Voodoo 3, and then nVidias.

I have traveled across the universe and through the years to find Her.
Sometimes going all the way is just a start...

I'm selling some stuff!

Reply 4 of 40, by leileilol

User metadata
Rank l33t++
Rank
l33t++

PowerVR PCX1 (Apocalypse 3D) then PowerVR PCX2 (Matrox M3D) were my first two.

apsosig.png
long live PCem

Reply 5 of 40, by dh4rm4

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie

OEM S3 Virge 1MB with 1MB 'upgrade', Miro 3D (S3 Virge 4MB RAM, extremely crisp TV Out), Gigabyte 'Starfighter' i740 8mb, Gigabyte Voodoo Banshee 16MB, S3 Savage3D and 2000, NV TnT, NV Gf256 and many many more inbetween, before and after. I played with the Voodoo II, III and the PowerVR stuff too but was more interested with their arcade (San Francisco Rush) and console (Dreamcast) revisions.

Reply 6 of 40, by DosFreak

User metadata
Rank l33t++
Rank
l33t++

Never did think that much of the early 3D cards. I had a 486 DX4/100 up until 1998 with a Cirrus Logic video card with 2mb VRAM and it played everything I wanted to play.

I think I remember downloading a beta or demo copy of Half-Life and being unable to play it which is when I really knew that I needed to build a new computer.....but luckily I went into the AF in Dec 1998 and didn't finish Tech School until May of 1999, so I didn't have to worry about how old my computer was for 6 months. 😀

2 weeks before I left Tech School I ordered a K63-400, Soyo SY5EMA, 512mb ram and a TNT1. Parts arrived at my parent's house the day before I was leaving to go to the UK so I had to quickly put everything together. Heck even got Redhat 6 and 98 installed the same day!. So got the computer assembled and packed ready to be shipped. (I even bought Half-Life that same week and installed it on my parent's new Compaq with a K62-350?, ATI Rage card. I think I remember having to use a wrapper since for some odd reason the game wouldn't work out of the box.)

So when I got to the UK I finally was able to play around with my new computer and experience the wonders of 3D Acceleration.

I didn't bother with 3D Accelerators before because I was never one to care for the super high resolutions or the few extra effects when all I really cared about was the gameplay, also the fact that most of the games requiring a Voodoo card I wasn't interested in anyway.

I did get a Voodoo 3 AGP card from a friend in 2000/2001? but I never got around to using it so it sat around until.....last week (and it still works!) when I decided to slap it into a Dual P300E Compaq Workstation SP700 I found at work. Going to turn that into a Windows 98/NT4 compatibility testing machine for game testing and glide testing.

Last edited by DosFreak on 2007-10-17, 10:31. Edited 1 time in total.

How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
Make your games work offline

Reply 7 of 40, by dh4rm4

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie

hah! I had to tweak the HL Day One beta with a hacked i740 MiniGL taken from an SDK

Reply 8 of 40, by gulikoza

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie

Hah! I got voodoo graphics for christmas 1997 and I was really stunned by it's performance. I had P-133 back then and one of the first games I've tried was Toca Racing. It was absolutely amazing. It was perfectly fluid, lights reflecting from wet surfaces...whereas software mode was totally unplayable (<5fps). Later when voodoo3 was announced, I chose TNT2 Ultra instead. Just to make sure glide still worked, I added a voodoo2 that was on sale (v3 was already out, so I got it cheap). I must say I never regretted my decision. TNT2 was an amazing card (still works in my backup computer), it played all the games until 2002 without much problems. Voodoo2 was there for backwards compatibility, I had it connected to the VGA input of my monitor (TNT2 used BNC inputs on my Iiyama 450 😁). Interestingly enough, I played through entire X-Wing Alliance on voodoo2, not TNT. In 2002 I switched from "green" to "red" camp with ati9000pro and still using ati 😀
(although for dx10 cards, neither are really impressive except for the top models...perhaps it's time to switch again, ati drivers are beginning to disappoint me...)

http://www.si-gamer.net/gulikoza

Reply 9 of 40, by SysGOD

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member

i didnt cared much about the early 3d de/accelerators but my dream was a S3 VIRGE since i saw a screenshot of the accelerated version of terminal velocity in a gaming magazine. ok i was a child and never had the money for buying one, so i had to use my 486 DX2/80 with a 1mb SPEA V7-VEGA PLUS card until 1998.
one year earlier a frind of mine buyed a DIAMOND MONSTER 3D. this was the first time i saw 3DFX games (NICE2 demo and GTA) in action and simply was blown away!
my next system was a P2-450 with a ATI RAGE PRO TURBO, the first AGP card from ATI i think. well it had real bad image quality, bad drivers and even worse performance. i had to play UNREAL with software renderer because the card didnt support opengl and direct3d was not working...
this was the time i decided never buying a ATI card again.
after i got a job i buyed two 3D BLASTER VOODOO2 from my first earned money. later i switched the ATI card with NVIDIAs TNT2 ULTRA and was a fanboy from there on. 😀

sysprofile.png

Reply 10 of 40, by Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t

Ah.... The good old days..... *wipes tears*

Fast-forward to 1999. I did not bother with Voodoo3 because I believed a TNT2/Voodoo2 combo was the best. I did not even bother with Voodoo5 --and that turned out to be my biggest regret, because V5 is the only card to enable FSAA in GLide games like Deus EX and Ultima IX (U9's Direct3D support was still shitty at that time).

As for early "Voodoo 1"-era games, I think the one with the best gameplay is still Tomb Raider. Yup, there were a lot of games that supported Voodoo (and Rendition) during that era, but they mostly have less than mediocre gameplay like the arcadish Independence Day and Die Hard Trilogy.

However, game that really convinced me to buy a Voodoo is EF 2000 V2.0. While most other 3D-accelerated games were craps (Scorched Planet and Whiplash come to mind....), EF2000 V2.0 was among the first serious games that supports 3D acceleration (others being Mechwarrior 2 and Sabre Ace, but the latter is shitty). About a couple years later, Jane's Combat Simulation follows with Jane's Longbow 2 and Jane's F-15 that exclusively support Voodoo.

I just wonder though: what games convinced you to get into 3D accelerator mania during those days?

Never thought this thread would be that long, but now, for something different.....
Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman.

Reply 11 of 40, by Davros

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t

i bought a matrox mystique not really for its 3d
but at the time i had a cirrus logic 256k vid card and the recommended spec to pair with a v1 was a 2mb card so i got the mystique because it was the 2nd fastest 2d card about (2.5% slower + hlaf the price of the millenium)

ps: you can run duesex + unreal with fsaa in glide mode with zeckensacks wrapper

pps: if you loved ef2000 try f22 total air war (both made by d.i.d)

ppps: tombraider mystique edition was one of the few games to look dammed good on the mystique

Reply 12 of 40, by Davros

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t

pps: both longbow 2 + f15 have d3d patches

Guardian of the Sacred Five Terabyte's of Gaming Goodness

Reply 13 of 40, by leileilol

User metadata
Rank l33t++
Rank
l33t++
Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman wrote:

I just wonder though: what games convinced you to get into 3D accelerator mania during those days?

Rebel Moon Rising.

But that was a Verite game from 1995, and that only convinced me.

I stayed away from Voodoo for a while since their marketing was aggressively, SEGA like. It wasn't until the Monster 3D II's release that I got one of those.

Davros wrote:

ps: you can run duesex + unreal with fsaa in glide mode with zeckensacks wrapper

Wrappers don't count since they were barely existent and crappy in the day. Deus Ex did have a Direct3D Renderer, though. Ran fine on my Geforce2.

apsosig.png
long live PCem

Reply 14 of 40, by swaaye

User metadata
Rank l33t++
Rank
l33t++

I also intensely followed the Verite hardware. I wanted the Creative 3D Blaster PCI for the longest time. But I couldn't afford anything for years.

I used a hopped-up AMD 5x86 @ 160 on a VLB mobo with S3-968 until late 1997. I was supremely bummed out when X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter wouldn't run on the 486. It just crashed when the actual mission was loading. I guess they used some Pentium-specific instructions? I managed to save up some money finally and did one huge overhaul. I went from that old, once-quite-glorious rig to a Pentium II 266, 64MB RAM, Mystique 220, PCI sound card, and Voodoo1. It was basically the best money could buy at the time. Talk about one heck of a speed boost.

I actually started out with a STB Nitro 3D (a Virge GX), but it locked up all the time on me. Even just at the Windows 95 desktop. Some sort of incompatibility with Supermicro P6 boards I guess. The Mystique was better anyway.

I remember downloading demos before I could run them. Stuff like Hexen 2, GLQuake, etc. Jedi Knight reinvented the FPS that year, Unreal arrived early '98 and then Half Life that fall. OMG!!! That was one hell of a ride. Oh the days when 3D gaming was fresh and new types of games were being created monthly. 😀

Myth. Quake 2. Jedi Knight. 3Dfx demos. Wing Commander Prophecy. X-Wing Alliance. Need for Speed III... hehe

Reply 15 of 40, by Davros

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t
leileilol wrote:

Rebel Moon Rising.

But that was a Verite game from 1995, and that only convinced me.

That made me laugh...
it didnt use an accellerator (it looked like it did) but it was the first game to take advantage of mmx to do 16bit lighting ect

Reply 16 of 40, by dh4rm4

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie

Actually you're only partially correct. Rebel Moon was a DOS game compiled specifically for the Rendition Verite 1000 AKA the Creative 3D Blaster PCI and it looked pretty good in SVGA. Rebel Moon Rising on the other hand was the game you described and it looked as bad as it played. There were already a few titles that used MMX but RMR was the first Intel Inside MMX launch title.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebel_Moon_Rising

Reply 17 of 40, by Freddo

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie

I got a 3D card rather late. My first one was an used Creative 3D Blaster Voodoo2 8MB card which I bought from a friend in spring 2000. Main reason was that I wanted to play the pretty version of Redguard and games in general started to require it.

Got a comp with an AGP slot in early 2001, and then a Siluro Geforce 2 mx. The next year I changed to a Geforce 3, which I kept for 4 years. Didn't get a new card until last year, in which I got a Radeon X1600 Pro.

I did have a strong interest in the Permedia chipset, though, cause there was an Amiga graphic card with the Permedia chipset on it (and I was mainly an Amiga user until late 1999), but there were no interesting software for it, so I never bought it.

Reply 18 of 40, by kreats

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member

My first taste of 3d acceleration was the diamond stealth 3d 2000. I think the only accelerated game I played with it was forsaken, and that drew black boxes around all of the projectiles (sucked). Much later I upgraded to a Maxi Gamer Phoenix (banshee), which was awesome! Quake 2 and Starsiege tribes rocked my world back then and like KAN, "upgrading" to a TNT2 was a stupid decision in retrospect (tribes ran best on glide).

I've got a small collection of early 3d cards - powervr, rendition, NV1, 3dfx, etc. They're interesting to me because each is fairly different from another technology wise. It's also neat when you find the "best" version of a game runs on an obscure 3d accelerator that nobody has and isn't produced anymore.

Reply 19 of 40, by swaaye

User metadata
Rank l33t++
Rank
l33t++

The only 3D accelerated version of Terminal Velocity is for S3 Virge. That's what the Stealth 3D 2000 uses. It actually runs pretty good! 😀 I tried it out about a year ago.