VOGONS


First post, by Linoleum

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Everyone knows the only reason to build a 386 machine is to play Links386, right? But I’m running into a frustrating issue: whenever I move the mouse, parts of the screen either get erased or leave behind weird artifacts.
I’m using a Trident TVGA 8900D with 1MB of VRAM. It supports VESA 1.2 natively, so I figured I was good to go. I even tried Trident’s own VESA driver—no surprise, it didn’t help. UNIVBE was a bust too; no version I tried could detect the card. I swapped in a TVGA 8900CL just to test, and got the exact same results.

So… is this card just hot garbage for Links386, or is there some obscure fix out there that I haven’t found?

P3 866, V3, SB Audigy 2
P2 300, TNT, V2, SB Audigy 2 ZS
P233 MMX, Mystique 220, V1, AWE64
P166, S3 Virge DX, SB32, WavetablePi & PicoGus
486DX2 66, CL-GD5424, SB32, SC55
Prolinea 4/50, ET4000, SB16, WavetablePi
SC386SX 25, TVGA8900D, Audician32+

Reply 1 of 7, by Linoleum

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Forgot to attach exhibit A and B...

P3 866, V3, SB Audigy 2
P2 300, TNT, V2, SB Audigy 2 ZS
P233 MMX, Mystique 220, V1, AWE64
P166, S3 Virge DX, SB32, WavetablePi & PicoGus
486DX2 66, CL-GD5424, SB32, SC55
Prolinea 4/50, ET4000, SB16, WavetablePi
SC386SX 25, TVGA8900D, Audician32+

Reply 2 of 7, by clb

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In https://oummg.com/manual/adapters.html I have tried to collect different VGA adapter bugs, as a sort of a "bug compendium" for a VGA card collector/connoisseur.

So far I don't know of many issues at all with 8900D. It has been a very compatible card in my tests. I wonder if that might be some kind of an issue with hardware mouse cursor (does the game use one?)

Reply 3 of 7, by maxtherabbit

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You can try disabling the FIFO on the card via jumper

Reply 4 of 7, by Yoghoo

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Linoleum wrote on 2025-09-20, 20:16:

Everyone knows the only reason to build a 386 machine is to play Links386, right?

That made me laugh as I tried to play it last week on my maxed out 386/40. But the the time it takes to redraw the screen after every action is a bit to much for me. 😀

I played it with a Tseng ET4000AX btw so unfortunately can't help with your problem but I would suggest to use some faster pc (or be very patient 😜).

Reply 5 of 7, by Linoleum

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maxtherabbit wrote on 2025-09-20, 21:12:

You can try disabling the FIFO on the card via jumper

Here's the card I have: https://theretroweb.com/expansioncards/s/jaton-ja-8232d-v5

I tried every single jumper on/off and it didn't work... Oh and Tellset told me FIFO was already OFF...

P3 866, V3, SB Audigy 2
P2 300, TNT, V2, SB Audigy 2 ZS
P233 MMX, Mystique 220, V1, AWE64
P166, S3 Virge DX, SB32, WavetablePi & PicoGus
486DX2 66, CL-GD5424, SB32, SC55
Prolinea 4/50, ET4000, SB16, WavetablePi
SC386SX 25, TVGA8900D, Audician32+

Reply 6 of 7, by Linoleum

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clb wrote on 2025-09-20, 21:11:

In https://oummg.com/manual/adapters.html I have tried to collect different VGA adapter bugs, as a sort of a "bug compendium" for a VGA card collector/connoisseur.

So far I don't know of many issues at all with 8900D. It has been a very compatible card in my tests. I wonder if that might be some kind of an issue with hardware mouse cursor (does the game use one?)

I see that you were able to run Univbe 6.70 with your 8900D... Mine just makes the screen go blank and crash I presume.

P3 866, V3, SB Audigy 2
P2 300, TNT, V2, SB Audigy 2 ZS
P233 MMX, Mystique 220, V1, AWE64
P166, S3 Virge DX, SB32, WavetablePi & PicoGus
486DX2 66, CL-GD5424, SB32, SC55
Prolinea 4/50, ET4000, SB16, WavetablePi
SC386SX 25, TVGA8900D, Audician32+

Reply 7 of 7, by Linoleum

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Update: The latest UniVBE version I successfully ran was 5.1—and best of all, it completely resolved the graphical artifacts in Links386. Yay!

P3 866, V3, SB Audigy 2
P2 300, TNT, V2, SB Audigy 2 ZS
P233 MMX, Mystique 220, V1, AWE64
P166, S3 Virge DX, SB32, WavetablePi & PicoGus
486DX2 66, CL-GD5424, SB32, SC55
Prolinea 4/50, ET4000, SB16, WavetablePi
SC386SX 25, TVGA8900D, Audician32+