Yes, the PCI and VLB are based on different hardware, but Creative Graphics Library or CGL did exist.

Supported games are on this list: 3D Accelerated Games List (Proprietary APIs - No 3DFX/Direct3D)
This post also contains some theory on other boards which might support CGL games and more info regarding the games: Fun with CGL (Creative Graphics Library) on 3D Blaster

The 3D Graphics Blaster was based on the Laguna chip which were another "failed" chapter. It did not support any proprietary APIs. More info here: http://www.vintage3d.org/cirrus.php

you first ling is incorrect, 3D Accelerated Games List (Proprietary APIs - No 3DFX/Direct3D)

robertmo wrote:

you first ling is incorrect, 3D Accelerated Games List (Proprietary APIs - No 3DFX/Direct3D)

😊 fixed 😊

vetz wrote:

Yes, the PCI and VLB are based on different hardware, but Creative Graphics Library or CGL did exist.

Supported games are on this list: 3D Accelerated Games List (Proprietary APIs - No 3DFX/Direct3D)
This post also contains some theory on other boards which might support CGL games and more info regarding the games: Fun with CGL (Creative Graphics Library) on 3D Blaster

Yes i'd seen two of those three links while wandering around the net last night trying to understand better but I guess I was hoping for a little more clarification if anyone has any, i'll try and be more clear in what i'm trying to sort out...

Creative Game Library was only used on the VLB and PCI cards, and not anything else apparently. You covered the CGL wonderfully but I was actually more curious about GLINT... GameGLINT was apparently available on the VLB Creative card as it was that chip on board, but are there any other cards which might have used gameGLINT? Did all the listed games (for creative) just use the CGL library? Is gameGLINT compatible with normal versions of GLINT, like if a game supported it, would it be possible to use it on some other 3DLabs hardware even like a later Oxygen or something, or even the MX300 series which apparently supported early multimonitor gaming? (these are unlikely stretches but nonetheless things i'm curious about)

Verite Rendition API is supported by the PCI card so other Verite games would run on the PCI card I assume. (even though it's only the slower 1000 series card)

Of the games specifically for the Creative Game Library are there any which are actually exclusive or/and not supported better by other cards?
For instance, supported elsewhere and possibly better:

Actua Soccer - patches exist to apparently work with Rendition and maybe 3dfx, either of which I assume would be a better option than the CGL.

Battle Arena Toshinden - this supports other accelerators and is probably best on 3dfx.

Hi-Octane - seems to have software mode, how does the quality compare to CGL?

NASCAR Racing - this supports a number of other accelerators yet even software mode i'm guessing is superior on a fast PC.

Magic Carpet Plus - does the CGL version of this actually look better/better framerate than software mode, or support higher resolution?

Rebel Moon - this is apparently an exclusive to the creative blasters, the PCI version has filtering so should look better. I read something about the first level of the VLB version being different than the PCI, could it simply be imported/played in the PCI version? Is it some kind of substantial difference? It's also apparently possible with software hacking to run it using the .exe from the later Rebel Moon Rising (source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_f-dWgglMo text) though I can find no further information of how to do this oneself. I'd love to see a quality comparison of software mode using that vs the older PCI version, otherwise is this the 'killer app' (insofar as there is one) for CGL?

Screamer II/Rally - as far as I can tell this will run on 3dfx, and likely gives a better experience

Whiplash/Fatal Racing - this supports lots of other accelerators like 3dfx which i'm guessing is the best version.

Games which seem CGL exclusive:
Battle Race
Euro 96
Flight Unlimited

Do any of these support software modes, and how do they compare in resolution, framerate, texture mapping res/etc to CGL versions?

hifidelitygaming wrote:

Creative Game Library was only used on the VLB and PCI cards, and not anything else apparently. You covered the CGL wonderfully but I was actually more curious about GLINT... GameGLINT was apparently available on the VLB Creative card as it was that chip on board, but are there any other cards which might have used gameGLINT?

No other card with the GameGLINT is known to have existed. Both Gona and Putas here on Vogons have tried to get CGL running on other 3DLabs and Creative cards without any luck. More info on the Gaming Glint here: http://www.vintage3d.org/3dlabs.php

Did all the listed games (for creative) just use the CGL library?

If you mean that all the listed games use CGL for acceleration on the Creative 3D Blaster cards then the answer is yes. Exceptions are Rebel Moon and Whiplash/Fatal Racing which also had a Speedy3D executable available meaning you could choose CGL or Speedy3D if you had the PCI card.

Is GameGLINT compatible with normal versions of GLINT, like if a game supported it, would it be possible to use it on some other 3DLabs hardware even like a later Oxygen or something, or even the MX300 series which apparently supported early multimonitor gaming? (these are unlikely stretches but nonetheless things i'm curious about)

Drivers do not exist for OpenGL or CAD software for the 3D Blaster VLB, so while the chip itself might in theory been able to accelerate software used on other Glint hardware, there are no support for it. CGL is not supported on other Glint chips from the little testing Gona did.

Verite Rendition API is supported by the PCI card so other Verite games would run on the PCI card I assume. (even though it's only the slower 1000 series card)

Yes, the Creative 3D Blaster PCI can run Rendition Verite games like all other V1000 cards.

Actua Soccer - patches exist to apparently work with Rendition and maybe 3dfx, either of which I assume would be a better option than the CGL.

My list shows all supported versions, which is near everything except for Speedy3D. Best versions I've personally tried is the 3DFX and ATi Rage versions. It is possible the PowerVR version is quite good, but that version is very hard to find nowadays as the PowerVR version was only sold on powervrdirect.com.

Battle Arena Toshinden - this supports other accelerators and is probably best on 3dfx.

3DFX is the best. See my comparison video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9Zqy5BZQ1E
Battle Arena Toshinden on the VLB: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7tTYwNDWlU

Hi-Octane - seems to have software mode, how does the quality compare to CGL?

The regular software mode looks very much like the accelerated CGL version on the VLB card (just provides better FPS on slow computers). The PCI version offers greater drawdistance and bilinear filtering.
Hi Octane on 3D Blaster PCI: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePQqqiS69Mw
on VLB: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7tTYwNDWlU

NASCAR Racing - this supports a number of other accelerators yet even software mode i'm guessing is superior on a fast PC.

The accelerated versions brings no graphical enhancements compared to the software version, but makes the game able to run in greater FPS on slower computers.
Comparison video of accelerated versions: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bJGnzb0Asw
Video showing that Nascar Racing slows down alot on the Pentium III compared to a Pentium 1 machine on the Nvidia NV1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2_6O01oC2E
Nascar Racing on the VLB: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7tTYwNDWlU

Magic Carpet Plus - does the CGL version of this actually look better/better framerate than software mode, or support higher resolution?

I am actually unsure if Magic Carpet supports "hi-res" 640x480 in its retail software version, maybe someone else can answer this? If it doesn't then the CGL version (which can only be run on the VLB card) is superior in terms of graphics, but framerate isn't top notch as you can see in the video below.
Magic Carpet on the VLB: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePQqqiS69Mw

Rebel Moon - this is apparently an exclusive to the creative blasters, the PCI version has filtering so should look better. I read something about the first level of the VLB version being different than the PCI, could it simply be imported/played in the PCI version? Is it some kind of substantial difference? It's also apparently possible with software hacking to run it using the .exe from the later Rebel Moon Rising (source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_f-dWgglMo text) though I can find no further information of how to do this oneself. I'd love to see a quality comparison of software mode using that vs the older PCI version, otherwise is this the 'killer app' (insofar as there is one) for CGL?

Running this game in CGL mode on the PCI card looks very similar to the Speedy3D version which is seen in this video by swaaye: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdhPe5max4E
As you can see from the available videos there are differences in the first level design compared to the VLB and PCI version. How far this continues and if the missions are just swapped in order I do not know at the current moment. I need to play more of the two versions to find out. Rebel Moon can be run in software mode by adding "-vga" after the executable when you start the game. Is it the killer app? Creative tried to make it the killer app, but the game is not very good tbh. There are much better FPS games out there from that time period.
Rebel Moon on the VLB: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7tTYwNDWlU

Screamer II/Rally - as far as I can tell this will run on 3dfx, and likely gives a better experience

3DFX is the best card for these two games no doubt. The CGL version looks better than the Matrox MSI version, but it doesn't have the framerate compared to 3DFX.

Whiplash/Fatal Racing - this supports lots of other accelerators like 3dfx which i'm guessing is the best version.

I prefer the Speedy3D version and software mode here tbh as the race UI on the 3DFX is almost completely missing.
Comparison video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdhPe5max4E
Some Rendition Speedy3D footage in better quality: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f94D7SDOmco

Games which seem CGL exclusive: Battle Race Euro 96 Flight Unlimited Do any of these support software modes, and how do they c […]
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Games which seem CGL exclusive:
Battle Race
Euro 96
Flight Unlimited
Do any of these support software modes, and how do they compare in resolution, framerate, texture mapping res/etc to CGL versions?

This information could be found in my list which I've linked earlier. Only Euro 96 is CGL exclusive. Battle Race came with support for the S3 Virge cards and Flight Unlimited had a Compaq OEM version for the PowerVR card. All of these three games have software modes. For Euro 96 the CGL version running it on the PCI card is the superior version as it has bilinear filtering. Battle Race is best either in high res software mode or on a quick S3 Virge DX card. Flight Unlimited probably best either on the PowerVR version (which I don't own) or in high res software mode on a powerful computer. The PCI CGL version of Flight Unlimited offers bilinear filtering, but I'll rather play in 1024x768 in software mode than in 640x400 with filtering.