VOGONS


First post, by noshutdown

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie

hello guys, i am trying to run 3ds on my dos machine with cirrus5434 video card. i searched for adi drivers and came up with programs like "panacea turbodld" or "vibrant", and really don't quite get how all these things work.
here are my puzzles:
* aren't the drivers provided by the videocard manufacturers(s3, cirrus, tseng... etc)?
* whats the fastest 3ds/autocad driver for my card(cirrus5434)?
* do they make use of the card's graphics acceleration features?
* how do i set them up?

Reply 1 of 1, by McKie1

User metadata
Rank Newbie
Rank
Newbie

Hi there.

I just looked through some old files for our cirrus logic and the txt file showed this:

Autodesk Device Interface (ADI386) drivers
==========================================
Two drivers are provided which conform to the Autodesk Device Interface (ADI)
standard, defined by Autodesk, Inc. to allow their software products (e.g.
AutoCAD and AutoShade) to run on peripherals which have capabilities beyond the
base-level PC standards.
The first driver, Display List Driver 386-VGA (DLD386-VGA), is designed to
support Autodesk products which run in 386 protected mode, including AutoCAD
10/386, 11/386, AutoShade 2.0 with RenderMan, and 3D Studio.
The second driver, DLD-VGA, supports Autodesk real mode applications - AutoCAD
10/286, 11/286, AutoShade 1.1, and AutoSketch Version 3. DLD-VGA can also be
used with some of the protected mode applications, but the performance gain will
not be as marked as that achieved using DLD386-VGA.
The drivers include support for display list processing in AutoCAD, which
speeds up such AutoCAD functions as Redraw and Zoom compared to the performance
of the standard VGA driver provided by Autodesk. They provide increased
resolution and/or colors for AutoShade, AutoSketch and 3D Studio. The latter
products do not support a display list capability, so no increased performance
can be expected. AutoShade 2.0 and 3D Studio can support 65,536 and 16.8 million
color rendering on some Cirrus Logic VGA adapters with one megabyte or more of
video memory.
Also included with the Cirrus Logic VGA are the Custom Color utilities to
modify the screen colors displayed in most Autodesk products when using the DLD
drivers. COLOR16.EXE is to be used when a 16 color mode is selected in the DLD
driver, and COLOR256.EXE is for 256 and higher color modes.
The following three sections describe how to install and use the DLD drivers
and Custom Colors utilities provided with the Cirrus Logic VGA.

Display list driver 386 - VGA
=============================
The Display List Driver 386-VGA (DLD386-VGA) supports AutoCAD Release 10/386,
11/386, AutoShade 2 with RenderMan and 3D Studio products using the Autodesk
Device Interface (ADI). The driver can be configured to run at any resolution
supported by the Cirrus Logic VGA. Utilities are provided to customize the
screen colors displayed in AutoCAD and AutoShade in both 16- and 256-color
modes.
DLD386-VGA does two things to increase AutoCAD performance:
Creates and maintains a display list - a fast-displaying vector list of the
current drawing - dramatically increasing performance on pans and zooms.
Creates and maintains a prescaled fast redraw list, allowing redraws to
display an average of eight times faster than without the driver.
The only resource used by DLD386-VGA is memory. The driver itself takes up
about 35 Kilobytes of RAM from extended memory, which means it does not affect
normal DOS operation. The driver is loaded by AutoCAD when it is started.

Installing DLD386-VGA
=====================
Run the Cirrus Logic installation program (INSTALL.EXE), and choose the option
for the AutoCAD drivers and specify the drive and directory where you want them
copied to (such as C:\DLD386).
Go to the new directory (C:\DLD386 using the example above) and run
DLDSETUP.EXE, following the instructions on screen (press [?] at any prompt to
get context sensitive help). A complete description of DLDSETUP.EXE can be
found below. Select your desired resolution from the list presented.

Copy the FASTACAD.BAT file created by DLDSETUP.EXE to your AutoCAD directory.
This file needs to be executed prior to running AutoCAD.
Run Color16 (for 16 color VGA setup) or Color256 (for 256 color VGA setup) to
configure the driver with the colors you want to use for AutoCAD and
AutoShade.
Reconfigure AutoCAD to use the ADI P386 display device; see the AutoCAD
`Installation and Performance Guide' for details.

NOTE: You may wish to purchase and install additional RAM before installing
DLD386-VGA, since it shares memory with AutoCAD Release 11 (or AutoCAD 386). If
AutoCAD is using a lot of memory, DLD386-VGA may not have enough. If there is
significant hard disk activity while you are using DLD386-VGA, it may be an
indication that you should add more memory to your system.

Using DLDSETUP.EXE
==================
Make sure you're in the directory that you copied DLD386-VGA into and type
DLDSETUP[Enter] to start the configuration program. At any time, you can press
the question mark [?] key to get help information pertaining to the current
DLDSETUP.EXE prompt. Please note that the DLDSETUP.HLP file must be present in
the current directory for help text to be displayed.
An information screen about DLDSETUP.EXE will appear. Press any key to
continue once you have read the overview.
The Single vs Dual Text Screen option is used to tell the driver if you want
to operate on only one screen (the one attached to the VGA board) or two - in
case you also have a Monochrome Display Adapter (MDA) in the same system as the
VGA. If you choose Automatic, the driver will run single screen if AutoCAD is
started on the VGA, and dual screen if you start AutoCAD from the monochrome
display. Selecting Always Dual will cause the driver to always run in dual
screen mode - don't select this mode if you don't have a monochrome board in
your system in addition to the Cirrus Logic VGA.
The Flip Screen Method is a fail-safe feature. In virtually all cases the
Instant selection will suffice, but in some rare cases the combination of a
certain VGA with a system may result in artifacts on the display when doing a
flip screen back to the graphics display in AutoCAD. If this occurs on your
system, use the Force Redraw option to eliminate these artifacts. The forced
redraw will occur at normal AutoCAD speed, not DLD386-VGA redraw speed. This
should not be necessary in 256 color modes since in these modes you are always
running in the force redraw mode.
You may choose what font size you would like to use for your AutoCAD menus,
pull-downs, and dialog boxes: 8x8, 8x14, or 8x16. All the fonts are 8 pixels
wide, but the height varies. For resolutions above 800x600 we recommend the
8x16 font selection. The default is the 8x14 font.
Enter the method for updating the display list: Remove/Overwrite/Disable. For
trouble-free operation, we suggest that you choose Overwrite initially. When an
object is erased or moved, the Remove option causes its vectors to be removed
from the display list. The Overwrite option causes new 'erase' vectors to be
added to the display list so the object will be drawn, then rubbed out on
screen updates. This option avoids the potentially major list update delay
associated with the Remove option, but increases redraw time and makes the
display list larger (you can clean up the display list with the DLDCLEAN
command - see DLD386-VGA Features and Commands below for more information).
Disable disables the display list - the fast redraw list is still maintained
unless you specifically disable it as well.
Enter the method for updating the fast redraw list: Remove/Overwrite/Disable.
For trouble-free operation, we suggest that you choose Overwrite initially.
When an object is erased or moved, the Remove option causes its vectors to be
removed from the fast redraw list. The Overwrite option causes new erase
vectors to be added to the fast redraw list so the object will be drawn, then
rubbed out on screen redraws. This option avoids the potentially major list
update delay associated with the Remove option, but increases redraw time and
makes the fast redraw list larger. Disable disables the fast redraw list,
slowing redraws to pan/zoom speed.
Enter the number of lines of text you would like to appear at the bottom of
your AutoCAD screen. You may select a number anywhere between 1 and 10. If you
do not want any lines of text at the bottom of the display, use AutoCAD to
disable the command area (see your AutoCAD Installation manual for more
information). The default for this prompt is 3.
Select the resolution that you want to run AutoCAD and AutoShade at. Press the
[F10] key once you have made your choice.
Once all changes are made, press the [F10] key to save the configuration
information. The batch file FASTACAD.BAT will be created in the current
directory, and the configuration file DLDSETUP.DAT will be created in either
the directory pointed to by the DLDCFG environment variable or, if DLDCFG is
not set, in the current directory. The FASTACAD.BAT file contains four lines
that set four separate environment variables: DLDCFG - used by DLD386-VGA to
find all of its configuration files; and DSPADI, RCPADI, RDPADI - used by
AutoCAD, AutoShade 2.0 w/RenderMan, and 3D Studio to find the driver file.
Configuration information for DLD386-VGA is located in the file DLDSETUP.DAT.

NOTE: If you need to make a change to an existing configuration, running
DLDSETUP again will start with all the prompts defaulting to the values
selected in the current configuration. If you want to start with the default
values, just delete DLDSETUP.DAT in the directory pointed to by the DLDCFG
environment variable. Also, if at any point during the configuration process
you want to change an item on a previous menu, just press the [Esc] key until
you have returned to the desired menu. Pressing [Esc] at the Driver Selection
prompt will return you to DOS without making any changes to your
configuration.
Configure your colors by running one of the CustomColors utilities -
COLOR16.EXE if you are using the 16 color VGA modes, or COLOR256.EXE if you are
using the 256 color VGA modes. See DLD Custom Color Utilities for more
information on configuring your AutoCAD colors.
Copy the newly created FASTACAD.BAT to your boot drive root directory, your
AutoCAD directory, or into any directory in your DOS path. Run the FASTACAD.BAT
file when you want to load DLD386-VGA. FASTACAD.BAT only needs to be run once
per system boot.
You can modify your AUTOEXEC.BAT file to add a line to run FASTACAD to the end
of it; i.e., FASTACAD. This assumes that the directory in which FASTACAD.BAT
resides is in your DOS path. If you have DOS 3.2 or earlier, the command needs
to be at the end of your batch file because DOS can't return to the
AUTOEXEC.BAT file after running the FASTACAD batch file. If you have DOS 3.3 or
subsequent versions of DOS, use the command CALL FASTACAD instead, anywhere in
the AUTOEXEC.BAT file. As an alternative, you may want to just copy the
contents of the FASTACAD.BAT file into your AUTOEXEC.BAT file. If you don't
wish to put the command(s) in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file, you may put it in a batch
file which also starts AutoCAD, or simply remember to run FASTACAD.BAT before
starting AutoCAD.
If you get a message such as 'Out of Environment Space' when you run
FASTACAD.BAT, you will need to increase the size of the DOS environment. If you
are running MS-DOS 3.2 or later, this is accomplished by adding
SHELL=C:\COMMAND.COM /P /E:768
to your CONFIG.SYS file. The /E:768 specifies an environment size of 768 bytes.
Change this number as appropriate. You will need to reboot if you modify your
CONFIG.SYS file.

Using DLD386-VGA with AutoCAD 386
=================================
DLD386-VGA is NOT installed as a TSR, instead, AutoCAD uses the DSPADI
environment variable to determine where the display driver can be found and
what the driver's name is. AutoShade and 3D Studio both require the RCPADI and
RDPADI environment variables to be set.
You must run the FASTACAD.bat batch file before starting AutoCAD, unless your
AUTOEXEC.BAT file includes a line to invoke it.
The first time you use AutoCAD with DLD386-VGA, you must change the AutoCAD
display device configuration by selecting option 5, 'Configure AutoCAD' from
the main menu. From there, select option 3, 'Configure Video Display'. Choose
the ADI P386 display driver option as your display device. For more details,
please refer to the `AutoCAD Installation and Performance Guide'.

If you are going to be using AutoShade 2.0 w/RenderMan or 3D Studio with this
driver, read the section entitled Using DLD386-VGA with AutoShade and 3D Studio
below.
You are now ready to use your accelerated AutoCAD. If you are not sure that
AutoCAD is using DLD386-VGA, type DLDUSAGE[Enter] at the AutoCAD command prompt
while editing a drawing. If DLD386-VGA is loaded and running, this command
should return information about memory usage. If AutoCAD reports an error
instead, your DLD386-VGA is not properly loaded.

DLD386-VGA features and commands
================================
Among the additional features not accessible through the installation program
are a memory meter, a command to manually clean up the display lists, and a
current color indicator.
Memory Meter
While in AutoCAD, you can check to see how much memory the display list and
fast-redraw list are occupying at any time. This is done by typing
DLDUSAGE[Enter] at the Command: prompt. Information about how much memory each
viewport is occupying will be displayed. Since AutoCAD can support up to
sixteen viewports, it is possible to have up to sixteen display lists. But
multiple viewports don't necessarily have to use multiple display lists, even
though each viewport will have its own fast-redraw list, because of an AutoCAD
feature known as slave viewports. If a viewport is a slave of another viewport
(known as the master viewport), then the slave and the master share the same
display list, and therefore only the master viewport will show any memory in
use for a display list when using this feature.
Display list cleanup
While in the Overwrite mode for display list maintenance, the display lists can
get quite large because of multiple ERASEs, MOVEs, ROTATEs, etc. (the
Remove/Overwrite Option below). And the same may occur, although at a slower
pace, in the Remove mode. Instead of having to do a REGEN to recreate the
display lists from scratch, you can use the DLDCLEAN command to clean up the
display lists. The DLDCLEAN command removes all deleted objects from the
display lists and requires as much time as an AutoCAD REDRAW to perform its
operation. Note that the whole display will be erased and recreated as part of
this clean up process. In a multiple viewport setting, this means that all
viewports and their associated lists will be cleaned up.
Current color indicator
Another feature that will simplify drawing under AutoCAD is the addition of a
small, outlined box on the left edge of the status line. Inside the box is the
current AutoCAD drawing color. If the status line is disabled, this box will
not appear.

DLD386-VGA supports a number of new AutoCAD command line commands designed to
allow advanced users better control over display list processing:
DLDHELP
Provides a one-line summary for every special DLD386-VGA command. It's
recommended that you flip to the text screen to view the output.
DLDVER
Displays DLD386-VGA version and serial number.
DLDDLMODE
Displays the current mode of your redraw and display list (i.e. Remove,
Overwrite, or Disabled).
All of the following force a DLDCLEAN to be processed when executed:
DLDFREEMEM
Frees up all display list memory currently in use by DLD386-VGA, and performs a
DLDCLEAN. This is useful when DLD386-VGA has gone a long time without a
DLDCLEAN and has allocated more memory than is necessary. You may want to use
this command instead of DLDCLEAN.
DLDDLISTRM
Puts the display list in Remove mode.
DLDDLISTOV
Puts the display list in Overwrite mode.
DLDDLISTDS
Disables the display list.
DLDFLISTRM
Puts the fast redraw list in Remove mode.
DLDFLISTOV
Puts the fast redraw list in Overwrite mode.
DLDFLISTDS
Disables the fast redraw list.

Memory usage and lists
======================
DLD386-VGA shares extended memory with AutoCAD via the Phar Lap Virtual Memory
Manager. This means that DLD386-VGA will automatically page to disk if it uses
up all the RAM that AutoCAD has left for its use. See Appendix A.3 in the
'AutoCAD Installation and Performance Guide' for more information on Virtual
Memory Management. Please note that if you start seeing excessive hard disk
accesses during PANs, REDRAWs, and ZOOMs while using AutoCAD with DLD386-VGA,
try using the DLDCLEAN command more often. If this doesn't affect the amount of
disk access it's probably time to add more memory to your system. Contact your
AutoCAD dealer for assistance in upgrading your memory.
Regarding display list memory, it's important to realize that DLD386-VGA
speeds up AutoCAD operations by creating a display list in memory, and sending
that list to the VGA for pans and zooms. Redraws are run from the fast redraw
list, which is even faster. But both of these lists take up memory.
How much memory? For production use, we recommend that at least one megabyte
be available for DLD386-VGA. To determine how much memory AutoCAD is using, use
the status command while in AutoCAD (refer to the 'AutoCAD Installation and
Performance Guide' for more information).
A simple drawing like the shuttle Columbia might only require twenty kilobytes
for the display list. Complex drawings may require several megabytes. We have
seen display lists for a drawing range from one-tenth the size of the drawing
file to three times the size. In general, the display list averages about the
same as the drawing file size. The fast redraw list will also occupy some
memory, with the worst case being that it occupies as much as the display list.
This means that you should count on both lists generally taking up as much as
twice the drawing file size. Also, complex objects such as circles and text
'expand' when translated into display list format, so a drawing with a lot of
complex objects and text will have a larger display list than a simpler
drawing.
Text takes up a disproportionate amount of space in the display list. To keep
the list small, put text in its own layer of the drawing. Then don't display
the text layer when editing the rest of the figure. This will keep memory
consumption down and speed execution.
The AutoCAD manuals have an excellent section on performance, concentrating on
memory usage. To get the most performance out of the program, read the
appropriate sections of those manuals as well as this one.
If you find that your DLD386-VGA REDRAWs, PANs, and ZOOMs are causing
excessive hard disk accesses (due to paging or swapping), you are probably
running out of RAM space. At this point you have three options:
1. Start using the DLDCLEAN command more frequently
2. Disable the fast redraw list, which will slow down your redraws and give you
a little more RAM to play with
3. Buy at least one or two more megabytes of 32-bit RAM. The latter will
greatly improve your productivity under AutoCAD.

You may want to use the DLDUSAGE command described in the previous section to
keep tabs on your display list usage as time goes on.

The remove/overwrite option
===========================
During installation, you are asked if you wish to maintain the display list and
the fast redraw list by removing or overwriting erased vectors. (You also have
the option of disabling either or both lists, though this option is not needed
for normal operations). The Remove and Overwrite options come into play when
you erase or move an object (moving is the same as erasing and then redrawing
somewhere else). When you erase or move or rotate an object, the display list
and fast redraw list must be updated to get rid of the "displaced' object.
There are two ways to do this:
Remove option - search the list for the offending vectors and remove them.
This is the elegant solution, but the search takes a measurable amount of time.
For small drawings, the extra time will not be noticeable, but for large
drawings it most likely will be. If you are editing large portions of sizeable
(over 100K) drawings, make sure to use the Overwrite option documented below.
Overwrite option - add more vectors to the list to overwrite the offending
vectors with new vectors in the background color. This avoids the time loss to
find and remove the vectors, but causes a strange effect: when the screen is
updated, the erased object is drawn, then disappears as it's overwritten by the
new vectors in the background color! This slows each redraw, and the extra
'overwrite' vectors add to the length of the list. Fortunately, if things get
too messy, all you need to do is use the DLDCLEAN command (documented in
DLD386-VGA Features and Commands above), which will clean up the display list
in about the time it would take for AutoCAD to perform one of its REDRAWs.

We recommend that you use remove mode for both lists for small drawings or if
you have a relatively small amount of memory for the lists. For medium-sized
drawings, you may want to go to overwrite mode for at least the fast redraw
list, so that redraws will be speeded, but the display list will still be
updated correctly. This will minimize the strange 'draw then undraw' effect for
erased objects. For even larger drawings, where searching and updating a list
takes a lot of time, you will want to go to overwrite mode for both lists.
Remember to use the DLDCLEAN command occasionally as you erase and move more
objects.

NOTE: DLD386-VGA allows you to change the display and fast redraw list modes
on the fly using the commands listed at the end of DLD386-VGA Features and
Commands above.

DLD386-VGA tips and tricks
==========================
Since DLD386-VGA is totally transparent to users with respect to using normal
AutoCAD commands to REDRAW, PAN, and ZOOM, you still have to suffer from some
of AutoCAD's nuances. One of these nuances is that ZOOM ALL and ZOOM EXTENTS
both force a REGEN, because AutoCAD does not keep track of various boundaries
necessary to avoid the REGENs. And REGENs are rather time-consuming and don't
use any display list processing to speed themselves up. One way around this
problem is to use another of AutoCAD's built-in features, namely the VIEW
command.
When you first load your image and see the whole drawing on the screen at
once, just type VIEW SAVE ALL[Enter], which will save the display position you
see under a view named 'All'. Then, after you've done some detailed editing and
want to return back to the big picture, type VIEW RESTORE ALL[Enter], instead
of ZOOM ALL[Enter] or ZOOM EXTENTS[Enter], and the full drawing will be
restored to the display at display list speeds, without a REGEN.
Another nuance of AutoCAD is that if you zoom in too far or pan over too far,
you may inadvertently cause a REGEN. AutoCAD again provides a very simple
solution: the REGENAUTO command. Just type REGENAUTO OFF[Enter] at the AutoCAD
command prompt, and automatic REGENs will be disabled. The REGENAUTO setting is
also saved as part of your drawing file, so you only need to execute it once
per drawing. You may even want to set REGENAUTO OFF[Enter] in your ACAD.DWG
drawing template so that all your drawings are created with REGENAUTO set off.
If you find that you are frequently using the DLDCLEAN[Enter] command, you may
want to add it to your pull-down menus. We recommend adding it to the Display
menu. This can be done by editing the file ACAD.MNU, which contains the
commands for all your pull-downs, as well as the side menus. Make sure to make
a backup copy of ACAD.MNU first. Search the file for the Display menu
definition (usually found after a line that says ***POP4). Go to the end of the
definition, just past the line that starts off with [Set Viewports...], and add
the following two lines:
[~--]
[Clean Display List]^C^CDLDCLEAN
Once these two lines have been added, save the edited ACAD.MNU file and run
AutoCAD. Pull up a drawing that uses the standard AutoCAD menus, and AutoCAD
will recompile the ACAD.MNU file into ACAD.MNX. Once this compilation is
complete, you should be able to use the Clean Display List pick off of the
Display menu to clean up DLD386-VGA's display lists for all your normal
drawings.

AutoShade 2.0 with RenderMan
============================
To configure AutoShade v2.0 to use DLD386-VGA, start AutoShade with SHADE
/R[Enter], which will allow you to reconfigure AutoShade. For the display
device, select P386 Autodesk Device Interface display driver, and for the
rendering display select the P386 Autodesk Device Interface rendering driver.
If you are running the display and rendering screen on the same monitor (i.e.
single monitor), make sure to tell AutoShade this. A single monitor approach
will require a redraw of the display screen after a rendering screen.

AutoDesk 3D Studio
==================
To configure 3D Studio, you need to edit the 3DS.SET file, located in your 3DS
directory. Locate the line that starts with DEFAULT-DISPLAY. You want to modify
it so that the line reads: DEFAULT-DISPLAY=RCPADI. Do the same with the line
that starts with MAIN-DISPLAY (i.e. MAIN-DISPLAY=RCPADI). Make sure to remove
the ';' in front of these lines. Also, if you selected to use the 256 color VGA
driver during the set up, you may change the MATERIAL-DISPLAY line in 3DS.SET
as well. Save your changes, and you're ready to use 3D Studio. See your 3D
Studio installation documentation for additional information on configuring 3D
Studio.