VOGONS


First post, by IMeganElisabeth

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I’m looking for the best configuration settings in PCem to be able to play what I’m guessing would have to be 3D games at the highest color/resolution capable under PCem. Also, is Vista able to work in PCem or is that too new of an OS? I’m not very knowledgeable/new to PC components history so I truly very grately appreciate anyone taking the time to help me configure the best system settings for a Windows XP system in PCem.

Reply 1 of 11, by leileilol

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Windows XP will "work" but it won't allow higher resolutions than what's already emulated.

Also you'd have to be running a powerful enough CPU if you expect to emulate a Voodoo2 SLI (which allows 1024x768 and is currently the highest res 3d you can do in it).

Also Windows XP doesn't support hte Voodoo2 fully and neither does Windows 2000. They'll lack in Direct3D support 😀

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long live PCem

Reply 2 of 11, by IMeganElisabeth

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leileilol wrote:

Windows XP will "work" but it won't allow higher resolutions than what's already emulated.

Also you'd have to be running a powerful enough CPU if you expect to emulate a Voodoo2 SLI (which allows 1024x768 and is currently the highest res 3d you can do in it).

Also Windows XP doesn't support hte Voodoo2 fully and neither does Windows 2000. They'll lack in Direct3D support 😀

Thank you so very much for the response! What do you mean by already emulated? Should I use the same config system I have set for my Windows 98 SE machine? I have a i7700K OC to 5.1 ghz. Is this going to be capable? So that’s the only way I’ll get 1024x768? Back in XP days games were most at 1024x768? Did not realize that. So those games back then definitely weren’t 3D then. Didn’t realize that. (:

Reply 3 of 11, by leileilol

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The main factor in the resolution support is the emulated amount of VRAM

- The Voodoo configurator dialog defaults framebuffer and texture memory to 2mb, so bump both to 4mb, switch it to Voodoo2 and tick SLI (which emulates two Voodoo2 cards that interleave their memory together to form 1024x768x16. Voodoo2 cannot go beyond 1024.)
- The video card configurator (on certain video cards) usually aren't defaulted to their highest setting. CL-GD5434, AI Mach64, Trio64 and Virge can go 4mb. (Nothing emulates 8mb-16mb yet which would allow far higher, but that's treading unexplored 3d chip emulation territory)

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Reply 4 of 11, by IMeganElisabeth

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leileilol wrote:

The main factor in the resolution support is the emulated amount of VRAM

- The Voodoo configurator dialog defaults framebuffer and texture memory to 2mb, so bump both to 4mb, switch it to Voodoo2 and tick SLI (which emulates two Voodoo2 cards that interleave their memory together to form 1024x768x16. Voodoo2 cannot go beyond 1024.)
- The video card configurator (on certain video cards) usually aren't defaulted to their highest setting. CL-GD5434, AI Mach64, Trio64 and Virge can go 4mb. (Nothing emulates 8mb-16mb yet which would allow far higher, but that's treading unexplored 3d chip emulation territory)

Yep that makes sense. I have them bumped up to 4mb in my 98 system. So my i7700K will be capable of running SLI right?

I’m trying to run ER the game by Legacy Interactive in 2005.. from what I’m finding it is 3D... I think? So PCem won’t work for this?

Reply 5 of 11, by leileilol

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IMeganElisabeth wrote:

I’m trying to run ER the game by Legacy Interactive in 2005.. from what I’m finding it is 3D... I think? So PCem won’t work for this?

Too new. That requires something of a Geforce2/4 at minimum. For PCem's best, you should be thinking more of the timeframe before 2001.

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Reply 6 of 11, by IMeganElisabeth

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leileilol wrote:
IMeganElisabeth wrote:

I’m trying to run ER the game by Legacy Interactive in 2005.. from what I’m finding it is 3D... I think? So PCem won’t work for this?

Too new. That requires something of a Geforce2/4 at minimum. For PCem's best, you should be thinking more of the timeframe before 2001.

I think I’m reading that’s 3D. Ah, gotcha. So is VM like VirtualBox probably going to be best for XP or an emulator?

Reply 8 of 11, by IMeganElisabeth

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leileilol wrote:

Probably, assuming the WineD3D bundled with its additions behaves good enough for ER The Game.

Yes, here’s to hoping! Since it’s from 2005 it most likely is 3D right? Very little information I can find on the technical specifications.

Reply 9 of 11, by leileilol

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Yep there's a lot of post-2001 3D going on here

Another thing to note about PCem and the Voodoo/Voodoo2 is that it's strictly a secondary video device, and those were generally dropped for support after 2000 especially due to how NT5 (2000/XP) handles them in DirectX, and how OpenGL is implemented in many newer games that don't care for redirecting to any other ICDs than OPENGL32.DLL. Getting a newer game to work on a Voodoo2 - real or emulated, 3rd-party drivers and not - is a generally rare occurance. The rare occurances that were, are usually OpenGL games going through some Mesa3D forks that feign extension support.

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long live PCem

Reply 10 of 11, by vedmysh

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leileilol wrote:

Yep there's a lot of post-2001 3D going on here

and how OpenGL is implemented in many newer games that don't care for redirecting to any other ICDs than OPENGL32.DLL.

Just a small note. Opengl32.dll itself is not an ICD driver. It contains software OpenGL (1.1 or something like that) implementation and some code facility to initialize and redirect the calls to Opengl32.dll to real ICD driver (through TEB). Regular application always bound to Opengl32.dll (staticaly or dynamicaly at runtime). If application at initialization steps choose hardware accelerated PFD (pixel format descriptor, if one is provided) all the calls will be forwarded throuh the Opengl32.dll to the vendor ICD driver.

Reply 11 of 11, by IMeganElisabeth

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leileilol wrote:

Yep there's a lot of post-2001 3D going on here

Another thing to note about PCem and the Voodoo/Voodoo2 is that it's strictly a secondary video device, and those were generally dropped for support after 2000 especially due to how NT5 (2000/XP) handles them in DirectX, and how OpenGL is implemented in many newer games that don't care for redirecting to any other ICDs than OPENGL32.DLL. Getting a newer game to work on a Voodoo2 - real or emulated, 3rd-party drivers and not - is a generally rare occurance. The rare occurances that were, are usually OpenGL games going through some Mesa3D forks that feign extension support.

Yep, seems like a pretty popular time for good old games. (:

Ah I hadn’t thought of that. Now it definitely makes more sense to me as to why PCem wouldn’t work well/at all for 3D games from that time. Now that I think of it I do remember Voodoo/Voodoo2 with my Windows 98 from childhood but not so much so with Windows 2000/XP. Thanks so much for taking the time to explain!