rasz_pl wrote:

afaik m3d port of Tomb Raider is the best one of all the other accelerated ones (Glide/GLRage) because its not capped at 30fps

I think it is capped at 30fps though, because the framerate counter sometimes says 60fps, but the game still looks like it’s running at 30fps.

GordonFreeman wrote:

rasz_pl wrote:

afaik m3d port of Tomb Raider is the best one of all the other accelerated ones (Glide/GLRage) because its not capped at 30fps

I think it is capped at 30fps though, because the framerate counter sometimes says 60fps, but the game still looks like it’s running at 30fps.

sadly the only way to check that comes to my mind would be video grabber

rasz_pl wrote:

sadly the only way to check that comes to my mind would be video grabber

I'm fairly certain it only runs at 30fps or something close to it. A better question would be if there's any way to remove the frame limit; I don't know if that's possible.

Also, from what I can tell, the main advantages of the PowerVR version are better shading, a fog effect in the underwater parts, better looking water surfaces, and possibly other enhancements. The Glide version doesn't have any of that.

No idea if GordonFreeman is still around, but I've just set up my P4 32.Ghz EE with a Matrix M3D, but using an AGP Radeon 9600 instead of Voodoo 3.

I've got some issues with PowerVR games, namely:

Virtual-On doesn't play CD audio, though I did a full install and CD audio will play in Windows.

Revolte and Moon Racer (that I bought a real copy of) both show a screen full of flicker (overlapped menus then no in game or huge flicker in Moon Racer; just a strobe effect when starting Revolte).

Purevex, Ultimate Race (1 and 3 track) work fine.

Any ideas? I tried both the M3D drivers that come with the card and some newer 4.1.2 PowerVR generic drivers, but not much luck, maybe a bit more visible in the latter.

I know the Virtuality KK games are a bit older, not sure why they're struggling so much?

https://www.matrox.com/en/video/apps/drivers/ … les/w9x_m3d.php (4.1.1.5.002)

Here are the final drivers for the M3D for Windows 98. I've used them in conjunction with Turok, and they work fine. I haven't tested any of the games you're messing around with, however.

They don't make a difference. I did have Moon Racer running fine on Apocalypse 3D on an older Pentium 2 system years ago, I think it was paired with some sort of Matrix Millennium card.

I'm going to tinker with the PowerVR driver advanced settings, as I remember using them before. If that's no good, I wonder if it might be a conflict between with ATi Radeon 9600 and the M3D, perhaps I should get a different graphics card, or maybe a PCI card instead of AGP?

VirtuaIceMan wrote on 2022-02-19, 18:13:

They don't make a difference. I did have Moon Racer running fine on Apocalypse 3D on an older Pentium 2 system years ago, I think it was paired with some sort of Matrix Millennium card.

I'm going to tinker with the PowerVR driver advanced settings, as I remember using them before. If that's no good, I wonder if it might be a conflict between with ATi Radeon 9600 and the M3D, perhaps I should get a different graphics card, or maybe a PCI card instead of AGP?

A Matrox G400 might be a good choice for you since you weren't particularly interested in DOS features. AGP 4x. Still cheap, also. I think I read around here Matrox Video cards actually gives a small boost to the M3D PowerVR.

https://vgamuseum.info/index.php/benchmarks/4 … ium-g400-sh-max

Fiddling with settings in DxDiag, ATi control panel and PowerVR hidden Advanced menu did nothing at all 🙁

I sussed out the CD audio issue (probably), I'd put in the SPDIF wire connector in, and not the analogue cable, as I don't actually have one, doh! The joys of turning an XP machine into a retro machine!

VirtuaIceMan wrote on 2022-02-19, 14:04:

No idea if GordonFreeman is still around, but I've just set up my P4 32.Ghz EE with a Matrix M3D, but using an AGP Radeon 9600 instead of Voodoo 3.

Sorry, I haven't been on the forums for a while. I've found the PCX2 can be rather finicky when it comes to drivers and running certain games. For example, I've found that sometimes you need to restart the system after running a particular game (Tomb Raider is one I've found) before you can run another one. Something that might help with your issues: when I've had issues with games that seem to be related to drivers, sometimes installing different drivers can help. You can also try installing different drivers, and then reinstall whatever drivers you had before - doing this seemed to solved some issues I had with certain games. I'd recommend trying a bunch of different drivers until you find one that works for what you want to do. I forget exactly which version of the drivers I'm using, but in general the later versions seem to have better compatibility with games.

If none of that helps, another thing to consider is that your host video card (the Radeon 9600) might be the issue. I've only used the Voodoo 3 3000 (which seems to work perfectly) so I can't comment about the compatibility with other cards. However, since the Radeon 9600 is much newer than either the m3D or the Voodoo 3, maybe there's something different about its design that doesn't work well with the m3D. If you'd like to try a different card, I'd recommend something older - like late-90s or older.

One more thing to consider: this generally shouldn't be an issue if you're running PowerSGL games, but if you have the m3D installed in a system with another card that supports DirectX, you need to disable DirectX/Direct3D on the m3D - otherwise it seems to cause a conflict. This should only affect games that use DirectX, but it's something you should probably do anyway.

btw, if you want to see the system that came after this one, which I migrated many of the parts from this one to (including the Voodoo 3 and the m3D), then you should take a look at this thread: Sony Vaio P4 3.06GHz + Voodoo 3 3000 + Matrox m3D + SB Live!

That system functions pretty much the same as this one, although it has a slightly faster CPU and a much better case.

GordonFreeman wrote on 2022-07-18, 05:29:

Sorry, I haven't been on the forums for a while. I've found the PCX2 can be rather finicky when it comes to drivers and running […]
Show full quote

VirtuaIceMan wrote on 2022-02-19, 14:04:

No idea if GordonFreeman is still around, but I've just set up my P4 32.Ghz EE with a Matrix M3D, but using an AGP Radeon 9600 instead of Voodoo 3.

Sorry, I haven't been on the forums for a while. I've found the PCX2 can be rather finicky when it comes to drivers and running certain games. For example, I've found that sometimes you need to restart the system after running a particular game (Tomb Raider is one I've found) before you can run another one. Something that might help with your issues: when I've had issues with games that seem to be related to drivers, sometimes installing different drivers can help. You can also try installing different drivers, and then reinstall whatever drivers you had before - doing this seemed to solved some issues I had with certain games. I'd recommend trying a bunch of different drivers until you find one that works for what you want to do. I forget exactly which version of the drivers I'm using, but in general the later versions seem to have better compatibility with games.

If none of that helps, another thing to consider is that your host video card (the Radeon 9600) might be the issue. I've only used the Voodoo 3 3000 (which seems to work perfectly) so I can't comment about the compatibility with other cards. However, since the Radeon 9600 is much newer than either the m3D or the Voodoo 3, maybe there's something different about its design that doesn't work well with the m3D. If you'd like to try a different card, I'd recommend something older - like late-90s or older.

One more thing to consider: this generally shouldn't be an issue if you're running PowerSGL games, but if you have the m3D installed in a system with another card that supports DirectX, you need to disable DirectX/Direct3D on the m3D - otherwise it seems to cause a conflict. This should only affect games that use DirectX, but it's something you should probably do anyway.

btw, if you want to see the system that came after this one, which I migrated many of the parts from this one to (including the Voodoo 3 and the m3D), then you should take a look at this thread: Sony Vaio P4 3.06GHz + Voodoo 3 3000 + Matrox m3D + SB Live!

That system functions pretty much the same as this one, although it has a slightly faster CPU and a much better case.

We resolved his issue on the PowerVR Fun Thread, the problem was the Radeon primary card, its drivers just don't allow Moon Racer to run. It's fine with an ATi Rage 128 based cards. Very good as primary cards, slightly faster than Voodoo's when using the PowerVR if you ever want to give it a try.

JustJulião wrote on 2022-07-29, 11:43:

We resolved his issue on the PowerVR Fun Thread, the problem was the Radeon primary card, its drivers just don't allow Moon Racer to run. It's fine with an ATi Rage 128 based cards. Very good as primary cards, slightly faster than Voodoo's when using the PowerVR if you ever want to give it a try.

That sounds interesting, but PowerSGL games already run pretty well (although some games do have some slowdown), and I play Glide games pretty often, so I'd rather not get rid of the Voodoo 3. I like the fact that with my system I can play pretty much any game I would actually want to play on one system, and it doesn't require any switching or messing with drivers. I might consider what you're suggesting in the future, if I wanted to build another system maybe.