Hardware issue or just the games? \ VOGONS

Hardware issue or just the games?

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First post, by PhaytalError

Posted on 2012-07-12, 22:24

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I just got a brand new Voodoo 3 3500TV card, it's a PAL from Germany(?) it seems, I live in the USA though and thus NTSC so the "TV" portion of the card is go unused.

It came with Unreal, and i'll be honest, this is the first time i've ever played Unreal... 😳

Anyways, i've noticed something, the framerate is buttery smooth over 60fps on my system, however amidst that smoothness i've noticed from time to time in older 3D accelerated games a "stutter" or a "hop" in the movement. For instance, in Unreal, while the cam is going around the castle, the framerate is over 60FPS, but the cam will "skip" in movement, it's not slowdown or framerate drop. The best I can describe it is the effect is as if the CPU can't keep up with the GPU or vise versa, however I somehow doubt that because it doesn't do that to "newer" 3D games.

Any ideas to what i'm experiencing or is this just simply a "flaw" in early accelerated titles?

DOS Gaming System: MS-DOS, AMD K6-III+ 400/ATZ@600Mhz, ASUS P5A v1.04 Motherboard, 32 MB RAM, 17" CRT monitor, Diamond Stealth 64 3000 4mb PCI, SB16 [CT1770], Roland MT-32 & Roland SC-55, 40GB Hard Drive, 3.5" Floppy Drive.

Reply 1 of 9, by Mau1wurf1977

Posted on 2012-07-13, 03:55

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Hi!

I can't find what screen you are using in your signature. LCD or a CRT?

If you have a CRT configure the Voodoo 3 to run at a higher refresh rate and also enable Vsync. That should make things smoother.

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Reply 2 of 9, by PhaytalError

Posted on 2012-07-13, 04:12

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Yeah I use a CRT monitor. It's at it's highest refresh rate for the desktop size I have set, however I did disable V-Sync, guess I could try re-enabling it and see if that helps.

I'll do that in the morning when I wake up. 😀

Reply 3 of 9, by PhaytalError

Posted on 2012-07-13, 11:54

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Ok so I re-enabled V-Sync but that didn't do anything. I think it's just an "artifact" of old first-generation 3D accelerated game engines.

Reply 4 of 9, by nforce4max

Posted on 2012-07-13, 12:49

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Ok here is a few question, what drivers are you using? Second what model is your hard drive as drive performance can and does make a difference in 3d games? Third are you able to upgrade your ram as 256mb is easily used up?

Suggestions, run crystal mark on the boot drive and post the results. Second add another 128mb stick to get 384mb which gives a little more ram for memory hogs.

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Reply 5 of 9, by Putas

Posted on 2012-07-13, 14:14

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Unreal does not need more ram. Is there something specific in the skipped place? Try other renderers, settings and drivers.

Reply 6 of 9, by DosFreak

Posted on 2012-07-13, 15:50

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Try a PCI latency utility

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Make your games work offline

Reply 7 of 9, by PhaytalError

Posted on 2012-07-14, 23:26

PhaytalError Offline

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nforce4max wrote:
Ok here is a few question, what drivers are you using? Second what model is your hard drive as drive performance can and does make a difference in 3d games? Third are you able to upgrade your ram as 256mb is easily used up?

Suggestions, run crystal mark on the boot drive and post the results. Second add another 128mb stick to get 384mb which gives a little more ram for memory hogs.

Amigamerlin v2.9 drivers, my HDD is currectly a 13GB drive I pulled out of a old iMac G3. My RAM is now 512MB [I forgot to update it in my signature but that is not corrected.]

I'll try Crystal Mark, the issue though seems to be games that utilize the Unreal engine, Deus Ex does it too at random, like the camera will be panning then a 1 second pause then snaps to the correct frame. I'm starting to think it's CPU limitation though because I do see some framerate drops in Deux Ex.

Putas wrote:
Try other renderers, settings and drivers.

Okay, i'll try OpenGL and DirectX and see if it makes a difference, if it does then that means there's an issue i'm having with Glide itself.

Reply 8 of 9, by PhaytalError

Posted on 2012-07-15, 00:00

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Ok, it seems DirectX runs alot smoother than Glide is for Unreal engine games for some reason. Any ideas as to what is up with that?

Reply 9 of 9, by F2bnp

Posted on 2012-07-15, 10:24

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That makes little sense. Something's wrong with the drivers probably, I'd try using the latest official Voodoo 3 drivers!

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