GTA1 DOS 3dfx Oddity \ VOGONS

GTA1 DOS 3dfx Oddity

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First post, by Staticblast

Posted on 2019-04-24, 21:12

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I just encountered the strangest behaviour with GTA1. So I found out that it has a 3dfx Glide mode for DOS, and I wanted to see how it compared with the D3D implementation in Windows. So, of course I go and boot it up on my computer with an Orchid Righteous 3D, and it starts, goes into the menu and everything, but the moment I select a character to start playing, black screen, no response. Not even sound.

I honestly thought my Orchid had died, because I didn't hear the click, so I started doing tests. Running demos in Windows, etc. Unfortunately, it's dual-running with my Voodoo 3, so most of the tests went to that instead. Copying over the glide2x.ovl from c:\windows did jack squat. Eventually, I remembered that Tomb Raider was static linked, and when I installed and ran that, *click*, running fine on the Orchid.

So now I'm left with the following questions: What is wrong with GTA/my drivers, and can I expect this same behaviour from other games that don't have static links? More importantly, how can I work around this? My initial hypothesis is that the Voodoo 3 is somehow being used for GTA instead and lacks compatibility, but that doesn't sound right. The Voodoo 3 should be backwards compatible if the software uses dynamic links, right?

4-in-1 build (thanks Phil!): AMD K6-III+ 450 / SOYO 5EMA+ / 128MB SDRAM / 80GB Seagate HDD / Voodoo 3 3000 / Orchid Righteous 3D / Sound Blaster CT2960 / MPU-401 PCMIDI Clone / HxC Floppy Emulator / 15" CRT monitor

Reply 1 of 6, by kjliew

Posted on 2019-04-24, 23:12

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Check the %PATH% in DOS. Since you have a Voodoo3, my guess is, the search path probably finds the GLIDE2X.OVL copy for Voodoo3 instead of your OR3D. Or, you didn't install the ORD3 drivers which has its own version of GLIDE2X.OVL.

Reply 2 of 6, by Staticblast

Posted on 2019-04-25, 17:00

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kjliew wrote:
Check the %PATH% in DOS. Since you have a Voodoo3, my guess is, the search path probably finds the GLIDE2X.OVL copy for Voodoo3 instead of your OR3D. Or, you didn't install the ORD3 drivers which has its own version of GLIDE2X.OVL.

I installed the Orchid drivers, but I suspect it was overwritten by the Voodoo 3 drivers, afterwards. I'll have to play around with it. Shouldn't it disregard the %PATH% if the .OVL is in the game directory? Or does that differ depending on how the game is coded?

Reply 3 of 6, by .legaCy

Posted on 2019-04-26, 16:53

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Staticblast wrote:
kjliew wrote:
Check the %PATH% in DOS. Since you have a Voodoo3, my guess is, the search path probably finds the GLIDE2X.OVL copy for Voodoo3 instead of your OR3D. Or, you didn't install the ORD3 drivers which has its own version of GLIDE2X.OVL.

I installed the Orchid drivers, but I suspect it was overwritten by the Voodoo 3 drivers, afterwards. I'll have to play around with it. Shouldn't it disregard the %PATH% if the .OVL is in the game directory? Or does that differ depending on how the game is coded?

I guess it really depends, but on my experience on Windows API the folder will be the first one to be looked at, later the %path%, for example if i LoadLibrary("libmysql.dll") it will attempt to load from the same folder of the caller, if it is not found then it will look at %path% .

Reply 4 of 6, by Staticblast

Posted on 2019-04-29, 18:37

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Figured it out thanks to a post in another thread. Apparently it needs more than just the glide2x.* files, at least for the Orchid. I copied over GLIDE2X.DLL, GLIDE2X.OVL, GLIDE.DLL and SST1INIT.DLL, and with all 4 those files present, it worked.

On a separate note, the 3DFX version of GTA is significantly brighter, and the textures have cleaner edges but are (at least to my eye) more blurry. The standard version is more blocky and pixelated (most visible on your character), but the darkness and grit of the textures makes the city feel more atmospheric. I'd certainly recommend trying both to anyone who wants to play the game, but I prefer the non-3DFX version, startlingly.

Reply 5 of 6, by leileilol

Posted on 2019-04-29, 19:14

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Staticblast wrote:
On a separate note, the 3DFX version of GTA is significantly brighter, and the textures have cleaner edges but are (at least to my eye) more blurry.

3dfx's default high gamma and the video filters at work there. You can turn both of those down with environment variables if you want.

1set SST_GAMMA=1.0
2set SST_VIDEO_FILTER_THRESHOLD=0x000000

long live PCem

Reply 6 of 6, by Staticblast

Posted on 2019-04-30, 00:59

Staticblast Offline

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leileilol wrote:
3dfx's default high gamma and the video filters at work there. You can turn both of those down with environment variables if yo […]
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Staticblast wrote:
On a separate note, the 3DFX version of GTA is significantly brighter, and the textures have cleaner edges but are (at least to my eye) more blurry.

3dfx's default high gamma and the video filters at work there. You can turn both of those down with environment variables if you want.
1set SST_GAMMA=1.0
2set SST_VIDEO_FILTER_THRESHOLD=0x000000

Oh, cool! Thanks!

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