Obscure powervr only japanese adventure that has never come to light in the end
"Gamer & collector for passion, I firmly believe in the preservation and the diffusion of old/rare software, against all personal egoisms"
So, I got a card with that chip on it:
AIDA16 gives that info:
And the Tomb Raider demo:
Tombpcx2.exe happily gives me a black screen and freezes my computer, can anyone want to hazard a guess at what the card is? 😈
I would guess an Apocalypse 3Dx or other PCX2 card like the Matrox M3D but it seems too easy.
My Retro B:\ytes YouTube Channel & Retro Collection
Definitely neither of those.
The card was made in 1999 by the way, that will only leave you more confused!
It's a VideoLogic Apocalypse 3D.
Drivers attached.
wrote:It's a VideoLogic Apocalypse 3D.
Drivers attached.
No, sorry, not that one either.
Then it's a 5D with ESS sound and ET6000 combined. Why don't you show the complete card? I don't quite get it. You seem to know what card it is?!
I have the card, it's the "PowerVR Fun Thread" and I expected someone to know all the cards with PowerVR chips on them, a knowledgeable bunch of people on vogons after all!
I'll give you a few days to rack your brain, unless you really want to see it today...
1999 is post pcx2, an pre kyro so neon250?
wrote:I have the card, it's the "PowerVR Fun Thread" and I expected someone to know all the cards with PowerVR chips on them, a knowledgeable bunch of people on vogons after all!
I'll give you a few days to rack your brain, unless you really want to see it today...
Nah, I can wait a few days without racking anything.
My guess is a PCI Sega Saturn controller card, the IF-SEGA2/PCI from IODATA. My guess why they used the PowerVR controller was to integrate lightgun technology without VGA loop.
wrote:My guess is a PCI Sega Saturn controller card, the IF-SEGA2/PCI from IODATA. My guess why they used the PowerVR controller was t […]
My guess is a PCI Sega Saturn controller card, the IF-SEGA2/PCI from IODATA. My guess why they used the PowerVR controller was to integrate lightgun technology without VGA loop.
Has to be it...
Now for some blitting from the back buffer.
Yes it's that card, the PowerVR chip is only used as a PCI-ISA bridge.
The card is detected as a PCX2 in DOS and Windows, so you can't use it if you already have a PowerVR card in your machine.
No Ram on it, so obviously any game trying to use it crashes.
Large pictures of it at the bottom of https://applause.elfmimi.jp/ifsega/
The prototype card exposed at the IO DATA event had ram chips though:
Impressed there are Windows 7 and 8 drivers for that card!
Interesting, I knew about the triangular ISA version and the NEC PC98 C-bus version, but hadn't seen the PCI version yet.
The same person made drivers for Windows 2000 and XP too, available on his page.
There are drivers for Linux and BeOS as well.
And the card is supported by the Allegro library, Mame 0.37, and some other pieces of software.
The official product page mentions that you need to use the ISA version if you have a PowerVR PCX1/2 card installed:
http://www.iodata.jp/products/game/ifsg2pci.htm
Apart of compulsive collecting purposes, what are the practical possible uses of this card, other than being a coaster for my beer?
"Gamer & collector for passion, I firmly believe in the preservation and the diffusion of old/rare software, against all personal egoisms"
To use a pair of Saturn controllers to play, which are pretty nice to use.
wrote:To use a pair of Saturn controllers to play, which are pretty nice to use.
Or any of the other Saturn controllers shown (in the first row?) on the I/O Data product page. Although in the case of the Virtual On Twin Stick, there also exists a dedicated PC version that's basically two joysticks and a gameport split cable in a housing. IIRC, there also exist PC versions of the Arcade sticks, both by Sega and (much better) Hori.
For systems with the appropriate OS and USB ports, I'd recommend using a USB Sega Saturn adapter.
Hm! From the 98-datecoded chip alone I would've assumed a PowerVR SG prototype board.
