What chips might be good for exploring VGA and earlier, like the Hercules monochrome and CGA modes? I heard the WD90C30 is good for this. Anything else?

Trident TVGA 8900 and 9000 series are very compatible with older standards also. And of course the notorious Cirrus 510/520.

I just tried to access the awesome "PCI and AGP video chips DOS compatibility" table on https://gona.mactar.hu/DOS_TESTS/ but it seems to be down. Can anybody confirm this and/or knows what's going on there?

It's working for me. Must be on your end.

That's good to hear! I'll figure it out. Thanks for your reply!

Cyberdyne wrote on 2020-10-01, 11:00:

Trident TVGA 8900 and 9000 series are very compatible with older standards also. And of course the notorious Cirrus 510/520.

How are Tseng Labs ET3000AX cards compatibility wise when it comes to really old games? I am just curious because mine has both VGA and EGA looking connectors at the back.

Hey, gona, I want to quickly add a report from myself (Voodoo3 owner) and an owner of a Voodoo5 I know. Pinball Illusions is unplayable on any Voodoo 3-5 in either SVGA mode. The graphics are scrambled and only show up at the top of the screen (both on CRT and LCD). My S3 VirgeDX, Trident 9440, Trident 9600, and GeForce2 MX do work fine in the SVGA modes.

NightSprinter wrote on 2021-06-24, 17:47:

Hey, gona, I want to quickly add a report from myself (Voodoo3 owner) and an owner of a Voodoo5 I know. Pinball Illusions is unplayable on any Voodoo 3-5 in either SVGA mode. The graphics are scrambled and only show up at the top of the screen (both on CRT and LCD). My S3 VirgeDX, Trident 9440, Trident 9600, and GeForce2 MX do work fine in the SVGA modes.

Thanks, I have made Pinball Illusions tests on Banshee before and experienced the same. Pinball Illusions is problematic on lot videochips. Some weeks ago I have finished the VLB tests: https://gona.mactar.hu/DOS_TESTS_VLB/

Probably fixable by disabling LFB.

The Serpent Rider wrote on 2021-06-25, 16:17:

Probably fixable by disabling LFB.

I don't think so. As far I know NOLFB.COM only fix DOS VESA Bios Extension 2.0 applications that have a fallback code that supports the segmented video modes for VESA Bios Extension 1.2 (linear framebuffer was defined first in the VESA Bios Extension 2.0, so this method switch to VBE 1.2 compatible mode which has no linear framebuffer definition). But I have already tested Rob Muller's VESA12.COM (which do the same as the NOLFB.COM so prevent using LFB) on Voodoo Banshee with Pinball Illusions without success, so I think this problem not based on linear framebuffer. I have tested all tools on my page and lot fariations of them (with different loading orders) but still scrambled graphics.

As far I know NOLFB.COM only fix DOS VESA Bios Extension 2.0 applications that have a fallback code

You can disable LFB without fallback requirement. For example, UniVBE has command to disable LFB without touching anything else.

The Serpent Rider wrote on 2021-06-26, 20:01:

As far I know NOLFB.COM only fix DOS VESA Bios Extension 2.0 applications that have a fallback code

You can disable LFB without fallback requirement. For example, UniVBE has command to disable LFB without touching anything else.

OK, I will try it.

The Serpent Rider wrote on 2021-06-26, 20:01:

As far I know NOLFB.COM only fix DOS VESA Bios Extension 2.0 applications that have a fallback code

You can disable LFB without fallback requirement. For example, UniVBE has command to disable LFB without touching anything else.

I have forget than none of UniVBE versions are support 3Dfx cores. I have tested the "UniVBE OFF LFB" on an other videocard has problem with high res Pinball Illusions but nothing changed.