I wasn't able to get my VFX-1 working with my Voodoo Banshee, just FYI. 3D acceleration over the VESA Feature connector is basically a no-go, since you can't use anything higher than 8-bit (256) palletized color modes on it. Even if RealMyst HAS a software renderer, I doubt it supports 256 colors on a game that new.

xjas wrote on 2020-03-20, 00:15:

I wasn't able to get my VFX-1 working with my Voodoo Banshee, just FYI. 3D acceleration over the VESA Feature connector is basically a no-go, since you can't use anything higher than 8-bit (256) palletized color modes on it. Even if RealMyst HAS a software renderer, I doubt it supports 256 colors on a game that new.

Well, I know it's a no-go. (I know realMyst can't be supported over VFC.) I'm aware of that. I'd just like to be able to have a card that is able to support either one so I can use the software slider (The Performance/Hardware Acceleration control in the video card properties) to control which system I can use. (Either VFC support or 3D support) OR I'd like to be able to have MS-DOS VFC support through the card, while still having video acceleration in Windows.

Actually, what I'm also thinking is, maybe we should have a list of video cards that have working VFC capabilities, so we can weed out those that don't, if we still use them for things like MPEG and DVD decoder cards.

Realmyst is remastered to work on 3D accelerated card with more eye candy than normal Myst (had both). This was reason I got Geforce2 MX (was poor at that time and did not realize needed 128bit memory to make video card fly!).

Cheers,

pentiumspeed wrote on 2020-03-20, 22:47:

Realmyst is remastered to work on 3D accelerated card with more eye candy than normal Myst (had both). This was reason I got Geforce2 MX (was poor at that time and did not realize needed 128bit memory to make video card fly!).

Cheers,

Thanks, but that's not what I was asking. I was asking if there were any 3D cards with a special set of pins that worked, to let other cards or systems use the video from the card.

Are you absolutely sure these are badly implemented on the Rage 128 and Rage 128 Pro? Usually, the problem with the VFC was incompatiblity of the timing of the signal of both cards. VFC is a very simple interface - you basically feed pixels from one card to the RAMDAC on another card. Problems arise, if you use different modes for both cards.

Unfortunately, I don't know of a general list of cards that work with the VFX-1, only forum scuttlebutt that says certain ones do and certain ones don't. AFAIK it's not even guaranteed to be consistant across cards from different manufacturers with the same GPU.

I didn't realize RealMYST was a 2000 game - I thought it was newer, like 2003-4. That opens up some more options, at least there's a bit of overlap there. Maybe an S3 Savage4? Last I remember, SiliconClassics was using an S3 card with his VFX-1 - they usually require a small (few bytes of assembly) utility to enable the VFC, but no big deal. Again, NO idea if that extends up to the Savage4 or later cards but at least they still have the header.

I think the most powerful thing in my stash with a VFC is a Quadro 2 (~GF2 Ultra), but I've read in a couple places most Nvidia cards don't work. I also have a couple GF2 MXes & TNT2s with VFCs, and a Radeon 7000 DDR with empty solder pads but I haven't tried soldering that on.

I went the Rage (II+) route myself, although I have an LT Pro that would probably work with it. TBH I've been reluctant to experiment because SiliconClassics reported it's possible to blow the decoder chips on the VIP card if you plug the VFC cable in backwards - and of course it's not keyed. Be careful when swapping around.

Edit: I wonder if you could get a playable experience in RealMYST on a Voodoo2?

VESA Feature connector showed up on VGA video card when it was 256K to 512K video ram meant 640x480 or 800x600 and interlaced 1024x768 and non interlaceed 1024x768 at higher bandwidth could be a issue.

Cheers,