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Super Trace VESA Benchmark

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First post, by thp

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As part of the currently-running DOS Games Jam June 2023 Edition I decided to create a new DOS benchmarking tool for VESA cards (as a fallback it also support VGA). It really benchmarks the CPU more than the video card, though, but it might be interesting to see if there are any differences between different cards and VESA BIOS Extensions. My gut feeling is that it will be CPU-bound anyway, but you never know.

This is not intented to be a Serious Benchmark (although it can probably be used as one!) but a fun little diversion and something new to run on your old hardware with DOS graphics cards.

It does feature mouse support and keyboard navigation for navigating the scene (yes, it's ray traced, not just a static picture that's slowly loaded onto your screen...) and there's an easter egg hidden somewhere you can't see from the default vantage point. Happy hunting!

Edit 2023-06-07: Updated version 2.0 with better VESA mode selection.

Edit 2023-06-15: Updated version 2.1 with 24-bit fix and Voodoo detection/warning.

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  • Filename
    STBNCH21.ZIP
    File size
    198.36 KiB
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    45 downloads
    File comment
    Version 2.1 with 24bpp fix and Voodoo detection
    File license
    Public domain
  • screenshot.png
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    screenshot.png
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    56.85 KiB
    Views
    703 views
    File license
    CC-BY-4.0
Last edited by thp on 2023-06-15, 09:38. Edited 3 times in total.

Reply 1 of 4, by thp

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Turns out 320x240x32bpp isn't well supported in many cards (at least not with UNIVBE). Fixed this now with support for more screen resolutions and a fancy selector.

Build in original post will be updated with the new version.

Updated version 2.0:

  • Fixed text (DOS Game Jam year)
  • Add support for 24 bpp and 16 bpp VESA modes
  • Add support for 640x480, 800x600 and 1024x768 modes
  • Add benchmarking support for VGA fallback mode
  • Add dialog to choose resolution/depth on startup
  • Display benchmark results on exit (if benchmark completed)

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Reply 2 of 4, by Riikcakirds

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Using an S3 Trio64 2MB (the onboard graphics with an Intel Morrison motherboard 430fx) and a P120-16MB EDO Ram with no L2 cache:

Booting to Dos 6.22
Only mode available is VGA 320x200 8bpp - Score is 299

Trio64 doesn't seem to support any vesa modes (the bios it ships with is VBE1.2).

I got the score of 299 not touching the mouse just leaving the picture complete to the end. If I move the mouse around when holding the left button before the picture complete it doesn't show a score just a black screen.

Reply 3 of 4, by thp

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Riikcakirds wrote on 2023-06-08, 10:44:

Trio64 doesn't seem to support any vesa modes (the bios it ships with is VBE1.2).

Have you tried UNIVBE? Apparently it has support for Trio64, and might allow for VBE 2.0 modes.

Reply 4 of 4, by thp

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Voodoo3 cards seem to have a buggy BIOS for 24bpp modes. This was already mentioned in another Vogons thread.

If the VESA OEM string suggests a Voodoo-based card is in use, the program will now print a warning that the user should load VESAFIX before using the VESA modes (or the program might crash with a division error).

Also, the 24bpp mode wasn't properly tested in version 2.0, so the byte order was wrong (red and blue channels were swapped). This is now fixed in version 2.1.

Updated file in the original post.

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