I am new to using MS-DOS 6.22 and would like to install 1 of 2 graphics cards available.
- ELSA S3 VIRGE VX (preferred option among the 2 cards)
- Diamond Fire GL1000 Pro
All drivers that I could find are for Win9x. Although the instruction found in the Virge driver folder indicates 2 files S3DRUN.EXE S3DSRVR.EXE to be copied to \DOS for S3D games.
Any guidance would be appreciated, thanks.
Generally, you don't need video card drivers for DOS. S3DRun.exe is a tool to allow S3D API games to run on newer Virge chipsets than for which they were originally developed. You'll know it if you need it. No idea about the other.exe.
Sometimes it's useful to use generic tools such as univbe/mtrrlfb/fastvid to increase the amount of available graphics modes or improve performance.
For now, just put in the Virge and try some games.
Both files are parts of DOS drivers from S3D toolkit, but IDK if they are necessary.
I think the same. On DOS, the required "drivers" are already available in memory after boot-up (VGA BIOS, VESA BIOS).
The rest of the games on DOS do talk directly to the VGA hardware.
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Thanks for a lot for the information about the drivers and S3D toolkit, for now I could only try Tomb Raider with and w/o patch + S3DRUN wrapper on the Virge VX but the game freezes right after the first EIDOS load screen.
I hope it is not a compatibility issue with the VX as it is reported to work fine with GX / DX.
The game loads fine using the Fire GL1000 Pro but it looks terrible.
Will try with other games that do not require S3DRUN.
Vendest wrote on 2023-08-15, 15:29:Tomb Raider ... w/o patch ... freezes
Just to clarify, that'd be the default, non-accelerated exe? Odd. That one should run anywhere (but look "terrible", obviously). Did you try it without the s3drun wrapper?
Btw you can switch the game to high res mode (still software rendered though) by pressing F1 just to stress the card('s memory, mostly) a bit more while troubleshooting.
elszgensa wrote on 2023-08-15, 16:05:Vendest wrote on 2023-08-15, 15:29:Tomb Raider ... w/o patch ... freezes
Just to clarify, that'd be the default, non-accelerated exe? Odd. That one should run anywhere (but look "terrible", obviously). Did you try it without the s3drun wrapper?
Btw you can switch the game to high res mode (still software rendered though) by pressing F1 just to stress the card('s memory, mostly) a bit more while troubleshooting.
1st attempt was with Fire GL1000 Pro, loading the original Tomb.exe from the install folder, the game loaded well and looked "terrible" as in very low frame rate.
2nd attempt was with S3 Virge VX, loading the same exe. game froze
3rd attempt after collecting information from this thread, I loaded the original exe (non-accelerated) then patched exe thru the S3 wrapper, game froze
Thanks for pointing out the high res mod, will have to troubleshoot further.
