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First post, by Jacques

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Hi Guys,

did anyone manage to find a workaround for black screen on Screamer 2 & Screamer Rally MSI-DOS versions?
I have it on Mystique 1064-SG-D with any LCD monitor I tested (sync problem), is CRT an only hope or is there another reason for it?

Reply 1 of 34, by vetz

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Jacques wrote on 2020-12-02, 14:14:

Hi Guys,

did anyone manage to find a workaround for black screen on Screamer 2 & Screamer Rally MSI-DOS versions?
I have it on Mystique 1064-SG-D with any LCD monitor I tested (sync problem), is CRT an only hope or is there another reason for it?

Split from: Battle Arena Toshinden on Matrox Mystique
First of, you should only necro if you have something to contribute to the thread, else create a new thread and if needed link back. I believe in informing people instead of just closing the thread, so I'll reply and split it out.

Screamer 2 and Screamer Rally I remember is very tricky on when running in MSI "mode". I could not capture any footage on my capture cards and it was only Elianda with his Epiphan card who could get footage. I cannot remember which refresh rate it used, but only my Samsung LCD screen could display it (along with CRT). It seems to me your LCD is too picky to display the image.

Last edited by vetz on 2020-12-02, 15:00. Edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Typo

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Reply 2 of 34, by Jacques

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Hi vetz,

thank you for reply on the subject and also taking care of splitting it into new thread.
I initially commented in Battle Arena Toshinden one, because already in your 2nd post there, some side-discussion about other MSI games started and the others followed, so didn't feel adding Screamers to the equation would do any more harm 😉
Anyway, it's convenient to have it separate, maybe someone found working workaround already, e.g. DOS tool that would help override screen settings used by S2 and SR MSI versions, so the monitors would accept it?

kind regards.

Reply 3 of 34, by vetz

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Jacques wrote on 2020-12-02, 14:51:

I initially commented in Battle Arena Toshinden one, because already in your 2nd post there, some side-discussion about other MSI games started and the others followed, so didn't feel adding Screamers to the equation would do any more harm 😉
Anyway, it's convenient to have it separate, maybe someone found working workaround already, e.g. DOS tool that would help override screen settings used by S2 and SR MSI versions, so the monitors would accept it?

Wouldn't have been a problem if it was done when the thread was active, but now it had been 7 years since last reply and the title of the thread didn't really match your problem. I think it's a higher chance you'll get help with a new thread in this specific case.

I remember I tried different tools to force it to run in another refresh rate to be able to capture, but I was not successful. It's been 6 years so I'm afraid my memory is not fresh on the topic. According to Matrox's usermanual you should use vbetsr.com and vbesetup.exe utilities to change the refresh on your Matrox card in DOS. I'm not sure those will work when running in MSI.

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Reply 4 of 34, by Jacques

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I'll try these, thank you, but I'm also afraid it won't influence so specific mode that's probably used, there.
As for Screamers, I think I tested them on at least 4 different LCD monitors, inluding some older 4:3 ratio Samsung, LG and Toshiba. Yet with no success 😉
A bit of shame, since these games are great examples of MSI support.

Reply 5 of 34, by vetz

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I used a Samsung 204B at that time if that helps you.

https://www.cnet.com/products/samsung-syncmaster-204b/specs/

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Reply 7 of 34, by vetz

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Went through my messages with Elianda from 2014.

Screamer 2 and Rally syncs at 85hz at 640x400

Tomb Raider for MSI should have the same issue, could you try:
https://download.cnet.com/Tomb-Raider-Matrox- … 4-10006121.html ?

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Reply 8 of 34, by chinny22

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Had the same problem few years ago
Matrox Mystique MSI Signal Out of Range

at least Vetz has confirmed the mode for future generations 😀
In the end I got a CRT, Only had to wait a few months for one to show up on freecycle and then got another this summer. Funny enough saw one just yesterday again on freecycle but 2 is enough for me.
If someone finds a way to patch it to work with modern screens that'll be awesome as the CRT's are back in storage now, no MSI screamer for me any time soon

Reply 9 of 34, by Jacques

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@vetz
DOS Tomb Raider MSI works without any problem for me on Mystique, Mystique 220 and Millennium II, no display issue on any monitor I own.
No problem with displaying Battle Arena Toshinden, too, but it obviously works only on 1064SG.

Reply 10 of 34, by vetz

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Re-checking what I wrote I must have meant same issue with regards to not working with my capture cards, not necessarily to LCD's. When I tried to get this to work I didn't encounter any issues with my monitors (as I see now I must have been very lucky)

Tomb Raider might have another refresh rate. If any of your monitors display it in the settings, feel free to post it.

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Reply 12 of 34, by IlhanK

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I did try the following LCDs:

Not working:
Acer AL1913
BenQ G2420HD

Working:
HP w22

I believe I had issues with PCI sound cards too, or was it the onboard sound? Don't remember but some MSI games just crashed. When I put in an ISA sound card, everything worked.

Reply 13 of 34, by Jacques

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vetz wrote on 2020-12-02, 16:43:

Tomb Raider might have another refresh rate. If any of your monitors display it in the settings, feel free to post it.

I've just checked Tomb Raider on monitor that displays mode info: it's 640x480 @ 75 Hz (and works on every monitor). When I forced 512x384, monitor says out of sync (no mode info), but still displays the picture, just a little bit distorded.

Reply 14 of 34, by dr.zeissler

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Oh man! went into that same issues here. BlackScreen on mystique with LCD. Win9x driver is set for the correct refresh-rates but that does not help for the dos-games that use msi. I have to test all of my TFT's. I don't want to hook a big CRT on this.no!

Retro-Gamer 😀 ...on different machines

Reply 16 of 34, by kickloch

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Hey guys,
I also struggled with that illegal display mode in Screamer Rally on my Mystique 220 (1164SG). That was until I downloaded this archive here
http://vogonsdrivers.com/getfile.php?fileid=1597&menustate=0
I gave that BIOS updater in there a try and installed Version 1.8. Before that I had 1.5 installed. And well what can you say, SR now runs fine in MSI mode on my SyncMaster 245Bplus LCD. Seems to me the solution to this particular problem has been found a very long time ago already by the guys at Matrox. I felt like I had to share this with you immediately, so I just registered here at Vogons 😀 Cheers mates!

Reply 17 of 34, by dr.zeissler

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IBM COMPATIBLE MATROX/MYSTIQUE VGA/VBE BIOS (V1.8 )
IBM COMPATIBLE MATROX/MYSTIQUE VGA/VBE BIOS (V1.8 RR )

RR stands for? Interesting find. What version have you installed, normal or RR 1.8.
Have you checked what hz your LCD runs on Screamer-Games?

Thx!

Retro-Gamer 😀 ...on different machines

Reply 18 of 34, by kickloch

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I'm not sure what the RR means really. It's not that I had to choose between the two, because I just ran the updbios.bat script file and thus the flashing went without my intervention whatsoever. I believe the "normal" 1.8 was flashed there because MGAMON.EXE just shows version 1.8 now. As to which refresh rate is being applied now, my Samsung's OSD tells me 75 Hz NN, whatever that means. However it doesn't report the exact resolution, only 31,3 kHz. With the old 1.5 BIOS my Monitor reported 720x400@85 in the OSD, that's where the black screens occured (in Screamer Rally that is).