My experience with Legend Entertainment starts well past their EGA games, so could you be more specific with the names? I'm curious and want to try it 😀

vstrakh wrote on 2023-03-25, 10:32:

My experience with Legend Entertainment starts well past their EGA games, so could you be more specific with the names? I'm curious and want to try it 😀

See here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legend_Entertainment

I'm specifically referring to Spellcasting 101 and 201, Timequest, and Gateway. These are EGA only.

Rincewind42 wrote on 2023-03-25, 08:36:

Hi, I've encountered a strange problem. All 640x350 EGA mode Legend Entertainment games have garbled graphics on my S3 Trio64 V+ card. The verb and inventory panes on the left are blank and when I click on them or move the scrollbat, they're just briefly flashing a little bit and then revert to all blank. The main window on the right is mostly alright, but sometimes the text appears garbled if it's longer than a single screen and scrolling is involved.

So yeah, seems like it's a video card incompatibility bug. I'm curious if a) anyone else has encountered the issue, b) is it documented which VGA cards are compatible with EGA Legend games, c) is there any patch out there to fix the issues?

Sounds like the EGA 8x14 font is missing and the issue isn't limited to your S3 Trio64V+ video card. Does running FIX8X14 solves it?

I've tried S3 Trio32, Trio64V+, Trio64V2 - all cards had 8x14 font present (confirmed with diagnostic app from FIX8x14 package).
The Spellcasting 101 appear correctly.

Either your S3 Trio64V+ is built somehow differently (bios revision, etc.), or there's something more to it.
Can you make a photo of your garbled screen? Especially if the issue touches the picture area.

Yep, it is strange that a regular S3 Trio64V+ doesn't have the EGA 8x14 font. I assume that the OP's card is actually a Trio64V2/DX with VBE 2.0 onboard which is quite rare and usually lacks the 8x14 font.

Gmlb256 wrote on 2023-03-25, 16:05:

Sounds like the EGA 8x14 font is missing and the issue isn't limited to your S3 Trio64V+ video card. Does running FIX8X14 solves it?

That advice was spot-on, FIX8x14 fixed all visual issues with the game!

I did not have much hope for it as the game seems to use its own font and can render text, but it's just garbled. Maybe the utility fixes some other subtle EGA compatibility issues too which caused the problem.

Gmlb256 wrote on 2023-03-25, 21:17:

Yep, it is strange that a regular S3 Trio64V+ doesn't have the EGA 8x14 font. I assume that the OP's card is actually a Trio64V2/DX with VBE 2.0 onboard which is quite rare and usually lacks the 8x14 font.

Again, spot-on! I'm impressed! I forgot what card I put into my MMX machine, but it's a Trio64 V2/DX with VBE2.0, indeed:

For reference, these are the visual issues I'm experiencing with the card without FIX8x14. I've tried both the original releases and the revised ones from The Lost Adventures of Legend compilation CD-ROM. I'm getting the issues in Spellcasting 101 & 201, Timequest, and Gateway (only Spellcasting 101 shown here).

On the last one, even the compass in the top-left corner is a bit screwed up...

Here's a video as well that better demonstrated the issue in action: https://drive.google.com/file/d/12NEsNerlzrCs … ?usp=share_link

With FIX8x14, the graphics are perfect, zero issues!

So thanks a lot guys, this really helped!

If you don't mind another question, here's a list of all my PCI VGA cards. Which one do you think has the best compatibility with late 80s / early-to-mid 90s games?
I'm pretty much only interested in adventures, RPGs, tactical/strategy DOS games, and Win3.x FMV adventures. I don't care about action games and 3D at all.

I've had the Diamond Stealth 3D 2000 Pro in my MMX machine previously, but that big VGA card compatibility chart gave me the impression the Trio64 V2/DX is more compatible. Although, I guess it depends on what types of games are you interested in... Most of the games I care about have pretty much static screens, so speed is a non-issue 😀

I'm only using CRTs, and none of these cards have the S3 brightness issue, I've checked (but I can set the pedestal flag on them with that handy utility to *get* the issue 😀)

• S3 Trio32 (PC Partner, 86C732-P)
• S3 Trio64 V+ (?, 86C765)
• S3 Virge/DX (Diamond Stealth 3D 2000 Pro, 86C375, 2MB)
• S3 Trio64 V2/DX (Elsa, 86C775, 1MB)
• S3 Trio64 V+ (Elsa, 86C765, 2MB)

Thanks!

Hi there! I like them all. If I had to make a selection, I would choose the Trios, though.
They're loosely based on the old 8514/A graphics accelerator, also. It's not that relevant for VGA, though. But Maybe gives extra compatibility with the old S3 Vision series.

PS: I had no idea there was an extra EGA version of Gateway, too. Cool!
I think I've only played the newer version from old Legend website so far (also got the original diskettes for my collection).
It can do 800x600 SVGA on ET-4000 cards, or other cards if patched.
EGA is also possible, though, if being forced.
Anyway, the art work itself is EGA likely, in either version.

Jo22 wrote on 2023-03-26, 04:53:

Hi there! I like them all. If I had to make a selection, I would choose the Trios, though.

Cool, I'll put in the Elsa S3 Trio64 V+ then 😀

Jo22 wrote on 2023-03-26, 04:53:

Anyway, the art work itself is EGA likely, in either version.

Yeah, I was gonna say. I think it won't look aspect-ratio correct in anything else than 640x350, so definitely that's my preference. In SC301 they created the art with square pixels for 640x480 SVGA. Same for Eric the Unready.

Rincewind42 wrote on 2023-03-26, 06:53:

Jo22 wrote on 2023-03-26, 04:53:

Anyway, the art work itself is EGA likely, in either version.

Yeah, I was gonna say. I think it won't look aspect-ratio correct in anything else than 640x350, so definitely that's my preference. In SC301 they created the art with square pixels for 640x480 SVGA. Same for Eric the Unready.

I understand that. I've also played my copy of Gateway in EGA on purpose sometimes, because the graphics were better visible. ^^
When I had played it on a CRT monitor still, it also gave pretty scan lines that were more noticeable.
The palette is also a bit different in EGA, if memory serves. So I do understand if someone prefers it over VGA sometimes. 🙂👍

Yes, the 640x350 mode is glorious, I wish it was used a lot more in games! You get nice subtle scanlines even on VGA, unlike that 320x200 double-scanning fakery... Coming from the Amiga, I always thought that looked pretty bad in comparison to "true" 15kHz modes, and I still do (yeah, I don't like "flicker-fixers" either).

Dark Seed is another great example of the 640x350 screen mode in action, but the game reprograms the palette registers, so it actually requires a VGA card.