486 class machine with ISA videocard is a bad combination for Quake.

I don’t know why you only see one VESA mode even with univbe, how much vram does your card have?

Quake will also limit how many video modes are available if you don't have enough system memory, as the size of the surface cache will be variably larger on higher modes.

Also, Quake only works with VESA 2.0 modes when it comes to non-VGA modes available.

That ISA Cirrus most likely contains VBE 1.2.
You can add VBE 2.0 using UniVBE.
However, it's unlikely for an ISA card to support LFB - which may be a problem for late DOS games.

anyways with a isa cars feel lucky you can use 320x200!!

try 486quake

Grzyb wrote on 2025-02-19, 16:29:

That ISA Cirrus most likely contains VBE 1.2.
You can add VBE 2.0 using UniVBE.
However, it's unlikely for an ISA card to support LFB - which may be a problem for late DOS games.

as i said, it doesn't detect any vesa modes without univbe, and with univbe it only detects a very flawed 320*200 vesa mode. i have just swapped in a umc85c408 card for testing and it simply behaved the same.

noshutdown wrote on 2025-02-20, 01:59:

as i said, it doesn't detect any vesa modes without univbe

of course it doesn't - 5434 predates VESA 2.0.

leileilol wrote on 2025-02-20, 02:04:

of course it doesn't - 5434 predates VESA 2.0.

this is understandable, but the rest of the question remains unsolved.

"Quake demands VESA 2.0 with linear frame buffer (LFB) support for higher res modes" - Re: Quake won't do 640x480

On ISA cards, UniVBE does provide VBE 2.0, but without LFB.

Try VBETEST.EXE :

In theory, on machines with <16 MB of RAM, LFB on ISA is possible.
In practice - I've never seen LFB on ISA yet...

Grzyb wrote on 2025-02-20, 02:51:

"Quake demands VESA 2.0 with linear frame buffer (LFB) support for higher res modes" - Re: Quake won't do 640x480 On ISA cards, […]
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"Quake demands VESA 2.0 with linear frame buffer (LFB) support for higher res modes" - Re: Quake won't do 640x480
On ISA cards, UniVBE does provide VBE 2.0, but without LFB.

In theory, on machines with <16 MB of RAM, LFB on ISA is possible.
In practice - I've never seen LFB on ISA yet...

does that mean no isa cards can run quake in vesa modes?
i really don't like all those modified vga modes with odd aspect ratios. but really, even on very fast computers i would play winquake with the most simple 320*200 vga mode, blurred details seems to relieve my dizziness, higher resolutions are just for benchmarking.

noshutdown wrote on 2025-02-20, 11:15:

does that mean no isa cards can run quake in vesa modes?

yes

quake was released in 1996, if you were still using ISA graphics you would be laughed at

noshutdown wrote on 2025-02-20, 11:15:

i really don't like all those modified vga modes with odd aspect ratios. but really, even on very fast computers i would play winquake with the most simple 320*200 vga mode, blurred details seems to relieve my dizziness, higher resolutions are just for benchmarking.

Read documentation. Use parameter -winsize X Y for literally any resolution. My favorite is 410x256 or 683x384. No problem.

Come to think of it, LFB on ISA may be possible even with 16+ MB of RAM.
The "Memory Hole at 15M-16M" BIOS option seems to be meant for this.

Again: I've never seen LFB on ISA, but that doesn't mean it doesn't exist - I'm hereby encouraging you all to experiment!

Still, Quake was designed especially for Pentium - and I mean *true* Pentium, with its fast FPU, not for "Pentium class" CPUs of other manufacturers which were only good in integers.
And it didn't make sense to couple a Pentium with ISA graphics.

486 and ISA graphics with Quake? A big no no. Especially VESA 2.0 modes on that VGA card? It's a fruitless effort. Besides, Quake was designed for Pentium and SVGA cards.

I remember Quake makes use of the Pentium's math co-processor optimally to run Quake at its best. IINM, this is mentioned in the readme file that comes with Quake.

If at all able to still run it on that system, it will be a slideshow or will produce errors as you have mentioned.