Questions about recently acquired 3DFX Voodoo 3 3000 AGP \ VOGONS

Questions about recently acquired 3DFX Voodoo 3 3000 AGP

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First post, by Totempole

Posted on 2013-01-08, 12:52

Totempole Offline

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Posts: 312
Joined: 2011-10-27, 22:45
Location: South Africa

So I recently got hold of the above card, and was hoping it would be an
somehow be an improvement over my existing TNT2 M64, but up to now
I haven't found anything that makes the 3DFX card better than the TNT2 M64.

First, Drivers (Win98SE) obtained from http://www.falconfly.de:
I started with the 1.07 Drivers, which were terrible. Nothing seemed to work
with them, not even the standard DirectX Direct3D test.

Then 1.03 drivers. These seemed to offer the best performance, but I had
some issues with installing games. i.e the "Next" Button would disappear

Finally, 1.05/1.06 Drivers. These seem to work properly with this particular
card.

Games I tried:
First, Need For Speed 2SE: Game only ran in Directdraw mode. I assume
3DFX support was only for earlier 3DFX cards.

Croc 1, Rollcage and Rollcage II: All of them looked almost exactly the
same in Glide as it does with the TNT2 in Direct3D.

Finally, MDK2. In-game textures looked very crisp, but menus and
cinematics are all pixelated.

By now you've probably figured out this is the first 3DFX card I've
ever owned, so I don't know much about them.

So here are the questions I have for people that know these cards well:

1. Which driver do you recommend?
2. Which DirectX version should I be running?
3. Are there any 3DFX exclusive games out there, or games
that would look significantly better on the 3DFX than the TNT2?
4. Is there anything else I should know about this card?

Thanks in advance for any responses.

Reply 1 of 3, by Putas

Posted on 2013-01-08, 13:44

Putas Offline

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Posts: 1306
Joined: 2010-11-21, 06:58
Location: q3dm6

1) 1.06, also try community drivers, there were updates for years.
2) 7 usually
3) 16 bit depths look great. Anything featuring Glide should be more efficient, not better looking.
4) Generally it should allow you to raise resolution one grade above m64.
Don't worry about heat.

Reply 2 of 3, by Gamecollector

Posted on 2013-01-08, 15:56

Gamecollector Offline

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Rank: Oldbie
Posts: 1413
Joined: 2010-10-06, 22:17
Location: RU

About NFS2SE - the installer isn't detecting Voodoo3. You must copy nfs2ea.exe to the gamedir manually. And run the game with this .exe.
The easier choice is - check nGlide forums.

2) The best choice is DX7, because in DX8 MS have changed filenames/interface etc. But theoretically even DX9.0c must work through back compatibility mechanism.
3) Any glide game with the software/glide choice of the renderers. Including DOS games. As you already know - there is no epic difference between glide/late d3d/late opengl visual quality.
4) a) Several companies are using non-standard way to detect 3dfx card (through PCI vendor_id/device_id). As the example - EA. The result is - you need patches/registry editing to run the game through glide on Voodoo3/4/5/Banshee. Again - check nGlide forums.
b) Voodoo3 isn't working with "glide 2.1.1 only" games. (Cybergladiators, Mechwarrior 2: 31st Century Combat (OEM 3dfx version), Pandemonium!, Scorched Planet.)
c) Voodoo3 isn't working with statically linked DOS glide games. (Battle Arena Toshinden, EF 2000: Tactcom, Fatal Racing (OEM)/Whiplash, Starfighter 3000 (OEM). And (unconfirmed) Actua Soccer/VR Soccer '96 (OEM), UEFA Champions League '97.)

Reply 3 of 3, by elfuego

Posted on 2013-01-09, 18:15

elfuego Offline

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Rank: Oldbie
Posts: 634
Joined: 2007-05-25, 22:22
Location: Aachen, Germany

Try NFS 3 or 4 and you will start to see the reason why to use voodoo 😀 Also, MiG29 Fulcrum vs F16 Falcon. Also Quake 2/unreal (tournament).

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