Rodney Betters wrote on 2021-06-25, 00:24:

I'm trying to get F.E.A.R. working on my Windows XP rig and I've run into an issue. A number of lights throughout the game will […]
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I'm trying to get F.E.A.R. working on my Windows XP rig and I've run into an issue. A number of lights throughout the game will flicker. As you approach the affected lights, they will either disappear, flicker for a moment, or flicker rapidly. The issue seems to occur when viewing the lights at certain angles or from certain distances.

Here's an example:
https://youtu.be/27f_rsFD5NQ?t=42 - If you look at the far wall at approximately 0:43, you can see the lighting on the wall flicker as the camera passes through the window

This can be corrected using dgvoodoo2:
https://youtu.be/kdU32NuYdL8?t=62 - As you can see, the light does not flicker when using dgvoodoo2

Now I would love to use dgvoodoo2 but, unfortunately, I'm using Windows XP which, as far as I know, is not supported.
This issue appears to be very old. I've tested the game with a GeForce 8800GTX (released in 2006) and the same flickering lighting problem occurs.

Is there any way to correct this on Windows XP?
I was poking around and found a program called 3D-Analyze which looks promising. Problem is, I have no idea which of the myriad settings might actually help.
3D-Analyze_2.png
Any suggestions?

3D Analyzer is a software solution, it won't give you much in regards to HW accelerated graphics. I am aware of this problem and personally use dgVoodoo2, however if this issue was widespread back then (2011 era) and if the game had good support, someone might have made a patch. Browsing through other forums, some have suggested to turn off V-sync while others have reverted to oldest drivers available, and another community upgraded their version of Windows(they didn't post their results). I am afraid I don't have any more information on this.

Turning off v-sync does correct it in some cases but not all. I'm considering playing F.E.A.R. on Windows 7 so I can use dgvoodoo2. The only thing keeping me from doing so was my desire to use hardware accelerated sound (using an Audigy 2 ZS). How's the sound quality with ALchemy?

I use Alchemy with my X-Fi card and to me anyway it sounds as it should. When I play the same games on XP and 7 EAX sounds the same to me.

It should be good but sometimes things go wrong with hardware and drivers. Also you need a bit of luck to achieve everything perfectly.

Thanks guys I'll give Windows 7 with dgvoodoo2 a shot. I've downloaded Daniel_K's audigy pack, which includes ALchemy, and dgvoodoo 2.75. I think that's all I'll need.

One last question for you guys: if I have EAX Advanced HD enabled, does EAX 2 also need to be enabled? or should that be turned off when EAX Advanced HD is used? I'm a bit confused about this because I was under the impression that EAX Advanced HD is just another name for EAX 4.

So I've got everything installed but... I have no idea how to actually use dgvoodoo2... I put the d3d9.dll into the game directory but now I have no idea what to do. I tried a few different settings in the DirectX tab but performance and visuals just end up worse.

Rodney Betters wrote on 2021-06-25, 21:42:

One last question for you guys: if I have EAX Advanced HD enabled, does EAX 2 also need to be enabled? or should that be turned off when EAX Advanced HD is used? I'm a bit confused about this because I was under the impression that EAX Advanced HD is just another name for EAX 4.

Iirc advanced hd is different from eax 2, so you don't need to enable 2.0 if you use advanced hd.

Rodney Betters wrote on 2021-06-26, 05:01:

So I've got everything installed but... I have no idea how to actually use dgvoodoo2... I put the d3d9.dll into the game directory but now I have no idea what to do. I tried a few different settings in the DirectX tab but performance and visuals just end up worse.

Just don't change anything if you don't face any issue with dgVoodoo2. If you face issue, try setting the last card from the List