3dfx splash screen appears only if the game is running using glide API. Did you switch to the glide in Unreal?

There's some Glide & OpenGL games can skip the splash entirely, UnrealEngine games being among those that do (WinDrv.dll sets FX_GLIDE_NO_SPLASH to 1). Direct3D should never do it (which you can't use on XP with a V2 anyway)

Yes, the 3dfx screen is optional on a real hardware. But most games run it.

It is running Glide. It is obvious due to the monitor delay in resolution switching and decreased performance compared to the HD 7750 I have in the same system. Unreal was originally running glide through Nglide (GOG version) before I got the Voodoo 2s setup and deleted the Nglide dlls. The default on the Nglide config is to show the logo. I am guessing that Nglide is overwriting the FX_GLIDE_NO_SPLASH setting that Unreal is attempting to set? Just tried Unreal vanilla (not Gold) and it is also not showing the logo. 🙁

Is there anyway to force it? I cannot find a variable that is the opposite of FX_GLIDE_NO_SPLASH?

This flag should re-enable the splash screen I believe:

FX_GLIDE_NO_SPLASH 0 (you are setting the value back to 0)

As far as getting that to not be overwritten by unreal's startup routine...thats another story perhaps. If it doesnt just work after manually setting that variable (either in regedit or through autoexec.bat might work) you might investigate a batch file that you could possible create that would re-enable that setting after unreal's startup procedure sets the flag to "1".

Just some thoughts, good luck!

hasnopants wrote on 2021-09-01, 15:06:

This flag should re-enable the splash screen I believe: […]
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This flag should re-enable the splash screen I believe:

FX_GLIDE_NO_SPLASH 0 (you are setting the value back to 0)

As far as getting that to not be overwritten by unreal's startup routine...thats another story perhaps. If it doesnt just work after manually setting that variable (either in regedit or through autoexec.bat might work) you might investigate a batch file that you could possible create that would re-enable that setting after unreal's startup procedure sets the flag to "1".

Just some thoughts, good luck!

Trying to set the environment variable after the game launch does not seem to work. It seems the driver is already initialized in the micro second between running the game and setting the variable. The only way I see this as possible is if there were a driver compiled to ignore or hard code the flag. Anyone know why Unreal engine games do this? Seems like a strange behavior for a game engine.

You could try hex-editing the environment string in WinDrv.dll.
It's not strange if you allow video mode switching in-game while avoiding long initialization hitches coming from the splash (especially post-STB merge). Some OpenGL games that hide the splash would probably display it 3 times in a row while enumerating modes...

leileilol wrote on 2021-09-01, 18:35:

You could try hex-editing the environment string in WinDrv.dll.
It's not strange if you allow video mode switching in-game while avoiding long initialization hitches coming from the splash (especially post-STB merge). Some OpenGL games that hide the splash would probably display it 3 times in a row while enumerating modes...

Got it. I was able to hex edit the WinDrv.dll. Setting of FX_GLIDE_NO_SPLASH whether 1 or 0 forces the splash screen to be removed in either case (I think this is a Voodoo 2 thing). If you attempt to delete it, the checksum of the file changes and the engine crashes on start. Turns out that FX_GLIDE_ANTIALIAS is the same length and I already have it in my environment variables, so I went ahead and changed the setting to FX_GLIDE_ANTIALIAS = 1 and it launched with the splash screen. No issues with the game and the splash screen works as expected.

Thanks for the help.

Great to hear! Is it possible you could share your edited WinDrv.dll?

hasnopants wrote on 2021-09-02, 14:10:

Great to hear! Is it possible you could share your edited WinDrv.dll?

This is the windrv.dll from Unreal Gold, but I suspect it would be the same for any Unreal 1 based game. As the forum does not allow for dll uploads, I went ahead and added it on my box account. Link Below:

https://app.box.com/s/3kab6zn0953pkacq5fi7ydoh99w3bb2p

Edit: I believe quake 2 engine games do something similar. I assumed it was because it is running a minigl driver, but wanted to ask as maybe I can pull off the same trick.