What do the video memory options actually do? \ VOGONS

What do the video memory options actually do?

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First post, by franpa

Posted on 2011-12-20, 11:42

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I'm using Yhkwong's builds of DOSBox and he links to these forums for support (No, I'm not making a bug report.) so I'm not sure if I should be posting about it here.

His build has an option to specify the amount of video memory for the svga_s3 video chip with values ranging from 1 through to 8 with a description of the advantages of each option. My question is, does the setting control video memory in increments of 1MB beginning with 1MB? (So 1MB through to 8MB) or is it 8 pre-defined video RAM amounts other then what I just described?

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Reply 1 of 6, by leileilol

Posted on 2011-12-20, 12:54

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To put it simply, makes more resolutions/color depths available

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Reply 2 of 6, by franpa

Posted on 2011-12-20, 13:18

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So values above 8 are ignored? It's just the note about triple buffering says to use higher values... it doesn't specifically say "higher then what the game requires" it just says higher.

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Reply 3 of 6, by h-a-l-9000

Posted on 2011-12-20, 15:00

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# vmemsize: Amount of video memory in megabytes. # The maximum resolution and color depth the svga_s3 will be able t […]
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# vmemsize: Amount of video memory in megabytes.
# The maximum resolution and color depth the svga_s3 will be able to display
# is determined by this value.
# 0: 512k (800x600 at 256 colors)
# 1: 1024x768 at 256 colors or 800x600 at 64k colors
# 2: 1600x1200 at 256 colors or 1024x768 at 64k colors or 640x480 at 16M colors
# 4: 1600x1200 at 64k colors or 1024x768 at 16M colors
# 8: up to 1600x1200 at 16M colors
# For build engine games, use more memory than in the list above so it can
# use triple buffering and thus won't flicker.

No 16 mentioned here, right? The chips had limits in how much memory could be connected.

1+1=10

Reply 4 of 6, by franpa

Posted on 2012-02-28, 09:46

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Okay, thanks.

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Reply 5 of 6, by Great Hierophant

Posted on 2012-02-28, 15:25

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The spec sheets I have for the Trio 64V and Trio 64V+ state that the chip supports a maximum of 4MB RAM. I don't have a sheet for the 64V2 DX or GX, so I suppose those chips may support 8MB. Theoretically, I'm sure the design could be expandable easily enough. In practice, it was virtually unknown to find a consumer Trio 64 board supporting more than 2MB.

The Trio 64 3D does not count, as that is a ViRGE chip.

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Reply 6 of 6, by h-a-l-9000

Posted on 2012-02-28, 20:34

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The SVGA part of the ViRGE is a lot like that of the Trio64 though.

1+1=10

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