a few options:

install a stable via agp driver (don't know exactly which is the best one, but i know the latest via 4-in one drivers are not so google or search this forum)
disable every agp setting in the bios, your voodoo doesn't use it anyway.
set agp speed in bios at 1x. This will not effect performance that much on these boards but will give much more stability in most cases.
Try one of the 3th party drivers from this page: http://www.falconfly.de/banshee.htm I had good results with Raziel64' s Evolution Driver for win9x

hope it helps, good luck!

mmm thanks, but I highly doubt it has anything to do with AGP settings or dirvers since Unreal works great on Glide and OpenGL, and only freezes in Direct3D mode. Other Direct3D games (DK2, Homeworld) fail as well. HW works in openGL mode.

The issue is with Direct3D, everything else works fine... played Quake 2 for two hours last night after posting this thread...

Dxdiag results?

kanecvr wrote:

mmm thanks, but I highly doubt it has anything to do with AGP settings or dirvers since Unreal works great on Glide and OpenGL, and only freezes in Direct3D mode. Other Direct3D games (DK2, Homeworld) fail as well. HW works in openGL mode.

The issue is with Direct3D, everything else works fine... played Quake 2 for two hours last night after posting this thread...

Glide doesn't use the extra agp features as the cards don't support it. Can't hurt to try?

meljor wrote:

kanecvr wrote:

mmm thanks, but I highly doubt it has anything to do with AGP settings or dirvers since Unreal works great on Glide and OpenGL, and only freezes in Direct3D mode. Other Direct3D games (DK2, Homeworld) fail as well. HW works in openGL mode.

The issue is with Direct3D, everything else works fine... played Quake 2 for two hours last night after posting this thread...

Glide doesn't use the extra agp features as the cards don't support it. Can't hurt to try?

Yes, but opengl does and it runs fine. I'll give it a go anyway.

EDITeD - so I installed 4in1 recommended for the MVP3 and disabled AGP related stuff in bios. Installed one of the 3rd party drivers off falconfly.de, but nothing has changed. I'll try to reinstall direct x and install other drivers for the banshee.

Updated to Raziel's drivers - no change - except DK2 now freezes while loading. Reinstalled Direct X, removed unused drivers in safe mode... I'm out of ideas....

Gamecollector wrote:

Dxdiag results?

I attached the file generated by dxdiag.

For funzies I plugged in my PCI Voodoo Banshee (also a creative card) and it has the exact same problem as the AGP card.

tl;dr - still doesn't work.

I've had weird problems like this but I can't remember what the deal was anymore.

Are you using a number of other PCI cards? I'd remove everything except the video card and try that way.

What chipset BIOS settings are you using? Some MVP3 BIOS settings cause problems.

kanecvr wrote:

I attached the file generated by dxdiag.

No, I have asked about the ddraw/d3d test results (the "Video" tab, "test ddraw" and "test d3d" buttons).

Gamecollector wrote:

kanecvr wrote:

I attached the file generated by dxdiag.

No, I have asked about the ddraw/d3d test results (the "Video" tab, "test ddraw" and "test d3d" buttons).

Ddraw tests complete successfully, but it hangs during the first d3d test (dx7 spinning cube).

swaaye wrote:

I've had weird problems like this but I can't remember what the deal was anymore.

Are you using a number of other PCI cards? I'd remove everything except the video card and try that way.

What chipset BIOS settings are you using? Some MVP3 BIOS settings cause problems.

The exact same settings as on my other K6 MVP3 and that one runs fine (using a Riva TNT2 card). I'm 100% sure it's not bios settings or AGP drivers / settings. I think something may be wrong with the banshee or my direct X installation... The card is also actively cooled so overheating is out of the question.

I am using a IBM PCI lan card. I removed it but it didn't solve the problem.

Does anyone know of a direct X uninstaller so I don't have to reinstall windows? (I wouldn't reinstall windows anyway - too lazy - I'll just use the PC for OpenGL / Glide games if I can't come up with a solution. ).

I think I need to uninstall DX 8.1 and install 6.1.

DirectX Buster is what you want to uninstall DirectX.

After uninstalling directx and installing dx 6.1 hardware acceleration was completely disabled, so it f*cked things up even worse. I'll do a dirty windows reinstall.

Finished, HW acceleration is still disabled. Proceeding to do a clean install... 😠

I have used DirectX Buster with 98SE many times. I don't think it caused the problem.

swaaye wrote:

I have used DirectX Buster with 98SE many times. I don't think it caused the problem.

I think windows is messed up. I had a 2D card installed at one point, and that might have caused the problems I'm seeing now.

EDITED - finished reinstalling windows (clean) - installed latest reference driver - no direct 3d ("No hardware acceleration available") WHAT THE ACTUAL F*CK? I played Direct3D Homeworld and NFS Porsche on this thing a couple of months ago!!!!

EDIT2 - Ok, making progress! I installed reference driver 1.0 (first 3DFX banshee driver) and I have direct 3d now. Problem is, 1st driver doesn't have opengl.

EDIT3 - SUCCESS! I installed the latest 3D Blaster Banshee driver off Creative's website (they still have it 😁 ) and direct3D, openGL and glide all work perfectly.

t;l dr - the problem was the driver - installing the latest driver off the manufacturer's website fixed the issue. Stay away from the latest 3DFX driver for the banshee.

Thanks to everyone who contributed!

Glad you got it sorted! We all know how this stuff can make you go crazy 🤣

meljor wrote:

Glad you got it sorted! We all know how this stuff can make you go crazy 🤣

As much as I love retro hardware, moment's like this make me wanna hulk out. It's so satisfying when you get it going tough 😁

P.S. NFS Porsche works remarkably well on a Voodoo Banshee