GeForce4 MX440 with AGP8X..now hopelessly outdated for Dx2?

[dixonh2]

Coming back to Descent after, lo, these many years. I left D2 in 1997 I think. Work having interupted my life. ( Don't you just HATE work?)

I now have an XP Pro SP2 with 128 Meg Ram and the Vid card in the subject line above.

The download of Dx2-XL bombs out with this error:
------------
nVIDIA OPEN GL Driver

Driver Component mismatch.
--------------------

Guess that means I'm going to have to invest in one of those fancy-schmancy Vid cards now with a gazillion megs of on-board RAM.

Is that correct?

If so, point me to the local Descent BB where vid cards are traded, please. I'm no network gamer. So a slower card than the present leading edge would be dandy for me if my GEFORCE4 must go.

TIA.

DIxon Harris
May 16 8PM Eastern

[Jeff250]

I get that error when I install newer nVidia drivers and forget to reboot. This is presumably because some of the files are immediately overwritten by the installer, and others are waiting to be overwritten on reboot. Have you tried reinstalling your drivers and rebooting?

[dixonh2]

I get that error when I install newer nVidia drivers and forget to reboot. This is presumably because some of the files are immediately overwritten by the installer, and others are waiting to be overwritten on reboot. Have you tried reinstalling your drivers and rebooting?

Thanks for responding. It's appreciated. But I have had this vid card in the XP machine for over a year and there's been many reboots. I cannot see how your case applies to mine, Jeff.

Are you suggesting that I get updated drivers, install them and reboot? I could do that. Don't hold out much faith in that though.

Here's the details of my vid card:
=================================================

System Information report written at: 05/16/06 22:10:09
System Name: XPWORKSTATION
[Display]

Item Value
Name GeForce4 MX440 with AGP8X
PNP Device ID PCI\\VEN_10DE&DEV_0181&SUBSYS_00000000&REV_A2\\4&1FEB96E4&0&0008
Adapter Type GeForce4 MX 440 with AGP8X, NVIDIA compatible
Adapter Description GeForce4 MX440 with AGP8X
Adapter RAM 32.00 MB (33,554,432 bytes)
Installed Drivers nv4_disp.dll
Driver Version 6.14.10.5673
INF File oem16.inf (nv4 section)
Color Planes 1
Color Table Entries 4294967296
Resolution 1024 x 768 x 75 hertz
Bits/Pixel 32
Memory Address 0xDE000000-0xDEFFFFFF
Memory Address 0xD0000000-0xD7FFFFFF
IRQ Channel IRQ 11
I/O Port 0x000003B0-0x000003BB
I/O Port 0x000003C0-0x000003DF
Memory Address 0xA0000-0xBFFFF
Driver c:\\windows\\system32\\drivers\\nv4_mini.sys (6.14.10.5673, 1.81 MB (1,897,408 bytes), 3/28/2003 5:24 AM)
========================================

I guess since the drivers I have are dated 3/28/2003 it would not hurt to get updated from DriverGuide.com. I'll try.

Get back to me if you have any futher ideas. If this fails, where can I get a mor powerful vid card second hand . It there a flea market for such things on this web site?

Thanks, Jeff.

[Grendel]

Get them here: http://www.nvidia.com/object/winxp_2k_84.21.html

Bookmark this link: http://www.nvidia.com/content/drivers/drivers.asp

[dixonh2]

[quote="Grendel"]Get them here: http://www.nvidia.com/object/winxp_2k_84.21.html

Gendel,

Many thanks.But DX2 failed to load again. I note that the driver date on the nVidia web site was the same as mine. So there was no update. Nonetheless, I uninstalled my old drivers, reinstalled fresh drivers after killing the Anti virus program, rebooted and tried again. Nada.

Don't know where to go from here except maybe get a second-hand more powerful vid card somewhere. Don't need a super muscular video card since I'll not be playing against those network killers out there, just against the tamer, slower internal bots that are built in.

Any suggestions on where?

Thanks for your interest

[Diedel]

I am using a GF 2 MX 400 on my Linux box (Athlon XP 1800+), and I get 70 - 100 fps in standard D2 levels (D2:CS) with this card - that is almost twice as much as on my Athlon 64 3500+ s939 with GF FX 5200 on WinXP pro!!!

Now D2X-XL is pretty CPU dependant, but I just cannot believe that the gcc compiler is so much better than the MSVC compiler that it can better a CPU at least twice as fast.

I think it's the OS and the OS dependant driver implementation that get in the way here.

Dixon,

you are having some driver problem that's not directly related to D2X-XL, imho. Your gfx card is absolutely sufficient to play D2X-XL. Did you try to install the current line of NVidia drivers?

[dixonh2]

I think it's the OS and the OS dependant driver implementation that get in the way here.

You are having some driver problem that's not directly related to D2X-XL, imho. Your gfx card is absolutely sufficient to play D2X-XL. Did you try to install the current line of NVidia drivers?

Yes did get new nVideo drivers. No effect. I think I'll d/l the D2x binaries on some other XP machines and see what the results are. I'll get back to you. Thanks for you interest and help.

Dixon H Harris

[Grendel]

I note that the driver date on the nVidia web site was the same as mine. So there was no update. Nonetheless, I uninstalled my old drivers, reinstalled fresh drivers after killing the Anti virus program, rebooted and tried again. Nada.

That's weird -- I linked you to the 84.21 drivers since your log shows that you had 56.73. Make sure the 84.21 driver got installed correctly (the driver version should read as 6.14.10.8421 in the system report). If it didn't, try if the 77.77 driver found on this page will install. You also may try the following:

- download & install Driver Cleaner Pro
- uninstall the current driver via Add/Remove Programs
- boot into safe mode
- use DCP to remove all traces of the old driver
- boot normal
- install the new driver

[dixonh2]

Grendel

Many thanks

I'll do what you suggest and get back to you with the results

[BUBBALOU]

always use driver cleaner....