I've been playing with DXX version of Descent 2 and have enjoyed it immensely. Thanks Zico for your hard work.
But I just think that the Glide version of Descent 2 looked a whole lot better then the OpenGL version, no texture tearing.
Has anybody ever installed an old Voodoo 1 pass-through graphics card on a machine that already has a 3D graphics card installed? My computer is older Win 98 machine with a Riva TNT2 AGP card already installed that I use for older legacy games and two empty PCI slots. I would like to keep the TNT2 card as a primary and use the Voodoo card as a secondary for several older Glide games, including Descent 2. Will they play nice together or will I have to use the 3D control center application that you can find online for just this situation?
I like my Monster Card and it still works so why retire it? Descent 2 runs very fast on it with no slowdowns or stutters and besides, it's one of the first 3D graphics cards out there, an antique.
Is dgVoodoo a Glide wrapper out of curiosity? Does it work in Windows or require a DOS environment?
My bad. I was in a hurry when I posted last time and didn't have time to look at the link. I have heard about glide wrappers and would like to know how well they work. Any information would be helpfull from anyone that has used one for Descent 2.
tunnelcat wrote:
Has anybody ever installed an old Voodoo 1 pass-through graphics card on a machine that already has a 3D graphics card installed? My computer is older Win 98 machine with a Riva TNT2 AGP card
Kim
I seen to recall that you needed a patch for the TNT to eliminate a compatibility problem with the Voodoo1 (If so I probably have it somewhere). If I recall the patch address an unmapped memory problem associated with the AGP or some such gobbledygook. Other than that I heard it was a good match. If you decide to try it you can catch me on Kali to offer up what archived files I have.
Actually, the Voodoo card did work on this machine without any conflicts. However, another problem arose. The power supply on this computer sits right above the Voodoo card location when you close the case. It unfortunately injected a 60 hertz noise into the card and made the display look awful, so I removed it.
For now I will play with the D2X version, although I can't watch the movies without the sound and video stuttering. One of these days I'm going to mod this old machine and move the power supply away from the top of the PCI slots.
The case on this HP is soooo tight that it would be impossible to move the PS. Shielding the PS might work, but there are other issues with this thing, like NOISE!
The problem is that there is a small fan running at high speed blowing air through a duct that is aimed at the CPU. It sounds like a jet engine running! A case mod would allow me to get a quieter fan setup, get cooling to the PCI boards and move the PS away from everything.
This computer stills works for my collection of older games, so I don't want to get rid of it just yet.
Stupid question but what's this AV switch you're referring to? I have a Voodoo 1 card, the first one that ever came out, an antique, so I don't know if Monster was cheap when they built it.
This card has outlived many of my computers to date. I can't bear to part with it, being the first 3D graphics I ever played with and it rendered games so well.
Thanks all. I could do that, but then I might as well mod the whole thing. The CPU fan is very noisy, piece of crap, loud, even for a 733 Mhz CPU!
Changing the refresh rate does not help. It looks like 60 hertz noise, diagonal beater bars running through the display when either card is active.
Will be getting a Vista computer in about a year (when the hardware is capable of running games at a decent frame rate). I will then use my XP computer for all around use and I will tear the Win 98 computer apart and move the power supply away from the PCI boards, probably in a new case with more room for a bigger and quieter CPU fan and the Voodoo card.
For grins, I tried putting an insulated metal shield between the PCI cards and the power supply. That actually got rid of most of the display noise. I will try enabling spread spectrum in the BIOS to see if the rest goes away.
The only other problem is my crappy old game port CH Products joystick. It's analog and has no twist function. You have to use a game port joystick to play D2 Voodoo since it runs in DOS. After searching around, I found an old Cyborg 3D game port joystick that has the twist function, so I'll plug that in and try it as well.
tunnelcat wrote:I like my Monster Card and it still works so why retire it?
Because it is old, useless, sucks power (like $100 a year probably) and does nothing for you that a newer card and a glide wrapper won;t do 100 times better and faster.
Want to retain your old Glide card? Do what I did, mount it in a deep frame picture frame. Hang it on your wall.
but, if it works well and there is not greater need on that computer, might as well keep it running. Upgrading is silly unless you have a \"legitimate\" reason.
I thought about framing my Monster Voodoo card and I might just do it. I'm getting tired of hacking and messing with this computer.
I've grown to like DXX anyway, but I might try a Glide wrapper to see if I can get a D2 setup that doesn't have stuttering movies, which is my only gripe with Zico's wonderful effort. He said he might address the problem in a future version anyway.
Which is the best, most stable Glide wrapper around for a Win 98SE setup? dgVoodoo maybe?
I've never been able to get a glide wrapper to work with D23DX, I did however get one to work with Tomb Raider (to see if it worked at all) and it was a poor substitute and didn't look very good. Slow frame rate and all that. However I never ran Tomb Raider with a voodoo card so I can say how it compares with the real thing. It looked like Open GL to me. I assume it's all software rendering going on. I think Zico's work pretty much does the job better than a glide wrapper. I'd like to hear someone say it really ROCKS! with Descent and go into detail on how to set it up and get it going with dgVoodoo Glide Wrapper http://dege.freeweb.hu/ and VDM Sound http://sourceforge.net/projects/vdmsound/.
As for Voodoo Glide cards in general, they all work as well as they ever did, win 9X works as well as it ever did, and I think that visually, with Descent 1, 2 and 3, it still has a bit of an edge. Descent3 was released with Glide in Mind. I rather wonder if it might even be improved by running it with a glide wrapper properly set up.
I rather miss my vintage voodoo box and every now and then I get pangs of nostalgia for it, rather like I do for my first nice car (67 Camaro Convertible Rally Sport).
Yeah, I agree that the Glide version of Descent 2 looks better visually. In the future when I get a Vista computer, I'm going to mod out the old Win 98 computer, install the still working Voodoo card and get quieter fans to create a great legacy game box.
I don't want to tear it apart just yet since I'm still using it for other things as a backup computer.
Tomb Raider looked fantastic with my Monster card setup when I played it years ago. The game unfortunately was aggravating to me having to deal with all those jumping puzzles. I hate those things.
For now I will stick with Zico's fine effort to feed my D2 addiction.
