VESA on Voodoo5

[Crash]

Greetings,

I'm trying to run an old DOS game on my Voodoo5, and if I try to use the 800x600 or 1024x768 resolution, missions cause a divide overflow.  I suspect this is caused by the need for a VESA driver.  Can anyone suggest what is needed to make these VESA modes accessible on a Voodoo5?

Thanks

[amp_man]

Hmm, it's my understanding that VESA _is_ a driver of sorts, video cards were made to comply to VESA standards, no drivers necessary. What game is this?

[Crash]

The game(s): Mechwarrior 2 and Mechwarrior 2 Ghost Bear's Legacy, original DOS versions (which had a much farther drawout distance than the Windows95 textured versions).  The game works in 320x200, but if I try higher resolutions missions are quickly skipped with a divide overflow.

Thanks!

[dborca]

There must be something else. The Voodoos have VESA VBE 3.0 since Voodoo3 (maybe even Banshee).

[bloodworm]

what video BIOS are you runnin?  the later BIOS's fixed some of the higher VESA modes.... specifically 1024x768.

[Crash]

I can't recall which BIOS, although I've been strongly advised not to touch it since it works.

If it's not VESA, I wonder what it could be.  I just seem to recall that in the past, I could never get VESA titles working on any video card, and wasn't sure why this would be a format that was used.  DisplayDoctor never worked for me, and there remain a handful of games that I never got to actually play.

Don't you hate it when you buy a game and can't play it?

[dborca]

Which OS? I remember VESA is not accesible using VBE interface under NT core, even though the card has it.

[Crash]

98se is the OS - Thanks!

[bloodworm]

are you running the game from shutdown to dos or a dos window from win98se?  you may need to configure your memory managers for dos games to run in either case!  I also remember there being a patch for mech warrior 2 to run in dos with a voodoo card.  or was that MW3?  I am pretty sure you will need to update your voodoo BIOS to get the game to run in the upper modes in DOS..... VESA was not a high priority at the start of the V5, but the 1.18 BIOS has fixed alot of VESA modes.  I think I was running the MW2 from a Tseng labs 4000 chipset at the time (before 3dfx was even around).

[Crash]

> are you running the game from shutdown to dos or a dos window from
> win98se?

In this case, I'm running from 98se.  I'll have to setup a dos configuration to see the CD-Rom, sound card, etc... before I can test DOS mode, and it has been a while.

> you may need to configure your memory managers for dos games
> to run in either case! I also remember there being a patch for mech
> warrior 2 to run in dos with a voodoo card. or was that MW3? I am
> pretty sure you will need to update your voodoo BIOS to get the game
> to run in the upper modes in DOS..... VESA was not a high priority
> at the start of the V5, but the 1.18 BIOS has fixed alot of VESA
> modes. I think I was running the MW2 from a Tseng labs 4000 chipset
> at the time (before 3dfx was even around).

Part of the problem may be that there are about 50 versions of Mechwarrior 2.  I personally have the original DOS version,the ATI Rage version, the 3Dfx version, and the Titanium Edition Windows version.

Each one seems to use a different graphics engine, and it seems that all of the 3D accelerated versions are limited to 640x480 and a very short drawout distance.  In this case, the eye candy is not as important as being able to see the enemy when they are far away.

So, I'm trying to get the good old DOS version running - the one with 1024x768 capable software rendering, simply because I never finished these games (Mech2, Ghost Bear's Legacy, and Mercenaries) and I would like to do so before I move onto Mech3, Mech4, etc... Call me old fashioned.

However, despite the "advanced" program settings that I have attempted in Windows98se with regard to memory types and quantities set aside for legacy programs, Mechwarrior 2 divides by zero if I attempt anything but 320x200.  Everything that I can find on the topic points to the need for a VESA driver.  I tried Scisoft display doctor with no success, just as the last five times I tried it this decade.  I'm just wondering if anyone recalls what this VESA business is all about.

Of course, it isn't the end of the world if I can't play this set of games, and I'm definitely not willing to gamble with my Voodoo 6000 BIOS in an attempt to get them games working.

Any ideas are welcome though...

Crash!

[bloodworm]

as I remember, the game required VESA 2.0 and the voodoo 5 has VESA 3.0 but not 2.0.  this was the problem for me with this game and a couple others.  it seems that VESA 3.0 doesn't tell the game that it can do VESA 2.0 modes and the game gives problems like the divide by zero.  I remember playing the game with my Tseng labs 4000 chipset as it was the FASTEST Vesa 2.0 card available at the time.  I also played Duke Nuckem with this card at blazing speeds, untill quake 2 came out and I got a voodoo rush card the first Christmas it was available.