SFFT alpha drivers - V3/4/5 - Join to Testing

[Amigamerlin]

Ok Guys Alpha15 are online for testing !!
Just go to www.3dfxzone.it news section .

As always good testing to you all.

Bye !

[SuperFurryFurryThing]

The commando 3 problem of the figures not being drawn is still there.

SFFT

[ps47]

I have some info about commandos3,check here:
http://www.3dfxzone.it/enboard/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=1382

[FBS]

So far the SFFT15 drivers are better then the predecessor SFFT14. I can now open my Microsoft Flight Simulator game in 32 bit mode. I have not done all the testing I want, this shall occur throughout the week when I find time.
The performance is very good and you seem to have fixed the terrain graphic becoming blurred when in 32bit, though I still have trouble displaying other third party aircraft (texture display not proper). When loading third party aircraft (seeing no textures on the plane) and then reloading a default Microsoft plane, the default plane textures are all blurred? Note that in 16bit all is well and everything displays properly.
As for the kneeboard this is still the problem as usual, meaning that it will only display properly in single mode as for the 2AA and fastest performance I still get the black window on pop up.
Have a Nice Day[)]

[wiebeest]

Well, after visiting these boards for about a year now,
I finally decided to join. Got my 3dfx Voodoo3 2000 since the beginning of 2000.
Been using it up 'till now.

Since WindowsXP and 3dfx's demise I got more involved in getting myself software proper working. First sucess though the 3dfxHQ drivers (v3-w2k-xp-1.09-beta10.exe)in tandem with V-control. Later on I switched to AmigaSport 3.0 final, which I've been using eversince.

Now this site mentions Amigamerlin 3.1, which contains these SFFT 15 drivers and would also be usable for my v3k2. Is this true? Is it better than what I use currently (Amigasport 3.0)? What differnces would I experiance?

Greetings & respect,

W I E B E E S T

[SuperFurryFurryThing]

The Amigerlin 3.1 Drivers use the alpha 14 DirectX support, the Alpha 15 has a fix in for problems with the Alpha 14. The Alpha 15 for the V3 is basically Amigersport 3.0 with new DirectX support. As there is no Amigersport 3.1 yet I would suggest that the Alpha 15 for V3 is worth a try.

SFFT

[wiebeest]

@SuperFurryFurryThing:
I asked this because I thought Amigasport was specifically for the v3 c.s. and Amigamerlin could not be used on my V3-board, but you are sure I can use the AmigaMerlin without a problem?

[Voodoo5]

@SFFT,

1) As I never use the triple buffering in the 3dfx tools, approx. how much extra memory is gained by setting Set3Tile ?

2) I'm assuming its a hardware limitation that all 64/128mb of ram cannot be allocated to a single chip on a 5500/6000 ?

[SuperFurryFurryThing]

To wiebeest, the DirectX support in the SFFT Alpha's is common to both the V3/4/5. There may be differences in the Glide OpenGl support between the V3 and the V4/5, I do not know anything about Glide or OpenGl, as I only work on the DirectX support.

SFFT

[SuperFurryFurryThing]

To Voodoo5, Triple buffering is not set in 3dfx tools, games either use it or they don't. If you disable triple buffering some games may not work untill you re-enable it. This needs to be borne in mind. Some games work better with more texture memory, and indeed some games only work in 3 tile mode. The idea behind having an executable file to set this is so that you can select the optimal configuration for a particular game, and then reset it afterwards if the next game requires a different configuration. basically if you use Set3tile you get the width times height times bytes per pixel in extra texture memory.

640 * 480 * 16 bit = 614400 bytes
1024 * 768 * 32 bit = 3145728 bytes

SFFT

[Voodoo5]

@SuperFurryFurryThing,

Thank's for clarifying exactly what Set3Tile does/could do.

Why is triple buffering offered as an on/off option in the opengl/glide section of 3dfx tools if some games would not run if they requested this feature ?

As the 3dfx help states the following:

Triple Buffering - Enabling Triple Buffering will allocate a third frame buffer. This frame buffer can increase performance by enabling the hardware to render at the same time that the 3D application performs other tasks. However, the additional frame buffer required for this uses up video memory that could otherwise be used for storing textures. Enabling Triple Buffering could hurt the performance of your 3D applications that use a lot of textures.

Disable - Select this option to disable Triple Buffering.
Enable - Select this option to enable Triple Buffering.

I wrongly assumed that set3tile was this on/off option except in Direct3D.

Thanks for your great effort in your Driver, its fantastic and I really appreciate it.

[Gorik]

Greeting to all!
I have a problem with Lord of The Ring: War of the Ring by sierra:
http://www.warofthering.com (from where you can download demo)

With win98 and Raziel Evolution driver (or a driver with 3dfx32vs.dll version 4.13.1.28) it start even if required a TnL Hardware

Under Win2k I don't had success with Amiga 3.0 or Amiga 3.1 R1 (SFFT Alpha 15).

Can somebody help with this?

(If I'm OFF-Topic please remove this message and move to appropriate place)

Thanks for your work all becuase I saw an amazing improve of performance and stability in all application

Byex
Emiliano

[vykupitel]

I play LOTR:WOTR with 1.07 driver with no problems.

To SSFT: What do you think about work on AGP2PCI compatibility, Hank Semenec told me that problem is in the driver core.

[FBS]

Ok I have just finished testing the SFFT15 drivers with flight sim with 32bit so far real good. I have attached a file that I think will resolve my texture blur issue. Apparently the aircraft designer web site says I have to remove mipmaps from texture? Why that is I don't know, by the way what are DXT3 textures? It seems some people can load them on their system but if I try this in my PC, my game crashes. I will now go test this with 16bit then after the same with 3tile.

Download Attachment: Mipmaps.doc
372.69 KB

[SuperFurryFurryThing]

To Voodoo5 You are right about The set3tile doing the same thing for D3D as the tools option does for glide. Games that don't use a triple buffer tend to benefit from the extra texture memory.

SFFT