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

[Ralf]

Unfortunately when i enable 2xAA - FPS go to down ;/
It happens just i enable 4xAA

look for this screens - after when i install drivers
CORE number 1


CORE number 2[\b]


7mhz ? o_O

[Obi-Wan Kenobi]

I have test Alpha 59 with DXX-Rebirth for Descent 1/2 the game runs perfect @ 1024 x 768 x16 as 32 with FSA x4 @ 34 fps on the following setup:

Gradinko

Dual Pentium!!!/EB 1Ghz Coppermine
ABiT VP6 Raid Ver 1.0
4x 256MB PC-133 Micron Crucial
Leadtek GeForce4 Ti4600 ULTRA AGP 128MB DDR
3dfx Voodoo5 5500 PCI 64MB SDR Rev.A1 2900
Creative Sound Blaster Live! 5.1 Digital

WinXP Pro USA + SP2
DirectX9 August 2007 Release
Forceware 81.24 WHQL for GF4 Ti-4600U AGP
SFFT Alpha 59 + V.control 1.82b for V5 5500 PCI

The DXX-Rebirth Project is something I am supporting to work with 3dfx cards, with Amigamerlin 3.1 R11 it didn't run SFFT Alpha 58 & 59 did run it perfectly But when exiting D1X as D2X Rebirth 0.53 the system crashes and taking screenshots results in a black screen.

After reboot I started up the game again and intro cinematics run very slow but ingame gameplay with FSAA x2 as x4 as without seemed to be not a problem, as I could notice the frame speed between single & dual chip as with FSAA x2 as x4, so on this system Dualchip does work fine.
here's the DXX-Rebirth site, go to media for screenshts of the game to get an idea
http://www.dxx-rebirth.de/

it runs great on the GeForce as it used OpenGL 1.3 binaries , it seems that the 5500 PCI has texture dumping problems when exiting the program thereby letting the system hang as it will reboot automatically.

[SuperFurryFurryThing]

Development of this driver is now complete. The alpha 59 is the last release of this driver and no more work will be done on this project. The drivers now do everything that I believe the cards can realistically do under Directx and so the project is finished. I would suggest that a re-test of everything be done using the Alpha 59 in order to generate a list of programs that run with the driver, i.e. an updated voodoo compatibility list. Release note can then be generated from this. I will not be taking part in this so it is all up to you.

SFFT

[ps47]

thank you for the immense amount of work you have done.hope you will drop by from time to time..

[Ralf]

SFFT thx for you!

but yours Drivers Do not work on new Intel p35 Platform!
2 Chips cards have(likeV55) or more(6k) used only one chip.

There is biggest problem and you can solve it only

think about this please

[Voodoo5]

Thank you so much SFFT, your effort will always be appreciated by the 3dfx community.

Bravo

[benna]

I understand and accept your decision to stop the development of the driver, but in my opinion there is still an improvement margin.
Maybe you can consider to release the sources.
However many thanks for your work!

[m14radu]

Thank you SFFT for your titanic work.
Throught your work, the 3dfx hardware continues to live on.
I can believe that there will be no more SFFT releases, but i respect your decision.
It's the last driver ever ? I hope not because i believe that there are still some improvments that can be done.....and we don't have to forget that 3dfx it's not a regular hardware -
It's more than a voodoo .... it's magic.

Again, thanks a lot for what u have done for the 3dfx comunity.

Take Care .
Radu.

[kalte]

I can't believe it's the last release! =(

Please reconsider!

Anyway you've been doing an amazing job with the driver!!!

[osckhar]

Hello SFFT,
In first place tell you THANK YOU very much for such amazing work.

ps. I am agree with my comrades. This driver still can be improved. So, I wish this don't be a  definitive 'Good bye'.
ps2. SFFT, 3Dfx community need you.

Hugs,
Oscar

[Rolo01]

This is a sad day, because those are very sad news.
I knew this day would come sooner or later, but I wish it had been some time later.
The driver could still be improved, there are games that run on a Geforce2 but still do not run on a Voodoo ( like Star Wars: Empire at war ).
Anyway, SFFT, I respect your decision and want to thank you very much for all the work you have done. You really helped the community extend the life of our beloved 3dfx cards.

Take care and all best wishes

Rolo01

[Raff3DC]

Argh, that hurts. SFFT, I agree with all that posted before me: Your work is impressive, the drivers rock. You helped to exceed the 3dfx card's lifetime a lot, keeping the spirt alive. But please, reconsider. There's still room for improvements, and many people would appreciate it – including me.

Maybe we could start a donation for new features.  

Greetings and thanks,
Raff

[Obi-Wan Kenobi]

Hmm SFFT a tough decision made you have, though I do respect all the work you have done for us, which is simply more than godlike to me, you are the Jedi Master in driver programming, though I have to agree with the rest, the drivers can be improved as you did show that to us, you have gone so far why stop making them better?

Anyways this question may question others as I understand since you were the only one that was really improving as created new 3dfx drivers, it's 2008 and still you have given us new drivers this concludes that your support has brought the 3dfx spirit to such an ultra high level that we should thank you in a very special way.

Anyways  You have done alot too much for me to think about as I can understand your point of view by not making new drivers, I wish you all the best mate.

May The Force Be With You, Always Jedi Master SFFT.

[benna]

I tested GTA San Andreas with alpha 59 and i discovered some strange behaviours:
Gta SA version 1.0 works good only with fsaa 2x and 3danalyze 2.25c or 2.34; with fsaa set to "fastest" some flickering occurres like with older alpha derivers, but using particular "gta_sa.set" files the flickering disappears; with fsaa set to "single chip" the screen shows 2 images overlapped.
The only configuration that give sufficient performances is fsaa 2x.
I installed the "no more hot coffee patch" and with this patch i was able to enter the "video advanced" menu and set the resolution. the strange thing is if i start the game in "fastest" mode there is no flickering but very bad performance (worst than with fsaa 2x enabled), and if i switch the colors (from 16bit to 32 or viceversa) ingame, the performance become very good but some orange horizontal lines appears on screen.

[ggab]

SFFT, i want to give a BIG THANKS too!

we really apreciate all the hard work done, you are a great person man

i just wanna say, that a "final" alpha 60 release would be great..., but now, as you said, " re-test of everything be done using the Alpha 59 in order to generate a list of programs that run with the driver, i.e. an updated voodoo compatibility list." so, if additional driver testing is done (there are issues/bugs reports right now, like the missed P35 chipset compability, etc); you, could get aditional feedback, for making a final (maybe beta...) release

a HUGE thanks from Argentina and all Sudamerican people.