MesaFX

[vykupitel]

That's very sad news but I can understand.
I hope that you will continue with linux support. A little bit.

VERY SPECIAL THANKS TO YOU DANIEL! La revedere!
Mulþumesc

[PanoramixDruida]

Well, I begun this thread knowing that this day would come sooner or latter. I begun this thread not knowing how far this guys could last with this project.
Our beloved 3dfx is not anymore with us since four years now, and thanks to guys like Daniel, we can still use them. I miss 3dfx, I would like it would still be here with us, but that cannot be truth. There've been so much work done, and GOOD WORK!!!
Daniel, thanks!, Thanks a lot! I would like to do something more for you than saying thank you!, but I guess it's all I can do.

THANKS DANIEEELLL!!!

[zandro]

I havent said a lot, but this seems like the time to speak out

When 3dfx went down the drain some years ago so to speak, i put my 3dfx voodoo5 5500agp
in my drawer never to again see the light of day. But then one day while browsing the internett i stumbeld uppon 3dfxzone.it, and i again remeberd the voodoo that i left in the drawer for dead. I also stil had the old rig that it had "lived" in. So i took it out again and installed it downloaded MESA and the new XP compatible drivers
and suddely there was life again in the old voodoo5, the first thing i tried was serius sam and i was stunned by the speed and image quality that i got running 1280x1024, witch i never tought was possible, but yet it worked, and got improved over time to the level that MESA has today it can now run doom3, om sure i anyone had claimed something like that a year ago they would probably end up a month or two in the "puzzlehouse" , but daniel proved that you dont
need an army of engineers to manage such a deed, he took the voodoo cards to a level never before seen and managed to implemented features that no one thougt possible. So in my graditude i have something to offer as an parting gift.. and i hope that he will
share it with you

thanks for all your support and devotion to us, erm and our voodoo cards

An sneak peak of the parting gift
Image Insert:

22.31 KB

Update: hmm didnt work guess i have to put up a mirror then..

[Anemos]

I Just want to express my gratitude to  Daniel Borca ,
Ok  I kept the V2 for sentimental reasons (as well my C64) in a drawer (a v3 and a V1 i also had  where donated-given  ).
 But Mr Borca `s  exceelent work was the reason why,
I put it out of the drawer and put it back  in a pc slot in my computer  again (where  its still is) .
 
Thank you Mr Borca .  
 

[agrelaphon]

Hi to all and merry christmas:D
Anyone noticed Q3Arena brightness control not functional with latest mesafx pre-release? (9-12-2004)

[r21vo]

today i was playing again with 3dfx stuff (it's kinda fun again and again.. ) and decided to look if newer mesafx is available. Interesting that in mesafx section in this site is clearly written "Newer MesaFX release v. 6.2 is on line and downloadable from common files  section." but when it comes to downloads there are only 6.1.0.8 version..
got to the dborca's site and found two newer versions (6.3.0.1) - released on 02-nov-2004 and 09-dec-2004. There is written that the second one include icd and can be a replace to 3dfxogl.dll. Actually it's kinda confusing - why there are 2 seperate files 3dfxogl.dll and opengl32.dll? And what does the "ICD" thing change?

Also I've some questions about glide - why in driver packs there are standart glide3.dll, but when I want to install mesafx I have to install different glide3.dll? Which of them is faster?

Also a bit confusing about amigamerlin drivers, if it uses sfft d3d core and mesafx isn't included by default then which part did amigamerlin make? only inf mods and that's it?

about 3dfx driver sources.. dborca said they are at sourceforge glide development project, but when comparing the leaked sources to those ones it doesn't seem right. original sources are much bigger. maybe they left only critical files to build glide dll? or what we see there are files from glide sources which 3dfx released to linux. confusing :/ i assume then the only ones who have sources are the current developers and opensource thing is a myth.. can somebody explain me in plain english the situation?
about mesafx, what about it's sources? afaik mesa3d on which is it based is opensource, but main mesafx developer was dborca cooperating with amigamerlin and koolsmoky, don't know in detail.

I need someone to clear these things for me, it gets kinda confusing for me.. :/

[agrelaphon]

why there are 2 seperate files 3dfxogl.dll and opengl32.dll? And what does the "ICD" thing change?

I think it means you can rename opengl32.dll from mesafx to 3dfxogl.dll and replace it, but I tried that and it didn't work[xx(]
-About glide3x: I use the one included in the latest Amigamerlin drivers (date 5-10-04) and it's the most fast and compatible[8D]
Oh, and another thing. I benched mesafx 6.3.0.1 (9-12-04)
and it's fast-fast-fast (in Quake3A). It beats everything[:0].Too bad it's so damned dark!
...using a V3, by theway
ciao

[Amigamerlin]

Originally posted by r21vo

today i was playing again with 3dfx stuff (it's kinda fun again and again.. ) and decided to look if newer mesafx is available. Interesting that in mesafx section in this site is clearly written "Newer MesaFX release v. 6.2 is on line and downloadable from common files  section." but when it comes to downloads there are only 6.1.0.8 version..

MesaFx 6.2.0.2 was distributed only with Amigamerlin 3.1 and Amigamerlin 3.1 R1 Package. So download it and you can find the mesafx 6.2

got to the dborca's site and found two newer versions (6.3.0.1) - released on 02-nov-2004 and 09-dec-2004. There is written that the second one include icd and can be a replace to 3dfxogl.dll. Actually it's kinda confusing - why there are 2 seperate files 3dfxogl.dll and opengl32.dll? And what does the "ICD" thing change?

This mean that you can replace the original 3dfxogl.dll with the newer MesaFx that can be used as ICD. In the past this is not allowed. In the next release of Amigamerlin Driver, MesaFx will be installed as Default ICD (replacing by default the original and old 3dfxogl.dll)
This package will not contain any 3dfx original file.

Also I've some questions about glide - why in driver packs there are standart glide3.dll, but when I want to install mesafx I have to install different glide3.dll? Which of them is faster?

With the current MesaFX You can use wichver glide3x you want or you prefere. I suggest you the one distributed with amigamerlin package.

Also a bit confusing about amigamerlin drivers, if it uses sfft d3d core and mesafx isn't included by default then which part did amigamerlin make? only inf mods and that's it?

Yes, .inf modification; Amigamerlin package use non standard inf file and add some tweak and non standard Reg like Temporal AA or screenshot toggle that can be enabled by tools.

about 3dfx driver sources.. dborca said they are at sourceforge glide development project, but when comparing the leaked sources to those ones it doesn't seem right. original sources are much bigger. maybe they left only critical files to build glide dll? or what we see there are files from glide sources which 3dfx released to linux. confusing :/ i assume then the only ones who have sources are the current developers and opensource thing is a myth.. can somebody explain me in plain english the situation?

About glide you can find the lastest glide source in the glide-devel-branch on sourceforge.

about mesafx, what about it's sources? afaik mesa3d on which is it based is opensource, but main mesafx developer was dborca cooperating with amigamerlin and koolsmoky, don't know in detail.
I need someone to clear these things for me, it gets kinda confusing for me.. :/

I think Daniel can explain this much better than me; Anyway Koolsmoky is a Mesa developer, Daniel is a Mesa developer, me only an Hardware engineer .

Bye

[r21vo]

@agrelaphon: how big is difference in fps ?

I tried to replace 3dfxogl.dll with mesafx 6.3.0.1 (w icd) but when i tried to run glview it crashed. throwing that dll into glview dir works and it doesn't crash.

in 6.1.0.8 mesafx there were 6 glide3x.dll:
* regular one
* with TAA support
* for voodoo2
* for banshee
* for Blood raine game
* original one

why there are so many versions (ok for each voodoo board it's normal, but why there are one with TAA support, one for blood raine game, original one)? There must be one that works better than all others, aren't ?

also can you tell which files i need to overwrite from sfft latest alpha to amigamerlin driver pack to have amigamerlin drivers with latest sftt core? i guess 3dfxvs.dll, 3dfxvs.dx7, 3dfxvsm.sys?

[agrelaphon]

r21vo, hi:D
I did tests with Q3Ademo, 1024res, demo001

-Wickedgl 3.02 (hi-res) About 39fps
-3dfx icd761 ~40fps
-Mesafx 6.3.0.1 ~41fps

All this on a PIII@840, V3 3000.
Wickedgl had the sweetest (and brightest) image in my opinion, icd was somehow redish. I don't know, maybe it's supposed to be this way.
Mesafx wins by 1fps in the demo, but in game is up to 10fps faster in open places[:0]. It's just that the brightness control isn't working with it[xx(]
In other Q3 based games (sof2), wickedgl is faster.

also can you tell which files i need to overwrite from sfft latest alpha to amigamerlin driver pack to have amigamerlin drivers with latest sftt core? i guess 3dfxvs.dll, 3dfxvs.dx7, 3dfxvsm.sys?

3dfxvs.dll and 3dfxvsm.sys             ciao

[ggab]

Originally posted by r21vo

@agrelaphon: how big is difference in fps ?

I tried to replace 3dfxogl.dll with mesafx 6.3.0.1 (w icd) but when i tried to run glview it crashed. throwing that dll into glview dir works and it doesn't crash.

in 6.1.0.8 mesafx there were 6 glide3x.dll:
* regular one
* with TAA support
* for voodoo2
* for banshee
* for Blood raine game
* original one

why there are so many versions (ok for each voodoo board it's normal, but why there are one with TAA support, one for blood raine game, original one)? There must be one that works better than all others, aren't ?

AM said :
With the current MesaFX You can use wichver glide3x you want or you prefere. I suggest you the one distributed with amigamerlin package.

So, mesafx 6.3.0.1 (w icd) + glide3x OCT 2004, will do the job very well

Originally posted by r21vo
also can you tell which files i need to overwrite from sfft latest alpha to amigamerlin driver pack to have amigamerlin drivers with latest sftt core? i guess 3dfxvs.dll, 3dfxvs.dx7, 3dfxvsm.sys?

yes, just both 3dfxvs.dll & 3dfxvsm.sys

[r21vo]

then, what for is there 3dfxvs.dx7 ? it's a dx7 driver which can be enabled with SetDX7Mode.exe, right?

Edit:
re-reading all this thread from start to end (it took many hours...) explained many things to me. About mesafx sources, they are actually at mesa cvs @ freedesktop.org ?

Also i recently downloaded glexcess and tested various versions of mesafx - with original 3dfx icd (761) score was the biggest - 3495. the newer version of mesafx i tried, score decreased. With most recent mesafx (09-dec-2004; pre-release) i got 2848. Also i'd like to add that with original icd there were some minor glitches and bump-mapping scene run very slowly (~1 fps at end of scene - with mesafx there was about 50-60fps ) while mesafx releases did all tests very well. Maybe it's because newest mesafx have more features which glexcess use and that is a reason of score decrease?

[SuperFurryFurryThing]

3dfxvs.dx7 is a very old dx7 only build that I forgot to delete. I will delete it from the install sets if I remember.

SFFT

[secretfj]

Originally posted by r21vo

then, what for is there 3dfxvs.dx7 ? it's a dx7 driver which can be enabled with SetDX7Mode.exe, right?

Edit:
re-reading all this thread from start to end (it took many hours...) explained many things to me. About mesafx sources, they are actually at mesa cvs @ freedesktop.org ?

Also i recently downloaded glexcess and tested various versions of mesafx - with original 3dfx icd (761) score was the biggest - 3495. the newer version of mesafx i tried, score decreased. With most recent mesafx (09-dec-2004; pre-release) i got 2848. Also i'd like to add that with original icd there were some minor glitches and bump-mapping scene run very slowly (~1 fps at end of scene - with mesafx there was about 50-60fps ) while mesafx releases did all tests very well. Maybe it's because newest mesafx have more features which glexcess use and that is a reason of score decrease?

Actually without MESAFX, a lot of effects and eyecandies in GLExcess will loss

[r21vo]

maybe you can suggest a benchmark to compare changes made in mesafx? For example i'd like to see which tests couldn't be done, because lack of support..