total newbie question

Started by pongasaurus, 11 February 2004, 21:38:21

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pongasaurus

I'm totally new to this... please try not to laugh, I'm still running WIN98SE on a 550Mhz PIII, nvidia RIVA TNT2/Pro(with latest driver 53.04) and Direct X9.0b.  I downloaded the indiana jones emperor's tomb demo, and it requires TnL cards and the lucas site says that game does not support TNT2 cards.  Then I came across this bad ass 3D-Analyze (ver 2.31) software, and thought I might be saved.

I get the error message "couldn't open game library 'R_D3D.dll'.  Make sure game parameter is set and the file is present in your \Bin Directory."  I did verify that file does exist in the demo bin directory.

My question: Am I totally insane and need to upgrade my graphic card/PC?  Or is there an additional software trick I need to get the demo to run?

Many thanks.
 

amp_man

Well, if you have the means to, I would suggest a new card, a GF2 (non-MX) is a good cheap card if you can get ahold of one that would go well into your system.

You might have to set up 3d-analyze to run the r_d3d.dll as a pre-executable or something, I'm not entirely sure. What are the minimum requirements for the game, and how much ram does the TNT have (8mb normally, I think)
When the sun goes down, the music turns up...

Windows XP Pro|Athlon XP 1800+|Voodoo 5 5500 AGP|MSI K7T266-A|768MB DDR 2700 RAM|SonicEdge 5.1 Sound Card

ArchAngelCD

Sounds like you will need to change the video card.
I don't know where you live so I don't know what prices to quote.
I don't know what your budget for a card is but the ATI Radeon cards are very good. The Radeon 8500/128 is going for ~$40 US on Ebay. If you prefer to stay with nVidia cards you might try and get a GeForce4 Ti4xxx off of Ebay for around $60~$75 US... You can find a GeForce3 Ti200 for around $20~$25 US... I wouldn't get a GeForce2 because they aren't much better than your TNT2. The GF3 Ti200 will run very well in your PIII 550 and if your on a very tight budget, that's probably your best choice.

Good luck...
____________________________

Asus P4P800 i865PE | Intel 3.2 GHz P4C | 2048 Mb Kingston PC3200 Dual Channel DDR SRAM | 160 Gb Western Digital SATA HD | NEC ND-3520 16X DVD-RW | WinXP Pro SP2 | ATI Radeon X850 Pro | 6-channel AD1985 audio CODEC | 3Com 3C940 Gigabit LAN | Diamond Monster 3D II 24Mb SLI

Rolo01

A Geforce2 ( maybe Pro or Ultra ) isnt that bad.
It has more then double the speed of a TNT2 plus Hardware T&L.
If you can get a cheap one of ebay, give it a try...
 

pongasaurus

Thanks for the advice.  Do I understand correctly, the 3D-Analyze will not work with my system/card?  Or is it this particular demo?

I'm not sure a new card will help with my slow processor speed.  The game itself specifies 733 MHz minimum.  For the demo, I wasn't too concerned about it running slow, or really the quality of the graphics - I only wanted to give it a go and see what it is like.  I enjoyed the first one (infernal machine).

Anyway, I'm based in the UK for a couple more years, and don't have the scratch to replace the whole system yet.  Again thanks for the advice.
 

amp_man

What are the minimum requirements for the video card for the game? I would also suggest a faster CPU, just bought a P3 850 from ebay for less than $50, and since you are quite a bit below the minimum required CPU speed, it would be a good idea. Or you can keep the new CPU idea in the back of your head and just overclock your current CPU, if you could get the FSB on the CPU up to 133, it would be a speed of 731.5MHz, and if it fails/dies, be prepared to buy a new CPU anyways. If you have no clue as to what I'm talking about though, that would be a bad idea, I accept no responsability for your actions.
When the sun goes down, the music turns up...

Windows XP Pro|Athlon XP 1800+|Voodoo 5 5500 AGP|MSI K7T266-A|768MB DDR 2700 RAM|SonicEdge 5.1 Sound Card

ArchAngelCD

I guessed you were a little tight on cash when you said you were still running a PIII 550. Hey, that's not that bad of a system if you have at least 256Mb RAM on the board. Ebay is great when you are on a tight budget. Look for a GeForce 3 Ti200 because it will run in your system and provide a noticeable increase your system performance. You might be able to find a PIII 800 or higher on Ebay for very little cash too.
There is a Ti200/64 on Ebay right now http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2787420815&category=27387
And a PIII 733 slot1 CPU that's @ £25 right now http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3458885543&category=14292

Look on Ebay and you will find what you need cheap. (the links I provided are from Ebay UK)
____________________________

Asus P4P800 i865PE | Intel 3.2 GHz P4C | 2048 Mb Kingston PC3200 Dual Channel DDR SRAM | 160 Gb Western Digital SATA HD | NEC ND-3520 16X DVD-RW | WinXP Pro SP2 | ATI Radeon X850 Pro | 6-channel AD1985 audio CODEC | 3Com 3C940 Gigabit LAN | Diamond Monster 3D II 24Mb SLI

pgrqhotmail

Hi pongasaurus,

I am having exactly the same problem. How did you solve it in the end? Is there a way to set up 3D Analyze to run the dll as a pre-executable file? Have you found any other software? Did you get a GF2? Did it work?

Thanks