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

Started by Glide, 22 May 2004, 17:02:06

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Rastignac

The problem with ZsnesW can be half-solved with set4tile.exe / set4tile.exe
With Set3tile: windowed mode = more than 60 fps; fullscreen = less than 10 fps.
With Set4tile: windowed mode = more than 60 fps; fullscreen = less than 50 fps.
So, there's still a big performance difference, but that's better.
 

Raff3DC

#1036
Hmm ... I have a serious problem with the Alpha 38 when using my Voodoo3 2000 PCI. In many games there are almost no textures. Look:

Comanche 4 Demo


Gothic 2 – DNotR


Doesn't look nice at all. ;) But I remember all of these games to be ok in the past, with other drivers.

I've tried Texture Management On and Off with the same result. Beside that: could you explain what TM exactly does? I'm curious about that. :)

Und what are these strange exe's lying around in the driver's folder for? Set3Tile, Set4Tile SetDX7Mode and SetDX8Mode. Could you give a short explanation for them ... and a recommendation which to use when?

Thx in advance and greetings from Germany,
Raff
The biggest Voodoo5 6000 test ever: http://3dcenter.de/artikel/voodoo5-6000/

Rastignac

I've done a few more tests dealing with ZsnesW strange problems.

- Before starting ZsnesW, use set4tile.exe (because set3tile.exe causes major performance drop).
- Let's test this mode: full screen / 1024x768 / keep ratio / no filters.
- You get less than 50 fps (out of 60), and high cpu eating.
- Now, stay in that mode and add a graphical filter. The logic says "it should be slower" (because more things to compute = slower). So we will test the different filters (2xSai, 2xEagle, etc) to see their impact.
- With some of these filters, you've now got 60 fps (out of 60) with lower cpu eating.

It seems than the difference is the color depth. The rendering seems to use a difference depth depending on the use of filters or not.
- No filter = ZsnesW does 8 bits rendering (256 colors).
- With filter = ZsnesW does 16 (or more) bits rendering.
The performance difference seems quite big between the two.

Thanks.
 

Rolo01

I tried Battle for Middle Earth 1 with SFFT Alpha 38 ( WinXP ) and noticed that the letters in the menu and on the buttons are messed up ( not readable ). This was working in Alpha 36 I think.
When entering a game ( intro works ) I got this error box :
Image Insert:

112.84 KB

When I tried to run Call of Duty 2 I got this :
Image Insert:

24.15 KB

System :
Pentium4-EE-3400
1024 MB
Voodoo4 PCI
 

SuperFurryFurryThing

Commanche 4 works as well as it has done with any of the drivers, there are always some textures missing on a Voodoo 3, although it works ok on a V4/5. You may have an installation problem, it doesn't look that bad ona  V3 when I tested it.

Some games won't run in fullscreen in D3D mode if you don't run in 4 tile mode. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets shows this behaviour. This may account for Unreal Tournament only running in a window.

SFFT
 

Raff3DC

Well, it's around 5 years ago when I played Comanche4 on my Voodoo3 ... and there were some green textures. :D

Alpha 39 is out! Any release notes (so that I know what to test)? =)

Greetings,
Raff
The biggest Voodoo5 6000 test ever: http://3dcenter.de/artikel/voodoo5-6000/

SuperFurryFurryThing

You are supposed to test all of it, its called regresion testing.

SFFT
 

Rastignac

I have a lot of BSOD (blue screen of death) with Alpha38 (with a Voodoo3 PCI 2000 with XPSP1).
Sometimes, I'm just working (2D stuff, like Firefox, cmd.exe, eudora.exe) (nothing 3D) and my computer reboots itself (quick bsod + instant reboot). I can't do anything. (And I have no trace at all: nothing is written because the computer dies at once).
Most of the times, the computer just reboots during XP's boot. I switch on the computer, XP begins to boot, and when the desktop should appear, the machine reboots (quick bsod + instant reboot). And then it reboots ad libidum (during hours if I don't stop that). I must then do a few hacks to "cure" the computer (like forcing XP into VGA, so it boots, and then reinstall SFFT's drivers).
I'm now using Alpha39, and the same things occurs. I'll try to have a good trace / dump, but that'll be hard...
 

in3d

#1043
QuoteOriginally posted by Raff3DC

Impressive! :)
World of WarCraft is absolutely "clean" with the Alpha 38 – no texture corruption anymore! But I don't know whether it worked already with the Alpha 37 (or less)...

We can know what is the System config. and OS you use for this please ?

Thenks.:)
My system: GA-8SMML Motherboard, P4 1.7Ghz, 256MB SDRAM, Voodoo5 5500 AGP, Win XP Pro.

benna

alpha39 solved a bug present in previous releases:
sometimes Worms Armageddon had a palette distortion in menus and ingame, tipically rainbow sky and inverted weapons colors
that bug appeared while playing
Good job!
my PC:
AMD Athlon64 3200+ - ASUS K8V-Deluxe - 1GB DDR400 - 3DFX Voodoo 5 5500 PCI

3DAnalyze user guide http://www.3dfxzone.it/dir/articles/template.php?id=5

in3d

#1045
Hi again,

I put some of my 3DMark2001 SE scores, All settings are by default!

Amigamerlin 3.1 R11 (Fastest Performance): 1608 3D marks.
Sfft alpha 33 (+ 3dfx Tools -> Fastest Performance): 1249 3D marks.
Sfft alpha 39 (+ 3dfx Tools -> Fastest Performance): 1289 3D marks.

My system: GA-8SMML Motherboard, P4 1.7Ghz, 256MB SDRAM, Voodoo5 5500 AGP, Win XP Pro.

roflkopp

#1046
SFFT Alpha 38 & 39 refuse to run LFS2 with 1024x768x16 4xAA. PC reboots instantly. On any other SFFT from 29 to 37 the game runs perfect with my voodoo5 5500 pci.
 


Rolo01

 

in3d

#1049
QuoteOriginally posted by ggab

i have tried AM3.1r11 + sfft37 in my v4500 +latest zsnesWIP, all right.......
in 640*480 DS F...
AM3.1r11 + sfft37 [?]

How to make that ? It is possible with sfft 39 ?

Thenks.

Edit:
I noticed that Sfft alpha 39(+ 3dfxTools) is more stable in Windows XP (no crashes), but the screen is
a lot more tiresome for the eyes than Am3.1 r11.[xx(]

I used the same screen resolution for the two: 800x600 32bit 85Hz.

How can you explain that ?

My system: GA-8SMML Motherboard, P4 1.7Ghz, 256MB SDRAM, Voodoo5 5500 AGP, Win XP Pro.