Hehe, I was bored, so I took a Voodoo2 8MB, and put it into an AthlonXP 2400+/KT400 Machine ;D

Using Win98SE, and the FastVoodoo2 V3.0 Driver, things like Unreal Tournament (Glide) or 3D Mark 99/2000/2001SE (Direct3D) ran quite flawless :)

I wanted to see where the absolute limits are, and hand-configured UT2003 V2225 to use the Secondary Adapter instead of the Primary.

The result was quite surprising :

The Voodoo2 did correctly launch the Game :o
(I honestly did not expect that)

However, everthing in-game (intro for example) appears almost completely untextured.
Once a level is loaded, there are also the well-known, disturbing "error Triangles", a clear indication of a Driver's DirectX8 incompatibility. Once they appear, the Game is extremely unstable and crash-prone...

But still, with a Driver fix I have no doubt a Voodoo2 (preferrably a 12MB variant though) could run the Game on Low Detail settings, a fast CPU provided...

oh! :o, it shows the power of the 3dfx cards. :D

...when i understand the Voodoo² SLI Mode right it has no effect on texture memory. So even with 2 12MB Voodoo²'s you still have 8MB texture memory.

Regards,
Andreas

Yes, I tested UT 2003 with a Voodoo Banshee and I had the same technical problems, no game entering. I believe it has not to be especially with not enough video memory (16Mb), but more with not enough Dx8.1 capabilities. In other DX8 games: GTA3, problems with not showing textures appear...

Hm, I wonder if the DirectX/D3D Core of the NuDriver5 (which works perfect for Voodoo3/4/5) would work on the Banshee ?

After all, alot of Linux Drivers combine Voodoo3 and Banshee...

And addition for my Voodoo2 test I did there :

I also ran DXdiag from DirectX9.0.

Strangely, the DX7 test failed with that Driver, but DX8 and DX9 tests completed successfully ;)

Just a thing to keep in mind when hearing promises about DX8 or DX9 compatibilities, that can be a very eluring statement ;)

With the normal Banshee drivers (1.04.00 I think) I was able to run all the DxDiag tests and no problems with it. I tested also the Xpentor Banshee drivers and, of all the drivers I tested, those were the most strange ones: no changes, in no aspects after installing them...curious.
What I always dreamed of, even if it sound strange, is to use the Voodoo5 drivers on my Banshee, and force them to do S3TC,DXT1,FXT texture compression, effects like Motion Blur and FSAA4x or 8x. Even if everything would slow down to 4-5fps or less, it would be for sure one of my best experiences with my Banshee.
It would be a dream to become true, if such a thing would become available. Photorealistic quality is always what I dreamed to have on my computer. And only a Voodoo would be capable of this...
Anyone knows something like this?

Andrei.

FalconFly said:

Quote:

I also ran DXdiag from DirectX9.0. Strangely, the DX7 test failed with that Driver, but DX8 and DX9 tests completed successfully

Under DirectX 9 the DX7 test fails.  But I think you'll find that the reason the DX8 and DX9 tests work is that they are actually running on your primary card (to test this set your Voodoo2 to a distinctive refresh rate or else disconnect it entirely).  In other words, under DirectX 9, all of the DXDiag tests fail to work on the Voodoo2.  This is a shame as they all worked perfectly under DirectX 8.  This is yet more evidence of Microsoft's dropping of support for Windows 9* since, even under DirectX 9, Direct3D games still work perfectly well on Voodoo2s under Windows 98/98SE/ME.

It's a shame since I used DXDiag for online troubleshooting of people's Voodoo2 driver issues.  :(

Yep, I've read about that odd behaviour...

Very strange, since DXdiag should be limited to use only the selected adapter only :P

Oh well, it's a DirectX6 Card, I guess that's just as good as it gets.