Okay, I'm recovering from a NVidia Vanta LT (may it burn in... I mean, rest in peace) and when it blew last night my b/f gave me his old voodoo3 card. I'm running WinME, and most of my games require DirectX9. I've been searching all over for drivers, but sites all have either broken links or the d/ls won't install. :o I finally found this site and got all excited, but there doesn't seem to be anything even remotely recent for WinME. Is there anything newer for ME, or am I just completely S.O.L.?  ???

Use the Win95 & Win98 drivers.

Win98 drivers indeed. Windows ME is based upon Windows 9x technology.
Most of the software (read: drivers) written for Windows 9x will work on ME  :)

Another option would be, get Windows '98 instead of Windows ME. Maybe you can buy a license somewhere. Second hand it won't be that expensive. For Windows '98 you can get "support" like the Unofficial Windows 98 service packs. Those are a great addition and will make Windows '98 work and look better  :)

I'm waiting for Vista, so I'm not going to get 98, although that wouldn't be a bad idea otherwise.

I found one that seems to work, but now I have this message about missing a 3dfxcmn.dll. I found the same answer to fix it on like a million sites, but none of it seems to be in english. (I have no idea what they're talking about. :P)

And I still can't install DirectX9... go figure.  ::)

voodoo3 and DX9 dont mix well.there is some basic support in the latest SFFT drivers for win2000/xp (if the game requires only a DX8.1/DX9 compliant driver and doesnt need all the fancy stuff like pixel shaders,there is a chance it will run).but if you are running win9x,you are screwed,the latest driver is only DX7 compliant..

what games are you trying to run?

the best driver to install for ME is the Amegamerlin 2.9 drivers and then maybe go with DX 8.1 unless you absolutely need to install DX 9 for some reason. Should work just fine for you doing it that way.

The main one is sims 2 (I'm up to Nightlife and it won't even open without 9.) I've got a driver that someone else said they were running with 9, but now the directx installer is giving me some wierd error.

In my opinion the best driver for Win9x systems is the NuAngel5 driver. It is based on the beta core from Feb. 2001.

The nightmare continues... I've installed  directX9, and been running it successfully, but games claim there is a problem with Direct3D (which tests perfectly and is enabled), and dxdiag pops up two errors while loading, but works anyways.  :P

Here are the error messages, if anyone can maybe help with the newest set of problems.

"Error: Problem getting extra sound info, result code = 0x80004005 (Generic failure)" <~~possibly unrelated dxdiag error (says sound, and my problem seems to be graphics)

"Error: Problem getting network info, result code = 0x80004003 (Generic failure)" <~~possibly unrelated dxdiag error 2 (just appeared when I ran diagnostics to recreate the first error. grrr... -=sighs=-)

and

"Failed to initialize Direct3D. Please make sure DirectX 9.0c has been installed on this system. The application will now terminate." <~~The one I get when opening the game. I'm running the newest version of directx straight from Microsoft.com as of about 14 hours ago. Direct3D is enabled and passes all tests.

wrote on 05.05.06 at 15:32:01:

what games are you trying to run?

edit: me dope should read posts more carefully,and not post at 2:00AM myself ::)

system requirements for Sims 2:

If you have a T&L capable video card with at least 32 MB of video RAM then you need at least:
800 MHz processor or better
256 MB RAM if Windows XP, Windows ME, Windows 98 or Windows 2000
At least 3.5 GB of hard drive space

*If you have a non-T&L capable video card (an Intel Extreme Graphics or a Radeon 7000/VE Series) then you need at least:
2.0 GHz processor or better
256 MB RAM if Windows XP, Windows ME, Windows 98, or Windows 2000
At least 3.5 GB of hard drive space

From this, I'm not sure if the 32 megs on the video card is required still or not but this is what I pulled up.

Supported video cards (and the more video memory the better):

ATI RadeonTM series (7000 or better)
Radeon 7000/VE series (non-T&L; requires 2.0 GHz processor)
7200, 7500
8500, All-In-Wonder 8500
9000, 9200, 9500, 9600, 9700, 9800
X300, X600, X800

Nvidia® QuadroTM series
Quadro, Quadro2, Quadro4

Nvidia® Geforce series (GeForce2 and better)
GeForce2
GeForce3, 3 Ti
GeForce4, 4Ti, MX 420, 440
GeForce FX 5200, 5600, 5700, 5800, 5900, 5950
GeForce 6600, 6800

Intel® Extreme Graphics (non-T&L; requires 2.0 GHz processor)
82845, 82865, 82915

Doesn't mean that the Voodoo's won't run it I know, but figured this could help as well.

This is min requirements for first Sims game

- Windows(r) 95, 98, 2000 or XP (Windows NT and Windows ME are not supported)
- 450 MHz or faster Intel(r) Pentium II(r) processor
- 128 MB RAM
- 4MB PCI or AGP video card capable of High Color (16-bit Color), 800x600 resolution display. It must have a DirectX 7.0 or later compatible driver.
- 4x CD-ROM drive using 32-bit Windows(r) 95/98 driver
- 1120 MB (or 1.12 GB) free hard disk space (additional space required for Windows(r) swap file)
- DirectX 7.0 (or higher) compatible sound card
- A keyboard, mouse, monitor and a power source.
- The Sims or The Sims Deluxe installed.

First time I've seen a game have support for 95/98 but not for ME.

What other games are you trying to run and what are the system specs for the rest of the machine? Would be a big help.

..sims2 is a no-go.it somewhat runs on a voodoo4/5 with the SFFT driver for win2000/xp,but I doubt it will ever run on a v3,the card is simply too old,not mentioning you dont have a DX8.1/9 compliant driver under winME as I mentioned before..you are attempting a heart bypass with kitchen knife here ;)

do as jandarsun8 says,post all your games and we will be able to tell you if they are going to run or not..and you may want to check that "game guide" link in my sig as well ;)

wrote on 05.05.06 at 03:02:50:

For Windows '98 you can get "support" like the Unofficial Windows 98 service packs.

Never heard of these, can you name a good one?

For Win98SE look here :
http://exuberant.ms11.net/98sesp.html

For Win98 First Edition there is an official Service Pack 1 from Microsoft.

wrote on 12.05.06 at 20:02:46:

For Win98SE look here : http://exuberant.ms11.net/98sesp.html For Win98 First Edition there is an official Service Pack 1 from Microsoft.

Thanks looks a bit complicated but after a bit of reading I’ve decided to go with the recommended install procedure from 98se2me which included the sp you recommended. Whish me luck :)

Until about last year I was running a V5 5500 PCI secondary to my Nvidia AGP. Had no problems with the 1.09 Beta10...but I had no reason to run DX9 on the rig, being only an AMD 900MHz T-Bird and only using the V5 to run Independence War 1 and glide mode in Driver (by Atari).

You know you could get something like a 9700 Pro or X800 for rather cheap off ebay nowadays...

DrCR