Welcome, Guest. Please Login 3dfx Archive
 
  HomeHelpSearchLogin  
 
Page Index Toggle Pages: 1
Send Topic Print
MVCE project: Opinions wanted. (Read 185 times)
blueshogun96
YaBB Newbies
*
Offline


I Love YaBB 2!

Posts: 28
MVCE project: Opinions wanted.
30.12.09 at 23:17:56
 
Hey, first I'd like to say thanks to everyone who made falconfly.de what it is today.  I never knew that such dedication to the greatest video cards in the world could ever exist.  I also never thought I'd find so many great docs on how 3Dfx Voodoo cards work.

What is MVCE?  This is a project that I work on in my spare time and it's the first time I've ever talked publicly about this TBH.  MVCE stands for Multiple Video Card Emulator.  The goal of the MVCE project is a PC emulator which allows the user to choose what video card they want to emulate with it.  Although it's not functional yet, so far, it only supports 3Dfx and NVIDIA cards.

1. 3Dfx Voodoo1 (SST-1)
2. NVIDIA Riva128 (NV03)

I have plans to do more, but I want to get it working before adding any more right now.  You might be saying, "Why not just get a GlideWrapper"?  Well, it's not really the glide part that motivates me to write this, but the fact that it's becoming more and more painful to play classic games on modern versions of Windows.  Some of my games (such as Final Racing) will not run at all on any OS later than Win98 and require 3D acceleration.  I'd like to be able to play those games again without having to rely on my old PC (which currently needs a monitor and a new HDD).  Also, I'm like the idea of emulating things and there isn't much emulating 3Dfx chipsets and nothing emulating NVIDIA chipsets either.

So, what would you say about this type of project?  I can't guarantee I'll have time to finish it, but so far the 3Dfx part wouldn't have been possible without this website's awesome archive!  Thanks.
Back to top
 
 
IP Logged
 
Rolo01
Full Member
***
Offline



Posts: 191
Re: MVCE project: Opinions wanted.
Reply #1 - 30.12.09 at 23:48:38
 
I like the idea.
Let us know in case anybody could be of any help.
What is the current status of your project ?
Back to top
 

...
 
IP Logged
 
ps47
God Member
*****
Offline


Keeper of the 3Dfx Helppage

Posts: 988
Slovakia,central Europe
Gender: male
Re: MVCE project: Opinions wanted.
Reply #2 - 30.12.09 at 23:48:51
 
a virtual voodoo card? hell yeah,but this will be a ton of work.
Back to top
 
296989413  
IP Logged
 
exxe
God Member
*****
Offline


^^

Posts: 1316
germany
Re: MVCE project: Opinions wanted.
Reply #3 - 30.12.09 at 23:57:40
 
sounds not so efficient, to emulate a hardware like a v1 you will need at least 2GHz CPU power
Back to top
 

...
WWW 233274082  
IP Logged
 
RaverX
God Member
*****
Offline


Voodoo2 fan

Posts: 533
Oradea, Romania
Gender: male
Re: MVCE project: Opinions wanted.
Reply #4 - 31.12.09 at 00:54:14
 
Hmm, it's interesting, but... under what OS will this work ? It's no use to emulate something in Windows XP and the game needs to run in DOS, I bet that the game won't run.

How skilled are you and how you plan to do this emulator ? High level language ? (aka C++, Delphi ?) DotNetFX ? Or rather go ASM ?
Back to top
 
 
IP Logged
 
blueshogun96
YaBB Newbies
*
Offline


I Love YaBB 2!

Posts: 28
Re: MVCE project: Opinions wanted.
Reply #5 - 31.12.09 at 04:37:03
 
Rolo01 wrote on 30.12.09 at 23:48:38:
I like the idea.
Let us know in case anybody could be of any help.
What is the current status of your project ?

It's in the very early stages.  I'm currently trying to learn how to use Intel VMX or possibly using an existing Pentium emulator.

ps47 wrote on 30.12.09 at 23:48:51:
a virtual voodoo card? hell yeah,but this will be a ton of work.

So far, the older 3Dfx Voodoo cards have a simple register set and documentation is abundant.  It's the NVIDIA part that will be more difficult.

exxe wrote on 30.12.09 at 23:57:40:
sounds not so efficient, to emulate a hardware like a v1 you will need at least 2GHz CPU power

Not really.  Since The Voodoo1 (SST-1) only supports 3D HAL (not T&L), that makes things much easier than let's say for instance a GeForce 256.  So far, texturing appears to be the biggest challenge.  Also since the SST-1 uses a linear frame buffer, that makes things much easier as well.

RaverX wrote on 31.12.09 at 00:54:14:
Hmm, it's interesting, but... under what OS will this work ? It's no use to emulate something in Windows XP and the game needs to run in DOS, I bet that the game won't run.

How skilled are you and how you plan to do this emulator ? High level language ? (aka C++, Delphi ?) DotNetFX ? Or rather go ASM ?

I wanted to use Direct3D 9.0b so that it can be run even on Windows 98.  Depending on the implementation and what other hardware is emulated besides the 3Dfx/NVIDIA part, the requirements can be as high or a low as you need them to be.  I'm sure it will run fine on a Pentium IV, and I wouldn't recommend anything under a Pentium III (1 GHz).  I also wanted to make the amount of RAM, CPU speed and other things configurable to the user's liking.  Since this is going to [technically] be a PC emulator, you can run the guest OS in another window so you won't have to worry about your game requiring DOS to run.  Think of it as VirtualPC with a Voodoo inside.

So far, MVCE is primarily written in C/C++ and I do plan to use a bit of ASM here and there.  I've been programming in C++ since 2003 and I'm also experienced (but not the best) with Direct3D and OpenGL.  For this, I prefer Direct3D.  I'm also an active contributor to the Cxbx project (http://www.caustik.com/cxbx).

I can't guarantee I can finish the project since I'm a busy man IRL, but I really want to give this a go.  So if you all like the idea, I'll continue working on it.
Back to top
 
 
IP Logged
 
Page Index Toggle Pages: 1
Send Topic Print