====== ReadMe ====== Quantum3D Obsidian(R)2 Professional Series Release 5P for Windows 9x Built 30-Jun-1999 Copyright(C)1998-1999 Quantum3D, Inc. All Rights Reserved. ===================================================================== Quantum3D, Inc. 6810 Santa Teresa Blvd. San Jose, California 95119-1205 Voice: +1 (408) 361-9998 Fax: +1 (408) 361-9980 Web Site: http://www.quantum3d.com Technical Support: support@quantum3d.com ===================================================================== This release includes drivers and utilities for the Obsidian2 90 and 200SB models of the Professional Series of graphics accelerators with Windows 95 and Windows 98. CONTENTS ======== I. Minimum System Requirements II. Base Drivers Features Notes III. Installation Procedures IV. Obsidian2 90 Models A. Windows 95 OSR 2 B. Windows 95 C. Windows 98 D. Notes on the Obsidian2 90-4440 AGPTV V. Obsidian2 200SB Models A. Windows 95 OSR 2 B. Windows 95 C. Windows 98 D. Notes on the Obsidian2 200SB Models VI. Microsoft DirectX Software Installation VII. Testing the Obsidian2 VIII. Software Utilities IX. Removing the Obsidian2 Drivers X. Frequently Asked Questions I. Minimum System Requirements ============================== - PCI 2.1 compliant system (AGP compliant for Obsidian2 90-4440 AGPTV) - Pentium(R) class or faster processor - 16MB of system memory - Available PCI expansion slot (ATX form factor recommended) (Available AGP expansion slot for Obsidian2 90-4440 AGPTV) - Windows 95 (or later) - DirectX 5.0 (or later) - Windows desktop (VGA) display adapter or MGV Companion VGA daughtercard (200SB models only) - VGA compatible monitor II. Base Driver Features Notes ============================== - The Obsidian2 90 models can operate at these video timings: Resolution Refresh Rate 512 x 384 72,75,85,120 Hz 640 x 400 70,75,85,120 Hz 640 x 480 60,75,85,120 Hz 800 x 600 60,75,85,120 Hz 960 x 720 60,75,85 Hz (90D-4440 ONLY) 1024 x 768 60,75,85 Hz (90D-4440 ONLY) - The Obsidian2 200SB models can operate at these video timings: Resolution Refresh Rate 512 x 384 72,75,85 Hz 640 x 400 70,75,85 Hz 640 x 480 60,75,85 Hz 800 x 600 60,75,85 Hz 960 x 720 60,75,85 Hz (Glide only) 1024 x 768 60,75,85 Hz - The Obsidian2's TV Output capabilities operate only when the Voodoo2 chip set is running and at these video timings: Resolution Refresh Rate Format Scan Option 640 x 480 60 Hz NTSC Overscan and Underscan 640 x 480 50 Hz PAL Overscan and Underscan 800 x 600 60 Hz NTSC Underscan 800 x 600 50 Hz PAL Overscan and Underscan III. Installation Procedures =========================== NOTE: Do not remove the previous driver before installation. The following driver update procedures assume the drivers are still installed. IV. OBSIDIAN2 90 Models ======================= A. Windows 95 OSR 2 ------------------- Follow the procedure below to install the drivers and utilities for the Obsidian2 90 Models. 1. Start Windows 95. 2. Open Control Panel. 3. Double click on System. The System Properties page will open. 4. Click on Device Manager. A tree of device type will be present. Click on "Display adapters, Secondary". You should see "Quantum3D Obsidian2 3D Graphics Card" listed. Double-click on it. NOTE: If you have installed two Obsidian2 90-4440 PCITV accelerators in an SLI configuration, you will see it listed twice. 5. Click on the Driver tab and then click the Update Driver button. The Update Device Driver Wizard will open. 6. Click on the Next button. 7. The Update Device Wizard will search for updated device drivers for the Obsidian2 and will prompt for other locations. 8. Click on the Other Locations button. The Select Other Location dialog will appear. 9. Click on Browse and select the directory you extracted the files to. The OK button will be unshaded. Click on the OK button. 10. Windows 95 will detect a Quantum3D Obsidian2 3D Graphics Card. Click on the Finish button. 11. You will then be prompted to restart the computer. Click on the Yes button. B. Windows 95 ---------------------- Follow the procedure below to install the drivers and utilities for the Obsidian2 90 Models. 1. Start Windows 95. 2. Open Control Panel. 3. Double click on System. The System Properties page will open. 4. Click on Device Manager. A tree of device type will be present. Click on "Display adapters, Secondary". You should see "Quantum3D Obsidian2 3D Graphics Card" listed. Double-click on it. NOTE: If you have installed two Obsidian2 90-4440 PCITV accelerators in an SLI configuration, you will see it listed twice. 5. Click on the Driver tab and then click the Update Driver button. The Update Device Driver Wizard will open. 6. Click on the Next button. 7. The Update Device Wizard will search for updated device drivers for the Obsidian2 and will prompt for other locations. 8. Click on the Other Locations button. The Select Other Location dialog will appear. 9. Click on Browse and select the directory you extracted the files to. The OK button will be unshaded. Click on the OK button. 10. Windows 95 will detect a Quantum3D Obsidian2 3D Graphics Card. Click on the Finish button. 11. You will then be prompted to restart the computer. Click on the Yes button. C. Windows 98 -------------- Follow the procedure below to install the drivers and utilities for the Obsidian2 90 Models. 1. Start Windows 95. 2. Open Control Panel. 3. Double click on System. The System Properties page will open. 4. Click on Device Manager. A tree of device type will be present. Click on "Display adapters, Secondary". You should see "Quantum3D Obsidian2 3D Graphics Card" listed. Double-click on it. NOTE: If you have installed two Obsidian2 90-4440 PCITV accelerators in an SLI configuration, you will see it listed twice. 5. Click on the Driver tab and then click the Update Driver button. The Update Device Driver Wizard will open. 6. Click on the Next button. 7. "Search for a better driver than the one your device is using now." should be selected. Click on the Next button. 8. Select Specify location. 9. Click on Browse and select the directory you extracted the driver files. The OK button will be unshaded. Click on the OK button. 10. Windows will find an updated driver and prompt which to install. Select the updated driver and click on the Next button. 11. Windows will detect a Quantum3D Obsidian2 3D Graphics Card. Click on the Next button. Windows will install the driver files. 12. Click on the Finish button. 13. You will then be prompted to restart the computer. Click on the Yes button. D. Notes on the Obsidian2 90-4440 AGPTV --------------------------------------- On some computers, you may notice a Memory Range Conflict in the "Conflicting device list" on the Resources tab of the Device Manager property sheet for the Obsidian2. This messages is expected and can be ignored. V. OBSIDIAN2 200SB Models ========================== A. Windows 95 OSR 2 ------------------- Follow the procedure below to install the drivers and utilities for the Obsidian2 200SB models. 1. Start Windows 95. 2. Open Control Panel. 3. Double click on System. The System Properties page will open. 4. Click on Device Manager. A tree of device type will be present. Click on "Display adapters, Secondary". You should see "Quantum3D Obsidian2 3D Graphics Card" listed. Double-click on it. NOTE: You will see Quantum3D Obsidian2 3D Graphics Card listed twice. 5. Click on the Driver tab and then click the Update Driver button. The Update Device Driver Wizard will open. 6. Click on the Next button. 7. The Update Device Wizard will search for updated device drivers for the Obsidian2 and will prompt for other locations. 8. Click on the Other Locations button. The Select Other Location dialog will appear. 9. Click on Browse and select the directory you extracted the files to. The OK button will be unshaded. Click on the OK button. 10. Windows 95 will detect a Quantum3D Obsidian2 3D Graphics Card. Click on the Finish button. 11. You will then be prompted to restart the computer. Click on the Yes button. B. Windows 95 ------------------- Follow the procedure below to install the drivers and utilities for the Obsidian2 200SB models. 1. Start Windows 95. 2. Open Control Panel. 3. Double click on System. The System Properties page will open. 4. Click on Device Manager. A tree of device type will be present. Click on "Display adapters, Secondary". You should see "Quantum3D Obsidian2 3D Graphics Card" listed. Double-click on it. NOTE: You will see Quantum3D Obsidian2 3D Graphics Card listed twice. 5. Click on the Driver tab and then click the Update Driver button. The Update Device Driver Wizard will open. 6. Click on the Next button. 7. The Update Device Wizard will search for updated device drivers for the Obsidian2 and will prompt for other locations. 8. Click on the Other Locations button. The Select Other Location dialog will appear. 9. Click on Browse and select the directory you extracted the files to. The OK button will be unshaded. Click on the OK button. 10. Windows 95 will detect a Quantum3D Obsidian2 3D Graphics Card. Click on the Finish button. 11. You will then be prompted to restart the computer. Click on the Yes button. C. Windows 98 -------------- Follow the procedure below to install the drivers and utilities for the Obsidian2 200SB models. 1. Start Windows 95. 2. Open Control Panel. 3. Double click on System. The System Properties page will open. 4. Click on Device Manager. A tree of device type will be present. Click on "Display adapters, Secondary". You should see "Quantum3D Obsidian2 3D Graphics Card" listed. Double-click on it. NOTE: You will see Quantum3D Obsidian2 3D Graphics Card listed twice. 5. Click on the Driver tab and then click the Update Driver button. The Update Device Driver Wizard will open. 6. Click on the Next button. 7. "Search for a better driver than the one your device is using now." should be selected. Click on the Next button. 8. Select Specify location. 9. Click on Browse and select the directory you extracted the driver files. The OK button will be unshaded. Click on the OK button. 10. Windows will find an updated driver and prompt which to install. Select the updated driver and click on the Next button. 11. Windows will detect a Quantum3D Obsidian2 3D Graphics Card. Click on the Next button. Windows will install the driver files. 12. Click on the Finish button. 13. You will then be prompted to restart the computer. Click on the Yes button. D. Notes on the Obsidian2 200SB Models -------------------------------------- You may decrease the chance of operational issues by verifying that you have the latest system BIOS for your motherboard from the motherboard manufacturer. Also, make sure that Windows is using the PCI bus defaults. To do this: 1. Double click on the System icon of Control Panel. 2. Select the Device Manager tab. 3. Double click on "System devices". 4. Double click on "PCI bus". The PCI bus Properties dialog will appear. 5. Select the Settings tab. 6. Click the "Set Defaults" button. 7. Click the OK button and restart if necessary. On some computers, you may notice in the "Conflicting device list" on the Resources tab of the Device Manager property sheet for the Obsidian2 a message of the form: Memory Range: xx000000-xxFFFFFF used by: PCI standard PCI-to-PCI bridge and a complementary message on the property sheet for the PCI Standard PCI-to-PCI Bridge device: Memory Range: xx000000-xxFFFFFF used by: Quantum3D Obsidian2 These messages are expected and can be ignored. VI. Microsoft DirectX Software Installation ============================================ Microsoft DirectX is required for Direct3D support with Windows 95 and Windows 98. Follow the procedure below to install DirectX. 1. Insert the Obsidian2 Installation CD into the CD-ROM drive. 2. From the START menu, select Programs and then Windows Explorer. Click on the CD-ROM drive in the All Folders panel. 3. Double click on the DIRECTX5 directory in the Contents panel. Double click on the file SETUP.EXE. Follow the instructions in the DirectX Installation Wizard. VII. Testing the Obsidian2 =========================== To verify that your Obsidian2 is operating properly, launch the Direct3D and Glide Test applets from the Obsidian2 tab in the Display Properties. 1. From the Start menu select Settings and then Control Panel. 2. Double click on the Display icon. The Display Properties will appear. Click on the Obsidian2 tab. 3. In the Direct3D section of the Obsidian2 tab, click on the Test button. The Direct3D test applet should appear on the screen at the default settings. NOTE: Direct3D is supported only under Windows 95 and Windows 98 and requires DirectX 5.0 or later to be installed. If DirectX is not installed, insert the Obsidian2 Installation CD, change to the DirectX subdirectory and double click on SETUP to install DirectX. 4. In the Glide section of the Obsidian2 tab, click on the Test button. The Glide test applet should appear on the screen at the default settings. If either the Direct3D or Glide applet does not appear on the screen, refer to Section 3: General Troubleshooting of the Obsidian2 Installation Guide, the Online Help or the Frequently Asked Questions section of the Driver Release Notes for additional assistance. VIII. Software Utilities ======================= During the Obsidian2 driver installation, a number of diagnostic utilities are installed under the following folder: C:\Program Files\Q3D\Obsidian.2P\Win95 This section describes the software utilities for the Obsidian2. GDETECT.EXE This utility runs from Windows and lists the PCI and AGP devices in the computer and what memory resources are used by each device. GMOJO.EXE This utility runs from Windows and displays the Obsidian2 accelerator information such as virtual base address, Vendor ID, chip revisions and more. In this information the Pixelfx2 and Texelfx2 chips are referred to as the FBI (Frame Buffer Interface) and TMU (Texture Mapping Unit) respectively. The following is a list of utilities that are designed to be run from the MS-DOS Prompt: DETECT.EXE MOJO.EXE GWHAT.EXE PASS.EXE PCIRW.EXE Q3DMTRR.EXE Another command line utility is Q3DINFUT.EXE, which is installed in %windir% . IX. Removing the Obsidian2 Drivers ==================================== 1. From the Start menu, select Settings, then Control Panel. 2. Double-click on Add/Remove Programs, select the Install/Uninstall tab. 3. Scroll through the list and select the Quantum3D Obsidian2 entry. 4. Click on the Add/Remove button. 5. Shutdown the computer. Remove the Obsidian2 accelerator from the computer. 6. When Windows is restarted, the last portion of the removal is done automatically. X. Frequently Asked Questions ============================== Q: When installing the Obsidian2 3D Graphics Card in a system that has had a different 3dfx Voodoo or Voodoo 2 card (Diamond Monster, Creative Labs, Canopus, Orchid, ETC.) the previous card is always detected. How do I get the Obsidian2 card to be installed correctly? A: You must uninstall ALL drivers and files associated with the previous card. Please contact the manufacturer of your previous card to uninstall all drivers and files associated with that card. You may also try the uninstall procedure above to remove any miscellaneous drivers that may be causing a problem. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Q: When attempting to run an application, boot the computer, or launch the Display Properties sheet, the error message "Mutual Exclusion Error Prohibits This" come up? A: There are various reasons this message may come up. 1. The card was not shut down properly, and is still active. Turn your computer off, and then back on to resolve this error. 2. The drivers from a previous 3dfx Voodoo or Voodoo 2 card were not properly removed. Please follow this procedure to remove our drivers and any previous drivers. 3. Your system BIOS is not properly interpreting the PCI-to-PCI bridge chip on the Obsidian2 200SB series of cards. Please contact your motherboard manufacture to get the latest BIOS. 4. There is another Voodoo2 based video card in your system from a different manufacturer that is causing a conflict. There can only be one card based on this chip set. Please remove the other card. 5. Your card is not working properly. Return the card for a replacement. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Q: When attempting to run an application, why does an error message "Expected VXD version V1.4 got V1.1 or V1.2" appear? A: The drivers for the Obsidian2 3D Graphics Card may have been overwritten, are the incorrect version or have been corrupted. Please use the uninstall procedure above to remove any miscellaneous drivers that may be causing a problem. Then reinstall our drivers. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Q: I have the ViewSonic P810 or P815 Monitor, when I test your Obsidian2 3D Graphics Card with my application OR your test application I get a blank screen. A: This is a known problem with the ViewSonic monitor. You will need to return the monitor for repair. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Q: I do not get my Windows Desktop to display on my TV when I have the 3D TV settings enabled on the Obsidian2 3D Graphics Cards. How do I get the TV to display. A: The TV will only be active when there is a 3D application or game, and only for 640x480 or 800x600 resolution. You will NOT get any 2D pass through on the Obsidian2 3D Graphics Cards. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Q: Are the Quantum3D Obsidian2 3D Graphics Cards compatible with the 3dfx Voodoo Rush cards? A: None of the Quantum3D Obsidian2 3D Graphics Cards are compatible with the 3dfx Voodoo Rush chip set. This is due to a limitation on the 3dfx chip sets only. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Q: Why is the Quantum3D Obsidian2 3D Graphics Card listed twice in the Device Manager tab of the System Properties dialog? A: The Obsidian2 200SB series is a single slot solution that contains two PCI devices connected to the PCI bus via a PCI bridge chip. The two listings represent each device incorporated on the Obsidian2 200SB series cards. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Q: Can the Obsidian2 3D Graphics Card be used as a single, stand- alone video card? A: No, all Quantum3D Obsidian2 3D Graphics Cards are 3D ONLY video cards. They do not have any 2D capabilities. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Q: Can the Obsidian2 3D Graphics Card work with Cyrix or AMD CPU's? A: Yes. We have tested the Obsidian2 3D Graphics Cards with all major brands of CPU's --------------------------------------------------------------------- Q: Why is the Override Application setting option in the Display Properties dialog checked and not available (grayed out)? A: In order to maintain backward compatibility, environment variables set manually (via AUTOEXEC.BAT) will take precedence over Obsidian2 configuration options. Therefore, if you have set environment variables manually, the corresponding configuration option will not be available. Removing these environment variables and restarting the computer will restore the previously unavailable configuration options. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Q: When TV output is enabled, why are the options for resolution restricted to 640 x 480 or 800 x 600 at 60 HZ refresh rate for NTSC or 50 Hz refresh rate for PAL TV output? A: Enabling TV output restricts the resolution and refresh rate options, in order to display the image correctly on a TV monitor. All Obsidian2 3D Graphics Cards support these two resolutions only and only have support for 3D output. None of the Obsidian2 3D Graphics Cards have support for 2D TV output. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Q: Why do some applications have a corrupted display when the Wait for Vertical Retrace option in the Display Properties dialog is not checked? A: Disabling Wait for Vertical Retrace may increase the performance of some applications because the hardware is not waiting for V-sync to the display monitor. However, this may cause tearing of images in the application. For benchmarking purposes it is recommended that you disable Wait for Vertical Retrace for maximum performance. NOTE: For Ziff-Davis 3D WinBench you must have Wait for Vertical Retrace ON. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Q: Will my 2D/3D graphics card work with the Obsidian2 3D Graphics Card? A: The Obsidian2 3D Graphics Card operates transparently with any existing 2D/3D graphics. Because of the Pass Through technology implemented with the Obsidian2 series of cards, your existing VGA adapter will function for any 2D graphics. When 3D graphics are needed, the Obsidian2 3D Graphics Card will take over. There is only ONE 2D/3D graphics technology that the Obsidian2 line of 3D Graphics Cards will have a problem with. This is the 3dfx Voodoo RUSH chip set. The problem is inherent to the design of the two chips, and can NOT be corrected.