Nice 3dfx Q&A w/Alf Covey

[Soccerman]

"I am glad glide is dead now! it slows down all nonglide cards (just see ut) there is no way to play a glide written games with a d3d card so I am glad glide is history now glide was ok in limited times when you have to cheat alot do do some 3d effects but today its just crap"

first of all, UT isn't slow on Geforce cards becuase it was made for Glide originally. in fact, I've tried UT in Glide AND DX on my Voodoo 3, and don't have a problem (I can barely see a difference) with either. I run glide just because it's the native API for my card (therefor, it might actually run faster then DX).

you people who have Geforces and run UT, do you still see stutters in it? from what I can tell, this is because nVidia has a worse API support for DX then 3dfx does for OpenGL (3dfx cards have run Quake 3 JUST fine for a while now).

 

[NFS4]

I run UT in OpenGL mode on my SDR GeForce. D3D mode is low and stutters like crazy. UT is the only game for me that does this in D3D mode.

 

[Remedy]

NFS4, could you post your OpenGl profile for UT, I hate the way it looks in OpenGL on my Radeon but maybe its because i don't have the best settings. I personally use D3D cause it looks good enough, but it does stutter alot or hiccup in heavy fights.

 

[NFS4]

OpenGL looks awesome in UT on my GeForce...much deeper, and richer colors. Let me install it back on my machine and I'll give you the settings (I did a clean install recently and haven't had much time for games).

 

[NFS4]

[Engine.Engine]
GameRenderDevice=OpenGLDrv.OpenGLRenderDevice
AudioDevice=Galaxy.GalaxyAudioSubsystem
NetworkDevice=IpDrv.TcpNetDriver
DemoRecordingDevice=Engine.DemoRecDriver
Console=UTMenu.UTConsole
Language=int
GameEngine=Engine.GameEngine
EditorEngine=Editor.EditorEngine
WindowedRenderDevice=SoftDrv.SoftwareRenderDevice
RenderDevice=GlideDrv.GlideRenderDevice
DefaultGame=Botpack.DeathMatchPlus
DefaultServerGame=Botpack.DeathMatchPlus
ViewportManager=WinDrv.WindowsClient
Render=Render.Render
Input=Engine.Input
Canvas=Engine.Canvas
CdPath=E:
RunCount=6

[Core.System]
PurgeCacheDays=30
SavePath=../Save
CachePath=../Cache
CacheExt=.uxx
Paths=../System/*.u
Paths=../Maps/*.unr
Paths=../Textures/*.utx
Paths=../Sounds/*.uax
Paths=../Music/*.umx
Suppress=DevLoad
Suppress=DevSave
Suppress=DevNetTraffic
Suppress=DevGarbage
Suppress=DevKill
Suppress=DevReplace
Suppress=DevSound
Suppress=DevCompile
Suppress=DevBind
Suppress=DevBsp

[Engine.GameEngine]
CacheSizeMegs=4
UseSound=True
ServerActors=IpDrv.UdpBeacon
ServerActors=IpServer.UdpServerQuery
ServerActors=IpServer.UdpServerUplink MasterServerAddress=unreal.epicgames.com MasterServerPort=27900
ServerActors=IpServer.UdpServerUplink MasterServerAddress=master0.gamespy.com MasterServerPort=27900
ServerActors=IpServer.UdpServerUplink MasterServerAddress=master.mplayer.com MasterServerPort=27900
ServerActors=UWeb.WebServer
ServerPackages=SoldierSkins
ServerPackages=CommandoSkins
ServerPackages=FCommandoSkins
ServerPackages=SGirlSkins
ServerPackages=BossSkins
ServerPackages=Botpack

[WinDrv.WindowsClient]
WindowedViewportX=640
WindowedViewportY=480
WindowedColorBits=32
FullscreenViewportX=1024
FullscreenViewportY=768
FullscreenColorBits=32
Brightness=0.500000
MipFactor=1.000000
UseDirectDraw=True
UseJoystick=False
CaptureMouse=True
StartupFullscreen=True
CurvedSurfaces=True
LowDetailTextures=False
ScreenFlashes=True
NoLighting=False
SlowVideoBuffering=True
DeadZoneXYZ=True
DeadZoneRUV=False
InvertVertical=False
ScaleXYZ=1000.000000
ScaleRUV=2000.000000
MinDesiredFrameRate=30.000000
Decals=True
NoDynamicLights=False
UseDirectInput=False
ParticleDensity=0
NoFractalAnim=False
SkinDetail=High
TextureDetail=High

[XDrv.XClient]
WindowedViewportX=640
WindowedViewportY=480
WindowedColorBits=16
FullscreenViewportX=640
FullscreenViewportY=480
FullscreenColorBits=16
Brightness=0.500000
MipFactor=1.000000
SlowVideoBuffering=False
StartupFullscreen=True
CurvedSurfaces=False
CaptureMouse=True
LowDetailTextures=False
ScreenFlashes=True
NoLighting=False
DeadZoneXYZ=True
DeadZoneRUV=False
InvertVertical=False
ScaleXYZ=1000.0
ScaleRUV=2000.0
MinDesiredFrameRate=30.0

[Engine.Player]
ConfiguredInternetSpeed=20000
ConfiguredLanSpeed=20000

[Audio.GenericAudioSubsystem]
UseFilter=True
UseSurround=False
UseStereo=True
UseCDMusic=False
UseDigitalMusic=False
UseSpatial=False
UseReverb=False
Use3dHardware=False
LowSoundQuality=False
ReverseStereo=False
Latency=40
OutputRate=22050Hz
Channels=16
MusicVolume=160
SoundVolume=200
AmbientFactor=0.7

[Galaxy.GalaxyAudioSubsystem]
UseDirectSound=True
UseFilter=True
UseSurround=True
UseStereo=True
UseCDMusic=False
UseDigitalMusic=True
UseSpatial=False
UseReverb=True
Use3dHardware=True
LowSoundQuality=False
ReverseStereo=False
Latency=40
OutputRate=22050Hz
EffectsChannels=16
DopplerSpeed=9000.000000
MusicVolume=0
SoundVolume=192
AmbientFactor=0.700000

[IpDrv.TcpNetDriver]
AllowDownloads=True
ConnectionTimeout=15.0
InitialConnectTimeout=300.0
AckTimeout=1.0
KeepAliveTime=0.2
MaxClientRate=20000
SimLatency=0
RelevantTimeout=5.0
SpawnPrioritySeconds=1.0
ServerTravelPause=4.0
NetServerMaxTickRate=20
LanServerMaxTickRate=35
DownloadManagers=IpDrv.HTTPDownload
DownloadManagers=Engine.ChannelDownload

[Engine.DemoRecDriver]
DemoSpectatorClass=Botpack.CHSpectator
MaxClientRate=25000
ConnectionTimeout=15.0
InitialConnectTimeout=500.0
AckTimeout=1.0
KeepAliveTime=1.0
SimLatency=0
RelevantTimeout=5.0
SpawnPrioritySeconds=1.0
ServerTravelPause=4.0
NetServerMaxTickRate=60
LanServerMaxTickRate=60

[Engine.GameReplicationInfo]
ServerName=Another UT Server
ShortName=UT Server
AdminName=
AdminEmail=
Region=0
MOTDLine1=
MOTDLine2=
MOTDLine3=
MOTDLine4=

[IpDrv.TcpipConnection]
SimPacketLoss=0
SimLatency=0

[IpServer.UdpServerQuery]
GameName=ut

[IpDrv.UdpBeacon]
DoBeacon=True
BeaconTime=0.50
BeaconTimeout=5.0
BeaconProduct=ut

[SoftDrv.SoftwareRenderDevice]
Translucency=True
VolumetricLighting=True
ShinySurfaces=False
Coronas=False
HighDetailActors=False
HighResTextureSmooth=True
LowResTextureSmooth=False
FastTranslucency=True

[GlideDrv.GlideRenderDevice]
Translucency=True
VolumetricLighting=True
ShinySurfaces=True
Coronas=True
HighDetailActors=True
DetailBias=-1.500000
RefreshRate=60Hz
DetailTextures=True
FastUglyRefresh=False
ScreenSmoothing=True
Resolution=Default

[MetalDrv.MetalRenderDevice]
Translucency=True
VolumetricLighting=True
ShinySurfaces=True
Coronas=True
HighDetailActors=True
DetailTextures=False

[OpenGLDrv.OpenGLRenderDevice]
Translucency=True
VolumetricLighting=True
ShinySurfaces=True
Coronas=True
HighDetailActors=True
DetailTextures=True
DescFlags=0
Description=

[D3DDrv.D3DRenderDevice]
Translucency=True
VolumetricLighting=False
ShinySurfaces=True
Coronas=True
HighDetailActors=True
UseMipmapping=True
UseTrilinear=False
UseMultitexture=True
UsePageFlipping=True
UsePalettes=True
UseFullscreen=True
UseGammaCorrection=True
DetailTextures=False
Use3dfx=False
UseTripleBuffering=True
UsePrecache=True
Use32BitTextures=False
DescFlags=1
dwDeviceId=256
dwVendorId=4318
Use32BitZBuffer=False
UseVertexFog=False
UseAGPTextures=False
UseVideoMemoryVB=False
UseVSync=False
Description=NVIDIA GeForce 256

[SglDrv.SglRenderDevice]
Translucency=True
VolumetricLighting=False
ShinySurfaces=False
Coronas=True
HighDetailActors=False
ColorDepth=16
DetailTextures=False
FastUglyRefresh=False
TextureDetailBias=Near
VertexLighting=False

 

[Remedy]

Your D3D settings are the same as mine, but i keep hearing about that Loki OpenGl driver installment that makes it look ten times better than D3D so i wanna know has any else at least tried it with no performance hit.

 

[NFS4]

The D3D settings may be the same, but I haven't changed them from default since I use OpenGL

 

[3dfxAlf]

Wow! Sorry to see it degenerate into a flame war but thank you very much for the compliments!

 

[NFS4]

Hey Alf, is Bubba really like that in person?

 

[Midnight Rambler]

Dang NFS4, that post above has got to be a record for length.

 

[Instigator]

Yup, glide is dead! Anybody here play Deus Ex? Didn't that just come out? Wait, I thought Glide is dead. Yea, I want Glide to die too, so I can't play great games like Deus Ex or Unreal Tournament anymore. Unreal Tournament has to be the worst online game I've ever played. It looks much better running it in D3D and Open GL. Plus it runs way faster in D3D and Open GL. Why would anybody want to run it in Glide? There are some VERY narrow mind people in the forum. Not as bad has Tom's Hardware dicussion forum tho.

 

[pen^2]

<< Plus it runs way faster in D3D and Open GL. >>

D3D is ok, GL does run very admirably and has significantly better visuals compared to glide.

yeah... i see people bitchin about 3dmark being partial to nvidia cards... doesnt glide have the same effect after all excpet you cant 'play' 3dmark (i wish they change that in the next revision tho )? i cant account for the days when they had no alternate choices but why make games based on glide when you can make games run faster AND better? (ie quake3 or lokiGL)

 

[Deeko]

Instigator, I know what you're sayin. Glide is DYING, but it's defintily not dead. Anyone ever play Diablo II, a NEW game(ok, so they started making it years ago and took forever to release it, that's beside the point), it is very skippy in D3D on every computer I've played it on, and on the 2 computers that I've played it on in Glide (one a V3, one a V5), it was perfectly fine. And those two were skippy in D3D. There still are high-profile games written for Glide, just not nearly as many.