Now Q3 opengl is working. Surprisingly, it seems to run *way* slower than the linux mesaGL-on-top-of-glide version, which I tried just some days ago in the same machine. Driver matter, no doubt.
Anyway, D3D is still forbidden for me. Even following all the instructions, no game will detect that my machine has a d3d-compatible card. Even the 3dfx tab in video properties panel has the "Direct3d" button in gray, like it has no d3d installed at all. Homeworld opengl won't work either (strange ... q3 works ok, some GL plugins for winamp work too, but homeworld won't...). Nocturne fails too (disaster!) claiming that "a strange directx error happened. Contact your distributor".
Conclusion : my w2k build (2031) is too older and has no correct d3d support built in, since all the other ppl is reporting successful attemps with newer builds. Shame.
Snif.