Wolf87

I have been using the Santa Cruz for three days and the Windows 2000 Beta drivers are superb. Midi and Mp3 sound better than SB Live. Directsound implementation is good. 3D sound with headphones is superior. Eax 1 and 2 are ok and solid but there seems to be a memory leak in Aureal 1 driver within the game Freespace 2. The Santa Cruz performs better than SB Live.

This programs wortks well for Nvidia cards: http://www.fileplanet.com/dl/dl.asp?ztn/nvreffix.zip Otherwise visit this site: http://www.entechtaiwan.com/news.htm

There is a new OpenGL renderer for S2TC high resolution compressed textures (S3TC) in Unreal Tournament: http://www.lokigames.com/~vogel/UT/ Install the textures from second UT CD. Replace [OpenGLDrv.OpenGLRenderDevice] text in Unreal Tournament.ini file within System. Then insure proper Windows 2000 OpenGL with this registry hack: http://www.geforcefaq.com/files/iopagelock.reg Then play Unreal tournament à 1600x1200 at 32 bits with the OpenGL driver and your Nvidia Geforce 2.

S3 closed down their Diamond division and ESS Technology, developers of the Canyon3D chipset blocked access to Taiwan FTP site. The MX400 shall have no better drivers than their presently incomplete Win 2000 drivers. The Guillemot Fortissimo is cheap but not so good in 3D and Terratec DX cards cost $200. The Voyetra-Turtle Beach Santa Cruz ($99) with a Crystal Digital Signal Processor has good drivers with Sensaura 3D, fine Midi, hardware MP3 and SP-DIF connectors. Since it is programmable, like the SB Live, driver revisions may bring new functions.

Use BGConfig.exe and uncheck the mark near 3D acceleration on bottom of Basic sreen and do same on the right of Graphics screens. Choose 800x600 resolution on the left and unmark the option for extra resolutions. Read Power Users file on 1st CR-ROM and modify baldur.ini.

And those are the games those I played with no problems on Windows 2000 Profesionnal: Unreal MechWarrior 3 Descent 3 Freespace 2 Battlezone 2 Hidden and Dangerous H-L Opposing Force Panzer Elite Ground Control Tachyon, the Fringe Shogun Total War Icewind Dale Arcatera Homeworld Cataclysm (now playing) Thief 2 and System Shock 2 gave drivers specific problems with the GeForce 2 as they did with the Matrox G400. Both games use the same problematic core engine.

Install DirectX 8 (build 146) and the game should run fine. The game is also sensitive to your drivers.

AMD processors bring compatibility problems. All Kenwood True-X CD-ROMs will only operate in PIO mode because AMD bus-mastering software is not compatible. That is true even after the Kenwood Firmware update. PL

Here is the patch to play Unreal on the Unreal tournament engine: http://www.3dcenter.de/downloads/unreal-meets-ut-patch.php3

A link to see the Windows 2000 bug list: http://www.windrivers.com/office.htm

I am using the Logitech Wingman Extreme USB which is OK and has Windows 2000 drivers. But it replaces your joystick as Controller ID 1, in Gaming options of Control Panel. That is one reason why I prefer Sidewinder Strategic Commander USB: it does not appear as Controller ID and works jointly with the joystick. Just hold it in your left hand. Its software perfectly under Win 2K. The box refers to "Windows 98 or later". New Win 2K drivers are in preparation. I have tried it under Windows 2000 Pro with Homeword (a pre-existing profile) and have created a new profile for Freespace 2. It delivers total compatibility with my MS Force Feedback Pro plugged in game port. Each configured button light up. Six default buttons plus three button switches under the thumb plus three profile switches (available for the same game) make for 72 programmable commands. The twin zoom in or out buttons are also configurable even with time delays and mouse clicks. This is a kind of gamepad since you move its top part left and right, up and down and also turn it around over its base to control movement. A new kind of game controller made to complement joystick, mouse and keyboard. http://www.microsoft.com/products/hardware/sidewinder/devices/SComm/default.htm

That mouse is also a real-mode Dos mouse. Quite surprising because one would think that USB cannot work in Dos due to the lack of Human Interface Device (HID) management. An Intellimouse Explorer plugged on USB port of an Asus Cubx motherboard works perfectly in real-mode Dos. It is true with the Dos Logitech drivers also with the Netroom multimedia cloaking drivers. You just have to keep IRQ 12 (PS2 mouse)available and unattached to any PCI slot. The MS Intellimouse however is totally PS2 and Legacy USB Enabled in the Asus Bios does the trick. See: "Compatibility of Type 2 Pointing Devices with Microsoft IntelliMouse": http://www.microsoft.com/hwdev/devdes/mcompat.htm

Also check Adrian Rojak`s Bios Guide under PNP & PCI heading here: http://www.rojakpot.com/Speed_Demonz/BIOS_Guide/BIOS_Guide_04a.htm

ACPI is active when Standby appears in the Shut down menu. http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/upgrade/compat/biosissue.asp Check ACPI Bios compatibility with these Microsoft tools: http://www.microsoft.com/hwdev/acpihct.htm Disable APM through Power applet in Control Panel. Microsoft instructions for Windows 2000 Pro: "APM BIOS and APM support in the operating system must be turned off for all desktop systems." http://www.microsoft.com/hwdev/onnow/apm.htm

Windows 2000 is different: it works with ACPI even with PnP OS Installed set to Yes with disabled Advanced Power Management (APM), which I suggest you do. Check the devices in Control Panel, Sounds and Multimedia, Audio. SB devices may be replaced with modem sound devices when you upgrade Liveware. Then open the Advanced tab and modify the Hardware sound acceleration one notch left: http://support.microsoft.com/Support/DirectX/DirectX_7.0/TShooter/Causes/sndacc.asp

I meet the same limit to overclocking in Windows 98 SE and Windows 2000. Voltage increase in small incements is almost always necessary when you overclock and be prepared to lower your memory timings in Bios to Cas 3 and go back to AGP 1 with no fast writes.

If ACPI is active in Windows 2000, it may scramble your IRQ and PCI routing. It must be removed. See explanation in Geforce FAQ. Go to device manager, check "Computer" and you will find either Standard PC (safe) or Advanced Configuration and Power Interface ACPI Computer (dangerous). Simply update driver, choose display list of known drivers and choose Standard PC. After reboot your PCI IRQs will be detected and fall in place.

Check http://www.scitechsoft.com/index.html. They developed univbe a long time ago for Vesa compatibility in Dos. I doubt very much that their SciTech Display Doctor would work in Win2K. It was designed for Win95, Win98 and Dos. It is worth a try.

First check your display settngs. Activate then deactivate Fog Table Emulation. Also deactivate antialiasing and choose AGP 1 with no fast write. If the problem is not yet solved it could be DirectX or Driver Version related. Vampire the Masquarade had a similar problem under DirectX 8 but plays fine under DX7. Just use DX8 uninstaller undx8w2k.exe found in the WINNT\System32 directory and then reinstall DirectX 7 from your Win2K CD or find it here: http://www.searchwin2000.com/searchWin2000_Editors_Picks_Page/0,1987,281678,00.html Some games also prefer 5.32 drivers to 6.18.

These are all possible fixes: 1.- Cut power & check if the SB card is correctly inserted in motherboard; 2.- As administrator, remove previous sound drivers if any are present; 3.- Disable ACPI and choose driver Standard PC under "Computer" in Device Manager; 4.- Give exclusive IRQ to your SB card. 5.- Check yout BIOS setup, choose Plug and Play OS: YES & reset configuration data: YES.

Download Glide Wrappers here: http://www.glideunderground.com/GU_Files.asp

Check Womble on the Hardware forum on this site. They give some hacks to have a Voodoo perform Direct 3D.

It has been re-re-upped here for Win Me: http://zoiah.m3dzone.com/HTML/misc/directx.html

Creative Unified Driver: the final version should have been out in June, ready for use with all Creative Nvidia graphic cards. You need a Tnt or Tnt2 Ultra serial number to act as beta tester. Check information at: http://www.americas.creative.com/hotgraphics/unified/welcome.html

In Windows 98 SE a timing problem with the Microsoft USB controller and AMD processors prevented my graphics card from operating. A microsoft system file update was necessary: http://www.windrivers.com/tech/ms/msmay.htm But that should not happen in Windows 2K. The AMD AGP driver and USB software are tied. Their problems are related. Check the AMD download site and see if your your motherboard needs the Via 4 in 1 drivers.