Game Software/Hardware Incompatibility Questions/Concern

[Chad M. Collins 0]

I just today purchased a game for my PC, and it will not run. I belive that the main reason, and probably the only reason for this is an obsolete video card, which I can partially understand, my video card is a few years old, it is a Voodoo III 3Dfx card, but for a game which I paid $20 for new, I hadn't thout that it would be a concern for it to run.

 

The game is, and I also heard tonight that it isn't highly regarded, so please keep that opinion out of replies, Starsky And Hutch.

It is produced by Empire Interactive And Gotham Games.

 

When I attempt to load the game the screen goes black as if it were starting to load, however stays that way for approximately 30-45 seconds, then displays the audio/video setup screen, and no matter what quality/speed configuration I choose, When I click the PLAY GAME button it flashes a few times like a vertical hold on an older television set, the half of the screen goes balck with the other half diplaying the lower right half of my desktop, then in 30-45 seconds the audio/video setup menu returns.

 

My PC is a home built unit, with the majority of the compnents less than a year old, and a very few are the only pieces that I was able to salvage from the old PC which litterally blew up. The system specs at a glance are:

 

XP pro O/S

DirectX9.0

AMD Duron 1.5G Processor

Voodoo III 3Dfx Video Card

AOpen AK77-333 Motherboard (houses a video card integrated video card which I am not using)

Sound Card I am using is the integrated one

80G Western Digital HDD

256M RAM

32X CD-Rom iomega zip CD-R/RW besides video card only other salvaged component from old computer

 

 

The system requirements for the game are as follows:

 

minimum requirements

Pentium II 450

Windows 98, ME, XP, 2000

NVIDIA TNT2 3D Card

128MB RAM

700 MB Free HDD Space

DirectX 8.1

Mouse, Keyboard

 

recommended system specs

Pentium IV 1.5GHz

GeForce2 3D Card

256MB RAM

 

Has anyone encountered a similar situation that could confirm a Video Card conflict as the problem? If so, could you recommend a decent Video card that would be compatible if you would suggest one which may happen to not be one of the two listed in the software system requirements?

 

Thank You

Chad M. Collins

GRA Technologies

Waukesha, WI

[Tomay 0]

what drivers are you using for your voodoo3?

[Chad M. Collins 0]

The Current Drivers I Have Installed For My Voodoo III 3Dfx Card are Driver Version

 

5.1.2001.0

 

6/21/2001

[mezron 0]

Try looking around here for some drivers that will help.

http://www.voodoofiles.com/category.asp?x=13

 

Windows XP only includes Direct3d drivers for the Voodoo3 card, and the perfomance is pretty atrocious. The Voodoo cards were designed to run best with Glide, which isn't included with the XP drivers.

 

I don't really expect you to get too far with this game and that video card. It's performance is quite a bit below the TNT2 minimum the game calls for.

 

Good luck regardless.

[duhmez 0]

last time I checked there was no direct 3d support for voodoo on XP. Last time I checked the latet XP drivers ship wil glide only.....

[mezron 0]

Quote:

last time I checked there was no direct 3d support for voodoo on XP. Last time I checked the latet XP drivers ship wil glide only.....

Take a look at 3dfxvs2k.inf in your %windir%\inf\ folder. You'll see some references to Direct Draw, but no glide references. Here are the files you'll need to have on your system to have Glide support

3dfxOGL.dll
3DfxSpl2.dll
3DfxSpl3.dll
3dfxvs.dll
3dfxvsm.sys
glide2x.dll
glide3x.dll

You won't find these on a Windows XP machine unless you downloaded and installed them yourself.

You're right though, no Direct3D support. Only Direct Draw (2d) my mistake.

[ConQueso 0]

I recommend getting a new video card, nothing less than a GeForce4MX or an ati 8000/9000 series. If you have an AGP, then you've got plenty of options. If you've only got PCI, then the cheapest I'd go with would be a GeForce4MX. You can find the PCI versions for just over $50.

 

3dfx has been out of the game a long time now. Compatibility will be bad and will only get worse. That and the V3 is a very week card by todays standards, and doesn't even support 32-bit color among other things.

[pmistry 0]

For a good cheap solution look towards the Radeon 9000, 8500/9100, or 9200 line of cards. They are cheap, overclock easily and can play most games today, even though they are only DX 8.1 in hardware, they can run all DX 9 games fine, and unlike the GF4MX line, these cards support pixel shaders. If DX9 is important, the Geforce FX 5200 Ultra is ok too, just don't expect blistering frame rates.

[ConQueso 0]

After doing a decent amount of reading and comparing charts, I'd have to recommend the Radeon 9000 Pro if your looking to spend $15-20 over a GF4MX. It seems to give the most bang per buck.