[tom]

Don't get angry that I started a new thread again

Some basic info:
- I use the release 01082004_fs_open_r with no media files (except the mv_core_b.vp) and all extra stuff disabled
- hardware: voodoo 3 ( )

I encountered two different problems:

1. In the thread "Old engine client"
http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php/topic,25293.0.html
Singh posted a picture of the hangar.
I don't know if it should be fixed in the release I use, but I have that problem, too. Every menu screen is a result of replicated incomplete pieces of the background picture. Another effect is that sometimes the text disappears and after a certain action it appears again (for example multiplayer host options menu is completely blank, after clicking in the field for changing max respawns all text on the screen appears again). Therefore navigation in a menu is quite difficult.

2. Second problem is a strange one. Would be best to post a screenshot of that. Huge problems with graphic occur when a wav- or an ani-file is played. Especially the HEAD_*.ani files in the upper left corner and voice files cause that problem. It also occurs at cap explosions, when many files are played at same time.
It seems that during the time of playback all frames (everything regarding the hud) are painted one upon the other without updating the screen. The result is a mix of all these frames. The background freezes in this time. It doesn't affect the gameplay, but I can't see what's going on. I found a way to avoid most of that events: I disabled voice playback in options menu and deleted all HEAD_*ani files. Not the best way to keep it playable. Now my FS2 is less than a basic version

edit:
if clicking in the field observers then all text appears, otherwise it's invisible. Just for correctness.

[Goober5000]

Mantis.

[Lightspeed]

No, Goober.

Read his post carefully.

Voodoo 3 + SCP = ugh ugh no no.

I'm still left in awe it actually does kind of run on his system.

[Goober5000]

Oh, right.

Voodoo cards aren't supported in SCP.  We're working on something that might allow us to use the old engine with the new sexps, multi, and features, but don't expect any guarantees.

[tom]

So the Voodoo is the only cause for these problems?

[wolfdog]

and you're even lucky it runs... on my old voodoo comp it just ctd's....

[Lightspeed]

Hehe - back on my Voodoo III system, I got white screens with fuzzly blocks on them in-mission.

Not to mention it crashed 30 seconds into the mission, and the cursor would only be a grey rectangle. Another funny thing was the tech room, which was messed up beyond recognition.

And that was even long before we officially dropped Voodoo support.

[tom]

surprise, surprise!!
never underestimate a voodoo card

[Lightspeed]

I know I was able to play Freelancer semi-decently with mine.

But when it comes to modern-day compatibility, you couldn't be worse off than with a voodoo.

[Setekh]

Hey tom, welcome to HLP.

[tom]

Well, when it comes to modern day compatibility, I would need a new video card every year

[Lightspeed]

nope.

Compatibility != up-to-date speed

Heck, the most basic HT&L capable Geforce 2 would do.

[Tepa]

naah tom radeon 9600 pro,xt or better ones should be anuf and puttin around 150€ on year in comp isint much..
anyways

[CP5670]

I have a Voodoo 3 3000 in an old machine that I only use now for older games. FS2 1.2 ran perfectly on it and FS1 actually looked much better on Glide than D3D. Never tried FSO on it though, although it probably won't work. The V3 had some issues that weren't really a problem for its time but make it unusable with newer games: only 16-bit color support, max texture size of 256x256, no official XP drivers, etc. Still was a great, fast card for its time though.

I actually have an old Voodoo2 lying around somewhere too. Have any of you tried using that with modern video cards? Does it work without any side effects? The VGA connectors that the pass-through cable connects to haven't changed at all, but I have heard that it sometimes degrades the image quality. I also need to get some XP drivers for the card.

[tom]

sure, 150€ is ok, but this money is put in the comp without thinking of a video card, just to keep some basic components up to date.

my v3 is an exception. 5 years without any problems. maybe because fs2 is my most modern game

however I'm glad to be able to play fso at all.

[DaBrain]

I'm not sure about this, but there is  a program called '3D Analyze' and I think it has an option to emulate T&L.


Don't expect too much of this...

[tom]

Thanks for help, DaBrain, but 3D Analyzer doesn't work for me. The problem is that I patched the voodoo driver to be able to run SCP, but when starting SCP by 3D Anaalyzer deletes an important dll of that patch.

An annotation to the first problem I posted: I tested several builds. It doesn't occur in every build. In some of then the screen is almost normal.
But this isn't as good as it sounds. Either the screen is tiled and game is playable or screen is ok and game is unplayable (some textures are flying around, without order, cannot be recognized as a ship, hud invisible etc.)

But fortunately killing red dots still possible

[tom]

A bit late, but here some weird screenshots:


When it happens just a small area at the top of the screen, where messages are displayed, is normal.

some more images:
http://www.imageuploader.net/images/039402SCP_shots_013.jpg
http://www.imageuploader.net/images/634300SCP_shots_014.jpg
http://www.imageuploader.net/images/537682SCP_shots_015.jpg
http://www.imageuploader.net/images/091162SCP_shots_016.jpg

[Kosh]

Voodoo's have been obsolete for years, get a real video card.

[tom]

Not necessary, I have a real video card