Pitkiller Posted January 4, 2000 Share Posted January 4, 2000 I recently installed RC2 of W2K and the same day made the mistake of putting in a Voodoo 3 2000 board. Now my demo of CM won't start, just a black screen. I realize the errors of my way, endangering CM for the benefit of earning cash compensation, but if anyone has any ideas PLEASE help me. I love this thing!!! Thanks in advance. BTW this is a PII/400 with 192 Meg memory. Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Pham Posted January 4, 2000 Share Posted January 4, 2000 Ditto here with a Voodoo2 PCI board and a 233mhz machine. I hope you installed as a second operating system on a FAT32 partition rather than a complete disk wipe - clean install NTFS partition or it's no CM for you young man My guess is that W2k isn't up to snuff with 3d drivers yet. I could only get Unreal Tournament to work under W2k by using the GLquake drivers for NT and part of the drivers for w98. But most 3D games don't work well so far. UT is the exception(and it runs at least 20% faster on my system under W2k than it does under W98, but you can't play Steel Panthers under W2k ) The RTM version just went out so that new drivers can be ready for most hardware when it is finally sold. BTS can't really do anything about it short of writing new drivers for other peoples hardware, but the problem should be fixed shortly(check 3dfx website frequently for an update. If I'm wrong, however, and there's an easy fix PLEASE let me know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Big Time Software Posted January 4, 2000 Share Posted January 4, 2000 Could be a driver issue, as this always happens with MS OS/DX releases. However, the Voodoo2 thing is something most likely tied to the Demo. We fixed major problems with the Voodoo1 and Voodoo2 cards shortly after the demo went out. Voodoo3 is done the "right" way (i.e. the way all other cards work), so there shouldn't be a problem with the demo. Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Compassion Posted January 4, 2000 Share Posted January 4, 2000 From what I understand, the RTM has VooDoo3 drivers on the disk. have it sitting happily on my desk. Just haven't had the time to screw with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Pham Posted January 5, 2000 Share Posted January 5, 2000 Not sure then. I suppose that if MS wrote the V3 drivers in the RTM then that could explain the problem right there... But, since we both have 3dfx chipset cards, I'm still betting that it's a driver error. Steve, I don't think it's any V2 coding error on your part, as the demo runs nicely with my voodoo under w98. Just not under W2k. Plus, we(Pitkiller and I) have identical black screen hangs under w2k with the V2 and V3. Smells like a 3dfx/W2k driver problem to me. W2k is a pretty damn nice OS from what I've tested so far. Blows W98 out of the water for speed and stability(and Windows Millenium, but that's only Beta2 right now, so there's still time to fix things). Speaking of off topic OS's... Is there going to be a CM port to Linux? I'd recommend that BTS put a freeze on current development and start a port post haste. We can wait a "little" bit longer, as I'm sure everyone would agree. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Berlichtingen Posted January 5, 2000 Share Posted January 5, 2000 <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>I'd recommend that BTS put a freeze on current development and start a port post haste. We can wait a "little" bit longer, as I'm sure everyone would agree.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Who's your crack dealer? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Pham Posted January 6, 2000 Share Posted January 6, 2000 Fionn. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goanna Posted January 6, 2000 Share Posted January 6, 2000 I'm with Berli. I recommend everyone who is having trouble with their PC/Window XX configurations get on ebay and buy a 1995 PowerComputing Mac clone like I have that runs the latest Mac OS and CM like a wet dream. You can probably pick one of these up for less than the price of a Voodoo card. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest teutonic Posted January 6, 2000 Share Posted January 6, 2000 Ok, from what I understand and plz correct me if i am wrong, But W2k is a 32 bit operating system(basically NT5.0) and designed to be used for network servers and not end users like ourselves because they couldn't get the system to work with existing 16bit programs. Teutonic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pitkiller Posted January 6, 2000 Author Share Posted January 6, 2000 Thanks for all the input guys. I am pretty sure that it is a specific problem with the 3dfx driver. I am NEVER going to buy another 3df product. I had a Voodoo1, that one worked, but was slow. Then with Voodoo 2 my first card had a defective on board processor which was replaced after about 2 weeks, and then the texture on all dark surfaces had spots like a pink clown. And to round it out now we have the little issue that virtually nothing (except Unreal Tournament) runs under W2K and Voodoo3. 3dfx stock looks like a good short sale to me. Their board is just full of flame. Guess I'll get a different card just so I can play again. Any ideas anyone? Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Herr Oberst Posted January 6, 2000 Share Posted January 6, 2000 Teutonic, Win2K comes in several flavors, targeted at different uses. Win2K Professional - Workstation OS Win2K Server - Basic server OS, not a heavy duty server Win2K Advanced Server - This is the OS for your heavy duty server. The Professional is intended as the replacement for NT40, in a workstation environment. and it *should* encompass all the niceities with DirectX, DirectThis and DirectThat. Main problems right now are driver support from all the different manufacturers of all the different peripherals. MS does spend an extraordinary amount of effort on testing with different hardware. I had a chance to see a walk-thru of their build and testing cycle. There are literally armies of MicroSerfs who compile testing results on a daily basis of the latest build and various hardware. The development, testing, revision cycle is literally in operation 24 hours a day. [This message has been edited by Herr Oberst (edited 01-05-2000).] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Big Time Software Posted January 6, 2000 Share Posted January 6, 2000 Herr Oberst, Yup. And if MS didn't spend all that time nothing would work Their APIs are so damned complicated and buggy compared to others (Apple's is the main set we are used to) that the vendors still have to do things the right way. Unfortunately, drivers are usually rushed off so that they can ship hardware ASAP. I can't tell you how many times "updating drivers" fixes errors, even when the drivers you start out with are MS certified Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Pham Posted January 6, 2000 Share Posted January 6, 2000 teutonic: You're right to a degree. W2k is a 32-bit OS, and like Herr Oberst said is a replacement for NT4. However, MS seems to be making an effort to include more game dependent functions than they had in NT4. Basically, NT4 was very hit and miss when it came to trying to play games because it really, really wasn't designed for anything beyond corporate work. W2k, while still designed for corporate work, seems much, much more game capable. The main benifit(and why I'm willing to waste lots of time messing around with it right now, even before drivers are out in abundance) is that it's 32-bit and seems about as stable as Linux so far. Windows Millenium is the home version upgrade, and will be yet another 32/16bit hybrid that will run all your old programs just as poorly as ever. Pitkiller: I'd definatly not buy more 3dfx, as they're really falling behind the curve compared to other cards that have come out recently. Not sure if I'd sell it short yet due to name recognition, but I wouldn't sink any money into it either. They do have an impressive card coming up(not sure of the name offhand), but it's supposed to be very, very expensive. For card recommendations under w2k, here's one: wait. At least until w2k hits the streets for real. Otherwise you've got a good chance of being burnt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest teutonic Posted January 6, 2000 Share Posted January 6, 2000 Thanks all for the info. As for the next 3dfx card it is going to have 4 vodoo 5 chips on one full size card and will need its own cooling and power supply. Not sure which mag covered it Pcaccelerator, MaximumPc or pcgamer. The price will be in the $400-600 dollar range depending on the memory prices at the time. IMHO i would go with the nvidia geforce for now since it is out and it seems to be stable at least in w98. Teutonic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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