HELP with old Voodoo Rush card... PLEASE

[alla_keefek]

I am running a Pent II 233, 64 meg ram, 14 gig h/d and an old Voodoo Rush 6meg 3D card & DX8a.

2 days ago the graphics in the game started go real weird. The terrain tiles have white flickering pixles. So do the building graphics. This white can also turn to yellow too. The sky graphics have blue pixels. It dosnt matter if I am using mod graphics or the ones that came with the game. When you look at the tiles that surround the map the green ones are glowing white which dims and then flares up. I am at a loss as what to do. I can run other 3D games without any probs like this at all. This problem is also happening in the demo as well.

I have done a reformat of my h/d and a then put Win98 back on. Put the Voodoo back in and its driver and i still get the same problem. Which I should also mention is doing this in the 800x600 screen resolution. Which is default. If I delete the games pref file and set the game to run in 640x480 the weird affect isnt there. But the game scrolls even slower than normal.

I did do a search here yesterday and couldnt really come up with a solution. I went and bought a 32mb TNT 2 PCI 3D card and my system wont accept the driver. i get a black screen when Windows is booting up. I have tried all the fixes that are in the TIPS.txt file to no avail. So I will be taking that card back.

I am in no postion to buy a new PC. Its hard to get PCI 3D cards to for my low end machine.

I hope someone here can shed some light on this and give me back the joy that CM gives me.

[Schrullenhaft]

Do you have this problem in all scenarios or just large ones ? It sounds similar to some of the texture problems that newer Voodoos suffer in CM with a large number of textures. Do you know if your Voodoo Rush properly supports DirectX 8.0x ? Which drivers are you using for it, 3dfx Reference drivers or drivers from the particular manufacturer that marketed it ? Before you had this problem did you upgrade your drivers or DirectX version ?

As for your TNT2 not being accepted by your current machine... It should work. I recently saw a GeForce 256 AGP work with a PII-233. In order to install it you may have to remove your current drivers in Safe Mode.

Boot up in Safe Mode (F8 at boot and option 3). Go to Start Menu > Control Panel > System control panel > Device Manager tab > go to the Display item and double-click on it or click on the plus next to it > remove all video devices here by highlight and clicking the Remove button or the Delete key. You may need to go to the Multimedia item and check out your Voodoo Rush drivers and make sure nothing is listed for them (since they may interfere with DirectX setup for the TNT2) and if there is remove it. You may want to run uninstallers for you Voodoo or other video drivers from the Add/Remove Programs control panel (you'll have to scroll through the list to see if there is anything relevant to be removed).

When you boot next time you should be prompted for a driver (though your display may be identified only as a "Standard PCI SVGA" adapter). You can either install the default driver that Windows may suggest or try to install the TNT2 driver on your CD/hard drive.

You may want to upgrade your driver at some point. While the TNT2s typically did better with the Detonator 2 series (5.xx numbered drivers), they'll still work with the Detonator 3 series and later (though there were some problems with the early 6.xx drivers).

Reactorcritical (go to the TNT/TNT2/GeForce section - you may not want the latest, but possibly something newer than what may have came on your CD - make sure you download a driver for your correct OS):

http://www.reactorcritical.com/download.shtml

[ 04-20-2001: Message edited by: Schrullenhaft ]

[alla_keefek]

Thank you for the answers here.

The problem is with all scenarios.

I dont know if the Voodoo Rush supports DX8 offically.

The Drivers I am using are the OE ones that I was able to d/l from the Voodoo home page before they too support for the Rush down. I got the 3D card from a friend in the States. It didn't come with a disc with drives. He had lost that. Hence d/l from the site.

If I knock back the Hardware Acceleration one or 2 back from full I still get the weird pixel effect.

With the TNT2, I tried what you said. I got a newer version of the driver. Same prob though. Black screen a windows boot up. When I boot up after being in "Safe Mode" my machine installs both the Standard PCI SVGA adapter and the ATI one that comes standard with the machine. If I use regedit and follow the instructions that come with the card I can delete this ATI. Which I have done.

Then when I reboot, it wont run in 800x600 resolution at all. It is stuck as it were in 640x480 16 colour. When I use the TNT Cards control panel I get a message saying it wont work in anythinhg lower than 256. If I try to go above 256 it defaults back to the 16 colour 640x480 settings.

[Schrullenhaft]

Is the ATI video a separate card or is it built into the motherboard ? If it is built into the motherboard is there any jumper or CMOS/BIOS setting to disable it ? On occasion some built in video cards will disable automatically when another video card is inserted. Other times you have to intentionally disable it. If it isn't disabled, then Windows will continue to detect it. Which video card is connected to the monitor when you get the 'black screen' ?

If the 'Standard PCI SVGA' driver is installed, then you will max out with 16 colors. The NVidia TNT2 driver needs to be installed in order to get anything greater than 16 colors.

I'd suggest first removing the Voodoo Rush card (if you haven't already); disabling the ATI video (if that can be done), let the machine boot up in Safe Mode and remove the ATI drivers and registry settings (to make sure that they're gone). You may also want to uninstall the NVidia drivers you installed previously. When you reboot again then reinstall DirectX 8.0a. When that is finished (after the requisite reboot) install the NVidia driver. Hopefully this should get you to a point where you can get the 3D features and color from your TNT2.

[alla_keefek]

The ATI is part of the motherboard. As to how to disable it, I dont have a hardware manual for the PC. As it was when we bought it 2 years ago I had to get a windows manual sent to me. :mad:

I will have look and see how to disable this ATI card. I know that when the Rush is in, the ATI is listed as well.

[alla_keefek]

Its in the motherboard alright. But as to how to disable it? A big hammer maybe :eek:

As to which video card is running when I get the back screen. I am not sure. In the system display adapters window, if I have mulitple adapters displayed is it the first one that is running? Or is it the one with a "!" on the display icon?

[ 04-21-2001: Message edited by: alla_keefek ]

[alla_keefek]

Ok after several goes I can now get JUST the TNT2 card driver installed. BUT now when it boots up after puting the TNT2 hardware in I get the BLACK screen and now windows. I have followed the instructions that came with the card about changing the registry to help with the DDC polling. When I restart it then reinstalls the TNT driver so I end up with 2 again.....

Why is the best game I have this happens to??

[Schrullenhaft]

When you get the black screen where is the monitor hooked up to ? Is it the new TNT2 card or is it still hooked up to the ATI on-board video ? Do you get video when you're plugged into the ATI card and none when plugged into the TNT2 ? When you see the "!" (exclamation point) in the display listing is this after you've installed the TNT2 drivers and you have the ATI hooked up to the monitor ?

Disabling the video is done in a couple of possible ways. 1) A jumper or switch on the motherboard 2) A CMOS/BIOS setup option to disable it (this isn't common) 3) It may automatically disable itself when another video BIOS is detected on any of the buses in your computer. The last method possibly isn't happening on your machine (though it is one of the more common methods in use now). Do you know the model/manufacturer of your computer or motherboard ?

When you install the TNT2 drivers is that card already physically installed at the time ? Have you removed the Voodoo Rush board or is it still in your computer ? As far as I can recall the Voodoo Rush is strictly a 3D-only accelerator and your ATI is your primary display adapter (CM runs on the Voodoo, while everything else runs on the ATI).

I'd suggest booting in Safe Mode and removing all the display drivers listed in your system (TNT2 and ATI) and deleting drivers listed for your Voodoo Rush (assuming there are no games you need it for). With that done shutdown the computer and remove the Voodoo Rush. Check whatever documentation you can find on your motherboard to disable the on-board ATI video. Install the TNT2 AGP card (which I assume is already done) and hook up the monitor to its VGA connector. Boot up and possibly check the CMOS/BIOS setup for any settings regarding your video card if you were unable to find any physical jumpers/switches to disable it. I assume you should be able to see video at this point (the TNT2 card should be working in general). When it comes time to install drivers go ahead and install the default ones that Windows will most likely prompt you for ('Standard PCI SVGA'). Let the computer restart and assuming that you see video properly within Windows then install the TNT2 drivers.

I wouldn't imagine that registry hacks would be necessary for the TNT2 card to work within Windows (outside of some possible minor problems). Make sure you boot up with the TNT2 card hooked up to the monitor (in case the DDC polling is looking for the monitor and it can't function without one hooked up).

[Schrullenhaft]

I forgot to mention... There is the possibility, due to the age of your motherboard that it won't support the TNT2 card. Most likely you're motherboard is based on the Intel LX chipset and it did have some problems with some AGP cards. The TNT2 requires more current than some LX boards could provide through the AGP slot, so that is a possibility. You'll have to find out some more details about your system/motherboard to find out what chipset it is based and and if there are possible compatibility issues.

[alla_keefek]

Schrullenhaft : Thanks for all your help here mate. Every PC game has a guy like. Close Combat has their guy who solves all the system probs for players. CM has you

I did have the monitor contected to the TNT2 card, not the ATI board

The "TIPS" Readme on the TNT2 Drivers disc said that the registry had to be edited in case of the black screen. I even d/l a little programe someone wrote to tweak the registry for the TNT2. :eek: Which in fact made some of the changes mentioned in the "Tips" readme.

All that you mentioned I had done. My machine is a HP and I went to their support site and also looked up things like the Blackscreen. All their fixes didnt work either.

I took the card back and was given another to try. Same thing all over again. So they said my machine wasnt compatable with the card.

My machine is at least 3 years old. From what I have been told about HPs, they are not very user friendly when it comes to upgrades.

I have no idea how to findout what type of motherboard I am running nor how to get into the bios. These are dark areas to me.

So again mate thanks for all you help. I have really learnt heaps these last few days. I will just have to wait a bit and buy a new machine. It is getting to point that this is going to happen.

:cool: