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G400 Drivers v4.34.015 for NT4.0 ReadMe
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README.TXT MATROX GRAPHICS INC. 1999.09.08
Matrox PowerDesk for Windows NT 4.0
Rev. 4.34.015
Contents
========
- Release description
- Installation
- Using Matrox PowerDesk
- Hardware-accelerated 3D
- Notes, problems and limitations
- Matrox TV output
- DualHead notes
Release description
===================
This is the Matrox Windows NT Display Driver. It supports Microsoft
Windows NT for x86 CPU's, version 4.0 (Build 1381 -- or later).
This product includes:
- Display Driver
- Matrox PowerDesk for Windows NT 4.0
The display driver supports up to 8 graphics chips at a time. If one of
those chips has DualHead support, the display driver supports up to 9
displays at a time. (Note: A graphics card may have more than one graphics
chip. Also, the display driver must support each model of graphics card
installed in your computer.)
Installation
============
To install Matrox PowerDesk, start the "setup" program included with it,
then follow the on-screen instructions.
The setup program will only install software if a Matrox graphics card model
supported by the setup program is installed in your computer.
If you're installing this software on many systems, there are setup options
to partially automate the procedure. For more information, see the
"setup_un.doc" file included with this software.
Using Matrox PowerDesk
======================
Changing resolution, selecting a monitor, and using the Matrox PowerDesk is
covered in the "online.doc" file. You can view this file with WordPad.
Hardware-accelerated 3D
=======================
For 3D hardware acceleration, the Matrox Windows NT 4.0 display driver supports
the OpenGL interface with 2 driver types -- MCD (Mini Client Driver) and ICD
(Installable Client Driver). The Matrox Millennium, Millennium II, Mystique,
Mystique 220, and G100-based graphics cards have MCD support. The Matrox
G200-based, G400-based and later graphics cards have ICD support. (An ICD has
more potential for optimization than an MCD.)
3D hardware acceleration has the following restrictions:
- Currently no acceleration is available when multiple cards are
in use.
- The MCD/ICD does not support 8bpp (256 colors) and 24bpp (16777216
colors) modes. 16bpp (64K colors) and 32bpp (True Color) modes are the
ones that can be hardware-accelerated.
- Limitations to the available resolutions are to be expected. All
3D modes require extra memory to handle double buffering and/or
Z-buffering, and this memory is no longer available for display.
Notes, problems and limitations
===============================
- Computers with more than one PCI bus
It is possible that a switch to a full-screen Command Prompt, or any
change of mode, will result in a blue-screen crash if a card is
installed on a PCI bus other than bus 0. The problem is under
investigation. Moving the card to a different PCI slot is a possible
workaround.
There are systems where Windows NT reports conflicts between adapters
installed beyond the PCI bridge. In this case, the Matrox
miniport driver cannot access its own card. If your system appears
unable to find the card, try moving it to a different PCI slot.
Installing Microsoft Service Pack 3 (or later) for Windows NT 4.0 should
fix many of these problems.
- DirectDraw with virtual desktops
Some DirectDraw programs don't work properly with virtual desktops.
We recommend you run DirectDraw programs with a normal desktop.
- 3D-Maze screen saver
Display problems may appear while using the "3D-Maze" screen saver.
These may happen after Microsoft Service Pack 2 for Windows NT 4.0 is
installed. These display problems are apparently fixed by Service
Pack 3 (or later).
- Running Winstone 97
The CenterPOPUP feature should be disabled (which is the default
setting) when running the Winstone 97 benchmark. Some tests may
report a time-out error if CenterPOPUP is used.
- Limitation with multiple graphics cards
Windows NT 4.0 supports a maximum of about 280 different display
modes (combinations of resolution, color palette and refresh rate
settings). You may encounter this limit if you have more than one
Matrox graphics card installed in your computer.
If the Matrox "VESA settings" option button is selected when there
are multiple Matrox cards in your computer, you're even more
likely to encounter the Windows NT 4.0 limit in the number of
display modes. This is because the "VESA settings" option supports
several different refresh rates for each display resolution and
color palette setting.
If you have more than one Matrox graphics card in your computer, we
recommend you not use the "VESA settings" option. Note that changing
your refresh rate through the Microsoft "Display Properties" dialog
box activates the "VESA settings" option.
- 3D Studio MAX 1.2
If you have problems running 3D Studio Max 1.2 using the Matrox
HEIDI driver, try disabling the "Use bus mastering" check box under
"General settings". To access this check box, click "Start" ->
"Programs"-> "Matrox PowerDesk" -> "Matrox Display Properties" ->
"Performance".
- 3D Studio MAX 2.0
Switching between HEIDI software emulation and OpenGL acceleration
while 3D Studio Max 2.0 is running, may cause the viewports to
flicker while playing animations. This problem may also happen if
display settings (resolution or color palette) are changed while
3D Studio Max is running. If you experience these problems, try
closing 3D Studio Max, changing your display settings (resolution or
color palette), and then restarting 3D Studio MAX.
- 15-bit color palette support
A 15-bit color palette is no longer supported.
- Multi-display desktop support
With a multi-display desktop, all displays use the same color palette and
display resolution. The maximum display resolution you can select is
determined by the display with the highest maximum display resolution.
If a display in your multi-display desktop doesn't support a selected
display resolution, that display will automatically use a virtual display.
With a "virtual display", parts of your "display area" are off-screen. You
can move your mouse pointer to the edge of the screen to move the visible
part of your virtual display. This virtual display feature is similar to
using the Matrox zoom (PixelTOUCH) feature.
Note: The "virtual display" feature isn't available with the secondary
display of a DualHead-supporting graphics card. If a secondary display is
part of your multi-display desktop, the maximum display resolution you can
select is limited by the maximum display resolution of your secondary
display. For more information on DualHead, see "DualHead notes".
Software monitor settings help determine the maximum display resolution
for each display. If software monitor settings aren't properly selected for
all displays, one or more displays may become garbled or unusable if an
unsupported display resolution is selected. For more information on
selecting software monitor settings, see the online PowerDesk guide
(online.doc).
Matrox TV output
================
Certain models of Matrox graphics cards support TV output. With TV output
support, you can view or record your computer display with a TV or video
recorder connected to your graphics card.
Recommendation
--------------
- While playing games using TV output, we recommend you use a 640 x 480
display resolution. This is because the resolution capabilities of TVs are
lower than most computer monitors. If you use a higher display resolution
(800 x 600 or 1024 x 768), the display on your TV may not look as sharp as
the display of your computer monitor -- that is, some of the extra detail
may be harder to see on your TV.
- For Matrox G100/G200 graphics cards with TV ouput support:
Matrox default advanced TV output settings are good for viewing most
computer graphics (for example, computer games or your Windows desktop) on
most TVs. Based on broadcast standards, there are advanced TV output
settings that are better suited for viewing full-screen video (for example,
from a video file). These settings are:
NTSC
Brightness : 180
Contrast : 234
Saturation : 137
Hue : 0
PAL
Brightness : 167
Contrast : 255
Saturation : 138
Hue : 0
Note: For ideal settings, you may also need to adjust the settings on your
TV. The default brightness, contrast, saturation and hue settings on most
consumer video devices are higher than broadcast standards. These settings
are usually OK for viewing video but may not look OK with computer graphics.
(This is why Matrox default TV output settings are lower than what's ideal
for video.) For more information on how to adjust settings on your TV, see
your TV manual.
More information
----------------
For more information on display settings, see your Matrox manual and online
documentation. For information on how to change the display resolution of a
game you're using, see its documentation.
Note: The Matrox zoom and virtual desktop features aren't supported in TV
output mode. Also, TV output mode isn't supported if you have more than one
Matrox graphics card in your computer.
Note: For TV output with full-screen DOS display modes under Windows NT 4.0,
only text display modes (02h, 03h) are supported.
DualHead notes
==============
Certain Matrox graphics cards can use one graphics chip to control two
separate displays -- this is the Matrox "DualHead" feature. If you have a
DualHead-supporting graphics card, note the following under Windows NT 4.0:
- DualHead software controls (on the Matrox PowerDesk "Performance" property
sheet) are only available if, when Windows NT 4.0 restarts, a secondary
display is connected to your DualHead-supporting graphics card. For more
information on DualHead software controls, see context-sensitive help.
- The "VESA settings" option isn't available when you're using a TV as your
secondary display.
- With the "DualHead Multi-Display" feature, DirectDraw and OpenGL
acceleration is available for the main and secondary displays of your
DualHead-supporting graphics card.
- With the "DualHead Multi-Display" feature, all displays in your system
may be limited by the display capabilities of the secondary display of
your DualHead-supporting graphics card. Specifically:
- Only a 16- or 32-bit color palette is available.
- The Matrox zoom feature (PixelTOUTCH) is unavailable.
- The mouse pointer is drawn entirely by the software. As a result, the
mouse pointer may flicker or disappear while it's in an area of the
display that's being redrawn quickly (for example, a video window).
- Because the secondary display doesn't support the "virtual display"
feature, the maximum display resolution of a multi-display desktop is
limited by the maximum display resolution of the secondary display.
- The "DualHead Clone" feature is unavailable if your DualHead-supporting
graphics card isn't controlling the primary display of your computer.
The "primary display" of your computer is the one that first displays
information when your computer restarts. For information on how to change
which graphics card controls your primary display, see your system manual.
- With the "DualHead Clone" feature, both the main and secondary
display of your DualHead-supporting graphics card use the same monitor
settings (specifically, the same vertical refresh rate).
If your secondary display is a TV, the vertical refresh rate is determined
by the TV standard selected on the Matrox PowerDesk "Monitor" property
sheet (60 Hz for NTSC, 50 Hz for PAL).
If your secondary display is a computer monitor, the "Monitor" property
sheet isn't available. In this case, use the "Refresh Frequency" control
on the "Settings" property sheet to change your vertical refresh rate. If
you select a refresh rate or display resolution that isn't supported by
either display, one or both displays may become garbled or unusable.
- With the "DualHead Clone" feature, the virtual desktop feature is
unavailable.
README.TXT MATROX GRAPHICS INC. 1999.09.08
Matrox PowerDesk for Windows NT 4.0
Rev. 4.34.015
Contents
========
- Release description
- Installation
- Using Matrox PowerDesk
- Hardware-accelerated 3D
- Notes, problems and limitations
- Matrox TV output
- DualHead notes
Release description
===================
This is the Matrox Windows NT Display Driver. It supports Microsoft
Windows NT for x86 CPU's, version 4.0 (Build 1381 -- or later).
This product includes:
- Display Driver
- Matrox PowerDesk for Windows NT 4.0
The display driver supports up to 8 graphics chips at a time. If one of
those chips has DualHead support, the display driver supports up to 9
displays at a time. (Note: A graphics card may have more than one graphics
chip. Also, the display driver must support each model of graphics card
installed in your computer.)
Installation
============
To install Matrox PowerDesk, start the "setup" program included with it,
then follow the on-screen instructions.
The setup program will only install software if a Matrox graphics card model
supported by the setup program is installed in your computer.
If you're installing this software on many systems, there are setup options
to partially automate the procedure. For more information, see the
"setup_un.doc" file included with this software.
Using Matrox PowerDesk
======================
Changing resolution, selecting a monitor, and using the Matrox PowerDesk is
covered in the "online.doc" file. You can view this file with WordPad.
Hardware-accelerated 3D
=======================
For 3D hardware acceleration, the Matrox Windows NT 4.0 display driver supports
the OpenGL interface with 2 driver types -- MCD (Mini Client Driver) and ICD
(Installable Client Driver). The Matrox Millennium, Millennium II, Mystique,
Mystique 220, and G100-based graphics cards have MCD support. The Matrox
G200-based, G400-based and later graphics cards have ICD support. (An ICD has
more potential for optimization than an MCD.)
3D hardware acceleration has the following restrictions:
- Currently no acceleration is available when multiple cards are
in use.
- The MCD/ICD does not support 8bpp (256 colors) and 24bpp (16777216
colors) modes. 16bpp (64K colors) and 32bpp (True Color) modes are the
ones that can be hardware-accelerated.
- Limitations to the available resolutions are to be expected. All
3D modes require extra memory to handle double buffering and/or
Z-buffering, and this memory is no longer available for display.
Notes, problems and limitations
===============================
- Computers with more than one PCI bus
It is possible that a switch to a full-screen Command Prompt, or any
change of mode, will result in a blue-screen crash if a card is
installed on a PCI bus other than bus 0. The problem is under
investigation. Moving the card to a different PCI slot is a possible
workaround.
There are systems where Windows NT reports conflicts between adapters
installed beyond the PCI bridge. In this case, the Matrox
miniport driver cannot access its own card. If your system appears
unable to find the card, try moving it to a different PCI slot.
Installing Microsoft Service Pack 3 (or later) for Windows NT 4.0 should
fix many of these problems.
- DirectDraw with virtual desktops
Some DirectDraw programs don't work properly with virtual desktops.
We recommend you run DirectDraw programs with a normal desktop.
- 3D-Maze screen saver
Display problems may appear while using the "3D-Maze" screen saver.
These may happen after Microsoft Service Pack 2 for Windows NT 4.0 is
installed. These display problems are apparently fixed by Service
Pack 3 (or later).
- Running Winstone 97
The CenterPOPUP feature should be disabled (which is the default
setting) when running the Winstone 97 benchmark. Some tests may
report a time-out error if CenterPOPUP is used.
- Limitation with multiple graphics cards
Windows NT 4.0 supports a maximum of about 280 different display
modes (combinations of resolution, color palette and refresh rate
settings). You may encounter this limit if you have more than one
Matrox graphics card installed in your computer.
If the Matrox "VESA settings" option button is selected when there
are multiple Matrox cards in your computer, you're even more
likely to encounter the Windows NT 4.0 limit in the number of
display modes. This is because the "VESA settings" option supports
several different refresh rates for each display resolution and
color palette setting.
If you have more than one Matrox graphics card in your computer, we
recommend you not use the "VESA settings" option. Note that changing
your refresh rate through the Microsoft "Display Properties" dialog
box activates the "VESA settings" option.
- 3D Studio MAX 1.2
If you have problems running 3D Studio Max 1.2 using the Matrox
HEIDI driver, try disabling the "Use bus mastering" check box under
"General settings". To access this check box, click "Start" ->
"Programs"-> "Matrox PowerDesk" -> "Matrox Display Properties" ->
"Performance".
- 3D Studio MAX 2.0
Switching between HEIDI software emulation and OpenGL acceleration
while 3D Studio Max 2.0 is running, may cause the viewports to
flicker while playing animations. This problem may also happen if
display settings (resolution or color palette) are changed while
3D Studio Max is running. If you experience these problems, try
closing 3D Studio Max, changing your display settings (resolution or
color palette), and then restarting 3D Studio MAX.
- 15-bit color palette support
A 15-bit color palette is no longer supported.
- Multi-display desktop support
With a multi-display desktop, all displays use the same color palette and
display resolution. The maximum display resolution you can select is
determined by the display with the highest maximum display resolution.
If a display in your multi-display desktop doesn't support a selected
display resolution, that display will automatically use a virtual display.
With a "virtual display", parts of your "display area" are off-screen. You
can move your mouse pointer to the edge of the screen to move the visible
part of your virtual display. This virtual display feature is similar to
using the Matrox zoom (PixelTOUCH) feature.
Note: The "virtual display" feature isn't available with the secondary
display of a DualHead-supporting graphics card. If a secondary display is
part of your multi-display desktop, the maximum display resolution you can
select is limited by the maximum display resolution of your secondary
display. For more information on DualHead, see "DualHead notes".
Software monitor settings help determine the maximum display resolution
for each display. If software monitor settings aren't properly selected for
all displays, one or more displays may become garbled or unusable if an
unsupported display resolution is selected. For more information on
selecting software monitor settings, see the online PowerDesk guide
(online.doc).
Matrox TV output
================
Certain models of Matrox graphics cards support TV output. With TV output
support, you can view or record your computer display with a TV or video
recorder connected to your graphics card.
Recommendation
--------------
- While playing games using TV output, we recommend you use a 640 x 480
display resolution. This is because the resolution capabilities of TVs are
lower than most computer monitors. If you use a higher display resolution
(800 x 600 or 1024 x 768), the display on your TV may not look as sharp as
the display of your computer monitor -- that is, some of the extra detail
may be harder to see on your TV.
- For Matrox G100/G200 graphics cards with TV ouput support:
Matrox default advanced TV output settings are good for viewing most
computer graphics (for example, computer games or your Windows desktop) on
most TVs. Based on broadcast standards, there are advanced TV output
settings that are better suited for viewing full-screen video (for example,
from a video file). These settings are:
NTSC
Brightness : 180
Contrast : 234
Saturation : 137
Hue : 0
PAL
Brightness : 167
Contrast : 255
Saturation : 138
Hue : 0
Note: For ideal settings, you may also need to adjust the settings on your
TV. The default brightness, contrast, saturation and hue settings on most
consumer video devices are higher than broadcast standards. These settings
are usually OK for viewing video but may not look OK with computer graphics.
(This is why Matrox default TV output settings are lower than what's ideal
for video.) For more information on how to adjust settings on your TV, see
your TV manual.
More information
----------------
For more information on display settings, see your Matrox manual and online
documentation. For information on how to change the display resolution of a
game you're using, see its documentation.
Note: The Matrox zoom and virtual desktop features aren't supported in TV
output mode. Also, TV output mode isn't supported if you have more than one
Matrox graphics card in your computer.
Note: For TV output with full-screen DOS display modes under Windows NT 4.0,
only text display modes (02h, 03h) are supported.
DualHead notes
==============
Certain Matrox graphics cards can use one graphics chip to control two
separate displays -- this is the Matrox "DualHead" feature. If you have a
DualHead-supporting graphics card, note the following under Windows NT 4.0:
- DualHead software controls (on the Matrox PowerDesk "Performance" property
sheet) are only available if, when Windows NT 4.0 restarts, a secondary
display is connected to your DualHead-supporting graphics card. For more
information on DualHead software controls, see context-sensitive help.
- The "VESA settings" option isn't available when you're using a TV as your
secondary display.
- With the "DualHead Multi-Display" feature, DirectDraw and OpenGL
acceleration is available for the main and secondary displays of your
DualHead-supporting graphics card.
- With the "DualHead Multi-Display" feature, all displays in your system
may be limited by the display capabilities of the secondary display of
your DualHead-supporting graphics card. Specifically:
- Only a 16- or 32-bit color palette is available.
- The Matrox zoom feature (PixelTOUTCH) is unavailable.
- The mouse pointer is drawn entirely by the software. As a result, the
mouse pointer may flicker or disappear while it's in an area of the
display that's being redrawn quickly (for example, a video window).
- Because the secondary display doesn't support the "virtual display"
feature, the maximum display resolution of a multi-display desktop is
limited by the maximum display resolution of the secondary display.
- The "DualHead Clone" feature is unavailable if your DualHead-supporting
graphics card isn't controlling the primary display of your computer.
The "primary display" of your computer is the one that first displays
information when your computer restarts. For information on how to change
which graphics card controls your primary display, see your system manual.
- With the "DualHead Clone" feature, both the main and secondary
display of your DualHead-supporting graphics card use the same monitor
settings (specifically, the same vertical refresh rate).
If your secondary display is a TV, the vertical refresh rate is determined
by the TV standard selected on the Matrox PowerDesk "Monitor" property
sheet (60 Hz for NTSC, 50 Hz for PAL).
If your secondary display is a computer monitor, the "Monitor" property
sheet isn't available. In this case, use the "Refresh Frequency" control
on the "Settings" property sheet to change your vertical refresh rate. If
you select a refresh rate or display resolution that isn't supported by
either display, one or both displays may become garbled or unusable.
- With the "DualHead Clone" feature, the virtual desktop feature is
unavailable.