Not every new driver is better!

[DustSpun]

UT runs great on my system at 8x6x32 detail textures false everything else high. (average around 50-60fps[30-90] depending on map with 8 players. I get 62fps in q3109 8x6x32 bilinear texture 3/4.

p3/.6k g4vanilla oc120 192ram

cph

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semper ubi
sub ubi

[mathew]

Hi Paul

Sorry to sound a bit thick,but can you run me threw the full procedure of Q3 utilized turbo gl..

I have tried it but it seems to run slower than the standard driver!!!

Cheers Matt {:O)

[paulcs]

I'm at work now, and I don't like trusting my memory about these things, prefering instead to go through the steps as I type them. I can give it a shot however. It's pretty easy.

Before I help wreck the machines of newcomers, you should be using a Pentium III or Althon processor if you intend to install TurboGL.

The first thing you should do is make *absolutely* sure Quake3 Test 1.09 is set at 800x600/32-bit. I suggest you find the Q3 config file (q3config.cfg) and make a backup copy of it in a separate directory. I have spaced out and exited the game in 16-bit, only to get the White Screen of Death upon attempting to re-enter. The emergency config file came in real handy.

In order to enter the game in 800x600/32-bit, you must exit the game with these settings.

This assumes you have already installed PowerDesk 5.41 or 5.30.

*Right* click on the PowerDesk icon in your System Tray at the lower right hand corner of your display. A small menu will pop up.

Click on TurboGL Manager. I can't remember exactly what happens here, but if it asks you for permission to look for supported games, tell it yes. The TurboGL manager will run through all your drives looking for the games.

Eventually you will be given a list of supported games with check-off boxes next to them. Games with TurboGL already installed will be represented with one color font, games without with another.

Check off the boxes next to the games you want the TurboGL file installed in. I don't think any harm is done by reinstalling it in games that have it already. (Maybe someone else can chime in here, because I don't have any saved games on this machine.)

I have both Quake3 1.08 and 1.09 installed on my machine in different drives. TurboGL didn't make a noticable distinction between them, but it did list them both and installed to both game directories.

After finishing, I reboot, although I don't think you are prompted to.

I hope this is what you wanted to know.

Paul
paulcs@flashcom.net

[This message has been edited by paulcs (edited 01 December 1999).]

[xortam]

The TurboGL drivers are the same for 5.41 and 5.30 (see Topic: new turbo gl???).

As paulcs says, the TurboGL Manager will scan for games that use OpenGL and copy the appropriate TurboGL driver into the game directory. The TurboGL Manager is run at driver installation (if you checked that option during setup), through QuickDesk (icon in your system tray), or directly through launching the PDGLUtil.exe ap from you're driver directory. You should run TurboGL Manager whenever you install/reinstall an OpenGL game or as part of setup when updating you're graphics drivers.

As far as the config problem with Q3, I don't mess with swapping .cfg files and video modes: I just pass the config paramaters on the command line when I launch Q3. Easy. I use this approach to standardize my benchmarks too. Probably safer than specifying the whole .cfg file due to version changes in the setup commands in the .cfg file.

[This message has been edited by xortam (edited 01 December 1999).]

[Warlic]

I got the new drivers yesterday... At first, I noticed a performance drop, but then I realized that the new drivers have Vsync disabled in direct 3D by default. So, I used the Matrox tweak utility to disable it and whammo! Everything runs as smoothe as ever! I may be seeing things that aren't there, but it seems like I don't get as much tearing with the new drivers.

Mark F-
Thank you SOOO MUCH for that q3config.cfg that you posted. I was pulling my hair out trying to get turboGL working with Quake 3. I tried everything including setting the game to start at 800x600x32. Nothing worked... Now it works GREAT! Now how do I do a timedemo in Q3? I want to compare the speed with turboGl... I can already see a big difference in smoothness...



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Give me back my hand...

[Scytale]

Actually, there's only one TurboGL driver (a DLL named mgaturbo.dll) being copied over and over again to the directories of supported games, after which it is renamed to Opengl32.Dll. The configuration of the games supported by TurboGL is not altered.

Therefore -at this time- it doesn't make a difference if you either copy+rename the DLL by hand or run the TurboGL setup after installing a new game (but of course, only when you are sure that the game will work with TurboGL, and you have installed TurboGL with the drivers).

[xortam]

Scytale, This may be nitpicking, but this is what I've been able to deduce ...
There are two TurboGL drivers, one for the PIII (mgatglp3.dll) and one for the Athlon (mgatglk7.dll). The appropriate driver is copied into the system directory and renamed mgaturbo.dll. The mgaturbo.dll file is then copied and renamed when the TurboGL Manager installs the driver into the game directory. Note that the TurboGL Manager won't run if the mgaturbo.dll file is missing from the system directory: The menu item is missing from the QuickDesk popup menu and you get an error message running the PDGLUtil utility. 5.41 didn't update my games directories because I was already up to date with the 5.30 driver pack. If you delete the driver from your game directory, you'll get the version from the system directory (remember you can tell by the one hour difference in the modified d/t).


[This message has been edited by xortam (edited 02 December 1999).]

[andrei]

The new TurboGl works fine in Quake3.
No problems for me, 800x600x32.

[Scytale]

Hi xortam, AFAIK that's pretty much the full story.

I was trying to point out that there's no urgent reason to run TurboGL setup after updating a TGL enabled game, as long as you make sure that the already installed TGL DLL (Opengl32.Dll) remains in place in the game's directory.

Also, after installing a new potential TGL enabled game you may want to copy(+rename) the DLL manually to the game's directory, because the TGL Manager will probably not support the game yet.

[Snake-Eyes]

Sorry Paul, but I can verify that for some of us, at least, the ICD is causing the white background during level loads. Since I still have my V2 installed, I made sure that the turboGL Manager removed any installations of turboGL that were present (after completing the 5.41 install). I did this after testing Q3 once with the turboGL installed (to see if the 3DFX incompatibility thing has disappeared yet- no dice). Then before I joined a match, I checked the driver info- and it indicates Matrox 5.41.xx (inconsequential extra info, just no turboGL there).

When the game is loading a level, the background pic seems to get overlayed with some sort of white/gray color (sheet of paper effect), that flickers on then off (allowing me to see the normal backdrop when it goes off). The icons for weapons/ammo/powerups that appear are on top of either, as usual.

When the level finishes loading though, everything appears fine in the game. It's just during the actual loading of a level that I see this effect- which didn't occur with 5.30. On the other hand, the game appears to have gained some speed with the new driver, from 27 fps average in demo001 (5.30) to 31+ fps (5.41) average now. Overall, a good thing. The white screen thing is tolerable (since it hasn't affected gameplay one iota yet).

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Ace

[Snake-Eyes]

Forgot to mention that those framerates were 1024x768x32bit, 32bit textures, everything highest settings, trilinear filtered.

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Ace

[paulcs]

Hi Ace. I think we are talking about two *entirely* different anomalies. Sorry if I misunderstood or or I didn't make myself clear enough.

The "white screen" error I was talking about makes the game completely unplayable. The white screen we all see when the game is loading just stays there. The game locks at the white screen and you never get to the menu.

You can ctrl-alt-delete your way out of it, but your desktop display is corrupted. Everything looks faded and pastel. It's just a mess and requires a reboot. At this point, your Quake config file must be replaced in order to restore the 800x600/32-bit configuration.

Paul
paulcs@flashcom.net

[Rob M.]

Well I just reinstalled windows. Guess that was my problem w/UT and homeworld (actually havn't got the demo back yet but homworld works in d3d now perfectly, and it's faster than ogl was before (ogl is slower than before though). Q3A still rocks. That's all that matters