OpenGL screensaver under win98

[mikechen]

Oops... I have some problem with these. The screen savers come with win98 runs so slow, that I can't see there's hardware acceleraion. The ones I downloaded from 3dfiles.com usually pops up a dialog like
"Exception error on G400ICD.dll", sometimes it just hangs. This happens on PD5.30 and 5.41, but all other apps (D3D and OpenGL) runs fine. Does someone has a solution?
Hardware:
Epox MVP3G-2
G400 16MB DH
128MB SDRAM at 66MHz
SBLive value
I can run the card at AGP2X, DIME, sideband with no other problem.

[birdy]

you have tried enabling hardware acceleration within the screensaver's settings control?

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p3 450@600. bx6 ver 2. 128mb unbranded pc100. iwill 2930u scsi, diamond pro pci modem, advansys 1505 isa scsi, SB Live!, pioneer dvd103s, hollywood plus dvd card, plextor 40x cd rom, ricoh 1420 cdr, ibm 13.5gb @ 7200rpm, G400 @ max settings. All wrapped up in a big case with loads of fans. Belinea 10 30 40 17" monitor

[mikechen]

I didn't see this kind of options there.
My former ATI Fury also has this problem, until now the TNT series run best on these screensavers. Oh, BTW, those screensavers hangs here run very smoothly under winNT 4.0.

[Maggi]

Hi Mikechen,

as long as your desktop is set to either 16bpp or 32bpp OpenGL should be hardware accelerated (24bpp is not).

When those screensavers seem to run in software mode, it is most likely that you have DH enabled to extend your desktop.

OpenGL was never meant for more than one display, hence you must disable DH in order to get those SS runing in hardware accel-mode ...

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Cheers,
Maggi

Despite my nickname causing confusion, I am not female ...

[mikechen]

Well... I haven't activate DualHead yet. My desktop resolution is 1024*768*16bits, 75Hz now.
Strange... I have no idea where the problem is.

[Gurm]

Many so-called 'OpenGL Screensavers' run very slowly on 90% of video cards out there. Some TNT drivers work, some don't. Usually alternating builds. No G400 drivers have ever accelerated screen savers, under any OS. Ditto with the G200. Ditto with ATI, and 3dfx.

Many of these screen savers ARE accelerated, to a degree, under Windows NT (but not 2000, at least for the G400).

- Gurm

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Listen up, you primitive screwheads! See this? This is my BOOMSTICK! Etc. etc.

[mikechen]

So You mean that the ICD of G400 under win98 can't accelerate SS?
This make me recall that where I work last summer vacation. They has a monster OpenGL card (by Intergraph, forgot the model), which do faster than TNT, but that card is 3 years older than TNT
Strikingly: This card can't work under win95/98. It offers driver for NT4 only.

[Maggi]

Hi Gurm,

No G400 drivers have ever accelerated screen savers, under any OS.

???

I have about half a dozen OGL SS and all seem to be hardware accelerated, because when I set my DT back to 24bpp colordepth, the framrate either drops down to ~10% (guessed - not measured) or they don't run at all.

Could you please be so kind and explain that statement you posted above ?

Thanx,
Maggi

[mikechen]

So You mean that the ICD of G400 under win98 can't accelerate SS?
This make me recall that where I work last summer vacation. They has a monster OpenGL card (by Intergraph, forgot the model), which do faster than TNT, but that card is 3 years older than TNT
Strikingly: This card can't work under win95/98. It offers driver for NT4 only.

[mikechen]

So You mean that the ICD of G400 under win98 can't accelerate SS?
This make me recall that where I work last summer vacation. They has a monster OpenGL card (by Intergraph, forgot the model), which do faster than TNT, but that card is 3 years older than TNT
Strikingly: This card can't work under win95/98. It offers driver for NT4 only.

[cswan]

Ditto to Maggi's question, Gurm. I have quite a few SSs which use OpenGL (not just the Microsoft ones), and if it's software mode that they're running in, it's pretty _damned_ impressive, and pretty, software mode. If my CPU can do that, hell man--might as well throw out the 3D card

And if the screensavers are not accelerated, why is it that some of them crash the g400icd.dll file? They're obviously trying to call the ICD? Or am I getting opengl32.dll confused with g400icd.dll?

Your post kinda confused me, too--you say that no G400 drivers have ever accelerated SSs under _any_ OS, but some NT screensavers were accelerated. Are you implying that NT is not an OS? I might actually agree with you, but...

[mikechen]

Oh. I don't know why my post repeat 3 times...
Anyway, maybe the problem is on win98?
Because this happens to some other cards.
My former ATI Fury also has this situation:
The same screensaver, unbelievable slow under win98, but very smooth under WinNT.
NT supports OpenGL earlier than win95/98, right?

[Gurm]

Maggi,

Which OS are you running under? I will admit that my experiences with my G400 are limited to Win98, Millennium, and Win2000. NT4 may in fact accelerate Screen Savers.

SOME screen savers are really better coded than others. I will take back part of what I said, and clarify:

MOST OpenGL ICD's will not accelerate screen savers based on MS's screensaver code. This is because (AFAIK) the MS screensavers use DirectX mode change calls, and then open up an OpenGL "window" on a DirectX screen.

The only ICD I've seen accelerate any of MS's screen savers under Win9x is the Permedia2/3. Under NT I've seen many cards accelerate screen savers. i740's, Rage II's, you name it - because OpenGL under NT is (apparently) easier to make work.

I haven't seen the G400 run under NT, so maybe it works.

And I too have seen 3rd party OpenGL screensavers work under Win9x, but they are the ones that DON'T use MS's code.

- Gurm

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Listen up, you primitive screwheads! See this? This is my BOOMSTICK! Etc. etc.

[Maggi]

Thanx for feedback, Gurm !

Check again your MS screensavers ...

Compare the speed of 24bpp (software) to the speed of 16bpp and 32bpp (hardware).

You'll notice a big boost in hardware mode under W98 and NT4.

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Cheers,
Maggi

Despite my nickname causing confusion, I am not female ...

[Gurm]

Maggi,

Ok, funny thing is... the OGL Screen Savers run BETTER (faster) in 24-bit mode under Win2k with the latest preview drivers 5.00.11!

How screwy is THAT?

- Gurm

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Listen up, you primitive screwheads! See this? This is my BOOMSTICK! Etc. etc.