G400 & Quake 2

[Krider]

I have a Matrox G400 vid card. When i try to do a time demo in quake 2 i only get like 35 fps. With my old voodoo2 i use to get way more then this. I have the latest drivers for the card, 541 i believe are the newest. Is there something i'm doing wrong? what video mode..etc should i be using in quake 2? Should i be using turbogl, if so how do i go about getting it to work using turbogl. My system specs are:
Amd k6-2 350
64 megs ram
G400 vid
AOpen AX59Pro mobo
SB LIVE!

krider
krider@g256.com

[Rags]

Hi Krider,

Even though you didn't give us your settings, I know that you can speed your performance up by installing the most recent TurboGL, you can get it here: http://www.murc.ws/Driver/Win9x/PD5/.../turboglv1.exe

Rags

[Krider]

So what video mode should i use with that turbogl? I just have to install the turbogl and quake 2 will pick it up will it?

[Krider]

BTW: What driver do i use under the video setup? Do i use default opengl? If so, i've tried and my system locks up. I installed the turbogl that you gave me the link to.

[Rags]

Hi Krider,

Just install PD version 5.30, read the information that Matrox provides with the TGL, it has some other pointers as well if you are running to troubles.

Yes, use default OpenGL in the video setup.

[Krider]

what is pd version 5.30? What does PD stand for? I couldn't find any info that came with the turbogl. I installed the turbogl, i opened up quake 2 and set it to default opengl and hit enter for the settings to take affect and the sytem freezes up on me.

[Greebe]

Krider, PD stands for Power Desk and 5.30 is the version...ie drivers for your G400.

and buy more memory!

[Krider]

Why can't I use the newest PD v5.41 rather then PD v5.30?? Should i use the newest or stick with 5.30?

[Rags]

The reason you can't use 5.41 is the symptom you are having. It is known that certain motherboards, yours too obviously, need to use a different PD version, you need PD 5.30.

Rags

[Krider]

Ah ok.. I gotcha now.. I'll give them a try and let ya know how things are after i run quake 2 with pd 5.30.

[Krider]

UPDATE: Ok i have PD v5.30 installed now. My system does not lock up anymore when i change the video mode. I have it set to default opengl now. But i'm only getting 31 fps. Is there settings i should change in quake 2 now so i can get more fps?

[Fyrespray]

Ok I have a few things I can think of, First of all what resolution are you in ? 35FPS does sound low, but if you are in a very high resolution this could account for it. Do you have your desktop set to 16bit ?? Quake 2 will run at the same colour depth as your desktop with your G400 so to get an accurate comparason with your V2 you need to set it to 16Bit, V2 only does 16Bit and Q2 is written in a 16Bit pallette so you are not losing anything, by running it in 32bit it will look exactly the same, just slower. Finally this might sound a bit stupid but you are running timedemo 1 before you benchmark, I have known people to forget to do this. Finally which demo are you running ?

Fyrespray

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Celery 366 @ 550,Abit BM6, 128Mb PC100 Ram, G200 8Mb, AWE64 Gold, Win98SE.

[Krider]

The resolution i'm running quake 2 in is 640-480. I have my desktop colors set to 16bit right now. I always have it set to 16 bit.

Yes i am running timedemo 1 before i do my bench mark. Here's how i test my fps:

timedemo 1
map demo1.dm2

The demo runs, and finishes.. i get like 31 fps..

what about my rate and max_cls settings in quake 2?? Should i have them set to anything in particular?