HARDWARE Q & A
 

After having read through almost every thread in the forum and seeing how many turn from the original question to a hardware related discussion I felt it was probably time to have a thread dedicated to the subject. my other reason is that if all hardware discussions were to stay on one thread many questions would be answered before ever being asked. I hope that this will help to cut down on the repetition of questions on how to improve frame rates and fix sound problems, etc...

I have a hardware question
 

Reading about v-sync, flashing bios, overclocking, etc, and all the various hardware combinations, I'm clueless. It might as well be written in Japanese for this relative newcomer to the computer world. I'm not quite ready for the "testosterone crowd". : )

I'm running a Gateway G-6 350 PII, with 128MB ram, STB Velocity 128 graphics card. I downloaded the latest drivers, which are over 2 years old. I'm getting between 18-19 fps with 7 fish at 1024x768, at 16 bits. Too much pixelation for my taste at 800x600. 99G, DX8.

I'd love to upgrade my video card. Any advice from the forum would be appreciated. I'm not a gamer. Games don't interest me. Nor do I have time. (with my proximity to the Gulf, a lot of fishing needs to be done) Just thought I'd throw that out. Any upgrade I'd purchase need not be geared toward gaming. Are there cards that are more ornery than others? I need something simple to use. Is there a limit on speed/memory with my older system? What cards are compatible? This STB card is supposed to have TV out, but there is no connector on the back. (??) That would be a nice addition. Anyhoo, thanks for the comeback. I'll take everything anyone has to say into consideration.

Win2K Refresh Rate Fix
 

For anyone out there running Win 2000 and a nVidia based graphics card there is a fix out for your refresh rate woes. You can pick it up over at 3DFiles.com or at nV News.net. This will allow you to set your refresh rate higher than 60Hz.

Re: HARDWARE Q&A
 

I'd like to crosslink this topic with one of the other topics regarding DirectX 8 and what success/results people have had with it, as well as various hardware configurations...

pub41.ezboard.com/fsachsa...D=54.topic

GeForce FAQ
 

There is an update to the GeForce FAQ page. For anyone that has a GeForce based graphics card this site is a must.

www.geforcefaq.com

ISA Video Card
 

Is there an ISA video card that gives satisfactory results with the SS? The video card I tried, an old Trident (2MB), kicked in at 0.3fps.

Re: ISA Video Card
 

You absolutely can't do anything with an ISA card.

Cheapest card is a 4MB trident PCI or ATI Rage 128 or Rage Pro 4MB PCI or AGP.

Re: ISA Video Card
 

Just a test to see if posting here works.

xdawg claims it doesn't.

Driver
 

Hello,

Im using a Nvidia Driver (v?) Geforce2 32sdram agp card. Does anyone know where i can download the latest driver.
Im just running at 85fps and i intend to make it to 100. because im using jim SS as a example of how good is my pc is performing, i tend to rely on the fps a lot.
thnx

Re: I have a hardware question
 

Try www.reactorcritical.com, they might have some drivers. They come highly recommended by Morgan.

- DL

Re: I have a hardware question
 

Jroz,

If you want to run at 100, set your monitor refresh to 100 Hz.

Re: HARDWARE Q & A - new question
 

First, let me say what a joy it is moving 'round this group without all the pop-ups - well done!

I'm wondering if I need to install a new driver. My machine is a HP Pavillion, AMD K-7 850, 256MB RAM, 40HD using an NVIDIA RIVA TNT2 Pro (16MB) and the driver is the standard NVIDIA 4.11 that was made in 1999. Windows says it is the best driver found, but I understand that to mean "that's in my machine."

I am getting 60fps with 7 fish at 800x600 with no difference at the next higher resolution.
Not bad, but the outer edges of certain fish degrade a tiny bit.

I have the URL of the drivers Feldon posted, but to be honest, I do not know where to save the file to.

The driver I should use with WindowsME would be 6.47, is that correct?

Thanks for any comments.

Driver data
 

Feldon what happened to your plan to post info about drivers and Directx8?
I am NOT a computer geek and need much help, but would like the SS to look as good as possible!!
Thanks!

Re: Driver data
 

You should be getting ~60fps at 1024x768. If you are viewing the Aquarium at 800x600, you are not getting the full experience as it is really taiolered for 1024x768 or better.

Download the file to your Desktop or C:\, use WinZip to open it, and double-click the README file. E-mail me if you have further troubles.

Re: Driver data
 

-Installing DX8 will not improve the appearance of .99K
.
-99K included 95% of the things that HAD been on the waiting list for the DX8 version

-I'm going to wait until a week before the DX8 version hits (weeks from now) before I post the upgrade guide. For now, my recommendation is 6.47 drivers for all nVidia cards. Hooters and Jim have more knowledge about the ATI drivers, and we've seen postings about which Voodoo drivers work best. I'd really like to have 4-5 file links for the best driver for each card and a little online HTML wizard of how to install drivers for different OSes and cards.

Bottom line, AFTER you install a new video card driver, you must install DX8 again on top. It pays to download the DX8 installer to your hard drive when it gives you the opportunity so you can do this as necessary.

I've found that installing a new driver, then forcing it NOT to restart (click No, move the dialog box, whatever you can to stop it), install DX8, and THEN reboot. All in one step. This seems to work well.

And when I recommend 6.47, it is, to be honest, mostly tailored for ALL nVidia cards. Some of the later drivers work better on GeForce 2 + 3 but worse on TnT Riva series cards. So 6.47 is a "catch-all".

Strange FPS in 99k
 

I got 105 fps with my Magic Pro Geforce2 MX400
(Driver : 6.5 ship with the card )

Now I got 70 fps with my new WinFast Geforce2 GTS
(Driver : 6.48 download from Leadtek.com )

My setting is almost the same among two cards.
Vertical sync : disable
FSAA : disable
Graphic quality : highest
1024x768x16bits
Windows ME, Pentium III 533EB

Although the fishes swim as smooth enough.
I don't know why it yield a such strange FPS.

Re: Strange FPS in 99k
 

GTS should be rocking the MX400. I'd get parity between the two drivers or play with new drivers.

sound problems
 

hay when I put the 99k on my system I loose sound on my screen saver anyone got any ideas on this one. I'm running windows me and I have a sound blaster PCI 512 sound card.

thanks

vale

Re: sound problems
 

We've had 3 reports of no sound with Sound Blaster cards. I'll get one on Saturday, and try it out.

sound
 

Jim!! Jim!! he's are man if he can't do it no one can!!!

Thanks Jim

vale

Re: sound problems
 

I am running a Sound Blaster Live! with no problems on .99K and Win98.

Can't wait for the volume control though :-)

Re: sound problems
 

I think the Sound Blaster PCI512 card is an Ensoniq card just like my PC128. It's just relabeled Creative Labs.

Nobody at Best Buy could give me a reason to buy the Creative Labs SB Live Value for $30 more, but now I know).


For anyone curious...

-Noise level
-Stupid automatic clipping control which makes it difficult/impossible to record live sources without having distortion
-REALLY bad drivers which like to uninstall themselves on 9x (works fine on Win2k)
-Sometimes acts like a half-duplex or single-channel card

sound problems
 

By the way I just thought I would mention this I did some experimenting on my own being that I have lots of computes setting in my living room because I love to build them. I have several operating systems available I tested out the sound blaster PCI 512 and the SoundBlaster live 5.1 and 99k it works with these cards in windows 2000 and windows 98 it only stops working on my system that I am running windows me. I just thought that might be of some help and also might save you some time

Thanks

Vale

Re: sound problems
 

You know there is no official ME driver for that card, right?

sound problems
 

yeah i know its rather annoying however there is a driver for the sound blaster live 5.1 and it still has the problem under windows ME. i think that is just one more thing to show how much windows Me sucks and that we should all start using linux so that bill gates will go broke and have to live on the streets.

vale

Re: sound problems
 

Anyone who does not have any sound in V.99K may try the version at: link=www.serenescreen.com/NewSound.zip

This version uses a different way of storing the sound. Let me know if it works any better.

Re: sound problems
 

I'm running the Soundblaster Live! Value here, so this covers the Live! cards. No problems detected at all Jim.

- DL

Re: sound problems
 

OK, but I'm looking for a response from someone who had sound in v.99J, but not in v.99K.

Re: sound problems
 

sorry jim no change here. i ran the reg cleaner and started from scratch with the new sound file and still no sound under windows ME. if i switch back to 99j. i will have sound again. but i have tried 99k with a sound blaster live 5.1 and the PCI 512 no sound. it must be something to do with windows me though because it works with any other operating system. mater of fact my main computer is a dual boot system that runs windows 2000 and windows me and if i boot in to windows 2000 with the same sound card i get sound but not in windows me.

thanks

vale

Re: sound problems
 

Thanks for the feedback, I'll try something else.

Re: sound problems
 

Valeran - Which version of DirectX are you running?

Re: sound problems
 

hi jim im using version 8.0a and i tried reenstalling it this morning to see if that helped still no change. if you need anything else like system specs or what not let me know.

thanks

vale

Re: sound problems
 

Valeryan -

Could you try this experiment for me?

In Control Panel, double-click Add/Remove Programs.

Click the Windows Setup tab.

Click Multimedia, and then click Details.

Verify that the Audio Compression check box is selected. If it is not selected, click the check box to select it, and then click OK

Re: sound problems
 

bingo jim that fixed it i guess it was all my bad in the first place that audio compression thingy was not installed and when i installed it i got sound thanks for you time

vale

Re: sound problems
 

Thanks for your help on this problem. It had been reported by about a half-dozen people, and I was totally unable to duplicate it on any of my machines.

60Hz & Windows 2K
 

For those of you who are power users and don't mind fooling around in the registry. You can check out the following thread at the nVnews forums. It gives you a way to solve your refresh rate woes under Win2K (applies only to those with nVidia based graphics boards).

nV News Forums

Please read carefully before attempting this as you could cause yourself some problems if you mess up.

Changing Video Card Drivers
 

I was over at my favorite nVidia site and noticed that one of the members of the forum has written a little utility to remove detonator drivers 6.xx and up. Not sure how well it works yet but will try it out tonight and post an update. It is called Detonator Deleter you can download it for the following link.

www.kb244.com/Utils/detdel.htm

Remember this is only for those using nVidia reference drivers under Win9x/Me.

compatible video accelerators
 

If it is compatible with your system the Savage 4 video card is excellent. I bought a triton card with 8 meg of vram for $40.00 which worked like ****. Then I brought it back and got a Savage 4 card with 16 meg of vram for the same price and it works great with everything I use.
Try it. For the price alone and the amount of vram it is perfect.


Your post was edited for language.

Re: HARDWARE Q & A
 

Jim,

Just curious to know if you are still planning to support passthrough video cards (i.e. Voodoo 2). My computer at work has no agp support and my only hope for running the screen saver is on a Voodoo 2. Its the only PCI video card I have left. Like I said I am just curious, Thanks for your time.

Re: HARDWARE Q & A
 

This will probably have to wait for the DX8 version.