That's interesting because OpenGL on 3dfx cards actually uses the Glide3 driver to do all the rendering (except the old mini-GL driver, which was "bare-to-the-bones").
So it appears that Glide3 is buggered on your machine.
Did you have another 3dfx card in your machine before?
Do a search of you harddisk for "glide3x.dll" (make sure you have selected the option in the windows explorer to "Show All Files", otherwise DLL's will not be shown to you). There should just be one of these, in your WINDOWS/SYSTEM directory (WINDOWS/SYSTEM32 on NT/2k machines). If there is any others, tell me where they are

 

Lewpy!!!

Yes... that's exactly what my machine can't seem to deal with... the glide3x.dll.. that's where the "illegal operation" and "invalid page fault" are happening... it's where it's supposed to be... in windows/system... and it seems that I can get it to run @ 2X anti-aliasing... but not 4X... once I put in 4X it just freaks out on me and won't let me run the emulator at all...

 

Can you please post the full output of the COPY INFO button on my configuration panel. Please don't delete anything, just paste the lot here. Thanks.

 

Okay Mr. Lewpy... here's the info...

Lewpy's Glide³ Plugin Configuration Information v1.35
-----------------------------------------------------

Computer Information
OS : Microsoft Windows 98 SE (v4.10 Build 2222)
DirectX : DirectX 8.0 installed
Processor : Intel Pentium III, 668Mhz (1 off) (00/0681)
16kb L1-I, 16kb L1-D, 256kb L2 (on-chip)
Memory : 384Mb

Core Emulator
ePSXe : C:\GAMES\EPSXE\EPSXE.EXE
: 25/06/2001 20:31, 153088 bytes

*------*----------------------*---------*------------------*
| Type | Name | Version | Date |
*------*----------------------*---------*------------------*
| BIOS | SCPH1001.BIN | | 16/09/2001 13:25 |
| CDR | cdrPeteAspi.dll | 1.7 | 22/09/2001 15:20 |
| GPU | gpuLewGlide.dll | 1.35 | 01/08/2001 20:05 |
| SPU | SPUCORE | 0.0 | Plugin Not Found |
*------*----------------------*---------*------------------*

*-----------------------------*---------------------*
| ePSXe Configuration Item | Current Setting |
*-----------------------------*---------------------*
| Sound Enabled | Yes |
| CDDA Enabled | No |
| XA Enabled | Yes |
| XA Read Enabled | Yes |
| SPU IRQ Hack | Yes |
| CDROM Drive Letter | D |
| CDROM Accurate Timing | No |
| Disable CDROM Status | No |
| Country | AutoDetect |
*-----------------------------*---------------------*

Glide³
Board : Voodoo5 (tm)
Version : 3.10.00.0658
File : C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\glide3x.dll
: 02/11/2000 04:32, 329728 bytes

*-----------------------------*---------------------*
| Plugin Configuration Item | Current Setting |
*-----------------------------*---------------------*
| Active Configuration | 3 |
| Active 3dfx Card | 1 |
| Enable HotKeys | No |
| Resolution | 1280x960 |
| Refresh Rate | 60Hz |
| Emulate MASK Bit | Yes |
| Dynamic Texture Caching | Yes |
| Custom FrameCap | 60Hz |
| On-Screen Display | Off |
| Frame Skip | Disabled |
| FrameRate Limit | Auto |
| System Type | NTSC |
| FrameCap Method | New |
| Draw Method | Bright |
| Alpha Blending Mode | Advanced |
| Bilinear Filtering | Disabled |
| Alpha Testing | Normal |
| FrameBuffer Access | Write |
| Off-Screen Drawing | Basic |
| Polygon Mode | Textured |
| Texture Windows | Enabled |
| VSync | Enabled |
| Banshee Code | Enabled |
| MDEC Format | Texture |
| Experimental Flipping | On |
| Experimental Screen Sizing | Off |
| FrontBuffer Rendering Fix | Off |
| FF7 TextureWindow Fix | Off |
| DMAChain Fix | Long |
*-----------------------------*---------------------*

and yes, I tried using the cdr plugin that came with epsxe... it doesn't make a difference... oh... and funny... but my resolution doesn't make a difference in speed either... (go figure?). Thanks

 

As for the resolution not making difference, I think I might know what it is... the "Framerate limit".. I think "Auto" automatically attempts to adjust it based on the game that you play (60fps for NTSC, 50 for PAL)... that's why it doesn't matter what resolution you play it on. If you switch that off, I think you'll notice differences.

 

Oh... really?? hmm... I will try that... of course... augh... bad bad bad.. I'm supposed to be studying.. hmm... perhaps Mr. Lewpy will respond later in the day as well with a magical solution (sigh, I'm hopeless) and I can do it all at once?

 

First off, try upgrading your Voodoo5 drivers. The ones you are using are the v1.04.00 drivers, but 3dfx released v1.04.01 Beta before they stopped releasing drivers. I've been using that last set and have no problems to talk about.
Secondly, resolution doesn't make any difference because the Voodoo5 has plenty enough fill-rate to handle pretty much any resolution you can throw at it, when dealing with PSX scenes (ie. not too many polys). If you do enable x4 FSAA though, this will effectively quarter the fill-rate of the Voodoo5, so you will start to notice the effect of increasing the resolution. But then again, with x4 FSAA, you don't need as high a resolution to get good image quality.
You may want to try setting Bilinear Filtering to "Enabled w/o Sprites". See if you like that setting.

 

Mr. Lewpy,

beta drivers? So, I'm guessing they're on the 3dfx.com page then... hmm... I will try bilinear filters w/o sprites... I think I did it before and it didn't make much difference (at least to the fmv sequences). Thanks for the info and advice.

 

Why not try posting one of the pixelated mdec pics?

 

Originally posted by Sangu|ne
Mr. Lewpy,

beta drivers? So, I'm guessing they're on the 3dfx.com page then... hmm... I will try bilinear filters w/o sprites... I think I did it before and it didn't make much difference (at least to the fmv sequences). Thanks for the info and advice.

http://www.voodoofiles.com/s/3dfxdrivers

 

Thanks Bg...

5'8" good idea... I'll post one up as soon as I shrink it to a normal size... (my desktop's at 1280X960... so the screen sized shot is a little.. uhmm.. large.)

 

Okay... so I chose a shot that's the same as the one that 5'8" put up on the previous page... it's from the intro, so you can see the words as well... even when I resized the thing down to 640X480... it still looks pixely (so... I'm guessing I just... attach a file... right...?)

 

hmm.. That does look too pixelated for lewpys glide pluggin.. Maybe you have a busted Voodoo 5..

 

Oh gawd. Don't tell me that... please... don't tell me that... I can't afford another video card... *groan*

 

*sigh* to make things worse... here's another perfect example of why I'm worried about my fmv's...(take a wild guess which screen shot is mine...) and you know... it's like this with ANY video... like I was using PSMplay... and when I went full screen... it was just as pixely (if not worse) as in the game... seems like the only resolution where the pictures look "good" is when the screen is this little 3X3 inch thing...

 

I still think it's a config issue.... I've dealt with busted vid. cards before, and believe me, they give you more headaches than just pixelated images... so I'm still optimistic on this one.

 

Kairi... you and Mr.Lewpy are my only hopes right now.... Pleeease....

Oh.. and Mr. Lewpy... I did exactly what you said... my drivers are updated... I turned on Bilinear filtering.... and... it's all still reeeally pixely... actually... there's absolutely no change from before.... any suggestions (please don't 'say busted video card...please please please...)

 

One last thing to try is mess with some of the graphic card options in your voodoo tools.. Advanced display properties, 3dfx advanced features.. I have this config:

Highest Quality video "enabled"
3d filter quality set on "high"

See if you have these two video card options.. I am using the latest omega 3dfx drivers.. It has a lot more options than the official 3dfx drivers..