rec.autos.simulators

        Ralph

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/Ralph Williams      My real .sig file is in the shop getting repaired.\

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Can anyone tell me which will run GP2 faster and why?

     <<Can anyone tell me which will run GP2 faster and why?>>

     I'd say the P166 for an easy reason: The only PC operating system
which can support multiple processors is WindowsNT, and you can't play
DOS-based games in NT that require direct hardware access. If you reboot
to the FAT partition (DOS) to play games you will only be using one
processor.
     Nick
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#6 and #94 in the *real* quest for the Cup!
My home away from home...  http://www.mindspring.com/~ntotoro/
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     <<BZZZT! Wrong answer. OS/2 also has a multiple processor ersion.
As I understand it, it supports up to 64 processors. NT supports up to
8.>>

     Well... my answer wasn't entirely wrong then, was it? Is this
version of OS2 out already? How good is the support for DOS games? Is it
practical to play in this fashion?
     Nick
_______________________________________________________________

#6 and #94 in the *real* quest for the Cup!
My home away from home...  http://www.mindspring.com/~ntotoro/
_______________________________________________________________

        I believe you said that NT was the only PC operating system to support
multiple processors.

        There has been a multiple processor version of OS/2 for....hmmm....over
two years for sure....maybe three.
        There is a new version that is coming out of beta testing right now.

        I run Nascar in OS/2 and it runs fine...It does take a  little hit on the
frame-rate. My testing has shown about two FPS.
        It will even run in a window, but the frame-rate is real bad. I have done
a few laps just as an experiment. It is also pretty hard to see in a window at
1024x768 resolution.
        I can boot to plain DOS (IBM PCDOS 7.0) to run it also.

        I can also connect to Hawaii just fine under OS/2.

        As far as multiple processors and how they are distributed by the
operating sytem to the VDM's (Virtual DOS Machines) I have no experience.
        Hope this explains things somewhat.
        Ralph<Ralphw on Hawaii>Williams

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/Ralph Williams      My real .sig file is in the shop getting repaired.\

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 >
 >     <<BZZZT! Wrong answer. OS/2 also has a multiple processor ersion.
 >As I understand it, it supports up to 64 processors. NT supports up to
 >8.>>
 >
 >     Well... my answer wasn't entirely wrong then, was it? Is this
 >version of OS2 out already? How good is the support for DOS games? Is it
 >practical to play in this fashion?
 >     Nick
 >_______________________________________________________________
 >
 >#6 and #94 in the *real* quest for the Cup!
 >My home away from home...  http://www.mindspring.com/~ntotoro/
 >_______________________________________________________________

It wouldn't matter anyway.  Unless GP2 has code which directly takes advantage
of multiple processors (extremely doubtful), or at least is multithreaded
(doubtful), it will only run on one processor, no matter how many may be
installed in your system.

Clark

Not to mention that GP2 runs without a problem under OS/2.

________________________

 Torgeir Foss, Norway
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Unless the code is optimized and compiled to take advantage of an SMP
(symettric multi processor) box the P166 will be faster cuz the other P133
would be idle

Mark

NT> Well... my answer wasn't entirely wrong then, was it? Is this
NT> version of OS2 out already? How good is the support for DOS games?
NT> Is it practical to play in this fashion?

No idea about multi-processor versions of OS/2 - I've only got one.

BUT.....it was a Pentium 66MHz a few weeks back, and is now a Pentium
166MHz.....so I can comment on that aspect.

With both fast and slow processors (the rest of the system is 32MB EDO,
all PCI, 4MB S3 964 video, Adaptec 2940 SCSI-based disk drives - so
hopefully not to big a bottle-neck elsewhere) I ran GP2, ICR2 and Nascar
in both native DOS and simulated DOS from OS/2.

Using the CDBenchmarks, OS/2 was slightly slower than pure DOS, perhaps
a frame or two/second.

I practice, it was maybe a frame/second at the most (based on GP2's
estimates + occupancy rates, and ICR2's frame count. Essentially, in the
real world, either running fairly basic detail in SVGA on the P66, or
near maximal on the P166 (everything in Papyrus, no sky in GP2), I don't
notice any significant difference in play between native DOS and OS/2.

This might well be because, besides the "overheads", at the same time my
OS/2 Dos games all think they've got 640k base memory with no TSR's in
the way, busmastering on the SCSI setup instead of "Smartdrive", etc.

Whatever - in use, I don't notice the difference in play. And clicking
on the icon from the desktop, switching in and out, avoiding bootdisks
or multiple-setup config.sys's and the like.....OS/2 is a dead coninient
way to drive.....and do other things!

Certainly seems a lot better than the Win95 route.....!!!

Cheers!

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