rec.autos.simulators

Here's my dilemma<g>:

System:
PII 400
128mb ram
12mb V2
Crappy 2D AGP card(Intel)
SB Live Value
LWFF
Win 98

My brother just gave me his Creative Banshee card and today Fry's is selling
the V3 2000 for $ 99.00 after rebate. I'm getting a solid 36 fps in GPL if I
run 640x480 with "some" trackside objects and the detail slider set at 2/3
from left. I'd like to be able to run at least 800x600 at 36 fps, especially
in online races.

From the groups experience, which card would help me reach my goal? Has
anybody running the Banshee had problems with the patch?

TIA,

don

[|]-(_)-[|]

Hi, my system is

PII 400
128mb ram
V3 3000

I've got a solid 36fps with 1024x768 !
The V3 is really the best card for GPL !

Works fine for me.

I think you can put the resolution up to 1024x768 without any slowdown -
in my case it didn't seem to make any difference, but then again I have
a P233, and I think that is the bottleneck rather than the graphics
card.

I have to turn details to the lowest setting, turn off skid marks etc.,
have 'few' trackside objects and cars only in mirrors (and I also use
the George Smiley mirror refresh every 3rd frame).

I then get 36 fps most of the time, but I can only race against 2 AI
cars before it starts to slow down.

Someday I may get a new computer!

Hmm, a free Banshee vs. a V3 2000 you have yet to buy... I just
upgraded to a K6-2 400 and a V3 2000, and I get stable 36 fps at Monza
offline (exceptions: pits with lots of cars, grid, and sometimes when
passing the pits) with the following settings:

800x600
19 opponents
all forward details on but clouds and beveled tires
only car textures in mirrors
all available quality checkboxes on (anti-aliasing is not available)
all effects boxes on
detail bias in the middle position
all trackside objects

Since your CPU should outperform mine in GPL, you should be able to
achieve similar or better results with the V3 2000.

Some suggestions, though: try fiddling with the mirror details
section. 3dfx cards have never been very good with them. Also try
going down with the detail bias slider - instead increase the number
of trackside objects. If I interpret the readme correctly, the detail
bias only controls at what distance the program will switch from less
complex textures to more complex ones. This means that, even if the
detail bias is set to zero, there won't be popping up trees or similar
ugly things. The only difference is in the 'crispyness' of far away
textures (which are not visible anyway in resolutions below
1024xsomething, and not very important when actually racing) - and in
the framerate. I saw a 5 fps difference between 100% and 50% detail
bias, with no discernible loss of picture quality. Try it.

This is something I wanted to tell you for some time now: your
signature is not GPL 1.1 compliant. *Negative* ride height, fer
chrissake! :)

    /(_)\
[|]-     -[|]

--
Wolfgang Preiss   \ E-mail copies of replies to this posting are welcome.

ROTFLMAO!!! Thanks Wolfgang, I need a good laugh before work, although your
car looks more suited to the Paris-Dakar or the Baja 1000!

don

[|]-(_)-[|]

warned.

Put the banshee in, and run some testruns. I find the CL drivers easier to
install and use than the generic 3dfx drivers. Make sure you get the latest
CL drivers though, the initial drivers are much slower and less stable. I
run the clock at 110 MHz under the "advanced" settings.  If you are not

and I am very happy with it. I have the slider to 50 percent and run with
all effects, mirrors with max detail. I get 36-37 fps all the time with the
exception of a start. However the detail slider all the way to the left gets
me over 30 fps at the start as well. Res is 800/600 but it runs equally fast
at 1072. I have a small monitor so I do not notice the difference.

Dolle DOlf