18fps on my standard Gateway G6-350 P2, I recently bought a second-hand
Voodoo 2-based card (a Skywell 3D Magic II), and am now getting the
proverbial rock-solid 36fps. Woo-hoo! However...
The graphics problem shows itself on the loading screen--the full-screen
photomontage is fine, but the version number (1.2.0.1) looks strange. Hard
to explain, but "extraneous fuzzy whitish lines" sums it up. The same effect
can be seen on the menu pages--and it only affects the text. During actual
game play, the "extraneous fuzzy whitish lines" turn up on trackside objects
like trees, and there's a cross-hatching effect in parts of the***pit. The
track is also affected--parts of the surface have blotches of colour, making
it hard to see the driving line. Sometimes the extraneous lines form
themselves into a cross-hatch, chequered/checkered or lace pattern.
This is what I've tried (one change at a time):
reinstalling the latest 3dfx reference drivers (from what's left of the
3dfx site) (I haven't been able to find any Skywell-specific drivers);
reinstalling the game;
pulling out and re-inserting the card;
checking for bent pins on the card and the supplied pass-through cable
(fixed two with pliers--no difference);
enabling each of the options in the 3dfx V2-1000 Control Panel (none
made an improvement; one made the problem worse; one caused many other
problems!);
different 3d-card refresh rates;
different GPL screen resolutions;
closing all programs except Explorer and Systray before launching GPL;
and
yelling "Aaaaaaaaaa!" and pretending to tear my hair out.
I can play the game OK, but I'd like to get rid of this problem if I can.
I'm running Windows 98 with an STB Velocity 128 (Riva-based) 4MB primary
graphics card. The STB is AGP; the Voodoo2 is PCI.
I have the same problem with GP3, but it only affects the track, and only to
a tiny degree compared with GPL.
Any ideas? I want to try as many possible fixes before taking the card back
to the shop/store (because then I'd be back at 18fps again!). And buying a
new card is not an option.
Thanks for your patience if you've got this far. I welcome your suggestions.