I just did a quick benchmark comparing D3D with Glide on my machine.
My machine is a P233MMX, Monster 3D, 64MB RAM, etc. (not "a really slow
(yes, s-l-o-w) machine").
I did a test drive at Miami (no other cars), with the following graphics
settings:
640x480, image quality=good, all graphics options on except smoke and
steering wheel, clipping plane=18, mirrors=cars only, tires=tracks
only. I had sound set to mono.
Here are my numbers (approximate fps):
D3D Glide %improvement
----- ----- ------------
Pits: 18-20 22-23 15
Backstretch: 29-30 38-40 33
Start/Fin: 20-21 25-27 29
This was a quick comparison, and, of course, your mileage may vary.
I was initially skeptical about the triglide.dll file, especially since
I first read about it on April Fool's Day! But this is no joke--the
performance increase on my machine is NOTICEABLE.
Switching to "Best" image quality only reduced my Glide framerates by
2-3 fps. I'm sticking with this! And I'm glad this isn't officially
supported by Microsoft, based on what passes for Microsoft support.
I've been following the CPR discussions in r.a.s and on the various CPR
websites. Initially, I believed alot of the anti-Microsoft and anti-CPR
sentiments were unfounded. No longer. Call me naive, but I'm really
astounded by their behavior on this one.
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* St. Paul, MN