rec.autos.simulators

    Has anyone gotten Nr 2002 to run with a Visiontek GeeForce 3 ti 200?
I'm using the 27+ drivers

AMD XP 1800+
Win 98se
256 PC 133 memory
Visontek 6564 GF3 Ti 200 64 meg vid card
Turtlebeach Santa Cruz sound with drivers dated March 2001
TM Nascar Pro Digital 2 wheels with only the TM pro dig drivers in the
*** control panel loaded.  No Thrustmapper software used.  so single axis
brake and gas pedal.
dave henrie

MadDAWG

Bob

Celeron 1200 Mhz (powerleap.com)
Older Dell mobo  (100 MHz bus)
256 MB RAM       (another 128MB on the way)
Visiontek Geforce3 Ti200 64 MB - 21.83 Nvidia drivers
Win98

And I can run N2002 demo at 1600x*x16, 19 opponents,
everything on/high/100% except: anistropic off, reflections
off (got used to it), no steering wheel, no pit crew,
mirror medium, no skid marks, 20 ahead, 5 behind

I get 35-40 fps in back of field, doesn't drop below 30.
Can go over 50 fps when nobody's in front of me.

I'm using 21.83 drivers.  Going up to 23.11, 23.12,
or 27.42 reduced fps by 5 at least.  This is D3D
TnL HAL - fps was much slower with plain D3D renderer.
Did you try the D3D TnL HAL renderer?  It's the second
option when you click on "configure video".

--
Doug Appleyard
To reply, myname is dougappleyard
-------------------- http://NewsReader.Com/ --------------------
                    Usenet Newsgroup Service

   27.70's by the look of it...  I had installed the 23.11's and those were
horrid...I thought My cpu/motherboard/ram was bad because everything crapped
out...with or without sound.  with the 27.70's I've gotten everything
running smoothly, (I THINK!) but N2002.  That is in D3d btw.  I'll try
lowering the screen rez.  and poke around a-bit more.
dave henrie

  yes,  I knew there was more info to include..:)  D3d with TnL.  the game
loads, I usually double check the controllers cuz it has locked up several
times so I'm not sure the values are saved.  Then I go to the pits & enter
the track.  some times it locked up right away...sometimes I can blip the
throttle once or twice.  Last night, after installing newer sound drivers, I
actually got it in gear and moving about 5 feet before it locked up....
dave (being punished for joining the dark side) henrie

MadDAWG

Talon

"Mediaone Talon"
  Thanks for all your help guys...I DID get a lap this morning.  But...I'll
have to do some more digging.  I tried opengl...and got out onto the
track...but framerate was like 28fps...big whoop!  (I'm thinking how much
did I just spend to get 8 fps???)  But then at the end of the backstraight,
the whole framerate crashed.  Went down to ONE update about every 5 to 10
seonds.  It kept moving, but the sounds disappeared.  Smoke came out...I
bounced off the wall and another car...
  But it didn't totally lock up.   So I started double checking the settings
and my sound was maxxed at 24 different sounds.  I lowered that to 8, and
went back out.  Framerates where up much higher, and didn't slow down...did
a whole unjerky lap and headed for work.  Tonight after my "Honeydo" list
I'll get back and double check D3d etc and see how many sounds I can handle
before it crashes out again...
  Thanks again all for your help/input...got me at least pointed in the
right direction.
  Oh it's an Asus MB with the Ali chipset...(I was deliberately trying to
avoid 'known' issues)  oh well!

I think you will find that if you change to another race controller....your
big problems will end.  You may still have some small "bugs" to work
out.....you now have a "thoroughbred" system....and they can be tricky to
get working smoothly.  If you have...or can borrow something of a standard
analogue "game port" controller......try it and see if this doesn't stop the
crashes.  Running the TM in standard config without the Thrustmapper
utility....doesn't mean those driver and .dll files are not blocking
something in the interaction with DX.  The original drivers for the TM Pro
Digital 2 (the ones that come on the CD) would lock up my system even on my
desktop sometimes....they were completely unusable.  Also...un-installing
them needs to be done by hand (registry removal and file-by-file system
removal)....even though TM has a utility to do it....it doesn't work.  I
have five of those controllers.....we took them all out of service on our
rental units because of this.

I never got a system to run smooth with any of the TM Pro Digital-2 drivers.
Last weekend....I was visiting my parents and had a TM Pro Digital wheel
stored down there in case I wanted to run some laps while visiting them.  I
never could get the damn thing to work without locking up in N2002 or GPL
for that matter.  That's my story.....but it may be applicable to you (I
tried downloading the latest drivers from TM...didn't help).  I have a clue
that the TM Pro Digital 2 drivers don't work with DX8.1 (which you sure must
be running...if not, you should be).

The next thing to check....is go to several available websites (the US Pits
is one of them) and make sure you have all your video card settings....and
more importantly your motherboard BIOS settings correct.  I also would not
run 4x AGP if I were you...at least until you have a stable system and can
confirm that turning it on doesn't introduce random instability (which it
does on many high-tech systems).

And, if you haven't downloaded and installed "Riva Tuner" from GURU-3D
yet.....go do it.  Its the best video card utility around....I've tried them
all.  It will even allow you to run OpenGL for N2002....with no
"compression" problems because it has an LOD slider for OpenGL....not just
for D3D.  I can run N2002 in OpenGL for only about a 5 FPS reduction.  I
don't....because the picture quality is equal in both....and 5 FPS is 5
FPS...you know?

Hang in there....I'm now running a system that is only about 80% as strong
as yours....and running N2002 with all graphics on high...42 car
fields...and mid 50's FPS....at 1600x1200x16 in D3D.  You will soon be doing
even better I suspect.  Don't second-guess your purchase...it was a good
one.  Just like a race car.....a high-tech computer system is never really
fast...."out of the box!"

Tom