Robin....
That's great you were able to improve the FPS and picture quality on
your V5500. However, you are forgetting about the issue of the "file
texture size" limitation of all 3dfx video cards, as does our Mr. Dave
Henry quite often when he is touting the virtues of 3dfx and his V5500
(does he still use that thing?).
**Background**
In pc games (and racing sims are what I consider the high-end of pc
video games) the quality of the screen picture (I call this the "Eye
Candy Factor".....scale of 1-10, where 10 is best) is more dependent
these days on the texture map (mipmapping) and texture file size/color
depth....than on the screen resolution/color depth of your monitor
settings/video cards. Of course, any ECF of "10" is totally useless in
a racing sim if it doesn't provide adequate FPS! So that must always be
the first priority (IMHO)....when deciding on video card settings.
Please don't be fooled into thinking I have much more "technical"
background on this topic than the depth of it I just displayed (stated).
Because I don't, and there are many others on this newsgroup who know
for more about the technical issues than I (perhaps they will contribute
to this string). However, I do have a fairly good "artist's
eye".....and I think my opinion of what looks good and real-world
realistic.... (my ECF scoring ability) is generally accepted by those
people I sim race with here locally (and who's "race boxes" I build for
them). They all use the sim tracks I *assemble* for them.
**GPL - The Big Exception**
99% of the time, we as "users" of pc games and racing sims, can *not* do
anything about the resolution and quality of the game's texture files.
They are created by the game developer, locked up in "packed files" and
not edit-able! But, that is not the case in GPL....is it. If you are a
GPL junkie (and who isn't....if you love sim racing)....the worst video
card you can use these days....is anything from 3dfx (on an otherwise
fast CPU platform, especially). Why is that? Its because a 3dfx video
card can not use polygon-covering texture files above 256x256 pixel
size. In the original GPL released by Papyrus, that was the biggest
texture file anyway.....so it didn't matter. But today......you have an
enormous amount of talented graphic artists and programmers creating
incredible texture files of high resolution....for GPL! Alas....no
matter what the frame rate....a 3dfx video card can not use these files!
Most of the high-res GPL tracks,***pits, wheels and accessories make
use of generous amounts of 512x512, and 512x256 texture files.....which
will crash all 3dfx cards instantly. [Now, I have not used a 3dfx video
card in about six months....so I will admit that if something has
changed recently, or someone has produced some patch or fix for
this.....then I am not aware of it.]
**What You Miss With 3Dfx**
"A picture is worth a thousand words"....and since my reputation on
r.a.s. for long posts is still in force (some would say, in my case, "a
picture is worth 10,000 words"....lol....), I'll just show you the
difference:
This first screen shot is the original Papyrus GPL, original files but
V5500 "tweaked" to the best I knew (a few months back). Take a look:
http://www.racesimcentral.net/
This is not a bad picture...in fact, it was pretty awesome almost three
years ago and Papyrus should be proud for their leading-edge graphics in
GPL (among other things). But, on a 3dfx card, other than improving on
some coloring and textures....that's as good as it gets.
Now, take at look at this screen shot, same place as the one above
(Watkins Glen, main straight....overhead cam)....taken with a GF2 ULTRA
(it looks about the same, slightly better on a GF3) but with high-res
textures:
http://www.racesimcentral.net/
Is there really still a question about which video card you should be
using?
Robin, you have a good cpu and *** platform.....a "race car" quality
one, in fact! But, using a 3dfx video card on that platform is like
putting regular fuel in an Audi LMP race car! Not very
productive.....certainly not using the cpu and mobo you've invested in
to any degree of its full capability. GF2-ULTRA (Do not buy anything
less than an ULTRA if you get a GF2 card) and GF3 video cards are all
over the net for the $300 (USD) range. I'm not saying its
"cheap".....but "expensive" is what I call your cpu and mobo....using a
3dfx card on it....what a waste of money and awesome computing power!
If you love GPL.....you simply have to have a GF3 (or GF2-ULTRA) video
card!
I hope this has been helpful to you......so you can see that not
everything is just video card settings, screen res and FSAA related?
Regards,
Tom
PS: I would give the first screen shot of Papy original GPL (using
today's standards) an ECF score of [5]. I would give the second screen
shot an ECF score of [8]. I have never seen an ECF [10]...not yet, at
least! But I have given out several [9.5] scores on some WSC screenies
I've seen!
