ICR2 bundled univbe5.1 ultra is magic!

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>I downloaded the Indycar2 demo from Papyrus last night and was >experimenting with different boot disk options in order to >achieve the highest frame rate possible. >Install Univbe in Indycar setup = HUGE improvement in >framerate. >Question> What is it about the univbe.drv file the indy >installs in the icr2 directory that makes the game fly as >opposed to the 'regular' univbe?

What is univbe.drv???

I downloaded the Indycar2 demo from Papyrus last night and was experimenting with different boot disk options in order to achieve the highest frame rate possible. Here are the results: Absolutely clean boot to dos6.22;dos95;himem loaded;univbe5.0 TSR loaded = no noticable difference. Install Univbe in Indycar setup = HUGE improvement in framerate. Question> What is it about the univbe.drv file the indy installs in the icr2 directory that makes the game fly as opposed to the 'regular' univbe? I can mow play the game with digital sound, SVGA, detail settings as they came with the game and only occasionally get the track texture dropping out, even with 31 opponents and with chase views! BTW all this is on a dx4/120 with 16MB RAM and et4000/w32p VLB graphics (doombench 1397). Here's a suggestion for Papyrus> Is it possible to 'bundle' this univbe driver with Nascar? because if it made the same differences I have observed with icr2 to Nascar that would be great! As far as the game goes, it's superb! I played it for a few hours last night and the car graphics are great, the 'feel' is spot on and the car even sounds mean too! F1GP2 has a lot to live up to in my opinion. I hope it has the graphics performance of indy2. Congratulations the the Papyrus team for an excellent product, I look forward to it appearing in the Shops here in the UK. Regards Richard Miles

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>I downloaded the Indycar2 demo from Papyrus last night and was >experimenting with different boot disk options in order to >achieve the highest frame rate possible. >Here are the results: >Absolutely clean boot to dos6.22;dos95;himem loaded;univbe5.0 >TSR loaded = no noticable difference. >Install Univbe in Indycar setup = HUGE improvement in >framerate.

I don't notice much if any difference with the ICR2 univbe driver loaded or not with my DiamondStar Pro (Cirrus) ISA video with VESA in ROM. But the fact that they get smoothly flowing SVGA with 8.33 MHz ISA (AT) video really IS something (386DX33 w/ Cx486DRx2/66). I lose some detail (horizon and grandstands), but the detail that remains is sharper and makes it easier to drive than blocky VGA. You can feel the tires flexing and squirming as they heat up and grab for traction diving into the bumpy curves of Michigan at 240 mph (231 mph lap ave). David Efflandt/Elgin, IL USA

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>>I downloaded the Indycar2 demo from Papyrus last night and was >>experimenting with different boot disk options in order to >>achieve the highest frame rate possible. >>Here are the results: >>Absolutely clean boot to dos6.22;dos95;himem loaded;univbe5.0 >>TSR loaded = no noticable difference. >>Install Univbe in Indycar setup = HUGE improvement in >>framerate. >I don't notice much if any difference with the ICR2 univbe driver >loaded or not with my DiamondStar Pro (Cirrus) ISA video with VESA in >ROM. But the fact that they get smoothly flowing SVGA with 8.33 MHz >ISA (AT) video really IS something (386DX33 w/ Cx486DRx2/66). >I lose some detail (horizon and grandstands), but the detail that >remains is sharper and makes it easier to drive than blocky VGA. You >can feel the tires flexing and squirming as they heat up and grab for >traction diving into the bumpy curves of Michigan at 240 mph (231 mph >lap ave). >David Efflandt/Elgin, IL USA

Hi, I have the following configuration: - AMD DX4-100 Enhanced Plus CPU - 8 MB RAM - Diamond Stealth 32 ET4000/W32p 1 MB - 3D bench : 71.4 And the framerate in 640x480 sucks !! When I set all the graphical detail levels to auto and the minimum framerate on 15, I get no detail at all !!! No textures !! No track side objects !! no horizon !! Nothing !!! Using Univbe doesn't solve a thing. Anyone with a similar config get better results. ------------------------------------------------ Koen van Brero ------------------------------------------------

With evrything set to off except HORIZON set to auto I get a fantastic frame rate with similar setup to you (except CIRRUS video). Number of opponents set to 20. Gravis Ultrasound sound card may help since it does its own mixing (which is what I have and the sound is great). >------------------------------------------------ >Koen van Brero >------------------------------------------------

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>>>I downloaded the Indycar2 demo from Papyrus last night and was >>>experimenting with different boot disk options in order to >>>achieve the highest frame rate possible. >>>Here are the results: >>>Absolutely clean boot to dos6.22;dos95;himem loaded;univbe5.0 >>>TSR loaded = no noticable difference. >>>Install Univbe in Indycar setup = HUGE improvement in >>>framerate. >>I don't notice much if any difference with the ICR2 univbe driver >>loaded or not with my DiamondStar Pro (Cirrus) ISA video with VESA in >>ROM. But the fact that they get smoothly flowing SVGA with 8.33 MHz >>ISA (AT) video really IS something (386DX33 w/ Cx486DRx2/66). >>I lose some detail (horizon and grandstands), but the detail that >>remains is sharper and makes it easier to drive than blocky VGA. You >>can feel the tires flexing and squirming as they heat up and grab for >>traction diving into the bumpy curves of Michigan at 240 mph (231 mph >>lap ave). >>David Efflandt/Elgin, IL USA >Hi, >I have the following configuration: >- AMD DX4-100 Enhanced Plus CPU >- 8 MB RAM >- Diamond Stealth 32 ET4000/W32p 1 MB >- 3D bench : 71.4 >And the framerate in 640x480 sucks !! >When I set all the graphical detail levels to auto and the minimum

framerate >on 15, I get no detail at all !!! No textures !! No track side objects !! no >horizon !! Nothing !!! >Using Univbe doesn't solve a thing. Anyone with a similar config get better >results. Well, I did! My machine is: 486Dx4-100 16 MB RAM ATI GUP Mach32 VLB 2MB 3D bench 66.6 Using just the UNIVBE.EXE Vesa driver that I have (or the VVESA.COM that came with my ATI card) I get just what you saw. I never get to 15 fps. On the other hand, telling the ICR2 setup utility to install UNIVBE.DRV made a HUGE difference. I now get 16 fps with everything turned on except road texture, grass texture and wall texture. I would like road texture, but the skid marks will have to do. NASCAR was about the same as ICR2 without the UNIVBE.DRV. I wish they would upgrade NASCAR with the same technology. -- Mike Corrigan

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>My machine is: > 486Dx4-100 > 16 MB RAM > ATI GUP Mach32 VLB 2MB > 3D bench 66.6 >Using just the UNIVBE.EXE Vesa driver that I have (or the VVESA.COM that >came with my ATI card) I get just what you saw. I never get to 15 fps. >On the other hand, telling the ICR2 setup utility to install UNIVBE.DRV >made a HUGE difference. I now get 16 fps with everything turned on >except road texture, grass texture and wall texture. I would like road >texture, but the skid marks will have to do. NASCAR was about the same >as ICR2 without the UNIVBE.DRV. I wish they would upgrade NASCAR with >the same technology.

Mike, I had a similar experience. I was using univbe 5.1a in most of my multi-config DOS 6.22 boots. *I* goofed and initially ran ICR2 without loading univbe5.1a, believing it already was in my config (used the only config without it reserved for conflictual apps) and without loading it fron the ICR2 DIR. Result.. abysmal SVGA graphical performance. Running 8Mb RAM similar After loading Univbe 5.1a and running the SVGA version again, the result was nothing short of astonishing. Lots of detail & texture (everything on) at an *almost* acceptably playable (simulation) frame rate. Sacrificing some detail or texture would enable sufficient frame rates for playability on my PC. I also found that using "Jed's" editor (thanks Jed) to change modes to REALISTIC resulted in a significant handling change. The screeeching tyres and pushing dynamics are now largely gone. Setup in the release version should allow fixing of any remaining understeer. Regards, ---Cogito Ergo Sum--- * * Fidonet: 3:640/377 * Keiron Rado, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia *

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>>I don't notice much if any difference with the ICR2 univbe driver >>loaded or not with my DiamondStar Pro (Cirrus) ISA video with VESA in >>ROM. But the fact that they get smoothly flowing SVGA with 8.33 MHz >>ISA (AT) video really IS something (386DX33 w/ Cx486DRx2/66). >>(snip) >ISA might not be the fastest thing around, but despite the 8.33 mhz >clock, it can still achieve 5mgs/second, if I'm not mistaken. So, much of the >graphics are a function of your CPU, and your videocard.

Yeah, but 5 MB/sec is *NOTHING*... Graphics, more than anything else, chews up bus bandwidth. (Yes, more than disk, more than high speed networking, more than basically anything else.) Its burst speed is 267 MB/sec, but I don't know of any PCs with memory that can go that fast for a sustained period of time, and moreover there aren't many graphics boards which can go that fast either. (And few cpus are around that can compute fast enough to make the models drive the graphics boards that fast!) For example, Sun's traditionally haven't been quite as fast as SGI's for high-end graphics, but even the Evans and Sutherland top-end 24-bit grahpics accelerator only just barely hits the top of the 100 MB/sec SBus in most SPARCstations. -- Brian Wong Systems Engineering Group (Servers)

My understanding is that this concept is quite achievable using the WinG??? component of Windows 95 (it provides a true I/O system (input AND output)) However the cost of such a system would be VERY high and the games would have to have code to support it thus being more complex and requiring higher levels of hardware to run them.....and the cycle continues!!! A.B

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> In rec.autos.simulators you write: > >With evrything set to off except HORIZON set to auto I get a fantastic > >frame rate with similar setup to you (except CIRRUS video). Number of > >opponents set to 20. Gravis Ultrasound sound card may help since it > >does its own mixing (which is what I have and the sound is great). > Hi..I have gravis ultrasound too, but I've had big troubles with ICR2 demo > and Nascar - my joystick doesn't calibrate. The game thinks the joystick > is positioned in 2 places at the same time. > Do you use joystick and does it work ok ? > Any help appreciated, > Jussi

Hi Jussi, I use a GRAVIS ANALOG PRO joystick on the GRAVIS game port with no trouble. Does the joystick work OK with other games? I use mine with NASCAR too and its fine. I run ULTRAJOY 18 before using the game. Also make sure that you only have one game port enabled in your machine (but I probably don't need to tell you that!) I HAVE a DX4-100,CIRRUS VIDEO (VLB), 8MEGS,and a GRAVIS+SB16 with nohassles. Sorry I can't help, Jeff.

I just bought IndyCar 2. Seems like it will be another great sim. I intalled the UniVBE though the setup, and it made a differance. I have a Diamond Stealth 64 with 2 meg vram and a p-133 with 16 meg ram. 3d Bench 83.3 I can run all grapics turned ON at 18 FPS with the exception with objects which I used as a test to know when my Frame rate droped. UniVBE made an improvment. My question is this something that can be used into Nascar? I've been off the net for a month or so and never even heard of UniVBe before. Any help? Gerald

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> > >You know, what would be nice would be a joystick/steering control for the PC > >that offered some sort of feedback/resistance. I mean, with anything else, > >you just don't get the sense of the road, like you do in a real car. This is > >important, for example, as an aid in warning you that you're about to go > >beyond the cornering/traction limit of the racecar in a turn. > > > >If you compare performance cars with luxury cars, you often find that there is > >a significant difference in road feel -- in terms of feedback to the driver > >about road conditions, etc. > > > >But, I digress... > > My understanding is that this concept is quite achievable using the > WinG??? component of Windows 95 (it provides a true I/O system (input AND > output)) However the cost of such a system would be VERY high and the > games would have to have code to support it thus being more complex and > requiring higher levels of hardware to run them.....and the cycle > continues!!!

For sure, and this is what we've been waiting for for a long time. Thrustmaster and Matt, we now await the "Formula T3" with anticipation! Oh, and don't forget you'd have to incorporate control surfaces feedback in flight sims too! :) What about "stall - waggle"??? :) F22-FLCS??? RCS???... Best, -- ~~_______~~ _______________[__]=[_(-)_]=[__]_______________ --