I'm in the middle of a search for a new 2d/3d card as well as wanting
to get the Rendition ICR II. While searching I stumbled across
the Intergraph 3d offer and was browsing their page for the
product. They linked to a review of ICR II on the card. The
article seemed to imply that the Rendition version is DOS only
and not Win 95.
This got me to wondering what are the differences in features set
between the standard ICR II and the Rendition version. Is the
Rendition version DOS only? Is it at the same rev #, bugs fixed,
paint kit works, etc, etc? I don't want to trade the nice eye
candy of good graphics performance for picking up a dead end product.
Any comments?
--
That is true (just like the original DOS version [1.0.0] or the DOS
version [1.0.1] on the DOS/Win95/Mac bundle). I think a vast majority
of people here favored the DOS product over the Win95 version.
Yes, the Rendition version is DOS only. I drop from Win95 to DOS
mode to run it. It is comparable to DOS 1.0.2 (the latest version).
For that matter, either of the retail versions of ICR2 have to be
patched to get to DOS 1.0.2, so the Rendition version is indeed the
latest version. I don't remember if I had to patch the Paintkit (of
course that is a stand-alone executable in the ICR2 directory).
Five of the included (15?) tracks are in enhanced 16-bit color and
look beautiful. The remainder are the standard 8-bit ICR2 tracks.
Before you pooh-pooh that, keep in mind that *all* tracks profit from
the 3D effects (anti-aliasing, etc -- just listen to the N2 guys
wishing they had it ;) and the increased frame rate of the Verite
card, so all tracks are improved in some way in this version. BTW,
you can also convert NASCAR1 tracks for use with the program.
Dead end product? If you liked ICR2 (or like NASCAR2), I think the
Verite and ICR2-3D are a no-brainer. There are rumors of an
"ICR2-Gold" (similar to NFS-SE, with all 16-bit tracks), you can take
that with a (big) grain of salt. I'd be happy with a Rendition-ready
ICR3 in 11 months.
I'd recommend the Reactor for price, bundle, and support reasons.
The Sierra Screamin' 3D is the only other Rendition Verite card which
includes ICR2-3D in the bundle, and its $50 more (until Dec 31) and
Sierra support is questionable.
Pick one or more: Model Rockets (competition-NERCB) / PCs (even Atari!) /
Papyrus ICR-ICR2-NCR / Who needs a life when you have multiple non-lives?
