Faster N2 a Martinsville...

If, like me, you have a fairly decent setup and went with Rendition for N2, you were probably a bit disappointed with the framerates at Martinsville. Because Rendition is pretty good with it's textures, turning the biggies on and off has little effect. Here's something I found out yesterday by accident when I was trying standard N2 for screen dumps (BTW thanks, Eric B). When I tried M/ville (standard N2, remember) without track, grass or sky textures (I think all the rest are pretty much essential just for atmosphere) I got very noticable framerate increases over RENDDMA, about 20-25 fps compared to the 15 or so fps previously. I don't know why RENDDMA M/ville is so bad considering all other tracks are better than the unaccellerated version. Maybe Papyrus or Rendition can answer that? Just thought I'd share that one, hope it works for you. System P200, VX M/b, 512 L2, 32 EDO, 3D Blaster Mark ps Sorry if this is already common knowledge.

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>If, like me, you have a fairly decent setup and went with Rendition for >N2, you were probably a bit disappointed with the framerates at >Martinsville. Because Rendition is pretty good with it's textures, >turning the biggies on and off has little effect. Here's something I >found out yesterday by accident when I was trying standard N2 for screen >dumps (BTW thanks, Eric B). >When I tried M/ville (standard N2, remember) without track, grass or sky >textures (I think all the rest are pretty much essential just for >atmosphere) I got very noticable framerate increases over RENDDMA, about >20-25 fps compared to the 15 or so fps previously. >I don't know why RENDDMA M/ville is so bad considering all other tracks >are better than the unaccellerated version. Maybe Papyrus or Rendition >can answer that? >Just thought I'd share that one, hope it works for you. >System >P200, VX M/b, 512 L2, 32 EDO, 3D Blaster >Mark >ps Sorry if this is already common knowledge.

The problem with the Rendition version of Marty appears to be in the objects. If you turn off all objects, you get a very good frame rate. Of course, you're driving around in a cow pasture... Dave Sparks IWCCCARS Project: http://www.theuspits.com/iwcccars/index.html Late Night League: http://www.sequoia-dev.com/Hawaii/latenite.html Hawaii Handle: davids

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> If, like me, you have a fairly decent setup and went with Rendition for > N2, you were probably a bit disappointed with the framerates at > Martinsville. Because Rendition is pretty good with it's textures, > turning the biggies on and off has little effect. Here's something I > found out yesterday by accident when I was trying standard N2 for screen > dumps (BTW thanks, Eric B). > When I tried M/ville (standard N2, remember) without track, grass or sky > textures (I think all the rest are pretty much essential just for > atmosphere) I got very noticable framerate increases over RENDDMA, about > 20-25 fps compared to the 15 or so fps previously. > I don't know why RENDDMA M/ville is so bad considering all other tracks > are better than the unaccellerated version. Maybe Papyrus or Rendition > can answer that? > Just thought I'd share that one, hope it works for you. > System > P200, VX M/b, 512 L2, 32 EDO, 3D Blaster > Mark > ps Sorry if this is already common knowledge.

I haven't had a problem at Martinsville running with everything on using my PPro 180 (I don't have a rendition card). I've heard others complain about the frame rates at this track, but since I run non-rendition, maybe that's why I haven't seen it.

In my personal (Reactor) experience to date, it's only *with* the Rendition that Martinsville (only) is noticibly slower RELATIVE to all the other tracks, but hey, it sure is pretty. Without Rendition, it's performance is similar to the performance you get with all the other tracks. Bearing that in mind, performance improvement and graphics quality with Rendition is ....well, a qualitative or even a quantitative explanation is simply inadequate. You simply have to witness it yourself. The graphical improvement was greater than I expected, and outweighs a processor upgrade in terms of both framerate and $$$$$$$ value by far. For a pleasant change the advertising claims are not an exagerated aspect of someone's fanciful imagination. ie: Rendition bus mastering increases the *available* video I/O path tfr rate 4x (from 20Mb/sec FIFO to 80+ Mb/sec DMA), whilst the onboard RISC processor reduces the demand upon (up to 50% claimed) and need to move data to/from the PC's CPU, thus further reducing the bus load and data handling. In a word STUNNING! Without question, one of the best value and satisfying purchases I've made in recent years of computing. * * *