SODA demo - any ideas?

Which BIOS and drivers are you using? -- [link lost in import] SimRacing wrote in article

Greetings o hardware and simulation gurus In the office yesterday for a Quake clan match (yes we won :) Thanks for asking!) I also took the chance to download Ubisoft F1 demo, MS-CART demo video and.....SODA demo (these are biiiiig). I was messing around with SODA a little in the office using the keys and then again at home with the joystick, and I must say the physics seem pretty interesting and I'm looking forward to hooking this up with the wheel and giving it a real go. There is one problem... *** How do you get Rendition support working? *** At home I have Rendition (Intergraph Reactor with latest 1.03(?) BIOS), and ICR2, N2 etc work fine with it. SODA seems not to see it, and consequently no pretty pictures and nice frame rates for me. Some mention was made about Redline drivers, but never having had to use the 3D stuff under Win95 (my 3dFX does that) I've no idea what these are and where to find them. Can someone tell me... - Will installing Redline drivers cause SODA to work with Rendition support? - If so, where can I find them? - If not, what will fix it or what else do I need to do? Thanks for any help, Cheers! John

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>There is a directory inside with the SODA *install files* (not the game >files) which has the drivers. The directory is called "rendition." You can >update your drivers using the "have disk" option in the Display control >panel. >I installed it over the top of my Screamin 3D drivers and it works great. >SODA didn't recognize my Rendition card before I replaced my drivers, but >now it does. >Jim Getzen

I might add to this my experience. I have the Intense 3d (Intergraph), with the latest 103 bios and had been using the beta or candidate1 or whatever 6/29/97 released windoze95 drivers. As I finally felt my system had become somewhat stable with this setup versus all the other combination (Rendition) Bios(s) and Driver(s) I had been experimenting with, I was reluctant to try the Soda demo's Rendition folder drivers. With the above mentioned scenerio, I was able to run SODA, however, something was really amiss with the framerate and playability. I tried knocking down windoze res. from 1024*768 16bit to 640*480 256color and this did give slightly increased performance in SODA. I decided to give the rendition drivers (with SODA demo) a try. Bingo! Great results, very huge improvement in the framerate (I can actually drive this dunebuggy thing now, just have to learn how to get off the gas to keep from spinning out on every turn ;)). Also, windoze speed has noticeably increased at 1024*768 16bit. One slight problem so far is distortion of icons in the toolbar with some apps. I'm still hoping/waiting, like many others, for a stable set of drivers that actually work with everything rendition, windoze95, ect... BTW, I have directX 5 installed. System is P166MMX, 32meg. EDO, Intergraph's Reactor (Intense 3d)... Ron L. Home of the SSC http://www3.pgh.net/~lazer/ For Nascar2 & Winston Cup Fans!

I have a P166 32mb Intergraph Reactor(now Intense 3d) and Diamond Monster 3D. I had the same problem trying to get the Rendition version of SODA to run. I originally tried drivers from the demo, but here is what finally worked for my setup. First, download the Windows 95 Driver: Release Candidate 1 from Intergraph at: http://www.ingr.com/ics/i3d100/support.htm The file name is WN953130.ZIP Follow closely the directions for installation from the README file included in the zip. The instructions are different depending on which version of Win95 you are running. They also want you to change your display adapter to Standard and reboot before, installing the new drivers. After I did this SODA ran in the Rendition version, and both Nascar 2 and Indycar 2 Rendition version are still running fine. Hope this helps. While not as graphically impressive as the Rendition versions of Indycar 2 or Nascar 2, the physics seem pretty good and so far is quite a challenge. Don Chapman > *** How do you get Rendition support working? ***

Canopus Bios 1.02.74 Drivers are the current (7/97) rredline ones, but I'm now back to the 5/97 drivers, as this at least allows me to run full screen. =P Cheers! Marc

>Can someone tell me... >- Will installing Redline drivers cause SODA to work with Rendition >support? >- If so, where can I find them? There is a directory inside with the SODA *install files* (not the game files) which has the drivers. The directory is called "rendition." You can update your drivers using the "have disk" option in the Display control panel. I installed it over the top of my Screamin 3D drivers and it works great. SODA didn't recognize my Rendition card before I replaced my drivers, but now it does. Jim Getzen

Greetings yourself Mr. 3D-Card_Fast_System Sir!! =) Didya' win John? Congratulations, ol' boy!! Big - yes, but how long did it REALLY take you John? ;) then again at home with the joystick, and I must say Ooooh, no!!...You too? =( As mentioned in another reply, I used the rendition folder to update my drivers so that I could get SODA to "see" my card, but this still doesn't work!! All other Rendition games run fine (namely the ones sent by a certain Scot). ;) This has got me stumped...BTW, I've uninstalled and reinstalled (clean - removed drivers from registry) all from scratch. It's supposed to. I mentioned this delima to Steve Travers, producer for SODA, and he was equally puzzled. I'm sure it has to do with what I'm doing (or not doing) correctly, as others are saying that it does indeed work. I too would appreciate someone shedding some light on this subject. =P They're in the rendition folder in the SODA dir...mine have mysteriously vanised - would you mind zipping the folder and e-mailing them over? Thanks. =) If you find the key, let me know...I'll do likewise. Cheers John! Marc

Julian, thanks for the help. I installed the demo and deleted the temp dir without even looking for drivers. Situation now is.... - SODA sees my Rendtion card and works. - SODA's graphics crash or freak out after 5-20 minutes using the drivers with the demo. The game still works, but my screen is frozen. - With the latest Intergraph drivers my Win95 goes _well_ mental when I boot up, giving me lovely moire style chessboard patterns all over the screen. Looks like a driver issue, and I'll fart around with it tonight - girlfriend was getting a bit humpty last night that I'd disappeared for ages :) I'm running iP225-MMX and it is pretty bollocks unaccelerated, but fire up the Rendition and this baby comes to life - it's great! Too much real life footage mixed with the game stuff. Several seconds of real life CART and then one/two seconds or so of game, so it's difficult to get any impression. It looks nice, but that sort of stuff always makes me very suspicious about what they are hiding. Thanks again Julian Cheers! John

Hiya Marc, Clan McNailz did indeed prevail. Sadly I had a tragic time, I plugged too many things into the system I was using and the hard disk kept spinning down. This gave me a frame rate of about 2fps (!!) so I was reduced to cowering in a dark corner with a grenade launcher and ***ing unsuspecting people who ran by. Not very glorious I'm afraid... Ubi took about four minutes, SODA about ten and MS-CART less than one. Someday I hope we all get ethernet connections at home :) Yep. I'll do that tonight. That fixed my problem and the game works, but it gave me another problem in that the graphics lock up sometimes. See how it works for you. Cheers Marc! John

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>Clan McNailz did indeed prevail. Sadly I had a tragic time, I plugged >too many things into the system I was using and the hard disk kept >spinning down. This gave me a frame rate of about 2fps (!!) so I was >reduced to cowering in a dark corner with a grenade launcher and >***ing unsuspecting people who ran by. >Not very glorious I'm afraid...

ROFLOL!! =) Geez...I really feel as though my ol'28.8 is actually a 2400 in disguise. =P No worries, as a local sent them to me this morning, and SODA (full screen) runs Rendition great!! However, when selecting it for a window, I don't get the Rend logo...No big deal, just puzzled. Thanks for your assistance in this!! =) Cheers! Marc

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>This was as soon as going into Win95. Last night I did something >radical to try to fix it - I followed the instructions! Drivers >installed okay, SODA loads up fine, the "RR" logo displays and Bob's >your auntie's live-in lover. However the game still "freezes" >graphically, sometimes immediately, sometimes not until 30 mins have >passed. Damn annoying. I can hear the game working, pushing the pedal >gives wheelspin, I can hear other cars passing by and menus working as >I hit escape, but the screen is locked on the last image and it only >clears if I can somehow luck into exiting back to Windows.

I have had this same problem with ICR2 on a P166 machine with an Intel motherboard. Funny, a nearly identical machine with same Intergraph reactor, same model motherboard, only an Intel P150 has never hung. The P166 hangs every time within 30 minutes of play. N2 has never hung on either of these machines, but it hangs in my Asus with Intergraph Reactor and Intel P233mmx. Could this be an Intergraph problem? Or is it just the way the Papyrus code interfaces with the Rendition Chip? Any ideas? -- Best Wishes!!! Robert Huggins Raleigh, NC

Same happens to me...sometimes right away, and then sometimes not...I haven't yet tested it, but it may have to do with whether replays are turned on or not...I only noticed the problem once I enabled them, so I'll check it out tonight. I also notice that with the current drivers, whenever I exit N2 or SODA, the buttons on my window apps go black...I know what they are, but it's a pain counting the number of black squares on a form just to open something. =P Cheers! Marc - Joining the I Hate Mr. Bill Club

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> >Hmm.. does this happen as soon as you get into Win95 or prior? > This was as soon as going into Win95. Last night I did something > radical to try to fix it - I followed the instructions! Drivers > installed okay, SODA loads up fine, the "RR" logo displays and Bob's > your auntie's live-in lover. However the game still "freezes" > graphically, sometimes immediately, sometimes not until 30 mins have > passed. Damn annoying. I can hear the game working, pushing the pedal > gives wheelspin, I can hear other cars passing by and menus working as > I hit escape, but the screen is locked on the last image and it only > clears if I can somehow luck into exiting back to Windows. > I'll give up for now, Rendition is too unstable and non-3D is too > slow. > Thanks Julian, > Cheers! > John

Oh man!! That's the exact problem I used to have when trying to play QuakeWorld on my old computer, I could play for a length of time, and it would freeze the screen but I could still do things.. Last thing I could think of it had something to do with DirectX, but I just fixed it by getting a new computer.. Works fine now! -- Dave Otterness

Hi Julian, I'm using this..... I'll try grabbing the older one and see if it makes any difference. I don't really like the new one anyway, no full screen in ICR2-3D. I did have a problem with the older one though, the Win95 "install hardware" routine would crash all the time. I guess I'm destined to be a 3dFX sorta guy! Cheers! John