F1RS problems

I was so desperate to play F1RS that I went and bought an Apocalype 3D card. I then found I needed a new 2D card, so I bought one of those as well. (Expensive, but not as bad as buying the PC in the first place just to play GP2!). Having installed F1RS, I'm having a number of problems with it. I don't think the card is a problem, since Wipeout 2097 works fine. 1) Most annoyingly, the transparent colour on all the bitmaps is set to black. This affects the trees, the wheels, the sky and can make some circuits undriveable. 2) The menus take ***y ages to appear. What's the delay? I know I only have the small install, but even the medium install didn't appear to be any faster. 3) It doesn't always pick up my Thrustmaster steering wheel properly. Even when I make sure I configure it in Windows, sometimes it doesn't recognise it in the game. When it does, I can't use the Y-axis paddles to accelerate and brake. (The default is to use buttons 1 and 2 for accelerate, but I want to use thoe for the gears!) The game itself looks beautiful, and if I can sort out these annoying problems, I can see myself spending many happy hours playing it.. Oh, and just as an aside, is there any way to get Quake 2 to recognise my card? Huw -- Note: Mail to the above address will bounce. Please reply to:

>I was so desperate to play F1RS that I went and bought an Apocalype >3D card. I then found I needed a new 2D card, so I bought one of those >as well. (Expensive, but not as bad as buying the PC in the first place >just to play GP2!). Having installed F1RS, I'm having a number of >problems with it. I don't think the card is a problem, since Wipeout 2097 >works fine. Your card is based on the Power VR, so you have to run the D3D version....which seems to have more probs than the native Glide 3DFX version. If you were that desperate, you should have bought a 3Dfx card! The full install is the only way to go to get the menus up in a decent time. Try configuring it in the game by setting the keyboard for gearchanges, and the paddles for accel/brake...THEN re-assign the buttons to the gearchanges. Try using the Power VR graphics setting -- Nathan Wong http://www.nectar.com.au/~alfacors - Super Touring - Alfa Romeo - - V8Supercars - CART -

> Your card is based on the Power VR, so you have to run the D3D > version....which seems to have more probs than the native Glide 3DFX > version. > If you were that desperate, you should have bought a 3Dfx card! Brilliant. You have to be a software engineer and be able to see into the future in order to play this game. With all the various 3D card options, you have to be totally obsessed to know what all the different types are and what the difference is. What is Glide? What is OpenGL? I'm just pissed off with the computer industry in general at the moment. What is the point of D3D if 3DFX is faster? The cards are of comparable price. It's fixed with patch 1.07. I've now done that as well. It's an improvement, but still ***y annoying. Er, how? Maybe I should have specified I'm using a GP1. The patch has apparently solved the problems there as well. Basically, Ubisoft originally released a product that wasn't fit to be released. I have another problem now though - the wheel is far too sensitive. On the configure screen, I've turned the steering sensitivity down to minimum, and I'm still weaving all over the track, as the slightest nudge of the wheel sends the car through 90 degrees. Corners which were full lock in GP2 are a slight twitch in F1RS. Can anything be done about it? I have a Cyrix 166, 32 Megs, Full Install and D3D card. Well above the minimum requirements, and roughly the recommended requirements. The game is just playable in testing mode. In a race, even with all graphic options turned off, it's unbelievably slow. So now I need to get a 233MHz PII and motherboard as well? ***ing hell, this is getting ridiculous. If the game isn't playable with a setup above the minimum printed requirements on the box, how are you supposed to know what the hell you need? I feel a bit cheated. Oh well. back to GP2.. Thanks. I'm intrigued to know how anyone is supposed to know that Power VR = Direct3D though... Huw -- Note: Mail to the above address will bounce. Please reply to:

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>> Your card is based on the Power VR, so you have to run the D3D >> version....which seems to have more probs than the native Glide 3DFX >> version. >> If you were that desperate, you should have bought a 3Dfx card! >Brilliant. You have to be a software engineer and be able to see into >the future in order to play this game.

If you had read anything about F1RS at all, you would have seen it was being promoted as being a native 3Dfx game. That is, primarily coded to work with a 3Dfx Voodoo Graphics and Voodoo Rush card. You do NOT have to be an engineer, and nor do you have to be a crystal baller. All you have to do is a little bit of research before you buy. You wouldnt buy a car without finding out info would you? If you had asked on this group what card would be best for F1RS (or any other racing game), then you would have been told to buy a Diamond Monster 3D or Orchid or whichever 3Dfx card people prefer. NO ONE would have told you to buy a Power VR based card for F1RS! Glide is the API developed by 3Dfx. Any game which is coded for a 3Dfx card is done through GLIDE. Open GL (Graphics Library) was developed by Silicon Graphics. As per the name, it's an open API, just that not many games utilised it. That was until the release of the GL Patch for Quake, which opened a lot of peoples eyes. D3D is a Microsoft API and designed to work on all 3D cards. It's an all-around solution. But it's not as specialised (yet) as GLIDE, or even native Power VR/VR2 games. Power VR is made by NEC/Videologic, and in some respects works better than 3Dfx. You only have to see Ultimate Race and Wipeout 2097 to see why. But its not well supported by programmers. Unfortunately these days, price means diddly when you want the best. 3Dfx cards are very cheap now (in the US anyway), and now we have the new Voodoo 2 which is second generation 3Dfx. There is new nVidia, Matrox, intel and NEC/Videologic cards coming out. Comparable price does not mean comparable performance from a video card. nVidia Riva 128 (4mb only) - very fast D3D, and is having Open GL drivers developed for it - found in the Diamond Viper 330 3Dfx Voodoo Graphcs (4 and 6 mb versions) - runs any 3Dfx game and any D3D and some Open GL like Quake1/2 - found in Diamond Monster/Orchid Righteous 3Dfx Voodoo 2 (8 and 12mb versions) - runs any 3Dfx game, D3D, Open GL - twice as fast as the older 3Dfx, but also twice the cost - Creative 3D Blaster 2, Diamond Monster 2 Power VR (4 (and6?)mb versions) - runs any Power VR games and D3D as well - found in Apocalypse 3D/Matrox M3D Funny, coz I have a GP1, calibrated through windows, and setup in F1RS, and that was it. I've never had the settings go strange, or reveresed, or whatever. What I did: Setup the GP1 under Win95 as a custom race car controller Started F1RS and went to configure screen Set Steering left and right Assign gearshifts to keyboard up and down Set paddles for accel and brake Set gearshifts to buttons on wheel I'm assuming you calibrated it under the Win95 game controller panel? Did you make sure to use full lock when calibrating? You can adjust the steering sensitivity with the little "target" button in the control settings panel in F1RS. Mor ethan likely its your Cyrix at fault. Cyrix 166 does not equal Pentium 166. I don't know the ins and out of why, but i know its to do with floating point processing and the Intel's ability to do it a heck of a lot better. I run a P200MMX, 32mb ram (now 64), full install, and the game runs fine. Try running GP2 in SVGA with all graphics on and tell me you dont get slowdown! Power VR doesn't equal D3D. D3D is not supported in Quake 2 Quake 2 supports Open GL, 3Dfx Open GL, Power VR, and software modes 3Dfx cards are great for any of the following games Quake (GL), Quake 2, F1RS, Nascar 2 (3Dfx patch), Sub Culture, G-Police, heavy Gear, the forthcoming Grand Prix Legends, the forthcoming F1 by Eidos, Alain Prost Grand Prix, Psygnosis F1, Need for Speed 2 special Edition, Tomb Raider 1 and 2, Mechwarrior 2 3dfx, TOCA Touring Car Championship. Maybe you can take your card back and say you're not happy with it. Buy a Diamond Monster 3D or Canopus Pure 3D (has TV out and is 6mb!), and you wil not be disappointed with either F1RS or Quake 2, or any of the forthcoming F1 games. -- Nathan Wong http://www.nectar.com.au/~alfacors - Super Touring - Alfa Romeo - - V8Supercars - CART -

> I'm assuming you calibrated it under the Win95 game controller panel? > Did you make sure to use full lock when calibrating? > You can adjust the steering sensitivity with the little "target" > button in the control settings panel in F1RS. Yeah, full lock in Windows, and the sesitivity is on minimum. Oh well, looks like I'll have to get used to it. But GP2 had plenty of options for playing with a lower end machine - even VGA! F1RS needs something pretty hefty even with all the graphic options turned off. Thanks for your help with the cards. At least I _slightly_ understand now... Huw -- Note: Mail to the above address will bounce. Please reply to:

>With all the various 3D card options, you have to be totally obsessed >to know what all the different types are and what the difference is. >What is Glide? What is OpenGL? I'm just pissed off with the computer >industry in general at the moment. What is the point of D3D if 3DFX >is faster? The cards are of comparable price. Good question. But all you need to know is that 3dfx is really the only choice (as you recently found out). Anyone who says different is just a fool or trying to start trouble. The point of D3D is that 3D is then available on several cards. In theory this is great. But in practice it is in no way accurate. What MS did with CPR is just criminal (IMHO) the game was created with Glide support but MS apparently disabled it by not allowing that dll to be shipped with the game. Forcing D3D on us the customer. I am starting to think those Netscape and Sun CEO's are right. -- Header address intentionally scrambled to ward off the spamming hordes.