NHRA first impressions

Dropped by EB today and found they had received 1 copy,got it for $37.99. First if you have a card based on the 3dfx chipset the manual states to run the game in low-res texture,so those of you that have washed out textures start there.After figuring that out the game looks good,very similar to Burnout.The ***pit cam is very cool,definitely adds to the rush.The engine sound is pretty beefy,a little too ambient down the strip though.The manual is a very skimpy 30 page jewel case insert,no additional info in the read me txt.Those of you that have specific questions post them and I'll try to answer them after I spend a little quality time with the game.Later Dave

Dave, Interesting that you have to run the game in low-res with a 3Dfx card. Do you know if this applies to a the new Voodoo 2 cards or just to the Voodoo 1. Hate to think I spent my bucks on a 12 meg V2 card and I'm stuck in low-res. Also, think you could give a little bit fuller review (control issues, lockups, tweaks to make it run better) after a couple of days? I'd be interested in reading what people have to say after a few days of playing around with it. I can never understand the "IT SUCKS" posts after 30 minutes of playing . Thanks Richard thoughts to the bandwidth when (s)he posted:

I believe the he said low res textures. This to me would mean you have to use smaller textures (16bit is the VooDoo's limit I believe) instead of hi-res textures(24+bit). This in no way affects SCREEN resolution which shoudl be at least 640x480. BTW I don't have the game I'm just explaining what I think you misread about the original post. -Pious_Peter

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>Dave, >Interesting that you have to run the game in low-res with a 3Dfx >card. Do you know if this applies to a the new Voodoo 2 cards or just >to the Voodoo 1. Hate to think I spent my bucks on a 12 meg V2 card >and I'm stuck in low-res. >Also, think you could give a little bit fuller review (control issues, >lockups, tweaks to make it run better) after a couple of days? I'd be >interested in reading what people have to say after a few days of >playing around with it. I can never understand the "IT SUCKS" posts >after 30 minutes of playing . >Thanks >Richard >thoughts to the bandwidth when (s)he posted: >>Dropped by EB today and found they had received 1 copy,got it for $37.99. >>First if you have a card based on the 3dfx chipset the manual states to

run the >>game in low-res texture,so those of you that have washed out textures start >>there.After figuring that out the game looks good,very similar to Burnout.The >>cockpit cam is very cool,definitely adds to the rush.The engine sound is pretty >>beefy,a little too ambient down the strip though.The manual is a very skimpy 30 >>page jewel case insert,no additional info in the read me txt.Those of you that >>have specific questions post them and I'll try to answer them after I spend a >>little quality time with the game.Later >> Dave

I bought the game and played a couple of hours last night. My initial impression is that the game is not designed to run on 3DFX hardware and that 3DFX support was added as an afterthought. It runs OK on my system (P6 200, 4MB Monster 3D, 64mb RAM) but the low-res textures required for 3DFX look washed out and 3DFX fog effects (header flames, smoke) do not work properly. The game renders these as ugly polygons and consumes an excessive amount of CPU when smoke is turned on. Each pass down the dragstrip is loaded from scratch from the CD, which takes an exceedingly long time. Once a race finally gets loaded, game play is quite good, though there are are frequent graphics glitches. For example, the "water box" appears to float several feet above the track and, depending on the view, your car disappears up to the roof level as it drives through the water box. Also, in 3DFX mode many track objects appear with no textures. In other words, if you've visited Tantrum's web site and have seen the screen prints, be p repared for a disappointment if you try to run this thing on a Voodoo I board. Voodoo II users might have better luck with the textures. Replays are also a problem. The game only stores about 1.5 minutes of action, so don't waste time staging after a burnout if you want to see the entire race in the replay. Replays have the same problem with loading textures. In fact, the overall graphics quality reminds me of the NASCARII 3DFX patch. On a system with Nvidia or AGP graphics (which is what this game appears to be designed for), it probably looks stunning. The audio quality is very good, though on my system the volume level drops noticably after about 3-4 races. Since I am not prepared to buy another video board just to run this game, I'll probably return it.

I played the game all night, I was very impressed with the graphics and sound. I have a Nvidia graphics card and ran it on Low res, but it looked as much better than burnout. The tune-up was very realistic, if I through a ton of primary and secondary in, the Funnycar would lose traction. You can get off and back on the gas to try to hook it up and it grabs the track like John Force or anyone else that really races. The crashes are great. I was late off the line on one pass, and was catching the other car, but since I could not pass him, I turn and took him out. Parts where flying everywhere. I also just touched the other funnycar and the body cam off just like when Force was hit a year or so. I had problems with the Thrustmaster pedals not being seen. But I had a gamepad and it worked great. It is the microsoft 8-button, so I had gas, break, chute, and shift all within a thumb's reach. The load time on my 300 mhz was ok, just like Hexen and other graphic programs that I have played. I am looking for any setups that people have hopefuly in th 4.90's funnycar and 4.5's topfuel Recomend getting it as soon as possible. Joe

>I bought the game and played a couple of hours last night. My initial impression is that the >game is not designed to run on 3DFX hardware and that 3DFX support was added as an but the low->res textures required for 3DFX look washed out and 3DFX fog effects (header flames, >smoke) do not work properly. The game renders these as ugly polygons and consumes an Well Travis if this is true, I'm gonna have to dog you :-) As it is now there is absolutely no way I am even slightly interested in trying this one. Burnout does seem better. Too bad I hate that style of drag racing. NHRA, what a freaking joke. -- Header address intentionally scrambled to ward off the spamming hordes.

Correct. The Voodoo is 16-bit. And this is totally acceptable if it worked properly. Apparently it doesn't. -- Header address intentionally scrambled to ward off the spamming hordes.

>Well Travis if this is true, I'm gonna have to dog you :-) As it is now Err I mean Trevor, sorry bud :-) >there is absolutely no way I am even slightly interested in trying this >one. Burnout does seem better. Too bad I hate that style of drag >racing. NHRA, what a freaking joke. >-- >Header address intentionally scrambled to ward off the spamming hordes.

Thanks, I guess I skipped over the word textures when I read the original. I only read what I wanted to read. ;-) added his/her thoughts to the bandwidth when (s)he posted:

NHRA is great, you should see it run on an AGP i740 card, the graphics are awesome at the AGP resolution. & I called about the pedals & there should be a patch very soon for the pedal problem. Tech support was great! On Thu, 13 Aug 1998 11:24:27 -0700, "Joe Smith"

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> I played the game all night, I was very impressed with the graphics and >sound. I have a Nvidia graphics card and ran it on Low res, but it looked as >much better than burnout. > The tune-up was very realistic, if I through a ton of primary and >secondary in, the Funnycar would lose traction. You can get off and back on >the gas to try to hook it up and it grabs the track like John Force or >anyone else that really races. > The crashes are great. I was late off the line on one pass, and was >catching the other car, but since I could not pass him, I turn and took him >out. Parts where flying everywhere. I also just touched the other funnycar >and the body cam off just like when Force was hit a year or so. > I had problems with the Thrustmaster pedals not being seen. But I had a >gamepad and it worked great. It is the microsoft 8-button, so I had gas, >break, chute, and shift all within a thumb's reach. > The load time on my 300 mhz was ok, just like Hexen and other graphic >programs that I have played. > I am looking for any setups that people have hopefuly in th 4.90's >funnycar and 4.5's topfuel > Recomend getting it as soon as possible. >Joe