Nascar 3 graphics comparisons

I just got my copy of Nascar 3 from the States shipped to me. I, as many others, wondered 'Should I use Glide or D3D?" as I have both an old Voodoo 2 card and a spankin' new TNT2u. Well, a couple of screenshots later the issue was settled: Glide it is, baby. No noticable increase in framerate from my old 90 mHz 8Mb Voodoo card to the new 190 Mhz 32Mb TNT2 Ultra. Funny huh? MUCH better quality on the 3Dfx card. The anti-aliasing does it all! You'll find three comparisions at: http://www2.dicom.se/peter/compare1.jpg http://www2.dicom.se/peter/compare2.jpg http://www2.dicom.se/peter/comparesmall.jpg (These were done on my Mac at work, hence the window styles etc.) Some notes om compare1.jpg: Texture on trucks at left is clearer on 3Dfx Vertical lines on white grandstands far away is sharper/thinner on 3Dfx, blurred on TNT2 Horizontal lines/tops of grandstands are smooth on 3Dfx, jagged on TNT2 (as is the case for all horizontal lines) Small red sign (stopsign?) has visible pole on 3Dfx, floating in thin air on TNT2 Some notes on compare2.jpg: Texture on rear of car is MUCH netter on 3Dfx, blurred on TNT2 Details on grandstands are smooth on 3Dfx, jagged on TNT2. A-A at work. [link lost in import] comparision of the car texture. OK, much of the differences can be attributed to the anti-aliasing on the 3Dfx but what really made me scratch my head was why the TNT2 with it's huge 32Mb memory seems to load a low-res texture for the cars, while the puny 3Dfx card, with it'd 256x256 limitation shows a much better one? Another funny thing is that the anti-aliasing is done on the "above" side of lines, not 'beneath". Look at [link lost in import] the white lines to the right. Tech specs: Celeron 450 Mhz, 96Mb, blah-blah-blah... Creatice Labs 8Mb Voodoo 2 with Glide 2.56 drivers. Creative Labs TNT 2 Ultra with Detonator 2.08, mip-map level set to 0, no anti-aliasing in hardware set (didn't make a difference). /petern

If N3 or any other upcoming game does not look as good, or better, with a TNT2 and D3D as it does with a V3 and 3dfx, then it's the fault of the game. Rally Championship is D3D only and has the best graphics ever in a racing sim/game. The 3dfx/D3D debate is now over. RC looks fantastic with a V3, but with a TNT2 I can run it at 1280 x 1024 x 32. David G Fisher

Yep, that was my thinkin' too. Papy did a lousy job on with the D3D for N3. Other games (Drakan, Heretic 2, System Shock 2, Midtown Madness, Heavy Gear 2 etc. etc.) positively rocks in max resolution on the TNT 2. /petern On Wed, 22 Sep 1999 00:55:44 -0400, "David G Fisher"

Quoted text (26 lines)

>If N3 or any other upcoming game does not look as good, or better, with a >TNT2 and D3D as it does with a V3 and 3dfx, then it's the fault of the game. >Rally Championship is D3D only and has the best graphics ever in a racing >sim/game. The 3dfx/D3D debate is now over. RC looks fantastic with a V3, but >with a TNT2 I can run it at 1280 x 1024 x 32. >David G Fisher >> I just got my copy of Nascar 3 from the States shipped to me. >> I, as many others, wondered 'Should I use Glide or D3D?" as I have >> both an old Voodoo 2 card and a spankin' new TNT2u. >> Well, a couple of screenshots later the issue was settled: Glide it >> is, baby. >> No noticable increase in framerate from my old 90 mHz 8Mb Voodoo card >> to the new 190 Mhz 32Mb TNT2 Ultra. Funny huh? >> MUCH better quality on the 3Dfx card. The anti-aliasing does it all! >> You'll find three comparisions at: >> http://www2.dicom.se/peter/compare1.jpg >> http://www2.dicom.se/peter/compare2.jpg >> http://www2.dicom.se/peter/comparesmall.jpg >> (These were done on my Mac at work, hence the window styles etc.)

SNIP >> /petern

snip > sim/game. The 3dfx/D3D debate is now over. RC looks fantastic with a V3, but > with a TNT2 I can run it at 1280 x 1024 x 32. What's the frame rate then? On a PII-333, I mean... l8er ronny -- "I heard if you play the NT-4.0-CD backwards, you get a satanic message." "That's nothing, if you play it forward, it installs NT-4.0"

Well, that statement certainly shot your credibility :-). bob

You're right. I retract that statement. What was I thinking? :-) David G Fisher > > The 3dfx/D3D debate is now over. > Well, that statement certainly shot your credibility :-). > bob