Hello,
I am working on a PD/GEM application for a performance in june.
Unfortunately, rendering (especially of textures) is quite
slow.
Does anybody use hardware-accelerated VGA boards under Win95, WinNT? Wich boards are best supported?
I am currently using a Voodoo Rush board (a Procomp GM-P105, Macronix Chipset and 2 Voodoo Rush), but there is no OpenGL driver aviable (Maybe I'm wrong? I've heard rumours about a beta release of Opengl32.dll by 3dFX)
So I might have to by a new board, but I want to be sure to get the right one...
I also want to try to run PD with Voodoo Rush under Linux, but I have to wait for a XServer wich supports Voodoo Rush. As soon as I get some results I will report about it.
Norbert
We have seen excellent graphics performance from the Diamond Fire card, and from the Accel Graphics AccelEclipse. Both cards use the Mitsubishi DMA/RealImage engine, and are both very expensive (2-3K).
Before investing in a card like this you might want to wait for the next generation of cards and cpu's that offer AGP2 and 100Mhz PCI bus.
Another strategy that you might want to deploy is using two machines, one for audio, the other for graphics, and use the netsend and netreceive objects to share data between them.
Drop me a line if you want more information. -RS
hello,
Finally I succeeded to get GEM running under Voodoo Rush :-))) I am actually testing the "GemMoveImages" example and it runs fast and smooth (about 10-15 fps).
I want to report about how I got it running. There may be better methods to do it and I would be glad to see your comments or suggestions about that.
1 Download Glide 2.43 Runtime Drivers and 3Dfx OpenGL Beta 2 (aviable at http://www.3dfx.com/download/sdk/index.html)
2 Install both packages.
3 Compile GEM including the file "gl.h" that comes with the 3Dfx OpenGl driver instead of the standard "gl.h" header that comes with the compiler (I was using Visual C 5.0)
4 Rename the file "3DFXOPENGL.DLL" included to the 3Dfx OpenGl driver to "OPENGL32.DLL" and move it into the "bin" directory (where "PD.EXE" is located)
5 Add the path to the pd "bin" directory to the PATH environment variable (see the documentation that comes with the 3Dfx OpenGl driver about steps 3 -5)
6 Copy the newly compiled "Gem.dll" into the "..\pd\gem" directory (but keep a backup of the original...)
7 Set the video resolution to 640*480, 16bit (other resolutions may also work, this is the one I tested)
Start PD. I use the command line "pd -nosound -lib /pd/gem/Gem" (path depending on the location of the pd binaries). You should get the 3Dfx animated logo. The video output gets scrambled for a moment. Also note that it does not redraw correctly anymore. Load a patch. You have to modify the "dimen" message to the "gemwin" object to "dimen 640 480" (otherwise PD crashes). Note that, because the voodoo driver renders into fullscreen, once GEM starts rendering, it gets very difficult to control the system. Before I start rendering, I connect a single "bang" message to every object that has to be initialized (e.g. "dimen", "1" (to start rendering), "light" and so on. Other objects may be controlled via "netrecive". I found no way to stop PD correctly. The windows keys are still working, so it is possible to shut down the computer blindly.
NB. Voodoo Rush works only under Win95. Other brands should also work under NT.
My setup: Pentium 233, 32 MB ram Win 95 Procomp PM-G105 (Macronix Chipset + 2 Voodoo Rush) It is a cheap no-name card, but it has got TV Out :-)
norbert math@radawana.cg.tuwien.ac.at
PS. I also would like to know about hardware accelration under linux!
Congrats Norbert!
Norbert Math wrote:
Finally I succeeded to get GEM running under Voodoo Rush :-))) I am actually testing the "GemMoveImages" example and it runs fast and smooth (about 10-15 fps).
Can you please run with profiling and let us know exactly how fast you are running? Most of the example patches should run on at 20 frames per second (the default rate).
Also, in talking with other people who have the Voodoo chip set, my understanding is that you can hook another monitor up to your 2-D card and see your normal workspace (most people use a cheap monitor). Also, ctrl-F9 should switch you back to normal 2-D mode. I also know that there is a Mesa "hack" which will do hardware rendering to a window for the Voodoo (about 1/2 the frame rate).
If you want to get rid of the splash screen, I think that you need to set the environment variable FX_GLIDE_NO_SPLASH to 0 Check around on the web if this doesn't work, I know that it is possible.
<snip> > PS. > I also would like to know about hardware accelration under linux!
So would I!
Also, in about a week or so I should know a lot more about the Voodoo chipset. I am changing jobs and will be working for the game company Stormfront Studios. One of my primary platforms there will be a Voodoo2. I'll let people know how that chipset works.
Later, Mark
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Mark Danks -
Norbert Math -
Rand Steiger