D3doverrider Download Windows 7 64 Bit
Roseanne Devon
I've got a 4GB windows 98 DosBox-VM full of d3d and 3dfx nostalgia from that era, now I'm trying to get benchmarks going, pushing it to it's limits.. Final Reality and 3DMark99 work great, but 3DMark2000 fails to start with an MMX-requirement. Is it possible (for debugging/sh*ts'n'giggles) to remove that check or have it pass anyway? cpytype pentium_mmx is crippled in the dosbox-build I need and it seems if anyone can do it, it's you ?
Do you only want the check removed or is the goal to successfully run the benchmark? Because with just the check removed it will probably crash at a certain point (or right at the start). I don't think it's possible to make the benchmark compatible with non-MMX cpus without access to the sourcecode (or maybe using some kind of wrapper).
Looks like that MMX error is redundant, the benchmark is programmed to handle absence of MMX just fine. Excluding 3 DLLs in e2driver that utilize extra instructions depending on selection made in CPU Optimization drop-down list, there are just 2 small blocks of code in rlmfc.dll using MMX plus a check that jumps to code that uses FPU rather than MM registers if MMX is not available.
If that wasn't the case, I guess the only way to make it work would be studying MMX instructions and replace them with standard ones. Which might be PITA to implement unless you're ASM guru. Trying to execute MMX instructions will indeed crash it on old CPUs, which is one way to locate them with debugger, another option is searching the executable file for EMMS instruction.
1) You're using Windows 95/98 compatibility mode, which limits the number of reported resolutions by the system. Turn it off and install this instead. 1920x1080 will look stretched though as no one patched the benchmark for wide resolutions.
UCyborg, 1) that helped, fullhd is available now. Yes, it's stretched, but does it still render in fullhd and make more load on video card?
2) Forced vsync off in AMD settings app, but still capped at 60FPS ?
Anyway, 3DMark 99 runs at 60 FPS even in real fullscreen mode because DirectDraw (yes, everything DX7 and below uses some basic DirectDraw functions) defaults to VSYNC on and it must be disabled explicitly. And yeah, AMD drivers not giving a damn about some user choices has been my experience as well.
I've also checked 3DMark 2000, found out teleguy did some patches. I corrected plain JMP instructions for bypassing RAM/VRAM/texture memory check with the ones that treat the integers as unsigned. Because for example original JGE (Jump Greater than or Equal) won't work correctly, but JAE (Jump if Above or Equal) will. ? Also found and removed restriction with CPU Speed test only running if 16-bit color is selected. 3DMark 2001 will no longer show the thing about 128 MB memory requirement unless run on machine with actually less RAM. All versions that had issue with reporting memory amount will now report it (more) correctly, at least up to 4 GB.
Then, I modified some API calls for reading registry so they work when running as standard user and with disabled file/registry virtualization. This is just so the registration information can be read successfully in such scenario.
I'm not sure about the hang of 3D Mark 2001 on certain configurations, we're probably looking at some separate issue. I've had GeForce GTX 750 Ti until recently, sadly, it was starting to make my system hang, so back to Radeon 4890. The only newer AMD GPU I have is the integrated Radeon R2 in a laptop, where things seem to work when allowing usage of all CPU cores. I think single-core workaround is better applied on case-to-case basis, you can get higher scores with all cores, particularly when combined with dgVoodoo 2. It can really make a noticeable difference in Max Payne games on low-end hardware, which use a version of the engine used in 3D Mark 2001.
There's also something about 3D Mark 99, I suggested using the EmulateHeap shim with it (posted a compatibility database in some other thread), but I'm not sure whether it's actually needed or not. Still crashes sometimes on my end, usually after transition to new test. It seems more likely on my Windows 10 install than on 8.1, everything else being equal. Weird.
That thing in Windows 8/8.1/10, so called maximized windowed mode, it's a sort of hybrid between windowed mode and fullscreen mode. MS introduced it when they were overhauling their desktop composition engine and the original DIrectDraw without some wrappers can do some crazy things that don't go well with composition, hence why composition gets disabled on Vista/7, but in later systems, such operations won't disrupt it anymore. But there are consequences. It's been a while, but I checked some sample one time that drew something directly on the desktop and it didn't work too well on 8/8.1/10. From my observations in general, only 8/8.1 have an issue with extremely low frame-rate, a workaround if one insists on this mode is enabling NoGDIHwAcceleration shim with Compatibility Administrator.
Anyway, 3DMark 99 runs at 60 FPS even in real fullscreen mode because DirectDraw (yes, everything DX7 and below uses some basic DirectDraw functions) defaults to VSYNC on and it must be disabled explicitly. And yeah, AMD drivers not giving a damn about some user choices has been my experience as well.
From what I have heard it's because of this:
In DirectX vsync is supposed to be completely up to the game developer, so if there are no vsync controls included in a game's options menu the users shouldn't be able to make any adjustments. Since AMD "follows standards" most of the vsync settings in AMD's driver controlpanel only apply to Opengl. (Luckily for Nvidia users, Nvidia doesn't care.)
Oh yeah, forgot to answer about whether higher resolution still puts more load on the card, despite it being stretched and the answer is yes. Although with a widescreen patch, if it existed, you could also have a little larger field of view, so that would also add a little to the load.
I haven't got around to finishing everything I wanted yet, but here's a modified grphmfc.dll for 3D Mark 99 that should disable VSync. But if there's something about the drivers behaving on their own regardless, there's not much that can be done AFAIK, except some wrapper like dgVoodoo2 for converting old DirectDraw/Direct3D calls to something newer.
Edit: Yeah, VSync controls do seem to work on my laptop's Radeon R2 for OpenGL stuff only, but they're ineffective on Radeon 4890. Unless maybe ATI Tray Tools doesn't set something right? Been a long time since I played with the old Catalyst Control Center and I don't have it installed ATM. Using some modded 12.11 drivers where CCC is bundled separately, to let you choose the version you like. And on NVIDIA, VSync is turned on in OpenGL by default unless explicitly disabled either through driver settings or by the game's code.
Anybody else seem this where in Windows 7 3DMark 99 Max always runs locked to v-sync even when the drivers, d3doverrider etc are set to v-sync off? Probably not; it's not like it gets point or anything.
All I know is if you don't it's locked to 60. If you force triple buffering in driver you can get 63. Nothing you do in driver will prevent that. Perhaps the rules should be updated to account for this, as you can't just force vsync off in the driver. It doesn't change the actual rendering of the scene so it should be allowed.
After hearing about Matt Rorie's (@rorie?) frame rate trouble with the PC version of Black Flag, I decided to look around on the web a little to see if it could be fixed. Because I, too, had some less-than-ideal frame rates with my MSI GTX660Ti PE OC (which I figured should perform better than it did). Turning off V-Sync helped, but made the tearing unbearable. Seems like the lack of triple-buffering is hurting the V-Sync.
Using a bunch of sources, I actually found a method that significantly improved my gaming experience. I thought I'd share my findings for others to enjoy. I apologise in case this has already been addressed elsewhere -- I ran a forum search but didn't find anything. Also please note: this may only work for NVIDIA cards, no guarantees, try at your own "risk," etc.
Not only that, D3DOverrider has never worked for me in Windows 8. When I was using Windows 7, I would actually force VSync using D3DOverrider and turn it off in-game and it made things run a little better.
If a game doesn't support VSync, or doesn't support it well, I find myself using Radeonpro these days. Otherwise I use whatever came with the game. Forcing VSync in the AMD control panel has all the effectiveness of screen doors on a submarine.
@believer258: I'm not sure about Windows 8, since I run this game on my Windows 7 PC. With D3DOverrider basically never being updated anymore, though, I can imagine it failing on Windows 8. I heard about RadeonPro as well, so that might be a good substitute if it works.
@colourful_hippie: Interesting... I did some quick research, and it sounds like a great option. I'll try it out!
@korwin: Well, that's the thing with PC games, I suppose. Some people have problems, some people don't. Glad to hear you're not, and I hope this will help the people that do.