Do you’ve a DOS field? No, no, not the superb DOS emulator software program—I am speaking a few devoted older PC for DOS software program. Principally standard amongst retro avid gamers, constructing a DOS field is a tough process in 2022 as a lot of the mandatory {hardware} has shuffled off to the good e-waste landfill within the sky.
Among the many rarest of fascinating {hardware} are 3dfx’s Voodoo graphics playing cards, and few moreso than the final era, the 3dfx Voodoo 5. Just one card ever really got here out, the Voodoo 5 5500 with two VSA-100 chips and 64MB of 166 MHz SDRAM onboard, though the quad-chip Voodoo 5 6000 has seen a little bit of a resurgence because of efforts by modern-day modders. By trendy requirements they’re pathetically gradual, after all, however retro gaming fans swear by the Voodoo playing cards’ superior Glide efficiency and wonderful picture high quality.
Enter the 3dfx Broad Driver, simply revealed by Dolenc over at 3dfxzone boards. It does precisely what it appears like: provides widescreen assist for 3dfx graphics drivers. Not simply on the Home windows desktop, and never simply 16:9, both—you get 16:9 and 21:9 decision assist for OpenGL, Direct3D, and Glide video games, though the latter is type of a grotesque hack.
Non-enthusiasts might not be conscious, however driver growth for 3dfx playing cards continued properly after the corporate folded. The most recent drivers beneficial by most Voodoo followers really use a full OpenGL ICD ported from the Mesa undertaking. This driver relies on that work, and because the creator says, it is “kinda one of the best.”
For OpenGL and Direct3D purposes, all the pieces ought to work identical to on a contemporary machine—the widescreen resolutions needs to be enumerated and fully-supported. For Glide, you may have to make use of a decision override within the 3dfx Instruments applet, and the resolutions aren’t going to be fairly what you count on; 16:9 tops out at 1600×900 and 21:9 tops out at 1920×800. That sadly means coping with non-native scaling artifacts on most trendy LCDs.
The factor is, even these resolutions are getting fairly troublesome for an previous Voodoo 5 card. Keep in mind that these graphics processors have been created in an period of 800×600 and 1024×768 gaming. Whereas a Voodoo 5 or GeForce256 may actually push some video games from a number of years previous to excessive framerates or impressively-high resolutions, you are still usually going to be topping out round one megapixel except you are fortunate sufficient to have a coveted Voodoo 5 6000.
These drivers are for Home windows 98 and ME. You most likely may get them to work on Home windows XP, however good luck. You’ll be able to seize the obtain from EasyUpload through the 3dfxzone boards for now, nevertheless it ought to ultimately be moved to a extra everlasting obtain website. We’ll replace the article if it does.
