S3 Virge drivers + Win 3.11 + High Res modes heavy glitch

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UPerschke
Posts: 72
Joined: Wed 25 May, 2016 7:43 pm

S3 Virge drivers + Win 3.11 + High Res modes heavy glitch

Post by UPerschke »

I experience heavy issues with Win3.11 and S3 Virge/DX using S3's drivers (http://www.s3graphics.com/en/drivers/le ... #id_375drv) when selecting high res modes(>=800x600), regardless of color depth.

Almost fully black screen and little red stripe at the top with glitches. See attachment for 1024x768@16.7M example.

Happens with both 10.1 release and binary compiled from commit 227f95003a28.
DOS VESA SVGA/HiColor modes are fine, though.

Not sure if I'm missing something or not.

Compiler flags: -O3 -march=i686 -fomit-frame-pointer -msse2 -mstackrealign -D RELEASE_BUILD
(Debug build has the same issues; Can use it if dumps are needed).

Config:

Code: Select all

gameblaster = 0
gus = 0
ssi2001 = 0
voodoo = 0
model = 35
cpu_manufacturer = 1
cpu = 11
cpu_use_dynarec = 1
gfxcard = 17
video_speed = 5
sndcard = 8
cpu_speed = 10
has_fpu = 1
slow_video = 0
cache = 4
cga_composite = 0
disc_a = 
disc_b = 
mem_size = 32768
cdrom_drive = 200
cdrom_enabled = 1
cdrom_channel = 3
cdrom_path = 
vid_resize = 0
vid_api = 0
video_fullscreen_scale = 0
video_fullscreen_first = 0
hdc_sectors = 63
hdc_heads = 16
hdc_cylinders = 4096
hdc_fn = IDE0-0.img
hdd_sectors = 0
hdd_heads = 0
hdd_cylinders = 0
hdd_fn = 
hde_sectors = 63
hde_heads = 16
hde_cylinders = 4096
hde_fn = IDE1-0.img
hdf_sectors = 0
hdf_heads = 0
hdf_cylinders = 0
hdf_fn = 
drive_a_type = 7
drive_b_type = 7

[3DFX Voodoo Graphics]
framebuffer_memory = 4
texture_memory = 4
bilinear = 0
dacfilter = 0
render_threads = 2
recompiler = 1

[S3 ViRGE/DX]
memory = 4
bilinear = 0
dithering = 0
edit: Fixed some typos.
Attachments
Win311 S3VirgeDX.png
Win311 S3VirgeDX.png (15.08 KiB) Viewed 17242 times
startmenu
Posts: 104
Joined: Sat 29 Nov, 2014 7:39 am

Re: S3 Virge drivers + Win 3.11 + High Res modes heavy glitc

Post by startmenu »

Have you installed Win32s which conflicts with S3 driver?
UPerschke
Posts: 72
Joined: Wed 25 May, 2016 7:43 pm

Re: S3 Virge drivers + Win 3.11 + High Res modes heavy glitc

Post by UPerschke »

No. Fresh Win 3.11 install.
MASH
Posts: 10
Joined: Sun 22 Nov, 2015 10:50 am
Location: Germany
Contact:

Re: S3 Virge drivers + Win 3.11 + High Res modes heavy glitc

Post by MASH »

Same problem here with S3 ViRGE/DX in Win311 (fresh install).
You can't also use the Super VGA (800x600...) mode. It only works with Trident TVGA8900D gfx card.
Battler
Posts: 793
Joined: Sun 06 Jul, 2014 7:05 pm

Re: S3 Virge drivers + Win 3.11 + High Res modes heavy glitc

Post by Battler »

Also, the Windows for Workgroups 3.11 SVGA driver doesn't seem to work with the emulated S3 cards. Windows just exits with an error.
User avatar
leilei
Posts: 1039
Joined: Fri 25 Apr, 2014 4:47 pm

Re: S3 Virge drivers + Win 3.11 + High Res modes heavy glitc

Post by leilei »

That's to be expected. The SVGA drivers aren't supposed to be compatible with everything. On a real PC i've only had the SVGA driver work on Tseng and Realtek video cards, in my experience ~93-94.
Also it's not the best driver either - it's slow and has some brighter-than-usual colors, such as dark blue

S3 cards usually came with a floppy for W3x drivers anyway. Hell, not even Windows 7's fail-safe SVGA driver (which usually has very wide compatibility) is compatible with the S3 Trio.
UPerschke
Posts: 72
Joined: Wed 25 May, 2016 7:43 pm

Re: S3 Virge drivers + Win 3.11 + High Res modes heavy glitc

Post by UPerschke »

Weird, thanks for enlightening. Might have something to do with screen timings or related.
I suspect that because Win 3.11 + Mach 64 GX does have similar, but only short glitches when switching screen modes.

Their driver allows hi-res true color if you select a 75 Hz VESA screen in it's screen adjustment section.
Once that has been done one any mode staying within 4 MB VRAM seems to work fine.

Plus ATI provides comprehensive color adjustment options if one doesn't like their default colors.
Driver used for Mach64 GX: 64w31303.exe

For now I'll stick to that setup.

I added some attachments of my Mach64 settings.
Attachments
Win311 Mach64GX mode.png
Win311 Mach64GX mode.png (27.43 KiB) Viewed 17108 times
Win311 Mach64GX screen adjust.png
Win311 Mach64GX screen adjust.png (17.65 KiB) Viewed 17108 times
Lekendri
Posts: 17
Joined: Wed 27 Apr, 2016 11:06 pm

Re: S3 Virge drivers + Win 3.11 + High Res modes heavy glitc

Post by Lekendri »

Sorry, but I was intrigued by this.

I set up the same MB/CPU/S3 Virge/DX and downloaded the same drivers.
Whenever I try to change the resolution I have to restart windows, but upon restarting the resolution is just fine.
I noticed that you said you are using SVGA, but in the windows setup on Win3.11 a specific S3 Virge driver with a selection of resolutions and depths appears, which seems to work fine.

Image
UPerschke
Posts: 72
Joined: Wed 25 May, 2016 7:43 pm

Re: S3 Virge drivers + Win 3.11 + High Res modes heavy glitc

Post by UPerschke »

I tried all modes provided by that driver, just like the one you highlighted. None of them worked. Windows' built-in SVGA driver would throw an error when restarting.
Can you post your system.ini please?
Battler
Posts: 793
Joined: Sun 06 Jul, 2014 7:05 pm

Re: S3 Virge drivers + Win 3.11 + High Res modes heavy glitc

Post by Battler »

He said use the actual S3 Virge driver, not the built-in SVGA driver.
Lekendri
Posts: 17
Joined: Wed 27 Apr, 2016 11:06 pm

Re: S3 Virge drivers + Win 3.11 + High Res modes heavy glitc

Post by Lekendri »

Hey UPerschke,

Below is the HDD image that is the base install of 3.11 with the S3 drivers that I have working.

(link removed by moderator - please don't post copyrighted software)

I have noticed a couple of differences in the config files. The graphics card appended to the end is different despite a fresh install of PCem. Interestingly both config files show gfxcard = 17, but differ at the end. I have tested the removal of my [3DFX Voodoo Graphics] and [Phoenix S3 Trio64] sections and replacing them with your [3DFX Voodoo Graphics] and [S3 ViRGE/DX], and also replacing my whole config file with yours, with the exception of the hard disks. Nothing has changed the way the screen resolution change works. So either way, I hope the HDD image is helpful.
UPerschke
Posts: 72
Joined: Wed 25 May, 2016 7:43 pm

Re: S3 Virge drivers + Win 3.11 + High Res modes heavy glitc

Post by UPerschke »

The image is helpful, thanks. Indeed it works without any config changes at all. I wonder what the effective difference is.
Will take me a while to figure that out.
Lekendri
Posts: 17
Joined: Wed 27 Apr, 2016 11:06 pm

Re: S3 Virge drivers + Win 3.11 + High Res modes heavy glitc

Post by Lekendri »

Firstly, my sincerest apologies for the image there. I was not thinking. :oops:

UPerschke,

I'm not sure if our installation methods differ in any way, but mine is essentially as follows:

Install DOS
Install CD
Install Mouse
Install Audio
Install DOSIDLE (personal preference)
Install Windows
Run Memmaker - excluding DOSIDLE, optimise for Windows, running programs in monochrome area, no EMS
Then finally install specific windows drivers - In this case the S3 Virge drivers downloaded and extracted to a folder, created an ISO from the contents of the folder, mounted into PCem and copied the contents of the CD directly in DOS to C:\Windows\System then ran windows to configure graphics driver.

Maybe that may help.
UPerschke
Posts: 72
Joined: Wed 25 May, 2016 7:43 pm

Re: S3 Virge drivers + Win 3.11 + High Res modes heavy glitc

Post by UPerschke »

I figured it out.

S3's drivers install an additional driver "Universal Draw Handler" (UDH.dll). Without VfW that driver is pointless and won't load. It's used for offscreen surfaces in VfW.

I removed it in VGA mode, switched back to S3's 1024@16.7M via setup.exe and now it works. UDH was re-added after switching, but there are no further issues (so far).
The file is not damaged or anything, Win just can't load it and that seems to be a problem in first place, but not after my procedure.

I'm happy now. :D
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