Descent 3 Demo Graphical Issues

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darksabre76
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Location: Seattle, WA, USA
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Descent 3 Demo Graphical Issues

Post by darksabre76 »

Hello all. I've run into some odd graphical issues when trying to run the Descent 3 demo from the Descent Definitive Collection. The game speed is what I'd assume for my base hardware, but every single screen seems to have the textures split along the diagonal, along with some wrapped graphics where there shouldn't be any. Below are some examples of what I'm seeing both in the menu and in gameplay. Worth noting that the launcher itself seems to be working correctly, just not the game.
Loading title screen
Loading title screen
Screenshot from 2017-12-06 11-12-00.png (139.2 KiB) Viewed 7554 times
Configuration menu
Configuration menu
Screenshot from 2017-12-06 11-16-20.png (194.88 KiB) Viewed 7554 times
Briefing
Briefing
Screenshot from 2017-12-06 11-27-30.png (177.08 KiB) Viewed 7554 times
Using self-built networking version of 72668f623f5f:
- [Socket 7] Award 430VX PCI
- Intel Pentium 75
- 128 MB RAM
- Diamond Stealth 3D 2000 (S3 ViRGE) using Fast VLB/PCI and Voodoo Graphics (Voodoo 2, 4MB framebuffer, 4MB texture memory, Bilinear filtering, 2 render threads, using recompiler)
- Sound Blaster 16
- Windows 98 SE

Edit: I just remembered that Descent 3: Sol Ascent exists. That demo version of Descent 3 came out around when Descent 3 was released. This particular one came out in early 1999 and is not related from what I can tell. PM me if you need more info on the game.
Last edited by darksabre76 on Thu 07 Dec, 2017 12:08 am, edited 3 times in total.
darksabre76
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Re: Descent 3 Demo Graphical Issues

Post by darksabre76 »

Additional in-game screenshots (the "pixelated" shot holes on the wall are normal, from what I remember):
Screenshot from 2017-12-06 11-30-08.png
Screenshot from 2017-12-06 11-30-08.png (168.27 KiB) Viewed 7552 times
Screenshot from 2017-12-06 11-32-24.png
Screenshot from 2017-12-06 11-32-24.png (183.43 KiB) Viewed 7552 times
shermanp
Posts: 175
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Re: Descent 3 Demo Graphical Issues

Post by shermanp »

I have the GOG release of D3, so I just gave it a test in PCEM.
Compiled latest commit (72668f6) (wx SDL and networking)

PCem config:
Socket 7 Award 430VX
Pentium MMX 200
128MB RAM
ATI Mach 64GX
Voodoo 2 with 4MB FB and texture memory. 2 render threads, recompiler, no SLI
SB16 etc. etc.

Running windows 98SE. Voodoo 2 driver 3.02.02
Choosing glide in the D3 setup menu.

Game appears to run fine with no graphical errors
darksabre76
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Re: Descent 3 Demo Graphical Issues

Post by darksabre76 »

Worth noting again, this is a demo from early 1999, not the demo from later (Sol Ascent) or the full game. I haven't gotten up to testing regular Descent 3 yet :)
Last edited by darksabre76 on Thu 07 Dec, 2017 12:25 am, edited 1 time in total.
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omarsis81
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Re: Descent 3 Demo Graphical Issues

Post by omarsis81 »

I tested the demo and works fine...
430VX / ViRGE DX 375 / Windows 98 SE / Voodoo2 with latest oficial drivers
The standard ViRGE is known for having troubles if you got the BIOS from Internet... Try the ViRGE DX instead
d3demo1.jpg
d3demo1.jpg (109.35 KiB) Viewed 7517 times
d3demo2.jpg
d3demo2.jpg (113.85 KiB) Viewed 7517 times
shermanp
Posts: 175
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Re: Descent 3 Demo Graphical Issues

Post by shermanp »

I just downloaded and installed demo 1.11.
Using my previously noted pcem configuration, it worked fine.
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omarsis81
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Re: Descent 3 Demo Graphical Issues

Post by omarsis81 »

Be sure to disable OpenGL and Direct3D in the setup too
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leilei
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Re: Descent 3 Demo Graphical Issues

Post by leilei »

I don't see graphical issues here - I just see an unfortunate decision to use the Virge for a game it doesn't have the caps for. This is obviously not the emulated Voodoo cards.

Also D3 didn't have a 1997 demo. Its earliest demo is from October 98.
darksabre76
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Re: Descent 3 Demo Graphical Issues

Post by darksabre76 »

So, this game would not run on the S3 virge? I guess that's good to know then. It's been a very long time since I had a physical machine that was on-spec for when this came out so I couldn't check otherwise. Thank you leilei.

Also, I was mistaken with the 1997 date. I will be correcting that in the top post. The installer date is 1999-01-05. I was looking at another disc's PVD when I wrote that.
darksabre76
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Re: Descent 3 Demo Graphical Issues

Post by darksabre76 »

Followup: Looks like the other ViRGE chipset that omarsis81 used in their testing is a little more stable. There's still flickering, but it's nowhere near as bad.
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