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  • Best gaming drivers for Win 98 SE?

    I've been using W2K for 6 months now so don't know.

  • #2
    Your in the wrong forums for this Dan. So to help you out (and get better exposure... off to Matrox Gaming you go
    "Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind." -- Dr. Seuss

    "Always do good. It will gratify some and astonish the rest." ~Mark Twain

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    • #3
      Though we are assuming Dan has a Matrox card aren't we Mike?

      Oh aye, and anither tip for oor wee glesga boy is that ye can search the forums for previous answers to yer questions

      I don't really read this all that much but I'd think it's been covered before (I do recall one topic, don't you Mike? )

      Paul.
      Meet Jasmine.
      flickr.com/photos/pace3000

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      • #4
        Personally, and with all due respect to Paul, I think this is an OK question to ask without resorting to the search function.

        Firstly, I think the answer to this question isn't static. It'll change as drivers are updated and it's often dependant on hardware configuration and game selection.

        Secondly, it's not an easy search as the key words are fairly common.

        Dan, if you give us some idea of the hardware you're using, I'm sure a W2K gamer will chime in with his/her favorite driver selection.

        Paul
        paulcs@flashcom.net

        [This message has been edited by paulcs (edited 21 December 2000).]

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        • #5
          Sheesh, so many words without anything useful. It is a valid question as new games and new drivers come out.
          To anwser your question : For me the 5.52 drivers (plus turboGL if you play Quake,Halflife or Unreal)have been the most stable sofar. The new drivers aren't bad either, you'll gain a couple of frames per second but nothing really noticable. The 6.10 drivers really screwed up Midtown Madness 2 and produced some hiccups in Rogue Spear,so I'll stick with 5.52. Could be system related but I doubt it. 3DMax runs relatively crash free with 5.52, though not a game it is a program that really stresses drivers to the limit
          bruce c. sucks

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          • #6
            I have had the best luck (both speed and stability) with 5.41 and 6.10 ICD. I had tested every set from 5.30 to 6.10. But it was before I have upgraded to my current config from the celery 466. I may have to retest. Oh damn, that was alot of work. Oh well...

            ------------------
            AsusP3B-F,P3 840 Slot1, 256mgsPC133,G40032megSH, Diamond MX300,13.5gigs of HD's,52X CDrom,WinME, PD 5.41 w/ 6.10ICD,Altec Lansing ATP3Subwoofer,
            Envision 17",Terrayon Cable modem w/D-Link nic,1 grey cat,1 black cat & 1 calico
            AMD XP2100+, 512megs DDR333, ATI Radeon 8500, some other stuff.

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            • #7
              Hmm, let's see, STV:EF won't initialize when using TGL 1.3 in combo with 5.52 or 5.55 (the so called Marvel drivers that also worked with G400), but will with 6.0, 6.01, 6.04, 6.10 and still to see with 6.21 (downloading now). Quake3 has no problems... games based on it have with TGL+PD 5.*.
              I agree on TGL, I don't on 5.52... if it's working for you guys, well that's fine



              [This message has been edited by Admiral (edited 22 December 2000).]

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              • #8
                Check here under Adding Images (and thank Holly for the guide, most of you are skipping it )

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                • #9
                  HarHar, you type like I'm new around here...

                  Names change

                  Anyway, new install of Win98SE on Athlon 550 system with G400 32 MB vanilla at 150/200 clock (plus mem tweaks). I'm trying the new 6.21 drivers just now but I can't compair them to any others as I lost all my old benchmark stats going to W2K previously (why I asked this time).

                  I only play a few games like superbikes 2000 & mccrae 2.0, no quake 3.

                  So you recommend older drivers like the 5.4x-5xs?

                  [This message has been edited by Dan F (edited 22 December 2000).]

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                  • #10
                    HarHar, I was talking to ching4, and sorry about the skipping guide remark, should've put a smile after it. I was only trying to help him with the "Side question"

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                    • #11
                      Some games have their own screen capture ability (you have to press a key, wich one it says in the game's manual).
                      There are some screen capture programs, don't have any links though (if someone knows of, please tell him )
                      And finaly, while you're in a game you can press the PrtScn key, exit it, open Photoshop (or a simmilar program) and paste the image in and save it.

                      You can completly remove TGL from your system by uninstalling Matrox software from Add/Remove Programs. Sad thing is it will also uninstall the drivers, video tools (if you have a RRG or Marvel) and any other Matrox software, so you'll have to reinstall them.
                      There was another way, by deleting the the TGL files from c:\Windows. Wich are the TGL files I can't remember

                      Although, having the TGL manager installed on your system wouldn't interfere with the ICD. Make sure you remove opengl32.dll (TGL) from the game folder (ither by deleting it or with the TGL manager) when you want to test the ICD.

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                      • #12
                        Paul (of the 'CS' variery ): I didn't really mind him asking this, it's not as if he was asking why his AGP card wasn't working in his VIA board Just thought I'd offer a tip following Mike's lead!

                        CK: http://www.hyperionics.com/index.html is a link for Hypersnap DX. I've never used it but most of the snaps I see submitted to PC Gamer (UK) use it.

                        Paul.
                        Meet Jasmine.
                        flickr.com/photos/pace3000

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                        • #13
                          I just tried the 6.21 set and I had to remove it all and go back to my 5.41/6.10 ICD set. What a pain in the bumb!
                          Some benchies;

                          Q3 with 6.21 icd 1024x768 all but triliniear and tex down one notch=28.3
                          with 6.10 icd=30.3

                          3Dmax99 1024x768x32x32, with 6.21=3245
                          with 5.41=3990

                          Not too much difference with the ICD, but it is faster. But a big difference in 3dmark. I tried 5.52 cause everyone seems to have good results with it, but the ICD for Q3 was not good. The main menu screen was screwy (same with STV:EF). And 3DMark99Max was off about 550 points.

                          So after alot of boring installing, configuring and rebooting, I have the setup that I had before. Maybe it was fun...

                          ------------------
                          AsusP3B-F,P3 840 Slot1, 256mgsPC133,G40032megSH, Diamond MX300,13.5gigs of HD's,52X CDrom,WinME, PD 5.41 w/ 6.10ICD,Altec Lansing ATP3Subwoofer,
                          Envision 17",Terrayon Cable modem w/D-Link nic,1 grey cat,1 black cat & 1 calico
                          AMD XP2100+, 512megs DDR333, ATI Radeon 8500, some other stuff.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            OK. I am really at a loss with all this 3D game driver stuff.

                            I have: G400 MAX, K7M with 550 Athlon. Running normal speed for the moment, Matrox & CPU not Overclocked.

                            I currently have the following:

                            Graphics Bios: 1.5-22

                            Display Driver: 4.11.01.1410
                            Mini-VDD: 4.11.01.1410
                            Matrox Power Desk:5.41.008
                            Direct Draw/Direct 3D driver: 4.11.01.1410
                            Microsoft Direct X: 4.07.00.0700

                            I have only got very old games like Star Wars
                            Jedi knight, X-wing & Tie Fighter, X-wing Alliance (not so old) and Force Commander. I would also like to play other games too, like MechWarrior and others.

                            What are the differences between all these drivers. IE, what are they used for? OPEN GL, ICD Wrapper, Direct X?

                            Which drivers should I choose from for use with games?

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Originally posted by ccoltas:
                              I currently have the following:

                              Graphics Bios: 1.5-22

                              Display Driver: 4.11.01.1410
                              Mini-VDD: 4.11.01.1410
                              Matrox Power Desk:5.41.008
                              Direct Draw/Direct 3D driver: 4.11.01.1410
                              Microsoft Direct X: 4.07.00.0700
                              The graphics BIOS tells you what version of 'software' is on the card, this involves flashing the card, and is usually not advised.

                              Display driver is what version of driver you have from Matrox, these will come in a pack (the big file you download e.g. w9x_621.exe) with all the drivers you need to play DirectX/Direct3D games as well as OpenGL games. That's why one version number is repeated 3 times.

                              The Powerdesk version refers to the extra utility that Matrox supplies with the card, for changing refresh rates and other cool stuff.

                              Finally, the DirectX version refers to what, er, version of DirectX you've got. You need to have DirectX installed to play most games (including OpenGL games) as it covers sound, graphics the lot.

                              Now for a more direct answer to what they are used for:

                              OpenGL is used as a 'language' between a program and a graphics card. The program has code which says "Do this" which the OpenGL drivers take in a tell the card what to do in it's language. If every card has OpenGL drivers then an OpenGL game will work on any card with OGL (for short) drivers.

                              OpenGL caused some problems for the card manufacturers at the start, so they released ICDs, MCDs and wrappers to confuse us An ICD is a full (Installable Client Driver) OpenGL driver, and is most desirable. However, an MCD (Mini-CD) was used where an ICD was unstable, but an MCD usually only worked on certain games (because it didn't contain all the instructions), although it can sometimes be faster - you may have heard of the Matrox TurboGL which provided a boost in performance (specifically/mainly low resolution polygon throughput) but has now been superseded by their current ICD in PowerDesk 6.x

                              The wrapper was used before they had any sort of OpenGL driver, which when an OpenGL application said "Do this" was wrapped onto a Direct3D driver which needed "This do please" for example. Then the D3D (for short) driver would do the rest of the job - talking to the card.

                              Direct3D came out after OpenGL and was aimed at the consumer - it does the same job as OpenGL but it is a Microsoft standard, and is, hence, more popular. D3D is only one small part of DirectX however, which is a complete suite of drivers for most areas of hardward in your PC.

                              Anyway, I'd better stop now, before I fill up Jord's FAQ section...in fact, I should've checked their first before I wrote my essay...

                              Paul.
                              Meet Jasmine.
                              flickr.com/photos/pace3000

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