Release Notes
3Dfx Interactive Glide 2.3 Driver
Document Revision 2.3
April 1997
Copyright ã 1996, 1997 3Dfx Interactive, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
3Dfx Interactive, Inc.
4435 Fortran Drive
San Jose, CA 95134
408-935-4400
www.3dfx.com
Friendly Reminder
The software that you are using is covered by the 3Dfx Interactive LICENSE AND CONFIDENTIALITY AGREEMENT. For more specific information, please refer to the License and Confidentiality Agreement located in the back of this document. Thanks for your supp ort!
The 3Dfx Interactive logo, Voodoo Graphics and Voodoo Rush are registered trademarks of 3Dfx Interactive, Inc.
All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
Information in this document is subject to change without notice. No part of this document may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, for any purpose, without the express written permission of 3Dfx Interactive, Inc.
Copyright © 1996, 1997 3Dfx Interactive, Inc.
The 3Dfx Interactive Software Developers Kit
General Information
Important Tips
Using Glide 2.3 on Pentium ProÓ Systems
Voodoo Rush
Multiple Glide windowed Applications
Using The Trident ProVidia 9685-1 + Voodoo Rush reference design Card
Hardware Support
Obsidian (Pro) Board
Righteous 3D™ (Orchid Technologies)
Monster 3D™ (Diamond Multimedia)
Alliance Semiconductor ProMotion-AT3D Rev. A reference design and the Voodoo Rush reference design Daughterboard
The Trident ProVidia 9685-1 + Voodoo Rush reference design Board
Technical Support
Operating Systems
DOS Notes
Windows 95 Notes
Windows NT Notes
Glide
Changes to Drivers
Changes in Glide Version 2.3
Using Dual Video Cards Simultaneously
Changes in Glide Version 2.2
New Routines
GrSstWinOpen
grSstWinClose
grSstControl
grLfbLock
grLfbUnlock
grLfbWriteRegion
grLfbReadRegion
Routines Removed
Bug Fixes
Web Information
Development Support
Total Immersion Program
Support Environment
Resource Page
Development & Deployment
Bug Reporting
Developer Bug Submission Form
3DFX INTERACTIVE, INC. LICENSE AND CONFIDENTIALITY AGREEMENT
This document is part of the 3Dfx Interactive Software Development Kit (SDK). The 3Dfx Interactive SDK documentation consists of:
Welcome to the world of 3Dfx Interactive! We are releasing our latest product for your pleasure, and we hope you enjoy it!
This distribution contains Version 2.3 of Glide. This version contains many significant changes that includes support for Voodoo RushÔ, optimization and bug fixes. This document will describe the installation procedure for the drivers and the current stat us of the driver.
This revision of the driver now properly recognizes Voodoo GraphicsÔ boards that have been installed on a secondary PCI bus.
The following information highlights some known issues and alternative solutions. We will provide fixes for these issues in future releases.
This prerelease version of Glide for Voodoo Rush is not compatible with Pentium Pro processors. This issue will be addressed in a future release. There are no known problems with Pentium Pro processors and Voodoo Graphics.
3Dfx Glide support is available for the following products:
Glide 2.3 supports one Texelfx or two Texelfx chips . ICS and AT&T RAMDAC are supported as it comes with the Obsidian products. Scan Line Interleaved (SLI) configurations of the Obsidian and Obsidian Pro are supported.
This release of Glide supports the Righteous 3D board from Orchid.
This release of Glide supports the Monster 3D board from Diamond.
This release of Glide supports the Alliance AT3D Board and the Voodoo Rush Daughterboard.
This release of Glide supports The Trident ProVidia 9685-1 + Voodoo Rush reference design Board, subject to the restrictions noted above.
We highly recommend that you use the drivers provided by the vendors who developed your boards. Diamond Monster 3D and Righteous 3D board users can find the latest drivers at the Diamond website (www.diamondmm.com) and at the Orchid website (www.orchid.co m), respectively.
Glide supports WindowsÓ 95, WindowsÓ NT 4.0, MS-DOSÓ, and MACÔ OS. There is no native support in the development release for OS/2Ó or Linux.
If you are running within DOS (_not_ a DOS Prompt or DOS Shell under Windows for Workgroups, Windows 95, or OS/2) and you have less than 24MB of RAM you must set the environment variable DOS4GVM to the value 1.
If you are running under Win95 and you have less than 24MB RAM you must change your DOS properties settings. The value for DPMI memory must be changed from AUTO to 16384. The initial environment setting must also be changed from AUTO to a minimum of 4096 for some applications.
Glide programs built for DOS4GW cannot be run under Windows NT.
Glide now supports running Voodoo Graphics and Voodoo Rush simultaneously in the same system, with certain restrictions. This can be achieved by arranging the search path so as to select the correct DLL when an application is run.
These changes, originally described in the Glide 2.2 release notes, are repeated here for convenience. Some subroutines have been added in Glide 2.2, and in some cases, these replace routines in previous versions of Glide. The result is that there may be compatibility issues with existing applications. Changing existing Glide code will result in compatibility with future products and support windowed Glide applications with a minimum of effort.
Several new routines have been added to support windowed Glide applications on Voodoo Rush, and to ensure compatibility with future hardware.
Allows for Glide in a window
Allows Glide applications to shut down and restart 3D engine safely
Used to inform glide of system events
Changes the paradigm for LFB access, LFB access needed a notion of variable stride as well as a lockin notion for windowing systemsgrLfbUnlock
See grLfbLock
Locks are to be discouraged whenever possible in favor of optimized host memory BLTs which can be hardware accelerated
You may not read-lock FB RAM on an SLI system, we can, however read rectangles of FB RAM from an SLI system at the driver level.
The following routines have been removed. The reasons for removal vary and are described in detail in the porting guide. For the most part, they represent areas where Glide’s old paradigms were incompatible with running in a window or running full-screen on systems, where the device to which Glide renders, is also the primary display adapter.
To fully utilize our resources, visit website at http://www.3dfx.com/ Here, you will find useful links to the following:
*If there is something that you cannot locate or would like to see here, we encourage you to e-mail your comments or suggestions to our news server news://news.3dfx.com. We always strive to provide the best support for our partners.
Total Immersion, the 3Dfx Interactive Developer Program is a collection of the top industry developers and publishers optimizing the hottest retail games for 3Dfx Interactive technology. Like the best games, the Total Immersion program is totally interacti ve and real time: we want your feedback so we can help make your products - and ours - truly great. Sign up for Total Immersion and become part of the inner circle of the new software elite. You’ll get to hang out with some of the best minds in the busines s and gain access to the big-league PC and coin-op markets via our roster of heavy-hitting industry partners.
Just a few of the marketing and support benefits of being a Total Immersion developer are:
For more an application to the 3Dfx Interactive Developer Program or more information about Total Immersion, please e-mail devprogram@3dfx.com. Be sure to include all relevant contact information.
To check out some cool sites that use Obsidian technology to deliver “affordable reality,” visit:
As a member of Total Immersion, the 3Dfx Interactive Developer Program, game developers have access to dedicated engineering support for your most radical game and tool development efforts via phone, e-mail, private newsgroups, and private access web site. All technical and development issues are consulted by a well-versed and knowledgeable software engineering team. In addition to basic technical programming questions, the developer support team is on hand to aid in game development consulting. Utilize our staff to get the full suite of 3D advanced features from your 3Dfx optimized game.
For more an application to the 3Dfx Interactive Developer Program or more information about Total Immersion, please e-mail devprogram@3dfx.com. Be sure to include all relevant contact information.
There is a new Bug Report form on the 3Dfx Interactive Developers Web Site. Please report problems using this form. If you are unable to access the Web Site and you must send e-mail, there is a form included on the CD. Look in \docs\3dfxbugs.txt for the proper format. You must use the keywords “Glide Bug” in the subject line for your submission to be processed.
3Dfx Interactive, Inc.
Submitter:
Company:
Severity:
1=system crash/hang
2=feature severely broken
3=feature abnormality
4=cosmetic/enhancement request
Hardware Product:
Rev:
Software Product:
Version:
OEM Video Board Vendor:
Synopsis:
Description:
Attached Files:
System:
(System information for the computer used: processor type, speed, chip set, motherboard manufacturer, memory size)
Operating System:
Compiler:
(Watcom, MSVC...)
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