[Installation] [Configuration] [Troubleshooting]


GLQuake II


Quake2 offers the option to use OpenGL for 3D-acceleration. GL-mode supports many visual effects not available in software mode, such as colored-lighting, texture filtering to eliminate pixelation, etc. Rendition currently provides an OpenGL miniport to accelerate Quake2. In the future, full OpenGL support will be available for both Win95 and WinNT on the v2x00 cards, at which time the miniport will be necessary only for v1000 cards.


Installation

[Configuration] [Troubleshooting]

Warning: All 1997 releases of the OpenGL miniport for the Rendition Vérité cards work only with the original 3.05 version of Quake II. The newest release (listed here) is compatible with newer Quake II patches such as 3.10.

1) Get the minigl.zip.
2) Extract the veritegl.dll file into your \Quake2 directory and rename it to opengl32.dll. For safety, do not put it anywhere near your Windows directory. You can try the tweaked veritegl_alt.dll instead. However, it will not work with some driver relases.
3) Extract the v1000gl.uc (for V1000 users) or v2000gl.uc (for V2x00 users) into your \windows\system directory.
4) Start Quake II. Hit <Esc> to bring up your Options Menu.
5) Select your "Video" options and change the driver to "Default OpenGL", which will then reference the opengl32.dll you put into your \Quake2 directory.
6) Select "Apply" and hit <Enter>.
7) Enjoy.

If you are a V1000 user, you will probably need to install the Win95 Rendition Reference Drivers as well. Warning: installing these drivers may cause problems. They will certainly disable any extra features or utilities that came with your card, such as the video-out or 3D-glasses on a Canopus Total 3D.

Warning to V1000 users: The GLQuake2 (or even GLQuake1) road is fraught with hardship. Successful installation is difficult and the V1000 chips just doesn't have the necessary power. Even on GLQuake 1, V1000 chips seldom see 12fps on high-end systems. VQuake2 is a much better option.


Configuration

[Installation] [Troubleshooting]

The screen will likely be too dark. The brightness slider bar will not work with this release of the OpenGL miniport. However, you can use one of the following two commands to adjust your brightness manually:

1) Type vid_gamma 0.4 <Enter> at the console. Then type vid_restart <Enter>. Actually, any decimal value between 0.1 and 1.0 can be substituted for "0.4" with lower numbers being brighter.

- or -

2) Try gl_modulate 1.7 <Enter> followed by vid_restart <Enter>. Any decimal value between 0.1 and 5.0 can be substituted for "1.7". This "gl_modulate" command will brighten up most surfaces, except for monsters and players, which is why I prefer the "vid_gamma" command.


Troubleshooting

[Installation] [Configuration]

"I have a V1000 card and blah, blah, blah..."
You may need to install the Win95 Rendition Reference Drivers.

"I installed the Rendition Reference drivers but still blah, blah, blah..."
Try VQuake2, which will be more playable that GLQuake2 on a V1000 card. Or wait for your card manufacturer to release new drivers that support OpenGL (don't hold your breath).

"I upgraded Quake2 and now I have all kinds of problems."
Make sure you are using the newest minigl drivers. Any opengl32.dll from 1997 won't work properly with Quake2 upgrades.

"I upgraded to the newest verite.dll and I have new problems (flashing textures)."
Some users have reported trouble with the newest minigl port. Type gl_swapinterval 1 at the console to clear this problem. Alternately, put set gl_swapinterval "1" in your config.cfg or autoexec.cfg file in your \Quake2\BaseQ2 directory. Typing vid_restart at the console also clears these problems up, but all it seems to be doing is setting gl_swapinterval to "1". I verified this by doing timedemos.

"The Quake2 screen is all messed up (wrong colors, double-images, etc.)"
Make sure your Win95 desktop is set to 16-bit (65,000) color before starting Quake. Higher color depth will produce these problems. Lower color depths might not run at all.

"When I start Quake2, the game locks up quickly or even fails to run."
Make sure you have at least 24MB RAM (the more, the better) and a lot of free disk space for your Win95 swap file. How much? I don't know, but I'd be nervous if I had less that 100MB left.

"My game pauses occasionally with a lot of hard drive activity."
This can be for several reasons:
1) Microsoft Office installs a utility in your Startup group called "Find Fast". This utility re-indexes your hard drive periodically. When it does, your game may pause. Remove the shortcut from your Startup group.
2) If you have a Zip Drive, make sure there is no disk in the drive. If there is, the Zip Drive will access it periodically and if it's a parallel-port drive, your CPU can suddenly become tied up.
3) The System Agent utility that comes with the Plus! Pack may be checking for low disk space. I believe that by default, it checks every 15 minutes. Disable the utility, or at least the low disk space check.
4) In fact, disable any unnecessary utilities or programs, especially anti-virus programs. Most anti-virus programs will cause about a 10% performance hit.
5) Get more RAM. RAM is cheap. RAM is good. 32megs is good. 64 is better. If you have 128, GLQuake2 WILL use it. However, if your motherboard has the TX chipset, you may experience a decrease in performance if you exceed 64megs of RAM. Thanks Intel! Maybe I don't want you to push a Pentium II on me just yet...
6) Defrag your hard drive and optimize your swap file, if your defrag utility has that option. Win95 aggressively uses the swap file (virtual memory) and a fragmented hard drive /swap file can cause a performance hit.
7) To prevent swap file fragmentation, follow step #6 first. Then go to Control Panel, then System properties, then the Performance tab, and click on the Virtual Memory button. Tell Windows that you want to specify your own virtual memory settings. Pick your fastest hard drive and specify an identical minimum and maximum size. That way the swap file can neither grow nor shrink and get fragmented. You should probably specify a minimum of 100MB for your swap file. I have not found this step to be necessary, but some swear by it.







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