Any way to improve FS2002 experience using Voodoo3?

[Guest]

Yeah, laugh at me. I'm still using a Voodoo3. It's a hardy card I tell ya. I'm running some of the latest games on it and am getting good performance.I do plan on building a "megacomputer" sometime next year since mine is getting dated, but isn't too bad yet.Anyways, back to the topic.Is there anything I can do to experience some of the FS2002 features that are by default disabled for the Voodoo3? Such as reflections, and other neato effects?I went ahead and went into the DISPLAY.CFG and found these lines for the Voodoo3:

---

;----------------------------------------------------------------------; 3dFX Voodoo 3 ;----------------------------------------------------------------------[0000121a:00000005]TextureForce=0MultiTexture=0TexGen=0[3dfx32v3.dll]Disable=1[3dfx32v3.dll.1]MinDriverRev=4.12.1.666Disable=2

---

Is there anything I should change in here, or download some tools that would allow me to experience FS2002 a bit better until I build a megacomputer?I have the last drivers that 3Dfx released before they shut down. I think they're called version 1.07.00 or something like that.I'm getting quite good performance in FS2002. When I fly out of an extremely detailed airport (such as LHR or LAX), the framerates drop quite a bit. But that's only with a selet few airports obviously. So I'm not really complaining.I ordered a 128MB SDRAM stick, should come in tommorow hopefully. It'll boost my RAM to 384MB which will hopefully help a bit along with overall computer performance.I'll hopefully have a shiny new system when FS2004 is out.I'm not really interested in gaining Anti-Alias as I don't think there is any way to enable it with a Voodoo3, plus I'd get pretty bad frame rates on my computer.Just the cool lighting and shining effects that Gmax aircraft have if possible. Water reflections would be great, although that may be pushing it.Basically ANYTHING that will help the visual experience is what I'm interested. Whether is helps it a lot, or barely at all.Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.Regards

[John_Cillis 2,406]

For the Voodoo 3, which I had before upgrading in Feb. to my current Nvidia, there's no display.cfg entries or other tweaks that will improve performance. The Voodoo 3 is limited to a texture quality which is one notch below what the higher vidram cards, like the Nvidia and the Radeon, can offer. It also did not blend haze properly with FS2002, giving the horizon a rather abrupt appearance as it transitions between ground and sky.The best suggestion, for the most realistic Voodoo environment, is to keep your visibilities low--the lower the better. The Voodoo 3 doesn't support multi-texturing, reflections, or anti-aliasing, so I suggest turning those features off.I should warn you that if you do experiment with the display.cfg, it may get to a point where FS doesn't recognize the Voodoo at all. For what it's worth, I played with all those settings, and the default settings were best.I had many fine hours of FS2002 simming with the Voodoo. But once I installed the Nvidia, I felt I had been sleeping for centuries, having fallen asleep with the horse & carriage and woken up to the Space Shuttle and I.S.S.... That's how profound the difference is!Oddly enough though, I do say that I liked the Voodoo's 2-D Windows desktop display a bit better than the Nvidia's. But for 3-D simming, while good in its day, I love the options we now have!

[Guest]

Thanks for your reply John.I guess I'll have to stick with my Voodoo3 until I get a new system.I've been hesitant in even buying a cheap GeForce2 MX because I have TONS (and I mean tons) of games that use 3Dfx Glide and as I'm sure you know, you need a 3Dfx card to experience the Glide experience which at the time was even better than Direct 3D.I've heard about emulators that you can get for nVidia cards so that you can play older games in Glide mode, but I heard they aren't very good and very glitchy.When I get a new system (or build one), it won't replace this PC I'm using. It'll just supplement it. :)Regards

[John_Cillis 2,406]

I was somewhat lucky...I kind of guessed where things were going with Voodoo, so I didn't invest heavily in Glide games. Sierra Pro Pilot was the only one.-John