Unreal 2.24v and D3D on a new system

[vbdasc]

I apologize for the noob question, but I've already wasted more than enough time on this, without getting closer to a solution. So, I want to play Unreal 2.24v or 2.25f with the built-in Direct3D renderer (don't ask why ). However, when I start the game, I see only the flyby demo, without the Epic/DE/GTi labels, the green "Unreal" pic or the "Press ESC" text. After that, the game is unplayable, because the console, the HUD and the menu are all invisible, although the keyboard works and I can quit the game "in blind". In the log file, I see the following text:

Init: D3D Driver: W Buffering not available with this driver

which hints about a problem with the Z-buffer/W-buffer? I don't know. On the same machine, these versions of Unreal work fine with the built-in OpenGL driver, and with Glide+Glide wrapper. Upgrading to the 2.26f fixes the problem, too. The OS is Windows XP SP3, the videocard is nVidia GeForce GTS250, driver v185.85 . Any ideas?

 

[Leo(T.C.K.)]

Modern systems have problems with these old drivers, it doesn't render it right. Try to use Glide with glidewrapper on older versions or get updated opengl drivers.
For example here:
http://www.oldunreal.com/specialpatches.html

 

[GreatEmerald]

Leo, he said that he wanted the built-in D3D for some reason, and he already covered the other options

On the same machine, these versions of Unreal work fine with the built-in OpenGL driver, and with Glide+Glide wrapper. Upgrading to the 2.26f fixes the problem, too.

Anyway, I've never seen or heard of an issue like that. Is your console set to the right one?

Oh, and it's not 2.***, it's 2***. Think of it as a build number. Impulse uses the 2.** notion for some reason as well, but I think that's because of how it's made.

 

[Leo(T.C.K.)]

Ah sorry, didn't notice that. Dunno what to do to make the old D3D work right...I never got it right myself. Maybe using some really old system, or drivers...or try to mess with the driver yourself, if you know what you are doing, or trying one perhaps of 226a, I have heard using galaxy from that fixes the 225 galaxy, maybe D3D too? 226a is somewhat rare though.

 

[[]KAOS[]Casey]

D3D6 has been long-since deprecated, I seriously doubt even the hardware of modern video cards can support that. The drivers don't support it as well, you're better off buying an old win98se box and pimping the hell out of it to run on the regular d3d6 driver.

If you want that dark, oversaturated color look that's in the original unreal drivers, simply setting OneXBlending true in one of 227's updated renderers will do the trick, apparently all the renderers were bugged and only did 1 pass.

 

[vbdasc]

Thanks to all participants in this thread. I believe I found the cause of the problem and it is... surprise... nVidia. I put my old ATI HD3850 in the machine and the problem disappeared. There still were some glitches, but nothing critical. The game was fully playable. Just to prove the theory, I installed the same version of Unreal on a laptop with some crappy Intel onboard video and got the same picture as with the ATI, including the glitches. It seems that the newer nVidia graphic cards (or, rather, their drivers) do a very poor job supporting the old Direct3D versions (3,5,6, and, to some extent, even 7!). However, I successfully performed the tests I wanted to do, thanks to ATI, and now consider the question closed. Thank you.

 

[[]KAOS[]Casey]

Add one to the why ati is awesome list

 

[Leo(T.C.K.)]

There is this bug on ati cards though which in OpenGL doesn't render further than some limit, Direct3D renders it fine, but I guess that is because D3D is more controlled by the drivers.

Also there is a bug that you see geometry through skyzones on newer ati cards, on retail maps it is not apparent, only when you jump at the end of ruins, in the arena, above where is sky, you can see the passage clipping through the geometry. Dunno if there is ever a fix for it, bt it gets annoying at few custom maps which have some room right behind sky.

 

[Iron_Ian]

Also there is a bug that you see geometry through skyzones on newer ati cards, on retail maps it is not apparent, only when you jump at the end of ruins, in the arena, above where is sky, you can see the passage clipping through the geometry. Dunno if there is ever a fix for it, bt it gets annoying at few custom maps which have some room right behind sky.

I have that problem on my GeForce GTX 260 running OpenGL as well. If there is architecture anywhere near a fake backdrop surface on the other side it flashes in and out really annoying-like.

 

[Leo(T.C.K.)]

I have that problem on my GeForce GTX 260 running OpenGL as well. If there is architecture anywhere near a fake backdrop surface on the other side it flashes in and out really annoying-like.

Yeah I know...dunno what really causes it, on my 2004/6 system it never happened.