[0.9.8] W98SE + Need For Speed II SE + 3Dfx = Graphic problems

[toniosj]

I've tested this game, it shows bad graphics on main menu, and choppy sound. If I try to play a race, it comes to Windows again after a few seconds.

¿Voodoo Graphic installed incompatibity?

[toniosj]

Video Test

The Need for Speed II SE (3dfx) Retroarch DOSBox Pure

[schellingb]

Interesting, I tried NFS3 a while ago and it acted exactly the same. Glitches in the menu, quitting after a few seconds after loading into a race. The two games must share a lot of code for the Windows versions I guess.
Is there a non-3dfx version of this game? If there is, does it work better?

[toniosj]

non-3dfx version of this game has got glitches (see configuration menu) in the menu and quitting after a few seconds after loading too ( sometimes changing FOCUS ON and OFF, it crashes).

[guruemulation]

I went ingame for a while with the regular version of Need for Speed 2.
The Need for Speed 2 Retroarch Dosbox Pure
Some parts of the track have missing audio (tunnel).

I have tested the same game on VMWare Workstation
The Need for Speed 2 VMWare WS

[toniosj]

@schellingb @guruemulation

I've tested that changing "Performance Options / Emulated Performance" to Pentium III or more, game doesn't crash and no glitches, but it runs very slow.

It seems that the problem is on Performance settings.

[andreyfedoseev]

I think this may be actually related to sound, not to graphics. I followed the discussion in joncampbell123/dosbox-x#2689, I tried setting Sound Blaster Type to none in Audio settings, and it fixed the issue for me in Need for Speed III. I was able to finish the first race with 3D rendering enabled without any issues, except for missing sound, of course.

I also noticed that the main menu animations are much smoother with SoundBlaster OFF.

I haven't tried NFS2, though.

[toniosj]

Interesting, I tried NFS3 a while ago and it acted exactly the same. Glitches in the menu, quitting after a few seconds after loading into a race. The two games must share a lot of code for the Windows versions I guess. Is there a non-3dfx version of this game? If there is, does it work better?

@schellingb Could you test NFS2SE or NFS3 in your development version?
To know if there are improvements with 3Dfx games.

Great job!!!

[toniosj]

Tested in 0.9.8.

Glitches continues and game crash after few seconds race starts.

[toniosj]

I think this may be actually related to sound, not to graphics. I followed the discussion in joncampbell123/dosbox-x#2689, I tried setting Sound Blaster Type to none in Audio settings, and it fixed the issue for me in Need for Speed III. I was able to finish the first race with 3D rendering enabled without any issues, except for missing sound, of course.

I also noticed that the main menu animations are much smoother with SoundBlaster OFF.

I haven't tried NFS2, though.

Sound Blaster = None: fixed the issue for me in Need for Speed II:SE. I was able to finish the first race with 3D rendering enabled without any issues, except for missing sound.

[thingsiplay]

HI everyone. I experience the exact same described issues in menu and racing, playing Need For Speed II Special Edition on Windows 98 Second Edition. However I can play the first map still with sound. And disabling Sound Blaster fixes it too.

However, setting Hardware acceleration to None in W98 while Sound Blaster 16 is active (in RetroArch), makes it vastly better with Sound. I can play the maps with sound and rendering issues are almost gone. In Windows right bottom taskbar click on the audio symbol > Playback Adjust Audio Properties > Advanced Properties > Performance > Hardware acceleration = None . No reboot is required.

Host is a Linux OS with RetroArch 1.16 and DOSBox-Pure 0.9.9. I think the hardware and other information are not important, as it seems to be a general software emulation or Windows driver issue.

[AnessZurba]

However, setting Hardware acceleration to None in W98 while Sound Blaster 16 is active (in RetroArch), makes it vastly better with Sound. I can play the maps with sound and rendering issues are almost gone. In Windows right bottom taskbar click on the audio symbol > Playback Adjust Audio Properties > Advanced Properties > Performance > Hardware acceleration = None . No reboot is required.

Can confirm this workaround seems to work in Windows 95 as well, Sound hardware acceleration can be disabled from Run>dxdiag>Sound

[toniosj]

I've tested with NO sound hardware acceleration. Now game doesn't crash but performance is very low in a i7.