CV64 3D installation

[patrik]

@AMIGAZ:

Use the CV64 instead. It is faster, has _much_ better picture quality than the CV64/3D and has a builtin output-switcher.

The CV64/3D is just hyped for its non-existant 3D capabilities, but is nothing more than a bad and slow low-budget version of the CV64. The thing that annoys me most about the CV64/3Ds though is that they make the picture look bad disregarding what monitor you have - you can throw a an expensive trinitron monitor on it and it still looks like you have a cheap, dark, out of focus shadowmask with a bad colour balance.


/Patrik

[patrik]

@AMIGAZ:

The drivers for the card is included with CyberGraphX/Picasso96. I would recommend CyberGraphX over Picasso96 though.

The card connected to the CV64 with the passthrough-cable must as you suspect be a scandoubler/flickerfixer. Very neat solution as the CV64 then switches automatically between its own output and the scandoubler/flickerfixer output.

The CV64 has much better 2D performance than the CV64/3D, but as the name says the CV64/3D has some 3D hardware support which the CV64 lack.

What I meant with the 3D capabilities of the CV64/3D being hyped, I meant that the 3D games available generally does not work with it because they are to complex for its extremely basic feature-set and very limited memory, and if they do work, the result is generally too slow to be usable.

The only game I think works reasonably with this card is the Descent that Hyperion originally released.

If you are intending to play the games listed I would recommend you to get a card with real 3D capabilities, like the CyberVisionPPC or a pci-solution with a Voodoo3-card and preferably a PPC-card.


/Patrik

[patrik]

@AMIGAZ:

If you are having problems with Warp3D applications with the CV64/3D, make sure you run them in a 15-bit screenmode as that seems to be the only depth it can handle.

@Brian:

If you think the picture quality is ok, you should try switching cards, it will give you a laugh :=).

Btw, there is nothing that stops you from using the CV64/3D scandoubler with the CV64 as it has the feature that it can switch between an output connected to its passthrough-connector and its own output automatically. A friend of mine uses that configuration and it works just fine.

The CV64/3D would have been a quite ok card if it had competent 3D hardware that actually worked with most of the Warp3D applications. As it is now you have to be glad if it works at all with an application and if you are in luck and it does work it is in most cases too slow to be used.

Nevertheless it enables you to run a selection of the Warp3D software out there which you ofcourse cant with the CV64 as it has no 3D support in hardware and thus no Warp3D drivers.

I just get a bit irritated because the 3D part in the CV64/3D name automatically seems to make it a good card, when in reality it is the slowest Zorro3 card in existance and its 3D hardware is too bad to be used in almost every case - not to strange though as it was S3's first experimental try at 3D hardware.


/Patrik

[patrik]

@brian:

Aye, I have a this thing with having to tell people to choose the CV64 instead of the CV64/3D ;=).

If you dont have any space for a videoslot scandoubler, you could try to get hold of one of those scandoublers which clips onto the Lisa/Alice chips.


/Patrik