Warp3D (Bvision) users, please look at this picture

[rvo_nl]

I did ask this one before, but still I cant imagine this is right: every major 3D game I play (Quake 1, Quake 2, Shogo, Heretic) has this really 'grainy' look to it. I know the resolution aint much, but is that really the whole story? Look at the strange pixelated way its rendered, is that how it should look? Is there something I can tweak?
 

[Khephren]

Looks like a dithered 16bit image to me.

[Karlos]

All I can see is ordered dithering, which is exactly what I would expect from an old 15/16-bit colourdepth minigl based application.

The Permedia2 chip's graphics pipeline uses true colour for every stage until the penultimate one where the "colour" unit converts the pixel to framebuffer format. Your framebuffer is 15 or 16-bits deep and so it applies dithering to diffuse the error caused by the truncation.

The Permedia2 driver has an environment variable that forces dithering to be on for all output less than 24-bit, overriding any application setting. You can turn this behaviour off by setting ENV:Warp3D/Permedia2/Dither to "off".

This will eliminate the perceived graininess from the dithering but will have noticeable colour banding where any subtle truecolour gradients are truncated.

[rvo_nl]

well that sounds mighty plausible (I have no idea how you know all this stuff) but unfortunately it didnt have any effect. I found out theres also the gl_dither 0 setting I can set in the Quake 2 .cfg file, but that also didnt do much. Running the game in 24 bit doesnt work. Is there anything else I could try?

[Iggy]

Look how much hardware this system relies on that isn't from Commodore/Amiga, but we're still willing to call this an Amiga.
PPC processor, RTG graphics, 256MB of memory, 120GB hard drive.
Might as well be my MorphOS system.

[CSixx]

Look how much hardware this system relies on that isn't from Commodore/Amiga, but we're still willing to call this an Amiga.
PPC processor, RTG graphics, 256MB of memory, 120GB hard drive.
Might as well be my MorphOS system.

Maybe you should stay on-topic. Especially since your argument is so weak.

[Khephren]

@iggy
Stay on topic, or get off the thread.

[Karlos]

well that sounds mighty plausible (I have no idea how you know all this stuff)

I have the same hardware and was an early adopter of Warp3D in some of my own coding projects.

but unfortunately it didnt have any effect. I found out theres also the gl_dither 0 setting I can set in the Quake 2 .cfg file, but that also didnt do much. Running the game in 24 bit doesnt work. Is there anything else I could try?

Turn off both the env var and set the gl_dither to 0 together. If that doesn't work then the application is forcing it on, in which case you can't disable it.

Regarding 24-bit mode, some of the old MiniGL applications only use 16-bit regardless of what you ask for.

[Piru]

Is there anything else I could try?

Other than "upgrading" to Voodoo3 or replacing the aging system with something else, not really. As soon as I replaced by A1200 BPPC + BVisionPPC with the peg1 + Radeon I didn't look back. It took me couple of months to realize I didn't even power up the A1200 anymore. I never missed the BVisionPPC... frankly Permedia2 just sucks.

[Karlos]

frankly Permedia2 just sucks.

It is certainly the weakest 3D graphics chip you can put into an Amiga these days (unless you find an old Cybervision3D) but as a basic RTG card it's fine IMHO.

[Iggy]

Maybe you should stay on-topic. Especially since your argument is so weak.

Is it?
What the poster's using barely resembles an Amiga.
Its closer to my Mac.

Other than "upgrading" to Voodoo3 or replacing the  aging system with something else, not really. As soon as I replaced by  A1200 BPPC + BVisionPPC with the peg1 + Radeon I didn't look back. It  took me couple of months to realize I didn't even power up the A1200  anymore. I never missed the BVisionPPC... frankly Permedia2 just  sucks.

Piru sums this up pretty clearly. I've got a Voodoo3 I've already retired and am using a Radeon card myself. And my system probably runs Warp3D applications better than a "real" Amiga.

Totally on topic.
When you get to a certain point, replace the system.

[Karlos]

Regarding the "off topic" debate. The guy has asked how to deal with an issue on his present system. I'm quite sure that if he wants to upgrade to something faster, he'll still do just that. That still doesn't answer his immediate question though.

[Iggy]

Regarding the "off topic" debate. The guy has asked how to deal with an issue on his present system. I'm quite sure that if he wants to upgrade to something faster, he'll still do just that. That still doesn't answer his immediate question though.

It doesn't have to be faster Karlos. Better would be relatively easy. A Voodoo3 2000 would be a small expense and a big improvement over the Permedia2.

[Karlos]

It doesn't have to be faster Karlos. Better would be relatively easy. A Voodoo3 2000 would be a small expense and a big improvement over the Permedia2.

Sure, but unless he plans to put the Voodoo into a different system, then he also has to buy a PCI bridge, which will cost a hell of a lot more than the Voodoo card.

Furthermore, depending on the generation of Voodoo card, he won't be able to get away from dithered 16-bit output either

[rvo_nl]

Listen, I appreciate your concerns. I know the Voodoo is faster. But it wasnt built by an Amiga company and for me that is what counts. I dont have PCI anyway. Too much hassle. I wanted to built the ultimate classic Amiga and thats what I have. Ofcourse you may think different, but please, in another thread

@Karlos, thanks for your answer. Will fiddle around with those settings again using a different game.