LB2D3D.TXT Longbow 2 Direct3D Beta Display Driver Readme File 2/17/98 I. DESCRIPTION This is a display driver update to allow Longbow 2 to run 3D accelerated on 3D accelerator cards using the following chipsets: Riva 128 Rendition Verite V2100 and V2200 TI/3D Labs Permedia 2 This display driver is BETA software, and should not be considered complete. The Direct3D upgrade may support other chipsets; however, only the above three have been thoroughly tested. Please see the section titled "Card Specific Information" below for additional information on both supported and non-supported chipsets. If you have a 3Dfx graphics card, use the Glide version of the game. The purpose of this Beta release to is test the display driver on as much hardware as possible before we release a final driver. As it is a Beta driver, there are some known problems. The goal is that users who use this new driver and find problems will report them to Origin so we can address these issues. See the support section for instructions on how to report bugs. II. INSTRUCTIONS A. INSTALLATION To install the Longbow 2 drivers, run the self-extracting archive LB2D3D.EXE in your Longbow 2 directory (typically c:\janes\longbow2). Then run the batch file D3DINST.EXE. This will patch Longbow 2 to run with your Direct3D accelerator. When that is complete, you must make modifications to the system to tell it what display driver you want to use. This is controlled by a series of flags in the [INIT] section of the file CA.INI. CA.INI will be found in the root directory in which you installed Longbow 2 (typically janes\longbow2). To modify CA.INI, double click on it in the Windows 95 explorer. It is a good idea to back up CA.INI before you change it. The flags are 3DFX for Glide, and D3D for Riva128, Rendition Verite and TI/3D Labs Permedia 2 chipsets. Setting these equal to 1 or 0 in combinations will turn the drivers on and off. Please note that there are other flags in the [INIT] section. Do not modify these. Here are the individual instructions for running each driver: B. SELECTING THE DIRECT3D VERSION OF THE GAME Make certain you edit the file "ca.ini" to contain the following line under the [Init] section: D3D=1 3DFX=0 If you no longer want to play the Direct3D version of the game, you have two options: 1) To play the Glide (3Dfx) version of the game, delete both lines added to the ca.ini file. 2) To play the software rasterizer version of the game, change the two lines added to ca.ini as follows: D3D=0 3DFX=0 C. SETTING UP A CONFIGURATION FILE (mandatory for some cards) The Beta Longbow 2 Direct3D graphics engine makes use of an optional configuration file, d3d.cfg. This configuration file must be placed in the same directory as the main directory containing lb2.exe. This file contains several user-configurable options, some of which are required for certain cards Comments regarding the use of specific options is listed in the configuration text file. The Beta Direct3D patch contains several files with the ".cfg" extension. Each of these files corresponds to decent d3d.cfg settings for a given card. The following table lists the chipset and the config file name for that chipset. The config file will need to be copied to the d3d.cfg filename. Chipset: Config file name: Riva 128 riva128.cfg Rendition V2x00 rndv2x00.cfg Permedia 2 perm2.cfg ATI 3D Rage Pro ragepro.cfg Note that you are not required to use a config file, nor are you required to include a given option in a config file. The config file is a text file containing simple = statements. Lines beginning with the pound sign, "#", will be considered comments. The config file used by the Direct3D engine must be named "d3d.cfg". You may copy the config file for your chipset to d3d.cfg with the following instruction: copy d3d.cfg Happy Hunting! III. CARD-SPECIFIC INFORMATION (including information on cards not supported) The following lists additional information regarding operation on specific chipsets: Riva 128: The Riva 128 chipset does not support Gouraud-shaded transparency. It emulates this feature through a method that does not look appealing in some circumstances. Within the Virtual Cockpit, the emulated transparency makes the rotor blades look less than realistic. Furthermore, the STB Velocity 128 apparently does not support the early DirectDraw interfaces correctly. The on-base portion of the game does not draw fullscreen correctly, rendering it nearly unplayable. Hopefully STB corrects their drivers to fix this. Permedia 2: Permedia 2 does not support a feature used by Longbow 2 to create the Pilot Night Vision System (PNVS). If the PNVS is used at night, the terrain will look brighter, but will not be green-shaded. ATI 3D Rage Pro: The drivers for this chipset are in a state of flux that may or may not be compatible with the Beta release of Longbow 2 Direct3D. Currently, certain operations are failing, leading to the drop-out of certain special effects. Beta 3D Rage Pro drivers I have been working with render the game unplayable. Hopefully the drivers settle out in such a way that the 3D Rage Pro will work just fine; however, no promises can be made at this time regarding the results you will achieve. PowerVR PCX2: Although there are some benefits to the architecture supported by this card, the PowerVR architecture places restrictions on texture usage that are incompatible with the Longbow 2 render pipeline. You may be able to get it to run partially; however, no promises are made over the results you will achieve. IV. RECOMMENDED SETTINGS The following is a list of option settings recommended to improve your gaming experience while running under Direct3D. These options are located by selecting the options menu, choosing "Graphics", then choosing "Custom Detail..." A. Horizon Distance: Select third notch from left. This will significantly improve frame rate. B. Deselect Sky Texture. With the horizon distance set near, fogging gives the appearance of a perpetual cloudy day. Deselecting sky texture provides a blended blue sky. This doesn't provide any performance gains. For the best performance, select "Low" on the main graphics options page. This automatically adjusts option settings in order to achieve optimal frame rate. V. KNOWN BUGS The following is a list of bugs you may experience. The development team is aware of these bugs, so there is no need to report them if you experience one of them during gameplay. A. FLIR terrain/object color incorrect: In some situations on some cards, the terrain color will show up incorrectly in the FLIR camera mode for the TADS. The problem may only show up when switching between white-hot and black-hot mode. B. Tutorial palette colors incorrect: On some cards during tutorial exercises, the colors shown in the cockpit may not be correct (noticeably for the IHADSS symbology). The problem becomes worse if you return from the options menu or select cancel from the quit or exit dialog. The colors will revert to normal if you fire your cannon (note: the tutorial doesn't always let you fire the cannon when the instructor is talking). C. In-flight mouse cursor colors incorrect: In some instances, the mouse cursor for the in-flight systems may be set to incorrect colors. VI. SUPPORT As stated above, this is a Beta version of the Direct3D drivers, and you may encounter some problems. If you do encounter any problems, please let us know as soon as possible so we may correct these problems for the final release of this driver. Please send all pertinent information, including a detailed description of the problem you've encountered, and a complete summary of your machine specs to support@origin.ea.com. We have automated this process for you. When the Autorun for Longbow 2 launches after inserting Disk 1 into your cd-rom drive, click on the "HELP" button. This will bring up a help file with a button marked "Contact Tech Support." Clicking this button will run a utility that will poll your system for all the information needed by our Customer Service team and will allow you to email this, along with a description of the problem to them. Please put the words LONGBOW 2 and DIRECT3D in the subject to better help us organize the data.