Help my friend with his RivaTNT

[Comp625]

My friend can't get his Creative Labs RivaTNT 16mb PCI to work properly.

He has a P2 333mhz with 256mb PC133 RAM. He had an ATI 8mb (or 4mb, can't remember) AGP Rage card. He just got a Creative Labs RivaTNT 16mb PCI from a friend and wants to play old OpenGL games with it (mainly Quake 2). The card works in 2D perfectly. But Quake 2 simply cannot run in OpenGL mode with his TNT. He was able to run Q2 in OpenGL mode with his old ATI Rage card. He's tried 3 sets of drivers (6.47, 12.81, 23.11). All of them function properly in 2D but simply can't run Quake 2 in OpenGL mode. We've reinstalled Quake 2 about 5 times. We've erased and restarted his config.cfg (for Quake2). He thinks in his BIOS there's some kinda setting that needs to be turned on. All of the tabs that are specific to Nvidia (eg the RivaTNT tabs in the Display Properties) all show up. So can anyone help him? We've tried almost everything and anything... help

 

[BrunoPuntzJones]

What happens when he sets it for OpenGL in the game?

IIRC, there are options for glide, software, and opengl and something else...(ati related i think). Does it just lock when he does it?

 

[Cosmic_Horror]

can you friend run any direct 3d games (requring directx) etc? oir is he having a problem with just opengl... tried running any other games?

 

[Comp625]

In Quake 2, if he tries to load up OpenGL (through the VIDEO menu), his game immediately reverts back to Software mode. He doesn't own any games except Quake 2 (but believe it or not, he's a hardcore Q2 multiplayer fan). In other words, he doesn't have any other games (OpenGL or Direct3D) to run and see if the 2 APIs work there.

Are there any "small test programs" (like a game of Tetris in 3D or something...) that will load each API. I'd like to send him a small program that will load up OpenGL and/or D3D just to see whether he can load the actual API up.

 

[Mem]

<< Are there any "small test programs" (like a game of Tetris in 3D or something...) that will load each API. I'd like to send him a small program that will load up OpenGL and/or D3D just to see whether he can load the actual API up. >>




Have you both tried running DirectX diagnostics in System information(under the tool tab in there then display section)?

 

[oldfart]

Try deleting or renaming the q2config.cfg file. Launch the game and a new one will be generated.


<< He doesn't own any games except Quake 2 (but believe it or not, he's a hardcore Q2 multiplayer fan) >>


I can beleive it. Q2 multiplayer rocks!

 

[Comp625]

There is no "q2config.cfg". (I can't find the file in my Q2 folder and he can't find it in his either).


<< We've erased and restarted his config.cfg (for Quake2). >>


By that, I mean we've erased and restarted his config.cfg AND autoexec.cfg many times. It doesn't work.

I'll tell him to run the DX Diagnostic Tests when he gets home from work...

 

[oldfart]

Oh, yeah config.cfg not q2config.cfg. Hmm...is there any opengl32.dll anywhere in the system besides the one in the Windows directory? Do a find. there should only be the one.

 

[Mavrick007]

I used to have this little program to test OpenGL and it's really small. I'll check to see where it is and reply later.

 

[Mavrick007]

Here's an OpenGL test program you can try. I believe it's the same as the one that I used. You should see some OpenGL animations with it.

OpenGL test program

 

[Comp625]

<< Oh, yeah config.cfg not q2config.cfg. Hmm...is there any opengl32.dll anywhere in the system besides the one in the Windows directory? Do a find. there should only be the one. >>



We ran a File Search through his comp for Opengl32.dll. We found it in 3 directories. Windows/System (where it should belong), and in 2 Temp Dirs. He deleted it. No change.

My friend ran the DXDiag D3D Tests and he passed them all. Direct3D was enabled.

He ran the OpenGL Test Program. Comparing my OpenGL Blue Info Box with his, the only important difference to note was that his GL_RENDERER was labeled as GDI Generic. His GL_VENDOR was labeled as Microsoft Corporation. His GL_VERSION was labeled as 1.1.0. Mine were labeled as GL_RENDERER: GeForce2 GTS/AGP/3DNOW!, GL_VENDOR: NVidia Corporation, GL_VERSION: 1.3.1.

Screenie of my friend's OpenGL Test Program Screen

Screenie of my friend's Quake2 console after he tries to load OpenGL (and boots him back to software)

I was thinking...maybe he didn't totally remove all of the old ATI drivers yet. He did go to Add/Remove Programs and removed all of the ATI stuff from there. He did reset his graphics card to Standard VGA before installing the Det Drivers. Is there a program that will eradicate all traces of ATI drivers/registry entries (sorta like Detonator Destroyer)?

Note: He is currently running the Detonator 23.11 drivers (official from Nvidia's website).

 

[oldfart]

Does it do the same if he is not running a mod? Here is another thing to try. Go to GLsetup.com and download the GLsetup utility. I've seen it solve similar problems.

 

[Comp625]

He's tried GLSetup already I think. Not positive. I'll check when he comes home from work.

 

[Comp625]

By the way, I don't think GLSetup will help him. We've already installed 3 different sets of Detonator Drivers on his computer. Everything checks out. Quake2 just won't load up in OpenGL.

There's 1 thing I noticed. His OpenGL seems really slow (when it works). Like in the GL Test Program (The teapot), he only got 5fps. Maybe that's normal for his P2 333mhz, 256mb PC133 Sdram, RivaTNT 16mb PCI. But I told him to download a TetrisGL proggie and he said it ran really slowly too.

Note: He's reinstalled Quake 2 off of the cd, downloaded other people's Quake 2, etc. Everything checks out but he can't load up OpenGL in Q2. We've tried everything...and personally, I'm stumped.

 

[oldfart]

Did you try putting a copy of the opengl32.dll in the Quake2 directory? Back in the miniGL days, you would put the milni file in the Q2 directory. It would use the one it found there first. Worth a shot I guess. BTW, the OS is Win98?

 

[oldfart]

Comp625, YGM (the one in your profile)

 

[Comp625]

lol oldfart...



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You should zip it and send. BTW: he is using Win98. Not SE.

 

[oldfart]

I sent another zipped. The PC it came from is Win98SE. As long as you put it in the Quake2 directory, it cant hurt anything. Worth a shot I guess.

 

[Comp625]

<< Does it do the same if he is not running a mod? Here is another thing to try. Go to GLsetup.com and download the GLsetup utility. I've seen it solve similar problems. >>



He tried loading OpenGL in regular baseq2. Doesn't work either. He's also tried putting the OpenGL32.dll file into his root Q2 folder. Doesn't work. He just copy and pasted the Opengl32.dll that oldfart send me (into his main q2 and windows/system dirs). It's the same exact version. Windows just asks if he wants to replace the file.

Windows wants to replace the same exact file...

I swear I feel stumped. Nothing's working. I used to run Quake2 (both base and action) without problems on my TNT AGP p2 350.

 

[oldfart]

There must be some gremlins left over from the ATi card. The ATi card....is that integrated or was it a card? The ATi drivers were removed? It may be time to do a clean install of Win98 if all else fails.