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Click here if you're looking for the Half-Life Fox Hole (Half-Life mod, tweaks, patches, etc...). updated 3/15

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remember, newer news stays to the top

Not so long between updates right now, but this one's not very big. All I'm here to say, right now, is that I've been getting loads and loads of questions about drivers. So much so, that I've created a form letter. The same response goes to everyone from here on out! :)

But no matter how many times I tell people that drivers DEPEND ON YOUR SYSTEM INDIVIDUALLY - they never believe me. They always want to know what the best driver is.

Well, Voodoo 4/5 owners - here I am. I use the same settings on all of my games, nowadays. And I rarely switch drivers, unless it's to test somthing out. While I tell people that drivers I use, and love, might cause havoc in their machines, they always want to know "what do YOU use??" So, here's what I use. Remeber the Voodoo 5 6000 drivers (way down the page)? 1.02 or whatever I called them... the 2nd release of V5 6K Beta drivers? Well, Voodoosource borrowed those, and made up their own (pretty sure I announced that, too) using that as a core file... actually it's the same thing, just a slightly modified INF. Well, those are my drivers - the ones from Voodoosource. But then everyone wants to know 'what settings are the best!?' They can't damage your card, try'em and see what works best for you! But no. "Fine!" I give in... and then I babbel out my settings.

Well, I've given up on that and I made this the other night while I was bored. What you now have the option of downloading is the Voodoosource V5 6000 tweaked driver, with my customizations built in as the automatic defaults. That's right, no more asking me what I use - THIS IS HOW I PLAY. You download these drivers, and follow these steps:

1. Unzip the drivers to a temp folder, such as C:\windows\temp\NuDrivers
2. RIGHT CLICK "My Computer" and click PROPERTIES
3. Click "DEVICE MANAGER"
4. Drop down the list of DISPLAY ADAPTERS
5. RIGHT CLICK your Voodoo 4/5 card, and click PROPERTIES
6. Click the DRIVERS tab
7. Click UPDATE DRIVER
8. Select SPECIFY LOCATION and point it to the folder you unzipped these drivers to ( i.e. C:\windows\temp\NuDrivers )
9. Using Windows Me, it always asks me Would you like to "Continue Using The Current Driver" or "Install One of the Other Drivers" ? SELECT THAT YOU WOULD LIKE TO INSTALL ONE OF THE OTHER DRIVERS, then select my driver from the list! You can tell it will be my driver as it will be located in the folder you unzipped it to AND it will be dates 6-8-01 (be careful you don't install Windows Me default PCI VESA drivers, dates 6-8-00).

I hope that claifies everything...

DOWNLOAD THE NuAngel.net CUSTOM VSA DRIVER, FOR VOODOO 4/5 Win9x/Me

I think we're done for now. :) See you around.

_____OLD_____

Hoo-dilly! It's been a long while. Driver production on the NuAngel.net front has halted... without the source code and some more tools, it's nearly impossible to finish the Motion Blur project... perhaps we'll release what we did have though, at some time.

Right now the 3dfx world is all a buzz. New drivers being made by several companies? SciTech actually responding to e-mails saying that they're going to make drivers!? Is it a step forward? Or is it merely a money making scheme by a bogus company? Wait and see. Lots of rumors floating around in the many hallways which now make up the new Chat.NuAngel.net (newly nicknamed "CNN").

Also, all over the X3dfX boards (follow the above "CNN" link) are new BIOS files! Voodoo 5's, tweaked by the company? It sure seems that way to some, the new files are creating quite a stirr. The 1.15 BIOS was reported by V3Info, and then the 1.16 and 1.18 followed, being found by users on X3dfX. The man being credited for the exposure of the 1.16 had declined to publically host the files, so I've moved the 1.16 BIOS on my local account. Download Voodoo 5 1.16 BIOS. Other versions can be found drifting about X3dfX's message boards.

In the world of games, Serious Sam has finally been getting exposure it's deserved, and has been hailed as one of the Top 5 Games for Summer by C|Net. While I personally don't see the other 5 as ever being in my top ten category, I can respect Serious Sam in the fact that it brings back the classic DooM style bring it on kind of action. If you want to download a demo, I'm sure you can snag one from Croteam's website.

I hope this update has been sufficiently chocked full of... well, at least enough stuff to make you read alot, and be mad that I wasted your time, because none of it was important, so I should stop rambling, so you don't hunt me down and frag my butt! Okay, bu-bye!

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Alright, first and foremost, if you care about gaming, you need to sign this:

http://www.petitiononline.com/game/petition.html

Now then, we've got updates which should be coming shortly, but to keep you held over until the next line of updates filter in, I've got a few puny things for some of you.

First on the list is this S3TC Fix that's been floating all around the internet. Specifically for the Quake engines (Soldier of Fortune / Quake 3 Arena) - but there is a universal patch included. While personally I noticed no change in performance, and I'm rather unconvienced that it had any affect at all on my system - I know several people who swear by it... so I figured I should share it around. So feel free to download S3TCFIX2 right now.

Next up, enough people have one horrid time finding INF / Driver files for Proview monitors. To make some of your searches simpler (is that really a word??), I've decided to put some of their INFs here. Several Proview INFs are all in one zip, so grab them while you can!

As stated above, I hope to have a spiffy update for you shortly, can't wait to see if it comes in!! Trust me, if it's what I'm hearing it is, it will be a treat for you all!

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It seems to get longer and longer between updates... but nothing has been happening with me... just problems... but here's what updates I do have:

EAX Gamers are in heaven right now, as more and more games are released with now EAX Audio Libraries. Soldier of Fortune and Unreal Tournament are up, along with countless other updates, including Tribes 2! Look and see what they have for your games at Creative. The site's kinda slow right now, but maybe it'll pick up before you all start visiting it.

Also, I'm putting this in GAMES because I think most of the gamers are who benefit from this one. VIA has released a new 4in1 driver. Version 4.30 has upped stability and playability for S3TC compressed games for several players. I'm not fully sure how, yet... but all I know is that some of these people are very happy! Read up on SlackerCentral's message boards.

Speaking of SlackerCentral, the OFF-TOPIC leftovers of 3dfxgamers.com, Slacker, and myself have set up a mutual IRC channel... once again the cheapness of NuAngel shows through, as I host on a free server, which many of you know... if you'd like to join us for real time chat, feel free to hop in:


irc.dynamix.com

#retards

We'll see you there, yes? Most the time we're in around 9-10PM Eastern USA time. Then we stay until we've all passed out. Since I've not had any classes to go to lately, I've been up until around 3 AM. However with classes beginning again shortly, you might only find me on between 9PM-11:30PM. But feel free to stop in at any time... there might be somone there, waiting for somone else to talk to, you never know! - And remember, it's just beginning, so it might be empty for a while, but stick around, people are bound to show up.

So, well here I am. Floating around X3dfX forums, pissing off some of the greats in 3dfx history. Reading up, little bits here and there, on the GeForce 3, and some of the reviews aren't looking too good... others are praising with pages upon pages... it's hard to say what this card is going to be. More and more speculation comes about as to the Kyro lines, and the Raedon cards... the next round in video cards is going to be chaotic, and very zealotic (word usage for today inspired by Strider2001).

Reading up on the Unreal game, can't wait to try that... I'll provide links, as soon as I feel there are some worth providing. Right now it's the same three or four pictures, and some words saying "big out door maps." Soldier of Fortune 2 recently unveiled, in a mag I was reading... I havn't done any online research for it yet... but when I do, I'll be sure to provide links, that looks like a blast.

I went on and played a demo this weekend... the graphics are stunning, gameplay is OK - but the game's in... I have no idea what language. That's why I had such a hard time getting the hang of it... and it's an old demo (September 22 of last year!) - but I had a blast with it... and I hope it wasnt' one of those "in progress cancellations." This could be promising, when finished. Check out Echelon in your free time.

Well, like I said... pointless gibberish... sorry for wasting your time, but I thought you might like to hear my sweet voice /me dodges bullet - alright, fine - I'll shut up and try not to waste any more time. But I hope you know I missed the Simpsons to gab on like this!

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Alright, not a lot to offer, persay... but I do have some more, what I believe to be, exclusive Voodoo 4/5 1.04.03 3dfx BETA drivers! That's right, as far as I know, these were scooped up by a staffie of mine, and he says they're the real deal, BETA 3 drivers. I havn't extensivly teste them, but they're on here right now, so they've undergone a bit of testing. Nothing much to report, just that they exsist, and you can grab the 1.04.03 BETA driver now. Also, there's a brief update in the Fox Hole.

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Not much in the world today... but I've recieved some more personal type e-mails and ICQs lately, so I'll just fulfill requests:


R@\/e|V - you can find drivers for Diamond video cards, such as the Viper II, the Stealth SIII 540 (PCI), and S540 XTreme (AGP) here.

Also, a friend of mine from South Africa, OuTsIdEr, found this little proggie... I didn't think much of it at first, but it's really cool! You can use this for UnrealTournament to switch APIs, and customize all of your video and sound settings, without having to run the game, then dig through all of the "ADVANCED SETTINGS" lines... then use it to launch the game with all of your new settings! Unreal Tournament Configurator 1.0, which OuTsIdEr says he found it at UnrealZA.

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Well now - I'm not entirely sure what this is... I've been unable to test it, but JoFSh is back, and he swears by it, so I'd say give it a shot!! What we've got today is what appears to be a performance boosting OpenGL file for Unreal Tournament. The new file, when used with UT Disc 2 S3TC Textures, and the latest X3dfX drivers, will supposedly give you quite the image detail and speed change! I don't have the Disc2 textures, so I can't confirm it - sorry all. Download it now!

In other news, I've been sent this... like I say in my signature on it, it's too late... but I still don't mind at least putting my name on the list of "I wish this hadn't happened" guys.

http://www.PetitionOnline.com/save3dfx/

Finally, TomazQuake (read more below) 1.43 is out... give it a download, and see what Tom has changed.

Also, this bit is a little old, but I might as well say it... Wipeout over at VoodooSource have taken my V5 6000 drivers, and added a few extra tweaks! They're well worth the download, if you havn't already tryed them on your Voodoo 4/5!

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Well - alright, I've finally cleared up all of my work, but there's not a whole lot of news, persay. X3dfX released the final drivers, my hit count has considerably grown in the last week (thanks to all of you loyalists!), and locally, the temperture has gone (within a 36 hour span, late last week) from 60.1 to 4.6... Farenheight temperatures rule... so jumpy.

Anyways, you're here for GAMING news, and some you shall get!

RUMORS around the mill are about 2 more weeks until we see public 440 build of Unreal Tournament... the version is expected to have considerable support for Radeon and and the new GeForce 3.

Speaking of the GF3, no, it's not just another rumor, and to go along with the number 3, id software, Steve Jobs, and nVidia debuted it last week in a conference, showing screens from DooM 3. Get some video here.

Also in the news, Microsoft is still fighting, but seems to be losing... which will probably be the topic of my next poll, so keep that thought in the back of your mind. Some info here.

Drivers just keep filtering around... but until anything big happens, let me just say you can now download my various drivers, without XDrive or FreeDrive. Follow this link, then click the link to begin downloading:

Voodoo 5 6000 1.2.00

VIA Voodoo 5 drivers

BIG thanks goes to Strider2001 for helping me check for corrupt files, and being a lab rat!

(later in the DRIVER day) --

NuAngel.net drivers all in one place. VIA Voodoo 5 1.2, and the infamous NuAngel.net Voodoo 5 6000 drivers (BOTH VERSIONS!).

Woohoo! Drivers up your yadda-yay!

HEADLINE: X3dfX crew releases bumb drivers! Well, so we think... it's an easy enough fix - but why they didn't see somthing this serious is beyond all of us @ SlackerCentral. It seems as though a corrupt (or incomplete, or somthing) file slipped in to the mix, and has caused great chaos in the world of Microsoft's D3D (guess these didn't make WHQL!). D3D = NO FSAA. In further discussion Ibanez believes he's found the troubled file, via process of elimition. Though I havn't followed up on it, I should give him a pat on the back, as I'm pretty sure he knows enough about what he's going to make it this far! ;) If you'll follow his train of thought, he found that the "3dfx32vs.dll" file is to blame for the lack of FSAA support. Mix some drivers yourself (all the same files from the X3dfX, but this one from another revision (last WHQL perhaps)) and see what I mean. Seems to be correct!

Even with our X3dfX troubles, with months past, out of the ashes rises a savior. I've tryed the drivers and, with a small frame loss, the image quality (to me) appears much better. Colors are more vibrant! What drivers are these?

OmegaDrive's Drivers. I 'coined the phrase' back on 3dfxgamers, of the OMEGADRIVERS - so, go and enjoy OmegaDriver 1.02 (V3/4/5)!

Also, before I go, I do have another 6K still to come (I've been saying that for a while, I know, sorry) - and I've been working on learning some C++, and hexediting... you might have some drivers from NuAngel, before the decade's up! ;-)

Still really busy, but you might want to check out the newest X3dfX drivers... they seem to work okay, so far, but there are reports (and self experience, but with no attempt to troubleshoot yet) of not having the FSAA option in Direct3d any more... the option's there, but it doesn't work... odd... anyways, grab those, and if you want, I've fixed the links to the files below (VIA & 6K1). I should have V5n1.2.00 drivers soon (re-release of Voodoo 5 6000 drivers, slightly enhanced, I gather). It don't know when it's coming though, sorry.
(more mentioned below).

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Wow, fianls one week, then new classes the next. It's a hard life. But, I thought I should let you all know that there is an expected driver release soon, from our site here. Nothing MAJOR, just some more 'leaked' 6000 drivers, with auto enabled HSR and GBC.

Also, X-Gamers (I mean, people who listen to EAX enabled sound cards!!) - if you don't know about this small section of Creative's website, you should be ashamed!


The EAX ENABLED GAMES secion will provide you with tons of small software patches to make games sound like a whole new world, it's great!! Enjoy 5.1 sound, the way it was meant to be heard!

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Alright, I've been working a lot lately, as I described on the main page. Sorry for the lack of updates, and sorry this one isn't very complete.

I'm currently working on fixing the XDRIVE links (below) to the drivers, for those of you who want them still...

Also, a few quick 'micro-reviews.' I'm hoping to coin the phrase. These are just personal information about certains games, mostly opinion, so you should never rely on my micro-reviews...

Micro Review 1 - Homeworld Cataclysm -

HW:C - I was one of the biggest fans ever of the first Homeworld. Okay, I didn't spend time learning modeling, and memorising storylines, for months prior to the game, you could find me spending hours every day in the beta test version... once it came out, I couldn't stop playing it, even after I got Half-Life, and Unreal's NaPali mission pack... it was always Homeworld. I expected HW:C to just be even better.


Boy was I wrong.

Alright, positive - playing is each different race gives you specific advantages, whereas in the first Homeworld it was merely certain ship types, but now it can be anything from research time to ships speeds...

The graphics are nice, but not quite what I expected from Homeworld 2, you know? Sounds are going to be nice when I get my 5.1 sound card up and going, I'm sure... it does sound pretty good on my four piece system + power woofer, even though this is only a single out put sound card (using a Y-jack).

The story line seems to be a continuation, from what I've read, but I'm not planning on playing thru story parts yet, until I get the newer computer up and running... you see - even my K62 @ 380 is lagging quite a bit... I had to tweak the graphics in order to keep the speed... the game is much more detailed, and certain ship types will be so heavily animated that it will cause slow downs.

Overall, it's a good game on its own... but, I'm sure you've heard it before... if you're a fan of the original, don't bother with Cataclysm - it's a huge disappointment, and should have never been given the Homeworld name. It's nice, but should not be considered Homeworld 2, in my opinion, because it could be so much better.

___===___end micro review 1___===___

More to come.

Also, in late news, don't forget to grab the new Quake patch. 1.27g is (finally) another point release - so it's more official the 1.25p/y's beta versions... it's still got a few bugs to be worked out, but it's MUCH better than those 1.25's most of us have been dealing with for a few months. As always, it's hiding over @ 3dfiles.com.


Alright, let's keep this fresh. While the entire 3dfx world waits for news on X-3dfx, we trudge on, in hopes of finding salvation. Well, seek no further, troops. NuAngel and JoFSh are here to save the day.

Not only do I have the VIA leaked driver (the 'newer' of the two leaked drivers), but I think you might just want to download this driver... the one for the Voodoo 5 6000!!! That's right, the V56K (Quantum3D Alchemy X4)! This driver also works on other VSA-100 cards (Voodoo 4 4500, 5 5500, and 6000). Hidden Surface Removal is automatically activated upon installation of a 6000 driver - it is strongly recommended you do not use this setting without the hardware specs of the 6000.

INSTALLATION tips:

  • 1. extract the zip to a folder.
  • 2. right click on My computer select "properties"
  • 3. select "voodoo series" Display adapter
  • 4. right click, and select properties.
  • 5. click the DRIVER tab.
  • 6. Update driver by selecting 3dfxvs.inf (Note you must select what board you have one the next screen e.g. Voodoo5 5500AGP users select Voodoo5 5500AGP from the driver menu).

THIS DRIVER IS WITHOUT ASSURANCE OF ANY KIND. I do not have my Voodoo 5 system currently running (next week) - so I have not had a chance to really try these files, but they are official, so give them a go, and feel free to let me know how they work! *PLEASE NOTE - these are driver files only, not 3dfx tools, hence the instructions above.

Both drivers can be found in my public folder, from FreeDrive. Also, you can snag the Via or Voodoo 5 6000 drivers from my XDrive account. The XDrive account has been made public, so if the links don't work, those of you experienced with XDrive can just find me (username NuAngel) and download them. Sorry they aren't all hosted here, but since it's free, geocities only allows 2MB file sizes. :( Sorry for the trouble - but I hope you all still enjoy these files! Anyone who could put up a a real mirror would be greatly appreciated.

For an interview with X-3dfx, click here.

If you've been left in the dust, go check out:

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One word. WOW. While questing for information on Halo, the new game by Bungie, I kept reading more and more about their newest, soon to be released, game Oni. Oni is a Japanese anime acution game. You're a purple haired ninja cop babe, sent out to kick some heavy duty evil butt.

The graphics are amazing, and the sound track is great! The game plays well, even on my K62 400 rig. Although, my Voodoo 3 lags down a bit on some of the out door scenes.

Download the game demo, to get a taste of a few levels. It's well worth the 69MB download, even on a 56K modem. Or, if you'd rather - just wait for the game, slated for release on 1/15 here in the US.

I was making a video for you all, but I thought 10 megabytes too much to upload, for how shoddy it was. Sorry. It was just the intro the game, but it was a little slow - and doesn't do it justice, because the scinema scenes play suprisingly well for my poor machine. Downloads can be found @ bungie's web site and @ Download.com.

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Alright, today I've got a mini-review... OuTsIdEr sent me these files, recently... I loaded everything up and was, in one word: impressed. These files were part of TomazQuake. TomazQuake is similar to GLQuake. Infact, TomazQuake uses a slightly rewritten GLQuake Engine. You can just use the TomazQuake Engine, for nifty features such as glowing red Quad Damage, and new flame / flicker effects... or you can download the entire TomazQuake mod pack, and enjoy tons of new features... these include new 'icons' for items (health = 'floating cross' instead of medkit), bobbing icons (Quad Damage, etc...) customizable fog effects, waves in the water, blue quad damage glowing, blood effects... and the list goes on.

TomazQuake, written by Tomas Jakobsson, can be found here:

http://www.quakemods.net/tomaz/


For the versions I tryed out was 1.3 - I'm sure the new revisions, when fully functional, will be even better.

All I can say is that I was extremely impressed with the rewrites made here... though a little glitchy (in 1.3) as you can see by this picture, the simple things like shooting, are made even at least a slight bit cooler, with the new blood maps. You can also add crosshairs, with the console, and use different Quake 3 crosshairs!

Also today - here comes the Voodoo 5 Overclocker. Another written by Gary Peterson. This is version 1.2.

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Okay, just a really quick drop in, I'm actually busy right now, but I think I need to update this... if you're downloading the JoFSh Voodoo 3 Extras - be a little careful... for some reason the 3dfxogl.dll ICD file can be used on any version of the Voodoo card (3/4/5) - however when used on the Voodoo 3 (non VSA-100 chips) you'll have a couple of problems with ALICE. Though I'm unsure what these problems include, the report just came in with no specifics... I really don't think it would be too hard to work arround, or anything horrid... but remember, if you want to replace the ICD file, just unzip the 3dfxogl.dll file from the drivers, and then copy'n'paste it to the C:\windows\system folder. OK? Good... I'll be back shortly with some more specials for ya.

Well that's it. Yesterday was the sadest day in 3dfx History. On January 15th, 2001 - they will be closing their doors, and all efforts will be transported to nVidia. This news shatterd the hopes and dreams of the 3dfx community, and loyalists... and gave the now-famously-nicknamed "nvidiots" a reason to gloat. But those open minded enough enjoyed the wide range of future that lay before them. Imagine, nVidia's hardware T&L, mixed with the power of the VSA-101/ hardware FSAA!

However, some "3dfx Zealots" got together and discussed some important things to them. The main worry was the message board. After all of the worries and bits of technology, and future names (VoodooForce? Tell me that wouldn't just kick ass!?) the biggest concern was the message board. 3DfxGamers has a message board system, where gamers can just talk, investors can count, and people can come for the best help on the internet, concerning Voodoo cards. So, the current plan is anyone who is willing, please get in touch with nVidia, and let them know how you feel. Send them e-mails, stating (in a business like fashion) that you and many others would appreciate a message board, where users can help users with problems... not just e-mail accounts, so buyers can contact tech support directly. Contact nVidia'sHuman Relations department by sending e-mails to:

hr@nvidia.com

If you wish to see the e-mail I sent to nVidia concerning this, please read the text file. Let's go out in a blaze of glory, 3dfx'ers - no pouting, no whining... do what we must, and look forward to what can become of this.

(12/16) more updates should come today, but I figured the news was most important right now.

______

FINALLY, I'm back up and running... here is the news I've been promising for oh so long:

I have removed old links to JoFSh's edited 3dfx files, and lumped them in to one zipped file I'm calling JoFSh's Voodoo 3 Extras! This latest set not only includes 3dfx's own 3dfxogl.dll and JoFSh's edited d3dim.dll files, but there are a few new 1.07.00 hidden advanced features, revealed! These include: Hidden Surface Removal ˇBETA! and Guardband Clipping! The following description was assembled by info from John, and other gathered about the net:


Guardband clipping is a way to deal with the problem of clipping triangles generated by the application that do not fit in or fall into the visible region of the screen. When triangles are clipped to the screen in software it's a CPU-intensive task. We could expect up to 20% improvement in some cases (but this is on a Voodoo 5 VSA-100 chip).

The Hidden Surface Removal renders only the visible surfaces so in theory speeds up FPS. However it is still in the BETA stages and artifacts appear on the most vigorous setting (Aggressive Tiling). JoFSh might be editing his own '3dfxogl.dll' again, to support the new REG features, AND include his special tweaks but while you wait, grab JoFSh's Voodoo 3 Extras and see what they all do for you!

In order to install these files, please use winzip, (or some form of extraction program) and unzip the files to the base C:\ directory. The archive should takeover, and copy the 2 dll files to the C:\windows\system directory, and the 2 REG files to the desktop. However, if this does not happen, track down the 4 extracted files, and move them to the appropriate folders.

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On 11/28 the latest 3Dfx Voodoo 3 Windows9x drivers were released... after giving them a few of my own tests, they seem to be pretty good... ESPECIALLY when used with JoFSh's tweaked '3dfxogl.dll' and 'd3dim.dll' files... This was all on Windows 98SE with DirectX 8. There have been a bunch of complaints about the drivers... and there still are... but some of the recent problems are these:

The missing 'NewDev.dll' file will not allow the 1.06.00/1.07.00 drivers to install. Also, the latest drivers have an older driver date. Too find a quick and relativly easy solution to either of these problems, try this link.

Well, today I was surfing around my little file server here, and noticed that I've had this file, and never actually posted it for download... nobody knew it was here! Oops! Well, here it is...

You went out and bought your K6-x computer... you thought Quake 2 would be the best thing in the world. Little did you know that 3DNow! of AMD's would just cause havoc in your game... sound is sloppy, game play is choppy... it's horrid. Well, American Micro Devices (AMD) released their own 3.20:02 patch for Quake 2. This is not a DRIVER like some other sites call it. This is merely a game patch, which allows the use of smooth 3DNow! gaming. Once it is installed, the options menu will have a MAX PERFORMANCE / MAX COMPATIBLITY option... you'll want that on compatibility. Also, when choosing your rendering device, instead of having three or four to choose from (software and 3 more to the RIGHT), now you'll be able to go to the LEFT of 'software mode' in the rendering device options list, and you'll see the options of "3DNow! OpenGL" and others similar, with the 3DNow! in front of them. These should make a world of difference! So, enjoy it everyone. Quake 2 is far from dead. Get the 3.20:02 AMD Build now!

Well, with the release of DirectX 8, there have been some complaints... one of which was that "it wasn't what I've seen in pictures." Well, now it can be. Download the DirectX Control Pannel and you're stylin' with the rest! Download this file, extract the "dxcpl.dll" file to your C:\windows\system folder, then look on the CONTROL PANNEL... there it is! Ready to go! (Thanks to Belial666 (3DfxGamer) for sending me the file!

_

Here it all is... the latest about 3Dfx. In a press release yesterday, 3Dfx stated that they Voodoo 5 6000 has been cancelled. Well, not actually - more like - sold.

November 13, 2000 - 3dfx Interactive® Inc. (NASDAQ:TDFX) announced today that it has licensed its 4-way Scanline Interleave (SLI™) technology, based on the Voodoo5™ 6000 AGP project, to Quantum3D to be incorporated into their AAlchemy™ family of PC-based systems for visual simulation and training applications. The company also announced that its 4-way SLI technology, which has achieved 43 percent better Quake 3 graphics performance over leading competitive solutions, will be available exclusively from Quantum3D, and will not be available in the retail channel.

...

"Licensing our breakthrough 4-way SLI technology to Quantum3D is the best way to expend our engineering resources in a way that offers the best return," said Byran Longmire, vice president of the graphics business unit. "While we are sympathetic to the disappointment this may cause to a small number of our loyal gaming consumers, we are looking forward to seeing this incredible technology marketed to the visual simulation industry where visual quality is the most important attribute."

For those of you who don't know - Quantum3D is a long time "partner" with 3Dfx. Therefore, this shows that it is nothing to really panic about. It's another in the line of countless deals. Notice, it is a business transaction - 3Dfx will make good money off of this... also, others state that the plant in Juarez, Mexico will be closing down. This I'm not positive of, and if it is true, I have no official reason why. An 'insider' told me that it will be good for them (and us) in the long run. Like I said to a personal friend (who's not even too interested in 3Dfx, we were just talking):

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...selling off one plant, selling patents ($$$$$) to another company, and rededicating all work to the "3Dfx RAMPAGE" card, could be the way they plan on getting out of this.

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Unfortunatly, other rumors are that 3Dfx is done with cards, completely... kiss the Rampage goodbye, too? We'll wait and see... more info on the breakins story as it comes in.

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As I promised, a quick bit about the new drivers. There doesn't seem to be much of an improvement, though I havn't tryed Half-Life (rumor is it got worse), or Homeworld (3dfx claims to have fixed Z-Buffering problems). We will see... it seems to have a little bit of DX8 info flitting about inside, so I think they're actually ahead of the game (for once! :) )

Also, it seems like it's the month for hacking... Microsoft's servers are hacked in to, at the end of last month, the vote changer web sites are hard at work this election season, and ASUS was hacked today. Yes, this is in the game section because ASUS makes those top quality high speed, well - GAMING motherboards we all love and use! (Alright, alright - abit's up there, too - but the news is about ASUS!).

This morning, if you had tryed to go to ASUS.com, the site was merely a blank page which read:

[QUOTE]

"defaced by l4m3 k1dd13 [screw] hackphreak and that stupid [weenie]head rloxley ."

[END QUOTE]

Busy, busy world out there today... ASUS.com is still down, no word from spokesmen yet as to what prompted this attack, or what they plan to do about it - or if any information was leaked, concerning their hardware, etc...