========================================================================== Monster 3D Download README.TXT ========================================================================== Release Notes ------------- This is version 1.07 of the Monster 3D driver. New Features ------------ The new drivers contain several features which make game play more enjoyable. Gamma correction for Direct3D applications can be done on the fly without the necessity of a system restart. The control panels have been upgraded to reflect this with "Test" buttons and "Apply to DOS..." button. The "Test" button brings up a full screen Direct3D application which shows the RGB color bars. This can be used for testing the gamma or refresh rate. When checked the "Apply to DOS..." button restarts the system after updating the environment variables in the AUTOEXEC.BAT file. In addition this latest driver improves the Direct3D performance by 50% over the 1.05 drivers for polygon throughput. You can note the improvement by running the game Hellbender from the Microsoft sampler disk bundled with the Monster 3D display card. There is a bug fix in the Windows/Glide drivers which fixes audio breakup problems on the AWE32 sound card. The problem showed up in Mech Warrior 2. In addition this version is faster. Overview -------- The purpose of this floppy is to provide a central location for all drivers provided for Monster 3D. This disk contains only the drivers files and the Monster 3D panel files. Please read the Hardware Installation and Software Installation instructions to get the Monster 3D card and drivers on your Windows 95 system. This release is based on 3DFX GLIDE release number 2.1. Hardware Installation --------------------- These installation instructions are for placing the Monster 3D hardware board into your PC system. 1. Open your computer and find an open PCI slot. 2. Remove the back plate from the free slot and save the screw. 3. Place the Monster 3D graphics board into that slot. 4. Screw the card in. 5. Replace the computer chassis. 6. Use the pass-thru cable to connect the Monster 3D graphics card to your current VGA card. Place the VGA monitor cable into the Monster 3D card. 7. Power up your system and run Windows 95. 8. Continue to Section 1 of the Software Installation if this is the first time you have installed the Monster 3D card. Software Installation --------------------- Recommended Installation Order ------------------------------ The following are recommended installation orders for Windows 95: Windows 95 ---------- 1. Diamond or other Windows 95 Video Controller 2. Monster 3D Drivers 3. Microsoft DirectX 3 For the Software Installation if you are looking at the New Hardware dialog in Windows 95 then read section 1 of the Software Installation. If you are looking at the Update Device Drivers Install Wizard in the OSR pack for Windows 95 then read section 2. If the Monster 3D card shows up in the ? Other section of the Device Manager or you are updating drivers follow the instruction in section 3. Software Installation: Section 1 -------------------------------- These installation instructions apply when you are looking at the New Hardware Found dialog box. Please follow these steps to get the drivers installed on your Windows 95 system: 1. Windows 95 displays a dialog box indicating: "New Hardware Found - PCI Video Multimedia Device" Choose to install drivers from a disk provided by the hardware manufacturer. 2. Type the appropriate path to the Monster 3D Windows 95 drivers , such as C:\monster as for the downloaded file. Drivers will be copied to the appropriate directory. 3. Choose Yes when asked to restart the system. Software Installation: Section 2 -------------------------------- These installation instructions apply when you are looking at the Update Device Driver Install Wizard. If you have the OSR2 or later installed then the Update Device Driver Install Wizard is invoked when Windows 95 first runs with the Monster 3D card in the system. In this case follow these instructions: 1. Windows 95 displays the Update Device Driver Wizard. 2. Make sure to use the Yes (Recommended) option. Click on the Next button. 3. Click on the other locations button and type the appropriate path to the Monster 3D Windows 95 drivers, such as C:\monster as for the downloaded file. Drivers will be copied to the appropriate directory. 4. It will then asks for 'Windows 95 Monster DirectX 3 Driver Disk', click OK and enter the path to the same directory where Monster drivers were extracted to (C:\monster is the default). 5. Choose Yes when asked to restart the system. Software Installation: Section 3 -------------------------------- These installation instructions apply when you are updating the Monster 3D drivers or the Device Manager shows the Monster 3D card in the ? Other section. Please follow these steps to get the drivers updated on your Windows 95 system: 1. Start Windows 95. 2. Right-click on My Computer and choose Properties. 3. Choose the Device Manager tab and double click on MULTIMEDIA. 4. Double click on the Monster 3D PCI Video Multimedia Device. 5. Click on the Driver tab and then click the Change Driver... button. Monster 3D PCI Video Multimedia Device should be highlighted. 6. Click on the Have Disk... button. 7. Type the path to the Monster 3D files, that is C:\monster. You can also use the Browse button to find the drive and disk. 8. After the files have been copied, click the OK button to Restart your computer. File List --------- After the Plug & Play install, the following files can be found in the Windows 95 system directory (C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM): File Description ---- ----------- SST1INIT.DLL Dynamic library for SST1 chip GLIDE.DLL Dynamic library for GLIDE API FXMEMMAP.VXD VXD to control pass-thru mode DD3DFX.DRV DirectDraw 2 driver DD3DFX16.DLL Direct3D 16-bit driver DD3DFX32.DLL Direct3D 32-bit driver MONHLP16.DLL Monster 3D help information used in panels MNSTRSET.DLL Monster 3D setup panel MNSTRNFO.DLL Monster 3D information panel _MNSTRNF.LOC Internationalization file for information panel _MNSTRST.LOC Internationalization file for information panel After the Plug & Play install, the following files can be found in the Windows 95 directory (C:\WINDOWS): File Description ---- ----------- MOJO.EXE Version program for technical support MNSTRTST.EXE Test application for resolution, refresh, and gamma DMSLOGO.BMP Bitmap for MNSTRTST.EXE HAND.BMP Bitmap for MNSTRTST.EXE MHOUSE.BMP Bitmap for MNSTRTST.EXE MW2.BMP Bitmap for MNSTRTST.EXE SCPL.BMP Bitmap for MNSTRTST.EXE TOMB1.BMP Bitmap for MNSTRTST.EXE Running MOJO.EXE ---------------- Mojo will not run without DirectDraw 2 installed. If DirectDraw 2 is not installed then a dialog appears stating that DDRAW.DLL cannot be found. To fix this problem install DirectDraw 2. Mojo is a version application. It will printout the version information about the Monster 3D board. An example follows: HARDWARE Virtual Base Address: 0x???????? (depends on system) Physical Base Address: 0x???????? (depends on system) PCI Device Number: 0x? (depends on system) Vendor ID: 0x121a Device ID: 0x1 FBI Revision: 1 or 2 FBI Memory: 2 MB FBI Video Display Type: 0x0 Scan-Line Interleaved? no TMU Revision: 1 Number TMUs: 1 SYSTEM LIBRARIES C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\GLIDE.DLL 263168 1/21/97 Glide(tm) Version 2.1.1 C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\SST1INIT.DLL 132096 1/21/97 InitCode $Revision: 5 $ C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\DD3DFX.DRV 7712 11/27/96 4.03.00.2104 C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\DD3DFX16.DLL 4320 11/27/96 4.03.00.2104 C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\DD3DFX32.DLL 102912 03/31/97 4.03.00.2104 C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\FXMEMMAP.VXD 6464 1/3/97 4.03.00.2104 Known Limitations ----------------- None. Refresh Rate in GLIDE Games --------------------------- Refresh rate is completely under the control of the GLIDE games. However, the refresh selection in the panel sets an MSDOS environment variable that modifies the refresh rate according to the user selection at 640x480 only. Click the Apply to DOS... check button to reboot the system and apply the refresh rate to GLIDE games. Gamma Correction in GLIDE Games ------------------------------ Gamma correction is completely under the control of the GLIDE games. However, the gamma selection in the panel sets an MSDOS environment variable that modifies the red, green, and blue gamma values according to the user selection at 640x480 only. Click the Apply to DOS... check button to reboot the system and apply the gamma selection to GLIDE games. Monster 3D Settings Panel ------------------------- The "Test" button in the gamma area of the Monster 3D Settings panel purposely uses 640x480 at 60 Hz. This way the user can test gamma with a consistent resolution and refresh rate that works correctly on any VGA monitor. The "Test" button in the resolution/refresh area brings the display up in the selected resolution/refresh using the current selected gamma. The "Test" buttons effectively change the settings before running the test application. Therefore the meaning of Cancel changes to be the last time any "Test" button was used. NOTE: Glide games have control over resolution/refresh and gamma. Thus, resolution/refresh and gamma selections in the Monster 3D panel may not apply to Glide games. NOTE: Gamma correction does not apply to the following resolutions: 512x384 at 85 Hz and greater 640x400 at 85 Hz and greater 640x480 at 85 Hz and greater 800x600 at 60 Hz and greater Stealth 64 Video GT Drivers --------------------------- The S3 968/868 chip contains a bug. The bug in the chip may cause problems with the Monster 3D card when running the GT drivers. The bug is that the 968/868 states that it requires 32 Meg of frame buffer memory when it actually decodes 64 Meg of frame buffer memory on PCI. Sometimes the Monster 3D card gets mapped by Windows 95 into the 968 upper 32 Meg of decode address. This problem causes a system hang. To duplicate the problem or figure out if you have the problem you can run the test application MOJO.EXE and if it hangs then you have the problem. The fix for this problem is to remap the Monster 3D card. To do this follow these directions: 1. Download the drivers from the BBS or the WEB. The drivers contain two files that can be used to remap the memory addresses of the Monster 3D card. These files are DOS4GW.EXE and FXREMAP.EXE. Place these two files into your windows directory, e. g., C:\WINDOWS. 2. Edit the AUTOEXEC.BAT file and place FXREMAP.EXE in it. For example the following line added to AUTOEXEC.BAT works for most systems: C:\WINDOWS\FXREMAP.EXE Direct3D -------- Some games do not find the dd3dfx drivers. They only run on the software version of Direct3D or the Direct3D HAL associated with the Primary DirectDraw device. When running the DirectX SDK applications, you cannot get to the menus because the 3DFX Direct3D does not turn off pass-thru mode for a menu command. Technology Demos and the Joystick --------------------------------- The 3DFX Flip/Rotate demos will not work properly if your system has a joystick port configured without a joystick connected. To remedy the problem, either connect a joystick to the port or disable and/or remove the port from your system configuration. 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