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Number Nine 32-bit Microsoft Windows NT Display Driver
for use with
- Number Nine Revolution(tm)3D.
- Microsoft Windows NT Version 4.0
Version 4.103.18
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Copyright (c) 1997 Number Nine Visual Technology Corp.
All Rights Reserved
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CONTENTS
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INSTALLING THE WINDOWS NT DRIVER
THE NUMBER NINE CONTROL CENTER
SUPPORTED RESOLUTIONS, COLORS, AND VERTICAL REFRESH RATES
CHANGING THE VERTICAL REFRESH RATE
HARDWARE ACCELERATION FOR 3D
RESOLVING ISSUES WITH YOUR NUMBER NINE BOARD
SOFTWARE UPGRADES
USING THE NUMBER NINE BULLETIN BOARD SERVICE (BBS)
WORLD GROUP MANAGER (WGM)
INTERNET (WWW) (FTP)
PRODUCT REGISTRATION
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INSTALLING THE WINDOWS NT DRIVER
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If you are not installing from the Revolution(tm)3D CD-ROM, you should
make a backup of your diskette before installing.
Example: diskcopy a: a:
* NOTE * This driver will not install correctly from a Networked or
Local hard drive. If the driver was downloaded from one of
Number Nine's on-line services, place the files on a high-
density 3.5" floppy diskette before installing.
Steps for installing the Windows NT driver
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1. After installing the Revolution(tm)3D board in the system, start
Windows NT in VGA Mode by selecting the Windows NT WorkStation
Version 4.00 [VGA mode] option from the NT Boot Menu.
2. When NT finishes loading, log in as a user who has permission to
change system settings (like administrator).
You may receive a warning message saying:
"Invalid Display Settings: The currently selected display resolution
is invalid".
Ignore the instructions in this message and Click or select OK.
3. Open the "Start" Menu by using the task bar.
4. Highlight "Settings" and open the "Control Panel" folder.
5. Select or double click on the "Display" icon. The "Display
Properties" window will pop up.
6. Select the "Settings" tab from the "Display Properties" window.
7. Select or click on the "Display Type..." button. The "Display
Type" window will pop up.
8. Select or click on the "Change..." button. The "Change Display"
window will pop up.
9. Select or click on the "Have Disk..." button. The "Install From
Disk" window will pop up.
10. If you are installing from the Revolution(tm)3D CD-ROM, change the
installation disk setting to the \WINNT40\ subdirectory on the CD-ROM
(i.e. if your CD-ROM is drive D:, then you should type D:\WINNT40\ ).
Select or click on the "OK" button.
If you are installing from a floppy disk, place the Number Nine
Revolution(tm)3D Windows NT v4.0 Display Driver Diskette
in Drive A: and click or select the OK button.
11. A window will pop-up indicating the name of the display driver found.
Select or Click on the OK button. A window will then pop-up asking if
you wish to proceed to install the new drivers. Select or Click on
the "Yes" button.
12. A pop-up window will inform you that you have successfully installed
the drivers and that you must reboot in order for the changes to take
effect. Select or click on the "OK" button.
13. Close the "Display Type" window and then the "Display Properties"
window.
14. A "Systems Settings Change" window will pop-up and ask you if you
wish to restart your computer using the newly installed drivers.
Select or click on the "Yes" button to reboot.
15. Remove any floppy disk from your A: drive.
16. The next time you boot into Windows NT 4.0, you will be using your
new Revolution(tm)3D card and display driver.
17. If you are performing an initial installation from the Revolution(tm) 3D
CD-ROM, InstallShield will launch automatically when Windows NT restarts.
InstallShield will give you the option to install the additional
utilities that are included on the CD-ROM.
17a. After the system restarts, you will receive the following message:
"Invalid Display Settings: A new graphics driver has been installed.
The default display resolution has been temporarily used by the system.
Use the Display Option in the Windows NT Control Panel to select your
preferred display resolution." Click or select OK.
18. If the Display Settings page is not visible, either open it by selecting
it through the task bar or open it as detailed in steps (3) through (6)
above.
19. Select the desired resolution (desktop area), color depth (palette),
and refresh rate (frequency). Choose "LIST ALL MODES" to see a list
of valid display modes or refer to the "Supported Resolutions" section
of this document for a list of driver supported modes.
* NOTE * BE SURE TO TEST THE SELECTED MODE BEFORE RESTARTING WINDOWS NT.
IF YOUR MONITOR DOES NOT SUPPORT YOUR CURRENT SELECTION, THE
SYSTEM WILL RETURN WITH A BLANK SCREEN AND MONITOR DAMAGE MAY
RESULT. THE TEST WILL ONLY SET THE MODE FOR 5 SECONDS AND
RETURN TO ALLOW YOU TO SELECT ANOTHER IF THE FIRST IS NOT
SUPPORTED. IF THE TEST BITMAP DISPLAYS PROPERLY, THE MONITOR
IS CAPABLE OF SUPPORTING THE SELECTED RESOLUTION AND VERTICAL
REFRESH RATE.
* NOTE * If the system fails to restart or is unable to locate the
file N9I3D.SYS, try changing the PCI interrupt setting in
the system CMOS BIOS. An IRQ setting will be assigned to
the PCI slot that the Revolution(tm)3D card is in. In some
cases, the interrupt assigned to the PCI slot may cause the
driver to fail when loading. Each computer has a different
CMOS setup and you will need to check the owner's manual for
your system motherboard.
20. If you are installing from the Revolution(tm)3D CD-ROM, and InstallShield
did not launch automatically, you can manually trigger InstallShield by
running SETUP from the root directory of the CD.
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THE NUMBER NINE CONTROL CENTER
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The Revolution 3D display driver for Windows NT 4.0 also installs the
Number Nine Control Center. The Number Nine Control Center is accessed
from an icon in the Start Menu -> Settings -> Control Panel group.
The Number Nine Info page contains Number Nine contact information
and version information about your Revolution 3D configuration. The
information page reports the display driver version, BIOS data,
board name, and amount of memory installed on your Revolution 3D.
The Virtual Control page gives you the option to enable or disable
Number Nine's Double Wide(tm) or Two Tall(tm) display modes. Virtual
resolutions provide an extended desktop width or height. Once virtual
resolutions are enabled, all of the resolutions available from display
settings will be virtuals until they are manually disabled on the
Virtual Control page.
NOTE: Virtual modes are not available at all display resolutions.
The virtual display will automatically scroll when the cursor is dragged
towards the off-screen area of the extended desktop. The display area
can also be changed with a Quick Jump by moving the cursor to the upper
left or lower right corner of the screen.
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SUPPORTED RESOLUTIONS, COLORS, AND VERTICAL REFRESH RATES
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Revolution(tm)3D 8MB (WRAM)
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Display Number of Vertical
Resolutions Colors Refresh Rates
640x480 256 60,72,75,85
800x600 256 60,72,75,85
1024x768 256 60,70,75,85
1152x864 256 60,70,75,85
1280x1024 256 60,75,85
1600x1200 256 60,70,75,80,83
1920x1060 256 73
1920x1080 256 60,72
1920x1200 256 76
1600x1024 256 76
640x480 65,536 60,72,75,85
800x600 65,536 60,72,75,85
1024x768 65,536 60,70,75,85
1152x864 65,536 60,70,75,85
1280x1024 65,536 60,75,85
1600x1200 65,536 60,70,75,80,83
1920x1060 65,536 73
1920x1080 65,536 60,72
1920x1200 65,536 76
1600x1024 65,536 76
640x480 16,777,216 60,72,75,85
800x600 16,777,216 60,72,75,85
1024x768 16,777,216 60,70,75,85
1152x864 16,777,216 60,70,75,85
1280x1024 16,777,216 60,75,85
1600x1200 16,777,216 60
1920x1080 16,777,216 60
Revolution(tm)3D 4MB (WRAM)
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Display Number of Vertical
Resolutions Colors Refresh Rates
640x480 256 60,72,75,85
800x600 256 60,72,75,85
1024x768 256 60,70,75,85
1152x864 256 60,70,75,85
1280x1024 256 60,75,85
1600x1200 256 60,70,75,80,83
1920x1060 256 73
1920x1080 256 60,72
1920x1200 256 76
1600x1024 256 76
640x480 65,536 60,72,75,85
800x600 65,536 60,72,75,85
1024x768 65,536 60,70,75,85
1152x864 65,536 60,70,75,85
1280x1024 65,536 60,75,85
1600x1200 65,536 60,70,75,80,83
1920x1060 65,536 73
1920x1080 65,536 60,72
1600x1024 65,536 76
640x480 16,777,216 60,72,75,85
800x600 16,777,216 60,72,75,85
1024x768 16,777,216 60,70,75,85
1152x864 16,777,216 60,70,75,85
* NOTE * The 85hz Refresh Rate may exhibit problems on certain monitors
due to bandwidth limitations at resolutions above 800 x 600.
Monitor cabling and positioning, in relation to other devices,
can impact performance. Please consult your monitor manual
for information on maximum supported resolutions and refresh
rates.
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CHANGING THE VERTICAL REFRESH RATE
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1. Open the "Start" Menu by using the task bar.
2. Highlight "Settings" and open the "Control Panel" folder.
3. Double click or select the Display Icon. Click on the Settings tab.
4. Click on or select the Refresh Frequency pull down box and select
the refresh rate you desire.
5. *IMPORTANT* Click the Test button and click OK to test the display.
* NOTE * BE SURE TO TEST THE SELECTED MODE BEFORE RESTARTING WINDOWS NT.
IF YOUR MONITOR DOES NOT SUPPORT YOUR CURRENT SELECTION, THE
SYSTEM WILL RETURN WITH A BLANK SCREEN AND MONITOR DAMAGE MAY
RESULT. THE TEST WILL ONLY SET THE MODE FOR 5 SECONDS AND
RETURN TO ALLOW YOU TO SELECT ANOTHER IF THE FIRST IS NOT
SUPPORTED. IF THE TEST BITMAP DISPLAYS PROPERLY, THE MONITOR
IS CAPABLE OF SUPPORTING THE SELECTED RESOLUTION AND VERTICAL
REFRESH RATE.
6. If the TEST COLOR BITMAP design displayed properly, click or select YES.
7. In Display Properties, click or select APPLY to have the new rate take
effect.
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HARDWARE ACCELERATION FOR 3D
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The Revolution(tm)3D supports hardware accelerated 3D, with both 16-bit and
32-bit Z-Buffering, and Double Buffering for smooth redraws of 3D objects.
Like all true 3D accelerator cards, this requires large amounts of on-board
memory.
On a 4MB version of the Revolution(tm)3D, OpenGL 3D acceleration is only
supported at resolutions up to 800x600 @ 65k colors, or 640x480 @ 16.7M colors.
On an 8MB version of the Revolution(tm)3D, OpenGL 3D acceleration is supported
at resolutions up to 1152x864 @ 65k colors, and up to 800x600 @ 16.7M colors.
On a 12MB version of the Revolution(tm)3D, OpenGL 3D acceleration is supported
at resolutions up to 1600x1200 @ 65k colors and up to 1024x768 @ 16.7M colors.
On a 16MB version of the Revolution(tm)3D, OpenGL 3D acceleration is supported
at resolutions up to 1920x1200 @ 65k colors and up to 1152x864 @ 16.7M colors.
At higher resolutions, 3D operations are performed in software, making them
much slower.
NOTE: Resolution limits are for non-virtual display resolutions. Enabling
virtual resolutions greatly reduces the supported modes for 3D hardware
acceleration.
NOTE: The above-listed 12MB and 16MB Revolution 3D configurations are
achieved by adding 4MB or 8MB memory upgrade daughter cards.
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RESOLVING ISSUES WITH YOUR NUMBER NINE BOARD
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The Number Nine Web Site at http://www.nine.com contains extensive
technical information about your new Number Nine board, including FAQs
(frequently asked questions). The Technical Support pages on the Web
site can be found at http://www.nine.com These include our newest
drivers for download from our FTP server, FAQs (Frequently asked
questions with solutions), and Windows NT information. The FAQs will
answer most of your technical support questions.
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SOFTWARE UPGRADES
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Even though you may have just received your Number Nine software,
newer versions may be available. Free upgrades are provided to
all Number Nine customers via the Number Nine Bulletin Board
System (BBS), Internet World Wide Web (WWW) and FTP site.
For more information on these services, see sections V through VIII
of this document.
To see if you have the latest version, compare the version number
of your software (on the label of the provided diskette or in the
text file 9NTVERS.TXT included with the driver) with the version
number of the software on the BBS, WWW/FTP.
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USING THE NUMBER NINE BULLETIN BOARD SERVICE (BBS)
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(USA)
Dial: (617) 862-7502
Baud Rates: Up to 28,800 baud
Compression: HST, v.32 and v.42 supported
Modem Setup: 8 data bits, 1 stop bit, no parity
Required: PKUNZIP 2.04g to decompress ZIP files
(EUROPEAN OFFICE)
Dial: + 49 89 614 491 66
Baud Rates: Up to 14,400 baud
Compression: HST, v.32 and v.42 supported
Modem Setup: 8 data bits, 1 stop bit, no parity
Required: PKUNZIP 2.04g to decompress ZIP files
The BBS has a separate file area for each Number Nine product.
The latest driver updates can be found in each product's file
area, and files of general interest (shareware, etc.) can be
found in the General library. An E-mail system is available
for technical questions about Number Nine products or about
the BBS in general. A complete listing of available files can
be downloaded by invoking the "Download List of Files" command
from any file library menu.
On the US BBS, RIP graphics are supported, and a RIP compatible
terminal program is available in the General library
(RIPTM154.ZIP).
Many files are self-extracting, but some files will require the
latest version of PKUNZIP to decompress. PKUNZIP is available
in the General library (filename PKZ204G.EXE), and can also be
found on most on-line services such as CompuServe and America
On-line.
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WORLD GROUP MANAGER (WGM)
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Number Nine's BBS now supports the Worldgroup Windows-based BBS client.
Worldgroup Manager is a program which connects you to any on-line
service running Worldgroup server software. You can download the
client software from the General Library on the Number Nine BBS.
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INTERNET (WWW) (FTP)
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Number Nine now has an FTP site. All current Number Nine
drivers are available to anyone with access to the Internet.
Our FTP Address is: ftp.nine.com.
Number Nine also has a World Wide Web server at: http://www.nine.com.
Product Registration can be completed on-line through the Number Nine
web server. Information about other Number Nine products, as well as
our FTP site can also be accessed at our World Wide Web site.
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PRODUCT REGISTRATION
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Product Registration can be completed on-line through the Number Nine
web site at http://www.nine.com
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TRADEMARKS
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The following terms are trademarks or registered trademarks of
Number Nine Visual Technology Corp. in the United States and/or other
countries:
Number Nine
#9
Revolution 3D
HawkEye
The following terms are trademarks or registered trademarks of other
companies as follows:
Trademark Owner
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Microsoft Microsoft Corporation
Windows NT Microsoft Corporation
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THIS DRIVER IS COPYRIGHTED BY NUMBER NINE VISUAL TECHNOLOGY CORP.
ALL APPROPRIATE RESTRICTIONS APPLY.
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Revised 8/8/97
ts (End of Document)
Download Driver Pack
After your driver has been downloaded, follow these simple steps to install it.
Expand the archive file (if the download file is in zip or rar format).
If the expanded file has an .exe extension, double click it and follow the installation instructions.
Otherwise, open Device Manager by right-clicking the Start menu and selecting Device Manager.
Find the device and model you want to update in the device list.
Double-click on it to open the Properties dialog box.
From the Properties dialog box, select the Driver tab.
Click the Update Driver button, then follow the instructions.
Very important: You must reboot your system to ensure that any driver updates have taken effect.
For more help, visit our Driver Support section for step-by-step videos on how to install drivers for every file type.