3D Blaster Banshee Readme
===========================
This readme file contains the following sections:
A. For Windows 95/98 users
B. GlideSwitcher Utility
C. BIOS Upgrade
____________________________________________________________
A. For Windows 95/98 users
===========================
Please read through all the sections before you proceed with
the installation.
1. Installation
2. Release Notes
3. Games Compatibility Issue
4. Known Problems
5. General Notes
1. Installation
After running the self-extracting file, run the
setup.exe program. This will install the Windows 95/98
display driver, BlasterControl and the GlideSwitcher utility.
If you do not use the setup.exe from the self-extracting file,
you can use the 3dbb9x.inf file to install the Windows display
driver and BlasterControl manually.
If you experience problems caused by system incompatibility,
follow the instructions in the section, "BIOS Upgrade" in this
readme file to install the BIOS.
2. Release Notes
a) DirectX requirement
This release is DirectX 6 compatible. It is essential to
install the DirectX 6 run-time which is placed in the
CD-ROM.
b) Multiple monitor
This release fixes the problem of Windows 98 multiple monitor
support in previous versions.
3. GAMES COMPATIBILITY ISSUE
a) Quake, Quake 2 and Hexen 2
Currently, the OGL driver is for full screen only.
Invoking the OGL games in non-full screen may cause
unexpected results.
Refer to the readme file in the Banshee Installation CD's
OpenGL directory for important information.
b) Need for Speed III
If you could not run the game, please download the latest
patch from the game developer's Web site.
4. KNOWN PROBLEMS
a) Mouse pointer trails do not work
The Pointer Trails option in the Mouse Properties dialog
box does not work with the current driver. Currently,
there is no workaround solution except to disable this
option.
b) Unable to load display driver
A machine with the retail version of Windows 95
displays the error message, "Unable to Load Display
Driver."
Windows 95 attaches a generic PCI VGA display adapter
driver to any card it does not immediately recognize.
When the Banshee driver is loaded into the system,
Windows 95 fails to detach the generic driver.
This problem is fixed with the OSR2 release of Windows 95.
To fix this problem in the retail version of Windows 95:
i. Click Start -> Settings -> Control Panel.
ii. In the Control Panel window, double-click the
System icon.
iii. In the System Properties dialog box, click the
Device Manager tab.
iv. Double-click the Other Devices entry.
v. Select the device, PCI VGA-Compatible Display
Adapter, and then click the Remove button.
vi. Click the OK button and restart the system.
After the system has restarted, it will prompt you
to install the Banshee driver.
vii. Install the Banshee driver.
viii.Restart the system.
After the system has restarted, it will recognize
the Banshee card.
5. GENERAL NOTES:
a) Direct3D in 16-bit color only
Hardware acceleration for Direct3D is only available in
16-bit color mode.
b) Virtual desktop and hardware overlay
When Banshee is in Virtual Desktop mode, the hardware
overlay will be disabled for video playback, and
software overlay will be used. If video is already
playing back in hardware overlay, the system will not
allow you to switch from normal desktop mode to virtual
desktop mode.
c) OGL driver
Currently, the OGL driver is for full screen only.
Invoking the OGL games in non-full screen may cause
unexpected results.
Refer to the readme file in the Banshee installation CD's
OGL directory for information.
____________________________________________________________
B. GlideSwitcher Utility
GlideSwitcher is a utility that allows you to support Glide
applications on different products that use 3Dfx chipsets
(Glide devices).
In normal situations, Glide applications reference a driver
called either GLIDE2X.DLL or GLIDE3X.DLL. Incidentally,
both the 3Dfx Voodoo2 chipset (used in Creative's 3D Blaster
Voodoo2) and the 3Dfx Voodoo Banshee chipset (used in
Creative's 3D Blaster Banshee) use drivers with the same
file names. So, if a user configures a system that contains
both cards, only one card will be capable of running Glide
applications.
To overcome this limitation, Creative Labs has developed the
GlideSwitcher utility. This utility consists of:
(a) an Archive module, which checks your system for changes
in 3Dfx driver installations and maintains the Glide
drivers for both cards, and
(b) a Control Panel, which allows you to select the card that
your Glide Application will run on.
If you are removing one of the cards that has a 3Dfx chipset
from the system, it is essential to select the correct Glide
driver first. Use GlideSwitcher to switch to the Glide driver
for the other card before you remove the unwanted card.
Otherwise, you will not be able to switch to the correct Glide
driver after you remove the unwanted card. This is because the
GlideSwitcher can only be run when there is more than one
physical Glide device detected.
____________________________________________________________
C. BIOS Upgrade
Please ignore this section if the BIOS in your card has a
newer version number.
BIOS version : 1.03.2
The 3D Blaster Banshee BIOS Upgrade utility consists of
the following file:
* BNF1032d.EXE - BIOS upgrade program
Note: You only need to flash this BIOS if your card has
system incompatibility issues.
BNF1032d.EXE can be run from the MS-DOS prompt using the
following syntax:
usage: BNF1032d.EXE
============
PROCEDURE
============
1. Determine if your video BIOS has the latest update by
looking at the version number displayed during system
bootup.
If your version is newer, you do not need to upgrade
your BIOS. Otherwise, proceed with the following steps.
2. Boot to native DOS, and run the BIOS upgrade program
BNF1032d.EXE.
Notes:
. Due to the nature of Windows environment, this program
has to be run in native DOS mode. If you do not know
how to boot up your system in native DOS mode, refer to
the section below on "BOOT TO NATIVE DOS MODE".
. The programming process takes about 10 seconds
(including verification time) to complete.
WARNING:
Do NOT interrupt this process. Interrupting this process
may result in unexpected (and undesirable) consequences.
When the VGA BIOS on your 3D Blaster Banshee is upgraded,
the program displays a message to inform you that the BIOS
is successfully flashed.
3. After the new BIOS is successfully flashed, reboot your
system.
The system should now boot up with the updated 3D Blaster
Banshee BIOS (verified by the new version number displayed
during bootup).
=================
TROUBLESHOOTING
=================
Symptom A:
BIOS upgrade program displays error message:
"This program cannot be executed in Windows-DOS box"
Solution:
You need to boot up to native DOS mode before running the
program. If you do not know how to boot up your system
in native DOS mode, refer to the section below on "BOOT TO
NATIVE DOS MODE".
Symptom B:
BIOS upgrade program displays error message:
"3D Blaster Banshee card not present"
Solution:
You are trying to use this program on a video card that
is not Creative 3D Blaster Banshee. If you are certain
that you have a Banshee card, your BIOS is probably
being flashed with a non-Creative Banshee image.
Contact Creative technical support for further assistance.
Symptom C:
If you do not see any display upon rebooting.
Solution:
You can try to re-program the BIOS with the use of
another PCI VGA card:
1) Bootup with non-Creative Banshee VGA as primary
display card.
Insert a second (not Banshee) PCI VGA card into
the 1st PCI slot and the 3D Blaster Banshee into
the 2nd PCI slot. Connect the non-Creative Banshee
VGA card output to a monitor, boot up and check
if the monitor displays anything. If it doesn't,
swap the slot positions of the VGA card and 3D
Blaster Banshee until you can bootup with the
non-Creative Banshee VGA as primary display card.
2) Re-program Banshee.
When the system boots up successfully with the
VGA card, you can then program the 3D Blaster
Banshee BIOS as described above, beginning from
Procedure (C). After the program is executed,
you can remove the non-Creative Banshee card and
bootup with your 3D Blaster Banshee card. If you
still do not see any display, contact Creative
technical support for further assistance.
=========================
BOOT TO NATIVE DOS MODE
=========================
The following are two methods of booting to the native DOS mode.
Method 1 - Boot diskette
i. Insert an unused floppy diskette into your disk
drive A.
ii. Type "format a: /s" at the DOS prompt to create
a bootable diskette.
iii. Leave the diskette in the drive and reboot your
system. Your system will boot to the native DOS mode.
Method 2 - The <F8> key
i. Reboot your system, paying attention to the
onscreen initializing messages.
ii. When you see the text "Starting Windows 95..."
or "Starting Windows 98...", press <F8> within 5
seconds to display a menu.
iii. From the menu, select option 6 (Command prompt only)
to boot the system to native DOS mode.
====End of Readme File====
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.