1. V2k-3.0b5.zip Driver
2. ReleaseNotes.txt File Contents

ReleaseNotes.txt Driver File Contents (V2k-3.0b5.zip)

*** Rendition V2x00 Reference Drivers - Release Notes ***

Version: 3.0 beta5, build 5176 - June 2, 1999

What's new in this release:

   * Miscellaneous D3D fixes

Quick Summary:

   * BETA Release.
   * New D3D core (vs beta3 driver)
   * This driver is Windows 98 native.
   * Windows 95 compatible.
   * Multi-Mon supported.
   * RRedline API supported.
   * DirectX 6 supported.
   * OpenGL ICD integrated.
        o (Remove old standalone ICD's)
   * New MiniGL provided (see MiniGL directory)
   * New control panel (Win95 and Win98)
   * Some bug fixes and stability improvements.

RELEASE NOTES:

The Win9x Beta5 driver is a worthwhile install for most Rendition users.
Many issues that have been communicated to us have been resolved. While
these drivers are still BETA drivers and do contain bugs, they are a major
improvement when compared to any of the previous BETA releases. This BETA
release contains the new Verite Control Panel. Use the new Control Panel
with extreme caution. There are many new features that have yet to be fully
tested and may cause undesirable behavior if used incorrectly.

The beta4 release added a new D3D rendering architecture that fixed many
longstanding Direct3D bugs. But because the D3D core is new and is still
undergoing development, there may be new bugs that have surfaced. We are
eager to get feedback from end-users regarding any new problems that this
driver exposes so that we can fix them before we take this driver out of
'beta' and label it 'gold'.

Basic features and uses for the control panel:
First and most important ---- USE AT YOUR OWN RISK!!!!

Settings that are chosen on the Verite Control Panel do NOT go into effect
until APPLY or OK is clicked and even then you may get a Message Box
prompting you for a confirmation of the selected operation or
configuration. Also, some settings will not be saved after reboot. (We are
working on it).

The one exception is the CRTC positioning controls. Those update real-time.

BEFORE SETTING REFRESH RATES, MAKE SURE A MONITOR IS INSTALLED
A monitor *.inf file must be installed for correct behavior.

Setting Refresh Rates: There is now more than one way to set the refresh
rate. In the middle of the right hand side of the Verite Property sheet
there is a Refresh Rate group of text boxes and radio buttons. The current
refresh rate is displayed next to the label (Refresh Rate) of that group.
You may choose Default, Optimal, from a list of Predefined refresh rates,
or (drum roll, please) create your own using our newly implemented Custom
Refresh Rate Control. (this has not been thoroughly tested but is known to
basically work).

Custom Refresh Rate Control: When one chooses the Custom radio button and
clicks APPLY, whether or not a custom refresh rate has been entered, the
CRTC box on the left hand side of the Control Panel will now contain "live"
buttons that will allow adjustments to the position, height and width of
your current display. One must be cautious when using these controls. They
are for advanced users and should be approached with care. Also, these are
very new to this driver set and have yet to be thoroughly tested. Use these
controls at your own risk and only if you are confident that you will not
harm your system in so doing.

CRTC Position Controls: When you move the mouse cursor over the buttons in
this control group, you should notice that where your cursor is pointing
determines the function that can be executed and is displayed as a text
string directly over the button when your cursor is pointing at it. When
you have selected a button corresponding to the function you would like to
exercise, hit the mouse button ONE CLICK at a time and watch the result
before continuing. Make sure the setting is correct.
*** You may notice a blanking of the screen when using these. This is to be
expected right now. Just wait until your display returns before continuing.

Enabling TV-Out: To enable TV-Out, check the TV check box, choose NTSC or
PAL, Underscan or Overscan, FlickerFilter(if needed), then click on APPLY
at the bottom of the Property Sheet. Not all combinations of the above
settings will function. Try the settings that you would like. If it does
not work, let us know. TV out support in this driver has been improved but
still is in beta, and is less stable than the rest of the driver.

Bilinear Filtering and DirectDraw settings: Testing for these settings is
in progress. Whether or not they function correctly has yet to be verified.

Known Issues:

  1. The BIOS is no longer the means by which the clock rate is determined
     or set. If your BIOS usually sets the clock rate to a rate higher than
     55/111 then you should copy the provided VERITE.INI file to your
     Windows directory. If you are experiencing the "white dots," this
     should fix the problem.
  2. The Verite Control Panel does NOT save settings upon reboot or
     restarting Windows for most settings. The Color control does.
  3. The Control Panel will allow you to try enabling TV-Out in these
     supported modes:
        * Brooktree: 640x480x16bpp
        * Chrontel: 640x480 and 800x600 - all color depths.
  4. In TV-Out, depending on which BIOS you are using, going to a
     Fullscreen DosBox will not function correctly. The TV- out display
     will be garbled. However, you can Alt-Enter back to the Desktop.
  5. In TV-Out, OpenGL games may cause a 'flashing' effect.
  6. The CRTC positioning controls are currently being tested. They may
     allow you to choose settings that are undesirable.
  7. In D3D, some rendering artifacts may appear. We are currently in the
     process of refining the D3D driver architecture. Some anomalies are to
     be expected. Your feedback regarding these issues is appreciated.
  8. Problems with F22-ADF and European Air War have been fixed. If you
     still encounter problems, let us know.
  9. Depending on the video memory on board, fullscreen DVD playback will
     be limited accordingly. eg. on a 4MB board, you will not be able to
     play full screen DVD at 720x480 resolutions on a 1024x768x16 desktop.
 10. If the card is playing in TV-Out mode, then Win98 will display a
     Macrovision error if you attempt DVD playback. Therefore DVD playback
     is restricted to PC-Monitor mode only at this point.
 11. Issues related to refresh rates lower than 60Hz in PAL TV-Out mode are
     currently being looked at.
 12. Changing resolutions in TV Out mode may cause a hang.
 13. Version 222 of Unreal has known problems with this driver. We
     encourage you to use v220, which should work fine. We are working on
     this issue.
 14. Hangs caused when running alongside certain Adaptec SCSI controllers
     have been fixed.

Application Notes:
We have implemented a workaround for the Half Life menu bug. If you have
trouble seeing the main menu in Half Life when running at 640x480
resolution, do the following: "set PageFlip=0" in the environment or via
regedit: Rendition- >s.w.->opengl->(dword)PageFlip=0, however there's a
performance penalty. A more general fix is still in the works.

Another Half Life tweak:
'gl_polyoffset 16' (in the half-life console) will alleviate the z-fighting
problems for decals.

The following are known bugs with this driver and Quake 3:

  1. Color depth switching problem: Changing r_colorbits from 0 (default)
     may cause problems on win98.
  2. Wireframe's missing: r_showtris fails to show a majority of wireframes
     unless r_drawstrips is enabled.
  3. Powersave problems: Intermittent hangs when returning from
     powersave/suspend mode.

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Please let us know what you think of this driver release and what your
experiences with it are, both good and bad.
Post into the Rendition discussion forums, found at:
http://www.rendition.com/forums.html or at news://news.rendition.com/.