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DgVoodoo 2

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dgVoodoo 2
dgVoodoo 2 cover
Developers
Dege
Release dates
Windows 2013

Key points

dgVoodoo 2 is a graphics wrapper that converts old graphics APIs to Direct3D 11 for use on Windows 7/8/10.
Fixes many compatibility and rendering issues when running old games on modern systems as well as enables various overrides and enhancements.
Enables the use of third-party tools, such as ReShade, to enhance or improve the gaming experience.

General information

Official website
Development and support forum

General information

API support

The following graphics API libraries are implemented[1]
  • Glide 2.11
  • Glide 2.54
  • Glide 3.1
  • Glide 3.1 Napalm
  • DirectX 1-7 (all versions of DirectDraw and Direct3D up to version 7)
  • Direct3D 8.1
  • Direct3D 9 (as of version 2.6)

Configuration file(s) location

System Location
Windows %APPDATA%\dgVoodoo\
<path-to-game>\dgVoodoo.conf[Note 1]

Installation

DirectX 1-8

Installation instructions[2]
  1. Download the latest version of dgVoodoo 2 and extract the archive.
  2. Open the MS\x86 folder and copy D3D8.dll, D3DImm.dll and DDraw.dll files.
  3. Paste the files into the game installation folder where the game executable is.
  4. Optional: Run the included dgVoodooCpl program and configure the settings.

DirectX 9

DirectX 9 support has been added in version 2.6 and is still very early in development compared to DirectX 1-8.
Installation instructions[2]
  1. Download the latest version of dgVoodoo 2 and extract the archive.
  2. For 32-bit games open the MS\x86 folder and copy the D3D9.dll file, for 64-bit games copy the one from MS\x64 folder.
  3. Paste the file into the game installation folder where the game executable is.
  4. Optional: Run the included dgVoodooCpl program and configure the settings.

Glide

Installation instructions[2]
  1. Download the latest version of dgVoodoo 2 and extract the archive.
  2. Open the 3Dfx\x86 folder and copy Glide.dll, Glide2x.dll and Glide3x.dll files.
  3. Paste the files into the game installation folder where the game executable is.
  4. Optional: Run the included dgVoodooCpl program and configure the settings.

Glide 3.1 Napalm

Napalm should only be used for Glide 3 games where the regular Glide 3 library is too slow.
Installation instructions[2]
  1. Download the latest version of dgVoodoo 2 and extract the archive.
  2. Open the 3Dfx\x86\Napalm folder and copy the Glide3x.dll file.
  3. Paste the files into the game installation folder where the game executable is.
  4. Optional: Run the included dgVoodooCpl program and configure the settings.

Glide QEmu (x64)

The QEmu versions of the Glide libraries are intended for usage only with the 64-bit QEmu multiplatform virtualization tool.
Installation instructions[2]
  1. Download the latest version of dgVoodoo 2 and extract the archive.
  2. Open the 3Dfx\x64(QEmu) folder and copy Glide.dll, Glide2x.dll and Glide3x.dll files.
  3. Paste the files into the game installation folder where the game executable is.
  4. Optional: Run the included dgVoodooCpl program and configure the settings.

Common Glide & DirectX graphics settings

The resolution and anti-aliasing options are relevant to both Glide and DirectX.

Display Resolution

See Widescreen resolution for relevant information.
See Scaling for information on scaling resolutions.
Forcing a specific resolution can break UI menus, graphical effects and much more.
Resolution Description
Unforced The application will control the resolution. This is the safest and the default option.
2x, 3x, 4x Dynamically scales the current resolution set in-game, which is calculated by the wrapper.
Max The maximum available resolution will be used.
Max ISF The maximum available integer multiple of the apps resolution will be used.
Max FHD The maximum available resolution will be full HD (1920x1080); 1080p.
Max FHD ISF The max available integer multiple of the apps resolution will be used; FHD (1920x1080); 1080p.
Max QHD The maximum available resolution will be QHD (2560x1440); 1440p.
Max QHD ISF The max available integer multiple of the apps resolution will be used; QHD (2560x1440); 1440p.
Resolution Resolutions from 640x480 to 1920x1080 can be forced.

Anti-aliasing (MSAA)

See Anti-aliasing (AA) for relevant information.
Forcing anti-aliasing can cause graphical artifacts.
MSAA Level Description
Off Forces anti-aliasing off. For DirectX applications, this only affects DirectX 8 and above.
App driven The application controls the anti-aliasing. Safest option.
2x, 4x, 8x Anti-aliasing (MSAA) will be forced to the selected amount.

Configuring Glide

3Dfx card

This option allows for the selection of 3D accelerated cards that use the Glide rendering API.
Some applications and games may need an older card model or older Glide versions, due to the advancements of Voodoo 3Dfx technology made over time.
The different video cards also presents bias to games which may lock particular rendering capabilities and properties to certain 3Dfx cards and versions of Glide.

VRAM (Video Random Access Memory)

The amount of emulated video memory of the selected video card can be changed with this option.
No texture memory is stored on the onboard RAM, but instead it is processed and managed by the Texture Management Unit(s) (TMU).
Some applications determine what resolutions are supported by looking at how much on-board memory there is.

Texture Management

Texture Management Units (TMU) allow for multi-texturing management. The amount of TMU texture memory is adjustable.

3Dfx card VRAM Min VRAM Limit TMU TMU Memory Size
Voodoo Graphics 2 MB 4 MB 1 1024 kB, 2048 kB, 4096 kB
Voodoo Rush 2 MB 4 MB 1 2048 kB, 4096 kB
Voodoo 2 8 MB 12 MB 2 2048 kB, 4096 kB
Voodoo Banshee 8 MB 16 MB 1 2048 kB, 4096 kB
Other greater 2 MB 128 MB 1-3 1024 kB up to 65536 kB

Force bi-linear filter

Forcing bi-linear texture filtering can cause artifacts.

Disable mipmapping

Disables mipmapping. Self-explanatory.

Miscellaneous

Enable Glide Gamma Ramp

Disables or enables the gamma ramp from Glide.

Force emulating true PCI access

When enabled, the virtual 3Dfx card will have PCI bus speeds emulated as closely as possible. Emulation of true PCI access should theoretically never be disabled but there can be possible degradation of performance when left enabled. Only some games require accurate emulation of the PCI bus, so in most cases PCI bus emulation should be left disabled.

3Dfx Watermark

Shows the 3Dfx watermark in-game when enabled.

Pointcast Palette driver build

This option only affects Voodoo 2 cards, this should always be left disabled.

Force V-Sync

If V-Sync is enabled, games that run too fast stabilize with a frame-rate cap, however some games may need certain synchronizations of frame-rates to work properly.

16 bit depth buffer

Use only when Z-fighting occurs. Z-fighting can be better avoided with a 16-bit depth buffer, however artifacting can occur.

3Dfx Splash screen

The 3Dfx splash screen is seen when an application starts, disabling this option prevents this animation from playing.

Enable inactive app state

When an application loses focus, it may be desired to make the application go into an inactive state.

Configuring DirectX

Disable and passthru to real DirectX

If dgVoodoo is not needed anymore or just temporarily, without removing dgVoodoo's DLLs this option will disable dgVoodoo's DirectX wrapper.

Videocard

This option allows for the selection of internal virtual 2D (SVGA) and 3D accelerated cards.
The other four non-dgVoodoo card types give specific emulated ATI/nVidia/Matrox driver versions and capabilities.
The different video cards also presents bias to games which lock particular rendering capabilities and properties to owners of a real ATI, nVidia or Matrox card.

The virtual SVGA card exposes only software capable rendering (2D rendering) to the application. All other virtual video cards have full hardware acceleration and capabilities, including 'Transform & Light'.
However, the only full D3D9 compatible card is the Internal 3D Accelerated card.

VRAM (Video Random Access Memory)

The amount of emulated video memory of the selected video card can be changed with this option.
Be careful though, DirectX 7 and older applications can fail to launch if the emulated VRAM is set higher than 256 MB.
Some games may require more VRAM to render textures at higher resolutions. There are also other advantages to increasing the VRAM.

Video card VRAM Min VRAM Limit
dgVoodoo Virtual SVGA Card 16 MB 128 MB
dgVoodoo Virtual 3D Accelerated Card 16 MB 2048 MB
GeForce 4 Ti 4800 64 MB 256 MB
ATI Radeon 8500 64 MB 256 MB
Matrox Parhelia-512 128 MB 256 MB
GeForce FX 5700 Ultra 64 MB 256 MB

Texture Filtering

See Anisotropic filtering (AF) for relevant information.
Forcing texture filtering on an application can create glitches or break rendering effects.
GPU driver-forced global or per-app anisotropic filtering will override the dgVoodoo2 Anisotropic setting.
Filtering Description
App driven The application will control the texture filtering quality. This is safest and the default option.
Point sampled Point sampled texture filtering will be forced.
Bilinear Bilinear filtering will be forced. The four nearest texels to the pixel center are sampled.
Linear mipmap Nearest-neighbor sampling from individual mipmaps whilst linearly interpolating the two nearest mipmaps.
Trilinear Trilinear filtering will be forced. Bilinear filtering on the two closest mipmap levels are applied and are interpolated.
Anisotropic Ansiotropic filtering of up to 16x can be forced.
Mipmapping can be disabled with the "No mipmapping" option below the filtering settings.

Window Behaviour

Application controller fullscreen/windowed state

Unticking this option will force the specified screen mode in the General tab.

Disable Alt-Enter to toggle screen state

Disabling this option is recommended if the application already handles its window state via Alt+Enter.
If this is not disabled and Alt+Enter is used for an application that utilizies it, then dgVoodoo will conflict with the application.

Miscellaneous

Bi-linear blit stretch

When enabled, linear filtering is applied for stretched copying between 2D surfaces (DirectDraw only). Linear filtering is much nicer generally, but can cause artifacts. Especially with colorkeyed blitting. Early hardware did not support or apply point sampled blitting, which can end up with very pixelated results.

Force V-Sync

Vertical syncing is forced in all cases whenever the application window draws. However there is a performance penality when enabling V-Sync.

Fast video memory access

Fast video memory access can speed up games like Toy Story 2, but can also completely break others. Fast video memory access is applied for locked surfaces.
Only recommended to use if an application is performing slowly, despite system specifications

Apply Phong shading when possible

Phong shading is applied in place of Gouraud when it is possible. This option only has effect when the application uses the fixed function vertex/pixel pipeline and pushes all the work of the vertex transform & lighting (T & L) to Direct3D when rendering primitives. Do note though, using Phong shading requires much more GPU power than default shading.

dgVoodoo Watermark

Disabling the watermark will remove the dgVoodoo text in the application that is using the wrapper.

HUD and interface scaling on high resolutions

Comparison of in-game interface size at 2560x1440 set directly in game options menu(up) and 2560x1440 forced through dgVoodoo 2 with resolution in game options menu set to 1280x720(down).
Comparison of in-game interface size at 2560x1440 set directly in game options menu(up) and 2560x1440 forced through dgVoodoo 2 with resolution in game options menu set to 1280x720(down).
Many games don't scale their interface and HUD which end up being very small or even unusable on high resolutions. By instead forcing high resolution using dgVoodoo, this problem can be fixed in many games.
Some games (for example Machines) are rendered correctly when resolution is being forced, however the mouse cursor movement remains restricted to resolution set in the game video settings making the game unplayable.
Instructions[2]
  1. Follow the instructions to setup dgVoodoo 2.
  2. Run the included dgVoodooCpl program and set the desired resolution under Glide or DirectX settings.
  3. In the game video options menu select a resolution that is smaller than the one set in dgVoodoo, but has the same aspect ratio. The smaller the resolution selected in game, the bigger will interface/HUD be rendered on screen.

Notes

Ultra-widescreen: If the game does not display any small ultra-widescreen resolution in the video options menu, create a small custom resolution in the GPU control panel so it can be selected in game for the proper aspect ratio, or set the resolution manually in the game's config file.

Game specific configuration files

If there is no dgVoodoo configuration file in the same folder as the game, dgVoodoo will use global settings.
Instructions[2]
  1. Follow the instructions and copy the necessary files into the game installation folder.
  2. Run dgVoodooCpl program.
  3. Under Config folder/Running instance press Add, then selected the game installation folder where the main game executable is located.
  4. Press Apply to create the configuration file in that folder to store settings for that game.

Notes

Since version 2.6 dgVoodoo.conf is a plain text file and can be edited directly using a text editor. Some advanced features are not available through the dgVoodooCpl program, but can be set manually in these config files.


Notes

  1. When running this game without elevated privileges (Run as administrator option), write operations against a location below %PROGRAMFILES%, %PROGRAMDATA%, or %WINDIR% might be redirected to %LOCALAPPDATA%\VirtualStore on Windows Vista and later (more details).

References

  1. http://dege.freeweb.hu/
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 Verified by User:Antrad on July 9, 2019