Outlaws Video Comparison 3dfx, DirectDraw and MGL screenshots, framerates and image quality

Note: this page contains information related to running Outlaws in Glide on a 3dfx card. Other graphics cards may be able to run Outlaws with hardware acceleration using the XGL200 "Glide wrapper" (see the other helpful files page) or Lucasarts' unsupported D3D driver (see the demos and patches page).

There are three full-screen video drivers that can run Outlaws: Microsoft's DirectDraw, Lucasart's MGL and 3dfx's Glide. Anyone usin' Windows 95 or 98 can use th' first two: DirectDraw comes installed as th' default and MGL can be found on the first Outlaws CD (see th' MGL page). These two drivers are software only; that is, they don't make use of any special hardware to render their output on the screen. Th' MGL drivers actually run th' game in a DOS VESA window, so yer performance pretty much depends upon th' quality of yer graphic card's VESA drivers. Windows NT does not support VESA modes so ya can't use MGL drivers under NT.

To use the Glide drivers you'll need a 3dfx Voodoo graphics card like my Realvision Flash 3D, a Voodoo 2 card or a 3dfx Banshee card. These babies handle just 3D graphics, with special chips designed to greatly increase image speed and quality. A 3dfx card takes the burden of rendering the 3D information off of the CPU, so your CPU speed will not matter as much if you have a Voodoo card. Voodoo cards can accelerate Outlaws in Windows 95, 98 and NT.

The Testing System and 3dfx Tweaks

All framerates on the graph below came from this system:

• Pentium 2, 233 mHz
• 64 MB SDRAM
• ASUS AGP-v3000 video card
• RealVision Flash 3D 3dfx card
• Windows 95 OSR 2.1

After some experimentation I've come up with a list of commands that, added into my AUTOEXEC.BAT, increase my 3dfx framerates about 60 percent over the default settings. These are fer 3dfx Voodoo (1) Graphics cards only, not Voodoo 2 or Banshee.

DISCLAIMER: These settings may cause damage to your 3dfx Voodoo Graphics card. They're the settings I use; if you choose to try them out that's your business. I will not be responsible for any damage to your system.

These commands sit at the end of my AUTOEXEC.BAT file:

SET FX_GLIDE_NO_SPLASH=0
SET SST_FASTMEM=1
SET SST_FASTPCIRD=1
SET SST_VIDEO_24BPP=1
SET SST_GRXCLK=57
SET SST_SWAP_EN_WAIT_ON_VSYNC=0
SET FX_GLIDE_SWAPINTERVAL=0
SET SST_SCREENREFRESH=120
SET SST_GAMMA=1.0

I got most of these from Quake web sites and tested them in Outlaws. There were some other commands I tried that lowered framerates, so I'm sticking with these for now. If you know of any way to get improved performance in Outlaws with 3dfx settings let me know! Here's what those settings do as far as I can recall:

SET FX_GLIDE_NO_SPLASH=0
Turns off that little spinny 3dfx logo that pops up when you run Outlaws.

SET SST_FASTMEM=1
Tells your system that your 3dfx card has fast EDO RAM.

SET SST_FASTPCIRD=0
Hmm somethin' about speeding up your PCI data transfer (th' 3dfx card plugs into a PCI slot on your motherboard).

SST_VIDEO_24BPP=1
Tells the card to use 24 bit graphics, I think.

SST_GRXCLK=57
Overclocks the 3dfx card to run at a higher clock speed. The default is 50 (mHz); setting it higher causes it to run faster but also HOTTER. At higher settings the heat can damage your card, but Diamond's Monster 3D voodoo card drivers allowed for a "perfomance" setting at 57 so that speed is generally considered safe. Nevertheless I have a little fan installed on th' card ta keep it cool: these suckers get hotter'n' a Texas sidewalk in summer! I think th' clock speed can go as high as 75 mHz, but really after 57 th' performance gains drop off an' th' danger increases significantly. Since I only use Win95 an' my 3dfx card for Outlaws an' do everything else in NT, I've set NT to UNDERCLOCK the card to 45 mHz ta keep it cooler when I ain't playin'.

SET SST_SWAP_EN_WAIT_ON_VSYNC=0
I forget. Something about when or how quickly the card redraws the screen, an' on this setting it redraws as fast as it can. Or somethin'.

SET FX_GLIDE_SWAPINTERVAL=0
Hmm... somethin' similar to th' last one? Go look it up yerself if yer so damn innerested...

SET SST_SCREENREFRESH=120
Set's my card ta run in a nice, non-flickery 120 Hz screen. I've got a pretty nice monitor that can run this high--you should check how high a setting your monitor can handle at the highest screen resolution you intend to run your 3dfx games in. Apparently if you've got a PCI bus yer framerates would max out at an fps equal ta yer screen's refresh rate, so if ya had a 80 Hz screen yer fps wouldn't go any higher than 80, an' if ya got an AGP graphics port yer fps'll max out at TWICE yer screen refresh rate. So theoretically I could hit 240 fps...

SET SST_GAMMA=1.0
Sets th' brightness level of th' card's display. In th' computer video world, the default gamma is 1. Most 3Dfx cards set default Glide gamma high, like at 1.3 or 1.4. This was probably done ta brighten up ridiculously dark games like Quake. However in normal games it will result in a washed-out picture, so set back ta 1.0 fer a true display in Outlaws. Fer more on gamma see th' gamma and monitor calibration page.

For more on Voodoo and Voodoo2 commands, see this reference text sent in by Hoss.

DirectDraw, MGL and Voodoo

Okay here we go. These graphs show the framerates I registered (by typing "OLFPS") in Outlaws with the various drivers at different resolutions, at three different spots on the level "Thud Tower," one of th' slowest framerate levels around. Spot A looks up at th' central tower whose windows wreak all kinds of framerate havoc. Spot B is pretty plain, lookin' at a wall with a few items in front of it, but the wall takes up the whole view. Spot C looks over part of the maze and the outer wall, with a good deal of empty sky above. These were pretty arbitrary selections. What's interesting is that Glide reacts to them differently than DD and MGL. I'm not gonna try ta guess why.

Click on the appropriate color on the bar to see the accompanying screenshot. There are no entries for Glide at 320x200 because it only runs at 512x384 and 640x480 on a Voodoo Graphics (Voodoo 1) card. The DirectDraw 320x200 shots look a bit stretched because that screen resolution uses non-square pixels--takes me back to my ol' Amiga days. There are no MGL screen shots because my image capture program couldn't handle it: I jus' got a garbled screen. But it don't matter 'cause MGL looks EXACTLY the same as DirectDraw even though it runs at different speeds. The brightness difference between th' DD an' Glide shots has ta do with how th' screenshot program handled Glide gamma--I couldn't get 'em ta come out any brighter, strangely enough. These screens ALL looked brighter full-screen in th' game.

Framerates and Screenshots Color Key: DirectDraw MGL Glide fps:   320 x 200 A B C   512 x 384 A B C   640 x 480 A B C

Voodoo2 and Banshee

The "Glide" numbers above were as stated seen on an overclocked 3dfx "Voodoo" graphics card. 3dfx has since come out with faster cards: the "Voodoo 2", another 3D-only card with faster performance and either 8 or 12 MB of video RAM, and the "Banshee", a 2D/3D combo card with 16 MB of RAM whose 3D component consists of a Voodoo 2 without the second texturing unit (unused in Outlaws anyway) and with a higher clock speed (100 mHz vs 90 mHz on the V2).

If a Voodoo card runs Outlaws quickly, Voodoo 2 and Banshee run it, err, extremely quickly with essentially identical image quality. Below is a comparative chart of performance on the system listed above, except for the Banshee tests; these substitute a Quantum 3D Raven AGP Banshee card for the Flash/Riva combo. The first set of Banshee scores come off the p2 233 with the Banshee clocked at the default setting of 100mHz. The second "Tweaked" set come from a p2 333 with the Banshee overclocked to 110mHz. Most of th' improvement in the "Tweaked" framerates came as a result of the video card overclocking rather than the Pentium upgrade; it seems that the Banshee is kind of maxing out it's capabilities on relatively low-end Pentium 2's in Outlaws.

3dfx Voodoo vs 3dfx Banshee Color Key: Voodoo Banshee Tweaked fps:   512 x 384 A B C   640 x 480 A B C   800 x 600 A B C

NOTE: Some people have reported that Outlaws' Video Configuration program won't allow them to switch to th' Voodoo 2 drivers. Accordin' ta The Continuing Tom, ya kin get around this by first switchin' from yer DirectDraw drivers to th' MGL drivers (see th' MGL page fer how ta install th' MGL drivers) an' then from th' MGL drivers to th' Voodoo drivers.
     Also, if ya play with a Voodoo2 card through the Zone and ya end up with Outlaws stuck on a black screen when the game ends, there is a way to avoid having to reboot to get yer Voodoo workin' right in th' next game. Sundance came up with the simple solution of opening your video preferences (you can right-click on the desktop and select "Properties"), selecting the Voodoo card display tab and hitting OK. Somehow that resets the card and you won't have to reboot.

 
Banshee Tweaks

1: Install the Custom 3Dfx Driver

NOTE: 3Dfx now has Banshee reference drivers that fix the problems noted below. I recommend getting them (from the 3Dfx site) but you may want to use the hack below if you prefer to stay with your manufacturer's Banshee drivers.
 
If yer runnin' a Banshee in Outlaws ya may notice a few graphical glitches:

• Name blacked out in Deathmatch
• Black rather than red tinting when damaged
• Knives and TNT appear pitch black

"Try putting the Glide files from the OLD driver into the Outlaws folder (probably just need Glide 2x.dll and Glide2x.ovl). It should use them, whereas all other games will use the system Glide files."

glide2x.dll (113 k)

2: Try Runnin' in 800x600

Now ya may be wonderin' how I got figgers fer 800x600 on th' Banshee when Outlaws only lets ya run in 640x480 or 512x384 in Glide mode. Well it's all thanks ta this lil' utility from Mark Lütkefend:

Outlaws Banshee/Voodoo2 Setup (Version 1.1a, 178 k, Windows 95/98/NT)

3: Clock yer Banshee up to 110mHz

Bill's site recommends setting the clock speed on yer Banshee, which on most cards defaults to 100mHz, up to 110mHz. DO THIS AT YER OWN RISK! IT CAN POTENTIALLY DAMAGE YOUR HARDWARE! Ahem. Anyhow Bill thinks that Banshee's kin go up to 110mHz without significant loss of stability. I gave it a try an' so far it works great, with a 5-10% improvement in framerates.
 
Th' easiest way ta overclock yer Banshee, if ya can't do it in yer regular video settings, is with a lil' utility by Kool Smoky which you can get at his site:

Kool Smokey's 3Dfx VooDoo Banshee Control Panel

4: Enable All Sprite Directions

Run the config program olcfg.exe that's in yer Outlaws directory. The "Outlaws Driver Configuration" window appears. Make sure "3Dfx Glide 2.3" is highlighted under "Diplay Drivers" -- you DO have th' latest Outlaws patches an' drivers fer yer Banshee installed, right? Then hit the "Advanced" button in th' lower left to pop up the "Configuring 3Dfx Glide 2.3" window. If you haven't messed with yer settings yet, all options should be checked except for "Maintain resolution of large textures," "Maintain resolution of large sprites" and "Maintain all sprite directions."
 
The first two don't offer any real improvement in visual quality but they DO hit yer framerate pretty hard so there's no reason to enable them. But here's th' good part. "Maintain all sprite directions" is disabled by default because loading all sprite info would break th' 2 MB texture limitation of Voodoo (1) cards. But hey if ya got a Banshee (or possibly a Voodoo2) ya got a ton of texture RAM so that's no longer a problem! So check the box and hit "Accept" to close that window, then "OK" to close the Outlaws Driver Config program.
 
Now load up Outlaws an' get into a game. Watch characters move around. Notice anything? How about this -- you can see them in more than 4 facings! See, "Maintain all sprite directions" saves texture RAM by only loading the front, back, and side views of characters -- so you only ever see them from 4 directions. But all th' character sprites actually have 8 views -- the 4 cardinal directions plus 4 in-between facings. So now characters rotate in 45-degree increments rather than 90-degree chunks; it's now twice as easy to tell if someone is aimin' atcha! Pretty darn handy if ya ask me. :) And hey check this out, horses (and probably cows too) have something like 16 facings -- here's a screenshot showing 3 sides of a horse you probably haven't seen before. ;)

Voodoo3

This is going to be a short section. Why? Because the Voodoo3 runs Outlaws flawlessly, and faster than any other card. This is without a doubt the card to have for Outlaws.
     The only decision is which version to get: the 143mHz V3 2000, the 166mHz V3 3000 or the 183mHz V3 3500TV? Aside from the TV tuner in the 3500 they really differ only by clock speed--in fact the 2000 and 3000 are the exact same card, the 3000s simply being the ones that withstood heat testing better.
     I went with a 2000 because they are the cheapest, can be overclocked the most and will do the most for my system for the money. Unless you have a very fast (p2 450 or higher) system, clock speeds over 180mHz or so won't really improve your framerate because your processor can't keep up anyhow.
     Whatever Voodoo3 you have, I highly recommend the following utility. 3dfx themselves were so impressed by it that they offered the author a job, which he accepted. :)

Voodoo3 Overclocker Property Page
{readme} by Gary Peterson, version 3.1 (126k)

110mHz Banshee vs 170mHz Voodoo3 Outlaws video frames per second 512 x 384 A 60 61 B 120 192 C 189 243   640 x 480 A 60 61 B 83 135 C 129 204   800 x 600 A 60 60 B 53 89 C 86 137

Voodoo5

The Voodoo5, last of the Voodoo series, is thus the ultimate Outlaws-accelerating machine. I got a Voodoo 5 5500 and put it through its paces. In short: it works flawlessly with Outlaws and the anti-aliasing puts a fantastic polished look on Outlaws' old-school graphics. You will not get higher framerates or better image quality with any other video card.
     First things first of course. Installing the card is funky as you have to hook up a power cable, like the one that goes to your hard drive. Simple to do though. Two fans on the card keep it cool and are very quite, so don't worry about noise.
     Installing the drivers was a huge pain for me as the latest released drivers (beta and non-beta) crash when installing in my Windows 95, which corrupts the registry and various system files; in all I formatted my hard drive three times and reinstalled Windows four times trying to get it running. Actually on the first install the board was running slower than my Voodoo 3 which was really depressing so I formatted my hard drive in despair.
     The drivers require three software thingies actually: the card drivers themselves, the "Tools" that let you change options like anti-aliasing and stuff and Internet Explorer 4 or higher. Why is a web browser required to install video card drivers? Good question. 3dfx tech support has told me that Microsoft insisted on it before they would give the drivers their stamp of approval. Well isn't that what any self-respecting monopoly would do?
     Anyway this gets into boring hair pulling on my part. Got the board running with a mix of the Tools from the CD that came with the card and the latest beta drivers (but not their Tools!). Ah and once it's running the first step is what? Overclock! Default clock speed is 166, mine runs fairly stable (ie occassional lockups in Outlaws so I'll probably lower it a few ticks sometime) at 180 mHz. 3dfx themselves provided the overclocker this time, bless 'em. Actually it is in the Tools, just hidden until you run this executable (which just changes a single registry flag to reveal the overclocking display panel).

Voodoo 5 Overclocker
by 3dfx, (60k)

4x, 2x and No AA Outlaws video frames per second 512 x 384 A 62  (AA disabled at this resolution) B 200 C 238   640 x 480 A 61 B 68 135 208 C 106 212 244   800 x 600 A 50  61 B 45 90 170 C 71 141 243

Why Are Higher Framerates Better?

Any way ya slice it it's better to have more frames per second than less. Th' thing ya notice immediately after a big fps jump izzat it gets easier ta aim because yer mouse movement is smoother. It also gets easier ta move 'cause yer controls are more responsive; this makes delicate movements or tough jumps much easier. That's th' obvious stuff.
 
There's also a more subtle but jus' as important dif'rence between high an' low framerates: yer character shoots faster! I went ahead an' tested this with a stopwatch an' a gatling gun, changing resolutions and renderers to get a good range of framerates -- I ended up testing rates from 10 to 200 frames per second. Doominator suggested th' testing method: find an area with th' framerate you want, type "oljtf" an' fire fer a set period of time. My test time was a minute. At the end of that time check the number of shots fired in the "oljtf" info display an' subtract whatever it was before you started firin'. Voila, you jus' got a bullets per minute figger fer that gun. 'Course this doesn't take into accound reloadin' an' all that, which I think would tend to minimize rate-of-fire dif'rences, but oh well who cares.? You'll find th' results converted into th' graph below (framerates taken while firing):
 

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