tnt2 and directx

[mayer]

Is it possible that I cannot enable directdraw 3d because of my graphics card tnt2? Is Directx9 not backwards compatible with older graphics cards?

[hudsonsmith]

tnt2 should not be problem, although your driver might. Have you tried updating? http://www.nvidia.com/content/drivers/drivers.asp

Also, have you tried running dxdiag? Should give you an error message if it can't enable.

[TripleRLtd]

tnt2 should not be problem, although your driver might. Have you tried updating? http://www.nvidia.com/content/drivers/drivers.asp

Also, have you tried running dxdiag? Should give you an error message if it can't enable.
Which it can't.
DX9 is "compatible" but not always "backward": the programs, or "apps" you are running may need something more than tnt2 which is a five year old video card? So: what are you trying to do?
And, you can not enable direct draw if your video card can not "handle" it.

[confus-ed]

.. DX9 is "compatible" but not always "backward": the programs, or "apps" you are running may need something more than tnt2 which is a five year old video card? ..

So methinks over here that the whole point of direct 'whatever' is that you can do stuff via s/w when you don't have h/w to do the call & it provides a common interface too, its 'middleware' & sits between the o/s & the card itself & handles all the ins & outs & picks up extra processing by the cpu &/or s/w calls, so the driver can potentially do 'anything' but of course slower, or so slow its not practical at all.

However I think a tnt2 can do directdraw, its what the specs I've googled say & what my feeble memory tells me too ..Direct3D, DirectVideo, ActiveX, DirectDraw and Open GL ICD for Windows 98, Windows NT ..

Maybe try turning off the hardware acceleration with the slider ? (the s/w calls are maybe not 'on' in dx9, the 'backward' compatible claim 'really' only applying to the previous generation of cards, these are mostly dx7 ? {there's loads of versions of the card, some might even be dx6}).

Newest driver should help if not already present & dxdiag ought to 'pin' any cause or potential fixes other than what's already said, but knowing all the circumstances always helps with answering ...

[CeeBee]

TNT2 cards work fine with DX9. But I have seen weird slowdowns on few systems with newer drivers 4.X, 5.X, while nvidia driver versions 2.X and 3.X seem to work fine. If you have the M$ driver (autodetection) then this could be the cause for your problems.

[confus-ed]

.. have seen weird slowdowns on few systems with newer drivers 4.X, 5.X, while nvidia driver versions 2.X and 3.X seem to work fine. If you have the M$ driver (autodetection) then this could be the cause for your problems.

I think as a 'rule of thumb' its always worth a try with both newer & older driver versions with older cards, with the one size fits all approach they take, some diver features end up not being handled right as the testing can't pick up every permutation. :thumbs: :thumbs2: (.. as its a rule of thumb & all ! :D)

[hudsonsmith]

If you read the descriptions on the hardware acceleration slider, you will see that the 3rd or 4th stop over disables DirectDraw and Direct3D. Dxdiag also has buttons (on the display tab) to enable or disable DirectDraw and Direct3D. Had had some pc's with tnt cards some years ago and I'm pretty sure they supported directx.

My understanding of directx is that it is a set of programming instructions to access the hardware features on the card. Obviously the card has to support it, but driver support is required as well. Even if the tnt2 can't use the dx8 or dx9 calls, dx9.0 should include dx3, dx5, dx6, etc. (otherwise, how could you play older games). You get access to as many features as your card and driver support.

[hudsonsmith]

I think as a 'rule of thumb' its always worth a try with both newer & older driver versions with older cards, with the one size fits all approach they take, some diver features end up not being handled right as the testing can't pick up every permutation. :thumbs: :thumbs2: (.. as its a rule of thumb & all ! :D)Good point. Find out which company actually made the card (tnt2 cards were sold by any number of companies) and assuming they are still in business, you might find a specific driver for your card. Unfortunately, a lot of these companies folded and the most recent drivers are 5-6 years old. That's why I usually recommend the nvidia drivers.

[Cobra X]

The problem is, newer nvidia drivers are based around the GeForce, and while they support the TNT & TNT2 they don't support them well, and it can be kind of hit or miss, and performance is spotty at best compared to older nvidia reference drivers.

Honestly, get rid of the TNT2 and get a new video card. It doesn't have to be a Radeon 9800XT, you can pick up something that'll work fine in DX9 for $50 or so, about the price of a new game. If you're trying to play a game that runs in DX9, what good is a TNT2 doing you to begin with?

[mayer]

Thank you for the information, i will read and reread and try what I can. But I want to answer a couple questions and welcome all responses again. I am trying to use the ati tv ve. It just won't go. I have not tried all the posted advice yet, i will try now. IN the meantime, I know that, I have downloaded recent drivers for the tnt2 from nvidia and the tv ve from ATI. The tv ve self check says dirctx is not installed properly. direct xdiag says it is installed properly but the trio (direct draw etc) are not available, (I think the accelerator is set to full (is there more than one accelerator?))

(If the cheaper solutions don't work, the upgrade video card idea seems simple and fine if there's a consensus that that will solve the problem)

Thanks again.

[CeeBee]

You might want to download and install the full version of DX9b, maybe your installation is somehow incomplete.
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=A6DEE0DB-DCCE-43EA-87BB-7C7E1FD1EAA2&displaylang=en

[WebHead]

DX 9 has functionality that TNT2 will not be able to do anything with. Indeed you can install it with no problems (most of the time), but TNT2 just doesn't have any use for DX9 software. Imo, the main reason for having DX9 installed is for added graphics processing performance for vector image rendering (such as games, CAD, etc.)

To put it in perspective, it would be like using the latest and greatest P4 computer box with that old 13" amber monitor you've been using since 1978. The P4 would represent DX9 and the 31" amber monitor from 1978 represents the TNT2 card. It would just be pointless in terms of overall performance and output.

[mayer]

Did I mention it's a 16mb...
so how many votes for a new card?

[WebHead]

16mb card? LOL. Yeah,.. definately time for a new card. :)

[Stalemate]

Did I mention it's a 16mb...
so how many votes for a new card?

"Yea." http://forums.windrivers.com/images/smilies/wink.gif