Sunday, June 10, 2007 09:22 PM

Flanker Voodoo 4/5 What to do to improve the graphics. Step by step how to guide with screenshots.

This all came about because of a misunderstanding that crept into Flanker 2 during development. I may have contributed to this misunderstanding in beta with my ignorance of the capabilities of the Voodoo 2/3cards. I had thought that it was impossible for the Voodoo 2/3 series of cards to display any texture larger than 256x256 this was blatantly incorrect. It will indeed display the texture after it reduces the size from whatever size it is, down to 256x256. While it reduces the size though some details are lost. To understand why just think of it this way. 256x256 means that the texture is 256 pixels by 256 pixels.  If you have a texture that is 512 pixels by 512 pixels naturally you can display more detail since now you have 4 times as many pixels to display a detail on the skin of an aircraft. Lets get back to the problem.

Since it was believed that 3dfx had to have smaller textures to work Flanker was shipped with smaller textures just for the 3dfx cards. A hook was put into the program that looks to see what card is being used. If a 3dfx card is used then those textures are automatically used. With the 2.03a patch alot was improved for the 3dfx 2/3 cards in that many items were sharpened up from previous dismal textures. (personally I believe my cockpit is still clearer which is why its still available). But that hook that makes the sim use the smaller textures and less detailed terrain is still there and this causes the problems with Voodoo 4/5 cards. The Voodoo 4/5 series of cards have the same limits to texture size as the Nvidia Geforce cards which far exceeds anything that Flanker is throwing around. Meaning that the amount of detail should be the same for both cards. Yet its obvious that there is less details when using the Voodoo 4/5 cards. Well here is how to fix that to get all the sharp detailed planes your heart can desire along with that kickass FSAA of the Voodoo 5. 

The most important caveat is that I use Max detail....this of course will affect your framerate. Not because of the increased size of the textures but because in addition to increased texture size I also force the use of the highest detailed models. Polygons are the main culprit affecting your framerates. For an example of this all that needs to be done is to load up Flanker with the No Texture option and the framerate stays essentially the same. Well I want those increased polys and am willing to pay the price. Make a decision prior to using these fixes since you will lose the adjustment of detail levels at the Full Monty Setting I use. For the timid dont worry there is a middle setting that gets you the big textures without the additional polys. Course when you see what you are missing...hehe.

Stock PCI textures		Full Monty Details  and textures

The screenshots are divided into 3 sets representing stock, middle setting and full monty. All screenshots were taken from the same machine using the same exact Voodoo 5 settings. I am using Beta 1.04.01 drivers but that shouldnt make any difference since all of the drivers have been so stable. I like these drivers because of some additional settings that I use with other games. Here is the list of my relevant Voodoo 5 settings.

Voodoo 5 Driver 1.04.01 Beta 
3D Filter Quality = high
Alpha Blending = Sharper
Anti Aliasing = 2 sample anti-aliasing
Level of detail Bias = -0.75
MIP Map Dithering = Enable

Here now are the stock screenshots that were taken with Flanker version 2.03a with 3dfx selected in the options with all detail. Everything maxed out except for these settings. Turn off the GUI animation and the clear boxes froo froo and it slows everything down. Mind that optional settings will default to low when using any 3dfx card. Set them up high...<VBG>. I select texture noise and mip mapping as well.  

Stock Screenshots
PCI Folders Deleted Shots
Full Monty Highest Detail Shots

Back your stuff up prior to doing all of this naturally....wrap that sucker.
Finally the directions...hehe. Long winded son of a gun ain't I...<VBG>

To achieve PCI quality graphics is easy as pie. Simply delete the PCI folders found in your Flanker directory. Or if you are the shy type rename them and move them into another directory so that Flanker cannot find them. When I say PCI folders that means the PCI folder the PCI_Low PCI_Medium and PCI_High folders. Btw this is the acceptable fix as well for the Voodoo 2/3 series of cards...as long as you get my improved cockpit. Remember bigger textures do NOT affect framerate on Voodoo cards. For examples of what the improved graphics look like with this simple fix look at the PCI folders deleted shots.

To achieve the Full Monty Highest detail quality you must jump thru a few more hoops. Not only deleting the PCI folders but you must as well copy files from one folder to another. This is a bit harder but if you take your time its easy enough. Heck I did it...<VBG>

• Delete all PCI folders

• Copy all files found in Flanker/Bazar/Terrain/Onlay/high folder to the low folder. Remember you are NOT moving them but copying them...!!! You want the same exact files in each folder. 

• Copy all the files found in Flanker/Bazar/Terrain/Structures/high folder into the medium and low folders. Remember you are NOT moving them but copying them...!!! You want the same exact files in each folder. 

• Copy all the files found in Flanker/Bazar/Terrain/Surface/high folder into the medium and low folders. Remember you are NOT moving them but copying them...!!! You want the same exact files in each folder.   

• Copy the Land.Ind file from the high folder into each the low and medium folders. Remember you are NOT moving them but copying them...!!! You want the same exact files in each folder. 

• Get up go the fridge grab a beer and pat yourself on the back for a job well done...you did do it well right. 

Here is a link to the old directions which have the files for you guys wanting to use those Voodoo 2/3 cards.

Flanker Beauty School