|
|
The Official D2_3DFX FAQ
Here are some screenshots which show the difference between the non-accelerated version of Descent 2 (descent2.exe) and D2_3DFX.
 This is a shot from descent2.exe at 320x200. Due to an error while processing this image, the screenshot became a little distorted, but you can get an idea of what it looks like. Average framerate in here was roughly 25 FPS on my P-133! |
 This shot is also from descent2.exe, this time at 640x480. It still looks a bit grainy and blocky, but its quality is significantly better than at 320x200 (which is to be expected.) My average framerate in this mode was around 8 FPS! |
 This shot is from D2_3DFX, which runs at 640x480 all the time, and as you can see from this picture, it does a number of things to the textures to smoothen up the graphics. This picture doesn't really do it justice, however, because the true miracle of the 3D-accelerator technology comes in the actual gameplay. I was getting an incredible 60 FPS during this screenshot! |
One other note of comparison - you may notice while playing in the original Descent2.exe that you can see pixels changing colors, particularly when you're looking at a texture further off in the distance. In D2_3DFX, you can't see this, but instead you actually can pick up the small subtleties in the texture itself! It's more difficult to see in a single screenshot, but when you run D2_3DFX and experience its higher framerates, this will be one of the first things you notice.
(09/10/2003) Ed. note: Most of this information was written back when 3D accelerator technology was new. Things like bilinear filtering, alpha blending, perspective correction and even polygon acceleration, were all very new concepts at the time, but are mostly taken for granted nowadays.
